This is Takuya Kimura’s latest renzoku drama for 2009 (TBS, 2009).   It is very short–just eight episodes.  It is not really a renzoku drama in the real sense of the word since the episodes don’t have to be seen in chronological order.  There is not much continuity except for the transition from Ep 5-6 which stars Nakama Yukie.  Each episode has a famous guest star–from Gackt to Kazuya Kamenashi of Kat-Tun, Koyuki, etc.  Takuya plays Tsukumo Ryusuke, a former “hosto” turned neuroscientist after he experiences an accident which alters his brain.  Tsukumo’s kanji is the japanese kanji  for numbers “9-10-9″. He works at the IPS (Institute of Policy Science–Kakeiken) which researches criminal methods to advance investigation of crimes.   I started watching it in May after it premiered on May 28, Saturday, 7:40-8:40 Japan time.  It’s first episode garnered a 34% rating, which is rare for a Staurday drama. It is a comedy, mystery type of drama.  Tsukumo is a weird scientist who wears his pajama’s under his business suit and wears a blue denim lab gown in contrast to the regular white gown.   He looks at everyone close up and eats a lot of bananas for potassium which perks up and energizes people.  He also eats a lot of carbs for breakfast which he said is good for the brain.   HIs assistant is Ayase Haruka, a young pretty star who has a crush on him.  Another supporting actor is neophyte detective Hayashida (Rinda to Tsukumo) played by Mizoguzhi Hiroyuki.   Mr Brain is interesting; but I wish Takuya would take a break from playing non-conventional roles to go into the more romantic genre where he falls in love again.  His most recent dramas, that is Karei Naru Ichizoku in 2007, then Change in 2008 and then now Mr Brain doesn’t put him in a more romantic role unlike his earlier films.  I thought he may be choosing roles that would fit his age in his mid-30s.  However, these days, a lot of guys in their mid-30s just start dating and falling in love so it is not too old for him to be playing these roles.  I am really grateful to Giri Giri fansubs because theur subs facilitated my understanding of the drama, which is a little difficult to undertsand becasue of scientific terms related to neuroscience.  But the drama is very educational and advances new theories about brain behavior in neuroscince.  I also found the instructional anime inserts in the drama–so very cute Japanese.

Just finished watching the 12 episode J-drama  ”Beautiful Life” (TBS,2000) starring Kimura Takuya as Okishima Shuji, a 27-year old talented and popular hairdresser and  Tokiwa Takako as Machida Kyoko, a 27-year old physically handicapped wheelchair bound librarian with an incurable  disease.  Both met “on the road” under not so friendly circumstances in the beginning, but later the animosity gave way to a stormy love relationship.  This was the focus of the “love story”–the development of the relationship between a supposedly “normal” person in the character  of Shuji and a not normal (?) person in the character of Kyoko as they struggled with so many personal issues related to their “circumstances.”  Kyoko fell in love with Shuji because of Shuji’s being a person with a “barrier free” heart, a pun on a “barrier free” environment  where physically challenged people can move freely around.  Shuji was a guy who have never said the cliche “I will protect you”  to Kyoko; instead he said the unusual “We will face the challenge together” .  Neither did Shuji display any pity but rather had a unique way of  viewing Kyoko’s  physically challenged circunstances by saying “I wonder how the world looks like from a 100 cm height.”   Kyoko says she finds strength in Shuji; after all Shuji never gave up their relationship when he found out that Kyoko had a terminal illness; instead he even pursued her  (I thought I would hear the following line from Shuji when he learned that the Kyoko he loves will soon die:  “I would rather die having loved you even for a minute, than not having a chance to love you at all.”)

Takuya was very convincing as a  hairstylist (it was said that Takuya became a licensed hairstylist after that drama) but I really was so amazed at the last episode when he was shown for the first time putting on make-up for the dead Tokiwa.  Having seen Takuya play “macho” roles, I felt quite uneasy seeing  Takuya weild his cutting scissors through a woman’s hair; but all the more when he put make up on a woman  (in my country, the best hairstylists are mostly gays, you know….), but sasuga Takuya, he was able to get away with it.

The other actors were good as well.  I liked Kyoko’s brother, Masao (Watabe Atsuro)’s acting the best–he was cute as the bumbling and clumsy brother of the smart Kyoko.   Both Kimura and Tokiwa won Best Actor and Actress in the 24th Television Drama Awards, as well as  Atsuro and Mizuno Miki (role as Sachi, Kyoko’s best friend) for best supporting actor and actress.  In fact, according to drama-wiki, this drama holds the record for the most awards won from the television Drama Academy awards. Other awards went to: Best Newcomer: Nishikawa Takanori (satoru, the rival hairdresser); Screenwriter: Kitagawa Eriko; Best Director: Shono Jiro; Best Theme Song (Konya tsuki no mieru oka ni” by B’z) and Best Opening.

According to several drama database sites, as of March 2000, it was the second most watched drama ever in Japan with a 41.3 % rating with the no 1 drama being way back in 1983 with a 45.1% rating. I wouldn’t say this was my personal best drama starring Kimura Takuya  (I like Long vacation better and loved Takuya’s acting  in Pride and Miliion Stars Falling from the Sky).  However, I liked my learnings from the relationship bet the two characters–consider the feelings of both parties in a relationship (Kyoko would always say that she didn’t want Shuji to be disadvanatged with the relationship  so she would break their relationship without considering how Shuji feels ; that is Shuji on the other hand feels “disadvanatged” by not continuing the relationship with Kyoko).

Beautiful Life is the 12th J drama of Kimura Takuya that I have seen so far, and judging from the character that he played here and interviews I read about him, Shuji’s character seem to echo the real Takuya–straightforward, candid, rather than saying that he doesn’t really care about what people will say ; I may be wrong but he may be  a person who doesn’t get affected or mind what people thinks of him or his actions (although being in showbiz and being looked upon as an “idol” I don’t know how he practices this because he has a great responsibility as a “role model’ ).

Just as aside.  Kimura smoked a lot here and this reminded me of one side of Kimura that I do not appreciate–he IS a smoker in real life. I wish he would soon realize that smoking is not healthy not only for the smoker himself but to non-smokers as well.

This suspense thriller (Fuji, fall 1998) really kept me on my toes. I was a little disappointed when there was no romantic angle between Nakayama Miho and Kimura Takuya. This j drama is in the same genre as Takuya’s A Million Stars Falling from the Sky, one of my best Takuya dramas ever. In Sleeping, Takuya was younger and his acting was not as good though as in Million Stars, but both dramas cast him as being cold and mean in the beginning of the dramas. But there was more blood in Sleeping and the plot more mysterious. It was a whodunnit type of mystery…The ending is also not quite sad and not quite happy either,,,I had the hunch about who the murderer is but the plot misleads one into believing another guy did it. Also, this hallucinations about Hamazaki Kiichiro (Nakamori Toru)’s mother establishes the fact that he had some insane moments.

I like the profession of Takuya here as a stage lighting expert–really cool. I am not that hot over Takuya anymore and I do agree with some observations that he isn;t really that handsome but he does have expressive eyes and sexy lips. He is not tall either…

Thsi story pomders on whether people can just forget the past and just live on the present and the future. Hypnotic regressions, child abuse, illegitimate children, etc. The musical score is also great and adds toi the suspense and the thrill mood.

Found out the OSY is by Yoshimata Ryo, the same guy who composed the OST of A Million Stars.

It took me some three months to finish Concerto (Or Kyousookyoku 1998, TBS).  In November, I eagerly started watching Concerto after seeing that Miyazawa Rie is the love interest of Kimura Takuya here.  Also, the actor who I used not to like before_Tamura Masakazu_ also stars.  Kimura Takuya is Takakura Kakeru, a self-learned architect in his 20s struggled for four years to get the break he needed–that is, to build St Mary Church in Kamakura.  His idol who became his mentor,  Ebisawa Kousuke (played by Tamura) hired him after recognizing his extraordinary talent.  Both Kakeru and Ebisawa are in love with Hana, played by Miyazawa.  The two are involved in a love triangle against the backdrop of Kimura’s struggle to reach the top of his profession and Tamura’s enlightenment after falling from the apex position of his profession.  Both guys learn from each other and alternatingly giving up their love for Miyazawa because of their respect for each other.  Although  the story is interesting,  it couldn’t compete with my busy sked during the Christmas season and some family emergencies that kept me away from watching any dramas.  I thought Kimura was hot here, and I began to like Tamura’s character here, especially his stuttering. I didn’t quite like Miyazawa’s acting here –I thought she was a bit overgrown for her cutesy acting.  Didn’t find any real romantic moments here–no kissing scenes at all!  BTW, I’d like to note that the OST is basically Burt Bacharach’s music from the 70s like the theme “Alfie”.  I also heard “Walk on By”, “A HOuse is not a Home”, “April Fools” “I Say A Little Prayer.”  Anyway, I am so glad I have finished waching the drama.

I just finisheded watching a J movie shown in 2006, Nada Sou Sou.  It is a real tearjerker with a sad ending–the 25 year old stepbrother (Youtaro) of Kaoru (20 yrs) dies after wearing out his body trying to make a better life for his stepsister.  The setting is in Okinawa, and the background of Okinawan folk music is really beautiful.  He stopped going to school at 16 years and worked for realizing his dream of owing a restaurant.  At 21 years, he was able tor ealize his dream and thus asked his young sister to join him in Okinawa after she passed a good senior high.  However,on the eve of the blessing of the restaurant, Yotaru found out that he was swindled and that the property was never really sold by the rightful owner.  At the same time, he also broke up with his rich girlfriend upon realizing that the big gap in their backgrounds was not going to work out, especially so when the father of the girl had plans for the girlfriend to take over his hospital later.

I finished Engine (2005,Fuji TV) early this morning.  I had used a couple of tissues to wipe off tears watching the scene where Takuya had to drive the orphans to their new orphanages after his dad’s orphanage had to close down due to public pressure and high rent, among others.   Here, Takuya is a hot-tempered top race car driver, (Jiro Kanzaki, 32 years) who had just returned to Japan after being fired from his job in Europe.   He had been away for five years and have not communicated at all with his family.  His father, a former school teacher, heads”Kaze no Oka Home” which is like a halfway house cum orphanage.   His sister Chihiro, a divorcee, also works in that orphanage.  His father reluctantly takes Jiro back on the condition that he helps in the task of running the orphanage.  Jiro repairs a rundown coaster donated by the Catholic church and becomes the de facto driver of the orphanage.  There is a young teacher-counsellor who works in the orphanage (Tomomi sensei played by Koyuki) who “envies” Jiro for the rapport he has with the kids with his unorthodox and childish ways, in contrast to the theory based learnings of the rest of the staffs who work at the orphanage.  I always think that Takuya carries his role very well, and again, he fits the role of Jiro Kanzaki to a T.   He is also very good looking here, having a heavier build here.  His romantic interest here is Koyuki, but there is a dearth of romantic scenes here, save for a stolen kiss or rather peck on the lips towards the end when Jiro loses the Regullus cup that spells his retirement, aside from not accomplishing his goal to having funds to reopen the orphanage.   Koyuki is pretty but I am not so much for a Takuya-Koyuki screen partnership.  Furthermore, sasuga Nihon no dorama desu ga,  Jiro didn’t win, but his act alone inspired the others to work harder and to contribute in reopening the orphanage.  Engine isn’t your rah rah kind of movie compared to Pride, and I wasn’t as inspired by it as his character in CHANGE, but Jiro’s more childlike qualities has reminded me to get rid of all personas linked to an adult like behavior. I found Takuya cute whenever he relates with the other children of the orphanage at their level.

It’s been a while since I wrote in this blog–the last was in September.  I had already watched HERO, the movie and series sometime October but have realized that I haven’t written a review on it.  But let me talk about “Change.” My friend had bought this original 2-DVD  set from a shop in Malaysia in October.  CHANGE is the most recent J-drama series of J-pop idol Kimura Takuya.  It premiered on Fuji TV on 12 May this year.  Here, he is Asakura Keita, 35 years old, a curly-haired (“Mojakura”) primary school teacher in Nagano Prefecture, who gets thrown after his politician father, together with his older brother, gets killed in a plane crash in Vietnam.  The father’s political party Seiyu-to, led by chief Kanbayashi-sensei, sends his secretary Miyami (Fukatsu Eri) to convince Asakura to try for the elections, which he won in his hometown in Fukuoka. His main appeal is his “non-traditional” politician stand and his sincerity to really create a better future for the citizens, especially the young people.  This endeared him to voters, especially women.  As part of Kanbayashi’s strategy to finally wrest the prime minister’s position at a later time, he maneuvers Asakura, through Miyama, to run for the prime minister position in the general elections, which he won.  Kanbayashi thought that since Asakura was a political neophyte, Asakura could be a “puppet” leader with a shadow Cabinet run by “real” leader Kanbayashi.  However, Asakura turns out to be a hardworking eager to learn prime minister who has his own mind and this creates some trouble for Kanbayashi’s political ambitions.  Asakura is assisted by Hiroshi Abe, his election strategist and Rosa Kato, his campaign assistant, who both moves in with him at his father’s home in Tokyo.  Miyama becomes his secreatry upon the suggestion of Kanbayashi  (Asakura decides against staying inthe official prime minister’s residence because he thought this too big for his comfort).  The highlight of the drama is when Asakura’s Cabinet is rocked by a political scandal that happened 18 years ago–a trading company Daidou had given money (bribes) to politicians, including his father and polticial ally, Onoda-sensei.  Of the politicians, eight are now sitting in Asakura’s Cabinet.  Note that the Cabinet was handpicked for him by Kanbayashi, who already had already plotted this political bomb from the very start.  As a nontrad politician, Asakura seemed to have no option but to take responsibility for his Cabinet’s “scandal” and to resign.  But just as he was about to announce his resignation at a Cabinet meeting, he lost consciousness as a result of stress related fatigue (karoshi), which the Diet doctor had already forewarned Miyama about.  When Asakura recovered, he made a live broadcast to apologize to the citizens for overlooking the fact that his Cabinet members were scandal-tainted and to announce his decision to resign.   (The speech was quite long and the English subs was not as good as the earlier parts).  But in an unexpected move that surprised even his allies, he dissolved parliament and called for a general election, which would give him an opportunity to run again.  Again, I thought Takuya performed superbly in this drama (his comeback drama on Fuji TV after three years since Engine). I just thought that he  really is very thin (he might have worked out in Pride since he had muscles there).  How I wish though that he had more romantic scene with his leading lady__I was expecting a kiss or two from him but the “closest” the pair had was when she accidentally leaned against Takuya after almost falling into the pool during a function sponsored by the French embassy.   Then there was that time when Takuya proposed to Miyama and she had accepted. He held her hand  and pulled her to his side.  My most favorite scene (usually where I am inspired the most and get some philosphical learnings) was the reply of  US TRade Sec Bigham who expressed his disappointment to Asakura about the Japanese response to the Structural Impediment talks  (the Japanese side had not agreed to the demand of the US party to increase their purchase of US agri products by 20?percent).  Bigham had barged in Asakura’s house without appointment on the latter’s day off  (Asakura was supposed to fall in line for his favorite Beverly Hills Donut). Asakura said:  When he was a teacher, in an effort to solve bullying in his class, he would talk to his students about the value of listening to the other side in order for the other to appreciate their individual differences and thereby understand  different responses and reactions and circumstances of people.  Bullying usually results when the bully wants the person to do what he wants and doesn’t understand why this person doesn’t act the same way that he does.  So Asakura asked US to understand Jap position which is to protect the interests of its own citizens, just as the US also wants to protect the interests of its own citizens.  Asakura also said that the talks are continuing so there would be time to thresh out the differences between the two and work out a more satisfactory solution.  BTW, the theme song “Miles Away” was sung by Madonna.  Also, I know the song “Yume with You” by Toshinobu Kubota was also for “Change” but I don’t think I heard it played in the drama.  Or am I wrong?  So  far, there are no announcements to any future project of Kimura, other than the most recently coccluded SMAP 2008 concert tour, which I was fortunate enough to watch live in Nagoya.

Just finished watching Karei Naru Ichizoku (TBS, 2007) and ended up having puffy and reddish eyes from crying my heart out.  I had sensed a sad ending for the idealistic Teppei Manpyou, (Kimura Takuya) who at 36 years gave up his life in order to save the Manpyou family from further demoralization and destruction.  I cried because Teppei’s passion and ideal to pursue his dream of making Japan globally competitve through steel against all odds was very inspiring and I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t live to see it through.   His being able to defy all the odds was possible because of the support of his friends, family and staff whom he had valued and cherished and this I intended to emulate.  He actually didn’t give up his dream–he had thought that his death would pave the way for the others to pursue his dream, which did come true.  He gave up his life because he saw himself as the cause of  all his family’s dysfunctionality; that he would never really gain his father’s love despite all his achievements because of the deep seated hatred of his father for him for reasons not of his own doing.  “If I have not been born, then how would things have been?”, he asked.  However, in the end, we find that the hate relationship between Teppei and his father Daisuke should never have existed, that teh basis for the hatred an unintended mistake.  Daisuke thought that Teppei was not his true son and this was proven by Teppei’s blood type; only to find out from Teppei’s death certificate that Teppei;s bloodtype was erroneously listed as another because of the confusion during the war(?)  (wasn’t Teppei born in 1932?)which was the time the blood type was taken as I understood.

Again, Takuya Kimura gave an outstanding performance; in fact he won an award for his acting in this drama series.  Also, this drama was a TBS 50th anniversary special so it had this “cinematic” effect on it–spectacular scenes (love the snowstorm and snowcap mountain scenes and the view of the steel factory), cinematic music by Hattori Takayuki with the Philharmonic Orchestra and chorale.  I thought Daisuke (played by Kitaoji Kinya) gave out the most superb performance of a father that you would “love” to “hate.”  Again, Takuya had such expressive eyes here.  When he was mulling over what his father said about how he would  have been another person having an “ordinary” family had Teppei not been born, I thought his iris had a bluish grey tint and then later, “sparkling brown.” Just noticed Takuya was a little thin here but still retained his boyish charm.  Great drama, although a bit heavy for Takuya fans who are used to a Takuya doing “feel good” roles.  But then again, Takuya is such a verstile actor that one looks forward to him doing offbeat roles from time to time.

Got this synopsis from a website that sells DVD of this drama:

I noticed that the Taiwanese dramas of the comedy/romance genre I like best are either based on Japanese mangas or usually adaptations of the original Japanese dramas (which are also based on a Japanese manga) shown ten or so years ago.   Are there differences, aside from the language, of the two versions?  Which one is better?

Generally, one noticeable difference is the length.  The Japanese versions will usually have about ten or so episodes while the Taiwanese ones will have around 15-20 episodes.  The t-drama versions would usually have several subplots and will try to stick as much as possible to the original storyline; the j-versions’ plot are usually centered on the main plot and would slightly have a “modified” storyline compared to the j-manga on which it was based.    Second difference is that the t-dramas would usually have an OST with a main title song and several pop songs which lyrics are related to the song.  These songs would usually be played in scenes where the actors are in a contemplating or reflective mode, scenes where the actors would usually be looking out the window or lying awake in bed while scenes are flashbacked. Thus a viewer would have to listen carefully to the lyrics of the songs to get an enhanced understanding of the scene.  The j-dramas OST are usually composed of one main title song and a so-called “insert”song .  The rest are background music and thus have no lyrics.  I noticed j-dramas have less or even zero reflection scenes of the t-drama mode but there are also flashbacks.  A third difference is the ending–for t-dramas, the endings are happy, boy and girl live happily ever after type of endings; in the j-dramas, one doesn’t directly see a straightforward ending where the girl and boy live happily ever after, although this is implied.  This leaves the viewer to expect a “drama special-SP” of two episodes to follow.  In the SPs, the “happily ever after” ending usually happens. 

Now, let’s see the four cases of the comedy/romance genre taiwanese and japanese dramas that I have watched and give my personal (subjective?) rating.

Hana KImi–I like the J-version better because I found the lead actress, Ella Chen, in the t-version not appealing.  Maki Horikita as Mizuki Ashiya was better (in fact, she won the Best Actress award in the 54th Television Awards in Japan).  Further, the j-version starred Oguri Shun (aka Hanazawa Rui of Hana yori dango fame) as Izumi Sano.  Oguri is one of my favorite actors, which explains the bias. 

The t-drama “It Started with a Kiss”(ISWAK)  vs j-drama “Itazura na Kisu”.  I like the t-drama version better.  It was funnier, acting was good although sometimes exaggerated, the actors had better chemisty esp Ariel Lin and Joe Chen, OST was excellent, the longer length allowed for development of the story, the ending really made me feel good.   The j-version, although made ten years earlier was also okay because acting was likewise good.  (BTW, the  lead actor is far more handsome than Joe Chen. ) Plot was short and really focused on the two lead charaters; absolutely no subplot. The lead actress’ acting was not as ” naturally cute” as Ariel Lin; she was really “trying hard” so her acting was exaggerated to the point of irritating. The title song cute for its time. 

“Sweet Relationship” (t-drama) vs. “Oishi Kankei” (j-drama).  Again, ST is a remake of OK which was shown in Japan ten years ago.  I like the t-drama version better because the lead actress, Patricia Hsu, was so convincing whenever she describes the food she eats.  Although I like Nakayama Miho (the lead actress in the -j version), it was Patricia that pulled it off better.  The J-version is more realistic though, but the t-version funnier.  Again, the length of the t-drama allowed for more development of the storyline, although the subplots were sometimes boring and tended to draw the focus away from the main plot.  I was a bit disappointed in the acting of Vic Zhou, one of my favorite t-actors.  His acting didn’t exude “authority” that his role asked for, in contrast to the Japanese actor who played the same role in the j-version.  (BTW, this actor looks better than Vic).  Vic looked  emaciated here and his facial expression was almost the same throughout (although he really looked  great when he smiled). Although both Vic and Patty looked good together, their chemistry was lacking  (maybe due to Vic’s “tired” acting).  But the ending of ST is better, as the j-version ended with the chef going to Paris with his girlfriend and leaving Nakayama Miho in Tokyo, with the promise that he will come back to Toko after two years to taste Miho’s cooking.  (I have a feeling there is an “SP” to provide the closure to the story, but have searched the internet endlessly for one but in vain).  Again, the t-version OST is good and I like Vic Zhu’s sweet relationship main song and Alan Kuo’s “Don’t say goodbye”. 

Meteor Garden (t-drama) vs. Hana Yori Dango (j-version).  Definitely, HYD lords it over MG.  Why?  I will save the comments for another day.

So far, I have seen at least four older woman-younger guy romance Asian dramas. Three are J-doramas–Maho no Jouken (Forbidden Love), Kimi wa Petto and Anego;  and one Korean –My name is Kim Sam Soon.  The J-doramas really played up the age difference since the gap is really wide, as in 8-10 years.  In KSS,  the woman was just four years older.  Kimi wa Petto is light comedy drama, where the women are tall, beautiful, successful career women, graduate of so-called “elite” universities, but unskilful or lacking in love, and they usually become obsessed (or desperate) about getting married when they reach the age of around 32 years.  

In Maho, the woman was only 26, but the guy, her student, was only 17 yrs, a minor,  so there is a deeper societal abberration here than in Anego and KWP, where the guys are in their early 20s, and have finished  compulsory schooling already.  In Anego,  Jin Akanishi is  the young guy in love with his older officemate.  Jin is a famous Johnny’s Entertainment talent  and also a member of the boy band KAT TUN. In KWP, the young guy was played by Matsumoto Jun, also with Johnny’s and member of the popular boy band ARASHI.

I have yet to see a May-December romance where the guy would be older than the woman, except for one Korean drama-Sweet Eighteen; but this didn’t play on the older guy’s weakenesses but rather focused on the younger girl’s immaturity.  Looking at it both ways,  the Asian dramas I have seen so far played on the women’s limitations rather than the guy’s.  Is this a reflection of these countries current society’s thinking?

 In the Philippines, although I am not updated on the movie-drama scene,  I would think that there are more May-December movies where the guys are older than the women.