Hungry! (2012)

Country: Japan
Format: drama in 11 episodes
Genre: food, romance
Cast: Mukai Osamu,Takimoto Miori, Inagaki Goro, Kuninaka Ryoko, Tsukamoto Takashi, Miura Shohei, Kawabata Kaname, Katagiri Hairi, Ishiguro Hideo, Osugi Ren,
Synopsis: Yamate Eisuke (Mukai Osamu) is the son of famous French chef in Japan. Even though Eisuke is born with cooking talent, he decided to succeed in rock world with his friends. But after turning 30 without musical debut, his life is turned up-side-down by mother's sudden death and loss of family's French restaurant. He decides to pick up cooking again by opening his own French restaurant with his former band mates in a old warehouse.  
Rating: 4/5
Easiest  way to finish this drama fast, is to eat when you are watching it. From my experience, it is difficult to watch as a poor uni student, but I was able to make myself something delicious to enjoy while watching.

Eisuke is rude and selfish man, but at the same time he can be really caring too and no matter what

the topic is, he is always having long wires. Despite the fact that he is super hot, he does not understand anything about women which makes love-triangles super difficult for him. He also is really bad with remembering people's names. Yeah, Mukai is veery hot, but for me he was outnumbered by Miura Shohei. But for your information, Mukai has been cooking since middle school and thought of becoming a chef in high school, do not know how great chef he would have been, but I think we all agree that we are happy that he became actor instead. He even took extra French cooking lessons, because he was not so familiar to French cuisine before, so in reality he REALLY cooked those foods himself.

During the drama he also gave out French cuisine recipe book to give Japanese people the possibility to enjoy French foods at home. I liked the t-shirts he was wearing, because they had great texts on, like "Heaven", "Girlfriend is better.." and especially the one "Trust me  - I am asshole"Priceless! Only thing that turned me off was when Mukai was wearing crocs . No matter how hot Mukai is, even he cannot make crocs seem normal.. For me, I do not think it was Mukai's best performances, but I think that might be because Eisuke is a difficult character too.

Kenta and Tsuyoshi are Eisuke's best-friends and former band mates, who start working with him at

the restaurant. Kenta is the most mature one, who is focused on getting married to his longtime girlfriend Toko - one of the cutest girls in the drama. Though he does not seem violent, fights between him and Eisuke are usual things, because he is one person who is telling the truth into Eisuke's face when he is getting annoyed. Tsuyoshi is single beer-loving man, who mostly thinks of boobs. He is one of those persons who make this drama worth naming comedy as the boob-jokes become frequent jokes. The coolest thing is that he does not have much lines, but him being on the screen fills his role. For Kawabata Kaname this was his first role and I think it was perfect.

When you know me enough, then I bet you already know that Taku was my favorite. He is cute, naive and always-go-lucky. He is the only one who did not abandon rock music, even though he did not seem to find a suitable band to be part of. Of course Taku did weird stuff at the beginning, but he had that charm to say "nothing of this really matters". If I were to say something negative about him, then Miura Shohei played him too much as Nakatsu from "Hanakimi", because Miura Shohei played the role of Nakatsu in 2011 version of "Hanazakari no kimitachi e" just before "Hungry!".    

Chie is 20 years old university student, who had her first falling in love, but I must say that she was

really childish. Chie had so many relations to their restaurant, but she was like little sister to all of them, because they all had 10 years age difference (except for Taku, who was the middle one 25). Especially for Eisuke, she was small brat who supported him. Chie was really cute when she talked nonsense that no one also understood. She was another character who made drama funnier, because Takimoto Miori has these great face impressions. But again the negative thing was that in some scenes she reminded me too much Mio/Miko from "Ikemen desu ne", which again was her last role before "Hungry!". 

Aso is the one character who pissed me off the most. I do not understand why Inagaki Goro plays the bad guys - all the roles I have watched from him, he is being complete bastard, but must agree, that he acts damn well these roles. Aso has many mental problems starting from being control freak. Also at one moment, I even got the thought that he might be gay, but watch and see that you will think it too! I did not agree with his views on French restaurants as I think that the best is when you can feel comfortable while eating delicious cheaper food. I would never pay expensive price just to get one small spoon of cream -.- I know I am a glutton like Chie who likes to eat and eat and eat, so I prefer when I can get full stomach from the price I am paying for it. While Aso was complaining about Eisuke's restaurant name, then I did not like his "Gasteria" at all - it reminds me "Gas" and "cafeteria" and when we but together food and gases, then of course it nails the top, but I would not want to go to restaurant to end up with gases....

Maria/Mariya is Eisuke's girlfriend, who liked more Eisuke-the-rocker than Eisuke-the-chef. I find her a bit annoying with all her diets and biorhythms, but she was the only one who was able to make Eisuke smile at any moment, because Eisuke was actually really bad with smiling to other people.There are a lot of more characters who make it really funny to watch, because they all have their own niche to be remembered, so I am not going to mention all of them. But I cannot help it to say that Chie's little brother Sasuke was way too cool, I totally adore him, because he was soo stupid.
It has a really tragic start, but later it gets a bit funnier, even though I would not consider that so much comedy, because mostly the "funny" happened with same characters and many of them were side-characters. Also, the OST is amazing! Theme song is "Rock me baby" by THE BAWDIES. The drama was later made into manga.

SPOILER review: I did not like the ending. Okey, they were able to get their restaurant back and continue to keep it. Eisuke and Maria stayed together, Kenta got married, Aso-san leaved them alone, but I do not like the fact that they left TakuXChieXEisuke triangle all opened. I would have preferred that she would have given up on Eisuke for once and for all and started to see only Taku, because it was so clear that for Eisuke she is only like a little sister!! It made me so angry, because there was Taku who had fallen sooo in love with her, but she was still after Eisuke who had intentions of getting married to Maria in future. I find her way of thinking so annoying and childish. Okey, she was only 20 so it is normal for her to want to date and stuff, but Eisuke and Maria were already over 30, soo I felt just angry at Chie in the end -.- Totally took 1/2 star down because of that..

Hanazakari no kimitachi e (2007)

Country: Japan
Format: drama, 12 episodes + SP
Genre: comedy, romance, school
Cast: Horikita Maki, Oguri Shun, Ikuta Toma, Yamamoto Yusuke, Mizobata Junpei, Okada Masaki, Mizushima Hiro, Kiritani Mirei, Kamikawa Takaya, Daito Shunsuke, Sugimoto Tetta, Inagaki Goro, Ishigaki Yuma, Kimura Ryo, Kyo Nobou, Iwasa Mayuku, Kurose Manami, Shirota Yu, Minami, Konno Mahiru,
Synopsis:  Ashiya Mizuki becomes a transfer student to all boys school Osaka High, but the thing is - Mizuki is a girl. In order to get her favorite high-jumper Sano Izumi to jump again, she flies to Japan from California, cuts her hair and says goodbye to being a girl. She is taken into class really easily, but this school is not just about studying - there are competitions about being the best, crazy fangirls, different characters, lunatic photographer and sharp-minded doctor. How long can one girl stay into Ikemen Paradise, when emotions are added into the game?
Rating: 5/5
This is my 100th Asian drama/movie, which I have seen. I know it is not much, but luckily my watching speed is increasing.  "Hana Kimi" is made after same-named manga by Nakajo Hisaya. I hope you understand just how great it is by looking at its cast, many of them are now really well-known. (Example: It was Mizubata Junpei´s second role, Okada Masaki´s third, in addition Oguri Shun, Horikita Maki, Ikuta Toma etc were widely known before) . I do not know why I have not watched it earlier, but it certainly is one of the classic-must-watch-dramas!

The heroine of the story is Mizuki - she is brave and actually thinks much before actions, but she does not think that much of all possible outcomes. She is a bit naive and has a big mouth, when it comes to things she knows nothing about, even though her ideas come in handy anyway. It actually seemed to me that she loved Sano too soon and too much, although she says something else. As much as I was able to read its manga, I understand that in drama she is made even less obsessed with Sano, which is great. Her reason of going there is acceptable and actually right from the bottom of the heart, but I do not think it is something that everyone should think that "OH! Let her stay! she has a big heart and she is not afraid to show it! show it! (Sorry.. I got stuck with LMFAO lyrics). That´s why I liked Doctor´s point "It is interesting to see what is going to happen". I like Maki in this role - the boy-ish girl role suits her as she cannot be said to be the most feminine Japanese actress. I think she must have had much fun while filming it, because you can see that there is going to be much touchy-mushy-and-close-calls.

Sano Izumi is palyed by Oguri Shun - I do not know why I always have a really strict and egoistic prejudice of him (Gomenne, Shun-kun!),  it might be because of "Hana Yori Dango", then again I have not watched it yet. I loved him in this role, well mostly I loved Sano´s character -especially when he showed out his real emotions or was under Nara-pickle-syndrome, other than that he was emotionless bastard loved by everyone, but who did not show his love to others. It feels like the fact of Mizuki being a girl does not as a big surprise for him, but you can see its real conclusion in Special episode. Actually Sano is not reticent as he talks so much about himself to Mizuki, so you get to know his harsh childhood - I think he just did not want to go babbling all over the city of his thoughts and feelings. I really begun to like him.

Nakatsu - well you can guess he was my favourite if you know me. He is now officially goofy-guy-nr2 (Goofy-guys´ list). He is funny, he is loud, he is easy to read, he is full of himself and he is the first one to fall (that would make a great song lyrics..) At first he is againts Mizuki as she puts Nakatsu´s great sport results in danger, but soon they become best buddiezzzz.... well, at least he is friendzoned by Mizuki. Like you might guess - he has no idea of the fact that Mizuki is a girl - so there are lost and lots confused feelings in Nakatsu, which even threaten his orientation. His "Nakatsu super visions" are one of the highlights of the drama and most of the time he ends up having a nosebleed. This role made me go seriously into Ikuta Toma fandom and I want to see his acting more.

By the way, in the 5th episode he is wearing the same green "I have a great personality" T-shirt as Yamashita Tomohisa in "Proposal Daisakusen" 5th episode. This coincidence is cool because Ikuta Toma and Yamashita Tomohisa are great friends since childhood and both dramas aired in 2007.
Nakatsu is roomed with Kayashima - dude, who can see aura and sense the unlivings. His dad is just like he is and no matter what the situation is Kayashima is the first one who is left out from the list. I liked to see Yamamoto Yusuke in this kind of role, because I have not seen him much. NakatsuXKayashima moments  are really great.

There are three dorm leaders. Dorm 2 is lead bu Nanba Manami - guy from who girls get pregnant just by looking at him. Girls, watch out! It might happen through computer screen too. He is a women´s man, that´s why he is referred as Nanpa (Flirt) at many times, but he has big heart for his guys, who are like a family to him. That´s why he always stands up for them and never lets them down.

Drom 1 is full of brainless martial art guys. Tennoji is their leader - he actually looks hotter when he is wearing his school uniform, his most famous word is "Baby~!!!". Other dorm member always try to eliminate him when there is a possibility, but mostly they fail. Last dorm is about acting and music and that kind of stuff. Leader Oscar/ Masao has repeated school for many years. He has unique ideas, but he is just plain stupid. Every once in a while he gets possessed by some spirit and becomes even weirder. Also, be prepared for some cross-dressing and horrible singing. Dorm 3 faithfully follows him and I feel like that there is no thinking in their heads.

I think I should mention more about dorm 2 members, who are shown more. Sekime is slow to understand things and he is always losing, that is why he is called failure. He is naive, but very friendly - he is the first one to become friends with Mizuki.  Nakao is in love with Nanba from the bottom of his heart - but he always gets rejected, although they are still great friends. Nakao thinks to be the cutest, which is the reason of not liking Mizuki as he thinks that Mizuki might be cuter than he. 

Doctor Umeda - my second favorite character from the drama. He has a big trauma since the university time, which made him watch men, but he is not harassing anyone of the students, but I cannot say the same about Mizuki´s annoying brother and new psyhopatic teacher (Inagaki Goro), who I mentally killed already. But doctor is frequently abused by school´s photographer Hara Akiha, who caused the trauma in past. 

Kagurazaka is Sano´s greatest rival, played by Shirota Yuu. Again firstly annoying bastard, but you will have great laugh with him too. Even though I know Shirota Yuu for a long time already, it was the first time to see his acting - well, makes me want to see more.

In Special episode is Julia, who is Mizuki´s friend from USA - she puts her nose into other´s business and is too much with her words - it is weird when everyone thinks that their way is the best for someone, even when they do not know the real situation. AHH! I almost forgot one very important character!!!

Yuujiro - Dorm 2 dog, who is like a dorm member and I am not surprised if he would receive a graduation diploma at graduation too. The school director is a bit off - she is very elegant and always wants to see her students "bloom in full colors", no matter what it is her word is the law for boys, even when they find it silly. She does not see boys much as she is on trips all the time, so the most communication is between her deputy manager, who never remembers the thing he has to say, and boys. Hibari and Hibari Four are the protectors of Osaka High guys and Hibari is endlessly and hopelessly in love with Sano, but Sano is hardly aware of her. Hibari four is pretty unique and funny and they make many things to happen.

It is very funny when all dorm members have different opinions about things and even if it seemed to be secret talk between two person, they start to come out from all kind of different places and each option is more irrelevant to the question and absurd than the one before it. They do all kind of funny things together and their stupidity is endless.
I will end my review with one great saying from the drama: "If you give up on things you love the most, you will lose yourself. Someone who can lie to oneself is lonely and sad" - that´s why keep watching great dramas and movies and be happy, but remeber that "Hard work will be rewarded" - so do not lose your eyesight or your real life because of your great addiction.

It is perfect drama if you want to train your stomach muscles with laugh, well it is perfect drama for everything! May be only minus is that they try to put too many important points of the manga into too few screen time - this is live action needs more episodes to show "Hana Kimi" manga´s real awesomeness. Definitely one of my favorites, soooo WATCH IT! ^-^

SPOILER REVIEW - I actually even did not want Nakatsu and Mizuki together. When so many are saying that they should have been the pair, then actually I think that Mizuki suited more with Sano, because they had more similar personalities than Nakatsu with her. But it still broke my heart to see him suffer from unrequited love. 
I was a disappointed in the end of the Special, because her speech sucked like I do not know what. It ruined the drama a little bit... but I will forgive it, because all those maleXmale kisses are real deal.