Lunch queen (2002)

Country: Japan
Genre: food, romance, comedy
Format: drama, 12 episodes
Cast:Takeuchi Yuko, Eguchi Yosuke, Tsumabuki Satoshi, Yamashita Tomohisa, Yamada Takiyuki, Wakabayashi Go, Tsutsumi Shinichi, Ito Masaki, Takubo Issei, Eita, Morita Go, Umemiya Masako, Osugi Ren, Kiritani Kenta, Suzuki Emi,
Synopsis: Natsumi is a woman who finds comfort in lunch, that's why she is willing to do anything for the sake of great meal. One day a man named Nabeshima Kenichiro askes her to pretend to be his fiancee, in order to him to have a reason to go home. Kenichiro is the oldest son of "Kitchen Macaroni" owner, beside Father there are also 3 younger brothers - Yujiro, Junsaburo, Koshiro and live-in apprentice cook Minoru. Natsumi falls in love with restaurant's omurice and its famous demiglauce sauce and decides to stay there forever, even though "her fiance" Kenichiro has stolen family's money and ran away. But a woman living with 5 single healthy men does not bring anything but trouble..
Rating: 4/5
People who like food should always watch it with full stomach - too appetising.

Natsumi is cool, she does what she wants. Give her a food and she is okey with everything. Natsumi has a difficult past on her shoulders, which still haunts her time to time. Natsumi does speak about her past to others and tells failing lies, but in some way they all believe her. She tries to give her best and seeks for positive side of world. She teaches others that there must be some fun in life no matter how old you are and there must be passion for the things you love. She is someone who loosens the strings in the family. Takeuchi Yuko was great in this role. At moments she a little bit reminded Ueno Juri, next time Ueto Aya  - so her acting was a little jumpy.

Kenichiro is actually total side-character, but as he was the one who brought Natsumi to home then he deserves to be mentioned. He is silly, awkward and shy. Even though, he is the oldest, he has the least life-experience - he has failed in life more than once, but he always gets things other way, not really understanding the right reasons. He seems to be bastard for his actions to family, but deep in side he loves them and they love him - it is just complicated. Beside, there is the saying that the first one still goes behind the fence.

The second son Yujiro is much more grown-up than Ken-ni. He has given up on many things in his life in sake of the restaurant. He does not think much and makes his own rules which everyone must follow. But every man has his own love in this world too - so there is Hidemi, his painfully in bad marriage very beautiful friend. Yu-ni never says things what he thinks - he is having a difficult time acknowledging his true feelings so he hides them behind visible lies. He is helpless when he sees woman's tears and guess what.. he is the one (and may be only one) who sees Natsumi crying.

My friend told me that "Lunch queen" might get very cliched and boring, but I think that only cliched thing about it was the third son Junzaburo. He fell hopelessly in love with Natsumi since the first day. He is same old as Natsumi, but he looks much younger and childish. He is a big cry-baby, pathetic and in the end pessimistic. He does not think his actions and saying through, so he many times says meaningless cliche things and then he gets angry or aggrieved. At the same time, his useless trying is so funny that you cannot stop laughing.

The youngest son was Koshiro, acted by Yamashita Tomohisa. Being the youngest does not mean that he is mentally youngest. In many scenes he teaches Jun-ni and Yu-ni about women and how to deal with them. They even say it in drama that Koshiro is the most famous with women - and you can see it too as he never goes on a date with one girl.. there is always at least two girls. He is like family's love-doctor, while he himself takes baaaad advantage of it with teasing others - especially Jun-ni, who is really slow. But on the other side, Koshiro is the only one who does not help out in restaurant, which makes him useless in kitchen. After one serious turn-up in drama plot, he is having the hardest time to find himself. Others have their cooking, while he "must" get ready for university. By the way, he stays at school for the whole day, which makes his brothers worry, but he is a very fast learner. Everyone are afraid of that when Koshiro starts working at kitchen, he might become better than they are.

And then there is the wise father,the head-chef of "Kitchen Macaroni". I think he has the least screen time and text in all, but he has that amazing aura, which makes him respectful. He is ready to put down his job and give the restaurant to his sons. That makes him more think about his life and the past. He tries to spend father-son time with his sons, especially with Koshiro, because others got more his attention while being little. Koshiro was very little when Mom died and Father was always busy with restaurant. These scenes are very heartwarming, because you can see how much he cares for all his sons and "daughter-in-law" Natsumi.

From side-characters Minoru, the live-in cookboy, is almost great friend with Koshiro. I did not understand if he is the same old or not (seemed few years older, but dunno).  At restaurant and in the city he keeps low and silent profile, actually he was from the same neighbourhood as Natsumi, so he knows the truth about her. In Chiba, his hometown, he is known for his fighting skills and is honored by many smaller dudes. He is very funny character who has the most morality in the house. He also has a crush on Tomato.

Sadly, Tomato or Toma-chan as they call her, has had a huuuuuge crush on Junzaburo for ages. Toma-chan works at nearby vegetable/fruit shop, where "Kitchen Macaroni" buys their ingredients. There is also one character from Natsumi's past - Shuji. The bad boy who brought only bad to Natsumi, but you cannot choose who you love. He is not that big bastard as you might think, because even he has feelings and humane wishes. He is too aggressive, but I think he really loved Natsumi.
I think that is it about characters. It is funny and you do not know what happens next as the actions begins since the first episode and Natsumi never shows out her "love-interest". "Kitchen Macaroni" seems to be very cozy and comfortable place, but the drama also shows that lunch-time in Tokyo is one insane time.

One small thing more, It seemed like it is a reunion of "Long Love Letter, because at least 6 actors are the same - Yamashita Tomohisa, Yamada Takiyuki, Tsumabuki Satochi, Suzuki Emi, Takaki Maiko, Osugi Ren  to mention. Want the reason? Both dramas are mainly made by Omori Mika and Mizuta Narihide with only half year difference.
Nothing else to say than enjoy watching while eating!

Loss Time Life (2008)

Country: Japan
Genre:  mystery, life&death, human, surreal
Format: drama, but all 9 episodes have different stories and so do Specials too
Synopsis: The main idea - there are people who take life for granted, thinking they have time and do unnecessary-pointless things. What if when you die you are given extra time - additional time as they do in soccer? How would you spend the last hours of your life when there are 4 man always reminding you that the clock is ticking...
Rating: 2/5
I am going to make each drama detail-review separately with casts, it is a little bit easier to understand then - But I will put only one rating to all of it.. sorry for possible spoilers too!
I liked that they made it like sport overcasting - I do not know much about football nor footballers, but it was fun in drama. I bet those who know a bit about football and "its legendary players/moment", will have more interesting time watching it. I like those weird comments they make and referees are funny - I consider them as one of the highlights =D Especially during the commercial break. Drama also has a documentary-touch in it, which makes watching it really awesome.  

Episode 1. "Cameraman"
Cast: Eita, Fukiishi Kazue, Koichi Mantaro, Oshima Yoko,
Eita plays an cameraman, who takes photos of disasters, for example fires and hostage dramas,  for newspapers (which I find really disturbing and sick). Being an awarded photographer he wishes to dye on the scene of crime while taking a great photo. After his first-page-photo gets changed with heartwarming amateur photo,  he decides to take an even better photo for photo contest, but situation gets complicated with him being the foresight of the gun.
- Nice and interesting episode to start drama. It explained very much about the whole drama. It had the most documentary look - some moments it seemed that Eita did not know they where filming xD  He gets yellow card for saying "I was killed/ I died". Ends with a big twist so you start to wish that he will stay alive. 

Episode 2. "Detective"
Cast: Koyama Keiichiro, Hiraizumi Sei, Waki Tomohiro, Yamaguchi Miyako, Tanaka Tetsushi
Tsunami Kouta is young fresh detective whose dream is to catch villians and resolve crimes. His dream gets crushed when he finds out that his supervisor is old detective Gomi, who spends time on drinking tea. Finally, they are one step from arresting a criminal, but the criminal is fast and does not use gun for the first time in his life.
- So Kouta gets "loss time". It is very interesting to see how he tries to see some threads in this mess, which takes him back to armed bank rob years ago. The main sentence is "Only the dog who chases tirelessly gets feed", sadly it comes with big losses. the saddest moment is Kouta's phone call to mother. He gets red card for wanting to refuse from loss time.

Episode 3. "Sukiyaki"
Cast: Tomochika, Matsuzawa Kazuyuki, Tajima Yumika, Nagashima Shugo,
A mother who sacrifices everything for her family and also saves from everything. She must pay hard to make her family the best sukiyaki in the world. - It is sad episode, because I think she is the only one who really becomes discouraged and feels helpless - and that is not because of the dying, but because she is afraid how the family will survive without her. She literally saves from everything - all things you know in the world, she will make an cheaper alternative for it. You can see a race of the crazy housewives and how mean they can be.  

Episode 4. "Nurse"
Cast: Ueno Juri, Shitara Osamu, Rokkaku Seji, Nukumizu Youichi
I think it was the funniest episode. Matsunaga Yukiko is a nurse, whose boyfriend has dumped her and she finds the suicide to be the only possibility. At first she wants to re-kill herself, but she gets yellow card, like that would stop someone who knows nothing about football. She meets with Omoto who also wants to jump from the same roof as she did. Main sentence is "Even one loss is not the end of the world". The end is rather unexpected. - I do not understand suicides, because I do not see any reason to be enough to end one's life.

Episode 5. "Childhood friend"
Cast: Ito Atsushi, Minami, Iketani Nobue, Yabe Kenji,
This is the most cliched episode. It is cute, but usual story that guy, Hajime, has promised to become mangaka in childhood. Life roads have gone apart and girl, Yukari is going to be married - right when she hears that Hajime has debuted as mangaka. By chance they meet again, but time is limited.

Episode 6. "Hero Show"
Cast: Tanaka Naoki, Tanaka Kei, Yasuda Misako, Takagiri Hairi, Harada Atsushi, Hatano Hiroko, Okuda Tatsuhito, Hayakawa Ryo
It was the weirdest episode.. Koichi is very egocentric and he cannot fulfill any of his dreams. He wants to be world-famous actor, but non of his dreams include his wife Yoko. - Koichi was the woooooooooorst actor ever! and whoever played the part of SunVisorX was amazing =D There are really cute animations included to episode and in the end you want him to have extra time, but surprise-surprise - I did not understand a thing what happened to him in the end - did he die? did he got extra time? what it was?? 

Episode 7. "Wife of a mob member"
Cast: Tokiwa Takako, Hamada Gaku, Fukikoshi Mitsuru, Nomaguchi Toru,
Ruiko is a yakuza-family's member. She hears that her husband has been taken by another yakuza-gang and she is going to take a revenge.  - It is a little bit sad. I say spoiler - she is fighting for  her love, but it comes out that all this time her husband wanted to have a normal life with normal family and in reality she was the real target. - Tokiwa Takako is very elegant and I looooove her kimono. I like that Ruiko has pride and she does not let herself fall, but it is too sad to see how she is trying to not express her real feelings.

Episode 8. "Director"
Cast: Maki Yoko, Iwasa Mayuko, Takeno Isao, Omiya Taro, Yajima Kenichi, Nukumizu Youichi
Actually, this was my favorite episode. Horiike is a company section director, who is real workaholic and has committed all her last years to her job - not because she wants to work so much, but she has a great sense of duty. Even so, she gets fired when she gives wrinkles what to change in the company. - This episode shows the most how irresponsible, mean and two-faced people might be. Horiike dies from heart failure, which occurred because of too much work, stress and less sleep time. This is something that most likely will happen to me if my current life-style continues O.o. I liked that she was very rational and knows what to do. She is the only character who showed the most sides of herself in the whole drama. Sentence is "Getting fired is like heartbreak in relationship". You can also meet again with Omoto - so sad that he is rather stupid.. Even though Horiike gets yellow card for changing clothes, the referees finally allow it - they are too sad. In the end, all she wanted to do, is to be happy - I liked that she sometimes thought that maybe going with her boyfriend would have been a better choice.  

Episode 9. "Hikikomori"
Cast: Oizumi Yo, Haruyama Mikisuke, Koide Saori, Tajima Reiko, Oshima Yoko, Nukumizu Youichi
Miura is a guy who has no desire to live, but also does not make a suicide - by the way, he has not gone out of the house for 12 years! New judge is Omoto and even referees are having hard time with understand the loss time as the clock seems to be broken - or is it?  - Miura is sooooo useless -.- he annoyed me so much, so I liked the end result :) 

Special/ Overtime "Omoto Yuzo Monogatari"
Cast: Kuriyama Chiaki, Kajihara Ken, Sakai Wakana, Tamura Ryo, Nukumizu Youichi, Tajima Reiko, Oshima Yoko
From the title it seems like Omoto will die, but no. The Special episode explains everything about Omoto.. and his wife, his former job etc. It is just like another episode. Nukumizu is amazing actor - he is so talented and funny! Omoto's life story is cute and the end is veeery cute. Sakai Wakana is adorable and I like that she plays stupid person this time xD All in all, it connects many previous episodes together and makes you realize what was going on.

I hope it can make you understand your life priorities - I wish I could tell it made my mind clear from this point, but with current life tempo I cannot have any other priority than school and entrance exams, BUT I know that the most important in the life still is family, love and friends ^^

Kimi wa Petto (2003)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, comedy
Format: drama 10 episodes
Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Koyuki, Tanabe Seichi, Suzuki Sarina, Sakai Wakana, Eita, Ishihara Satomi, Mitsushi Ken, Magii, Satou Ryuta, 
Synopsis: Iwaya Sumire is successful in almost everything - she is beautiful, high income, she is Tokyo University graduate, but men tend to see her as too perfect, cool and emotionless, which make them feel inferior. Most of the time she goes home alone and depressed. One night she finds a young man in a box in front of her apartment. He reminds her dog Momo she used to have when she was a child, so she makes an agreement with him - He may stay with her in that apartment if he becomes her pet Momo.
Rating: 5/5

Best way to start new year is with great funny must-see drama. It is made after same-named manga.

Iwaya Sumire really has no emotions in her face and I have always thought what kind of normal woman would take a totally stranger who is beaten up to her apartment?? Even if it is Matsumoto Jun, it is most unreasonable thing to do, especially by highly educated woman. Most of the time she is called "Elite" and it gets on the nerves so much, because it is the only thing others tell her - I would not have that much nerves to put up with it. But no matter what others say, Sumire has a really low self-esteem. Whenever she is with Hasumi, she is nervous and shy. I understand that she wants to be perfect for him, but doesn't being in love mean being able to show your real self to the one you love?

Maybe it is just my way of thinking that people must love others like they really are and no-one should change herself/himself for being the "perfect" one. Like Sumire said it is soo tiring to be on dates and stuff with him.. maybe she is actually in love it the memory of old Hasumi - it has happened to me too. A great part of Sumire is her relationship with Momo. I soooooo adored when they had their "pet-owner time". I do not understand how she was able to loosen up with him, but I think that she really saw her old dog in him, except that new one spoke human language. But for a woman, who has not cried for 15 years, she sure cries a lot. I loved that she established the rules from the start.

Cute-cute-cute-hot Momo *dreaming* was using everyone! Matsumoto Jun made an incredible work as Momo, but he still must impress me in "Hanayori dango" because I am not a big fan of his looks there. I loved Momo's attitude - he was rude, selfish, had too physically familiar acting and had zero dignity or pride. Matsumoto Jun (I so want to write Matsujun all the time) astonished me with his dancing skills - I do not know if he did all the ballet jumps himself, but I know that being a Johnny helped him a lot in this drama, but I still do not fancy contemporary dance. As most of you know then Momo's real name was Goda Takeshi and he was 20 years old.. well in reality Matsumoto Jun was 20 too during the time of filming it. So a great respect to him for making that kind of drama while being so young.

Every time I saw the hug-scenes I got cuteness overload! I would totally like to have a pet like him.. but I am afraid that I would be the one who wants to ruin the rules at first.Why I liked him even more, is that he decided to walk his own road, not what his parents wanted. I hate when parents want their children to make parents dreams come true - my friend had to go to piano lessons for 7 years, because her mother insisted her to learn it - now she has not touched the piano for a year, because she feels disguised by it. Just because parents have lost the opportunity, does not mean the children must do it then! Beside, how is it possible to lose an opportunity - as long as you live or have not had an extreme accident everything is possible! got off the topic again... Matsumoto Jun is one hell of a great kisser...

Hasumi.. he is not that hot and he definitely wants too much too soon. I did not like the fact that he actually should have made himself clear with Fukushima, but he always left her hanging, but at the same time, it was the reasonable for the end, but as a "wanted to be engaged with another women", his acts were wrong. My sister was right about him - she told from the start that he seems too fake. He was the only character who actually got on my nerves.
Fukushima had just an annoying voice - I do not know if Asian men really find it cute, but I find it only very fake, childish and annoying. But Sakai Wakana was cute in it, but I enjoyed her more in "Waraeru koi wa shitakunai". Maybe I just do not like women like Fukushima was.

Before watching it, I had no idea that Eita acts in it too! I still like his ears and he looks sooo young, sadly he does not have dance scenes, even though he plays a dancer role. Rumi was just a bitch who could not move on. I hate when girls "jokingly" break up with guy and wait for him to love them even more. It is sooo wrong and sick! I liked that she was able to grow up a little bit in the end.  Haha.. Shizumu - Takeshi's mom servant... I soo thought he was gay!! until I found out that he was in love with Takeshi's mom.. but Shizumu and Sumire's landlord were soooo weird together. They were similar and weird..  A big role in the drama has Yuri  - Sumire's only friend. She was the only one Sumire ever trusted. I liked that she was very loyal, but at the same time she was able to tell the truth right at Sumire's face.

But the real pearl in this drama was the cute-cafe-girl. She just kind of made all the drama more reasonable and she really was the smartest of all of the characters. I liked that even though she did not have much screen-time, she was very understandable character. I love when it happens in dramas that some very minor character is over others. Beside, the doctor always told a smart talk which always made sense - I would like to have psychologist like he.. - what?? why should I have a psychologist anyway???

This drama explains much about owner-pet relationship and how important pets are - mostly dogs, but some things about cats too. well.. I am more of a cat person, because my parents dogs drive me insane. It is definitely funny and lovable drama to watch. They do not have much style in it, because it is rather an old drama, but try to cope with it. Btw. It was so interesting that it took me only two days to finish it - I would have watched it all in a row too, but I am too afraid of finishing like one Taiwanese woman, who almost lost her eyesight because of watching too much dramas.
Amazing kiss-scenes, cute moments and interesting views on relationship. This drama is absolute classic and needs to be seen by everyone.

Sunao ni Narenakute (2010)

Country: Japan
Genre: life, romance, friendship, LGBT
Format: drama 11 episodes
Cast: Ueno Juri, Eita, Hero Jae Joong, Tamayama Tetsuji, Seki Megumi, Kinami Haruka, Fubuki Jun, Igawa Haruka, Nakamura Youichi, Watanabe Eri, Kikkawa Koji, (minor role: Katsumura Masanobu)
Synopsis: Nakajima/Nakaji is a photographer, but gets job only from bravura magazines. Mizuno/Haru is a provisional high school teacher, but dreams to be a full time teacher. Nishimura/Peach is Mizuno's best friend, but she is always in boyfriend troubles, beside this time she found out that she is pregnant. Ishihara/Linda works for highly rated magazine, but is sexually harassed by chief editor. Park/Doctor works as salesman of medical equipments and does not have any friends since moving to Japan. They start being Twitter friends and one day they decide to meet as real people. New friendship of youth, love, pain and grief begins.
Rating: 4/5
This is THE BEST Kitagawa Eriko's works. At first main storyline goes really slowly, but (I think it was since 4th episode) then all kind of things start to happen really fast. Also what is Kitagawa Eriko's like, is that Haru character is a little bit cry-baby and undeceiving, but compared to Kitagawa's  other works, it is the strongest lead female, but I think that is just thanks to Ueno Juri.
It might seem like a love story at the first place, but I saw more friendship and life's obstacles in it. It really shows the everyday struggles and things in life, which we might not even notice.

Really great work has done with other characters too - they are so different and it is hard to find favourite one. I liked that Doctor used those Korean sayings and his kind personality was cool, he was understanding and caring. Hero Jae Joong acted really well. (In one episode Doctor is totally drunk and that I ended up seeing a dream about him while sleeping.. it was more than weird). Peach first seemed like she has some mental problems, but after a while she was just really cute.

At the first place  I found weird that Ishihara's twitter name was Linda as it is a woman's name, then I thought that he has just some problems with sex, but in a weird way I did not see it coming that he was gay (I understood it when he hugged Nakaji's jacket). Tamayama Tetsuji hit the favorite actor button. Just amazing how well he played the gay part - all those looks and hand movements actually showed everything. Amazing!! I really think that his personal story was the hardest and saddest of all.
This time the catch phrase was "Sore wa Ikenai!"- definitely a catchy thing.

Story itself is veeery unpredictable. Most of the thoughts I had in the begging turned to another in the end. I was not able to predict the next episode even after watching the "next episode preview". Like you get from the start then somebody is hurt by love veeeeery much. I had 4-5 different characters in thought who might be it. It is exciting.
GREAT SOUNDTRACKS - main song is "Great DJ" performed by The Ting Tings. Super great song.

SPOILER review. And then the bad side of the drama.. It was hard to understand since when Haru started to like Doctor and that made me hesitate about Haru's decision, but  that was the only bad thing I can remember. There was a high possibility for a cliche point, but IT WAS AMAZING and did not obey to cliche, so thanks to that it really got plus points. Actually there was almost no cliche's (I might lie to you xD). Also in some way it was funny that when Linda died, then only the male characters cried. There was one side story of Nakaji dad and Haru's mom too, but it was not much important.

Last Friends (2008)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, domestic violence, friendship, LGBT
Format: drama 11 episodes
Cast: Nagasawa Masami, Nishikido Ryo, Ueno Juri, Eita, Mizukawa Asami, Yamazaki Shigenori, Nishihara Aki,
Synopsis: Michiru has had a very difficult childhood and has gone through man difficult things. Finally she moves in with her good and caring boyfriend, but as soon as she has moved in Sosuke turns out to be a violent and jealous man. On one day Michiru runs into her old friend Ruka who introduces Michiko to her house mates. Michiru finds care and love from them, but actually every person has its own problems to think of too. 
Rating: 3/5

It was pain to watch, but after it had ended.. I totally liked it. It was horrible and crazy and bad, but it really showed different sides of the world. There are many people who suffer from domestic violence, there are many people who have childhood traumas, where they have been abused, there are also many people who hesitate in their sexual orientation. And I liked that this drama brought up all those themes, because those are the things that most of the people do not want to talk about.

As you see it has an outstanding cast too.  My favorites were Eita and Ueno Juri. I have always liked Eita's acting and his character was great too.  About Ueno Juri I discovered that she would have been great in Michiru role too, but she as a tomboy was good too. I liked that Ruka was hesitating about many things, but in the end she wanted others to be happy. I did not liked Nagasawa Masami's acting much, because I actually almost forgot who was played the part of Michiru. I think that Michiru role was difficult, so I forgive her. In this drama Nishikido Ryo is the violent one... it is spooky xD Acting was great and fictionally was the character too. It was so amazing how Sosuke had hide it before, but they say that usually those kind of man really hide it until it is to late for woman to leave.

The end was so unpredictable.. I did not see that coming. I understood that something happens, but did not think that in this way to that person. No spoilers, watch it if you want to know ;)
I must say that it took a lot of courage and coercion to watch it, but i am really happy I did it.