Katagoshi no Koibito / 肩ごしの恋人

Over-the-Shoulder Lover


Summer, 2007, JDorama that was a romantic comedy about two thirty-ish females with opposite personalities who, despite that fact, have been life-long friends.

Hayasaka Moe (Yonekura Ryoko) was raped and now has this sub-conscious aversion to commitment, and with little faith in men.

She's a working chick at a cross-roads in her life when a sixteen-year old runaway (Sano Kazuma as Akiyama Takashi) enters her life in the most unexpected way and ends up living with her in a platonic fashion for the most part even though he's instantly infatuated with the tall beauty who likes to drink, smile, and bear the brunt of everything bad that comes her way.

I especially liked the way her life actually came full-circle, but I'm not sure many noticed or even cared about that interesting yet realistic twist to the plot.

Her ditzy friend, Takaoka Saki as Murono Ruriko, begins the show by introducing that ear-piercing, helium-sucking whine of an Asian female voice tone that made me want to pick something else to watch ... but, I just covered my ears instead and decided to bear with it since I knew she wasn't the star and might not be onscreen for a majority of the nine instead of eleven episodes.

WRONG!

Still, the bar scenes where she gets drunk and acts like a total ass-bitch were tolerable because by then, I was sucked in completely and wanted to find out what would happen to each of the interesting characters.

Ruriko gave the impression of being a mindless twit with nothing but her looks to sustain a shallow presence in life, but she sometimes said things that actually made sense or caused our doubtful Moe to think twice about what she was currently undergoing.

Ruriko truly believed that marriage was the answer to all of life's woes; especially for a woman, and that Moe needed to figure that out if she wanted to find happiness.

Moe wasn't totally against marriage or dating even, and she had indiscriminate sex rather frequently for a former rape victim - but, I guess that could be beside the point, who knows.

What she couldn't do start to finish was to commit, and that was what this drama was about - commitment.

She lived in a totally cool apartment despite her meager income and the eventual loss of her go-nowhere job, but I didn't mind.

She hooked up with a hot guy who attended Ruriko's wedding, had sex with him that afternoon, and then kept meeting with him even after discovering he was married.

He introduced her to two, interesting characters at a gay bar in a gay district of Tokyo, and one of the gays was Ryo (Kaname Jun) - a brooding, young man who worked at a porn shop up the street.

The other guy, Bun-chan (Ikeuchi Hiroyuki), owned the bar, and even though he carried his military service with him; wearing fatigues and keeping his head shaven, he had a nasty thang for the guy Moe seduced, leaving the viewer to wonder for a few episodes if he was bi.

I'll let y'all find out the truth on your own.

Ruriko finds out that her husband is having an affair with a nasty piece of work from the office, and at first she's willing to make concessions for his behavior, but eventually, her third marriage ends in divorce.

She moves in with Moe and run-away Akiyama Takashi, but it seems imperative that we sort out their lives: finding a man for Moe, returning Ruriko to her wayward hubby, and forcing Takashi to see the error of his childish, misguided ways.

When Ruriko finds out about Ryo, it is then that she decides she wants nothing more to do with her cheating husband, but Ryo isn't going to change his ways for the whining, pushy female and remains as gay as the day is long despite Ruriko's annoying efforts to work on him her female charms.

Does the handsome, wealthy man forsake his snobbish, wealthy wife for Moe?

Does Ruriko return to her repentant hubby?

Will Takashi ever figure out what life is all about and do the right thing?

WHO is the father of Moe's baby?????????????????

I liked Katagoshi no Koibito, and I think you will, too.

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グッドラック！！ / Good Luck!!

Yes, I would get on this plane and fall asleep without worry knowing my pilot, Shinkai Hajime, is at the helm!

If you can't tell, I have a fear of flying on aircraft, though I do it on occasion, and while watching this 10-episode, 2003 JDorama, it made me wonder if knowing that the pilot or co-pilot were handsome, that it might, somehow help me to relax.

I doubt it, but then again, I can't be too sure, since it is usually the moment when the pilot or co-pilot comes over the pa system to announce the fact that we are now at 30,000+ feet above the ground, and that the weather seems favorable for an eventless flight that I become even more aware of my helplessness and tend to panic further - so, if I heard a silky-smooth voice at that moment and could envision it being KIMURA TAKUYA speaking to me, I'd probably exhale almost immediately and forget everything else going on just then.

HOWEVER ~ I think if I heard him say 'Good Luck!', I'd unfasten my seatbelt and demand to be let off the craft.

Enough about me, though, and more about the charismatic star of the show - Shinkai Hajime!

He's trying really hard to earn that coveted, fourth stripe on his sleeve and become a full-fledged pilot - which is what this show is all about.

Right away, he bumps into mechanic Ogawa Ayumi and the two don't, quite hit it off.

She works alongside Abe Takayuki (Kaname Jun), who has a secret crush on her, but because of her stand-offish nature, it is virtually impossible for him, Hajime, or anyone else to get very close.

Just when things seem to start looking up for Hajime, along comes prune-face senpai Tsutsumi Shinichi as Koda Kazuki - a hard-nosed veteran with more than twelve-years experience as a pilot, but who is now in charge of pilot performance.

Right away, he gets rid of a veteran who has flown more miles than anyone else in the industry because he took over when it seemed that Hajime might, not know what to do under foul weather conditions - 'lacks teamwork skills'.

No one likes Kazuki, save a pretty but aging flight attendant who also ends up in the line of fire on occasion, though she seems to understand his harsh ways a bit better than everyone else at the airline.

As you can imagine, every episode takes us on a new and exciting journey not only in the sky, but on the ground with someone falling in or out of love with someone else, and the personal lives of the players making the spotlight for the duration.

It wasn't so much about the inner workings of what it takes to become a pilot, or detailed analysis of the mechanics of a plane, either, but more about Hajime's personal affairs both in the cockpit and outside the plane.

I kept thinking how fun it would have been to be an extra for this drama, since a majority of the time we watched as unruly or terrified passengers went through one ordeal after the other high above the ground - only to have our dashing hero come to the rescue time and again.

There were a few love stories intertwined, but like all Japanese dramas I've seen up to this point, this also was sorely lacking in the emotional/physical department - with most everything about love, sex, and intimacy left to the imagination.

At least in a Korean drama they show couples in bed before or after the fact - but never in a Japanese drama (save Anego, which shocked the heck out of me) - but, most JDoramas show the one-night-stand set-up and nothing more - which I presume is meant to constantly imply that true love is pure and childish.

Funny thing is, after watching so, many of these shows, I have this distorted impression of the sex lives of Asians - which is weird since a majority of them live together almost as soon as they meet, and most always with the intention of marriage, though that doesn't, always occur.

What are all these living-together couples doing, then, if there is no sex?

Whatever ... I enjoyed watching KimuTaku fly a plane, deal with a hard-headed senpai, and make it impossible for the equally stubborn mechanic chick NOT to fall in love with him.

Good Luck! was a winner, and I highly recommend it if you haven't, already watched.

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流星の絆 / Ryusei no Kizuna

Ties of Shooting Stars


This was a two-fer in that Kazunari Ninomiya AND Nishikido Ryo star in this 10-episode, 2008 JDorama about three siblings who sneak out of the house late at night in order to watch the Leonid meteor shower (despite the pouring rain and their father's stern warning to forget about it and go to bed), and when they return home, they discover the brutal slaying of their parents.

Of course, the three are sent off to an orphanage, but at least they remain together, and because Nino's Ariake Koichiis is the eldest, it is his responsibility to look after his younger siblings, who all vow to one day find and kill the perpetrator.

Fourteen years later, and when the statute is about to run out on the murder case (not that way in the States), Koichiis, his younger brother, Taisuke (Ryo), and their little sister, Shizuna (Erika Toda), have already set in motion their attempt to find the culprit and have him slain.

Koichiis works at a diner, Taisuke at a video rental place, and Shizuna in an office until the unreasonable harrassment by a senpai forces her to quit.

She wants revenge on the office manager, and with the help of her brothers, they manage to swindle him, which came a bit, too easy, so they start to swindle others who had swindled the sister.

All the while they continue to work the case of their murdered parents when, after more than fourteen years, and with the expiration date fast-approaching, the siblings have little, if any, confidence in the investigator in charge since that fateful night long ago.

What I picked up on and appreciated was the writer's sensibility in that he/she allowed us to see the adults through the eyes of or at least from the perspective of the Ariake children, who still believe what they perceived to be the truth without the benefit of growing up in understanding and knowledge of their parents true nature.

Also, there was plenty of great, Japanese food in this one - though they did regard the dish as Western fare (hashed meat, curry stew, or Shichūkarē).



An added bonus (for me) was that Kaname Jun also starred as Togami Yukinari, a rich kid whose father owns several, Western-style restaurants but Yuki-chan is in search of the perfect Shichūkarē recipe for the restaurant he is soon to be in charge of once opening day arrives.

Yuki-kun also falls for the little sister, whom he invites to the restaurant and serves her a curry rice dish based on a recipe he found among his father's personal belongings - and when she tastes the dish, it brings tears to her eyes, reminding her of the dish her late father used to prepare in a tiny but popular Western-fare restaurant he ran before his untimely death.

Turns out that Yukinari's father had a falling-out with Ariake-san, who loved to gamble and usually ordered take-out from Togami-san's food stall up the street.

Ariake told Togami that his food was awful, and that he had no right preparing Shichūkarē if he wasn't going to do it right.

All roads seem to lead toward Togami-san as the killer, which devastates poor Yuki-kun and completely confuses Shizuna, but the two brothers are determined to find out the truth and take their revenge.

There is a plot-twist at the end that I didn't see coming despite a few warning signs along the way, which always makes me very happy - when the writer can stump me.

If you haven't already, I recommend you give Ryusei no Kizuna a try - I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

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Tatta Hitotsu no Koi / Love of My Life

Honestly, I don't understand why this 2006, 10-episode Japanese drama didn't do better with viewers than it did with me.

I absolutely loved this !

It was one of the most pure, unconvoluted, and simple-yet-charming stories I've come across in a long time, if ever, and I, for one, had a terrific time watching start to finish.

Tatta is about a young boy and girl from opposing sides of life who meet, fall in love, and then battle the obvious social morays up until the very end of the show, but despite all that, they still manage to create something wonderful together, and I think this was why I had such a good time watching.

Yokohama is the setting - Kamenashi Kazuya is the boy - Kanzaki Hiroto - and Ayase Haruka is the girl - Tsukioka Nao.

Now, these two had actual on-screen chemistry imho, and the likelihood of their 'forbidden' romance taking shape occurred as a result of Nao's inability to LIE her way through life - as is the case with a majority of the characters portrayed on-screen and from Asia in general.

Hiroto is from the wrong side of the tracks, having to forego college and a promising baseball career after his father committed suicide to pay off creditors and save an already floundering machine repair factory Hiroto is now responsible for keeping afloat.

He and his poor buddies still manage to have fun while becoming working stiffs after high school, and one thing they enjoy doing is to sneak into a restricted area to fish and then sell their catch to local restaurants for pocket change.

The boys are on their way to a restaurant when the kids from an elite college are making their way to school, and an accident with the fish forces Hiroto and his friends to confront Nao and her overly pleasant friend, Motomiya Yuko (Toda Erika).

The boys end up shelling out a lot of money to attend a ritzy social put on by the snobby college students, and it is at this party that Hiroto and Nao begin to develop feelings for one another.

Yuko encourages Nao to continue to pursue Hiroto, reminding her of their last Christmas together, when they ended up handing out gifts to customers at Nao's family jewelry store instead of spending a romantic evening with a hunky fella.

It is just for kicks, something different to do, and not meant to last beyond the holiday - but while Nao and Hiroto's relationship starts to heat up despite the pressures from society, parents, and so-on, Yuko is struggling to maintain her dignity while falling more and more for the wrong guy in the trio.

Yuka wants this guy,


Hiraoka Yuta as Ozawa Ayuta

but instead, she ends up falling for


Tanaka Koki on the far right

Even in the above shot, it looked, to me, like Nao wore maternity clothes




but, that might, just have been the style at the time this drama was made, who knows.

It looked like everything was hanging off her body and way, too big for her size.

She's really pretty, which was another reason why I liked the drama and could connect with the two leads.

Funny thing was, Yuko kept saying she was the pretty one and her gushing friends agreed, but I didn't, and the same, too, with the fellas, when Ayuta kept complaining that he was the dude with the looks & charm in their group, yet he ended up without a girl - and again, I had to disagree.

Kazuya is and probably always will be a hotty


Kamenashi Kazuya as Kanzaki Hiroto



but, for me the star of this show was Nao's older, hotter brother,


Kaname Jun as Tsukioka Tatsuya





He portrayed the sweetheart, older bro who is actually bookish and a nerd, but he helped to save Nao's life when she was stricken with leukemia in middle school by donating his bone marrow.

I know - as soon as I heard that, I groaned and thought, "Dear Lord, don't tell me I'm watching another 'gonna die, someone!' drama I can't stand!!!"

Y'know, now that I think about it, maybe THAT was what caused people to tune out, eh?

If you're one of them, then shame on you, because that aspect of the story had NOTHING to do with the drama or even the outcome.

It was NOT as predictable as you might expect, and I, for one, am thankful that I stuck with this to the very end, because it was absolutely wonderful start to finish, and I highly recommend you give this a go (or, another, as the case may be).

So, as it turns out, Nao living on the 45th floor of her fancy condo complex ended up being a major part of the romance between her and Hiroto, whose dilapidated warehouse home just happens to face the tower.

Early in their romance, the gang attends a summer fair together, and Nao pouts about Hiroto's inability to win for her a silly-looking, rubber thingy with a bunch of rubber strings hanging off its face.


orenji

Hiroto leaves them to do Nao's bidding, and eventually, he succeeds in winning the light-up keychain.

When he tells her the apartment faces his house, she gets all excited and runs up to her room, turns off the lights, and stands on the balcony shaking the Orenji.

In turn, Hiroto flashes back at her with a 'torch', and his little, asmatic brother tells him that they are like the whales he is so fond of - which can communicate from as far away as 200km.


Nao's birthday present from Ren and Hiroto

Nao's father is adament about their not seeing each other again, and then Hiroto's mother does something unspeakable to help destroy the relationship even more.

Nao's older, nerdy brother, Tatsuya, doesn't help matters any, either, when he argues against the idea of her seeing anyone beneath her, and then he breaks a promise by telling their father about an incident that implicates Hiroto when he's actually quite innocent.

Eventually, Hiroto realizes that what he is doing isn't right, and that he can't continue playing the game when he knows he'll never be good enough for saintly Nao, so aboard a pretty cruise liner that tours the harbor, he tells Nao that they are through.

For the last, fifteen minutes of the cruise, she asks that they hold hands, and then he proposes that for the next, three years, until her five-year stint with the transplant hold-out is up, if she will flash him on her birthday (Christmas Eve), that it will prove they were meant to be together.

The first, two years, she shakes the Orenji and he replies with the flashlight, but on the third year, no Orenji - and Hiroto is devastated.

Then, he sells the warehouse and moves away with mother & brother.

In an unlikely twist, they meet again after Ko's wedding, and Nao has an engagement ring on her finger.

Hiroto is devastated beyond belief, gets drunk, and stumbles home in tears.

I won't spoil the ending, but i will reiterate that Tatta Hitotsu no Koi was one of the best JDorama's I've seen in awhile, and I recommend you give this a chance.


Yokohama at sunset


typical of just about every JDorama I've ever seen


pretty sunset


cool idea for lighting at a bar


Yuko's groovy apartment

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Taiyou No Uta / タイヨウのうた

A Song to the Sun



2006 Japanese movie that stars Yamada Takayuki as Fujishiro Koji and Sawajiri Erika as Amane Kaoru - fated, teen lovers who experience a summer fling with sadness as the only reward.

I'm not prone to choose flicks with such a predictable outcome as this, but I thought I'd give them one, more chance to impress me.

It didn't work - again.

They target pre-teen and early teen chicks who like to cry for whatever reason, which means you're in for a lot of saccharin-enriched silliness beyond reality imho, and that annoys BIG time.

Kaoru has this ultra-rare Japanese-designed disease that makes her allergic to the sun, so she can't attend school, live a so-called normal life, and can only go out after dark, which despite her being only sixteen still makes it acceptable for her to roam the streets after midnight playing her guitar.

Koji is the typical, hot high school boy living a so-called normal life in the seaside town where he wakes up every morning at 4 a.m. to reach the shore with two of his buddies so they can surf before school starts.

Kaoru watches him from her bedroom window, and though it seemed a bit, too far away for her to actually see much of anything, she still manages to become intrigued by him, and eventually they meet, fall in love, and for awhile, they have a 'safe' (innocent) fling.

I won't give away the predictable and anticipated-from-the-start ending, but I will tell you that someone dies.

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