Gokusen (2003)

SEASON 1

 Country: Japan
Format: 12 episodes + SP
Genre: school, youth
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Matsumoto Jun, Oguri Shun, Narimiya Hiroki, Waki Tomohiro, Ichigaki Yuma, Namase Katsuhisa, Utsui Ken, Kaneko Ken, Uchiyama Shinji, Ito Misaki, Nakasawa Yuko, Sawamura Ikki, Sakata Tadashi, Matsuyama Kenichi, guests: Ichikawa Yui, Wentz Eiji, Tanaka Kei, Hiraoka Yuta
Synopsis: Yankumi`s life long dream has been to become a high-school teacher. After passing her exam she becomes teacher to 3-D class at Shirokin Gakuen high-school. She does not know yet that her class is put together of delinquents and troublemakers, but neither know students that actually she is the grand-daughter of 3rd generation yakuza boss.
Rating: 4/5
At last I decided to watch "Gokusen" also known as one of the most famous school dramas in the history of school dramas and I cannot argue with that. There is something great about it that just hooks you on to the screen.

Juui Dolittle (2010)

Country: Japan
Format: drama in 9 episodes
Genre: veterinary, friendship
Cast: Oguri Shun, Narimiya Hiroki, Inoue Mao, Fujisawa Ema, Kasahara Hideyuki, Suda Masaki, Ishizaka Koji, Kunimura Jun, guests: Masuda Takahisa, Kuninaka Ryoko, Saotame Taichi, Kaho etc
Synopsis: Tottori Kenichi (Oguri Shun) is not the friendliest person, but he is the best veterinarian in Japan. He keeps saying that veterinary is business and makes people understand the true meaning of being pet's owner. After operating Tajima Asuka's (Inoue Mao) horse, she is made to help out at the clinic to pay back for surgery.  There is also a great friend, charismatic veterinarian Hanabishi Masaru (Narimiya Hiroki) who is unable to carry out an operation.
Rating: 3/5
 I was surprised by "Juui Dolittle" - I do not know why, but I thought that it will be totally different, so it is really great that it was able to overcome my expectations. It has been in my "watch-list" ever since it aired on TBS, which is almost 2,5 years, so it was about time to finally watch it. I even remember how I kept watching their updates on official page, because they had so cute animals on the set all the time. (I am a big animal lover - I actually grew up in a farm with many animals)

Oguri Shun was really cool in it, because I think that he suits into those "tsundere" character rolls with his big growth and suitable face. Tottori Kenichi is most of the time really cold and his fees are reaaaaaalllly high, but at the same time you can see his hidden love towards animals. I also felt that his coldness is caused by other people ignorance toward their pets, because there are so many people abandoning their pets or not taking good care of them. He also has many secrets, because he is a man of few words, but I also felt that they gave us too less information about him to understand him 100%.  

Tajima Asuka is a novice in veterinary. She is really cute character, because she is not annoying or useless and she gives her best to help animals at clinic. Of course there are mistakes, but it is understandable because she has never done anything like that before. They have put in some hints on love-line between her and Tottori, but the biggest impact goes on animals. As you might think already, then you can see more Asuka's emotions than Tottori's. Another thing I thought before watching it was that she will have some kind of love-line with Hanabishi, which would have caused much jealousy, but it did not happen.  But I was most surprised by the fact that Hanabishi Masaru and Tottori were friends.. :D

I do not know why I thought they are rivals - as you can see I do not read others reviews or all synopsis' before watching. I really liked Hanabishi because he was willing to do everything in order to save animals, even though he did not perform operations himself. He was really appealing and wanted the best, but for me it all made his over-priced car funnier. He has the biggest problems and difficulties in the drama, all due to the lie about operating. He is the only veterinarian who officially acknowledges Tottori's outstanding skills and because they were university buddies he is the one person who understands Tottori, which is really cute.

From other characters I really liked Domon Junpei at first, but Domon family is the most annoying part of the drama. No matter how they all make really selfish things and manipulate with others, so they just got on my nerves. I do not like veterinarians who are out for fame and money or do not bother to make extra researches to find out pet's illness. Of course there are some annoying ones more within "costumers" and their selfish thoughts. Another thing that I did not enjoy in this drama was those fake animal capes! Some of them were tooooo fake and that was not pretty. I understand that making a drama with animals is difficult and especially in those scenes it would have been inconceivable to use living animals, but they could have done a better job with capes.

If we leave out the annoying family and fake capes, then it is a really sweet drama that makes you treasure your pets, there could have been more constant action between three main characters, because, it is said that this drama should be about main characters friendship, which I got to know after I had searched for real synopsis after watching it. Do not know how much it was about friendship and how much it was about owner-pet relationships, but I will leave it up to you to decide.

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.

Party wa owatta (2011)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, fantasy, life
Format: keitai-drama in 5 or 6 episodes, later made into movie for cinemas
Cast: Naka Riisa, Koide Keisuke, Narimiya Hiroki, Nakayama Kento, Takaoka Sousuke, Hayashi Kento, 
Synopsis: Asakura Toake (Naka Riisa) is a mangaka, whose recent mangas lack of romance. Her friend Takeo dragges her to Onikawa Norihiko's (Koide Keisuke) party - a famous young mangaka, who had just sold 1 million copies of his most famous manga. Asakura sees 4 different men, who make her imagination run.
Rating: 5/5

I so love Naka Riisa. I believe she is my favourite actress - she is just so talented. It is kinda hard drama to review, but I´ll try my best. Toake is one of a kind =D I love her dress and heels so much, but it was clearly seen that Toake was not used to wear high heels (Naka Riisa knows how to walk in high heels actually, that's why she had to walk like she halts) Her imagination is actually all based on logical assumptions, but I like that she draws so quickly and clearly her manuscripts. Onikawa Norihiko (Koide Keisuke) seemed like a selfish, narcissistic bastard. From this point I´ll go with the review as it happens in drama...

"Painted desire" - Here the male-lead is Narimiya Hiroki! (Another favourite actor!) I soooooooo love NarixNaka pairing - they have a great on-screen and off-screen chemistry. Well, Togawa Yuubi is an artist, whose paintings are ahead of his time.  In some way I liked his paintings, but I would not buy them in any cost. It looked like he used the "bad colors", there are one green color and blue (violet) which are called "poison colors". He had so much colors, but he still used only those.

I really wish them good luck with getting that painting off from the clothes and skin - as oil-paint is not soluble in water. Last year I took oil-painting classes so I know it =D Oil-paint just wants strong solvent and time xD (In my first class I tried to wash a spot of green paint of my hands and I ended up with being covered by this paint, so my teacher had to clean my hands as I was unable to touch anything xD) Yeah, playing with expensive colors can be romantic and sweet in movies, but in reality it is foolish thing to do - use acrylic colors instead =D Toake is Yuubi's girlfriend in this episode and she is pushing his back to try new things, but more than Yuubi, Toake is sacrificing her everything. It has an amazing punch-line in the end and even bigger when Toake comes back to reality and Yuubi turns into Yoshinori. 

"Breaking-up desire" - Over-emotional Musashi, who cries about everything. The korean movie they are watching is "Someday, somewhere, I love you", but I cannot find out if it truly exists or not. Still the movie looks epic for me.  Naka Riisa looks even more beautiful in it! I think that Musashi is too manipulative and a real cry-baby. For Gyoza sake, be a man!!  I would to dump a guy like that too, but I wonder why she ever started to date him, when they were this different. I think that she should have talked more, but she thought that Musashi tries to change her or loves the image of Toake which he has had in his head. I liked how they actually changed during the episode and actually started to understand each other more. The toe-scene was disgusting O.o One fact about Hakone - they really sell those eggs that add 7 years to your life, but they sell 5 eggs in one pack. XD

"Dying desire" - it was so scary! I did not see the love-line in it, but it was interesting and I loved how the scenes were made. When she starts to sing this song, at first it is funny, but later it turns scary too! It made me want to know the end faster, but some scenes reminded me USA movie "The house of wax". People, who have seen it know what I mean. It is true that it is not a good idea to be too curious as curiosity can kill. I actually knew the reality of this episode since the start. The man did not have name in it.

"Holding desire" - In three first episodes, Toake was the normal and sweet one, but in it  - I think that Toake has some serious mental issues. It remind "Kimi wa Petto" as she took the man to her house. I wonder if there would be any woman in the world who would take some totally stranger man from the street to her apartment/ house and wash him and starts to live with him? (I understand if it is some kind of ikemen as Jang Geun Suk or Matsuyama Jun, but Hayashi Kento with that long hair looked like a beggar). One more thing - never lie to a person, who has amnesia!  It is not a smart thing to do as most of the times the amnesia goes by after time. It looked like Toake wanted to make him her life-sized doll even though Hayashi Kento really looks like one O.o  At some points it was too scary!

"Desire and regrets" - it was fuuuking funny! From one moment I was like "WHAT THE RAMEN??! Vamipire? Hitting trucks? What IS IT??!!". Well my sister told me "Koide Keisuke is the hottest vampire I have ever seen - "Twilight - you suck!" xD Well it is true, as this episode seemed to parody all vampire-movies which were so popular.  It was very theatrical - I had a feeling that I was watching a filmed theatre performance. The dance was the most epic ever! I actually knew from the start why Toake really thought this way xD
The real end of the movie was amazing =) It made me think of what was real in this movie and what was not as sometimes the imagination can surpass the reality. The nub in the end was scary too XD
The movie is a mix of all movies, that's why it has all emotions and moods. It should really suit for everybody and it has truly amazing cast.

Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (2010)

Country: Japan
Genre: school, yankee, romance, comedy, violence
Format: drama 10 episodes
Cast: Narimiya Hiroki, Naka Riisa, Hongo Kanata,  Koyanagi Yu, Kawaguchi Haruna, Suzuki Ryohei, Minagawa Sarutoki, Ito Shiro, Furuta Arata, Owada Miho
Synopsis: Shinagawa Daichi is referred as yankee, he gets lousy grades and is always fighting, but he attends a highly rated high school, because on the entrance examination he fell in love with one girl, who later disappeared. Adachi Hana is a former yankee, who tries to move on with her life to live like a normal girl. She sees in Daichi a person who could help her. They become classmates and with Adachi's persistent attitude, they become friends.
Rating: 3/5
It is based on a famous same-named manga, but I must say that the drama is not actually that much based on it. There were too many things left out and too much new stuff added or changed. Like actually Adachi lived with her grandmother, not grandfather; In manga, they do not show that much Shinagawa's family. They more concentrate on future choices in drama, but manga shows their time in school. But an important thing to remember is that when drama was filmed, the manga was still on-going!! That explains the different ends and all. The drama shows about 2 months since they met til the end of the drama, but in manga they meet on first high school year and the manga ends many years after the high school graduation.

But there were many great points!! First and the main thing - NARIMIYA HIROKI and NAKA RIISA! As amazing as it is Narimiya Hiroki played 10 years younger character than he in real life is. Shinagawa Daichi was 17 years old, but at that time Narimiya was 27. Sugoi, ne?? In addition, his face expressions are more than super. He has perfect yankee-voice even xD (Maybe the experience of "Bloody Monday" helped him to get a better feeling =P). Narimiya Hiroki and Naka Riisa hit in ten with their appearance and acting.(I am in Narimiya fandom at the moment... O.o he is just soo hot...). Shinagawa Daichi might be a yankee (actually he seems to be yankee against his will), but he has so kind heart and that is what gives him the hard time. I like his home clothes - sexy animal print =P He also has cat and dog printed wallpaber =D SHOO KAWAII! But I feel like story revolves too much around Shinagawa. You can see him smoking many times on screen, but in the end he smokes less and that is called Hana's charm =D

Adachi Hana seemed like three different people in one body. One is "former yankee", second is "trying-hard-to-be-normal-(geek)" and last is "real Hana". I like the third person the most xD I cannot believe how dumb she can be - it is  amazing. No matter what the thing is she is always "SHINAGAWA~!" xD She never understood the situation and got everything wrong. But this all makes her funny and it is nice to watch.
It is hilarious that Narimiya Hiroki and Naka Riisa voices sounded like weeping cats, when they were yelling at each other.

I do not understand why they did all other characters so annoying (except for Nerima, because NerimaXShinagawa friendship is one high light of the drama). Chiba pretty much is a wimp - he has so few self confidence in him and he is pretty naive. Rinka is too yankee.. she has personality crack too xD and Izumi has his own problems... which can be really weird in some scenes O.o  and actually he was not yankee - he used to be a biker in junior high. But I must say that Kanata Hongo has some amazing leg kicks  (he is the white-head dude) =P At all, the drama contains much much violence.

They try to solve student problems like working part-time at the same time, future choices and dreams. Like many of you know, working part-time while attending high school is mostly not allowed in Japan, there of course might be exceptions. I think it is because studying is hard enough, but I really think that there are some cases where it should allowed. I live in Europe (like you all have found out before, I believe) and I know that in my class about 6-7 students are working too, but it is because some of them are living alone and they must pay the bills themselves, some earn money for partying, because they are too ashamed to ask their parents and some of them are just earning money from their hobbies. About future choices, I think that every student must make the decision themselves. It is their life, not their parents! I know that parents want the best for their children, but if they make their children study something that actually makes them unhappy?? To end this paragraph, I repeat

Shinagawa's words "Everybody has a dream, but not everyone are telling it out!"
It suck in technical way - it is too fake, but "imagination points" are extra-funny and these are in every episode too =D But I must say that Shinagawa reads too much manga, because his imagination was actually shoujo-like xD
The best thing is to watch it as a totally different drama, which has little to do with manga. As a live-action it sucks more than it should.

Sweet room (2009)

Country: Japan
Genre: friendship, romance, ***
Format: cellphone drama 4 episodes
Cast: 1.ep "Last Love": Narimiya Hiroki, Shiomi Yukari
         2.ep "Birthday" : Mukai Osamu, Hasegawa Emi
         3. ep "Triangle": Kaname Jun, Watanabe Naoko, Kubota Yuusuke
         4. ep "Room service": Toyohara Kosuke, Noriko Iriyama,
Synopsis:  Four stories of four men in a hotel room. In "Last love" Narimiya Hiroki is a young photographer who is photographing his crush, while she announces that she is going to die due to incurable disease. "Birthday" Mukai Osamu creates the most wonderful birthday celebration for his girlfriend. In "Triangle" Kaname Jun is fighting over a girl with his friend, who is also in love with that girl. A few hours later friend dies and tells to make action. "Room service" Toyohara Kosuke plays the part of a servant, who will have a romance with a visitor.
Rating: 1/5

 I liked Narimiya Hiroki´s episode... other were just like they were.  It was Narimiya´s first time filming this kind of bed-scenes. Must say that he totally nailed it! I have never understood how can he make these face expressions. It feels like he is in big pain or agony. Every time I see that face, I feel like I want to hug him so tightly. The end of his episode was just funny. I feel so sorry for him..

"Birthday" was most romantic. All that, how the male character thought and everything he did for her. (It is hard to make a review, if the drama has no names... hope you understand). It really seemed like a real young people love story, like a puppy love ^^.

"Triangle" was most annoying. I do not know why, but I am not a big fan of Kaname Jun. He is a great actor, but something is missing. The story of it was lousy too. "Why don´t you go out with her?" does not have the same meaning as "Why don´t you sleep with her?!".
"Room service" only episode without hard bed-scene. I liked this end the most, it was sweet. otherwise it was nothing special.
Mostly they all contain a lot of nudity and bed-scenes. It is best not to watch with really young children (And it might be uncomfortable for you to watch it with your parents, but I watched clips of "Last Love" with my mother. I´ll tell that even if it is uncomfortable for you, there is nothing new to your parents anyway....). 
All episodes should be about 10 minutes, I guess?

"Last Love" clips were used in (former) Tohoshinki/DBSK/TVXQ or what ever they are called more music video for "Stand by me" (Which is also the theme song of the movie).

Halfway (2010)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, school
Format: movie
Cast: Kitano Kie, Okada Masaki, Narimiya Hiroki, Naka Riisa, Mizobata Junpei
Synopsis:Hiro (Kitano Kie) and Shu (Okada Masaki) are in last year of high school and they start dating. Their relationship is going to be darkened by the fear and changes of tomorrow as Hiro is going to attend in local university, but Shu has always wished to go to Tokyo.
Rating: 2/5
I have read the original manga. It is amazing how similar the actors are with original characters. For spoiler, the manga and movie have different endings. As it really is a shoujo-manga, then manga has actually unrealistic end, that´s why I liked the movie ending more.

Actors were just great. They totally pulled it off - .^ Specially I liked Kitano Kie, but I did not like her character. Her eyes are amazing.

It is another Kitagawa Eriko´s works. That explains why the movie is just going in a slow-motion. There is no big happenings, mostly about one thing and that´s all. In addition, if you have seen other Kitagawa Eriko´s works, then you should know that the female lead is cry-baby, egoistic and childish. Hiro really cries a lot... it is not even crying, it is whining like a baby! (But it is understandable, when it is a baby, but for 17-18 year old girl it is really childish.). (BTW. If you think that I just do not like Kitagawa´s work, then wait til Sunao ni Narenakute review or read it, and you might change your mind. It seems like they have used hand-camera for filming and there is very few montage done, many raw cuts and it is very documentary-like. In some ways it is really fascinating, but it doesn´t work for that story. It seems like you are entering to someones personal life.

The reason why it did not get higher rating is that it was tooo slow and I did not enjoyed it. I just do not understand how can one girl be so childish!!!
I totally love Narimiya Hiroki and Naka Riisa (They acted together in "Yankee-kun to Megane-chan"), but sadly they did not have any screentime together this time. They both are still so great ^^ I would like to see them acting together more. They have a chemistry on screen ^^ 

Stand Up! (2003)

Country: Japan
Genre: youth, youngster, ***
Format: drama 11 episodes
Cast: Yamashita Tomohisa, Narimiya Hiroki, Oguri Shun, Ninomiya Kazunari, Suzuki Anne, (Minor roles of Tsukamoto Takashi, Becky, Sugita Kaoru, Shaku Yumiko)
Synopsis: Shouhei (Ninomiya Kazunari), Kengo (Yamashita Tomohisa), Kouji (Oguri Shun) and Hayato (Narimiya Hiroki) find out that they are the last virgins in their high school. At the summer vacation their childhood crush Chie comes to visit them after 11 years. The summer of last youth is on with many promises, obstacles and as well as love and pain.
Rating: 5/5
It IS SOOO FUNNY!!! In some way it it really pathetic who try tried to lose their virginity in any matter, but at the same time to protect it? But those two exclude each other! It shows really well nowadays youngsters, but drama gives much notes to write down for beginners - Lesson one should be: ALWAYS use protection! I liked the fact that drama does not show only guys viewpoint, but from Chie (played by Suzuki Anne) you can hear about girls view too. At the same time, Chie´s story was so horrible and sad, but actually it might happen to lot of people (Yes, even to guys).
Parents were sooooo annoying!!! You cannot protect your child from everything and you definitely cannot control child´s life! I was so pissed off because of the parents. Only parents who were a little bit normal were Kenken´s (Kengo) and Shou-chan´s (Shouhei) moms. Even though Kenken´s mom owned a love hotel and her thoughts and sayings were.. eeem mostly the things the guys thought. I liked that they understood that their children are growing up and it is all part of it. It is like my parents have said to me: "We have been young too" (Not about that certain thing, but still).
Friendship between guys and Chie were so sweet. Even though, Chie was mostly outsider, they really worked everything out.
The cast is excellent! Just read the names from cast and you want to watch it!
I just thought about drama name... you can think about the meaning in two ways... =P