ANNOUNCEMENTS

I am sorry to announce that I have made a decision to officially close Cypsis' Blog.

All the reviews stay up as they are, but I will not write more reviews. Cypsis' Blog had many ups-and-downs during those 7 years and I have tried to give the best I could, but unfortunately my life has moved on so much that finding time for reviewing has become more and more difficult. Closing the blog is breaking my heart, but I have thought a lot about it and understood that it is for the best. I am very thankful to everybody who have enjoyed reading my reviews.
(PS. I am still continuing to watch Asian dramas and you can always find me on Mydramalist.com)

Thank you for all these 7 years. I hope that those 240 reviews made you happy. I truly had unforgettable time writing them!

Sincerely, Cypsis
01.01.2018
Showing posts with label Fukuda Saki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fukuda Saki. Show all posts

Friday, July 13, 2012

Mou yuukai nante shinai (2011)

Review what I have written for 3 months.. well, I have been really busy with everything going on and because of that I am submitting it under July. There should come more reviews this month. Sorry for no posts in June!


Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: yakuza, comedy, romance
Cast: Ohno Satoshi, Aragaki Yui, Kanjiya Shihori, Narimiya Hiroki, Kaname Jun, Sato Ryuta, Yasuda Shota, Takashima Masahiro, Kimura Ryo Special guests: Fukuda Saki, Matsumoto Jun, Sakurai Sho, Namase Katsuhisa, Tanaka Kei,
Synopsis: Tarui Shotaro has always dreamt of being an hero, yet some things are not meant to happen. One day he saves a girl, who is being chased after by two yakuza-looking guys, not knowing that she's Hanazono Erika, the daughter of a yakuza boss. Things get out of hand when he agrees to feign kidnapping her in order to raise money for her half-sister's hospital fees.
Rating: 3/5
It is made after same-named novel by Higashigawa Tokuya. As you see it has hell of a cast, but for acting - most of them have done a better job in other dramas or movies. It was more as they all made a joke with "Mou yuukai nante shinai" as it really was different kind of movie, a bit stupid and made for laughing.
The main character of the movie is Tarui Shotaro, played by Ohno Satoshi (From Arashi). He suited for the role, his face and expressions were on the spot all the time. His character is another story - firstly, Shotaro's story reminded me too much "Loss time life" episode 6. At least like a sequel or something, because the start really was a copy-paste. But I enjoyed that Shotaro did not lose himself in the action, he stayed the super hero loving dude, who was a bit chicken and followed his sense of justice. Even thought Shotaro looked like dumb, he was pretty clever most of the time. It was interesting how they added cameos from Arashi and made it as cameos from other dramas - Sakurai Sho as Kageyama from "Nazotoki wa Dinner no ato de" and Matsumoto Jun as Tokita Shuntaro from "Lucky Seven". Of course their cameos were totally useless put-ins, but still.
Hanazono Erika was the one who caused all the trouble. She is said to be over 20, but she acted like a spoiled teenager. She was sooo manipulative and did not think rationally. Her actions went from crybaby to threatening with "mysterious disappearing" just to get her way. Of course, it was funny to see how she wrapped Shotaro around her finger, but to tell you the truth, she was mostly annoying. Also, Aragaki's acting in it definitely was not the best thing - she seemed to lack in something.
I much much more enjoyed Satsuki X Seiji story. I think that if they would have consecrated on their story a bit more, then it would have been better. Okey, I know I am playing favourites, but Kanjiya and Narimiya seem a bit higher quality actors than Ohno and Aragaki.
Well, Satsuki was the oldest daughter of Hanazono clan. She is promised to marry with Takazawa - father's follower who will take over the clan , but there are no mentions of her own feelings. She is like a lone wolf since school times and she only thinks about the clan. She is very mature and I bet that in the novel her "war" with the police officer is more written out, because in the movie, we get to know only a small amout of it. She is almost best friend with Seiji Yamabe - second best man to father.
Seiji is old-fashioned guy, who has been with yakuza family for 15 years, before that he was a yankee, whom everybody were afraid of. He prefers to make his own actions and you really cannot tell on which side he is. He is one of the most mysterious characters in the movie. Narimiya Hiroki as yakuza is soooooo hot, well, he is always hot, but he really suits in the bad guy role.
Takazawa is the first man of father. At first I did not recognize Kaname Jun at first. He does not have much screen time, but is very important character for every twist in the movie.
From other characters, I should mention that Komoto is one back-stabbing bastard who is unable to think with his own head, but the dumbest characters in the movie are Shiro and Kuro. If you do not understand Japanese, then "Shiro" means "White" - Yasuda Shota (from Kanjani8) played him with blond hair, and "Kuro" means "Black" and Takashima Masahiro's hair was black, so they made the "Shiro-Kuro" pairing from hair colors.
I was not a big fan of this movie and it as not the best choice how to spend Friday night, but I watched it because of the cast. There are brighter moments in the movie and it is not like something boring, but from the story and this cast you expect much more than you get.


SPOILER review: You can soooooo see how much actually Yamabe loved Satsuki and vice versa, but they had too many obstacles on their way. I understand that Seiji only wanted to save the clan and protect Satsuki. I would have gave the movie another star, if in the end they would have shown how Satsuki goes to visit Seiji in jail.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Ghost Friends (2009)


Country: Japan
Genre: life&death, friendship, romance, surreal
Format: drama 10 episodes
Cast: Fukuda Saki, Nishijima Takahiro, Okada Yoshinori, Iriyama Noriko, Misaki Ayame, Ai, Kawakubo Takuji, Shibuya Asuka, Irie Jingi, Katase Nana, Tomochika, Moto Fuyuki, Wanibuchi Haruko
Synopsis: Kamiya Asuka is in her final year of high school. She and her two friends, Miku and Yui, are into the art and have an idea of going to art university together, but on one day, while coming back from fieldtrip, they get into a traffic accident where Miku and Yui die. Soon after the accident Asuka develops an abbility to see ghosts, who have unfinished business in human world. While helping ghosts she falls in love with Kaito, who tries to catch his dead girlfriend Misora.
Rating: 4/5
If you start to watch it, you must accept that those ghost are pretty surreal, but other story lines are very sweet.I actually wanted to see it while it was still airing, but I watched it much later.
Almost every episode has its own story and characters who need Asuka's help, but also every episode includes Misora story-line. I actually find it pretty amazing that those people believe Asuka, when she talks about ghosts.
I understood Misora's reasons and it is really sad, because she had so many regrets  in her former life and was not able to live her life as she wanted. I totally agree that Kaito used to be a bastard - leaving Misora waiting and all. I liked the fact that Kaito fell for Asuka too, because they where so cute together (If anyone starts to think about their age difference, then it should be about 6 years I guess).
As it includes ghosts, then there are many sad things too. I cried when they showed the accident, I think that thanks to seeing ghosts, it was easier to Asuka, but because of that, it was more sadder when Miku and Yui had to leave.
Really great theme song too!! "Aitai" by Yuzu.
This drama also made me realize one big fact about art universities. In 5th episode there was an art teacher story and he told that mostly students do not get into there with the first tryout O.o And it is very true.. I failed on my first try too, but I won't lose faith to get in next time. So no matter how many times you fail, if you truly love something you will make it true someday.



SPOILER review: The end was soooo sad, unfair and tore one point down, when Kaito left with Misora. Did he really liked Asuka or was she just a companion until he will get Misora back?? It really felt like he actually did not have much feelings for Asuka. That was even sadder that Asuka lost the power to see ghosts. It reminded me "Peter Pan", when Wendy had grown up and did not see Peter anymore even though he visited her. Same was for Asuka and Kaito.  Kaito went to visit her exhibition, but she had no powers to see him. This totally drama where you start to wish that Kaito would stay in with Asuka and become a human again. I still wish for it.