Yūsha Yoshihiko to Maō no Shiro 勇者ヨシヒコと魔王の城, Yūsha Yoshihiko to Akuryō no Kagi 勇者ヨシヒコと悪霊の鍵 [series]

Dragon Quest interpreted by Sato Jiro and Fukada Yuichi. Drunk on sake. At 3 AM. 

ユウシャ!よし行こう！ 

This review is of both series of Yūsha Yoshihiko; series one is Maō no Shiro and series two is Akuryō no Kagi. Dont watch the first episode of series two first by mistake like I did. It won't make any sense. Not that it makes much sense anyway.

This show is the adored mentally challenged child of Director / writer / screenwriter Fukuda Yuichi: (Tenma san ga Yuku, Watashi no Kirai na Tantei, Tokyo Dogs, Saru Lock, The One Pound Gospel, 700 Days of Battle: Us vs. the Police), this drama is bonkers from start to finish. 

Sporting Sato Jiro as Hotoke - and after having watched the extras it is easy to see the two of them made up most of the madness as they were going along - plus a cast of well respected actors making fools of themselves in the weird ass roles they were given to play. 

It is based around computer game (specifically dragon quest) style and story line. There are fantastic game play mimicking moments like Yoshihiko smashing up everything in one of the villager's houses. 

There are useless bandits, weird monsters that don't make much sense, and a whole range of spoof-coloured skit-induced cameos from various comedic actors all making monumental arses of themselves. 

I will always remember this comedy series fondly as its pretty much the sealing tape on the absolute win box of my getting together with Mr awesome awesomeness Hanzawa Naoki to my Hana, who I'm sure will feature now and then on here. 

Laughing so much at this series was the icing on the christmas cake that was our first fantastic winter together so yay Yoshihiko.

Yamada Takayuki plays the hero, with a band of idiots around him he may well be the stupidest of them all. 

An utterly useless accidental hero who is a raging pervert and completely gullible - especially when it comes to being mislead by the bad guys. And the girls.

There are bad spells, brainwashing, magic rings, demons, and copious scenes paying homage to other cult dramas such as Crows Zero and other well loved favourites. 

There are some brilliant cameos which I wont name and spoil because I think it would be funnier to discover while watching. 

Only I can't resist talking about Oguri Shun making a brief appearance to duel with his Crows zero buddy Yamada Takoyaki in a clumsy ridiculously pathetic bickering fest that barely results in battle. 

The bandits were great, but the main four's dead pan acting was the best. The only thing that topped that was Sato Jiro being a complete mental for the entire program. He is the king of everything and should continue to be in every drama ever. 

Daito Shunsuke squeal.

These episode aren't very long. Its super low budget high humour, and the story is good enough to have at least some semblance of a point to it.

The actors and the direction, the half scripted dialogue and the babbling banter make this show stand out from anything else. 

Well, it stands away from anything Fukada Yuichi hasn't had a hand in.

His style is unmistakable and I think he and Sato Jiro should DNA fashion some crazy babies and fill the world with glorious madness.

They are a match made in Hotoke heaven. 

Hotoke beeeeeam!

~

Strawberry Shortcakes ストロベリーショートケイクス [movie]

How to paint God without thinking of religion.....

The only reason I'm writing this really is because I found out that the woman who plays Toko is not an actor but an artist. She wrote the manga this movie is based on, the screenplay for it, and played the character of an artist in the film. She was superb in Strawberry Shortcakes and I would not have guessed she was not an actor. I went online to see what else she had done and found that she had not been in anything else. ...I don't know what to do with this information. She was so good.

Nananan Kiriko - Toko

Nakamura Yuko - Akiko

Ikewaki Chizuru - Satoko

Nakagoshi Noriko - Chihiro

Ando Masanobu - Kikuchi

Kase Ryo - Nagai

My favourite scenes were when Akiko was with Kikuchi. Such natural banter and, well I think she just looks so beautiful. 

The plot is a hard one to really explain as there isn't much of it.

I don't want to go into too much detail, but it is a bittersweet feeling movie about four women who's lives have little direction and love seems to evade them no matter how they try to welcome it.

Each of the characters has their own story but all four are woven in between each other pretty seemlessly.

Toko is an artist struggling with bulimia, living with Chihiro - a girl who seems to be a push over at work and in relationships. 

Akiko is a prostitute in love with a long term friend Kikuchi - both of them get together to drink and talk of how everyone from their schools are succeeding but them. 

Satoko works at the reception desk of Akiko's escort agency, hoping to be in love someday but never seeming to find it. She supports Akiko in her difficult life as best she can from afar.

That is pretty much it in a nutshell. It is one of those quiet movies that plods along nicely with some sweet moments and some horrible ones too. It has no real conclusion, because it is just a snap shot into their lives at one moment, but done not feel entirely pointless, just a little reflective and melancholy. 

Im going to start making these reviews a bit shorter like this one I think otherwise I never have time to post them. Hopefully this means I can continue to post more than once in a blue moon. Let's see if I can keep my epic ranting to a minimum shall we?

~

Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi まほろ駅前番外地 [movie] [series]

Gintama staring Eita as Gintoki and Matsu Ryu as Kagura. I dub thee bangumi "Eitama"

Cast: 

Tada Keisuke - Eita (Last friends, Sunao ni Narenakute, Voice)

Gyoten Haruhiko - Matsuda Ryuhei (Aoi Haru)

Series also includes:

Miura Masaki (Zettai Radio)

Kora Kengo (Gokusen 2)

Yamamoto Maika (Kasuka na Kanojo)

Sakai Maki (Nekoben to Toumei Ningen sp2)

Kawamura Yukie (ROMES)

Ok first off, let me say that this site sucks. 

I cant center any of my images so the formatting issues I'm having are going to make this post completely awful. 

I have not got the energy to re do the whole thing for the forth time just to get the photos in so they are going in whichever way they will. F*ck it.

Grumpy pouting at this stupid site.

The movie comes first, showing how the two main characters meet and

become Tada Benriken - the odd jobs shop baring a striking resemblance to Gintama's yoroza ethos of taking on the most bizarre and seemingly impossible requests of its customers. 

Shall we start the petition for Eita to play Gintoki in a live action Gintama now or later?

Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi まほろ駅前番外地 [movie]

Maybe let's just review this first. 

I just want to finish this review so I can have Eitama on the top of my front page with his beautiful face, 

but I cant rush this review as I have just realised I took over 30 screen shots - from the movie alone. 

I need to somehow write so much that I can fit all of those pictures here. Never going to happen. 

Every single one is too gorgeous not to include but I will have to ramble on about pointless sh*t for a while to get everything in. No change there then.

I watched the movie after the series because I'm an idiot and didn't realise until I was half way through that the movie came first. 

To be fair, the series has that old style look to it and the movie looked new and shiny so what was I supposed to think. 

It worked that way though. I enjoyed the flash back to how they met up and became who they are now in the recent series.

~ Sneezing fit. 

Anyway, we see Eita's character Tada on his missions looking kind of alone but complacent, bump into Gyōten who he knew from school. He picks him up like a stray cat and they begin to embark on their odd road to friendship and contentment through the trials thrown in their way.

~ Seriously stop f*cking sneezing.

This movie sets the scene for the coming ridiculousness of the series. But honestly either one without the other is fine, any which way round is also fine. 

I think the series stands alone just as much as the movie. Both together is a bonus of fully textured lovable characters. 

These guys both have charm leaking out of every word and glance. As they fall for each other's charm, we completely fall for theirs.

I skate between wanting to be Eita with his amazing hair, then wanting to have an adorable stray like Gyōten to knock around with, then daydream about that awesome pile of sh*t place they live in, and then get fixated on Matsu Ryu's warm presence and fantastic acting skill which brings me back into the movie I'm watching.

Leaping away from Aoi Haru and the cold bizarre harshities of that situation, Matsu Ryu has another character who's everything is hiding behind seemingly dead eyes. But charm is the first, last and every other middling word I would use to describe his essence. 

Natural and subtle. Also a bit slap stick and silly. 

The way he runs with his hands flapping by his sides and always in is sandals and pajamas is so cute. 

As I've said, Tada is basically Gintoki from Gintama. 

He is so thoughtful and awesome but also pretty damn useless and buckles to his surrounding loved ones - running to the rescue of everyone he has a fleeting feeling for. Not a negative trait, but a one which conflicts with his personality of wanting to stay out of trouble and keep himself to himself.

In the movie we get the back story to both Tada and Gyōten's previous troubles in life and find out how they wound up where they are. 

We meet quite a few people from the series like the policemen and Hoshi the gangster with the most fetching white waist coat I ever saw not on a boyband member from the 90's.

Gyōten's wife was f*cking hot.

So you might have noticed by now that I've basically got screen shots of nothing but their faces pretty close up. 

This is not just because they are so photogenic and I'm completely happy to smother my front page with them. 

It is mainly because... 

well no it is mainly the reason I just said, 

but it is  because the movie is just lots of quiet scenes with not much talking, looking at their close up faces while they look at stuff or think about stuff. All fine with me. As explained. 

My shots are pretty much all from the movie. The picture quality of my movie file is better than that of the drama so I took a battered old windscreenless truck load of them.

But the series is so good, I will run through a few examples of the stupid sh*t they get up to.

Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi まほろ駅前番外地 [series]

In the first episode they become Mexican wrestlers - as a requested odd job, not as a hobby. Which is genius. 

Other jobs included disposal of a life size wax woman 

(fully detailed and... less clothed), 

finding a teenage fugitive on the run from the police after killing her abusive father, helping a man track down a woman from a karaoke video, stealing a ring from a girl who stole a boyfriend, and normal sh*t like walking a dog. 

Each job came with a tattered truck load of other problems to fix, usually a drastic measure previously uncalled for of a handyman. And his stray cat. 

But their sense of justice, or inability to refuse seems to always land them in it somehow. Deep in the midst of everyone else's problems and conflicts.

Watching them ironing out Mahoro's idiocy one person at a time is nice. But watching them come to terms with their own is even nicer. It is quite serious at times, almost dark in places, but moving and lovely as a whole. 

I'm feeling pretty fuzzy right now as I have a ranging cold and bit of a fever - I want to stop it here so I guess cramming all these shots in is going to be a tight squeeze. 

Reading that when the pictures are all in and the post is finished is pretty weird. Damn I didn't feed the dog. I don't want to get up again. 

The formatting keeps messing up tonight and I don't have the energy to fight against this crappy site and the lack of sense it makes. Damn it I'm going to bed.

~