The movie opens on a college campus on a very hot day as the members of the science fiction club are playing baseball and being photographed by a member of the photography club who they share a common room with.The movie stars Eita (Atsu-hime, Last Friends) as one of the SF club members and Ueno Juri (Nodame Cantabile, Jodan ja nai!) as a member of the photography club and Sasaki Kuranosuke (Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi, Bambino!) as a physics professor. I love time travel storylines they are usually really interesting with the possibility of paradoxes. This movie was terrific and the director, Katsuyuki Motohiro must also be a fan with nods to other time travel movies like a poster of Back to the Future, also if you look at the 3rd screen capture I thought this building looked very similar to the building in the Back to the Future movie. Later the time machine itself looks very similar to the one used in the classic movie “The Time Machine” starring Rod Taylor adapted from the HG Well novel. I found it really interesting the length of time the guys used to test the machine, I don’t want to say anymore about it to avoid spoilers but just thought it was cool. I’d recommend this movie to fans of science fiction or comedy it’s got a great cast and they do a fine job.Direct download the movie from the LJ website here. You may need to join LJ and friend them to have access to the link.
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Kawato Koichi played by Sato Ryuta (Utahime, Bambino!) arrives at school at the same time as Aniya Keiichi played by Ichihara Hayato (Long Love Letter), who stops to watch two of baseball club members tossing a ball on the field before heading over to the club room, as the principal played by Ibu Masato (Detective Conan 2, Hataraki Man) observes them all from his office window. At the club room four of the members manage to pick the lock, but they aren’t happy when the get inside all of their stuff is gone, Aniya walks in happy that the couch is still there. Sekikawa and Mikoshiba Toru played by Koide Keisuke (Nodame Cantabile, Gokusen 2) enter and Sekikawa informs them that anything not related to club activities has been removed, Wakana wants to know if he’s serious about playing baseball. Both Sekikawa and Toru try to persuade them to give Kawato a chance but the other guys aren’t convinced.This show is really looking an awful lot like GTO to me. The passionate teacher who’s a bit odd arrives and one by one he wins over the students of the class. Kawato’s a little more gullible then Onizuka but appears to be a little smarter. The students are a bit more delinquent then the GTO’s but not as devious. I’ll probably keep watching this show but I doubt I’ll post about it again unless the plot diverts from GTO’s in a significant manner. If you haven’t seen GTO, I’d highly recommend that you watch that.Download the first episode RAW video bit torrent file here, soft subs are here. Screen caps of the previous episode are here.
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At the end of the last episode Michiru played by Nagasawa Masami (Proposal Daisakusen, Sailor Fuku to Kikanju) received a call from Sosuke played by Nishikido Ryo (Attention Please, Ganbatte Ikimasshoi) during Ruka’s played by Ueno Juri (Nodame Cantabile, Jodan ja nai!) victory party. Sosuke tells Michiru that he’s about to kill himself. Michiru tells Ruka that she can understand Sosuke’s weakness and over Ruka’s objections she rushes off to save him. When Takeru played by Eita (Atsu-hime, Orange Days) comes out of the bar to comfort Ruka, an angry Ruka shakes him off and tells Eri played by Mizukawa Asami (Iryu, Pride) and Takeru that there is nothing they can do as Michiru choose to go on her own, and proceeds to get very drunk. Michiru arrives at Sosuke’s apartment to find the very alive Sosuke sitting on his couch. He takes her cell phone and burns her yearbook with Ruka’s picture in the kitchen sink. Then tells her to go on living with him, and that he won’t let anyone stand in his way. When Eri and Takeru half carry a drunken Ruka into the house, Ogurin is sitting waiting for them. He asks that they allow him to move back in as he and his wife are getting a legal trial separation. Ruka complains that it’s unfair to Eri, but Eri readily agrees to take him back as a housemate.I knew that Sosuke was going to be alive when Michiru returned to the apartment, it’s too early in the drama to kill him off and while I’m definitely not a proponent of suicide I sure did hope he had. I wonder if Michiru at some time in the past attempted suicide because of what she said to Ruka about understanding Sosuke’s weakness. This episode brings a lot more in about Takeru, and out of all the characters I think I like him the most. He genuinely cares for the others and puts himself at risk on their behalf.Download the Raw video from the bit torrent tracker here; English soft subs can be downloaded here. Screen Shots of the previous episodes are here.
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Misako played by Ishihara Satomi (Hanayome to Papa, Ns' Aoi) is giving another fractured English class as the drama begins. She associates the English word, hesitate with the Japanese phrase he shite ito and forces the class to repeat them. Later she’s reading in the teacher’s room when Shinichi played by Yamamoto Yusuke (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Kamen Rider Kabuto), Akira played by Kimura Ryo (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Nodame Cantabile) and Yoshio played by Nagayama Kento ask if they can talk to her. At first she scowls at them but then notices other teachers around so she gives them her sweetest smile before accompanying them to meet Shiraishi the head of the movie club. Shiraishi explains to her that his club has recently won an award for a student film and after the contest he was approached by a man offering to pay 100,000 yen for the film. Shiraishi is worried over such a large sum of money so he wanted a teacher’s advice on the matter. Misako agrees to meet with the man and while talking to the man as the boys listen in she tells him that only for one million yen will she talk to the boys into selling the movie. He agrees and leaves to gather the funds and the boys are very excited until she informs them that her cut is 900,000 yen they’ll be getting 100,000. I may have been disappointed in the last episode but this is the best episode yet for this series in my opinion. The mystery that’s developed later on plays out so well because of the lack of English skills displayed by the English teacher and her desire to cover that fact which her students already have realized all to well.Download the RAW video bit torrent file here, soft subs can be download here. Screen shots of the previous episodes are here.
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The episode begins where the last episode left off, Michiru played by Nagasawa Masami (Proposal Daisakusen, Sailor Fuku to Kikanju) finds Sosuke played by Nishikido Ryo (Attention Please, Ganbatte Ikimasshoi) crouched down after waiting outside the apartment all night in the rain. She hugs him while Ruka played by Ueno Juri (Nodame Cantabile, Jodan ja nai!) watches from the house. Takeru played by Eita (Atsu-hime, Orange Days) asks Ruka where Michiru is, just as Michiru calls Ruka’s cell lying to her saying that she’s on the way to the hairdressers when in fact she’s taking the soaked Sosuke to his apartment, but promising to come back soon. Ruka repeats the lie to Eri played by Mizukawa Asami (Iryu, Pride) and Takeru. At the apartment Michiru has the fevered Sosuke in bed, and cooks for him. He asks her not to leave promising not to hit her again. She tells him she can’t but if he can become patient and not act like a stalker, someday she’ll return to him. Then she goes to the beauty salon and apologizes to the manager asking for her job back.I was pleasantly surprised that Michiru didn’t move back in with Sosuke as the beginning of this episode, after the teaser at the end of the last episode I thought she’d be back into his apartment and another cycle of domestic abuse would begin. Another thing I liked about this episode is that all the characters got more development while the oppressive Sosuke languished in bed we learned quite a bit more about most of the supporting characters.Download the Raw video from the bit torrent tracker here; English soft subs can be downloaded here. Screen Shots of the previous episodes are here.
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It's sometimes said that anime songs are sung by seiyuu, by singers just starting their careers, or by singers on the downslide. And TV drama songs are by stars at their peak.That rule of thumb may not always be true, but it is true of the good new drama Last Friends. Its OP, "Prisoner of Love," is sung by Utada Hikaru. The visuals are great, too, featuring the stars of the dorama: big-name stars including Nagasawa Masami and the wonderful Ueno Juri, who was Nodame in the drama version of Nodame Cantabile.Last Friends is currently running fifth in the top ten drama ratings, with almost 16% of the audience in its 10 p.m. Thursday timeslot. That's higher than the top-rated anime (Sazae-san is at 14.4%), and five times the ratings of top late-night anime. For more info and to find out how to see the show, check D-Addicts. There is a full wiki here outlining the plot. Be prepared for plenty of angst.Several people are blogging the show. You can find some entries on Anime Nano.
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Nodame Cantabile will be getting a 2nd season. It will start airing in October. Nodame Cantabile is a great show. What attracted me to watch the series was the music theme that the anime has. Being a piano player myself, this was a definite watch for me. The series inspired me to practice more. But music [...]
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Nodame Cantabile Paris Hen Air Date: October 2008 As everyone probably already know, there'd be a continuation to Nodame Cantabile anime coming up this October on Fuji TV's Noitamina block. Ttitled「のだめカンタービレ　巴里編」(Nodame Cantabile Paris Hen), the series will hopefully be similar to the drama version in that, it doesn't go beyond the manga storyline since the last time I checked, the manga is not completed yet. I am actually a bit apprehensive about this since it seems like the producers just want to capitalize on the series even though the series is nowhere in completion yet. Moreover, they ended the first season in such a rush that they just showed parts of the stories as static stills that shares space with the ending credit. At any rate, sequels seem to be popular in the anime industries these days, which understandable since the fans (including myself) lapped it up but at the same time, it does make one wonders about originality. At times like this, I'm glad that Honey and Clover manga is finished. This means there's nothing that greedy producers can do to milk its popularity apart from doing various drama adaptations. Speaking of which, I'm still waiting for the US adaptation of Honey and Clover drama. Just kidding, Japan. Don't even think about it. I think three live-action adaptations are more than enough. Anyway, there are other sequels that we'll see this year or next year, click after the cut for some preview.
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Nodame Cantabile Pari-Hen (Nodame Cantabile: Paris Chapter) - The sequel of the anime series “Nodame Cantabile” followed through the manga. They have announced here and it will be aired on FUJI TV. Tomoko Ninomiya’s manga from 2006 - 2008 have already set their stories to Paris, France. Same with common plot. “Based on the awarded shoujo manga by [...]
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The drama opens with a flashback to three years ago, a family is brutally murdered when criminals break into their mansion, they’re slain with samurai swords but one woman leaves a dying message. The scene switches to Misako played by Ishihara Satomi (Hanayome to Papa, Ns' Aoi)’s classroom. She drilling the students on the English word treasure comparing it to the sound alike Japanese word for which, combining the two, which treasure. When she arrives in the teacher’s room, a pot full of tulips are on her desk. She picks them up to throw away, when Omichi the gym teacher arrives telling her that the flowers are from him, a sign of eternal love, she sneaks away while he’s asking her out for expensive French food. Yusuke (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Kamen Rider Kabuto) is in a café with Yuko played by Iwata Sayuri (Yukan Club, Jigoku Shoujo) she explains to Yusuke that this weekend a mystery quiz is being held and asks that he come with her, mentioning a luxury prize. Yusuke is in an empty classroom relating the quiz details to Akira played by Kimura Ryo (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Nodame Cantabile) and Yoshio played by Nagayama Kento when Misako comes in with the tulips, she hands Yusuke the tulips and takes the quiz invitation.This episode wasn’t as entertaining as the first two, it was centered more on mystery and less on comedy and that hurt it in my opinion. But that’s the inherent problem with random shows some episodes are more interesting and entertaining then others as there’s no central storyline to pull the viewer along. The show is at its best when Misako is either abusing the boys or making like an angel in front of other teachers or the police.Download the RAW video bit torrent file here, soft subs can be download here.
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