It’s Fall which means time for the annual J-dorama homage to the Crown Prince that is Kimura Takuya. I’ve been meh with all his recent year doramas from Priceless to Nankyoku Tairiku to Tsuki no Koibito, but there is no telling when KimuTaku may pull a rabbit out of the hat so it’s always with a hopeful heart I await his yearly return to the small screen. Premiering next Sunday on October 13th is his first foray into science fiction on television (he did the live-action movie Space Battleship Yamato three years ago) as well as playing two roles. I joke that Japan will not let KimuTaku retire until he cosplays every major character type and this time he’s tackling playing a robot which he hasn’t done beofre. In Ando Lloyd ~ A.I. Knows Love? (Ando Lloyd = Japanese pronunciation of android), KimuTaku plays a genius physicist Matsushima Reiji with a beautiful and loving fiancee Ando Asahi played by Shibasaki Kou. He discovers a worm hole theory that leads him to believe that he and his fiancee will soon die. He later does die in a plane crash and soon his grieving fiancee finds herself face-to-face with a guy named Lloyd who looks just like Reiji but claims to be a robot from the future sent to protect her. This whole thing essentially boils down to a time-traveling A.I. (artificial intelligence) love story with a mystery to solve. KimuTaku and Kou are established veteran actors with acting chops and charisma to bring this far-out concept to life, not to mention chemistry galore since they starred in Good Luck!! together over 10 years ago. This thing will make it or break it with the directing and writing, which consists of the director behind Love Shuffle, Hana Yori Dango 2, Smile, and Ikemen desu ne, while the screenwriter is one who wrote SPEC: First Blood that has spawned the popular universe of SPEC movies and television special. I really want this dorama to be good for various reasons: if its good then I finally have something different and fun to watch, more KimuTaku on TV, and I’m rooting for ratings vindication for Kou since I’m still pissed at the producers of Galileo 2 for firing Kou because she was “too old” and replacing her with a young Yoshitaka Yuriko who can barely act and has a fraction of the charisma of Kou. I think KimuTaku’s dorama ratings seem to rise and fall with the length and wildness of his mane, in which case this return to liony-maned goodness likely means Ando Lloyd ~ A.I. Knows Love? may just be a hit. We’ll find out next Sunday.
“Matsushima [Reiji] is a genius physicist. He realizes that he and his fiancé Ando [Asahi] will be killed [due to] a theory that he advanced. One day, in the year 2013, Reiji dies in a[n] airplane explosion & crash. He was a handsome and world-famous professor who studied wormhole theories. It is a mystery whether his research on wormhole theory caused his death or not. His fiance Asahi is a capable career woman working at a large IT company. She is beautiful and smart, but she met Reiji and fell in love with him. Her days with Reiji were happy, but one day he dies and somebody tries to kill her. Asahi doesn’t know why someone wants to end her life. Lloyd, who looks exactly like her dead fiance Reiji, suddenly appears in front of her. Lloyd came from the year 2113. His mission is to protect Asahi from any risky situations. Without Asahi’s knowledge, Lloyd fights to protect her. Lloyd doesn’t know what “love” is and doesn’t understand human anger or sadness. At first, Asahi doesn’t like Lloyd, but slowly her feelings change. Lloyd also begins to develop feelings for her.”
Teasers for Ando Lloyd ~ A.I. Knows Love?:
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To await KimuTaku’s return, have the opening and ending sequence of my favorite KT renzouku dorama Pride:
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Wow he’s a lot older since I last saw him in the only jdorama I’ve seen – Long vacation.
Long Vacation was 17 years ago. Just for perspective is all. He looks phenomenal for a star of his caliber and without any plastic surgery. Never change, but keep on growing smexier KimuTaku!
Funny, I was going to say that he doesn’t age even though the last dorama I’ve seen him was in Pride. He looks beautiful as always, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen a Kimura Takuya dorama, so I might check this out. Or rewatch his other doramas again. 🙂
Kinda ironic to see a post about KT…a couple of hours ago before I read this post, I found my Long vacation DVDs and popped them to my player to make sure that they worked.
I know nothing about J-doramas other than Rich Man, Poor Woman, but this looks great. I am more excited looking at this (and trying not to look up other Kimura Takuya projects–I’ve got another budgt report due Monday people!) than any of the other drama prospects for the fall. He looks great with that hair and those glasses. If my physics teacher in college looked like that, I would have paid much more attention. Talk about motivation:)
Anyway, if you Kimura Takuya fans would choose, which of his dramas would you recomend to a newbie? If there was only one KT drama you could watch again, which one would it be?
Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride. I can keep on typing it.
Embedded the opening MV for you up top. Enjoy~ It’s the love story of when Haru (Spring) fell in love with Aki (Autumn). Easily one of my fave J-doramas of all time.
Ohhhh! This is my favorite Jdorama tooo! I’ve seen it “maybe” (:P) like 15 times. It has the best OST of all the times, with The Queen. And Kimutaku and Yuko’s chemistry was very intense.
WHAT!!! Drama and ice hockey?!?!? I actually played ice hockey in college (led my city league team in penalty minutes the year we won the city trophy–good penalty minutes people. My plus/minus rating was excellent). Oh my goodness. I am practically salivating now. Why did I check this site before I finished grading papers?!?!?!
Ahh! TY for recommending this lol. I just went through all the eps in one sit down…LOVED IT! Good stuff now it seems I am going to have to watch this too, since I have a crush now *grin*
My likes often do not align with Koala, so this is just be budging in a different perspective. Hands down Long Vacation for me. Nothing even remotely close. If want a taste of KimuTaku+Kou: Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi. Wanna see him rocking that hair with no help of any sparkling outfits other than an orange down jacket like nobody’s business: Hero.
Yay yay yay. Long Vacation Team + 1 =P
*hi5* my friend! It has the most perfect soundtrack of all KimuTaku too.
Yay my sis even bought the 4CD special OST boxset back then and we just kept looping the CDs back in those days. Heh. Good ole days.
Pride indeed.
More chemistry in the first episode than most doramas (J, K & TW) manage to muster in a full set of episodes.
And yes on the soundtrack thumbs up as well. One fab soundtrack indeed. Queen, Queen, Queen!
(Note: I haven’t watched Long Vacation yet, and I actually quite enjoyed Priceless… though it wasn’t outstanding like Pride certainly is.)
Now, can we get a Takenouchi Yutaka dorama please? (whom I like even better than Kimutaku).
Long Vacation has Yutaka as guy2 and his nick in it is ANIMAL asin RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Go watch.
Long Vacation was my first KimuTaku drama, and so remains my favourite one.
If you like older-female-younger-male type of pairings, this is the one for you. The soundtrack is good too!
Pride is good too, of course! The 90s was the golden age of KimuTaku dramas; every single one was a classic!
Me too!!! I highly highly recommend Pride. It is absolutely my favorite Kimura jdrama. I have seen all of them except the one from last year.
Pride. Pride!!!!!!
Pride is my favorite Kimura Takuya as well (not saying how many times I watched it!), followed by A Million Stars… and Gift. I also like Change, but I prefer the quirkier, edgier Kimura so of the latter shows I liked Brain but not the Moon disaster with the Chinese non-actress (see, I have even blocked the title). He’s a much better actor than singer, but considering his singing abilities that is too faint a praise; I’ll say instead he’s one of my favorite Japanese actors because he always brings something interesting to his portrayals.
The story sounds a lot like an Indian movie Ra One…..
Why Jdramas don’t have an official English title while k and tw dramas have??
Cos Jdramas are catered to their domestic audiences unlike their counterparts which tend to keep international audiences in mind. I might be wrong and stand to be corrected, but in the years I’ve (J)drama-watched, the focus and priority have always been catering to domestic audience so if a Japanese title is fitting, then it is and that’s that for them!
Yup, the Japanese entertainment industry places more focus on domestic audiences. Only in recent years have I seen them try to reach out to international audiences (such as the recent Itazura Na Kiss ~ Love In Tokyo’s foray into China + the fact that the official DVD set is All Region instead of the typical regional lock for Japan dvd players and has English and Chinese subtitles instead of the typical Japanese ones.)
Homg Koala you’re right, the mane of glory is back! He’s looking mighty fine and natural – as in almost like he’s back in his elements, more human than quirky despite being a robot and all! – in this one. Teaser looks great, however short it is. I don’t remember the chemistry between these two from Good Luck!! (but okay, I confess that I don’t remember much of this drama to begin with…) but they’re both solid actors that I’m not worried. I’m totally with you in hoping this one will deliver and personally, I really hope this will also be the one to finally get him out of the declining (ratings and project choices) of the last few years!
He does not age at all!
I have go dig out my Long Vacation VCD…
Yeah, story seems similar to the Hindi movie Ra.One… And love KimuTaku…
So…
I mean, he gets to pair up with Kou 3 times now. Then with Takako 2 times.
Why, and I mean, WHY can’t he pair up with Takeuchi Yuko again? They have been my favorite J-ent OTP ever since Pride. But not once have they pair up again.
I can only hope…
Thank you for this post..it’s been a while since I heard about my ultimate j-actor crush.the last kimutaku’s drama I watched is karei naru ichizoku.such an amazing classic drama.
The pics are soo cute!! I love them together! They had awesome chemistry in Good Luck and I became a fan of both of them.Can’t wait for this one!
Ahhh, “Pride” is hands down my favorite Jdrama! <3
KimuTaku's older dramas are among some of my favorites… but his recent ones have left me REALLY cold. I couldn't even make it through the first eps.
I love Shibasaki Kou too, she was amazing in "Orange Days". I really hope this drama becomes a huge hit so she can show how young and beautiful she still is.
Long vacation! !!
Did anyone else think the recent drama Summer Nude was similar but poorer version of the classic ??
aww..i am falling in love with him in pride too. the sweetest bad boy ever. it has been a while since i watch takuya kimura in a drama.
They called Shibasaki Kou old???????? Madness
I agree and I had no idea they used this sorry excuse to replace her in Galileo 2. I did not see Galileo 2 except for the first and second episode. For some reason even Yukawa’s acting or was it the way the episodes were written were horrible and the new girl…no words.
I LOVE that you clarified that “ando llyod” is the Japanese pronunciation of android. hahaa
I remember watching Pride many moons ago but being quite ambivalent about it. It could be that I had read many a romance novels with a sports setup and the dorama seemed redundant to me. Anyhow, THANK YOUUUU for posting those MVs as it led me to this swoony fanmade MV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg5-3Af7x64
KimuTaku is SO swooooony. Cannot wait to re-watch it. I do wonder what made the J-dorama industry to move from being rom-com heavy to genre-based? Also, why do they shy away from good kisses? It’s clearly evident that it’s been done in the past… I just wonder.
Yeah, Japan does romcom/romance like no one else does. I love the realistic touch they put into romance dramas back then…
Am I the only one but I felt they had zero chemistry together in Good luck. That was one major problem I had with that dorama. But I’m also very surprised that he wasn’t cast opposite a leading actress in her 20’s that he has been wanting for a while. (Ayase Haruka in Brain and Kuroki Meisa in Yamato, those were his picks not the casting director)
Still mad over that Kou was replaced in Galileo, I don’t believe that she was too busy with her music. I think they just felt that she was “too old” and replaced her with Yoshitaka who wasn’t good.
No you are not!! I didint like them together at all in that drama. So don’t worry, it’s not just you. Lol.
They’ve always seemed great off camera and everything I’ve seen so far of this drama excited me but Good Luck? Heck no!
It’s just a difference of what moves you, what you like. Pride is adored my many, I didn’t care for the love story at all. Didn’t like Takeuchi Yuko at all in that drama. K-San was wonderful, Sakaguchi Kenji as well but that romance was completely lost on me. Not my taste in the least. Eye rolls all the way.
Absolutely looking forward to this though! Love both Kimura-san and Shibasaki, Sunday is gonna be a busy night 😉
Is this the same girl from “Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi”? I wouldn’t recognize her. They had good chemistry there.
Funny thing, I first saw KT in “Priceless” and I quite liked it. And him in it as well, not knowing his fame. :–) Recently I watched “Long Vacation” and only afterwards I realized it was the same guy! Then I searched his other works and so far watched Sleeping Forrest, Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi and Long Vacation. “Long Vacation” is my favourite, so far, I really liked the developement of the relationship there. And there is no darknes and tragedies… just lovely kisses :–)
No, Sora Kara… was with Fukatsu Eri, whom he also starred with in Change. He likes to stick with familiar actresses; he worked with Ayase Haruka in both Mr. Brain and Hero and Matsu Takako in Hero and Long Vacation.
I didn’t think he had any chemistry with Shibasaki, either, but I’m always willing to give him another try. 😉
yes she wasnt the main character (that was eri fukatsu), kou was in that show but was the high school student who was obsessed with KT. she was the only one in that show that got a good ending.
So glad to see KT back on the screen. I like his older projects, but the recent material just hasn’t been that good. Priceless wasn’t too bad, not anywhere near his older projects. I liked his J-dorama, Gift. I know a lot of people didn’t but his acting was so good.
SK looks younger in these photos than she did in Good Luck.
They look good together. Looking forward to watching this.
True, a lot of people don’t like Gift – perhaps because it doesn’t have a romance arc – but I really like it because I think it is a complex and interesting study in rebirth and redemption, as well as a pretty good mystery, and even without a romance he just crackles on the screen.
Very well said.
I love TK and PRIDE is also my favorite, I think you should write a review…
now can I can a takuya and Tekuchi Yuko renuion?
I haven’t seen “Pride” but I LOVED “LOVE GENERATION”with an average rate 30%.
Pride introduced me to Kimu Taku! And I loved Shibasaki Kou in Orange Days. *sigh*
heh whats funny is people are predicting that it will never reach the ratings he used to have from the golden days and will be a lot lot lower than hanzawa naokis. probly around the normal base 15% he will get from all his fans.
gonna have to watch this show since shibasaki is in it. who knows maybe it will be better than good luck.
Definitely gonna check this one out. I love time travel dramas and KimuTaku. My fave KimuTaku drama is actually Nemureru Mori – an intriguing mystery drama. Actually… now that I think about it, it kinda reminds me a little of the recent Kdrama hit “I Can Hear Your Voice.” KimuTaku plays a man who protects the main heroine because he found out when he was a child that she might be in danger when she gets older(due to witnessing a crime). Other than that, I liked Change – but my friends didn’t. (So I was the minority in that one).
Pride my only favorite KDrama and most of all KimuTaku is the lead besides the fact that i so so love ice hockey i wanna watch one live game again someday. please share links where to watch it…thanks
I just finish andro lloyd 2 days ago and it was amazing! I really love Kimutaku and shibasaki kou when they act together. They are the best when acting!
Almost all kimutaku’s drama were on my favorite list. Pride,good luck, andro lloyd, Mr. Brazin are really good. Rich Man Poor Woman was amazing too! I love oguri and ishihara satomi together. And the soundtrack (Miwa) made the drama perfect. Anyone should watch my boss my hero too keke
And I really agree with you with Galileo 2! I watch Good luck because I know shibasaki kou from Galileo. And it’s really make me mad when I know they’re replacing Shibasaki Kou just because the age.
ah.. is there drama that with Kimutaku, Shibasaki Kou, Yamapi, Oguri Shun, Ishihara satomi, keiko kitagawa, matsujun, erika toda, eita, yui aragaki act together? kekeke they are my favorite star. They very good at acting,they act naturally, and they have their own aura and unique characteristic when they acting.
hehe sorry for late spamming. I just feel good when i found there is someone who had same thinking about galileo 2 (even i know there are lot of people there)