The end of the year starts counting down now and with it comes the unending stream of polls, surveys, and lists. Which makes it a good time to check back in with Japan entertainment to see how the tastes have changed, if any, after a bustling 2014 worth of doramas and movies. Below are two just released polls showing how … Continue reading →
Holy bazookas is this upcoming J-dorama looking better and better. With less than two weeks left before the premiere of the Fuji TV getsu9 (Monday at 9) Nobunaga Concerto, the production blew me away with the release of the fantastic drama posters. I haven’t seen a single drama poster this creative with great narrative foreshadowing all year. Why can’t K-dramas … Continue reading →
Holy mamacitas what is this crazy star-studded cast of what is shaping up to be the biggest fall J-dorama around. Oguri Shun is headlining the upcoming Fuji TV 50th anniversary special dorama Nobunaga Concerto, a time-traveling story based on the popular same name manga. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, wait til you hear the line up for the … Continue reading →
I’m truly baffled by Aibu Saki‘s career in J-ent. She’s an okay actress and pretty enough, but definitely not the usual sweet faced ingenue nor is she the hot and bitchy type that gets all the guys excited. Yet she keeps getting cast in projects with the hottest guys around, not to mention she’s been dating wild thing Nagase Tomoya … Continue reading →
It’s a veritable feast of Winter dorama premieres next week, and I’m keeping my eye out for Hungry! as well. Starring Mukai Osamu as a bassist for a rock band who takes over the family restaurant in accordance with his late mother’s will, he will be entangled in a love triangle with Takimoto Miori and Kuninaka Ryoko whilst battling the … Continue reading →
WANT. You know Korea’s been having a field day with those Flower Boy drama(s) from tvN – Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and the upcoming Shut Up: Flower Boy Band. So what if Japan combined the two? A dorama about a lead singer of a band that decides to open a restaurant, with resident panty-melting hottie Mukai Osamu in his first leading … Continue reading →
The Paradise Kiss live-action movie can be viewed two ways. For folks unfamiliar with Yazawa Ai‘s brilliant source manga, the ParaKiss movie starring Kitagawa Keiko and Mukai Osamu is likely just a frothy harmless shallow piece of fashion coming-of-age entertainment that is easy to watch. Akin to one of those formulaic Hollywood rom-coms that comes and goes and no one … Continue reading →
A couple of months ago I did a write up on TW-actors and TW-actresses, which was relatively easy to do since there just aren’t that many of them occupying the perch as certifiable leads. The same isn’t true elsewhere, which is why I’ve been hesitant to attempt it for other industries. Nevertheless, I suddenly got the urge to run down … Continue reading →
While I’ve loved Ai Yazawa since her early work Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai, I did NOT like Nana. Yes yes, how could I not like her award-winning work. It just didn’t resonate with me. So I was reluctant to read Paradise Kiss, until suddenly it was about to become a live-action movie starring Kitagawa Keiko (who I have a super … Continue reading →