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J-dorama ~ S

Title: Satorare

Cast: Odagiri Joe, Tsuruta Mayu, Hatano Hiroko, Kanda Uno

Theme: "Aitai Kimochi" by Glay

On Air: TV Asahi 2002 Jul 7 - Sep 12

Title: Seikei Bijin 

Cast: Yonekura Ryouko, Shiina Kippei, Katou Haruhiko, Konishi Manami

Scriptwriter: Yoshida Tomoko

Theme: "Anshin Metori" by Suga Shikao

On Air: FujiTV 2003 Apr 9 - Jun 25

Saotome Honami (Yonekura) is a beautiful model who turns heads whenever she walks down a street. However, except for her family and her two friends, no one know of this secret. Her beauty is a result of a complete cosmetic overhaul. When she met Fujishima Ryuusui (Shiina), heir to the traditional ikebana business, she falls in love with him and starts chasing after him with her persistence attitude...

The first few episodes send my eyeballs rolling as I watches Honami's actions that do not quite match her appearance. She is too rough! Although it's supposed to show that despite the physical overhaul, she is still very much her old self, I just can't help frowning whenever I see her chasing after Fujishima in a not-so-elegant manners. But the drama soon gets better when you see Fujishima finally accepts her and then discover her secret. One interesting part is that in each episode, there will be an event that makes Honami really sad and image of her old self will appear dropping onto the floor and cries non stop, but as the angle moves, the new Honami will appears without any tears and although she's sad, a look of determination will soon replace the sad look. This shows that with a new appearance, she's more confident and is determined to change her old life for the better. Overall, an OK drama.... watch it if you are free. 

Title: Shiroi kage

Cast: Nakai Masahiro, Takeuchi Yuko, Hara Sachie, Kamigawa Takaya, Kikugawa Rei, Konishi Manami

Scriptwriter: Tatsui Yukari

Theme: Mayounaka no Nightingale by Takeuchi Mariya

On Air: TBS 2001 Jan 14 - Mar 18

Base on the novel "Mueitou", this drama tells the relationship between a nurse and a doctor. Shimura Noriko (Takeuchi) comes to Tokyo to work in a hospital and there she meets Naoe Yousuke (Nakai), a doctor who is talented but uses unorthodox methods to treat his patients. Naoe actually suffers from an illness and is in the last stage with no cure. However, he keeps this a secret from everyone in the hospital so that he can continue to work as a doctor. Thinking initially that he will not fall for anyone when he knew about his illness, it changes when he meets Shimura....

This is my first Nakai's drama and I'm quite impressed with his performance here which is a great difference from his personalities on varieties. The relationship between Naoe and Shimura is very sweet and touching. The last episode is quit teary though. There's a special shown early this year (2003) and I wonder how it will lead from such an ending in the last episode.

Title: Shomuni 

Cast: Esumi Makiko, Hoshou Mai, Kyouno Kotomi, Takahashi Yumiko, Toda Keiko, Sakurai Atsuko

Theme: "Sunao na mama de" by IZAM with Astral Love (Shomuni 1)

On Air: FujiTV 1998 (Shomuni 1), 2000 (Shomuni 2)

Shomuni is a division in Manpan Trading that is deemed useless by the whole company and the HR personnel is dying to get rid of the division if only they can catch hold of them making any slightest mistake. A bit hard since all the OL (Office Lady) in Shomuni carry out their job dutifully even though they don't really care much about the company except their holidays and having fun during any company functions. Quite an entertaining drama watching how the 6 women in their miniskirts go about devising plans for the benefit of them but will often indirectly help the company. All 6 OLs have their own characteristics which is pretty fun to watch. The 3rd series and the so called final series was on air in 2002. Hopefully I will get to watch it on TV FOC =P

Title: Shouta no Sushi

Cast: Kashiwabara Takashi, Kimura Yoshino, Hirosue Ryouko

Theme:"Bokura ga tabi ni daru riyuu"  

On Air: FujiTV 1996 

Title: Sorakara furu ichioku no hoshi

Cast: Kimura Takuya, Fukatsu Eri, Akashima Sanma, Shibasaki Kou

Scriptwriter: Kitagawa Eriko

Theme: "Smile" by Elvis Costello

On Air: FujiTV 2002 Apr 15 - Jun

Title: STAND UP!!

Cast: Ninomiya Kazunari, Yamashita Tomohisa, Suzuki Anne, Narimiya Hiroki, Oguri Shun, AKINA, Matsumoto Rio, Tsukamoto Takashi

Scriptwriter: Kaneko Arisa

Theme: "Kotoba yori taisetsu na mono" by Arashi

On Air: TBS 2003 Jul 4 - Sep 12

A highly hilarious drama that touches on youth and sex. This drama tells of 4 high school boys who, in the last week of school just before the start of  summer holidays in the year 2003, realise that they are the only 4 virgins left in their school. Labeled as DB4, Doutei Boys 4 (Note: Doutei = male virgins), they aim to get rid of this label during the summer vacation. Of course, with conservative families, plus the fact that they are actually quite timid and lack of self confidence, this is not an easy task to achieve.

Ok, I must admit that I can't stand the fact that the 4 guys are thinking of sex and women all the time and I really cringes when I see how they behave. Well, Ken Ken (Yamashita) and Go kun (Oguri) still behave rather cool at times, but for Shou chan (Ninomiya) and Udayan (Narimiya), they are just dasai >_< Well, this probably explains why it makes the whole drama so funny. I quite like the way the director filmed some of the scenes, especially the fast forwarding parts and how the story tends to be told in flashback mode. If you have watched many J-dramas, you will find it pretty funny to see many scenes relating to other dramas from the same TV network. Examples include Udayan (or is it Go kun?) shouting "Koi ga shitai, Koi ga shitai, Koi ga shitai" (Exact title of another drama), and Go kun (or issit Udayan? Oops, totally mix the two up >_<) saying "Ai nante irannee yo natsu" (Another drama title). Then there's also the scraping teeth with the fingers scene, a famous gestures in the drama "Hitotsu yana no shita". Oh, and not to forget the scene when they bump into their school friend who has quitted school after being caught for having sex with a girl in the school library. Whenever they bumped into this friend, the latter will show them a thumb-up and wish them good luck. In this particular scene, the same friend shows them a thumb-up sign and the song from the drama "Good Luck" starts playing in the background. I almost fell off the chair when I heard that!

Can't really say I give a high rating for this drama as I find it quite silly most of the times. However, for some fun and laughter, this is quite a good drama to watch ^o^

Title: Star no koi

Cast: Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, Fujiwara Norika

Scriptwriter: Nakazono Miho

Theme: "Stop! In the name of love" by Globe

On Air: FujiTV 2001 Oct 11 - Dec 20

Title: Strawberry on the shortcake

Cast: Takizawa Hideaki, Fukada Kyouko, Uchiyama Rina, Kubozuka Yousuke

Scriptwriter: Nojima Shinji

Theme: "S.O.S" by ABBA

On Air: TBS 2001 Jan - Mar

Title: Summer Snow

Cast: Doumoto Tsuyoshi, Hirosue Ryouko, Oguri Shun, Ikewaki Chizuru, Imai Tsubasa

Theme: "Natsu no Ousama" by KinKi Kids

            "Summer Snow" and "Seven angels" by Sissel

On Air: TBS 2000 Jul 7 - Sep 15

Tsuyoshi plays Shinoda Natsuo, the eldest in the family whose parents have passed away in a car accident. Hence, he takes over the role of a parent in taking care of his hearing impaired younger brother and a younger sister and support the family by taking over the family's bicycle shop. Through a misunderstanding, he meets Katase Yuki (Hirosue) and befriends her. Both soon fall in love with each other but Yuki does not dare to tell Natsuo that she's suffering from a heart condition. 

For the first few episodes, I thought this drama was rather typical and it reminds me of Hitotsu yane no shita in the way an elder brother goes all out to take care of his younger siblings. But it soon turns better and it's nice to see the relationship among the siblings as well as between Natsuo and Yuki. Tsuyoshi was really funny as Natsuo with his bullet train speed of talking and Hirosue fitted well as the soft spoken Yuki. However what changes this drama from an average ranking to a good ranking was the last episode. I was quite surprised by the turn of event and was crying so hard in the end that on the next day, all my colleagues were asking me why were my eyes so red >_<. It maybe exaggerating, but one week later, when I told the story to my friend, I'm actually tearing! And whenever I heard the song by Sissel, scenes of the drama will pop inside my head and my heart will feel heavier (I'm not the only emotional one here, my friend have the same 'side effect' too after watching this drama). Great songs by Sissel and although the theme song is good, I think it's rather inappropriately used here. Just find it weird when each episode ends with a touching moment and suddenly, you hear the cheerful song coming in. Great drama although you may not feel so much for the ending if you have already read about it.