Nurse Aoi Ep1

Yatta! The Jan-March dorama season started and my most anticipated dorama, Nurse Aoi was the first to be fansubbed! I don't expect this to be an excellent dorama and so far its been pretty watchable. The main reason for my enthusiasm for this dorama is Ishihara Satomi who was so kawaii in H2.

Unfortunately, there is no camera shot of Nurse Aoi's poka dot pantsu. :(

This time she's the star of the show, playing a Misora Aoi, a nurse who has been sent to a crappy hospital for something that she did. Everyone in the croocked hospital seems to have a hidden past and the series will most likely be about how Aoi contends with the problems at the hospital.

A very pissed of Nurse Aoi.......

This series reminds me of Haruka 17. We have a beautiful gravure idol turned actress, given the lead role in dorama and surrounded with a good supporting cast. Most notable is Yaniga Toshiro who plays a happy go lucky sukebe Dr Takagi. Most jdorama fans will recognise him as Muroi Shinji from Odoru Daisousasen in which he plays a stoney faced, uber series cop. His character is a total 180 degrees from Muroi keiji and equally as entertaining.

Lol Takagi sensei gets the best lines......

And he gets to touch Ishihara Satomi's oshiri! grrrrr. Actually I think its probably an oshiri double in this scene cause she doesn't turn back and it changes to a completely different angle completely afterwards.

Secondly, they have Nishimura Masahiko as a sleazy doctor who only treats patients with money and like to take credit for himself. While he does a good job at being sleazy, his forte is playing weird and humorous characters.

The sleaziest toupee in all of jdorama land.

Rounding up the supporting cast is Sugita Kaoru, who made big news last year because of her brief marriage.

Yes, all the rumours of Ishihara Satomi dating Akiramike are not true.

Hey aren't u the obasan from Hana Yori Dango?

The main problem with this dorama is that Ishihara Satomi is being asked to too do much. Yes, she a decent actress and very hot but so was Hirayama Aya in Haruka 17. Both are not able to shoulder 10/11 eps of dorama by themselves. Not many actresses do. And nurse Aoi is not a compelling character. She's your tyical genki, gambarimasu character. The best character is the sukebe Takagi sensei and he needs to shoulder the weight of the story before the series end up like the 2nd half of Haruka 17.

As I said earlier, I don't expect much except hopefully a watchable dorama, some laughs along the way and a decent ending. A big shout out to gryzze for the subs and dancestar 24 for the subs.

Holy crap, its the Henshin Tigers dude from Densha! Now if only Sonim will show up.

Another dude from Densha. I think he's holding an Ayanami Rei figure in nurse costume. :)

Kouhaku pt 2

GORIE - Pecori Night


I have no idea why the Japanese find cross dressing comedians funny. Must have something to do with Kabuki actors being all guys. The one thing that got on my nerves this Kouhaku is how Gorie was in every freaking group shot standing in the foreground. Ugly dude in drag does not equal entertainment.

However, Gorie + cheerleaders' performance of Pecori Night was one of the best choreographed dance performances I've ever seen. As can be seen from the screenshots, the use of colours is spectacular. Compare the dancing in Pecori Night to Boa's. Yeah Boa is a damn good dancer but she's boring. There's somehow no enthusiasm and fun. Maybe its its just my cheerleader bias affecting my judgement. I would recommend getting Kouhaku just for this performance. Yes its that damn good.

I'm too lazy to cut the performance out and upload it. Here's the song instead: http://rapidshare.de/files/10861920/Gorie_-_Pecori_Night.mp3.html

I think I've had a dream like this before, except without Gorie.

AIKO - Star

Next is my favourite singer of 2004, Aiko. I loved her two singles this year: Kira Kira and Star. Nothing much to say except give her song a listen. http://rapidshare.de/files/8490428/Aiko_-_Star.mp3.html

Aiko is like Japan's version of Bjork, except more kawaii and nowhere as eccentric.


YAMAZAKI MASAYOSHI - One more time, One more chance


I'm pretty sure I heard this song somewhere before. I doubt there's an English version. Must have been used in some dorama or something. Nevertheless a fucking awesome song. I would rate it along with X Japan's Forever Love as one of the best Japanese love song I've heard. Get it here: http://rapidshare.de/files/10860640/Masayoshi_Yamazaki_-_One_more_time_One_more_chance.mp3.html

NATSUKAWA RIMI - Nada Sou Sou

I think its the 3rd year in a row this song's been on Kouhaku. I love this song so no complaints from me. Its better than listening to those enka songs. If a song by a plump woman spends like 2 years in the top 100 charts, you'd bet its a fucking good song. (though I prefer Begin's version)

I'd love to see Okinawan folk music get more a presence in Kouhaku. Speaking of Okinawa, wtf is Orange Days? This song deserves to be on the play list of every fan of Japanese music: http://rapidshare.de/files/10863499/Natsukawa_Rimi_-_Namida_Sousou.mp3.html

M-FLO loves AKIKO WADA - Hey

Probably the coolest performance of the night. I have no idea why I haven't kept up with M-flo last year. Miss You was one of my fav songs in 2004. For those who are confused, Akiko Wada is a woman, who looks like a man who looks like a woman.

SMAP - Triangle

OMFG, SMAP cannot sing. No matter how good they are at acting, their singing sux. It was so embarrassingly off key. Not to mention their singing of 'Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana' in the middle of the show was only passable. One would think after so many freaking years they would at least learn how to sing. I mean their singing is as bad as Kasumi Koharu's. Seriously, they have too big a presence in this year's Kouhaku.

In the end, it was a freaking good show. The only thing missing were Ken Hirai and Orange Range. And Tsunku should have let the 10-nin Momusu sing the whole Love Machine song godammit. Koharu has absolutely nothing to do with the song or its success.

56th Kouhaku pt 1

Kouhaku has reignited my love for jpop, not that I really lost interest. This year, viewers were able to vote for songs they wanted and there was a variety of great performances which sent me on a week long mp3 hunt. Without further ado, let's look at my favourite parts of the 1st 2 hours of the show, besides the the Momusu 9/10-nin.

JUDGES

Couldn't even recognise Nagasawa Masami. Jdorama fans might recognise her as the main girl in Dragon Zakura. Whoever did her hair needs to be hung, drawn and quartered.

Manabe Kaori!!!!!!! Damn, why isn't she in more doramas?

WORST ENGRISU AWARD

The worst Engrisu award is a tie between............

Suzuki Ami with Delightful and

Kishidan's One Night Carnival

Seriously, jpop wouldn't sound as good without all the crappy english. And Suzuki Ami's song sucks. It sounds like her old stuff she used to sing in the 90s. Maybe it was one of her old songs which I never heard of.......

Kishidan's performance was funny. I never knew Kuabara's (from YuYu Hakusho) hairstyle would be possible in real life. The song is pretty funky and it'll be staying in my playlist for a while. Get one night carnival here: http://rapidshare.de/files/10717115/Kishindan_-_One_Night_Carnival.mp3.html and sing along to 'Can't u master baby, master baby!'

GOSPELLERS


Holy crap, Gospellers are fucking good. The only Japanese acapella group I've listened to before is Rag Fair but Gospellerss performance of Hitori is sublime. I bloody regret not checking their music out earlier. Time to catch up on their songs. Here's the mp3 of Gospeller's Hitori: http://rapidshare.de/files/10716157/Gospellers_-_Hitori.mp3.html

The lead singer has a bloody high pitched voice. Heaven help any fool who attempts this song in a karaoke sober.

YUNA ITO


Endless Story is one of my favourite songs of 2005 and I've not seen Nana not do I have the PV. In fact Kohaku was the 1st time I saw Yuna Ito and she is hawt! Maybe I should consider moving to Hawaii......

One can never get enough Yuna Ito. Can't wait for Nana dvdrip. :)

SHIMATANI HITOMI - Amairo no kami no Otome

Haven't gotten around to grabbing this song yet.

OTSUKA AI - Planetarium

2005 to me was the year of Otsuka Ai ballads and she really gave a good performance. I remember last year's Japan Gold Discs awards or something like that where she gave a crappy performance of Sakuranbo. Otsuka Ai is really popular among gaijin jpop fans so its pretty easy to find this song.

MORIYAMA RYOUKO and MARIYAMA NAOTARO - Satoukibi Hatake

I thought I had this song was scrambling for an hour looking through my coms and cds for it. If I'm not mistaken, it was used as the theme song for Kuroki Hitomi telemovie a year or two back. Finally found a 9 minute version by Miriyama Ryouko which is a bit too long. Give the song a listen here: http://rapidshare.de/files/10718173/-__X_R___q_-_____________.mp3.html

Stay tuned for pt 2, same sukebe url.......

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Last year YC was pushing me to watch this Korean film called Old Boy. It made a lot of noise at the Cannes Film Festival and Quentin Tarantino was praising it in the papers. I gave it a shot and it was a shocking movie. The 1st reaction after finishing the movie was one of horror. It was a movie unlike what I've seen before. I took some time to digest the movie and watched it again. There was no doubt Park Chan Wook had made a masterpiece.

Lady Vengeance is the final film in Park Chan Wook's revenge trilogy. The first, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance was a dark humour film about the tragedy of vengeance. Old boy is a one of a kind movie that can never be surpassed with an even more tragic tale of vengeance.

Lady Vengeance is a tale of girl who ends up in prison and after 13 years years is released and is seeking vengeance. The 1st half of the film covers Lady Vengeance's back story and life in female prison. There's a lot of trademark Pack Chan Wook dark humour here including the most disgusting/funny orgasm scene ever.

The problem with the 1st act is that its more about the other inmates of the prison than Lady Vengeance herself. I find myself more interested in the backstory of her fellow convicts rather than Lady Vengeance and the sad thing is that they do not figure into the 2nd half of the movie which is about the revenge.

I won't spoil the 2nd half of the movie but the revelation and what Lady Vengeance did with the knowledge put a smile to my face. To put it cyptically, the 2nd half is like a Takashi Miike film but nowhere as scary as audition and less cheesy than Ichi.


However it must be said that this film is beautifully shot and scored. Korean films in terms of cinematography is so much better than HK and Japan. Korean films have the technical expertise to make great films. If only they'd do less melodrama movies.

Out of the four Park Chan Wook movies, I'd rate this one the lowest with Old Boy at no.1 and JSA second. Lady Vengeance is a well executed movie but I find the mix of themes of revenge and redemption are too jarring. However, I love the way the how Lady Vengeance gets both at the end.



Lady Vengeance is still a decent movie, just not as good as the other 3 that I've seen including JSA. Ultimately the problem with Lady Vengeance is threefold: Firstly the narrative of the film is weak. Its a film not really about Lady Vengeance but the film spends a lot of time on her with scenes that are not really entertaining nor move the plot forward.

Secondly, there's no climax at the end and the epilogue scene is way too long.

Thirdly, I just don't feel no sympathy for Lady Vengence, especially compared with the characters in the 1st two revenge films.

Love Machine at Kouhaku

I'd take Ayaya anytime, anyplace.....

Well, its another year and that means its time for Kouhaku! The most anticipated thing for me was the Love Machine performance that was voted in. Rumours were going around that they would get the old members to perform and I was sure as hell excited.

I got goosebumps when the balloon poped and revealed old school Momusu in an updated Love Machine pose. IMO, this looks better than the old one.

All they need is Mika Todd and we could have a Mini Moni reunion......

Kaori and the famous jyaaaaaaaaaaa face. Now we only need her to do the 'ne waratte' song.

The 10-nin of 2000-2001, minus Yossi. Sniff, those were the good days........

Add in Ishiguro Aya and we can have an old school Tanpopo reunion.

Wtf? Yasuda Kei is still alive? lol

Nacci!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On a side note, Yuko looks like an evil villian from a shoujo manga.

With Yossi not in the line up, I knew bad things were gonna happen and in the middle of the song, the current Momusu showed up. :( Yeah, its sorta like the passing of the baton from the old Momusu to the new but goddamn I was having a great time reliving my early jpop days. And they gave Koharu Mari's last line! WTF?!

The dream line up would be to see the 8-nin lineup with Sayaka and Ayappe but I'm just happy to see Mari and the others performing the most famous Momusu song, perhaps for the last time.

Yuko showing a bit too much enthusiasm.......

Thanks to Ayabie~ from jpopmusic for the vid. You can get the file here.

3 reasons to move to Ruri's island

Ruri no Shima is set in set in a small island in Okinawa which has a population of 49 ppl. Wtf would want to live on an island with nothing? Well, I've got 3 good reasons:

1. Konishi Manami


Yes, I often daydream about Konishi Manami......

2. Nishiyama Mayuko

Last seen in one of my fav doramas, Ai Nante Irane yo.

3. Igawa Haruka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hot, hot hot. I'm am not talking about the stupid Melbourne weather.

She really looks like Yuna in this scene.

And for those lolicons out there, Rumi herself played by Narumi Riko.


After a long hiatus, Studio Oto is back with ep 5 and so far the dorama has been pretty slow, just showing how Ruri and her interaction with the island's inhabitants. Seriously, how does one survive without internet, arcades, bookshops, cinemas, and a pacinko parlour? The only intruiging part of the story is Takenouchi Yutaka's character who seems to be running from something. As long as they speed things up a bit and neither of the 3 characters bites the dust, I'll probably follow the series to the end. There's nothing to really complain about but nothing really interesting.

Jyoou no Kyoushitsu ep 7

Finally ep 7 arrives and its a fucking good one. I've probably heaped all the praise I can on the series. I only pray that the rest of series goes well and has a good ending.

The Queen blackmails the weakest link and turns her traitor, using her to diffuse an attack. After that, she then turns the traitor over to the class to be crucified. Someone has obviously been reading her Michiavelli.

Kanda and gang against....... a lighter?...........

Hikaru becomes the brains of the rebel group. Kanda finally confronts her mom in a brilliant scene.

Come on Yusuke, u ain't taking no sledging from no little girls!

The most interesting thing of all is that the revelation of the Queen's whereabouts the previous 2 years is revealed. While its shocking, I'm more interested to know why she is so willing to divulge it. Perhaps its the Queen herself who needs saving?

The Queen showing a slightest bit of emotion.......

WTF????? This cap from the preview of ep 8 somehow scares the crap out of me...