kindan no koi 禁断の愛 [movie]

evil genius strokes the cat on his lap... wait, he hasnt got a cat...

ok so ruku-chan sent me this film last night for some reason recently its just been an abundance of boy love movies in our little world

this review contains slight *spoilers* which i dont usually like to do but there would be nothing to say about this lame-ass piece of genius otherwise.

this one had a whole bunch of people in it who i knew from various other things but couldnt for the life of me remember what.

this moody ass git is sho was played by kato ryosuke - i recognised those eyes and definately those drag queen eyebrows. 

where did i know him from? i could find bugger all about him online and missed half the film trying to search and had to keep skipping it back again. eventually i saw on yesasia he was the from the prince of tennis but then saw he was from the st rudolph opponents in the musicals which i wouldnt have seen. 

(he looks like a weird clone of hirofumi araki who plays the data player so im just going to believe they are the same person even though i know they arent. kato fell off the face of the planet after kindan and hirofumi went on to do godhand teru so im thinking he ate him. maybe he stole a biscuit. naughty clone.)

back to the piece of sh*t film: 

sho had become a recluse while his secret love ritsu had been sent away for three years to america for work. 

ritsu is called back early to find sho completely shut off and cold never leaving the apartment building 

(wallowing in the cleanest bedroom a shut in has ever had) 

and tries to find out what happened while he was away.

this involved lots on concerned looks and frowning.

    

mikami masashi, who is part of the D Boys lot apparantly so that might be where i know his face from, plays ritsu and yukawa naoki plays sho's cute younger brother ryo who has a more twisted personality than the adorable little chipmunk who appears on the surface.

naoki makes this film for me, i think he's great.

kindan is so f*cking cheesey and odd in places that if he wasnt playing the important role of ryo i probably wouldnt have liked it at all. though it is mainly pouting and frowning again.

matsumoto kousei plays sho's father and i think watanabe kouji is the name of the guy who plays ritsu's new boss but i cant find bugger all about him either.

...

i just call him sh*t-evil-genius-cat-guy due to how in kindan no koi he looks like someone out of a bad bond movie parody and should have a white fluffy cat on his lap all the time. 

his facial expressions had me giggling and im not sure they were meant to be funny. 

so, it had some really funny moments in it that im pretty sure were only amusing to me, i said *what the f*ck?* quite loudly a few times and made the dog jump just because some bits were just too cheesey or stupid i couldnt help but laugh.

like this bit, check this guy out. what the f*ck are they doing? why did he put the material on his f*cking head like that? making a shirt dude! not dressing the virgin mary.

in typical boy love films if the guys get it on by the middle of the movie

you know that one of them or both of them or everyone they know is gonna end up dead so it wasnt hard to tell where this was heading

especially with psycho-boy-cute-face ryo on the prowl.

he does a great bit of staring off into space with a bored but slightly nasty look on his face when sh*t-evil-genius-cat-guy is chomping away in his lap - which for some reason i found highly entertaining. look at him pouting. aint he adorable when he's in psycho-gay-boy mode. awww.

have some extra pics of frowny ryo being generally messed up in the head  (^_^)

Cant believe im ending this post with that picture... *hangs head in shame*

~

bimbo danshi 貧乏男子 [series]

running, shouting, crying inappropriately and wasting money like never before

i was really impressed with this drama i watched it pretty quickly as i got addicted to every single character and couldnt put it down. turn it off. whatever.

i barely recognised oguri shun in the role of koyama kazumi this guy is a far cry from grumpy ass sano in hana kimi or his characters in gokusen, hana yori dango and crows zero. his scruffy hair looks so awesome i absolutely love it like that

we have loads of great people in this series who i love; miura haruma and naka riisa only have small roles but it meant that even the minor supporting cast were people i love to see.

koyama is the main focus of the story the main supporting roles were played by yashima norito, yamada yu, and yusuke santamaria as the brilliant omuomu

it basically follows these three idiots trying to pay back huge loans to rich and slightly mental loan shark omuomu but koyama being the nutter that he is cant seem to say no and ends up rebounding into debt and trying to pay the money back in various stupid or ingenious ways.

its quite slapstick and fun but there are also some bittersweet emotional moments (also often some very slapstick emotional ones too)

i liked the whole idea of it from the very first episode and it got better and better as it went along. dont read up on it too much just go watch it and see for yourself.

this has to be my definate favourite role of oguri shun's extensive bank of work purely because of how funny he is.

he spends the entire time running or shouting or running and shouting

he made the series a joy to watch.

*update!!*

yamada yu and oguri shun are getting married this month! (march 2012) yay!! i just found out that they had been together since 2008 and that is when this drama aired so what are we saying here, they met and fell in love while filming bimbo danshi?

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

this is awesome news. i hope they have a happy life together. (^_^)

ureshiiiiii squeeeeeeee!

anego アネゴ [series]

everyone needs a friend like jin - i mean him - i mean her.  damn it.

anego is a term for an older sister like figure much like anki is for older brother. in this drama the main character noda naoko (shinohara ryoko) fits this title. newbie kurosawa akihiki (akanishi jin) dubs her anego and everyone follows his lead with the nick name as they all see her as the go-to-guy when they have problems.

shinohara (tsuki no koibito, unfair) is her usual standard of wonderfulness she monologues to the camera runs about like a headless chicken and becomes increasingly more neurotic about turning 30 and not being married.

jin you are like a little puppy angel *sqeakles*

akanishi matches shinohara's humour with the same level of sarcasm, dry wit, bumbling mistakes, brilliant glares and dumbfound looks that makes for a really unexpectedly funny and cute drama. 

it reminded me a little of kimi wa petto but i think this is a little lighter and jin just kinda reminds me of a puppy he isnt actually being one.

i like the parts where their real thoughts are being explained in writing on the screen when they are bantering with each other i think they could have done this a little more infact as it worked really well

there are many ups and downs in this drama it all keeps going a bit wrong for everyone no one seems to be in love with the right person and some people just seem to be plain mental. i guess in amongst all the crazy troubled people they know they find accidental comfort in each other and kurosawa becomes the life line to noda that she has become to everyone else

it is a little bit of a will-they-wont-they and a bit of  a will-everyone-stop-going-on-about-being-30-im-not-far-off-damn-it oh, ahem, uh yes well thats how i felt but i guess it wouldnt bug you if your not there yourself

their relationship becomes very interesting and it is not obvious even to them exactly what they mean to each other. as kurosawa starts to have stronger feelings for noda there are many good shots of him just looking at her with longing or sad expressions it does make you want them to end up together even though you think they make great friends in that sort of argumentative soulmate type way.

it has lots of akanishi looking adorably cute, it has lots of shinohara's fantastic comical facial expressions, and all the tension and sweet squealy moments you want from a drama like this. ...and dont you think jin looks really good in a suit?

~

love my life ラブマイライフ [movie]

damn it ruku-chan why did i lend you that dvd i want to watch it again

ichiko (yoshi rei) and eri (imajuku asami) make the most adorable couple.
it shares a smiliar sort of feel to ai no kotodama
where you are follwing the ups and downs of a gay couple
on the verge of coming out and the set backs they face
as they try to understand what that means for them.

asami is an absolutely stunning girl and i bought this film based soley on the fact
that i could happily look at her all day long.
rei (who i hadnt seen before) turned out to be the cutest little munchkin ever
and i fell for her within about 5 minutes.
so basically its the perfect couple for this kind of girl love film
and i was little miss happy.

love my life is a pretty well known movie,
the manga by yamaji ebine is a sort of cult favourite of many gay manga fans.
i would be hard pushed to find any bad points with the film really,
its very sweet and has a good pace, many of the supporting cast are querky and funny,
it is shot colourfully and has a nice soundtrack.

there are times when you feel you dont need the story to continue,
you would be quite happy just to keep watching them be cute and snuggly together.
they have such a gentle way with each other and the two actresses have
a really loving sort of chemistry. i could ramble on
about how sweet they are for an age but i think you get it.

the film does progress into a bit of a lonely sad tone
but its a fluffy film so dont worry you wont want to give up and die by the end or anything.
love my life is definately on the
fuaa fuaa white clouds
side of the fence and makes me smile for ages whenever i watch it.

i should have backed it up my harddrive by now seen as ive had this film
for a few years and it is bound to be one i wear out at somepoint,
but first i'll have to get it back from ruku-chan - damn it why do i lend out my dvds -
i always want to watch them as soon as i do that.
and there are suspiciously more gaps on my korean movie shelf than there should be...
where have they gone...

ive really gotten off track here so i will put in some pictures of ichiko and eri
being all smooshy and adorable and beautiful and lovely.

taiikukan baby 体育館ベイビー [movie]

warning:
im just gonna gush loads about nakamura yuichi again guys, gomen ne. shikata ga nai.

taiikukan baby (gymnasium baby) was released as a pair with doukyusei (classmates)
set in the same place with the same actors and characters. i'll review that one another time.

this film follows three main characters jun (nakamura), naoki (takahashi yuta),
and jun's childhood friend shoichi (kubo sho).

ok, first off we have jun - he's kind of moody and pouty
but thats fine because its nakamura doing all the pouting  (^_^)
he is the son of the swimming coach and is a senior ace swimmer himself
but has serious health problems that put a drastic hault on his chances of competing.

next we have naoki who is jun's rival in the pool,
he had already beaten him once but it seems to have had a weird affect on him
as he formed a *slightly* overfamiliar attachment to jun and pesters him into becoming
his personal coach with alterior motives of getting closer to him.

then we have shoichi who is always smiling by jun's side.
i will say now to get it out of the way - kubo sho is really quite cute you know.
anyway, shoichi has had his eyes on jun for a long time
but as they are childhood friends and, you know, both boys,
he would never say anything about how he feels.
he seems to be happy enough just to be jun's best friend untill he feels threatened
by naoki's inappropriate behaviour.

so with those characters its a typical setting for a young boy love film,
but this time we have the bonus of it being a nakamura boy love film yay!
he looks really young.(^_^)


i like the way he spends the whole time looking pouty and confused 
like everything is happening without him understanding quite what is going on.
but then that is mainly due to naoki keep throwing himself off things all the time.
you'd be scared to go near any place high up with him - he's like a f*cking lemming.

theres lots of nakamura swimming,
(why is he always swimming in everything i see him in?)
looking confused and pouting,
looking down slightly sideways so i get a good look at his lovely nose again *squeaks*,
and a great bit of  "um ...oh god am i kissing a boy right now?" face.

you can tell its not a high budget cinema ready piece of history in the making or anything
but its not meant to be. its a nice little story turned into
a film that is just an excuse for fan girls and boys to get exited at the thought that
they might get to see nakamura yuichi getting friendly with another boy.
because the cross dressing and flirting with kenta 
in princess princess d wasnt enough. obviously.

kurosagi クロサギ [series] [movie]

yamapi fowning lots with watery piercing eyes, what else could you possibly want to watch?

kurosagi is in my top 3 favourite drama series. im a little reluctant to do this review as i it doesnt feel like its something i can put into words as to why i liked it so much. but i feel i want to get it out of the way somehow. i have seen kurosagi about 4 times now so in real time that would equate to once a year, its not far off how many times ive seen nobuta. i know i will go out of my way to watch yamapi in anything but it doesnt stop me being able to see if a drama is good or not.

at first i thought it was a shame that horikita maki's character was so irritating but after the first time round she didnt annoy me anymore, i think i just prefer her when she has funny roles to play.

kurosaki is a young guy who loses his family to the tragic circumstances surrounding his fathers debt. bitterness towards swindlers turns him into a vigilante con man who seeks out those who professionally con money out of naive people and turns their tricks against them. kurosaki becomes kurosagi - sagi meaning swindle (sagishi - swindler)

im not going to explain anything more of the plot because it would be better to have it unfold as you watch it. i knew nothing of kurosagi when i saw it and had no idea what to expect and im glad of it.

yamapi gets to play lots of different characters in this drama and its great fun to watch his manerisms change to encompass a new persona. effortlessly crying on cue, looking jaded and tormented by his past, and having different hair every five minutes, we still get to see yamapi doing his ad libbed clumsy moments and geniusly-funny subtle facial expressions.

it has almost everything i need from a series. it even has koyama keiichiro (fellow member of news) in one episode  kyaa! i tell ya i nearly wet myself when he suddenly came on

i didnt know he was going to be in it at all and he gets all upset and shouty looking at yamapi with his fingers through the fence and yamapi looking back at him all sad and koyama is all about to cry oooh squeeeeeeeeee he's so great.

its pretty sad much of the way through and you totally root for kurosagi to win out over all the bad guys. as i said i found horikita's character a pain in the ass at first but it was great to see those two back on tv together again. there are some really good suporting cast and guest actors some of which come back for the movie.

the film that follows the series felt a little different from the drama, the pace or tone was somehow weird. it annoyed me a little that things were still open ended as i thought the movie would wrap things up completely but if they ever want to make another one to finish it all off then i would be first in line to see it.

it happens a lot in japanese movies where things dont always end smoothly but actually i really like that. life doesnt end in the middle, stories carry on after one part has played out and its only western cinema that seems to be attached to the wrapped-it-up-nicely-so-you-dont-have-to-think notion that means you dont have to wonder about what happened to the characters next. 

i think with kurosagi its just that i would have been happy to have this series carry on for ages at least in the way that a comparable drama 'liar game' had two series and a film. i feel kurosagi could have done that length the same sort of justice.

so on to the music. the sound track is absolutely lovely. obviously everyone knows the daite senorita theme tune yamapi released but im talking about the actual sound track, if you can get hold of it i assure you it is really pretty so grab it.

i think yamapi's eyes should be given their own title in the credits you know.

   クロサギ  -   山下智久
   *stare*   炯々 -   山下智久の目

~

bandage バンテイジ [movie]

bakanishi jin playing someone generally useless and oblivious again.

both the soundtrack and the lands album 'olympos' are avaliable
so grab them if you like the film.
i especially wanted the lands album
for yukiya's version version of 二十歳の戦争
which he played in a really moving part of the film.

right, so the film has akanishi jin as the lead role
and a load of really cool people from other dramas and films
(kaneko nobuaki and kitano kie for starters).
asako (kitano) goes to a lands concert with her friend miharu (watanabe anne)
and they manage to meet the band back stage.
natsu (akanishi) takes a liking to asako and it all kicks off from there.

the band is a bit of a mess, mainly due to natsu being generally rubbish most of the time,
but they are still striving for their break with the help of a very driven manager.
the new involvement of asako into the company of lands drives even more of a wedge
between some of the members and they all start to doubt their own will to continue.

most of the film is spent with natsu following asako around trying to win her over
but she sees in him too much
the sides of herself she doesnt like.
asako cant seem to get past her frustration with his apathy towards his own dream
but she becomes tangled up with him and his band anyway.

i like it when akanishi jin plays characters that
try to act cool but dont really pull it off all the time.
he has a certain subtle nervousness about him that im drawn to in these kind of roles.
he does the guarded stroppy thing really well. he's best when he's being mean i think.
he does dry humour naturally and he seems to always sound a little on the sarcastic side
even when he's trying to be nice.

it feels like a sad film but its not depressing though.
its just that asako and natsu are both trying to become themselves
but dont really know who they are or how they want to be.
kitano as the female lead was really a perfect choice, i like her alot.

asako could potentially be a very flat character as she doesnt have a particularly strong will
but kitano gives her a lot of depth that isnt really given any
explanation or context in the script or story progression
untill the point where asako and natsu start painfully opening up to each other.

kitano is such a beautiful girl with a great ability to show you alot
just through her eyes and facial expression,
so it made a good pairing to have her work along side
akanishi - king of looking confused and uncomfortable.

one of the things i was really impressed with was that the music was a little raw,
it didnt sound uber over-produced and akanishi's vocals were raspy and imperfect
as they would be in an indie rock style band.
i find this quite a lot with japanese films - the music is always perfectly placed and appropriate.

hitotsu dake...
there is a point where natsu sits at the table in his under trousers
because he had to take his proper trousers off at the door with his shoes
as they were attached.
um, japan probably isnt the best place for clothes like that - seen as you take your shoes off in people's houses. perfect example of natsu being a idiot and not bothered by it at all.