EXTE ~Hair extensions~ (2007)

Country: Japan

Format: movie

Genre: horror
Cast: Kuriyama Chiaki, Osugi Ren, Sato Megumi, Tsugumi, Sato Miku, Machimoto Eri,
Synopsis: One day a woman's corpse is found from a port in a container full of human hair. Having defined that the victim has had her organs harvested for a black market, the corpse goes missing from the morgue as the morgue keeper takes the corpse home in order to make hair extensions as from the revenge for the world, its hair is still growing. Meanwhile, Yuko is practicing to become hairstylist in a local hair salon. Once the hair extensions are attached to a person, the corpse is ready to kill it.
Rating: 1/5
First of all, I would not say it is exactly horror movie, but it is disturbing and sick. Despite making pauses while watching it, I felt like puking most of the time. In addition, as you can see you can make a horror movie out of everything.

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..

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!

Long Love Letter (2002)

Tagline: Drifting classroom
Country: Japan
Genre: surreal, sci-fi, romance, school
Format: drama, 11 episodes
Cast: Kubozuka Yousuke, Tokiwa Takako, Yamada Takayuki, Yamashita Tomohisa, Suzuki Emi, Karina, Osugi Ren, Misukawa Asami, Tsumabuki Satoshi,
Synopsis: Misaki Yuka and Asami Akio meet by chance at a bookstore. Even though they feel connection between each other, they are unable to meet again. One year later, Yuka is working in her dad's flower shop and Asami as a math teacher in Motokura high school. They meet again when Yuka goes to the school to collect money from a client there - re-encounter does not go as well as they hoped. Yuka receives a call from her former student to meet with her day after that. Next day Yuka goes back to the school (she did not get the money day before) - Asami wishes to clear the misunderstanding between them when suddenly an earthquake occurs. When they open their eyes again, they find that everything but school has turned into sand - or is it the school that has disappeared from its place?
Rating: 4/5
Really highly rated drama! It would have been a total killer if it would not have had one tooo annoying point in it, but more about it later. You can read about the end of the drama from SPOILER-review.

The main main character is more actually Asami, but I know that it does not seem to be so according to the synopsis. Asami is played by Kubozuka Yousuke. He is really amazing actor (well, it is his first drama I have seen) - all emotions are well played. As Asami is one character who goes through all kind of different scenes - he is being jealous, angry, sad, in love etc. Really cute - especially "Let's go on a date under the desert moon" *romance level 100* He tells most of the truths in the drama like "As long as you live, you have hope!". His and Yuka's love story in it is really cute form the start. When in Code blue operation with drill (construction drill) was sick, then prepare yourself to ultimate sickness as they perform an operation with paper knifes and spoons.

It is weird how things start to happen first with Yuka - that's why in the synopsis she is most mentioned. She gives the feminine aura to drama as she really starts to act as a mother by protecting the students. Her background is later explained, but it is difficult to understand her feelings towards Fujisawa, the former student of her.
Takamatsu is the main character among the students. He is really insensitive and stupid when it comes to Kaoru, his girlfriend, but he is only character whose mental growth is clearly shown. As well he is the one who wants to go back to the so-called reality the most as he starts to regret his foolness in the real world. What I did not know was that Yamada Takayuki is the same actor who played in The Seaside Motel as Asakura Yousuke (room 202). AMAZING! Kaoru stays in the real world, that's why they start to think about their relationship more - it is sweet how much Kaoru loves him.

Otomo Tadashi, played by Yamashita Tomohisa, is smart yet lazy best-friend of Takamatsu. He is popular, but does not have a girlfriend and he is regularly (mentally and almost sexually) abused by his teacher Sekiya. Tadashi is a little bit scary character by his talk - he mentions the most about killing and suicides, but at the same time he also talks the most about girls and sex. High point of him is when Takamatsu tells him "Don't jump on her!" when Nishi is unconscious in next bed and he answers "I am not that desperate!".

Others - Sekiya is way tooo crazy - even in the real world she has mental issues, which deepens with shock. Kamo is the genius of the drama - her IQ is 230 and she really finds out everything with out leaving the place (okey, GPS scene is an exceptition), but in the end, she comes to the same result with out leaving school as others are spending outside researching. Nishi is a girl whose leg is injured - she sets many things into motion like some happenings, Tadashi's heart etc, but she is really scary when she is having a revelation - I have never liked it when people start talking nonsense without remembering it later.
(Question!! - Is Ikegaki played by Kanjani8's Murakami Shingo? I have not seen videos of him from that age, but Ikegaki is pretty similar to him - there is no information of Ikegaki's actor on the Internet, so I would be happy if some Kanjani8's fan would tell it to me! ^o^)

Drama contains several messages to people. One, which is most talked about, is "Only this moment matters! Live for the moment" - in drama they start with it, but in the end they find out that other way is possible too, as it is rather difficult thing to do. I think you should live for the moment, but think for the future - another weird thing about me. This drama definitely makes you think about the situation when some people you used to know are not anymore with you. Other thing is that we all must keep the nature - we cannot use all resources and we definitely cannot pollute our nature with all kind of chemicals! It is true that deserts have widen with recent years, so we really must take care of areas close to deserts (It is easy for me to say as I live so far from it)
But now to the reasons why it lost its 5th star. It might be a spoiler, but they show what happens with human - how they evolve into something spiderlike things. When I first saw them I was like "WTGYOZA! YOU JUST RUINED THE DRAMA!" I understand that it had to be more science fiction with it, but it more was similar to "Boogeyman" (2005, USA) when you finally see that Boogeyman is a really failure puppet. I seriously hated those spider-like-humans as much as that lamb meat in my rice. In some way it is just another sci-fi about 21st century, which were so popular before 2000 and some years after it. Also the jump in the last episode is actually impossible - and that scene was anyway bad, because you can see it how they all jump down not forward. I think the last episode is the worst episode of the drama.

You never know what happens next in this drama and that's why some things at first seem impossible - why and what really happened to that school? how can they navigate in desert? How much to the future they went? How much fuel the car has?? At first I thought they have not noticed so-called "mistakes", but actually they will give answers to all those questions above, except that Kamo's laptop must have had a serious killer-battery as she used it all the time without recharging it first...
Finally, the drama is very interesting, because they soon find out that they are not the only ones in that desert and it is cool to see how they try to survive, when one by one people go crazy, die or have a serious mood-changes. Also drama shows different sides of life - romance, friendship, protecting nature, school, different people in extreme situations etc. I recommend it to watch as another drama not as a sci-fi, because if you concentrate too much on the surreal part of it, it gets weird.

SPOILERreview: The end is a little bit difficult to understand, but from my point of view this is how it was: they actually stayed into that desert, but they were able to recover nature, so that grass started to grow again (but it is weird that there was no possibility for other animals to come out, which means that they all became total vegetarians and the children of those 21 people will be kindred in future)   About those letters and "the past" clip which was shown - it was third parallel- the past, which would have been if some things would have not happened as they did. It is rather complicated, but just think that we never know what is real in this world and what is not - maybe every time you have to make a decision, the world actually divides itself between your decision and the parallel-what-might-have-happened. Easily said, it is another level of philosophy.

Uzumaki (2001)

Also known as: Spiral, Vortex, Out of this world
Country: Japan
Genre: horror, psycho,
Format: movie
Cast: Hatsune Eriko, Fan Fhi, Saeki Hinako, Shin Eun Kyung, Takahashi Keiko, Osugi Ren, Abe Sadao,
Synopsis: Kirie lives in a small town and is a normal high school student. One day she sees her best friend's (almost boyfriend) dad filming snail, she thinks that he did not notice her and does not think about it anymore. Later Shuichi tells her that his father has lately started to act weirder and weirder just like he would have been summoned by the vortex. His dad ends his life with suicide and one by one people in town get obsessed with spirals - some of them turn into snails, some's hair become Medusa-like and many many die... 
Rating: STARLESS
It is the most horrible horror-movie ever - it is not horrifying at all. Easily said, it sucks in every way. To me, most of the people in this movie seemed crazy lunatics already before they where obsessed by the vortex. Most of the movie was just disturbing and sick, but definitely not scary-

As they do not explain any character nor their actions, I really cannot analyse them. Kirie seemed just weird, naive girl, who did not have any sensible thinking. Shuichi was veeery weird and I was 100% sure that he was the one who messed up this town, but I had to disappoint. I really liked Sekino, because she at least had a reason in her actions and I am a big fan of her Medusa-hair, but that was it. The only normal character in it was the detective, who was rather smart, but sadly you do not get to know what he discovered. Weird thing is that he smoked a cigarette, which he did not light - does anyone smoke like that?? or maybe they did not have fake-smokes, which are now mainly used in film industry now and the actor refused to smoke real cigarette and ruin his health for a movie role like this.

The reason why it mostly is not scary, is that it is too unrealistic! The most horrifying scene for me was the pommel horse, that is a gymnastic apparatus - widely used in school PE classes - at least in East-Europe, Russia and Asia. For me it is a nightmare, because I have baaaaad memories with it. For my friend, most horrifying was Japanese giant centipede, because she does not adore crawling bugs. If you expect anything more scary than this, then you are going to be very-very disappointed,

Only great thing about the movie was that it had a great ending theme =P But it is understandable, because it is Do As Infinty's song "Raven". Watch their music video and you see most of the scenes of the movie, so just watch this instead of the movie, because most of the time I just yawned. With this movie, I certainly do not recommend it to anyone! True horror-friends will hate it and I am not sure if wanting-to-see-some-fail-"horror movie"-to-laugh will help you.

Movie is made after Junji Ito same named manga, but they (FORTUNATELY) have different endings as the manga was on-going while the movie was filmed.
OH MY GYOZA!!! There is a vortex in my juice-glass! On my book tooo!! My friend's fingertips!!!!(I have weird fingertips, there are no spirals in my fingerprints) I AM GOING TO BE OBSESSED BY THE VORTEX!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... -.- yeah, it just sucks. If it were to be able to give any other rating, it would be -10, like the degree outside -.-

Shissou ~ Dead Run~ (2005)

Country: Japan
Genre: human, drama, life&death, violence, ***
Format: movie
Cast: Tegoshi Yuya, Kan Hanae, Nakatani Miki, Toyokawa Etsushi, Osugi Ren, Terajima Susumu, Kase Ryo, Suguta Shun, Takahashi Hitomi, Emoto Tasuku,
Synopsis: In a small city called Hama people are divided into to groups - Shore and off-Shore, that do not get along as off-Shore people tend to be from lower social groups (like criminals). Shuji was 7 when he was impressed by Demon-Ken's kindness, when Demon-Ken gave him a lift to home. But few days later Demon-Ken was found dead in the woods. Years later in junior high Shuji still remembers Demon-Ken and finds some connection with Off-Shore. He and his friend find that a small church is being built there. At the same time his brother Shuichi, who has always been a top-student, is being suspended from school because of a cheating in test. That makes Shuichi's mental state collapse. Shuji finds hope and answers from the church and also he meets there Eri, but yakuza wants to buy the off-Shore area for building there a turism centre. One by one the houses of Off-Shore get destroyed in arsons. Everyones lives are changed by doubts and truth.
Rating: 4/5
It is a SABU movie, so there is everything you can see in "Troubleman" too (but the latter one was more romantic and easier that "Shissou"). It actually is crazy and total mind-******* movie. In the end I felt like I was going insane and that made the movie so great. It definitely is movie with one of the most serious topics (If I leave out based-on-true-life-events movies). The sickest thing is that everything what happens in the movie, is 100% possible in real life, even now!
It has a great scene capturing, but at the same time, many scenes are a little bit hard to understand, but in the end it is a total masterpiece!

Tegoshi Yuya played the main character Shuji. It was his first role in a movie (one of his first acting ever - only Division 1: 15 sai no blues was made some months before). Many times it seemed like Shuji was just a side-viewer in the whole story, getting into those situations because of other people. That´s why I was so furious when classmates started to block him from class. Shuji was not responsible for those things. Mostly I hated the former friend - I know that his hate for Shuji might have been caused by the fact that when the friend was said to be guilty, Shuji stayed away from him too. Shuji does many irresponsible things, I believe that it shows how big the impact all, what had happened, had on him.

I cannot say anything about the church and how he started to be religious (In real life Tegoshi Yuya is not a christian - at least there are no public information about him being it). He found hope and strength from The Bible. As I am not religious, then I do not know how to comment his views and stuff. I know that when he wanted to put his friend and brother to read The Bible and go to church, he kind of a did not thought that not all people find justice in it. I know that there many people who after living through hard things, do not find relief in the religion, but at the same time, some start to devote their life to God.  I liked that back then Tegoshi Yuya had that average Japanese boy look xD Now he is really charismatic and real ikemen-idol.

Shuichi's (I know, they really similar names) story is so sad. I believe that in real life it might happen too, that top student might lose his head after getting suspended. But it is so sad - no-one can really understand later and that makes hard for others to help. I loved how Shuichi's and Shuji's relationship was and how Shuji tired to help Shuichi. 
The leadgirl was Eri (Kan Hanae). She was really confident and smart girl, a little bit rebellious. I liked that she was able to live on (okey it was because she was unable to commit suicide, but still). Her story is sad too - it shows how some people just do not have luck in their lives. She reminded my one book, where a woman had lived through fire in her childhood (Not sure, but I think she lost her family in it), anyway it made a big impact on her, but she saw flames as red horses and then when she is older, she starts to set houses on fire to see horses again. Eri's situation is not like that, but it just reminded me the trauma. For me, the highlight of the movie was Eri's and Shuji's relationship. There was no emotions, just young first fonding (is there such word? okey, I could use words as devoting, attaching, fancying too, but "fond" seems to be more accurate for them, but I am not sure how the noun is) Eri and Shuji were similar to each other as well as different.
The whole movie is great mind-rape. It has so many changing-points were you just do not know what happens next, but in the end when you know so clearly what is going to happen, you wish from the bottom of your heart that something would happen and would go differently. I screamed "NOOOOO!! NOOO!! IT CANNOT HAPPEN!!" in the end like lunatic xD The movie is really disgusting and there is so much violence and (nicely said) sexual interests. It is said that sometimes something can be so sick and horrible, that it is beautiful. It is totally right for "Shissou ~ Dead run~". I recommend it to those who have strong nerves, want to be aghast and who want to blow up their emotional balance. 

Troubleman (2009)

Country: Japan
Genre: surreal, yakuza, life,
Format: drama 12 episodes
Cast: Kato Shigeaki, Takezai Terunosuke, Iwasa Mayuku, Nakayama Yuichiro, Riju Go, Kino Hana, Terajima Susumu, Osugi Ren, Nukumizu Youichi, Satsukawa Aimi, Kanai Yuta, Katagiri Hairi, Miyaji Masako, Uechi Haruna
Synopsis: Tokuda Kazuo is cursed with bad luck - since birth only bad things happen to people near to him. As things get even worse by every day, he tries to find a way to get over that curse. One day by all kind of things, he ends up with his five other apartment residents in the same room and soon it becomes clear that they share much more than that apartment...
Rating: 5/5

Really short drama, okey, it has 12 episodes, but they  are like 30 minutes long, but at least 5 minutes of it are beginning and ending themes (I've said it before, that usually Japanese dramas are 45 minutes long). I do not understand how can it have soooooo low ratings?????!!! Average is like 2, but I think that it is a masterpiece. I am afraid that it is because it aired on Friday nights 00:12 - older people sleep already and young ones party (at least in my country xD) This is one of the most surreal and most interesting drama ever!
It perfect example that you cannot fight with the fate, it seems like a endless ring and it is impossible to get out of it. There is a saying that "What good for one is bad for other" - it is like a main theme in "Troubleman". I like the script. It is just sooo amazing. Beside, Kato Shigeaki is amazing in his role! All this pronunciation and acting is über xD

The built-up is amazing. At first many things seem hard to understand, but once you know the truth, it gets unbelievable scary. I think that this drama shows how small actually the world is (In real life, doesn't world seem small when you read my blog, but you are on the other side of the world? xD)
I cannot say anything much about characters, but I think that Yakuza's (the one in apartment too) story was the saddest. Whole drama shows different sides of life - we really can't see others past and feelings.  But I can say some words about Kato Shigeaki and his role.

Firstly, Tokuda's work suited him so much, but like always, if you do something great for people, you do bad for company, which gets you fired -.- A big line in it are mangakas and they are soooo kowai! (scary) I have always admired their drawing skills, but this time the gave me creeps! Especially Marcus the monkey O.q I have never liked monkeys and now they like even less -.- I think that maybe because they had to spend so much time alone there and then for the first time a handsome/sexy/great guy walks in - yeah, you might end up as a lunatic so. I have always thought if Kato Shigeaki can draw so well in real life too (I know that he might had somebody else's drawing), but he has played mangaka already for twice! (the second time was in "Chichi yo, anata wa erakatta")
I have always wanted to try hypnotherapy, which they do much in it, but I am afraid that I might recall some strangled memories, which might change my life (don't you sometimes have this feeling of fear in some situations like your mind says that something bad has happened this way, but you self cannot remember it?)

I love the theme song!! It is "Funky man" by NEWS (who are my favorites =P) and also in the very last episode there is a unplugged version of "Forever". I think that the end is the most romantic thing I have seen xD but when to think about March 11th 2011 in Japan, then it is a little bit sad and inappropriate. But still, I love this drama, it is just sooo wicked. 

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).

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (2010)

Also known as: The Perfect girl evolution
Country: Japan
Genre: horror, comedy, romance, surreal
Format: drama 10 episodes
Cast: Oomasa Aya, Kamenashi Kazuya, Tegoshi Yuya, Uchi Hiroki, Miyao Shuntaro, Kato Seishiro, Kanbe Ranko, Osugi Ren, Takashima Reiko, (Guests: David Ito, Hoshino Aki, Nukumizu Youichi, Sato Eriko, Aso Yumi, Okuda Erika, Asami Reina)
Synopsis: Kyohei, Yukinojo, Takenaga and Ranmaru are total ikemen, who live under the same roof. Their landlord Mrs. Nakahara promises to give them free board-and-lodging on one contition - They must turn her niece, Sunako, into a lady. An easy task turns into the hell, when the guys meet Sunako - spooky girl, whose hair cover her face, loves horror movies and dark, and whose best friend is an old skeleton puppet.
Rating: 3/5
This story itself is really surreal, especially some episodes (like with the ghost, magic mushrooms etc). I have seen the anime version of it too, so I understand that they made it based on the manga really well, but in manga there is no Takeru, but I guess they needed a narrator.
I somehow think Sunako went overboard with all of that. I understand that the guy she liked told she was ugly, but if it would have been me, I would have made myself so beautiful to show what he missed. I think that Sunako even had the strenght to do it, but as long as she was happy as she was, it's okey..

Oomasa Aya made a great work. In manga and anime Sunako is mostly chibi (really small child like etc) and as you know in real life it is impossible to do, but you actually get the same feeling from Oomasa Aya acting. In manga and anime Sunako turns into a beautiful women (as she really was) when she is really angry or embarrassed (of love feeling) and if I watched drama version, then I still totally saw the difference.
What I do not understand is how women can go so far for so-called love? I liked when Kyohei explained that if you really do not know what the person is like, do you really love him/her? Just because you like his/her appearance does not make it love. I do understand the feeling of those 4 guys. If you are told almost everyday that you are beautiful, it finally loses its charm.
Talking of love then Takenaga and Noi love-line was cute! I soooo loved Noi! She was the cutest of all and while being cute, she was NOT ANNOYING!! =)

JOKER ~Yurusarezaru sousakan~ (2010)

Country: Japan
Genre: law, police, justice
Format: drama 10 episodes + special
Cast: Sakai Masato, Ryo, Nishikido Ryo, (Watanabe) Anne, Osugi Ren, Kaga Takeshi, Hirayama Hiroyuki, (as a quest cast Oshinari Shugo)
Synopsis: Date Kazuyoshi (Sakai Masato) is a police detective. He is known as "Saint" as he has not arrested a criminal for years and because of his quiet, peaceful nature. But at night he is going to punish criminals who have gotten away by law, but there is a time, when even Date misses the weak point. At the same time he has to watch over Miyagi Asuka (Anne), a young detective, who wants to know the truth about his brother's, Date's old pair-man, death and Date's ex-girlfriend and used-to-be detective Katagiri Saeko (Ryo), who starts investigating "Mysterious disappearances".
Rating: 2/5
Okey.. I start from the start. The extra name "Yurusarezaru sousokan" ("Unforgivable police detectives") is lame and tooo long to say, just JOKER would have been better or something else with JOKER.

 What was totally funny, was that Date reminded me Sailor Moon (but he did not make the transform like she did xD). Every time he was going to bust criminal, he said "There is no tomorrow for you!" and shot, Sailor Moon said : "By the power of Moon. I will punish you" and made something to the bad guy.  In addition, he sometimes imitated Lt. Horatio Caine from "CIA Miami" (played by David Caruso) with his head and look. In one episode the criminal even said that Date tries to act cool xD
But I must say that actually the drama is predictable - all the first LIVING guests are criminals, even though they try to confuse people (but it does not work). The drama more makes you confused about the law, even though I know that it all is corrupted, the drama was too negative about it. I try to think like Miyagi Asuka, who believed that you can punish people by law.. but at the same time there are many cases where criminal gets out of the jail and kills again. On the other hand, for some of the criminals I found that in the JOKER system the punishment was too much. This drama makes you think about justice. In this drama, most of the criminals seemed lunatic to me.
What really made me think, was that there was no security cameras, when Date worked at night! I understand that some placed it was usual that they are missing, but places like art gallery???  just too weird.

 About characters and actors... I already told you about Date, he was so cute by his nature, but Sakai Masato was great too. And there was a person about who I have not told a word: Nishikido Ryo who played the part of Kudo Kenji. He was just sooooo great. I enjoyed it very much. Kudo's character was well explained and Nishikido Ryo played it all out. I actually wanted that Kudo would have gotten his long waited kiss, but I was not much disappointed  when it did not happen as it still was a police-drama and he actually made a progress with his feelings. Kudo's character was like a piece of sunshine in a black and white drama. Beside, at many times it seemed like Kudo was the smartest of them all!!!! there was a footprint place and even I was able to say that those were different people!!! -.- But I liked  that he was not afraid of anything in it.
annoying characters...Katagiri Saeko, Asuka and Master.. Katagiri Saeko was just stupid and annoying, she really had a big mouth and did not know when to shut up. It was sad that she and Date still loved each other, but sometimes I felt like she loved Miyagi Natsuki more. But actress Ryo looked so beautiful and young (There are times when she looks old like in "Yonimo Kimyona Monogatari: law of recycling suicides"). Asuka was just naive, she actually was not that annoying and I liked that her feelings for Kudo were nice. She more was natural character, for who you cannot really say anything annoying or great. Master... it was all because of the end.

 There were many cases, where I did not understand the reasons and some proofs were bad. I liked the ending theme "SCAR" by RIP SLYME. I usually to not listen to that kind of music, but it is really addicting song and now there is even a JOKER-episode-ending-dance and you are lucky that you cannot ever see it!

My Boss, My Hero (2006)

Country: Japan
Genre: School, romance, friendship, yakuza
Format: drama 10 episodes
Cast: Nagase Tomoya, Tegoshi Yuya, Tanaka Koki, Aragaki Yui, Murakawa Eri, Osugi Ren, Kikawada Masaya, Ichimura Masachika,  ( a minor role from Naka Riisa)
Synopsis: Sakaki Makio is 27, dropped out of high school and becoming a successor of his father - yakuza boss. But before he gets a boss-position, his father forces him to go back to high school and graduate, otherwise the position goes to Makio´s little intelligent brother.  In school Makio cannot reveal his true background and must play a role of 17-year-old guy.
Rating: 2/5
The best part was "Sakura-nantoka" (In English it should be something like "Sakura-something") - yeah, actually Sakurakoji (played by Tegoshi Yuya) is not a hard name to remember XD Nagase Tomoya acting was great too - in some way he totally bulled off high school student role, but he as yakuza was over the top. It is weird that Nagase Tomoya´s appearance and singing voice are so different - The Theme song is "Sorafune" by TOKIO, Nagase is the lead singer of the band.
Makio´s brother Mikio (by Kikawada Masachika) was so annoying (character, not actor) - he could have done anything, but he decided that he should be the next yakuza-boss even though he knew it was Makio´s dream -.-
The "Water" joke was funny - in a weird way it is really catchy -.^
But it got two stars because after finishing it, you (at least I) was able to remember only those highlights. (Oke, Koki´s acting was great too xD he was really.. eem.. violant xD). Beside, while watching it, I did not get the addiction. Sorry for not explaning it more!