GiraGira ( ギラギラ -2008)

Starring:
Sasaki Kuranosuke as Nanase Kohei
Maya Miki as Sonobe Yuki
Hara Sachie as Nanase Momoko
Miura Shohei as Shoji
Sato Tomohito as Ichikawa Kenta/Hideyoshi
Abe Tsuyoshi as Eiji
Ashina Sei as Yuuna
Tanaka Yoji as Fukami
Kotegawa Yuko as Jinguji Rena
Ishibashi Ryo as Katsuragi Taisei
Yamazaki Hajime as Tahira Hiroshi
Yuki Jutta as Toma
Sakimoto Hiromi as Yuki
Sakuragi Ryosuke (桜木涼介) as Akira
Nishiyama Sosuke as Rikuto
Yuji as Ken
Matsumoto Hiroya as Ren
Nagamachi Taro as Ryo
Matsushita Kouji as Leo
CHIKARA as Sakuya
Suzuki Mie (鈴木美恵)
Fujisawa Karin
Shikanai Daishi as Haruki
Guests
Igarashi Shunji as Eagle (ep1-2)
Hara Mikie (原幹恵) as Sayo (ep1-2)
Toda Keiko as Asaoka Misa (ep1)
Mitsuya Yoko as Kyoka (ep3)
Kobayashi Emi (小林恵美) as Saki (ep3)
Nonami Maho as Kazuki Sarina (ep4)
Kikawada Masaya as Sachiel (ep6)
Nishihara Aki as Hime/Oohara Maiko (ep6)
Wada Masato as Kazuma (ep7-8)

Based on a hit manga, this adaptation depicts the life of a married man Nanase Kohei after he returned to his former job as a male host. He woos the clients with his gentle and caring nature, and soon retrieves his former credit as the ace of the club. However, the transition back for this middle-aged man is not without its challenges. Afraid that his wife will find out about this job, Nanase is also garnering jealousy and displeasure from the younger hosts. Throughout the course of his employment, he demonstrates to others that hosting should not be the vulgar occupation it has become where the entire goal is to make the women frivolously spend money, rather, it is about a human connection that is so often overlooked.

This was a pretty good show. Not the overly best. It started out really interesting but got sorta of boring near the middle. It was the same old, same old where Kohei had to save the day and the woman. I wanted to see more character development with Shoji and the other hosts at the club. More so of Shoji since he was the closest to Kohei.

The ending was sort of abrupt and ended differently to that I thought it would. It was a happy ending but sort of lame. This show was a great boredom buster if and when I ran out of my other dramas to watch. I will say there was plenty of eye candy galore and was pleasantly surprised to see Wada Masato (Shigeshoshi) in the last two episodes. I am so looking forward to his dramas. He is a great actor and hidden talent in the Japanese TV world. If I were to see him on the Tokyo streets one day, I'd be all over him like "a fly on poo."

Another talent, that is starting to show up more often than not is Igarahi Shunji. Cute, not handsome, but something about him draws your attention to him. And he, too, costarred with Wada Masato in Shigeshoshi.

Miura Shohei


Wada Masato

Boys Love (ボーイズ ラブ, Boizu Rabu-2006)

Starring:
Saito Takumi~Mamiya Taishin
Kotani Yoshikazu~Kisaragi Noeru
Matsumoto Hiroyo~Furumura Chidori

Boys Love is a Japanese film that released on DVD on November 24, 2006. The movie tells the story of Akira Mamiya (Yoshikazu Kotani), a magazine reporter who meets and interviews a popular young model, Noeru Kisaragi (Takumi Saito), and becomes attracted by him.

Mamiya invites him out for dinner, it somehow progresses to a sexually charged scene in the bathroom. Noeru advances on Mamiya, and leads him to a cubicle for action.

The incident leaves Noeru wanting more of Mamiya. Mamiya can’t stop thinking about Noeru too. In order to meet Mamiya again, Noeru calls the magazine house to complain about Mamiya, and demands Mamiya comes down to apologize personally.

The next morning, Noeru’s representative calls the magazine house to complain about Mamiya’s rudeness. Mamiya goes down to Noeru’s house to apologize, and meets Chidori, a close companion of Mamiya. After a heart-felt dialogue at Noeru’s house, Mamiya and Noeru become closer to each other, spending most of their time together.

Chidori becomes jealous of their growing relationship and reveals his obsessive compulsion with Neoru. At the same time Neoru soon begins to break his initial promise to Mamiya. All this ends in a heart wrenching ending that sees both of them sitting on the train leaving Tokyo…



Okay, I watch Itsuka no Kimi E and became so intrigued with Saito Takumi, I just had to watch Boys Love. Okay, and yeah, it's another yaoi movie. More graphic to the point that it sort of had me turning my head. I hope they are paying him an arm and leg for those "special" parts of the movie. "Whoa!" is all I can say.

I didn't cry. I don't know why. This I think should have had me balling like a baby. Maybe, yet again, I'm still washed up from Koizora. Yes, Koizora was that good!

I guess it was hard for me to actually see a relationship between Mamiya and Noeru. The very first few minutes Mamiya was practically raped by Noeru. I understand there were reasons that Noeru was the way he was. He was an emotional mess from the start. Mamiya being a kind heart fell for him. There were some sweet moments that really tugged your heart. I don't think though there was enough to get me severely emotionally attached to this movie. Or maybe the graphic scenes was a bit too much to get me heart-spelled. I'm not saying it was a terribly bad movie but there just wasn't enough to make me yearn. Oh, but I will say that if you are really a tender heart....it's a weeper.

Kotani Yoshikazu