I am sooooo ready for Yamapi as the teacher falling for a student in the upcoming live-action J-movie adaptation of the popular shoujo manga Kinkyori Renai. There are multiple excitement factors as play for me with respect to Yamashita Tomohisa‘s first movie in three years since Ashita no Joe. That one was also a live-action adaptation of a classic beloved shonen manga of the same name, and it says something about Yamapi’s manga male lead looks that he’s always on the short list when an adaptation is considered. It was a matter of scheduling conflict that he wasn’t in the J-version of Hana Yori Dango, that drama aired from Oct-Dec 2005 on Fridays, and that very exact time frame Yamapi was starring in Nobuta wo Produce with Kame and Maki which aired from Oct-Dec 2005 on Saturdays. Crazy heydays for idol J-doramas if you ask me.

Yamapi has been transitioning for the last five years to adult roles and sometimes he does an in-between character like in Buzzer Beat or playing the least believable doctor ever in Code Blue. His last few dramas have all been duds from me from playing a funeral home director to a cop to the most morose plodding romantic male lead in Summer Nude. I need Yamapi to be (1) hot, (2) snarky, (3) intensely interested in a girl. Those three elements appear all be present in Kinkyori Renai if the just released full movie trailer is to be believed. The newbie leading lady Komatsu Nana is a big question mark and so far her acting doesn’t impress in the trailer. I’ve watched plenty of turkeys just for Yamapi alone so this one will be an easy swallow since the source story is decently plotted and lacks the icky teacher-student taboo treatment. Apparently Yamapi has been immersing himself in English lessons for the last year leading up to filming because he plays an accomplished high school English teacher. LOL this I gotta see to believe. Continue reading →