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!

Kimi ni Shika kikoenai (2007)

Also known as: Calling You; Only you can hear this voice
Country: Japan
Genre: romance, friendship, human
Format: movie
Cast: Koide Keisuke, Narumi Riko, Hada Mika, Katase Nana
Synopsis: Ryo (Narumi Riko) is a silent high school girl, who finds it hard to communicate with others. That´s why she has no-one to talk to. On one day she creates a mobile phone in her head, but for her surprise, it is picked up  on the other side by a boy called Shinya (Koide Keisuke).
Rating: 2/5

It is really beautiful  movie, but at the same time you can find similar things from other movies or dramas. (In some ways it reminds me "Il Mare" or USA version of it "The Lake house", because of the time differences and all). I did not like the fact that it mostly was about one thing, that´s why, it looked like it will last forever. It seriously is the slowest movie ever. Many times it does not have any soundtrack at all, expect for cicadas sound.

If you start to think about it, isn't it scary if a toy-phone starts to work this way??! O.o But actually, their "Mind-phones" are called telepathy. At first I thought that Shinya really is her imagination.  I started to think that if those mental phones would be real, then what would happen? I sure would like to have free calls XD

But some words about characters. Ryou was so annoying to me.. I am not a fan of people who are too shy, hesitating and afraid of everything. She was really slow and many times depressive. I know that being back-stabbed by your friends at early age is painful (been there, felt that), but you just must have self-belief that you are better than any of these guys! I liked that she started to change with the time they are talking to each other. NB! she does not look like, she has not practised piano for years. When she stopped playing in 2 class, then normally she would have forgotten most of the things by that time.

I cannot say anything much about Shinya, because he did not talk much and movie mostly concentrates on Ryou. Koide Keisuke has a nice smile - that I can tell =P He had cute ideas (like long-distance date) and all his personality was sweet. I liked his grandma, because she always wore kimonos =P
I like Nagano scenery - sooo beautiful! I know that many many people like that movie really much, so watch it and then decide! It is slow, has one story-line and is hard to follow because of the time difference, but it has something sweet in it.

SPOILER review: I do not understand if really no-one knew how to give first-aid?? Okey, they called ambulance and Ryou was by his side, but they should have at least tired to check any serious damages or at least is he breathing still... I know he moved, but still! This movie goes to a list "Worst dyeing scene ever"!  like tooooooo fake!           If someone did not understand then Harada was actually Ryou, but 10 years later. Also in the end, you see that people cannot change the past (except if you are Kenzo from "Proposal Daisakusen")

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. 

Hokaben (2008)

Country: Japan
Genre: law
Format: drama 10 episodes
Cast: Ueto Aya, Ryo, Kitamura Kazuki, Kato Shigeaki, Osugi Ren, Toda Nahu, Sasai Eisuke, Nakayama Megumi, Kato Kazuko, (Quests: Katsumura Masanobu, Katase Nana, Sato Tomohito, Yamazaki Hajime)
Synopsis: Domoto Akari is a fresh lawyer just graduated from university. She starts working at a famous big law firm mZa in pro bono section - the section, which deals with social service obligations. Domoto Akari has a naive thinking that she can help the weak ones and make world a better place, but the reality is something else.
Rating: STARLESS
After watching this I seriously consider giving "Sugar and Spice" at least one star because "Hokaben" showed me what STARLESS drama really means.
It had nothing!! They had a fabulous cast, but the drama was just soo horrible and boring! The script seemed like unfinished. It had a proper start, but then there was no development in main story, did  not have an end (It was totally predictable end to finish this drama -.-). Also it did not had side story lines. It seemed like they wanted to make DomotoXKatase love line. Thanks to Kato Shigeaki's amazing acting, it was totally see-able that Katase had feelings for Domoto, but Domoto was just eeeemm plain dumb. Compared to Domoto, Katase was like a grown up and knew what it means to be a lawyer and it was so sad in the end that this liking went to unliking ("From crush to crash" like my sister said). They wanted to make SugisakiXKuramoto love line, but it sucked, because they did not show that really much. They also did not explained the situation between Sugisaki and Kudo. I thought that may be they were ex-lovers or something happened with work or something, but they gave me nothing!

But the worst thing in "Hokaben" was the main character Domoto Akari. She was always whining and complaining, she was totally unprofessional in her work, she was tactless and loud. She disobeyed the confidentiality between the client and lawyer. She said she wanted to save the weak ones, but she managed to ruin over 20 people lives in one episode (The episode of bullying). They wanted to give a big impact to her words, but actually they did mean anything, mostly she said two-way stuff, which was total crap. How was it possible for her to graduate????!!! I felt like she only dreamed in university, but did not study the law perfectly, because she was just so naive and did not know the basic laws! -.-  In addition, they all said that Domoto reminds them Sugisaki - I thought "WHAAAAT???! They are totally opposite!!!" Sugisaki was a real lawyer until the accident and after that he just stopped working properly.  I would never want to have a lawyer like Domoto, because all her appearance told me how unprofessional she was. She did not even knew what is the case when she went to interview!! A social worker or a detective work would have suited to her much more than a lawyer's. She like always forgot what her job is about.

I liked that Ryo played a total bitch, it was funny xD But  I really watched only for Kato Shigeaki (Now he seriously must love me, because those were 10 most horrible hours of my life. I hope I made up that "Gekidan Engimono - Ie ga tooi" picture),  but he only got mostly up to 2 minutes of screen time in every episode and he did not get much lines. My favorite scene was when Katase and Domoto were in a bar, but that was the only high point in this drama.
This is the drama where I really want to say "I do not recommend it to you", but in the end it is your decision. I managed to live those 10 hours, but it was real torture. I have heard of many people who have dropped this after first or second episode (It was a great decision as the first one was most promising episode).