Tiger and Dragon (タイガー＆ドラゴン -2005)

Starring:
Nagase Tomoya as Yamazaki Kotora / Hayashiyatei Kotora / Tora / Toraji / Toravolta
Okada Junichi as Yanaka Ryuji / Hayashiyatei Kotatsu
Ito Misaki as Megumi
Nishida Toshiyuki as Yanaka Shoukichi / Hayashiatei Donbei / Shishou / Don-chan
Shoufukutei Tsurube as Nakatani Ken / Ken-chan (Shinjuku RyuseIkai Kumicho)
Tsukamoto Takashi as Nakatani Ginjiro / Gin-gin
Takuma Takayuki as Hyuuga Jun
Gin Pun Chou as Yanaka Sayuri
Abe Sadao as Yanaka Ryuhei / Hayashiyatei Donta
Nekoze Tsubaki as Yanaka Tsuruko
Shunputei Shota as Hayashiyatei Donkichi
Hoshino Gen as Hayashiyatei Dontsuku
Fukami Motoki as Hayashiyatei Donburi
Asari Yosuke as Murata Susumu / Hayashiyatei Udon
Aoi Yu as Risa
Kiritani Kenta as Chibi T / Takeshi-kun
Arakawa Yoshiyoshi as Awashima Yukio / "Jumptei Jump"
Omi Toshinori as Ta-chan (Soba Shop owner / Rakugo Fanatic)
Hankai Kazuaki as Hanzou (Oden Stand Owner / Rakugo Fanatic)
Matsumoto Jun as Yoshiko
Itou Shuuko (伊藤修子) as Nakatani Shizuka
Emoto Karin (江本花琳) as Yanaka Saya
Horaguchi Shinya (洞口信也) as Manabu
Hiroishi Keiichi (廣石恵一) as Kariya
Koumoto Junichi as Liu-san
Fukazawa Atsushi

Guests
Hiroshi (ヒロシ) as Death Kiyoshi (Sp&ep7)
Sugawara Daikichi (菅原大吉) as Tamotsu (Sp&10)
Oomori Nao as BOSS Kataoka (ep3)
Takada Fumio (高田文夫) as Takadatei Babahiko (ep3,7,10&11)
Morishita Aiko as Mizukoshi Koharu (ep4&11)
Furuta Arata as Maruo (ep5)
Shimizu Michiko as Marimo (ep5)
Yakushimaru Hiroko as Shiraishi Katsuko (ep6)
Kohinata Fumiyo as Yanagitei Koshin (ep7)
Takaoka Sousuke as Kaneko (ep8)
Kitamura Kazuki as Tanabe Yasuo (ep8,9,11)
Ino Manabu (猪野学) as Tetsuya (ep9)
Shoji Yusuke (少路勇介) as Yasuji (ep9)
Hashimoto Jun as Kaji Rikio (ep9-11)

The tale of Tiger & Dragon revolves around Rakugo, a traditional form of Japanese comedy that can look back on an impressive 400 year long history. Nagase portrays the Yakuza follower Toraji who goes to a Rakugo performer to collect debts, while Okada plays Ryuji a talented Rakugo player who wants to leave behind the old fashioned world of Rakugo for good. Shortly afterwards these two very different characters happen to cross paths through a girl named Megumi and that's when all the real trouble starts igniting.

Wow! This drama was so confusing. It's overly fast-paced. The first episode should have clued me in right there because it took me a couple of tries to watch this.

I'm not saying this show was bad but hard to keep up with. It would throw you into the Rakugo stories and then the "reality" stories and you would have to fend for yourself to figure out the show.

The show's actors were superb! Why I haven't fallen in love with Okada Junichi until now....I don't know. And Nagase Tomoya must love the "yakuza" characters he plays because he fits into those parts so well. LOL! And let's not forget the cute Tsukamoto Takashi. So I stuck in there with this drama because the eye candy was delectable.

I don't recommend this show for everyone even though there were some moments that were so funny. Again, its fact paced and the dialogue can be quick. So some jokes it took a while to catch on too. Some of the Rakugo was even lame...or maybe it's because the story was lost in translation. Literally. I know sometimes it's hard for translaters to do. So I'm not "beefing" on them. Just some words can't be translated to or from the Japanese language.

Well, it was entertaining in its own right, if you could get past the Rakugo, but that's hard since the show revolved around that entirely. Ahh well. To each his own. I'm posting pics of more eye candy any way................................................

Okada Junichi


Nagase Tomoya

69 (シクスティナイン-2004)

Starring:
Satoshi Tsumabuki - Kenichi Yazaki
Masanobu Ando - Tadashi "Adama" Yamada
Yuta Kanai - Manabu Iwase
Asami Mizukawa - Mie Nagayama
Rina Ohta - Kazuko "Lady Jane" Matsui
Yoko Mitsuya - Yumi Sato
Hirofumi Arai - Bancho
Hideko Hara - Kenichi's mother
Ittoku Kishibe - Matsunaga sensei
Jun Kunimura - Sasaki
Kyohei Shibata - Kenichi's father
Noriko Eguchi
Tasuku Emoto - Tatsuo Masugaki
Gen Hoshino - Yuzuru Nakamura
Haruka Igawa - Alpharomeo girl
Ryo Kase - Ryo Otaki
Rinko Kikuchi
Kenta Kiritani - Yuji Shirogushi
Fumiyo Kohinata - Yoshioka sensei
Hidekazu Mashima
Rie Minemura - Fumiko sensei
Yoko Mitsuya
Akifumi Miura - Goro Narushima
Yosuke Miyauchi - Shirai
Yoshiyuki Morishita - Adachi
Jun Murakami - Yakuza
Shunsuke Sawada - Ezaki
Toshiyuki Seyama - Scribe
Kyusaku Shimada - Aihara sensei
Suzunosuke
Kosuke Toyohara - Kawasaki sensei
Yoshiaki Yoza - Kiyoshi Fukushima

Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan, 1969: inspired by the iconoclastic example of Dylan, Kerouac, Godard and Che, a band of mildly disaffected teenagers led by the smilingly charismatic Ken (Tsumabuki Satoshi) decide to shake up "the establishment" - i.e. their repressive school and the nearby US military installation. A series of anarchic pranks meets with varying levels of success, until Ken and company focus their energies on mounting a multimedia ‘happening' to combine music, film and theatre. Complications ensue.

This was an all out awesome movie. The version I watched had a few minor subbing boo-boo's (ie....incorrect English grammar) but I got the gist of it.

This was a great coming of age movie set during 1969. The comedy was hilarious. Teenagers, males, who thought of getting their first lay, becoming rock stars, making a name for themselves and all they had to go through to get there. LOL! This was a genius of a movie. Satoshi-san was a riot as Ken...oh, the first 30 minutes of the movie had me laughing so hard. Ken, loves to tell stories and one of them was about a certain particular body part. Then there was when the 3rd year student took over the school and one of the students played a naugty song over the loud speaker about the same particular body part. What a hoot!

Loved, loved, loved this!!

Tsumabuki Satoshi


Masanobu Ando

Rookies

Starring:
Sato Ryuta as Kawato Koichi
Ichihara Hayato as Aniya Keiichi
Koide Keisuke as Mikoshiba Toru
Shirota Yu as Shinjo Kei
Nakao Akiyoshi as Sekikawa Shuta
Takaoka Sousuke as Wakana Tomochika
Kiritani Kenta as Hiratsuka Taira
Sato Takeru as Okada Yuya
Igarashi Shunji as Yufune Tetsuro
Kawamura Yosuke as Hiyama Kiyooki
Onoue Hiroyuki as Imaoka Shinobu

The story centers on Kōichi Kawatō, a high school (a former deliquent himself) teacher who attempts to raise his baseball team of delinquents out of suspension and into Japan's Kōshien national championship. Having been labeled a vicious teacher after a misunderstanding and accident happened at a prior school, can Koichi pull himself and his students out of societies trash can and into the limelight?

Just like a lot of the young people these days, these students do not have much hope for the future and many do not even know what they want to do. However, Koichi Kawato (Ryuta Sato) is a teacher who is willing to prove that the world is full of hope and that they shouldn’t mock those who do have a dream.

The story takes place at a high school where the baseball team has just been told to suspend their activities because of an incident that occurred during a game. The students are betrayed by their teacher and are forced to take responsibility for the incident. This is when they meet Koichi Kawato, a teacher who believes in having dreams and who would do anything for his students, even if it means risking his job. Through their emotional and heart-to-heart confrontations with this teacher, the students realize that they haven’t and that they do not want to give up their dream.

This show, I've only seen 2 episodes so far, reminds me of GTO and Gokusen all mixed up in one. Throw in some H2...and *poof*...there ya go. I will say the "hottie" factor pulled me to this show. And I am so far impressed...a little. I guess there can only be so much school drama/comedy one can stand.

To reinforce the importance of student/teacher relationships is vital to any society (American or Japanese). If only students and teachers could sit down and watch some of these shows back-to-back to understand the difference between right and wrong in middle- and high-school society. Our kids would have a better learning environment and our teachers would be rewarded.

To reiterate, this show is really good and if you are big fans of any of these cuties, you won't be disappointed...so far.

How in the heck am I to post all the hottie pics? They are all so darn cute.

Sato Ryuta


The Boys

Crows Zero (Kurôzu zero~2007)

Starring:
Shun Oguri~Genji Takaya
Suzunosuke~Chuta
Sousuke Takaoka ~Izaki
Kyôsuke Yabe~Ken Katagiri
Takayuki Yamada~Tamao Serizawa
Shunsuke Daitô~
Kiritani Kenta~Tokio

The Suzuran Senior High School for Boys, nicknamed "The School of Crows", is the poorest achieving, most violent school in the country. The students are called "crows" and they band together in factions, battling each other for influence and power. But they all share a common goal ... one that has never been reached in the school's history: unification. No one faction has ever reigned supreme.

Oguri plays the role of Genji Takiya, a transfer student who attempts to take over Suzuran Boys High School and is mentored by old boy yakuza Katagiri as he faces off against rival Serizawa



OMFG! This movie is so damn awesome that I'm ordering it right freaking now! This movie, after reading all reviews before mine, has been given 4 out of 4 stars...by everyone! I have to agree with all my heart and soul with this one. First off it has two sugoi male leads...Oguri Shun and Yamada Takayuki! This movie was non-stop action, an awesome fighting scene at the end, a few comedic/exagerated moments, serious drama. Geez! Did I mention that it had Oguri-kun and Taka-kun? Whew! Another top 3 movie for me. The fighting scenes alone left my panties in a wad. LOL! The guys alone will love the testerone fighting scenes all by themselves. Totally a movie for both genders!!

Oguri Shun

Never enough Oguri Shun. How can someone like him be so damn cute? Kawaiiiiiiiiii! If only I were 13 years younger.............*dreaming* *....then sighs....*