Battle Royale(Batoru rowaiaru-2000)

Starring:
Takeshi Kitano - Kitano (as Beat Takeshi)
Shin Kusaka - Yoshio Akamatsu - Boys #1
Ren Matsuzawa - Keita Iijima - Boys #2
Gouki Nishimura - Tatsumichi Ohki - Boys #3
Shigehiro Yamaguchi - Toshimori Oda - Boys #4
Taro Yamamoto - Shougo Kawada - Boys #5
Masanobu Ando - Kazuo Kiriyama - Boys #6
Yukihiro Kotani - Yoshitoki Kuninobu - Boys #7
Osamu Ohnishi - Youji Kuramoto - Boys #8
Yuuki Masuda - Hiroshi Kuronaga - Boys #9
Shirou Gou - Ryuhei Sasagawa - Boys #10
Sousuke Takaoka - Hiroki Sugimura - Boys #11
Yutaka Shimada - Yutaka Seto - Boys #12
Junichi Naitou - Yuichiro Takiguchi - Boys #13
Shigeki Hirokawa - Shou Tsukioka - Boys #14
Tatsuya Fujiwara - Shuya Nanahara - Boys #15
Hirohito Honda - Kazushi Niida - Boys #16
Yousuke Shibata - Mitsuru Numai - Boys #17
Satoshi Yokomichi - Tadakatsu Hatagami - Boys #18
Takashi Tsukamoto - Shinji Mimura - Boys #19
Ryou Nitta - Kyouichi Motobuchi - Boys #20
Yasuomi Sano - Kazuhiko Yamamoto - Boys #21
Tsuyako Kinoshita - Mizuho Inada - Girls #1
Eri Ishikawa - Yukie Utsumi - Girls #2
Sayaka Ikeda - Megumi Etou - Girls #3
Tomomi Shimaki - Sakura Ogawa - Girls #4
Tamaki Mihara - Izumi Kanai - Girls #5
Yukari Kanasawa - Yukiko Kitano - Girls #6
Misao Kato - Yumiko Kusaka - Girls #7
Takayo Mimura - Kayoko Kotohiki - Girls #8
Hitomi Hyuga - Yuko Sakaki - Girls #9
Anna Nagata - Hirono Shimizu - Girls #10
Kou Shibasaki - Mitsuko Souma - Girls #11
Satomi Ishii - Haruka Tanizawa - Girls #12
Chiaki Kuriyama - Takako Chigusa - Girls #13
Haruka Nomiyama - Mayumi Tendou - Girls #14
Aki Maeda - Noriko Nakagawa - Girls #15
Satomi Hanamura - Yuka Nakagawa - Girls #16
Sayaka Kamiya - Satomi Noda - Girls #17
Aki Inoue - Fumiyo Fujiyoshi - Girls #18
Asami Kanai - Chisato Matsui - Girls #19
Mai Sekiguchi - Kaori Minami - Girls #20
Takako Baba - Yoshimi Yahagi - Girls #21
Ai Iwamura - Girl - won last BR
Ai Maeda - Shiori, Kitano's daughter (voice)
Minami - Keiko
Michiko Yamamura - Reporter
Gou Ryugawa - Lieutenant Anjo
Takashi Taniguchi - Nanahara's father
Ken Nakaide - Mr. Hayashida - Home-room teacher of Class 3-B
Kanako Fukaura - Bus conductress (Basugaido)
Yuko Miyamura - Training Video Girl

At the dawn of the new millennium, Japan is in a state of collapse. Unemployment is endemic and school violence is out of control. The beleaguered government retaliates with Battle Royale... Each year, a randomly chosen class is pitted against itself on an abandoned island in a cruel game of survival. The rules of the game are simple: 1) it lasts three days; 2) Each player starts with food, water and a "weapon"; 3) if more than one player survives, everyone dies (by detonating special electronic necklaces; 4) there is no escape. Takeshi Kitano plays a downtrodden teacher turned Battle Royale operation leader. As the game progresses, terror and panic challenge the students' fragile trust in each other. But despite the game's brutality, the adolescent players remain obsessed with their crushes, their petty grudges - and their dreams...

I finally broke down and watched this. I'm not a girl who likes gore, horror, or intense thrillers. But everyone, and I mean everyone, keeps telling me that this was an awesome movie. Soooooooo...............................

Yeah, I watched it. Okay, Nobu's death was too much. Then there was the guy who's head was cut off and used to encase a hand grenade. But from other than those two instances....it was reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally good. I was so happy to see Takashi-san, Ando-san and Taro-san. I love those guys! Tatsuya-san, I was never really a great fan of his because his character in Death Note just wasn't right. From that point on I've avoided his movies and/or dramas. Okay, my bad. He did a really good job in this one. Maybe Kira just wasn't the right character for him in Death Note. Or I could blame the writer's in that one because they totally annihilated that anime/manga movie. But I digress.....Death Note for another time.

I just couldn't imagine having to kill my boyfriend or friends. That's just insane. The part where the girls in the lighthouse "lost it" was very, unimaginably believable. And very sad. The trust was walking a thin line.....and "boom" it was lost in a second.

This was a very good movie all around. Scary, horrible, horrific, and just terribly sad.

Masanobu Ando

Tsukamoto Takashi

Fujiwara Tatsuya

Galileo

Starring:
Fukuyama Masaharu as Yukawa Manabu
Shibasaki Kou as Utsumi Kaoru
Kitamura Kazuki as Kusanagi Shunpei
Shinagawa Hiroshi as Yuge Shiro
Watanabe Ikkei as Kuribayashi Hiromi
Maya Miki as Jonouchi Sakurako
Hayashi Tsuyoshi as Murase Kensuke
Aoi as Taniguchi Saeko
Fukui Hiroaki as Kobuchizawa Takashi
Takayama Miyako (高山都) as Watanabe Miyuki
Ito Takahiro as Mori Eita

In "Galileo," Fukuyama Masaharu plays a genius physicist and university associate professor, Yukawa Manabu, who solves difficult mysteries. Affectionately known as Tantei Galileo ("Detective Galileo"), Yukawa is brilliant, an all-round sportsman, tall and handsome but eccentric. Yukawa's partner is a rookie cop, Utsumi Kaoru (Shibasaki Kou), a hot-blooded woman with a strong sense of justice.

FINALLY! The Japanese have done it again. A refreshing new concept to television drama. This show was a class act, top rated, mind-engaging rollercoaster ride. This sort of reminded me of the U.S.'s CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) blended in with Japan's Hero drama series.

The show begins out with Galileo reminding us (almost every episode) that emotions are illogical. Where as, Utsumi derived her detective skills on intuition and emotion. Throughout the show, we watch both characters begin to blend their knowledge and strengths and learn to relatively trust each other to a fault. And both begin to learn the value of the other's aptitude....Galileo showing emotion and Utsumi using logic.

Against Korean drama, this show moved relatively fast and didn't leave me with want to run to the last episode to find out the conclusion. Korean's are good about making you suffer through episodes and dragging out the story until you are shaking with an insane amount of curiosity for the end. In this case, Galileo leaves you spellbound and looking forward to the next episode.

Fukuyama Masaharu


Kitamura Kazuki

Go! (2001)

Starring:
Yōsuke Kubozuka - Sugihara/Lee
Kō Shibasaki - Tsubaki Sakurai
Hirofumi Arai - Won-Su
Taro Yamamoto - Tawake
Takahito Hosoyamada - Jong-Il
Tsutomu Yamazaki - Hideyoshi (Sugihara/Lee's father)


At first glance, Sugihara (Yosuke Kubozuka) looks no different than your average high school rebel-without-a-cause-except that he's concealing a carefully kept secret: he's an ethnic Korean-or zainichi-growing up in Japan. The 2001 Japanese film Go chronicles Sugihara's tribulations as he searches for his identity in a society that refuses to acknowledge him. The film is an adaptation of a novel by the same name by Kazuki Kaneshiro, who is also a zainichi.

A short crash course in modern Japanese history is required for the movie to make the least bit of sense. Koreans numbering the tens of thousands migrated to mainland Japan for forced labor during the Imperial occupation of Korea during World War II. After Japan's defeat, many of the Koreans residing in Japan lost their Japanese citizenship because Korea was no longer under their rule. Also, Japan's laws determine citizenship through blood and not location. In other words, the Japanese government denies legitimacy to a Korean born in Japan, but an ethnic Japanese born overseas is guaranteed citizenship until the age of 21. Of course, there is an alternate process of naturalization, but it's so rigid that it offers plenty of room for discrimination.

Despite beginning a relationship with a girl named Sakurai (Kou Shibasaki)-under the guise of a Japanese citizen-things change for the worse when Sugihara's best friend from Korean school is murdered in a subway. Sugihara breaks down for the first time in the movie. His friend, Jog-Il, was his sole classmate from his previous school to approve of his attempt to blend into society.~Brett Fujioka

This movie was really good but seemed very confusing with many flashbacks. You had a hard time trying to figure out what was then and what was now. But in all, it was a great lesson in discrimination. More of a great learning experience for myself who really didn't realize the problems with Korean and Japanese relations. Again, American naivete reigned supreme for me. I live in this generalized American bubble that I'm so desperate to pop.

The most memorable moment in the movie, to myself, was the discussion between the Japanese patrolman and Sugihara. We all want to be seen as individuals. As an American, I'm a "mixed breed". Even though, I'd be categorized as caucasian, I'm a pure breed of English, French, Native American (more so of that than the others), German, and possibly Irish/Scot. I speak English, some Spanish, some French, some Japanese, some Korean, and some Latin. To be categorized by race or country really, truly apalls me to no end. All of us, when cut, bleed red.

I totally got pissed when Sakurai told Sugihara that her father said that Chinese and Koreans were "dirty". Eeeergh!!!! That for him to be inside her....was scary. Damn if I didn't want to reach through my computer and ring her neck. Love is love there should be no walls beween.

Definitely, this movie was an "A" class. Maybe not for most with race issues, but definitely a teaching and learning experience.