Ikemen desu ne! (2011)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, music, comedy
Format: drama 11 episodes
Cast: Tamamori Yuta, Fujigawa Taisuke, Yaotome Hikaru, Takimoto Miori, Kojima Haruna, Katase Nana, Yanagisawa Shingo, Tanoshingo, Manda Hisako, Rokkaku Seiji, Yamazaki Shigenori, Aoi, Takahashi Maiko, Azumi Moeri, (cameos - Koda Kumi, Jang Geun Suk, Katori Shingo, Kitayama Hiromitsu etc)
Synopsis: (Japanese version of "You're beautiful") Miko and Mio grow up in an orphanage. Years later, Miko is a soon-to-become nun and Mio is going to be a member of famous band A.N.JELL. A day before Miko is leaving to Rome, Mio's manager Mabushi finds her and requests her to play Mio for 3 months in order to fulfil Mio's dream. Mio himself got into "drunken case" and had to leave to States to recover from broken nose. Miko pretends to be Mio to find their mother, but things are much more difficult than she imagined - she must live together with 3 hot band members - strict Ren, helpful Shu and friendly Yuki, but every ones situation thickens with feelings growing and lies fade in.
Rating: 5/5
At first I was afraid that they try to copy too much or make it worse - well, I do not have many high expectations from remakes, but THIS DRAMA IS AMAZING! Like it is normal to Japanese, they are much more honest with what they are saying - many times you must think hard to understand what Koreans are trying to say, but in Japanese version they said everything out! It looks like Japanese took almost all the great scenes and put them together, they actually put  totally new things in it too, but it makes it even better and is understandable.

Miko/Mio is not helpless like Go Mi Nam was in Korean version and that gives plus points, because I do not like when girls cannot do anything right. Takimoto Miori did a great job, but she was a little bit too feminine - her b**bs were actually too visible, her voice was a little bit too high, but her acting was brilliant! I liked her singing more than Park Shin Hye's, but then again - Takimoto used to be a singer. I LOVED that they had given a deeper meaning to all these stars and Mio-Miko relationship seemed to be closer too.  I really hope she will have many-many dramas in future too. Like I said, Japanese made people better - same thing is with Aunt, who ends up to have rather close relationship with Miko. She still is a little bit about the money, but she would not sell her niece for money!

Ren is bitchier version of Tae Kyung as even in the first episode he has some bad things to say to Shu and Yuki. That I did not like, because in Korean version Tae Kyung was not bitch with the members. Tamamori acting was rather good, but at some scenes he tends to copy Jang Geun Suk too much. And it was a fail that he did not copy Jang Geun Suk's kissing, because these kiss-scenes "aint gonna go to kiss-list". yeah, simply said, the kiss-scenes were very weak. It seemed to me that they had put a bigger pressure on others feelings, so MikoxRen story got a bit weaker. I did not see the same "love" between them, what I saw in Korean version. You can understand that they did like each other and stuff, but it was not like they needed each other so much. It was a let down, but it won't take down the stars.

I really liked Tamamori's voice while "Miss you", because in all other song I had the comparison with Jang Geun Suk's voice, but you know - that guy has pretty low and powerful voice.(Funny similarity. Ren and Nana pairing is a famous pairing from manga/anime "NANA")
Other thing is that I would have liked it more if Ren's mom was younger. Sorry, but Manda Hisako is too old for that part and believe me! there are younger actresses who would have made Mizusawa Reiko role classy.

Shu was my favourite character this time. I am afraid that it is because Fujigawa Taisuke acted as him, but I admit it that Fujigawa's acting was second best to Takimoto's or may be they are even.. Anyway Shu was made much more appealing than Hyung was in Korean. Hyung was a little bit depressing, but Shu was funny too. He definitely was the smartest of them and that's why I felt sorry for him. We all know the story that he does not get the girl, but I seriously hoped that he would and I am pretty sure that in 8th episode Miko would have gone with Shu if Ren would not have showed up). It is so sad that he was familyzoned. Most of the time I wanted to go into the drama and hug him to make him happy.

Yuki was still funny and his imaginations were making me laugh so much that I couldn't breath anymore. Yuki's hard time with his feelings is seen very clearly from the start and actually he is just dumb that he does not understand from the start that Mio is actually Miko. I like that they brought "I must be true to my feelings" REALLY in. And one scene will definitely be in "best-almost-kiss-scenes" - if I ever do it. In Korean version it seemed that they left Jeremy out of many things, especially in the end, but in "Ikemen desu ne" he gets to be part of everything. At first I did not have much faith in Yaotome Hikaru, I do not know why. May be because I have seen videos of him, where he was like 11-12 years old? But he surprised me with excellent acting.

Nana.. Naaaaanaaaa... hehe I have nothing to say about her. Nana's character was annoying like all the time, but more I was annoyed by Kojima Haruna. After "You're beautiful" almost everybody (excpet fans) were talking how UUE should stop acting or go learn some acting skills. But I think we all can forgive her, because it was her first role, actually second, but first time she was a cameo, so that cannot be taken seriously, but for Kojima Haruna it was 12th drama! I would like to hear an explanation to her acting. I did not get the Nana-attitude from her acting at all, so if you ask me about Nana-character 3 months later, then believe me - I have forgotten her existence.

Toru at the same time was veeeeeery fave for me. Toru is Nana-s assistant, but if you know who is Tanoshingo then you know that most of the time you will love him! My little sister told that he is rather cute guy too, when Tanoshingo was on screen, but then I had to make her sad by saying that he is someone who likes guys.. He makes Yuki's story even funnier.

The president of the company is not so stupid as in Korean version. Many sides of him are imitated from Johnny Kitagawa - the founder and the president of Johnny&;Associates (Johnny's Entertainment). It is because all - Tamamori, Fujigawa and Yaotome are Johnny's. One of the most remarkable things is "You-tachi!" or "YOU!" This is a common way how Kitagawa-sama calls others and almost every Johnny tries to imitate it. Well, the drama president is at many times scary, but he cares and supports A.N.JELL very much. I like that he gets to know the truth in the end too and it makes new consequences too.  

It is amazing that they brought in camoes. As you can read from the cast then Koda Kumi, Katori Shingo, Jang Geun Suk and Kitayama Hiromitsu actually play themselves and for me it was total surprise! I only knew that Jang Geun Suk makes an appearance as it was big in news when it came out, but for others I was like "ARE YOU SERIOUS? YAY!!". For fun thing, actually Kitayama is in the last episode and nameless! But he has an important role too. Jang Geun Suk's role is the most important from all those 4 and he is like a clairvoyant! It is a scene which was not in the original, but believe me - this scene is priceless! I already was hoping that he says "Dude! I played the same role!" My little sister did not understand how is it possible for him to play in "Ikemen desu ne" too, because there cannot be two Rens/Tae Kyungs in one episode... yeah, little children's amazing mind.

In first episode you can see A.N.JELL plane - I am pretty sure the actually stole Arashi's plane and re-painted it - just joking! In reality, I wanted to make small notes - they have very lovely house and I fell in love with Ren's car, which in one episode seemed to change color - from red to orange - wonder, if someone throw the paint solvent on it. I did not like the girls outfits and clothes, they were nothing special nor cute as it was in Korean and there were disturbingly too much remembering-scenes.But Japanese version is definitely more funnier. I had to make a pause between episodes, because my room went too hot and there was no air to breath anymore (and my room is 24 square meters). Japanese version answered all the questions like what the aunt thought when ShuxMiko article came out and what did Ren's mom etc.
Japanese made the story easier to understand and did not change the main story at all. Well done!

Koizora (2008)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, school, family,drama
Format: drama 6 episodes
Cast: Mizusawa Elena, Seto Koji, Abe Tsuyoshi, Aoi, Miura Shohei, Haru, Nagayama Kento,
Synopsis: Drama version of "Koizora". Mika´s life is pretty normal, until she is suddenly kissed by Sakurai Hiro, a boy from her school with a abnormal appearance. At the same time, there is Mika´s classmate Tatsuya, who is in love with Mika, but with Hiro´s persevere, surprising and sudden character leaves a big impact into girl´s heart. 
Rating: 5/5
I like the drama version much more than movie version - there are just too many things going on to but it into 1,5 hour, even though in the end drama got a bit too lingering. 
I liked Seto Koji´s acting more. Furthermore, I loved Hiro´s character - he is totally the guy whom

girls might fell for. His surprising and sudden acts were the things which make girl´s heart race. (But there are also some things I do not approve to remake in real life). Hiro acted like a bad guy, but actually was really caring and loving. The head patting is one of the cutest things of all and girls actually like that (at least I do) ^^ At first, Hiro seems really persistent and kinda delusional, but it was more caused by the fact that he was used to "easy" girls and that's something that Mika definitely is not. I felt that thanks to Mika Hiro grew up. You can hear Seto Koji singing and playing the guitar too!! (if you do not know, then Seto Koji is in a j-rock band called Tetra-Fang and in a actors group D-BOYS)

The storyline was beautiful and really sad. How is it possible, that when somebody finds her/his true love, then something sad and terrible will happen? Oke, it is not so all the time, but Hiro´s and

Mika´s love story is based on true-life-events. It was originally a keitai-novel written by Mika. To me the story was really unpredictable and every new thing surprised me. From the start you can understand that something is going to happen, but you do not know what! (It is like "Nana" anime, where I started to cry in the end of every episode, because I knew something will happen, but did not knew what) Mika is played by Mizusawa Elena. Her acting is not the best in it, but it was her first time acting too, so let's forgive her. Mika is used to be protected and her horizon is actually really narrow at first. She is shy, plain and she does not have an outstanding beauty, but there is something really cute and natural in her. That's what makes men fall for her and their exes' hate her. Dealing with jealous ex and her friends can be really frightening and I know the fear she was going through. Being afraid to walk alone on the streets and changing route just because you see one of them - even though when you say that it did not shake you at all and you will not give up on a guy just for that, there will be the fear for long time. Especially, when you have been seriously threaten.

The friend-relationship between Mika-Aya and Hiro-Nozumu is really great. True friendship is when you do not betray your friend. Mika made everything she could to get Aya and Nozumu together and Aya was always by her side. Like the time when news about Mika´s and Hiro´s relationship spreed out, then Aya told Mika to keep chin up and smile as she usually does ^^ And Nozumu kept his promise to Hiro, even though he did not approve it, because he saw how much Hiro is actually hurt.

There are two sentence more, which I like and both of them are from Mika:
"Do I need a reason to like something?" - actually, you really don´t! It just happens and you cannot tell the reasons. It might be someone or something - it does not matter. Do you can give reasons to

everything you like? I know that I cannot, because I like really weird stuff too. Another sentence was "Walking shoulder by shoulder at the same pace" - in fact in this scene Hiro and Mika did not walk in the same pace, but you get the idea. I never knew what is so great about it, but I think that until you have not walked with somebody like it, you will never knew. Even if you are not in a relationship or if it is only the person you like (might be one-sided crush), when you notice that you are walking down the stairs with that person step by step in the same pace, even though you see that he could walk faster (because you are in shock and are walking really slowly), it is something that you will always remember. As you might understand, it has happened to me - he was my first love. He always took me by surprise, but at that time.. well, I was not the person I am today. I think that it is with all first loves in the world ( not accurate about people who marry their first love), that first love is something that is bittersweet, it hurts like hell, but feels like heaven at the same time and you know that no matter what you will always remember him/her.
I think that "Koizora" is definitely a MUST-WATCH drama, real classic that you will remember after watching. When I re-watched it, I started to cry after first 3 minutes of first episode, so cry-baby's (like me) need a tissue-box near you!

SPOILER-review: I do understand why Hiro broke up with Mika and did not say the truth about the cancer. I think that in these kind of decisions there actually is not right way, because I too would not want to make my partner suffer, but at the same time.. he should have the right to know. As I said, it is really difficult to find any easy way.
There was one thing that I did not understood - why they did not use protection? If you have sex, then use protection - it is a really easy knowledge and I would not say that they are terrible expensive or difficult to find from stores (first part might depend on countries, but it is cheaper than bring up a child). On the other hand, I am extremely happy that they decided to keep the baby, even though things went other way, because I agree with Mika on this question - I would never forgive myself if I get pregnant and would not give birth to this child. I know so many acquaintances, who have made abortion and I do not judge them for their decisions, but I am just saying that it is something that I would not do.