Dear Doctor

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I wasn't planning on watching this one. I had "Giggolo Wannabe" next on my list; but I was searching at the new movies available and I saw this one...was very interesting. I'm almost done with it. I'm going to have lunch now and watch the last 1/2 hour. I'll be back to summarize later.

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More gratuitous fotos of Miura Haruma

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I WAS going to watch first episode of "Hero" but I ended up watching the finale of "Bloody Monday" instead. I'll watch "Hero" tomorrow. Great drama and I can't wait to see the second installment.

More fotos.
Yeah, he's hot.






















Mmmm...

I have more but I'll keep them for later.
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Catching up on "Bloody Monday" & what's next?

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I'm done with 10 episodes. Just the finale left to watch. So far this has been a great great drama. There were a few twists I was NOT expecting. I know better than to fall for the obvious but there were 2 instances when the obvious is the only thing that made sense so I went with it. But whomever wrote this one was pretty clever cuz I didn't see those twists coming. One instance I tried to think outside the box but then they made me think I was wrong and I fell for it. I can't wait to watch the Finale. I'm going to save that for tomorrow while I have lunch so I can enjoy it.

Currently, part 2 (or season 2) is airing now. I believe the first episode was last Saturday so today was the second episode. Nobody has uploaded that one yet. Oh, problem...the next series has no subtitles to it. I read that it's streamed on another site but it's hard subbed which sucks. My plan is to download them RAW and then do the subtitles myself. Yeah, I don't speak Japanese but I'll get the subtitles from watching the hard dubbed version and then I'll make a soft sub for myself. Why? cuz then I can share them on the site where I download my stuff. For a long time I've been downloading and not able to contribute. Now I will be able to. It'll take some work and time but I'm sure I can do it.

Anyhoo, I'm going to start watching "Hero". It's 11 episodes and the theme song is sung by Utada Hikaru, "Can You Keep a Secret". Love that song. The only person I recognize is Abe Hiroshi. As I look at the other cast names, I don't see anyone else I may know. Gonna have to wait until I see it in case I recognize a face.

Here I go...Episode 1 of "Hero"
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Bloody Monday - Episode Four

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This was a great episode. However, I can't summarize anymore. If I do that, I'll give too much away before you see it.

Suffice it to say that I hope you paid attention to a few things (specifically, a meeting) as someone is revealed in this episode.

Also, in the last episode, someone gets in bed with the devil and when the devil delivers his end of the deal, he asks someone to take a life or give up his own to complete the deal.

I wish I had time to watch the next episode but it's really really late now so that's all I can say about episode 4.

Lastly, of course, gratuitous photos of Miura Haruma :o)

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Bloody Monday - Episode Three

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I'm not going to say much about the remaining episodes. My summaries for the first 2 episodes were plenty.

In this 3rd episode, Orihara is busted. To find out how Takagi gets out of his situation, you'll have to watch it. Orihara is taken back to THIRD-i and is interrogated. Actually, she's tortured. If I remember correctly, they guy administering the torture said he learned it from some U.S. company...or shomething like that. Nice. He learns the most updated techniques from the Americans.

Orihara Maya refuses to talk no matter how much she's tortured but Kano (THIRD-i agent) insists the administrator step it up a bit. The administrator is a bit reluctant letting Kano know that any higher, the witness might be killed. Kano doesn't care, he tells him to give her the max! Finally she agrees to give info she has and will even take them to their hideout. Her only condition is that Takagi go with them since his father was working with her.

Kano and Hosho (another agent) take Orihara to show them where the hideout is. Along the way, Orihara starts talking to Takagi and telling him that his father was working with her. Kano and Hosho tell Orihara to shut up and stop telling lies. They both reassure Takagi that Orihara is only trying to play head games. then Orihara tells Takagi that one of the two agents is working with her. Which one is it? Takagi figures out who it is...

That's it. I'll say no more or I'll give the end away and I'm not that kind of gal. Sorry.

Two things:

One...the guy that plays Ikuma Kano looks exactly like a Japanese Christopher Walken!!! Everytime he's been on, I can't stop thinking "Dang..he looks just like Christopher Walken, Japanese style!!!" See for yourself and tell me you DON'T see it!


Second...of course, pics of Miura Haruma :o)
Good gravy...he's gorgeous AND...young enough to be my kid. So sad. So hot...ugh.

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Bloody Monday - Episode Two

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Good gravy.

This episode, some random girl, who recd a package at the end of episode one, gets gassed by the package. The terrorist reveals to THIRD-i the name of the girl and her address. They send a hazmat like team over and it turns out she becomes the first infected person in Tokyo. They take her for observation. The terrorist tells THIRD-i that they want Falcon.

Takagi takes his friend Otoya (from their newspaper club) to use the teacher's computer to show him what he was forced to delete in exchange for his sister's life. Oddly, it was also deleted from the teacher's computer. But Takagi has a back up copy. Together they watch the video of the people dying at the Russian church. They wonder what it is about the video that the terrorists would want it deleted. They watch it again and they see a figure in the background. They stop and enlarge it...they notice..it kind of looks like their teacher. They decide to investigate.

The teacher, Orihara Maya, sees Takagi outside on a park bench and she goes over to talk to him. He asks her what she was doing last Christmas. She tells him she rented a DVD and watched it alone. Takagi asks Orihara for her rental card and she shows it to him. He asks to borrow it and she lets him. He hacks into the rental store's computer and finds that she did rent movies on both the 24th and 25th of December. He also gets into their surveillance cameras and sees her, alone renting those days. He calls Otoya to tell him that they were mistaken and the woman in that film could not be Orihara since he saw her on the camera so she has an alibi. But Otoya tells him "That's not an alibi at all".

Takagi and Otoya arrive together at Orihara's apartment. They beg her to please forgive two of her stupid students. They invite her out to lunch. While she goes to change, Takagi gets a phone call and is called away to aid his sister (Orihara can hear the conversation). Otoya stays behind and tells Orihara it will just be the two of them. They drive off to the restaurant. It turns out that Takagi had only faked leaving the apartment and he was hiding in her shower. He looked around for some kind of evidence that she was involved in the Christmas Massacre. He eyes her computer and turns it on.

In the meantime, Otoya and Orihara are at the restaurant and Otoya says she should order whatever she wants. After about 5 min, Orihara excuses herself to use the bathroom but she actually leaves the restaurant and heads back to her place. Since it seemed like she was taking such a long time, Otoya goes to look for Orihara's car and it's gone. He starts running back and he calls Takagi to let him know she's on her way back. Takagi tells him he needs at least 10 more minutes to copy the files onto his flashdrive.

Orihara arrives to find Takagi standing in front of her door and the alarm going off. He tells her the sound has been coming from her place for a few minutes. She tells him it must be the alarm...he grabs the keys from her hands and offers to go in ahead of her. He looks around and says there is nobody in the apartment. He starts to stall as he's left the flashdrive still in her computer. She figures it out when she looks in that room and sees the flashdrive on her laptop. Takagi tells her he was mistaken about what he thought of her being the woman in that video. He asked her what did she do for Christmas THIS year? He explained that Otoya had told him Russian Orthodox Christmas is January 7th and not December 25th. The jig is up. Orihara, with her back to Takagi, tells him she was at church during the Christmas Massacre. She turns around and points her gun at him.

That's it. Again, I've left a bit out here and there so as not to tell the whole episode cuz what would be the point in watching if I'm writing the whole thing here?

Screenshot of Miura Haruma. I'm going to post one per episode...he's my new guy....he'll be 20 in April (YIKES!)


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Bloody Monday - Episode One

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Looks like this is going to be a thriller drama. Up to now I've only ever watched the ones that were comedic and/or romatic. At first I was a bit confused; it didn't make any sense but as usual, as it went along, I started to understand what was going on. At some point I'm going to have to watch the first 1/2 hr or so now that I know.

So, I picked this drama because of Miura Haruma, who was Tatsuya Mito in "Crows ZERO II". There is nobody else I in it that I recognize (yet).





Miura Haruma is Takagi Fujimaru to his friends. Just another junior high school student. However, he is also a genius computer hacker known as "Falcon". His father is a high ranking official for "THIRD-i", a division of some intelligence agency.

There are some bad people out there who unleashed a virus that took out a whole city in Russia known as "Christmas Massacre". They have plans to do the same thing to Tokyo. At this point, 2 of the really bad people are Japanese so WHY they want to do this to Tokyo, I'm not sure. I'm hoping there's some explanation as to why 2 Japanese citizens may want to destroy one of their cities by killing everyone living in it.

"THIRD-i" asks Takagi to do a job for them by hacking into a system and he decides he doesn't want to. There's some trouble between his science teacher and a student. She's not able to pay for her tuition so she's taken a part time job to help pay for it. The teacher has asked her to meet him in his office after class. While she's there, he mentions to her that the parent of one of the students has complained that they saw her working at a convenience store. She denies it at first but then admits it and explains why. The teacher starts to try to molest her. She fights back and runs out of the office. As she's running out, Takagi is passing by and asks her what's wrong and she runs away. He walks up a few feet and looks inside the room she ran out of and sees the teacher. Since the teacher couldn't get anywhere with the girl, he suspends her. While the teacher is on the computer, he gets an email from the girl. He opens it and it says something like how she was sorry and that she is willing to do anything he wants and to prove it she's sent a picture. The teacher clicks on the attachment and a falcon appears with the words "I see an idiot". Takagi has gotten into his computer. He finds some pornographic photos of schoolgirls and he emails it to someone else at the school (I'm guessing the principal or someone like that). As a result, the teacher gets dismissed the next day. As the teacher is leaving, he passes by Takagi in the hallway and Takagi whispers "I see an idiot"; thereby revealing to the teacher that he was the one that did this to him.

Takagi is picked up by the police for having hacked into the school's computer. They tell him that if he does the hacking job they asked him to do, they will forget about him hacking into the school's computer system. If he refuses, he will be arrested. He has no choice but to agree. He's provided with a special laptop.

Fujimaru's father, upon learning of what may happen, asks his chief to meet with him somewhere in secret. What Takagi doesn't know is that some strange hippie looking dude with a butterfly tattoo on his hand is following him. His chief hands him a book containing a memory card. The chief is shot and killed in front of him. They find the book and the card in his pocket and conclude he has had the chief murdered. He gets hauled away. He manages to get away. He calls Takagi to warn him not to believe anything anyone says about him and to stop the hacking job he was given. He tells Takagi to protect his little sister. So instead of heeding his warning, he decides to keep on hacking.

One of the really bad people (Orihaya Maya), gets hired as the replacement teacher at Takagi's school. She knows exactly who Takagi is and she notices his laptop. She invites him to her office after class. When he gets there, she explains she's about to eat lunch and she hates to eat alone. She hands him a sandwich and then offers to put his things (which includes his THIRD-i laptop) out of the way. She puts the laptop on top of some slanted books which are next to a fish tank and of course the laptop slides in and gets ruined. Of course she's very sorry and promises to get him a new laptop.

Towards the end, Takagi's sister Haruka, gets kidnapped, along with her doctor, while at the hospital getting dialysis. Takagi and this cop who is supposed to be protecting them, go looking for Haruka and the doctor. While looking, Takagi gets a call instructing him to hack into a computer and get the administrator's password. He does it and is led to his sister BUT...when he walks in, he sees a familiar face...which I won't tell what happens.

Takagi rescues Haruka and the doctor and they are both taken back to the hospital. The doctor's husband thanks Takagi for rescuing his wife.

Takagi leaves and calls THIRD-i to let them know what happened and that he gave the administrator's password to the kidnapper in exchange for his sister's life. He tells them not to worry since he also put a "cage" around the system so the person who gets in can't do any damage.

THIRD-i deduces that the criminals are going to unleash the "bloody-x" virus at this huge mall where some event is going on which will bring in a lot of people. The authorities rush to the mall as does Takagi. There's a circus type of event going on...there's a clown giving away balloons and a juggler; but something is off about the clown. The clown hands Takagi a balloon and he hesitates to take it. When he does, he notices the clown is wearing a ring that looks like one of those old mood rings from the 70's. A bit later, there are a bunch of balloons that are released into the air from a wooden box. The balloons are attached to the top of the box and the top rises with the balloons. They see a timer under the top and when the countdown clock reaches zero, it dispatches some gas all over the people that are watching the balloons. Everyone starts dashing out the doors one guy starts coughing up blood so they know the virus has been unleashed. Takagi remembers the clown and tells the authorities and they go looking for the clown. Takagi goes to look on his own. In the meantime, there are orders to not let anyone in the mall go outside until they know what the gas is. There are people banging on the doors screaming to be let out but there's a swat team full of guys on the other side with shields and behind them, more guys holding rifles, ready to shoot anyone who gets out.

On another floor, Takagi comes across this guy on the floor. He's bleeding from his mouth. He pleads to Takagi to help him. Takagi hesitates but eventually goes to the guy and asks him if he's all right..then he notices the ring. It's the clown (dramatic music here). The clown wipes the blood from his mouth and Takagi realizes it's all fake. There was no virus spread. They fight but the clown gets away and Takagi rushes to let everyone know the whole thing is fake. At the same time one of the people at the door looking to get out, has gotten more aggressive and has gotten a few of the people around him to help him force the door open. They've just about opened the door enough to go thru when Takagi runs thru yelling "It's fake" (or something along those lines). A shot is taken...the door behind Takagi shatters...Takagi goes down. I started to freak here even though I knew he wouldn't die since he's needed for the story.

Once all is well (within a matter of 5 to 10 minutes). Takagi walks away. He calls the doctor to find out how his sister is. He gets told that the dialysis is almost done and he replies he's on his way to pick up his sister. After the doctor hangs up the phone, he walks over to his wife and caresses her face. She opens her eyes and says, "Who are you?". So...does that mean he's NOT her husband OR has she lost her memory? My first thought was he's not her husband.

That was the first episode. I left out a lot of stuff from my summary and wrote only about the stuff that was important.

Off to watch the next one.
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Rain Fall

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Finally got done with this movie about a 1/2 Japanese, 1/2 American Vietnam vet who's a hitman. his specialty is making murders look like targets have died of natural causes. I found it a little bleh. At first, the movie didn't make much sense to me but as it went along I got the jist of it. I'm going to have to watch it again sometime.

This movie gets 2 3/4 KS. The thing that saved it from a 2 is the fact that it's got parts in Japanese and parts in English. I like this idea. I'm sure it's not a new idea but I've watched enough foreign movies and it's usually almost always in a foreign language. MAYBE a character utters a word or two in English but not much more. Gary Oldman was in this one. While I know the name, I swear I wouldn't recognize his face. Even now, if you showed me a picture of him after having watched this movie, I still wouldn't know him from a random guy off the street.


I'm going to start watching "Bloody Monday". There are 11 episodes to this drama. I'll do my best to summarize this drama. I still have to go back and do the rest of "101st Marriage Proposal" too.

My next movie, to be viewed in the middle of watching "Bloody Monday", will be "Gigolo Wannabe".
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Crows ZERO II

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When I started watching this one, I was pretty excited. I thought I'd see the actual continuation of the first one BUT...it didn't start out that way. I was a bit confused about the dudes in the gray uniforms once they showed up. As it started to go on, I really liked it. 4 KS.

Back again are Genji and Serizawa at Suzuran. We meet Sho Kawanishi who used to attend Suzuran. He is being released from prison for having murdered Bitou Makio two years ago (he stabbed him during a fight between Suzuran and Housen Academy) and he goes to Bitou's grave to say he's sorry. That's where the Housen guys are waiting for him. They run after him and eventually the Housen guys run into Serizawa and a few of his men. We find out that there is a non aggression pact between the two schools before Genji shows up not knowing this little detail and he punches one of the guys from Housen. The pact, therefore, is now broken and the two schools will have to go to war.


Where Crows ZERO: Episode 0 dealt with 2 gangs at Suzuran, part 2 deals with gangs from two rival schools. There were two odd characters here. Ryo Urushibara, I dunno what his deal was and Tatsuya Mito, who was Makio's brother, I think. Tatsuya, played by Haruma Miura, looks like a real live anime character. He has such gorgeous features...he looked like someone had actually drawn him in. Absolutely gorgeous.





Next movie on my list is "Rain Fall" from 2009. So far the only actor I recognize is Gary Oldman. I may recognize someone in the movie by face and not by name. I already watched 10 minutes of it and it looks good.
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Crows: Episode 0 (or Crows ZERO)

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It took me 3 days to watch this one. I watched half and then I got busy and wasn't able to finish it until tonight.




I started watching this one thinking it was going to be a stupid HS gang movie. It was actually pretty good. I'm giving this one 4.5 Katana Swords out of 5. I would have given it a 3 without Oguri Shun and a 4 WITH Oguri Shun.


Then I got a nice treat. My boy, Takayuki Yamada from "Crying Out Love, In The Center of The World" and "Densha Otoko" (The movie not the drama) was in it. Keeping it at 4 KS even if the plot sucked.

AND THEN...I saw Kenta Kiritani. There goes my .5 for a total of 4.5 KS.


So, the story is basically new guy Takiya Genji (Oguri Shun), who is the son of a Yakuza boss, transferring to Suzuran H.S. with the intention of conquering it. In order to do this, he needs to defeat Tamao Serizawa (Takayuki Yamada) who is the closest to doing so. Most of the movie is Genji and Serizawa recruiting the other minor gangs at the school to their side in preparation for the big fight between Genji's gang and Serizawa's gang to see who inches closer to conquering the school. There are other bits and pieces to the story. Genji befriends one of his father's rival men, Ken, who is pretty much just a guy who always dreamed to being a better man than he turned out. He pays a price for his friendship with Genji. There's Tokio (Kenta Kiritani) who is part of Serizawa's gang; but it turns out he is a former friend of genji's from their Junior School days.

This movie felt like a Quentin Tarantino movie. It was directed though by Takashi Miike oddly enough, whom I remember mostly for that damn horror movie "Ichi The Killer". After reading up on him though, I see he's actually made films in many other genres.


I like this scene. Last two standing; who will win?











Not sure what I'm going to watch next. I may just wait a few days so I can do my 101st Marriage Proposal summaries.
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Akumu Tantei II (Nightmare Detective 2)

Whoa. I saw Akumu Tantei I and it was pretty good. This one was...uh..weird. I'm not sure I followed it well since some of it didn't make some sense. I may have to watch this again just in case I missed anything. I will have to give it 3 Katana Swords out of 5. If it wasn't for Matsuda Ryuhei, I wouldn't bother entertaining the idea of re-watching the movie. I'd have given it 2 KS.

Summary from asiatorrents:
Yuki and two of her girlfriends are being haunted by the ghost of a classmate, they once heavily bullied. When the other two die under mysterious circumstances, Yuki sees only one chance for herself. With the help of the Nightmare Detective (Ryuhei Matsuda) she hopes to escape her hopeless situation.

Next movie to watch...Crows Zero. I'm in the mood for some Oguri Shun.
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Pays to be persistent

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What a hassle.

I got some software to try and convert the .sub file. I may as well have done it from scratch myself (if I knew Japanese). The software converted it, but I had to confirm the LETTERS by typing them again. I did a few lines before I said, "screw it".

I googled for the english subs in .srt and got a lot of junk. I found one site that had them and I downloaded them. As I played the movie, I realized that the subtitles were for the first movie. In my glee, I neglected to realize that the subtitles did not have "2" after the movie title. So, on I went again to try and find the right ones.

After about an hour, I finally found them. I started to watch the movie and then I got a headache. A pain so violent, I had to break my rule and I took some aspirin and went to lay down. Anyway, I now have the subtitles in .srt for Akumu Tanei 2. Therefore...it pays to be persistent.
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.sub files

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Ugh..I chose to watch Akumu Tantei 2 but I just realized the subtitles are in .sub not .srt. Now I'm going to have to figure out how to convert to .srt otherwise, it was a waste of time to get this movie.
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Tengodu Wa Matte Kureru (Heaven Can Wait. Maybe)

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Oh wow...This was a good one if you like sappy stories...and I do. It gets 4 Katana Swords out of 5. I may watch this one again soon.

(summary modified from the one I found on asiatorrents)

Inseparable since childhood, Hiroki (Inohara Yoshihiko), Takeshi (Kiyokiba Shunsuke), and Kaoru (Okamoto Aya) have always been the best of friends. One day, Takeshi confesses his love to Kaoru in front of Hiroki. Days later, Takeshi is severely injured in an accident and left comatose, with little hope for recovery as Hiroki and Kaoru steadfastly care for their friend.

The three actors that portrayed Hiroki, Kaoru, and Takeshi were really good. I'm going to have to look up more movies with them.

Next movie to watch will be either Akumu Tantei 2 (Nightmare Detective 2) or Uotazu (Giogolo Wannabe) or I'll probably end up watching both.
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FLAVOR OF HAPPINESS

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Just got done with FLAVOR OF HAPPINESS (Shiawase no Karoi). If you scroll down, there is a trailer (I don't remember if there are subtitles to it or not) and a short summary. Out of 5 KATANA SWORDS, I give it a 3 1/2. I would have given it 4 only there r no characters I felt stayed with me after I'd finished watching. Nobody that was outstanding or memorable...nobody that made me feel like I had to dig up another movie they were in to see them again. Otherwise, it was a really good movie.

Click here for some still pics.




I'm now going to watch Tengoku Wa Matte Kureru or "Heaven Can Wait, Maybe..."
The only name I recognize is Erika Toda who was Misa Amane in "Death Note". Review later.
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101st Marriage Proposal: The Characters

I was going to do this before I started the summary of the first episode but it was so good...I had to watch another episode. Before I knew it I'd watched the whole thing and I'm behind with the summaries and I didn't post the characters.


Chie's older sister.

She's a professional cellist with the local orchestra. And...she's still mourning the loss of her fiance Makabe after three years.

Junpei's brother. Tatsurou has no luck with women. He's desperate to get married but keeps getting rejected. He's been stepped on all his life so he's used to all the rejections. He's in his 40's and knows he'll never be anything more than a foreman at his job.













Chie is in love with Naoto...Naoto is in love with Kaoru. Kaoru is still in love with Makabe. She becomes friends with Junpei.
















Junpei has a crush on Ryoko, who is a university classmate of his and also a receptionist at Tatsurou's job.
















Kaoru's best friend. She's her voice of reason...she makes Kaoru think. She has Kaoru's best interests at heart. She owns a music (instruments/sheet music) store.















Naoto plays violin in the same orchestra as Kaoru. He proposes to her despite knowing that she's still in love with her dead fiance. He attracts many female admirers but he loves Kaoru, who thinks of him as a little brother.














Ryoko is a receptionist at Tasturo's company. She has a bit of a crush on him and is oblivious to the fact that Junpei is in love with her.
















Tatsuro's new boss. What is his deal?



















I've purposely left our Makabe from this list. He appears in the drama only via Kaoru's memories of him. You never see his face until episode 7. Stay tuned...

101st Marriage Proposal: Episode Two - First Bet

Kaoru can't figure out why Tatsurou said those words to her. She starts to think her fiance has been reincarnated in Tatsurou. She gives him a ticket to her next concert and he accepts.

While talking to Chie, she asks her if she said anything to Tatsurou. She comes clean and admits she told him the phrase. This angers Kaoru. She's angry that he's taken advantage of her feelings and she wants to get him back for it. The night of the concert, she is invited to a party afterwards and she accepts. She asks if she can bring a friend and they tell her yes. At the party she makes Tatsurou look bad. She makes it known in front of everyone that she has no intention of marrying him. She ignores him until he leaves the party.

Broken hearted, he arrives home and tells Junpei he'll never get married. He's giving up.

In the meantime, Kaoru has already told Chie what she did. Her friend is there (she sat next to Tatsurou, who didn't know they were friends) and the friend tells her he looked like a nice guy. Kaoru tells her she's angry that he used her feelings. Chie says he has no idea what those words mean to her. She says she never told him anything but the words because she said she thought if he said them to her, it would make her happy. That night happens to be the 3rd anniversary of her fiance's death and she's told Chie that next day she will go to the cemetery. While she's listening to music (that obviously reminds her of him) she gets a call.

Next scene she is at the cemetery with Junpei. She tells him how he was late for the wedding and got into an accident so he died the very day they were to be married. She tells him that's why she can't be with Tatsurou and she figures Junpei will go home and let Tatsurou know and he'll be okay with everything. She later calls Tatsurou and apologizes to him for her behavior at the party...she tells him she was tense due to the concert. He tells her it's fine. She asks to see him next day so she can apologize in person. He says he just got his bonus from work and he feels rich so he will treat her to dinner. They make the date. She tells Chie she will break things off with him nicely.

They meet at the restaurant's bar and Tatsurou asks her what those words meant to her and she asks him "didn't your brother tell you?" He starts babbling about how they belong together and about their future. He tells her they won't be wealthy but they'll always have enough to eat. Then the song that reminds her of her fiance starts to play and she starts to tear. She starts to remember when they talked about her wedding dress. She tells him he can't see it until he gets to the church and he tells her "I better not be late". When she comes out of her fog, she asks Tatsurou how much bonus he got and he tells her. She says he should take all the money and bet it on 1 horse. He tells her he needs to pay the mortgage on his condo; but she says she likes a man who can take a gamble. He says he doesn't really gamble. So she coldly tells him she guesses they weren't meant for each other after all. She gets up and walks away. He offers to bet half but she keeps going.

He goes to visit her the next day (at the philharmonic where she works) and shows her his betting slips. Tells her he took all his money and bought all the slips. She grabs them and they run inside the building and turns on the TV to watch the race. He begins to dance as it seems the horse is going to win...in the end it does not and he's lost all his money. She says she didn't think he would do it and he tells her he knows she was only trying to dump him by telling him that. He forgives her and tells her that he was engaged once and the girl dumped him on their wedding day. He said he was hurt and always wished he had the courage to go find her and try and propose to her especially after she reprimanded him...he felt alive. He tells her he'll see her and she says goodbye.

Okay, I hate it when a drama is sappy and makes me tear. I feel so bad for this guy; but it just goes to show that some pretty women are so damn cold...it's sad. It's late but I want so badly to watch the next episode. It'll have to wait though. Tomorrow is another day. This is a good one so far.

101st Marriage Proposal: Episode One - Fateful Arranged Marriage Meeting

Hoshino Tatsurou is a 40-something kakaricho (foreman) for a construction company. When the story starts, he's being rejected from his 99th omiai (arranged date with intention of marriage if things go well). At the same time, Yabuki Kaoru (a beautiful 30-something cellist) is pleading her case to her mother on the phone as to why she's not in any rush to get married. Her mother hangs up on her and she confides in her sister Chie, that maybe she should try going on an omiai.

We find out that she was engaged three years prior and that her fiance died. There was something he said to her when he proposed that she can't forget. A mutual friend of Kaoru and Chie, Naoto, is in love with her and he tells Chie he wants to marry her. Chie asks her sister what she thinks of him and Kaoru says she couldn't marry him.

The day of the omiai arrives...you see three women and three men sitting at different tables. Tatsurou looks at the three women and wonders which one of the three will be "the one". He looks at the first one and decides she's too fat and then the second one...she wears too much make up..and then the third one (Kaoru) and he decides it can't be her...she's much too beautiful to be the one. Reluctantly he tells himself, it must be the fat one.

Kaoru looks at the three men and wonders which one of the three will be "the one". She looks at the first one and she notices he's a bit young and dresses too flashy...maybe it's the second one? She thinks he looks like a kind man with a decent fashion sense; but looks too much like a mama's boy...and then the third one (Tatsurou) and decides it can't be him. She tells herself it has to be the mama's boy.

Tatsurou gets up and walks over to the "fat woman" and Kaoru gets up and walks over to "mama's boy". Both introduce themselves. "Fat woman" and "mama's boy" say nothing...then Tatsurou and Kaoru both realize, they are the ones to go on the date.

On the date, Chie and Junpei accompany them. Tatsurou tells Kaoru he's a bucho (department manager); Kaoru says she plays cello. They look like they are having fun..then Kaoru asks Tatsurou why he's not married yet. He tells her he's been so busy working...a real workaholic..he's not had time to date and find a wife. She volunteers that she can't clean and Tatsurou says it's fine because he doesn't mind cleaning. Everytime Kaoru tells him she can't do something, Tatsurou tells her it's fine; he can do it. She comments then he doesn't need a wife...Tatsurou tell her he wants a wife..something in him needs a wife. Then he asks her how come she isn't married and she falls silent. They change the subject until Junpei and Chie decide to leave.

Tatsurou and Kaoru are walking outside and he confesses to her that he's not a bucho, he's really a kakaricho. She tells him there is nothing wrong with that. They agree that she'll take 2 or 3 days before she calls with her decision about him. Then he starts blabbing about how it's his 100th omiai and that he's not good enough for her. She reprimands him and tells him he shouldn't talk about himself that way. Asks him why he didn't think instead that maybe the other women had no taste? What makes him think she and he are not a good fit? All of a sudden he has hope. He tells her he'll be anxious waiting for her call.

Junpei meets up with Chie at school (I guess they realize they both go to the same school?) He sits with her at lunch feeling good because of how his brother told him the date went. Chie lets him know she's going to reject him and that she was not seriously thinking of marriage. Junpei gets angry and tells her his brother is very serious about the omiei. He storms off.

On the day Kaoru is supposed to call, Tatsurou is happy and he's bought champagne to celebrate and then he gets the call. She tells him she's sorry...she is the one that is not good enough and that is that.

Later Kaoru tells Chie she can't get married because she already is married. She still loves her dead fiance and she doesn't think that will ever change. (*sigh* sooooo sad...)

Chie meets with Tatsurou and tells him that with one phrase, he can win her heart.

At the end of the episode, Kaoru is talking to Naoto (he plays in the same orchestra) when Tatsurou shows up. She apologizes again and Naoto asks her if he is bothering her. Tatsurou says nothing to her and she turns to follow Naoto...she starts to walk away when Tatsurou says to her..."I solemnly vow...(Kaoru stops walking)..50 years from today to love you as I do love you now" This stirs up memories of her fiance's proposal. She turns to look at him and sees he has tears in his eyes but she's managed a little smile.

Okay...on my way to watch EPISODE 2!

101st Proposal (101回目のプロポーズ)

I happened upon this drama by accident. It's supposed to be 12 episodes but I've only got 10. I have to look for the last two or I'll go nuts when I'm up to them. It's from 1991 so it won't be that easy.

I haven't had a chance yet to make a little banner to put on the left as one of the dramas I'm currently watching. I'll have to do that soon. I'll also post the main characters after the 3rd episode. By then I'll be more familiar with them. There is one guy in this, Eguchi Yosuke. He was in the drama I mentioned in my very first post "Give Us Love!"

I watched the first Episode and after I write my summary, I'm going to watch episode 2. This one looks good.

I'm Back!!

Been gone a while.

I got interested in other stuff and it kind of got in the way of my drama, movies, and anime. I finished watching the Death Note episodes and the movies. I had a hard time finding the subs for one of them but as always, I'm pretty determined to find stuff I need. I loved the whole series and I think I'm going to buy the manga.

I never got a chance to watch the rest of the episodes of "Last Friends" and I'm so anxious to find out what happens. I had to download these again cuz I have to clue what I did with the DVDs. I didn't label them after I burned them and I have no clue where they went.

I need to download the rest of Ashita no Kita Yoshio. I'll prolly watch from the beginning again. I don't remember everything that happened. I think I was only 3 episodes in.

I'm still looking for subs to "Love Death" with Shinji Takeda. It's been a while since this movie has been out and so far no subs available.

I started looking up more movies and I see a few that look really good.

1. IMPRINT - a horror movie. Same dude that did "Ichi the Killer". To this day, I just can't watch that movie..I saw maybe 10 minutes of that movie and ugh...I couldn't take it...Takashi Miike is a genious. If I couldn't take Ichi, what makes me think I can take "Imprint"? I don't know. I have to at least watch some of it.



Okay, after watching this trailer and seeing that it's his "most controversial and disturbing" movie yet...I'm getting a bit woozy thinking about watching. Trailer made me a bit bleh...

2. Flavor of Happiness. This one is about a girl who works in a dept store. She approaches this guy at a local Chinese restaurant and tries to get him to open a branch in her store. The guy, Wang, who cooks all the food himself, blows her off. Eventually, the girl, Yamashita, hears that Wang had collapsed at his place due to overwork and as a result, the store might close. So, she quits her job at the dept store to become Wang's apprentice.



3. Crows Zero 2. Actually this one looks like it's not really a great movie..looks like ur typical in school gang movie. I'm going to have to watch it only cuz Oguri Shun is in it. Haven't seen him since Hana Yori Dango 2 and he still looks hot. He's the dude in the black...

OKAY..I know what you're saying..there are a lot of guys in black...Oguri Shun is THE guy in black that is obviously the leader.

** video was deleted from Youtube due to blah blah blah...***


4. Waters (or Gigolo Wannabe): This one looks funny. Oguri Shun is in it too so that's a plus. This is about 7 guys who are desperate for money so they audition to be "hosts" at this seaside bar, Dog Days.



5. Last Blood. Girl is 1/2 vampire, 1/2 human. She's looking for Onigen, the highest ranking and most powerful vampire. Trailer shows movie is dubbed which, if it is, sucks ass. Downloading this one today and hopefully there will be subs instead.



That's it for now. These 5 caught my eye. I'm going to look into some new dramas as well and I'll post a few that look interesting. I suppose I really shud haul ass on finishing the ones i'm in the middle of..especially Ashita no Kita Yoshio. :P

Oh, I found "Reborn" on crunchyroll and Traci had said she wanted to see that. It's got over 150 episodes so there's a good chance I'll just watch them and I won't dl n burn them.

Why I've been gone

I've been gone quite a while from this blog. It wasn't intentional...

I've been meaning to start watching some anime and I kept putting it off. Someone I know mentioned to me about Full Metal Alchemist..then more people I knew said it was really good so I had to watch it.

There are like 51 episodes and I'm up to 24 now. Of course I'll be starting an anime blog which I'll post the link when I do it. It's the only way I can keep track of what I'll be watching. I'm watching 2 right now. FMA and Death Note. I already saw the "L" movie...I've seen 4 episodes of the anime and I really like it so far.

So, that's where I've been. Eventually I will find time to finish watching the dramas I'm in the middle of. I think I have only like 3 for "Last Friends" and a few more for "Hotman"...I lost track. I'll have to figure something else out to keep track of the episodes there are and which one I'm up to.

Hopefully, I can have my anime blog up over the weekend. No promises...I may find something else to do then and I won't have time...keep looking though.

Last Friends

ラスト・フレンズ
Last Friends

Nagasawa Masami as Aida Michiru


Ueno Juri as Kishimoto Ruka


Nishikido Ryo as Oikawa Sosuke


Eita as Mizushima Takeru


Mizukawa Asami as Takigawa Eri


Yamazaki Shigenori as Ogura Tomohiko

I'm been crazy about Nishikido Ryo ever since I saw him in Ichi Rittoru no Namida (2005). I hadn't seen him in anything new since then...he's been in other stuff but I hadn't seen him in any of them. In fact, there was a special episode of Ichi Rittoru no Namida in 2007 that I haven't seen yet so I have to get on that as soon as I finish this one.

When I heard Ryo was going to be in this new drama, I knew I had to watch. I read a summary of the show and thought it would be interesting. There was going to be a gay character in it, which I thought was very different from the stories I'd seen before. For the most part, gay themes aren't the norm and neither is domestic violence.

Michiru works in a hair salon. She's an apprentice there so she does the odd jobs and is treated badly by one of the other girls there. She knows she's still a newbie so she has to take the abuse. Sosuke is her boyfriend. He works for the Child Welfare Division and seems to be a nice guy. In the first episode, Sosuke asks Michiru to move in with him. After talking to her mother, she agrees she could go live on her own. She's so happy to be moving in with Sosuke, she goes out and buys some things for the apartment. At one of the stores, Ruka is looking for a mug. She's made the purchase and turns around in time to see Michiru walking past the store. She runs after her. As she runs off, she drops her mug and knocks down Takeru. Michiru gets on a bus and Ruka chases on her bike. When Michiru gets of the bus, someone knocks her packages over and she has to gather them which gives Ruka time to catch up. She calls out her name and Michiru looks over to see Ruka. She gets up and runs to hug her.

Besides the fact that Ruka looks like the gay character, you could pretty much tell she has a thing for Michiru from the way she looks at her.

As the episode progresses, it looks like Sosuke and Michiru are happy together until she catches him going thru her phone messages. He suspects Ruka is a man she is seeing and asks Michiru to prove to him Ruka is a female. She offers to go back to her house and get her yearbook. While she's home looking, he calls her. She runs to the kitchen where she's left her phone but misses the call. As she's going back to her room, the phone rings again...she goes back and picks up the call. Sosuke asks her where she is and why she didn't pick up the first time. She tries to explain and he asks her if she's with a man. He orders her to get home right away.

I thought Ryo was so handsome in Ichi Rittoru no Namida...just adorable. Which is why what I saw next was pretty disturbing. She arrives back to the apartment and Sosuke grabs her arm and pulls her inside. He yells at her and throws her down on the floor. As she falls, she hits a lamp and it falls over and breaks. While she's still on the floor, Sosuke bends down and slaps her three or four times and then he ends up kicking her really hard. Wow...I'd never seen something like this on a J-drama....this one has to be "ground breaking" or possibly even scandalous back in Japan.

I watched the first six episodes one after the other today...I couldn't stop watching..There are 5 more episodes to go and 1 special episode. I'll probably be able to finish this one by the end of the week.

Japanese Movies

With my viewing of "Gohatto"I think I've opened the door to a new avenue of my fascination. I went a little crazy and I started to download a whole mess of "J-Movies". I managed to watch 1 so far and during the upcoming 3 day weekend, (YAY Labor Day!) I will probably watch a few.

Not only is my new "thing" going to cut into my J-drama watching, it's going to be the reason I'll need to start yet another blog for my J-movies. That will be my project for tonight....

First movie on my list..."g@me"...you'll know why when you see who is in it. Actually, I didn't even bother to read the plot summary...I saw this actor was it in and i clicked "download this movie" without hesitation. I didn't care what the story was about...turned out to be a damn good movie.

Okay, so enough with the movie porton. I'll post a link later once I've created the blog.
I will attempt to fit in the rest of Oishii Kenkei before I watch Ashita no Kito Yoshio. I've tried to watch 4 or 5 dramas at one time and it's not fun. It's not so much confusing as it is a pain in the ass to remember where I was when I go back to one drama after having watched 1 or 2 episodes of others.

I was also thinking about re-watching Densha Otoku. I really liked that one. I've already watched Bambino twice. Well, I have 5 more episodes to go before that's a true statement. I can't seem to fit it into my busy schedule. Anyway, I'm off now. Time to go watch the next movie...

Oishii Kankei

おいしい関係
Delicious Relationship

Momoe lives a life of luxury until one day, she loses everything... her money, her father and her lover. She must now find a way to support herself. With no experience whatsoever, she nonchalently applies for a position at at French restaurant where she once enjoyed a consomme soup many years earlier.

Momoe was attracted to the French restaurant, La Petit Lapin, because of the wonderful owner, Kansuke and the delicious soup that was invented by the chef, Orita Keiji. Keiji, a first-rate chef, was trained in Paris at the two-star restaurant, Grand Bleu, and is as a result, a little spoiled and snobby. Find out what happens next when Momoe is taken on as an apprentice and must prove herself to Keiji



NAKAMAYA MIHO as FUJIWARA MOMOE

KARASAWA TOSHIAKI as ORITA KEIJI

KUSANAGI TSUYOSHI as KIMURA KAZUMA

Ashita no Kita Yoshio - Main Characters

Kohinata Fumiyo as Kita Yoshio

Kita Yoshio wants to commit suicide in 11 days.









Matsuda Ryuhei as Yashiro Heita

Yoshio literally runs into Heita on the first day. During a
cab ride they share, Yoshio tells Heita he will end his life
in 11 days.







Kuriyama Chiaki as Hasegawa Rika

Rika is Heita's girlfriend.









Konishi Manami as Washizu Mizuho

Yoshito's ex-wife.








There are a few minor characters that I'll get into in the next post before I start the episode summaries.

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