Kou kou nyushi 高校入試 [mini series]

This post is not working out for me... I'm going to give up if my formatting f*cks up one more god damn time...

I'm impressed, not exactly with the drama itself,but more that they managed to stretch 1 day over 13 episodes. 

This entire series covers an exam... Impressive that it wasn't slow or boring really. Though it was completely ridiculous.

Nagasawa Masami in a white trouser suit... I cant even explain. 

Worth watching for that alone. It's a weird drama. 

It felt like it wanted to have a strong message but then didn't want to bother trying to squeeze it into the impossible.

Definitely getting my fill of Masami lately. Lovely Tokuyama Hidenori (Ai no kotodama, Kamen Rider Kabuto) and his deep voice don't feature as much as I thought they might - they didn't really flesh out his character much - but it was great to see him. Brief appearances by Araki Hirofumi didn't go a miss either. (^_^)

There isn't much to say really, it didnt leave me with much of a lasting impression. 

I feel like it was going to try and be much more than it was then decided not to. So the story falls a little flat.

 But it is worth a watch all the same if nothing else but to see how to make one exam last 13 episodes and how to make marking papers seem so dramatic!

I cant get the text to justify without it messing up everything for no reason 

so i will just leave it looking messy like this and have to deal with it. damn it. f*cking blogspot.

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Bunshin 分身 [mini series]

mini review for a mini seires

There is a little bit of a Nana-esqu thing going on in the promo for Bunshin, but it is a very different animal - this drama. Its actually quite dark but I didnt really feel the seriousness of it to be honest.

Nagasawa Masami is lovely as ever. She plays 2 (actually 3) people in this mini drama. No shortage of her at all. It has an unexpected dark turn of events (well more like the unfurling story of a series of dark events of the past) and we get to see her singing… Which is all i cared about after she opened her mouth… She’s too cute. Always. And its nice to have her experience a quiet dilemma about her existence rather than getting smashed to bits by Roro. So, yeah. 

Its pretty pointless doing a cast list as Nagasawa plays pretty much everyone in this drama. So ... plot?

Mariko grew up believing her mother did not love her, and on finding some belongings that seemed strange, she decided to find out more about her deceased mother's past and discover where the ominous feeling she had always had came from.

Mariko finds way more than she expected to; an apparent twin sister Futaba (also played by Nagasawa) and her father's twisted world at his work place - the union he had formed with his colleagues and the current threat posed to their broken family.

It was an ok drama, I'm glad it wasn't full length though because I really think it would have been long and drawn out. It is one of those shows I will soon forget I ever saw, then one day when I see this post or the files on my drive I will think.... now what the hell was that one about? Only to realise Ive blurred the memories of this and KouKou Nyushi together to make one awesome messed up drama in my head.

It happens when I watch stuff back to back. You should watch the weird drama I have in my brain of Kaeri Naru Spy / Unubore Deka / Shibatora / Deka Wanko all rolled up into one super strange piece of nonsense.

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Proposal Daisakusen プロポーズ大作戦 [series]

banging their heads together doesn't even come close...

How can I accurately describe the overwhelming excruciatingly painful frustration to be endured when watching proposal…? I don’t know, I will try but it will be hard work to really get this across.

This drama stars my favourite pair MasaPi. And I love them both in this series even though they are both utterly useless Takumi-kun excuses for human beings all the way through.

Ok, basically Ken (Yamapi) and Rei (Nagasawa Masami) have been friends since forever and when Rei finally gets married Ken realises what an utter d*ck he’s been his entire life having not made a proper move on her – or even at least been nice to her a little bit.

On Rei’s wedding day Ken feels pretty low watching his only love get taken away by someone else and pafu! A church fairy comes along and persuades him to go back in time to confess as he should have done all those years ago.

Through the photos in the slide show at her wedding dinner, Ken travels back to those points in time to see Rei and right his wrongs – only to realise he is just as much of a useless Takumi-kun now as he ever was, and can’t seem to stop being an utter nightmare even with his second chances.

There are some fabulous moments throughout, and it is one of my absolute favourite dramas BUT be warned you will be banging your head on the wall in frustration summertime machine blues style at his stupidity screaming KEN YOU F*CK-TARD JUST SORT IT OUT!!!! He often says things like "what the hell was i doing back then?!" well yes Ken-zou, you get to cringe at your younger self but we get to see that and then watch you still act like an idiot even though you can see full well what you need to do - for god sake boy you need a slap in the face! There are many moments when you really think it may work out ok… but alas this drama is Japanese not Korean so they save the happies for the very end if they give them to you at all.

Yamapi is goooooorgeous in this – I really don’t know why (and i never use that word for boys), - I mean aside from the obvious that he always is, but really actually though. I like that it gives him a chance to be funny and a little slapstick here and there as his character is an idiot. And Nagasawa is adorable as she always is. She is fluffier than mousse and I just adore her. Infact, i think this series is due another watch. it has to be at least a year and a half since i saw this last.

The supporting cast is great.

Fujiki Naohito (hotaru ni hikari, shibatora),

Eikura Nana, (mei-chan no shitsuji)

Hiraoka Yuta, (godhand teru those naked operations in space, tatta hitotsu no koi)

Hamada Gaku, (loss time life, taiyou to umi no kyoshitsu)

Mikami Hiroshi. (Pandora, chance)
All playing likable and suitably quirky characters in their own ways.

It is one for the girls, all about the romance and fate and stuff. It is really very funny, epically stupid and expectedly sweet. There are 11 episodes and a special (just as stupid as the rest of the series) and there is no watching this drama slowly, I dare anyone to leave it for a while and not be desperate to see what happens… or desperate to get it over with… however you see it. I could NOT have watched this as it was airing.

Watch this and think about how you let things slip through your fingers. Don’t end up like this complete moron. There really is no day but today, even if you could do it all again, you’d probably still mess it up, if it wasn’t meant to be that way you would have done it right the first time.

Ureshii squeeeeeeee ken-zou, aish I love that stupid boy (^_^)

i seriously never get tired of Yamapi with a towel round his head.

...why though?!

~

dragon zakura ドラゴン桜 [series]

if i had played maths and physics ping pong at school would i be able to count now?

what can i say about dragon zakura... it is full of awesome people and has a great story. no matter how unimpressed these guys look.

so mr lawyer man becomes a teacher at completely usless reject school somehow the plan is suddenly to get a handful of students into Todai (uber super great tokyo university with tough entry exams) mr lawer man inlists the help of a bunch of proper anime-style teachers and use ingenious learning methods to overcome the years of slack education.

its funny and clever and has the fantastic pairing of yamapi and nagasawa masami looking really ickle a fair fews years before the genius that was proposal daisakusen. the main point of awesomeness definately comes from abe hiroshi who plays sakuragi (mr lawyer man)

the group of dumbass kids he takes on are all struggling with some sort of lack of support or tough home situation not condusive to building confidence or motivation. yamapi and nagasawa being two of these students, the others are played by koike teppei, aragaki yui, nakao akiyoshi, and saeko.

 what a great bunch of actors though right?

(^_^)

not a miss-cast actor anywhere. dragon zakura is on my recomend to friends list and i think we could all benifit from employing these unique ways of learning in both our studying and teaching.

 

its fun with lots of of dry humour and also really sweet in many places. there is lots of yamapi doing his really really bored p*ssed off face, nagasawa being adorable - and i mean adorable, teppei being his usual standard of comical idiot, abe being the most sarcastic unimpressed person you will ever see, and hasegawa kyoko (english teacher ino mamko) retardedly missing the point over and over again.

i love these two (^_^) thankgod for proposal daisakusen because dragon zakura just wasnt enough masa-pi for my liking.

~

last friends ラスト・フレンズ [series]

heartbreaking throughout

this drama is not easy to watch, even skipping through to take screen shots brought tears to my eyes. 

nagasawa masami plays michiru a girl suffering at the hands of her abusive boyfriend sosuke (played by nishikido ryo of jpop group news). 

eita and ueno juri pair up again with perfect chemistry making me scream at the tv "for f*ck sake are they ever going to play a couple?!"

(wait for sunao ni narenakute dear girl you will wish you had never said that) 

mizukawa asami and yamazaki shigenori are great supporting roles in this giving a little light relief to a dark setting.

i have to mention the theme tune prisoner of love. i heard this playing once in a japanese restaurant i go to frequently and it instantly conjured up all the memories of last friends.

when that song came in at points through the episodes and in at the end it usually sent tears to my eyes especially towards the end of the series. 

the picture ive posted of the scene where michiru is all beaten up in her best friend's arms was a fine example - the theme tune comes in while michiru is collapsing and starts to sob, eita's character runs out to see the couple in a mess on the floor in his door way, the music swells and i just lose it completely and have to take the dog for yet another walk to calm myself down.

its ryo's scarey eyes and masami's angelic face that orchestrated the crushing feeling in my stomach when i watched last friends.

i could not rush through it, i only watched one episode in a sitting which i dont often do. it was not one i could walk right through.

now, seeing ryo being his usual playful self in footage of news backstage its hard to imagine him be so horrible. Pissy temper or not.

i was actually reluctant to watch him in anything else after last friends because he was so mean that i didnt like him at all. 

but dont worry ryo, orthros no inu won you back into my favour (not that you care - why would you care? surely it means your acting did the job. 

why i am directing this at you, youre not reading this, shut up rat get on with it)

having said all that about him i certainly did feel something for sosuke in terms of pity or sympathy. ryo seemed to be able to force aggression into his character while still looking like a scared little boy.i think i was completely taken in by his acting to be honest. i didnt put a picture of him doing his scarey psycho face here, it is too scarey psycho like. 

ueno juri looks fantastic in last friends. i fell for her completely and thought how great she carries herself as a lesbian and was desperately rooting for her even though i knew it was hopeless.

the same with eita really, and i loved his hair - does he ever brush that mess?  takeru (eita) was such a sweet character and my heart broke for him over and over. you almost love everyone through him because he cares for them all so much.

its hard going, especially if you have been affected by any sort of abuse as it is portrayed with realism. it is just exactly how it happens - no eastenders / hollyoaks over the top crap, you feel her sense of being trapped, you feel helpless alongside her friends. i cried pretty much all the way through.

without spoiling anything i will say i was very pleased with how they ended it - and really wasnt sure how they would wrap things up.

it makes it worth sticking with till the end. i dont make a habbit of watching shows that will depress me  (^ ~ ^) but as sad as i was while watching last friends. it was worth every second of anguish.

it won a whole bunch of awards for good reason. i would recomend it but as a warning to anyone with a heart - it will be broken everytime michiru cries.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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