I’ve thought about what makes an asadora like Toto Nee-chan so strong compared to some others, and it’s easy to see what it is: A CLEAR ADHERENCE TO A SINGULAR STORYLINE. From its very first scene (where you see the main characters already grown and succesful as magazine publishers), the stage is set: you are going to hear a tale of a family of three sisters who strive through wars and hardships to one day become publishing giants, and the asadora never wavered. Every arc and challenge the family met became a stone in the foundation of what they would become and what their fortunes and fates would be. From Tsuneko going to school as a child, all the way to success, you follow her through every step of her life, crying and cheering along the way with her.
Usually a show’s best parts are in the first half of the drama and there is some faltering at the second half, but Toto Nee-chan kept you interested with each new development, and I remember being at week 20 and STILL feeling as excited as I was in its first few chapters! And by the time of the show’s last great arc, I couldn’t stop watching, burning through the episodes to see what happened next, I was SO INVESTED and had to force myself to slow down! SUCH a great STORY!
Watching Tsuneko grow up and rise to the challenges to create her dreams in both work and family was a joy to watch and you felt sadness with every tragedy that befell her and warmth in your heart every time she successfully completed her one of her dream goals.
In asadoras, they tended to show the heroine’s entire life, from beginning, middle, and (sometimes) all the way to the end...in that same way, I’m impressed at how well Toto Nee-chan gives you the sense of time moving. People growing up, moving away, etc....
As each arc ends and the children grow older, you really feel like you’re witnessing a whole life’s work. In the latter chapters with the sisters running the publishing house, thinking back on the early episodes where she and her sisters were still living with Grandmother Takiko in Tokyo, it seemed a million years ago, it seemed like a completely different drama! It truly gave you the feeling of history, like those were the "olden days"...
I began watching this because of my love for Mitsuki Takahata, and I’m so glad I did, this asadora has been a tour-de-force for her and has absolutely become my favorite Mitsuki Takahata role and drama! Since picking up Toto Nee-chan, I’ve put her latest show “Muchaburi” on hold so as to not distract from immersing in the asadora, but now it’s done I can finally go back and catch up. Hope it measures up, because Toto Nee-chan has become the Mitsuki Takahata drama ALL others must compare to!
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Life on the road can be tough, but it’s all worthwhile for all the run-down lodgings they’ll encounter: From outdated phones, televisions, and light fixtures, dingy and humble washrooms, to well-worn beddings...and OOH! Stained Carpets!!!! ...this is a Boro Yado fan's DELIGHT!!!
Nihon Boro Yado Kiko is a fun and spirited show filled with warmth and sentimentality of yesteryear, and part of its authenticity is that Takahashi (and even Fukagawa) have real-life idol roots- Kazuya Takahashi was a Johnny’s entertainment singer in the 80’s (and really exuded that early boy-idol style)-
and of course Mai Fukagawa herself came from the first generation of Nogizaka46!
Maybe that's the magic formula that makes Nihon Boro Yado Kido such a great little ode to the glories of yesterday! Really LOVED it!
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From Tsutsumi Shinichi as the Husband to Aju Makita as the daughter, Ryunosuke Kamiki as the brother and an incredible performance by Nono Maida as the Yuriko Ishida reincarnated Wife Takae (and even Misato Morita and Yo Yoshida as support characters), these were all people you grew to really care about and want to see find happiness, though you are aware that not everyone can get what they want in life.
From the get go, we all felt that this story would have a bittersweet ending but I'm happy to say that it was an entirely satisfying and complete conclusion to a wonderful story…
Who would have ever thought a drama with such a humorous set-up could be so heartfelt and heartbreaking!
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This show (Drama? Special?) is the one that really did it for me and pushed Tomoka Kurokawa from a passing fancy to a true "Crush" as I can't get her out of my head! The character of Yuna in Kanojo to no Tadashi Asobikata is such a great one- at first seemingly perfect and conceited, little by little, as she and Takeshi go through the motions at school and outside, you see how awkward and insecure she is about herself- moreover, you see just how much she really loves this guy. MAN! Tomoka really SOLD ME!!!!
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Strangely enough, though I really enjoyed Abe's crime drama SHINZANMONO, I had no IDEA that The Wings Of The Gryphon was a movie featuring the characters from it! I simply thought Hiroshi Abe , Junpei Mizubata, etc, wre playing stereotypical crime drama roles that I've seen them play a hundred times before! You would have thought the characters NAMES would have tipped me off, but honestly, I didn't remember what any of them were! LOL
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On that note I made plans to get around to watching the movie, but to say that Aoi Yu is “in” this movie is like watching the Blues Brothers for Peewee Herman, seeing as how they both appear onscreen in each respective movie for about the same amount of time! But despite that setback, something about the Honoka’a Boy’s slow and calming pace really drew me in, and before you knew it, I was really enjoying it!
Starring Okada Masaki as the fish out of water, or rather a Nihongo stuck on the Big Island, the show details his adjustment to life in the Islands as opposed to his life in Japan. The show is crammed full of interesting and eccentric characters, (including a fun performance by Matsuzaka Keiko, (whom I ADORED as Ikushima in Atsuhime), and Baisho Chieko (as the spinsterly lady who falls for Okada) but make no mistake about it: The true “star” of this movie just HAS to be Sexy Hasegawa Jun! From the moment Okada’s character Leo befriends the exotic “local” girl Mariah, her sexiness totally captivates Leo’s thoughts (and ours) and with Hasegawa rockin’ the cute denim short-shorts and skimpy bikinis, you just CAN'T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF HER!
Funny that until I watched this movie, I’d always believed :”Jun Hasegawa” to be an ACTOR, that is, a dude. What I didn’t realize is that there are actually TWO talents out there with the same name, a fact I sadly discovered when I tuned in on the drama Naka Nai to Kimeta Hi thinking I was gonna see some sweet local goodness and instead saw an up ‘n’ comin’ Johnny’s Boy. D’oh!
Living in Hawaii myself, I love going out to visit the outer islands, and I think this movie manages to capture the laid-back and relaxing vibe the islands give off perfectly! When the movie was over, I found myself strangely mellow, as if I'd just come home from a long, breezy visit to Honoka'a! AHAHAHAHAHA!
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But if I thought this movie was gonna be all fun and games, I was SORELY MISINFORMED! ‘Cause though there WAS an awful lot of that in the first half of the movie, at one point, Dear Friends becomes quite somber and turns into a serious and introspective film. Where I thought I would be spending my time drooling and pandering after Keiko, I suddenly found myself weeping like a girlyman instead!
Keiko plays Rina, a sexy girl-about town who has the world of the nightlife in the palm of her hand. She is brash, spoiled and manipulating, but when she finds herself suddenly hospitalized, she is brought crashing back to earth, her partygoing life and thrillseeking friends taking a back seat as Rina is forced to see what really matters in life.
Stellar acting from all the lead actors, especially Keiko and actress Yuika Motokariya, who plays Maki, another sick girl who gives Rina the inner strength to go on with her life when fate has dealt her a bitter hand. Also of merit is the CUTE little girl Mao Sasaki who played Kanae, a tiny shut-in patient who befriends Rina during her initial stay at the hospital. Oh, and a holler out to Hatsume Matsushima who played Rina’s partygoing friend Emi who looked HELLA like Ueto Aya in those opening scenes!
This is my second movie in recent weeks dealing with hospitalization and cancer after seeing equally terrific HEAVEN’S DOOR, the movie that starred Nagase Tomoya as the cancer patient and Mayuko Fukuda as the shut-in hospitalized girl. Though the two movies couldn’t be any more different, they both had heart at its center and guaranteed that I’d be using up all my Kleenex as it took me through its emotional ups and downs!! Sob, Sob!
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This movie was interesting and quick-paced, the fight scenes quick and stylized, and Ayase Haruka, besides being as pretty as ever (even dressed in rags!), is entirely convincing as the cold and ruthless Ichi. I loved every scene she was in, and especially liked the scenes with her and the little boy who shows her around the village and lovingly follows her around as she shuffles through town.
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Besides Keiko and Ryo Nishikido, Dakishimetai featured an all-star ensemble cast, including Eriko Sato and Aya Hirayama, albeit in minor roles.
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But at the halfway mark of Hayabusa Shobodan, the show slowly began shifting into an entirely different, SURREAL drama, one involving Fanatical Religious Cults, Supernatural Encounters, and Spiritual Prophet Reincarnation! WHAAA!
While on one hand thinking "What the HECK is happening to this drama?", the OTHER hand was transfixed and couldn't WAIT to see what would happen NEXT! This had all the makings of a David Lynch Series a la TWIN PEAKS, and I was ALL on BOARD!
I've said many times how much I appreciate an unpredictable show where you're on your toes with one surprise after another and I GOTTA SAY, I had NO IDEA where ANY of it was going to GO! Had me guessing ALL the WAY to the END!
Sadly, it ended ALL TOO SOON, and I really wished it could have been even 15 minutes longer just so we could have a nicer "wrap up" between the romantic leads. STILL, a fine show and one I'm satisfied with, something I can't say for most of the shows lately...
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Scattershot but Satisfying
Despite this drama's wildly outlandish set-ups and unbelievable plot twists (really haven't seen this many expectations subverted since The Last Jedi!), I cannot deny the fact that I was THOROUGHLY entertained throughout the entire story of the three desperate women who do the unthinkable to get out of the unbearable situations fate has cornered them into!Atsuko Maeda, Anna Ishii and Mai Fukagawa excel as the three lead women, in particular Fukagawa came in really strong with her character!
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Uchi no Musume wa, Kareshi ga Dekinai!!
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Featuring a fine little cast, this was an ensemble-led drama where everyone shone, and yet, the heart and soul of the show was the love between this eccentric Mother and Daughter as they go about life and romance!
I cannot tell you how many times I was just sitting there crying my eyes out with how wonderfully touching the scenes with Mom Aoi and daughter Sora, their each and every moment showing you how much these two loved each other.
And the writing…There were so many zippy, fun and witty scenarios as well as incredible, wonderful lines of dialog that warmed me, inspired me and just flat out BROKE MY HEART!(sadly most of them I can’t quote without giving away important story points!)
This is one drama I will really have to sit on and decide where I want to place it in my list of all-time faves, because, oh boy, this was a HUGE one!!! One of the most satisfying dramas I’ve seen, and DEFINITELY one to go alongside all of writer Eriko Kitagawa’s other amazing dramas!
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Man, It’s been a day and I still can’t stop thinking about this drama. You know how when you’re watching a show’s last episode and it’s looking like things will end the way you want…and then you see that it still has a half hour to go and you KNOW it’s gonna have one of those...DRAMATIC kind of conclusions…
Well, without giving away any spoilers Kenja No Ai ended on a similar note and while it wasn’t the ending I wanted, it was an ending that seemed …RIGHT somehow…enough that I accepted it fully and am here still thinking about it…
I’m in a VERY melancholy mood right now!
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The story of Kaibutsu concerns a Police Detective named Kosai (Koichi Sato) who is determined to arrest an up-and-coming politician (Jun Kaname) suspected of a crime committed 15 years ago involving the murder of a little girl is intriguing enough, add in a surreal extra-sensory power Kosai has of being able to perceive a murder scene by scent alone, and you've got a slightly X-Files-ish tale on your hands. Going further and adding in another case he's working on concurrently with his new partner Ishikawa (Chiaki Kuriyama) involving a worker named Masaki (Osamu Mukai) working at a Sewage -Treatment Center who's suspected of liquidating bodies with the city's new high-pressure waste disposal unit, and we're reaching DAVID LYNCH creepiness!
"There are people who want to disappear, and then there are those whom people want to disappear", Masaki tells Kosai one day, and this seems inarguably true in a world where cruel criminals callously murder innocent victims and those slighted burn with taking revenge into their own hands, and as people begin disappearing left and right, the question of just who the "good" people are in this movie and who the "monsters" are begin to blur.
By the movie's conclusion, we are left with that thought to ponder, and as the movie ended and the characters departed, I for one wanted to see where the events set up in this movie would lead! In fact, the ending left me on SUCH a "What Happens Next...?" kind of feel, I even rushed to AsianMediaWiki to see if this was the pilot to a new TV series or another movie (like the two-movie chaptered Double Face, for example), but so far nothing yet....
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