The Prince of Tennis (2006)

Starring:
Kanata Hongo - Ryoma Echizen
Yuu Shirota - Kunimitsu Tezuka
Hiroki Aiba - Syuusuke Fuji
Hiroki Suzuki - Syuuichiro Oishi
Masato Wada - Sengoku Kiyosumi
Osamu Adachi - Eiji Kikumaru
Hirofumi Araki - Sadaharu Inui
Yoshikazu Kotani - Takashi Kawamura
Masaki Kaji - Takeshi Momoshiro
Kousuke Kujirai - Kaoru Kaidoh
Ryuuji Sainei - Keigo Atobe
Rikiya - Egate Mcleod Higaki
Goro Kishitani - Nanjiroh Echizen
Hitomi Shimatani - Sumire Ryuuzaki
Sayuri Iwata - Shion Higaki
Kouji Date - Choutarou Ohtori
Tokio Emoto - Gakuto Mukahi
Genki Ishii - Jirou Akutagawa
Daiki Nakae - Yuushi Oshitari
Junpei Suzuki - Shishido Ryou
Kazutoshi Yamakawa - Munehiro Kabaji
Yasuka Saito - Shinji Ibu
Yuuki Fujiwara - Akira Kamio
Daiki Sano - Aoi Kentarou
Eiji Moriyama - Genichirou Sanada
Juri - Hikaru Amane
Mitsuyoshi Shinoda - Sasabe
Kenta Kamakari - Sasabe's friend #1
Takashi Nagayama - Sasabe's friend #2
Yusuke Ishibashi - Referee
Shun Takagi - Masaya Sakurai
Ruito Aoyagi - Bystander
Ryou Washimi - Bystander
Takumi Saito - Bystander

Kanata Hongo stars as tennis prodigy Echizen Ryoma who, after winning four consecutive victories in the USA, is brought back to Japan by his father and enrolled in the prestigious Seishun Academy Middle School, famous for its tennis team.

Ryoma soon finds himself the only first-year on the school team, playing alongside school captain and national player Tezuka Kunimitsu, cool-headed Oishi Syuichirou and the acrobatic Kikamura Eiji. He also attracts the attentions of Higaki Shioin, a strange and quiet girl who watches him attentively from the bleachers. Can Ryoma successfully juggle sports, school, girls and life in a new country to earn the title Prince Of Tennis?



This is my second time to watch this. I really wanted a refresher course but maybe I should have rewatched the anime's instead since they are more closer to the manga than anything else.

I'm not saying this is a bad movie. Not at all. It's just hard to fit a year's worth of manga into two hours. They did their best. It was fun to watch but if you have read the manga and watched the animes...well, this would be a disappointment. Luckily, I saw this first before anything else. So I wasn't a wee bit angry. And I'm still not.

I hope they make a PoT 2. They need to finish the manga out....even if we have to have a 3rd movie. They pulled a 3rd Deathnote out of their asses...they can do the same for PoT.

I love the manga/anime series so much! I hated the fact that it ended. I, actually, balled like a baby. I was a blubbering idiot. Yeah, I know you're laughing. *Ha-Ha*

Haken no Hinkaku (The Pride of the Temp-2007)

Starring:
Shinohara Ryoko as Oomae Haruko (?)
Kato Ai as Mori Miyuki (23)
Koizumi Kotaro as Satonaka Kensuke (30)
Oizumi Yo as Shouji Takeshi (32)
Katsuji Ryo as Asano Tsutomu (23)
Itaya Yuka as Kuroiwa Masako (30)
Yasuda Ken as Hitotsugi Shinya (30)
Shirota Yu as Amaya Ryuto (20)
Kamiji Yusuke as Kin Kosaku

The Japanese employment structure has seen dramatic changes in recent years. Now reaching almost 3 million in number, the temporary staff labor force is claimed as being indispensable to the survival of Japanese corporations. It is under such circumstances that Haruko Ohmae（Ryoko Shinohara）, a brilliant and sharp temporary worker dispatched to an established food company, S&F, in metropolitan Tokyo, works alongside permanent employees with pride and dignity. She is trusted and desired wherever she goes, while her permanent employee colleagues, Kensuke Satonaka (Kotaro Koizumi) and Takeshi Shoji （Yo Oizumi）, always seem to find themselves in embarrassing dire straits. Depicting the almost comical daily battles and romance of the modern work place, this drama series is sure to encourage and inspire all working women in the world.

Ehhh! It was alright. It was good but it wasn't my personal "cup of tea". I'm sure others would love this drama....not enough romantic tension or something. I will say I was highly impressed with Koizumi Koutaro. He was so darn cute and sweet. Slap him between two pieces of bread and peanut butter and ....yummo!!!

Those of you who want to see this because of Shirota Yu, don't waste your time or breathe. His airtime is so short and he maybe had a max of 5 complete lines out of the 10 episodes. It was despicable.

So that is it in a nutshell. Sorry I couldn't give you more but that show left me with not much except for the fact that it did have a great premise for a story but the writer's left something out that left me feeling "bleh".

Sorry couldn't find decent or any pics of the cuties. So if anyone sees some....send them to me. Damn if I couldn't find a good one of Koizumi Kotaro. That p's me off!

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

Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - Ikemen Paradise, 2007)

AKA: Hottie Paradise!



The HOTTIES:
Oguri Shun~Sano Izumi
Toma Ikuta~Nakatsu Shuichi
Daito Shunsuke-Sano Shin
Shirota Yuu-Kagurazaka Makoto

First Dormitory Students
Ishigaki Yuma as Tennoji Megumi (Dorm Leader)
Takahashi Mitsuomi as Daikokucho Mitsuomi
Takeda Kohei as Kitahanada Kohei
Suzuki Ryohei as Akashi Soichiro
Sato Yuuichi as Tetsukayama Shota
Hayakawa Ryo as Gotenyama Sakyo
Matsushita Kouji as Shojaku Ren
Nishiyama Sousuke as Shichido Soma
Hagiwara Tatsuya (萩原達也) as Ishikiri Hiroto

Second Dormitory Students
Mizushima Hiro as Nanba Minami (Dorm Leader)
Kimura Ryo as Senri Nakao
Okada Masaki as Sekime Kyogo
Yamamoto Yusuke as Kayashima Taiki
Igarashi Shunji as Noe Shinji
Mizobata Junpei as Saga Kazuma
Sakimoto Hiromi as Kyobashi Arata
Chiyo Shota as Yodoyabashi Taichi
Tajima Ryo as Arashiyama Jyo
Shimegi Enoku as Tannowa Kyoichi
Okada Hikaru as Takaida Riku
Ikeda Jun as Kamishinjo Itsuki
Shibasaki Keisuke (柴崎佳佑) as Minase Manato

Third Dormitory Students
Kyo Nobuo as Himejima Masao (Oscar M. Himejima, Dorm Leader)
Kato Keisuke as Yao Hikaru
Watanabe Toshihiko (渡辺俊彦) as Imamiya Sho
Takahashi Yuta (高橋優太) as Shijo Haruki
Matsuda Shouichi as Kuzuha Junnosuke
Miyata Naoki as Saiin Tsukasa
Furuhara Yasuhisa as Ogimachi Taiyo
Ojima Naoya as Kaizuka Kohei
Suzuki Kota (鈴木康太) as Uenoshiba Kanata
Nakada Yuya as Katabiranotsuji Ken
Kawakami Yu as Korien Genji

St. Blossom's Academy
Iwasa Mayuko as Hanayashiki Hibari
Matsuda Madoka as Kishizato Juri
Kiritani Mirei as Amagasaki Kanna
Kurose Manami as Imaike Komari
Taira Airi as Abeno Erika

The drama is based on the popular manga of the same name by Nakajo Hisaya. Horikita plays the protagonist Ashiya Mizuki, a Japanese girl in the U.S. who one day sees the young athlete Sano Izumi compete in high jumping on television. She begins to idolize him. Sano gets injured one day in America while trying to help Mizuki escape from some gangsters. He stops high jumping ever since. Mizuki blames herself for the incident and decides to go to Japan and help Sano find his love for high jumping. However, Izumi goes to an all-boys school, so Mizuki disguises herself as a boy in order to meet with him again.



So many cute guys, not enough blog space. *sighs then frowns* I had to watch this again. Why? Well, it was one of the first jdramas that I watched. At that time, I didn't know who Oguri Shun, Mizushima Hiro, Shirota Yuu, Ishigaki Yuma, or anyone else was at the time. I was a newbie through and through. Watching it again, I'm more aware and appreciative of it this time around. Oh, Oguri Shun.....*sighs*.

If you noticed when they showed torso shots, his left breast is sunken in. At the time I didn't realize but he has a genetic disorder called Pectus Excavatum. It was quite obvious this time around since I couldn't take my eyes of his absolutely cute self. The disorder didn't matter though. In pics, I'm sure they photoshop those to hide the minor problem. I say MINOR because it definitely is no big deal.

If you haven't seen this drama, why haven't you? This is any drama fanatic favorite. You'll know by all the forums that worship this show. I have to agree, the hottie factor is HUGE!!!

There were so many things I missed the first time. This time around, I was able to focus and be aware of its testosteronal surroundings. Hehe!

I think I might watch Nodame Cantabile again because I miss Chiaki....*smiles* Tamaki Hiroshi was my first love....*sighs then giggles*

This time around...I'm putting pics of the not so popular guys and because I don't have enough space to put more Oguri Shun up. (OMG! I can't believe I said that.)

Who to put? Who to put?

Toma Ikuta


Shirota Yuu

First noticed him in the movie Prince of Tennis, loved the manga/anime had to see the live-action. He did Tetzuka so well. They picked an "ace" when they chose him for that part. He always plays the "cool" characters.

Okada Masaki