While hearing about my vacation plans is probably not the most exciting thing, my blogging will be affected; therefore, this can be considered as a somewhat official notice of that. For the first time ever, I'll be going overseas and on a real (paid) vacation. Evidently, this will also be my first time in Japan, but I'll be there for a month, staying at an apartment I rented in Ikebukuro, so hopefully that'll be enough time for the Japanese lifestyle to soak in. I'll have Internet access at the apartment, but I'll only have my relatively old and underpowered 10.6" Fujitsu ultra-portable notebook along with me. While this little thing has served me well in university, blogging will be somewhat difficult due to its inability to playback HD videos smoothly (...in addition to the time commitment of course). Regardless, I don't want to put all seven shows I'm covering on a complete hiatus, as the backlog when I return would be somewhat daunting. My tentative plan right now is to continue covering the shows that I currently am, but in a fairly trimmed down manner. These "lite" posts will probably be restricted to screenshots and impressions alone, so my apologies to those of you who come here for the summaries. (Writing detailed summaries is always the most time-consuming task for me.) At the very least, I want to have a "placeholder entry" with just screenshots for completeness sake (indicating that I have watched the episode), which would also allow for any discussion amongst you, the readers. The regularity that my posts appear will probably be affected as well, given how I'll be on Tokyo time and out and about most of the time. Again, this is merely a tentative plan, but I'll try to adhere to it the best I can. I'm leaving in the middle of next week, but some of my posts this week may also be affected while I prepare for my trip. As mentioned above, I won't be back until a month later (~July 6th), but hopefully by then, I'll have some interesting stories that I can use for Random Musings.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Yakuza screw-up Ken Katagiri played by Kyosuke Yabe is executed and shoved from a dock, his dying thoughts are about a boy he’d recently met Genji Takaya played by Shun Oguri (Hana Yori Dango, Hana Kimi). The scene shifts to Suzuran Boys High School, A sign reads King of Suzuran, Tamao Serizawa. Genji climbs up to the sign, erases Tamao Serizawa and then adds his own name in its place. Inside the school the opening ceremony has begun and the teacher hands the mike over to the freshman class rep, when another student comes up on stage, kicks the class rep grabs the mike and gives his own speech about Suzuran and the rule of fists. Then a riot breaks out amidst the assembled students as the teachers comment on the spirit of the incoming freshman class. When another teacher rushes into the gym declaring big trouble, the yakuza have arrived on campus. The students stop fighting long enough to see what brings the yakuza to the school, they’re there to find a student Tamao Serizawa played Takayuki Yamada (Long Love Letter, Densha Otoko).This is the opening movie in a manga adaptation being directed by directed by Takashi Miike, but it completely stands on its own. It’s very obvious that it’s source is from a manga by it’s over the top action and the close to indestructible bodies of the cast members. The punches by the key fighters are delivered with thundering blows that’d level a lesser man but these guys just keep standing there and taking it. A scene that I particularly enjoyed was the human rooftop bowling, with the strike delivered like something straight from the comics. I’m not a big fan of yakuza movies I usually find them boring and the characters less then interesting but this movie surprised me, not only did I enjoy the characters, it was a whole lot of fun. I’d recommend this to fans of delinquent dramas like Gokusen or Rookies.This was announced yesterday.Crows Zero" sequel confirmedLast year's hit manga-to-film adaptation "Crows ZERO" has been confirmed to be getting a sequel, it was learned on Monday. Director Takashi Miike is again taking the helm, and popular actor Shun Oguri is reprising his role as the protagonist Genji Takaya.Oguri has already begun training for the movie, which starts filming in July. The story is set about 8 months after the first movie. Genji is close to graduation at Suzuran High School, but one last matter must be settled with a rival school.According to producer Mataichiro Yamamoto, there was never any intention to end the story after only one film. However, this sequel is reportedly the story's conclusion. Kyosuke Yabe is also returning, though other cast members from the first movie (such as Takayuki Yamada) have not yet been mentioned."Crows ZERO 2" will open in 2009. from Tokyograph
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Aren't You a Criminal?Morita Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) begins the episode telling the viewer a little about herself, a neophyte novelist and job hopper she goes on to relate her encounter with the rookie detective Udagawa Kyosei played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) in the previous episode and her involvement in the case. Then this week’s case is revealed as a restaurant owner is stabbed in the kitchen, the killer carefully spreading pasta over the body. Then the scene shifts to Shihori’s editor’s office. Her editor isn’t happy with the latest manuscript, Shihori’s written a mystery and nobody dies, she tells her she wanted to write a mystery where no one dies. But the editor tells her if you don’t kill at least three people there is no way the story will be sold, then holds the story over the waste basket asking Shihori what to do. At the murder scene a cop holds back spectators as Udagawa jumps a chain but winds up tripping and lands on his back. The school girls, and housewives who’d thought he was so cool, begin laughing, while the beat cop comes over and salutes and thanks him for the hard work. Inside the senior detectives observe the scene and think that it might have occurred after a fight and possibly a robbery.I’ve been watching Kaname Jun recently in Kamen Rider Agito, where he also plays a cop and he has the same friendly, clumsy nature that’s just is made for comedy. There’s some cheap physical comedy like him tripping and the crowd laughing but there’s also stuff like when he slides into the crime scene strikes a pose and declares he’d arrived and they way he falls in love in each episode. Shihori is another great source of laughs and while she not shown working as many jobs as the last episode, she still manages to hit the jobs crucial to the case. I just loved her expression when her editor turned her back her when discussing her latest story. I’d recommended this to fans of comedic mysteries like Kuitan or Mop Girl.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Michiru played by Nagasawa Masami (Proposal Daisakusen, Sailor Fuku to Kikanju), Ruka played by Ueno Juri (Nodame Cantabile, Orange Days), and Eri played by Mizukawa Asami (Iryu, Pride) are having breakfast. Ruka gives Eri miso soup as a hangover remedy, Eri wonders about Takeru played by Eita (Atsu-hime, Orange Days) true character because he seems to be hiding something but appears to be such a nice guy. Michiru appears lost in her own thoughts, but seems to recover as Ruka walks her to the train as she hurries to work. Ruka wonders why Michiru was crying the previous night, she’d seemed both so happy and then sad. Ruka wonders if she’d known could she have done something about it. The evil beautician played by Nishihara Aki (Hana Yori Dango) criticizes Michiru as soon as she arrives at the shop, later when she looks out the shop window she sees Sosuke played by Nishikido Ryo (Attention Please, Ganbatte Ikimasshoi) staring up at her from the street below.This show is definitely for adults with the mature themes that it deals with and as I said in my first post about this drama if it wasn’t for the terrific cast and the great acting job they’ve done so far, I wouldn’t watch this show, it’s a little too tragic for my tastes. That said I enjoyed this episode even more then the first and I’ll be sure to catch the third when the subs are released for it.Download the Raw video from the bit torrent tracker here; English soft subs can be downloaded here or download the Kioku hardsub release from here. Kioku also released a v2 of the first episode at that same link. Screen caps of episode one are here.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Aren't You a Criminal?The drama begins as a murderer sets up the murder scene to look like a suicide. The scene shifts to a grocery store where Morita Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) challenges the shop keeper to a game based on Morita’s ability to remember all the shop’s prices from the previous day, the prize, a bunch of organic bananas, the penalty would be double the price for the bananas. She displays phenomenal memory ability and then in a voice over explains that studying was always her weakness but it’s her dream to become a mystery writer. In flashback with see her being rejected and subjected to the criticism of editors, all stating that they couldn’t find one shred of talent in her work. So she’s started a series of part time jobs to support herself and to keep her going as she continues to write. Finally an admired writing team after reading her manuscript and agreeing that she has no talent, offer her part time work as an assistant. She’d been working with them for a month before one of the writers is killed, in the scene that opened the drama.Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) shows up at the crime scene, he plays rookie detective Udagawa Kyosei and he involves Shihori in the case. This is a cute show with some decent laughs and a fairly interesting mystery. The best part is watching Shihori at her many and varied part time jobs. I’d recommend this to fans of offbeat mysteries like Kuitan, Sexy Voice and Robo or Mop Girl.Download the RAW video bit torrent file for the drama here, English soft subs can be downloaded here.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

A very pregnant Aida Michiru played by Nagasawa Masami (Proposal Daisakusen, Sailor Fuku to Kikanju) talks to a fishmonger, explaining that she’s managing OK on her own. Then as she walks home she talks to herself about her friend Kishimoto Ruka played by Ueno Juri (Nodame Cantabile, Jodan ja nai!, Orange Days). She arrives home and looks at Ruka’s photograph from high school, she admits that she betrayed Ruka and is now paying retribution for that betrayal. Then as she stares at the sky, she inquires of her departed friend, how is the sky over there?This is not the kind of show that I’d normally pick to watch, from the opening narration and from what I’ve learned from the first episode this is going to be a tragedy. But I had to watch it, with this cast I couldn’t not watch, in addition to Nagasawa and Ueno, included in the excellent cast are Eita (Atsu-hime, Orange Days), Nishikido Ryo (Attention Please, Ganbatte Ikimasshoi), Mizukawa Asami (Iryu, Pride), and Nishihara Aki (Hana Yori Dango). So I’d normally watch the first episode and skip the rest, but the storyline drew me in and I’ll be back again to watch the next episode as soon as it’s released. I’d recommend this to any fans of serious drama like Bara no nai Hanaya another great drama and cast. But this is a pretty serious show that deals with some adult issues like domestic violence and human sexuality, so it may not be for everyone. Only thing I really didn’t like was the fact that most of the story seems to be given away in the opening narration, I just hope that the show still has some surprises.Download the first English hardsub episode from Kioku fans subs from the bit torrent tracker here.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

In conjunction with the upcoming “Hana Yori Dango Final” movie which will be opened in theatres on 28th June, Konami will be releasing a Hana Yori Dango game on Nintendo DS. The game will be released on 10th July and players can be have a feel for themselves how its like to walk around Eitouku Gakuen. Players [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

As mentioned in my spring preview I wanted to check out this show because the premise seemed highly amusing. I kept thinking she was the one who played Tsukushi from Hana Yori Dango but turns out I was wrong…she was someone else in HYD2…but who she was is giving me a brain fart. Anyway [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched any live-action; I think the last one I saw was the hokey yet fun Hana Yori Dango. This time around, I was looking for something leaning more towards suspense, so I marathoned Liar Game (based on the manga of the same name). The story centers around [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Amazon.com Widgets Title:  Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) Vol 29 Author: Yoko Kamio Publisher:  VIZ ISBN:  9781421517162 May Contain Spoilers Tsukushi was uncharacteristically decisive in this volume, determined to confront Tsukasa's mother after she has her son whisked away to New York.  What starts as an afternoon connecting with [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)