This bit of J-ent news is like filler on a slow news day, except it just makes me happy since it harkens back to the good ole days when every other J-dorama had me interested to check it out. The Japanese tabloid recently snapped A-list actors Matsumoto Jun, Oguri Shun, and Ikuta Toma out at a bromance gathering at a yakitori izakaya, exuding every bit the eye-catching star power. Each arrived separately but appeared to be wearing very similar casual stylish outfits, complete with hat, sunglasses (even at night), and/or decorative scarf.
I’m just smiling like a happy noona at seeing the three close friends still being close friends going on ten plus years, a feat that is difficult even with ordinary folks. Toma and MatsuJun have known each other since their teen years being Johnny trainees, while Shun and MatsuJun got close filming all the Hana Yori Dango doramas, followed by Shun and Toma bonding in HanaKimi and continuing that with Ouroboros earlier this year. They are so close that Jun and Toma were one of the few friends Shun invited to his Hawaii nuptials to wifey Yamada Yu.
Nice to see them still chillaxing together, and hopefully there will be countless more dorama or movie opportunities to work together.
Hey Koala, just want to point out that Jun and Shun have been friends longer than than – since they did Gokusen together back in ’02. ^^
they did Gokusen but they weren’t that close back then, it was during Hanadan that their friendship started
But I remember some kind of story about Hana Yori Dango that MatsuJun would not take the role if Shun didn’t get the role of Rui
nope matsujun in the one who insisted that oguri be the one to play hanzawa ruin so they were clearly close friends already
Nope, Shun and Jun talked about it in Arashi no Shiyagare. They were not close during Gokusen era, somehow because of Jun’s “attitude”. LOL. Only during Hanadan they became close friends, when Shun was finally able to see Jun is actually a good person. Haha.
i was about to say this for i happened to watch the Shiyagare episode today LOL
Shun also mentioned that it’s been a while for them to see each other when they were doing the poster shoot for Hanadan most likely implying that post-gokusen up to pre-Hanadan days they were more like just plain acquaintances with each other
It’s interesting how the different Hanazawa Ruis fared years after they starred in the manga adaptations that made them famous. Oguri Shun and Vic Zhou all became respectably skilled actors that are now bigger than the actors that played Domyoji. Then we have Kim Hyun Joong…
hmm and what about korean Domyoji lee min ho? lol
but yeap KHJ is really such a shame..
I actually don’t know the place that LMH holds anymore. His popularity has been on a decline in Korea for a few years now. He probably maintained his popularity in the rest of Asia, but he hasn’t done any immensely popular works since Heirs, which was 2 years ago…
…Oguri Shun bigger than Matsumoto Jun?
As an actor – absolutely. As a general celebrity – probably not, Arashi is the wall.
As a actor definitely! As a celebrity Matsujun is bigger.
This is so true! Also, did you also see how those who played the role of Soujiro Nishikado (Vanness Wu and Matsuda Shota) also became established actors with dramas that really defined them that their Hanadan/Meteor Garden roles.
i love all three of them. still need to watch ouroboros..is it good? did someone watched it?
Watched it. Loved it. It had, like two weaker episodes, but the plot held together. First drama in a while that had me crying at the end.
It may have dull episodes — as kogamo says — but over all it is good. I was more after the thrill and action that the emotional scenes kinda drag me down.
i loved ouroboros, but then i tend to like a lot of japanese dramas. it wasn’t perfect but it was good enough, i think.
it might be interesting to point out that one of the lesser stars in that drama, seino nana, is rumored to be now dating ikuta toma. their characters have several funny interactions in the drama itself so looking at those scenes with the rumor in mind adds extra fun factor.
I’m so happy they are all friends. Hope their friendship continues for many years to come!! Btw @pearl286, i do recommend ouroubous, it was thrilling and moving at the same time. Plus Ueno Juri is in it, duh! But don’t expect a kdrama ending (coz it’s a jdorama after all).
@ pearl Do not lose a minute and start watching ” Ouroboros”
Those three always tend to hang out on a regular basis. There also paparazzi pics of jun, toma and Mao.
Shun has a whole bunch of friends, Yamada Takayki as Shun are very close and because of that Shun cameoed as a villain in Yamada’s hilarious fantasy larp dorama. He’s also close to bunch of other actors like Tsukamoto Takeshi.
But yeah he spends a lot of time with Toma and Jun and sometimes Yu’s little brother, hope they can talk some sense to him regarding his behavior towards his wife (cough cheating cough) or then I just want yu to pummel him.
Haha! Reminds me when Inoue Mao once said she’ll punch Shun in the face if he’ll cheat Yamada Yuu.
This A-listers group of friends is informally known as the Oguri Gundan/Oguri kai (Oguri Group) within the Japanese entertainment circle. A Japanese fan who once posted picture of this friends group also include actors Miura Haruma, Okada Masaki, Ayano Go, Yamada Takayuki, Kasahara Hideyuki, Miura Shohei, Katsuji Ryo etc
but those actors are in diff level right with oguri,toma n matsujun.most of them are from younger generation
Hav u guys heard of Kamenashi Kazuya and Jin Akanishi I love them as well as Shun Oguri JunMatsumoto and Ikuta Toma.They also acted in gokusen 2