Yaoh (夜王 （やおう）-2006)

Starring:
Matsuoka Masahiro as Ryosuke
Karina as Saito Matsuri
Kitamura Kazuki as Seiya
Kaname Jun as Shu
Ishigaki Yuma as Natsuki
Suga Takamasa as Ren
Aoki Shinsuke as Taiga
Oshinari Shugo as Hikaru
Naitou Takashi
Katase Rino
Sato Jiro
Arakawa Yoshiyoshi
Yajima Kenichi
Matsuda Satoshi
Naitou Takashi
Iwasa Mayuko
Otani Mitsuho (ep01)
Hoshino Mari (ep02)
Becky (ep03)
Kuroda Fukumi (ep03)
Sato Megumi (ep04)
Okada Kohki (ep04)
Tokoro George (ep06)
Umemiya Masako (ep06)
Mizutani Momosuke
Sugimoto Aya
Kato Yoshika
Shibue Joji (ep11)


Matoba Ryosuke is an ex-gangster who enters the world of hosts and the story depicts his journey to be number one in the club.

Okay. I'll try this again. Damn blogger didn't save. Got an error and everything I typed went to hell..............

This was an eyecandy, happy drama for me. Why? Because there are four, yes four, Kamen Rider actors in this drama. Hell yeah! Doing some serious happy dancing. Suga Takamasa, Matsuda Satoshi, Kaname Jun, and Shibue Joji......all on one freakin' show. Can't get any better. Taka-san and Satoshi-san are my all time favorites. Period. They take my wild fantasies to a whole new spector. Hehehe!

This drama itself was okay. What I mean is...is that it wasn't the best but it wasn't the greatest either. I guess I was a little fatigued watching Taka-san being a bad guy. Whoa is me! So was Satoshi-san! Both from the same KR series too! At least by the end of the drama series, Taka-san overcame his manly whoreness and came over from the darkside. Satoshi-san only had one episode but he wasn't redeemable. Ugh! But still fine as ever. *sigh*

The series itself wasn't all that believable. I don't know if the media wants to rectify the host club nation or what. It's just another name for a prostitution club. Even though this show was trying to make it out that they are a "healing" place for women. Well, yeah...if I had one hot lookin' dude giving me all of his attention and ended up in bed with him, let's slap him with a lab coat and call him doctor. I'm healed!!

This was all fantasy, I know. So I had to watch it in that way. I just wished it could have been more realistic. They made the hosts look like they came out of a yakuza ring. Whatever.

I was in heaven just watching my KR guys lookin' hot and gorgeous.......that's all I needed to get me through my day. Yessiree!

Heaven's Bookstore (Tengoku no honya - koib / 戀火 -2004)

Starring:
Yuko Takeuchi ... Shoko/Natsuko
Tetsuji Tamayama ... Kenta
Karina ... Yui
Hirofumi Arai ... Satoshi
Teruyuki Kagawa ... Takimoto
Yoshio Harada ... Yamaki
Akashi Takei


KENTA (Tetsuji Tamayama), a young pianist who has just lost his job, is drowning his woes at a bar, when he meets a man in a Hawaiian shirt named YAMAKI (Yoshio Harada). He invites Kenta to work with him, and the next thing he knows, Kenta wakes up to find himself in a room he has never been in before. It is a strange room that seems to have no connection to life. He descends a staircase to find many shelves of books. Yamaki appears once again, and tells him that this is Heaven's Book Service and Kenta is going to start working a short-term part-time job here. In addition to selling books, this bookstore, owned by Yamaki, provides a service of reading aloud to customers. Although he is unsure of his new surroundings, Kenta follows their actions and starts to work in his new part-time job.

One day, Kenta meets SHOKO (Yuko Takeuchi) who had been the pianist that was the inspiration for him to first to start playing the piano. She was a gifted pianist whose promising future was destroyed when an accident caused her to have trouble in hearing.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, KANAKO (also by Yuko Takeuchi), the daughter of a Japanese patisserie store, is planning to bring back the fireworks show, which used to be held until 14 years ago. Everyone who watched the fireworks would look forward to the last piece, the "Loving Fireworks." It was told that couples that watch it together would be forever united in true love. However, the fireworks shows were discontinued when TAKIMOTO (Teruyuki Kagawa), a young fireworks technician had an accident that caused his fiancee to lose her hearing, and the tragedy lead him to disappear. The pianist, as it turns out, is Shoko, Kanako's aunt.



Okay, this was my second try at this movie. I watched maybe 15 minutes of the first time and was bored. I came across it again and realized that "Dang it!", Tetsuji-kun (my love) was in this and that I needed to finish it. Just because it bored me at the beginning didn't me it wouldn't pick up, right?

Wrong.

It was still slow...not as boring...but it wasn't heart-poundingly exciting either. There were a few moments of "ahh"ness to it. Yui and the realization of why she was in Heaven. Satoshi falling in love with her. *so sweet!* And then when Yui got to "meet" her brother. *sniff, sniff*

The ending was actually quite predictable so it wasn't like I melted or had to wipe away tears. Nope. It was nice but not awe inspiring. But it was nice to see "watashi no koibito". *sigh* That man has never, ever, ever, ever looked bad....EVER!

Ushi ni Nagai wo: Love & Farm (牛に願いを Love & Farm -2007)

AKA: Wish Upon a Cow: Love & Farm


Starring:
Tamayama Tetsuji as Takashimizu Takashi
Koide Keisuke as Mano Tohei
Nakata Atsuhiko as Wakamatsu Ryuta
Aibu Saki as Fujii Ayaka
Karina as Suenaga Mihoko
Toda Erika as Chiba Kazumi
Tanaka Kei as Ashizaki Katsuya
Arimura Miki as Takashimizu Yuri
Hamada Mari as Tsumura Kyoko
Aijima Kazuyuki as Yoshida Muneyuki
Ichige Yoshie as Ashizaki Fukiko
Kohinata Fumiyo as Teranishi Yutaro
Osugi Ren as Takashimizu Hiroki
Asaka Mayumi
Nakajima Tomoko as Miyamoto Natsumi
Nakamura Shido as Kato Akira
Fujimoto Shizuka
Kanai Yuta
Kurita Yoko
Tachibana Ayano (ep01)
Hiraizumi Sei (ep04)
Oka Mayumi

Six agriculture students travel north to Hokkaido for first-hand training and experience in a farm setting. The story focuses not only on their daily life and their growth as young men and women, but also on the economic situation in the region, which received national attention earlier this year when the national government cut off aid to the struggling city of Yubari. -- Tokyograph

This was suprisingly a very, very good drama. I cried a few times during some of the episodes. I laughed at their simple but sweet comedic moments.

Tamayama Tetsuji has done it again! I'm so in love with this guy. He's amazingly versatile. I would never have thought he would play a dairy farmer. What was so amazing was...he seemed in his element milking cows and helping birth a calf. OMG! He stuck his hand up in there. I'm pretty sure that was a real cow!!!

All the players were wonderful. Koide Keisuke is amazing always when he plays the sweet, shy, naive characters. He's very comfortable as an actor.

I'm always telling everyone I know....Japanese (mainly) dramas have metaphors of life. They teach and believe in the way of living. I really like these most. I don't feel drained after a drama. So I smile as I type this because this drama believed in the symbolism of family and the live of a dairy farmer that are becoming extinct.

A definite must see......................