Yoiko no Mikata (よい子の味方 -2003)

Starring:
Sakurai Sho as Suzuki Taiyo
Matsushita Yuki as Mita Shizuka
Fukiishi Kazue as Sakai Minako
Endo Shozo Sasaki Shuzo
Yazawa Shin as Kojima Kaoru
Yoshida Hideko as Yoshikawa Kiyoko
Hamada Mari as Yokoyama Sayuri
Matsushima Nahomi as Tanaka Rie
Itaya Yuka as Arai Erika
Otoha as Omoto Rumi
Matsumoto Jun as Sawada Shin (Gokusen)
Waki Tomohiro as KUMA (Gokusen)
Aiba Masaki
Ohno Satoshi
Saito Ryusei
Hirooka Yuriko

Ask any nursery-aged little girl what she wants to be when she grows up and she's bound to say nurse, florist, or ballerina. Ask any nursery-aged little boy what he wants to be when he grows up and he's bound to say policeman, fireman, sports player, or pilot. As for 20-year-old young man Taiyo Suzuki, however, he's had different aspirations all his life. Moved by his elderly nursery school teacher, Taiyo decided then and there that he too would also become one. Now, having passed the nursery school teacher examination, bright-eyed and eager Taiyo is out to make his mark on a totally female-dominated world. Posted at the Himawari Nursery School to cover for another teacher on maternity leave, Taiyo has but a few short months to prove himself to the female teachers and children's mothers who are arrayed against him that he is every bit as capable as the women. And more importantly, along the way, he'll make his mark with his sparkle and energy to be a true best friend to the children at the school as well. --- NTV



I love, love, love, love this drama. Why, oh why, was it so hard to find online? Well, because the fansubbers specifically pulled all those episodes off because they weren't giving permission to do so. Soooooooo..........................

I got a wild hair. I found the subbers. STORMY fansubs. I found their blog site. They had all episodes there ready for downloading. So I did. I'm so glad I made the effort.

Imagine Gokusen. Then imagine Gokusen in kindergarten. Yeah, Sakurai Sho is our beloved teacher. He himself had pretty much the same hang-ups as Yankumi. You wouldn't really imagine Sho-kun as a kindergarten teacher...but damn if it didn't work. He was wonderful. I think I cried every freakin' episode. They were so sentimental and happy. So happy that you couldn't help but tear up. Oh....episode 6 you'll cry not because of happiness. Sooooooo sad. Ugh!

If you have the time, Winamp, and HJsplit......download this freakin' drama! It's so wonderful. Sho-kun is excellent. So excellent enough to cry on a freakin' dime. I couldn't spill that many tears like he can....and they seem truly sincere!

Can I say I loved it? Yeah? I LOVED IT!!!!

I love you Sakurai Sho! Ohhhhhh, and Aiba, Ohno, and Matsumoto-kun made some guest appearances. Ohno-kun! I love you, too!

Sakurai Sho

Yamada Taro Monogatari (山田太郎ものがたり -2007)

Starring:
Ninomiya Kazunari as Yamada Taro
Sakurai Sho as Mimura Takuya
Kikuchi Momoko as Yamada Ayako
Matsuoka Mitsuru as Yamada Kazuo
Oshinari Shugo as Sugiura Keichi
Fukiishi Kazue as Torii Kyoko
Otsuka Chihiro as Nakai Masami
Shibata Rie as Ikegami Maria
Musaka Naomasa as Ikegami Ryunosuke
Tabe Mikako as Ikegami Takako
Utsui Ken as Ichinomiya
Yoshizawa Hisashi as Ehara Makoto
Fukui Hiroaki as Osaki Shinosuke
Yamada Shintaro as Ando Masaki
Kojima Haruna as Usui Kotone
Takahashi Ryosuke as Okubo Shin
Ogata Sayaka as Kashiwagi Honoka
Yarita Akihiro (鎗田晟裕) as Yamada Jiro
Shimizu Naoya (清水尚弥) as Yamada Saburo
Muranaka Haruna (村中暖奈) as Yamada Yoshiko
Yoshida Riko as Yamada Itsuko
Shibuya Takeru as Yamada Mutsumi
Ayata Toshiki (綾田俊樹) as Isogai Shitsuji
Maro Akaji as Mimura Hijirichi
Nishida Naomi as Mimura Tsuyuko
Mizukawa Asami as Kotani
Yoshiyuki Kazuko as Ume
Ohno Satoshi (ep10)
Nekoze Tsubaki as House maid
Hankai Kazuaki (ep10)

Yamada Taro, a freshman on a scholarship at Ichinomiya Private Senior High School, is high-achieving, strikingly handsome, and truly athletic and seems perfect. But he is actually extremely poor. The story humorously portrays Taro, who tackles problems that occur because of his poverty, and his six younger brothers and sisters. --TBS

This was a cute drama. The first few episodes got me hooked. I loved the way it was set up to teach values that money isn't everything. Yeah, it's nice to have but it doesn't bring you all the happiness in the world.

Family. Yeah, that is where it is at.

But this was all fantasy. I can't think of any instance in real life that we would just give up a perfectly good mansion given freely. I understood the anxiety that Taro faced but I had gotten the impression that the smiles on the kids' faces was all that mattered.

I couldn't understand why his mother didn't work. Weak, they said. Whatever. She could work from home. Leaving all the hard work for Taro, a boy of 17-18, to deal with parental issues was unfair. That really bothered me. While the father traveled around the world, the mother didn't work, and Taro going to school, working, and maintaining the family. Something was wrong in this story.

I know they tried to make the family values, pride and morals come to life....and they did a good job of it.....but it was just hard to see any type of real issue.

Okay, I cried at the end. The kids were sooooo sweet and innocent and they tried to help out their big brother. I, for one, finally saw something that showed a human side in this family. The parents couldn't face up to it but the young kids saw the need to be equal in the household. Go Kids!!

I know I sound uncertain of this show. It had it's definite good points and bad points but I faced this show as a fantasy rather than reality and liked what I saw.

Oh, and did they beef up Ninomiya-kun later on because in the drama he seemed sort of dorkish but this same year he made Tokyo Tower with Jun-kun and he was looking rather hot! What gives?

And might I say that Sakurai Sho I think is my favorite Arashi member. He was just too cool for school.....hehe!

Sakurai Sho

Ummm? Hello baby!!!!

The Letters (Tegami / 手紙 -2007)

Starring:
Takayuki Yamada - Naotaka Takeshima
Erika Sawajiri - Yumiko Shirai
Tetsuji Tamayama - Takashi Takeshima
Supporting Roles:
Kazue Fukiishi - Asami Nakajo
Hiroyuki Onoue - Yusuke Terao
Mitsuru Fukikoshi - Tadao Ogata
Mina Hara
Yukijiro Hotaru
Mitsuko Ishii
Morio Kazama - Tadao
Susumu Kobayashi
Sachiko Matsuura
Kazuyuki Matsuzawa
Naoki Sugiura - Hirano
Toshie Takada
Yoji Tanaka - Kurata
Machiko Washio
Tetsuo Yamashita

Brother, how are you? This is my last letter . . .Takayuki Yamada, Tetsuji Tamayama, and Erika Sawajiri star in the blockbuster film "Tegami." Naoki works at a recycling plant on the outskirts of Tokyo, trying to avoid interacting with people to avoid the reputation of his brother who accidently killed a man and went to prison. He's moved countless times, forgotten his dreams, even the lost the love of his life, all because of his brother. The only thing that saved hopeless Naoki was the woman lookin on from the side, Yumiko. Feeling the first happiness in years, he decides to throw off the chains of his brother who continues to send him letters from prison!

I'm still in tears. OMG! I'm going to have headaches all day because I couldn't sleep a wink because of this movie. Yeah, this movie touched me so much that I literally cried myself to sleep last night. This is hands down the best movie ever from Tamayama Tetsuji. This movie affected me personally. How many more tears can I cry? I knew that once I woke up this morning I would write this review but now I'm thinking about it again and once again my tears fall like rain.

This movie should be seen by everyone. It'll touch your soul in more ways than you can imagine. You don't have to be a relative of a convict to feel the emotions that this movie sets forth in motion. But again, I say this, it hit me on a personal level. I for one never thought of what it's like for the person who sits all alone in prison. This movie turned the table on me. I for one feel the pain that MY brother had to go through and why his letters were replied as soon as I sent him one.

Emotionally draining....yes. But this movie puts in perspective what the families of convicts go through and how the motions of that convict change the lives of not the victims families but the convicts families as well. I understand. I get it.

Be a better person and not treat the families as if they are responsible for the convicts actions.....they are only bystanders.

All I can say is......BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!

This movie gets a "A+" for everything. It was perfect in everyway.