Way of Blue Sky (Aozoranoyukue/青空のゆくえ -2005)

Starring:
Ryo Hashidume - Shinji Yajima
Mei Kurokawa - Alisa Takahashi
Maki Meguro
Rikiya Mifune - Katsuya Yamashita
Ayaka Morita - Yumi Hayami
Takuya Nakayama - Masaki Takahashi
Aki Nishihara - Takako Ichida
Kazunori Sasaki - Yudai Sugihara
Mikako Tabe - Haruna Kawahara
Saya Yuki - Takako Suzuki

Masaki (Takuya Nakayama) is about to move to the U.S. with his parents, much to the dismay of five girls who all like him in different ways. Tomboyish Takako (Saya Yuki) always gives him a hard time; Haruna (Mikako Tabe) is a childhood friend; Alisa (child star Mei Kurokawa) has fancied him since a shopping trip in nearby Shibuya; Naoko (Aki Nishihara) is still readjusting after a long spell in the U.K.; and Yumi (Ayaka Morita, best of all) likes practicing basketball with him at night. All wonder who's his "special" girl, but Masaki isn't saying.

This movie was boooooooooring. I'm surprised I watched the thing. I guess I was hoping for too much. I really felt that since it was sloooooow that it would eventually pick up. I also felt the story was leading to somewhere that is why I hung on till the end.

I will say this much.....we never find out who Masaki really liked. And there was a subplot also that had me wondering when they would disclose the secret to that. Masaki and Haruna had another childhood friend, Shinji. We don't know why they parted but it had something to do with Masaki not "fighting".

This movie just left too much loose ends that left too many holes. No substance. Lots of picture taking, basketball shooting, and text messaging which took up most of this moving. Such a drag.

The part where they have a "send-off" party for Masaki was sweet though. Even had said all the above did make me emotional because I do know what it's like to lose friends from moving great distances. That really touched me when they did that. The time capsule thing too. That was the only part of the whole movie that, I thought, was worthwhile.

Spring Story (2004)

Starring:
Shun Oguri
Aki Nishihara
Kei Tanaka

A tale of two high school students who like each other, but have difficulties expressing their feelings for each other. The guy always seems to make the girl angry and they fight often.

The guy wants to be a super star basketball player, the girl inspires to be a designer, each trying to find their own path in life.

This being only an hour long, follows the life of 3 friends starting from their senior year in high school into adulthood. It was quite amazing actually how the story flowed so well in just that short amount of time.

Again, it's another movie about fate. This gave me chills at the end because we discover what happens from the time they meet again from the beginning of the movie. *SIGH!!* You just have to love how the hand of fate work and how true love stands against the hands of time.

You just want to reach through the TV screen (or the computer screen as that is how it is for me....LOL!) and just want to grab onto Oguri Shun and never let go.....................

Oguri Shun

Last Friends

Starring:
Eita - Takeru Mizushima
Asami Mizukawa - Eri Takigawa
Masami Nagasawa - Michiru Aida
Ryo Nishikido - Sosuke Oikawa
Juri Ueno - Ruka Kishimoto
Aki Nishihara

Last Friends deals with issues such as domestic violence, sexless couples, and other problems that people suffer today. The youths in this drama are all suffering from different issues. They come to live together in a share house.

Hair stylist assistant Michiru Aida comes across Ruka Kishimoto, her best friend in high school. Ruka is living in a share house with her friend Eri, and is aiming to become a motocross racer. Ruka invites Michiru to live with her in the share house, but Michiru declines because she has plans to start living with her boyfriend Sosuke Oikawa, who works at the child welfare division at the ward office.

The same day at the same store, hair & make-up artist Takeru Mizushima bumps into Ruka and picks up a cup that she dropped and broke. Takeru chases after Ruka to return the cup, but she mistakenly thinks that he's trying to pick her up. Ruka yells at Takeru and walks away.

Soon after this, Michiru moves in with Sosuke. She is filled with happiness when Sosuke promises he'll never leave her side, whatever happens. But one morning, Michiru wakes up to find Sosuke looking at her cell phone checking her text messages...



Okay, okay, okay. I finally broke down to watch this. Why, oh why, did I wait so damn long? I think this is the best Japanese drama yet. This drama is like no other. The love-quadrangle is fascinating in its own right. I really don't know who to route for.

I have to say it's hard to watch Nishikido Ryo play the villainous boyfriend, Sousuke. We've seen him play the sweet, innocent boyfriends in the past. So to see this is really disheartening but yet we see the realm of acting that Ryo-kun is able to portray. He has really grown up. *sigh*

Eita, well, I love him like a rabid-dog in heat. Everytime I see him, I melt. He has already established himself as an A-class actor. This time around his character, Takeru, has been sexually abused by a family member and he has a hard time of accepting physical affection of any kind. Some start to believe he is a gay male because he can't be around women physically. (Oh why did the fashion department dress him the way they did. They made him look too "girly". Ah well, he's still a hottie!)

Juri-chan, our Nodame Cantabile sweetheart, is not even relatively close to this character. Ruka is a sweetheart in her own right but in a different fashion. She plays a masculine female who is in love with her best friend. Her best friend, Michiru, is the woman being abused by her boyfriend Sousuke (Ryo-kun).

Two other characters fit in to the maze of friendships but are more co-stars that keep the dialogue going. The first episode was a slow go but once the show established itself...whoa!...I was hooked like catfish bait. So far there are only 8 English subbed episodes with only 16 scheduled episodes to be shown...so we are halfway there. I can't wait for the next episode.

Eita

This pic is from Nodame Cantabile...Mine Ryutaro!


Nishikido Ryo