Umizaru (海猿-2005)

Starring:
Ito Hideaki as Senzaki Daisuke
Kato Ai as Izawa Kanna
Nakamura Toru as Ikezawa Masaki
Sato Ryuta as Yoshioka Tetsuya
Sato Hitomi as Komori Chika
Suzuki Kazuma as Fuyushiba Kosuke
Natsuyagi Isao as Katsuda Kotaro
Iida Kisuke as Miike Kenji
Sakamoto Akira as Iwamatsu Daigo
Hirayama Usuke as Yamaji Takumi
Miyake Hiroki as Bessho Kenjiroh
Usuda Asami as Hoshino Rei
Ichiki Ami Ono Yui
Okunuki Kaoru Ono Eriko
Yoshimoto Miyoko as Ikezawa Naoko
Masuoka Toru as Tsuda Shinpei
Ibu Masato as Higo Daisaku
Tokito Saburo as Shimokawa Iwao
Sakamoto Makoto as Nagashima Kenta
Ito Atsushi (ep1)
Karina (ep1)
Aoki Munetaka (ep1)
Namioka Kazuki as Tokunaga Masaya (ep4)
Fuse Hiroshi
Suzuki Honoka
Tanaka Tetsushi
Yashiba Toshihiro
Abe Ryohei

A story of friendship, love and the brutal training of 14 Japan Coast Guard officers becoming rescuer divers. The rescuer divers, on the front line in rescue activities in heavy seas and always one step away from death, are a group of specialists in a profession that only 1% of all Coast Guard officers qualify for. In order to receive that qualification they have to undergo 50 days of grueling training in rescue activities. The young Cost Guard officers, including Daisuke Senzaki, take on the challenge of that hellish training. The story concentrates on the lives of the divers after having passed their examination.

OMG! No....OH MY FREAKIN' GOD! This was the most awesome drama. OMG! This was one spectacular heart-tugger. Just the right amount of comedy to keep it flowing. The action was nice...not the karate type stuff type action but real honest-to-goodness, make you wish you were in the coast guard kind.

Ito Hideaki....mmmm-mmmm-mmmm....deliciously cute. Kawaii!

I really want to see the movies. They are copywrited so their viewing is painstakingly hard. Just when I thought I found them......they were gone. "Poof!" I understand that you need to watch the first movie to understand the drama itself. That's not true. They gave us enough information at the beginning for those of us who haven't seen the movie....to enjoy this freakingly awesome drama. Now I want to see the last movie.......I just want more Umizaru because the drama just wasn't long enough. We need another season people!!!

Most definitely!

Nakamura Toru......Hello! The man.....maybe over 40....but is do damn gorgeous for his own good. And to think.....his character would be the one that had me crying myself to sleep. His last scene was the most unexpected..........

First Kiss (ファースト・キス -2007)

Starring:
Inoue Mao as Fukunaga Mio
Ito Hideaki as Kano Kazuki
Hiraoka Yuta as Yuki Akio
Matsuyuki Yasuko as Takagi Renko
Gekidan Hitori as Shindo Ichiryu
Abe Sadao as Nikaido Masaru
Takenaka Naoto as Banba Dai
Natsuki Mari as Fukunaga Rieko
Sakai Wakana as Saito Haruna
Warabino Tomoya as Shohata Takeo

Guests
Gashuin Tatsuya (ep1)
Marie (ep1)
Endo Yuya (ep2)
Kashiwabara Shuji (ep3)
Daito Shunsuke (ep5)
Watanabe Izumi (渡部いずみ) (ep5)
Iketani Nobue (池谷のぶえ) (ep6)
Shiba Toshio (柴俊夫) (ep6-10)
Sugawara Eiji (ep7)
Saito Yua (齊藤夢愛) (ep7-8)

A bitter-sweet and uplifting comedy drama about a young girl Mio and her brother Kazuki. To treat her illness overseas, Mio has been living away from her older brother Kazuki for the past ten years. After learning about the upcoming surgery, which she has only a fifty percent chance of survival, Mio decides to fly back to Japan to spend time with Kazuki. Looking forward to seeing his sweet younger sister, Kazuki anxiously awaits Mio's return in Japan. However, their reunion is nothing but full of surprises as Mio has transformed from the innocent sickly girl Kazuki remembers from ten years ago into a sassy woman with an attitude. Kazuki has difficulty dealing with his wickedly selfish younger sister, but soon learns about the truth of her medical condition and has a change of heart. --groink

Ya know, I've skipped this drama a thousand times. The synopsis didn't intrigue me one bit. Well, I'm coming to the end of all the dramas I can find so I'm scoping crunchyroll.com for something I might have missed. I sit at the computer and squint my eyes in thought...."Do I really want to watch this?" Okay, the girl has a heart problems which usually means that the drama will be some sort of tearjerker and I'm not really into watching a half of a romantic duo die. So I contemplated. I read the crunchyroll.com reviews for this drama. Nobody mentions death. Hmm? Maybe this'll be good?

So I get a wild hair up my butt and clicked on the first episode link. I'm hooked. Ohhhhh, am I hooked. I cried in the first freakin' episode. Hello?? Next thing ya know...I can't stand it. I'm practically rushing through all the episodes. Does Mio and Dr. Yuuki make it? To hell with the rest of the cast.....

Hiraoka Yuta....to die for!! I've seen him a countless times. Guess what I'm searching movies and dramas that I might have missed with him in them. Oh......I'm so hooked on this guy. He's so freakin' kawaii!!! I'm in "suki" with him..........*must find my Japanese book and translate that fully into Japanese and not half-assed.*

I loved, loved, loved this drama. God Bless the Japanese and their romance dramas because, and yet again I say this, they don't torture you till you've bled your last drop of blood like the Korean dramas. This was so sweet.........

I'm sooooo downloading the bittorrents for this drama....I must have it!!

Hiraoka Yuta

Searchin' For My Polestar (天体観測 （てんたいかんそく）,Tentai Kansoku -2002)

Starring:
Ito Hideaki as Sayama Kyouichi
Sakaguchi Kenji as Kawamura Tomoya
Odagiri Joe as Kisaki Takeshi
Koyuki as Sawamura Mifuyu
Tabata Tomoko as Miyabe/Yamase Satomi
Konishi Manami as Ida Yuri
Yamazaki Shigenori as Yamazaki Kenta
Hasegawa Kyoko as Arisaka Nanae
Uehara Misa as Matsumoto Arisu
Matsushige Yutaka as Matsubara
Otani Naoko as Mama Terumi
Tanaka Tetsushi as Yamase, Satomi's husband
Jinbo Satoshi as Section Chief Yoshida
Koike Teppei
Asami Reina
Yasui Kenichiro
Asano Kazuyuki
Yashima Norito
Akimoto Naomi
Okada Megumi
Ogi Shigemitsu

The main characters of "Searchin' for My Polestar" are 7 friends that met at college while in the astronomic observation club "Sagittarius." Being in the club was just an excuse for them to go to the beach in summer, and skiing in winter. Actually, the only time they ever observed any stars was at summer camp during their senior year.

Dreaming of a bright future, the seven exchange vows for eternal friendship. However, over the next several years, their busy schedules cause them to begin drifting apart.

It's been 3 years since that summer when they laughed together gazing at the stars. Will their friendship continue to drift farther and farther apart? Or will they manage to strengthen their friendship again? --Fuji TV

Okay, okay. I'm totally balling like a baby. Episodes 8-12....killer! I was not expecting this drama to catch me, hook, line and sinker. First of all, I started watching this because of my Joe-san. He's so kawaii! Well, I have to be upset with the wardrobe department....why do they dress him off like he is a hustler from the 70's? Drives me CRAZY!

This was an awesome drama. Actually, I really think the Japanese drama, Friends, is a knock-off of this drama. Okay, there is no wife beater in this drama but the husband of one of the main characters is distant and treats her like a servant. Totally a jerk. Then you have the friends all go through some rough patch in their lives and someone always trying to fix the others problems. Then the interlove triangle/quadrangle that never really was a love thing in the first place. That was totally confusing.

The end...well, suffice it to say.....just tore me to shreds. I'm still in tears. It was wonderful. My only beef was the very, very, very, very last scene.....when the main three characters walked in different directions. That just tore me up because they are ALL best friends....they should all be together to the very end. At that point, I wanted a best friend like all seven of them were. I want that sort of relationship. Something that is not gender bound and that special person in the group would always be there for me. *Okay the tears are really flowing again. My throat hurts from holding back the sobs. And the snot won't stop running out of my nose.......*

God, I really LOVED this drama.

Ito Hideaki


Koike Teppei

Ummmm? He has abs....OMG!!! Too bad he's too young for my taste......So I know some other girls will likey this pic. LOL!