Tokyo Bandwagon (2013)

Country: Japan
Format: drama in 10 episodes
Genre: romance, slice of life
Cast: Kamenashi Kazuya, Tabe Mikako, Mimura, Kaneko Nobuaki, Taira Airi, Ozowa Runa, Kimino Yuma, Jonathan Sherr, Inohara Yoshihiko, Katagiri Hairi, Bengal, Mitsuishi Ken, Tamaki Koji, Kaga Mariko
Synopsis: Tokyo Bandwagon is old second-hand bookstore, where 4 generations of Hotta family members live together. They might me located on a small area, but there is a lot happening. Especially after Ao, grandson of the head of the store, meets with sweet innocent Suzumi who has several tricks to play.
Rating: 5/5
It officially became one of my favorite Japanese dramas! I have heard a lot of opinions about it, but I must say that I simply enjoyed and still adore it.

Ore wa, kimi no tame ni koso shini ni iku (2007)

Also known as: For those we love; Assault on the Pacific ~Kamikaze~
Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre:WWII
Cast: Tokushige Satoshi, Kobozuka Yosuke, Tsutsui Michitaka, Kishi Keiko, Tabe Mikako, Maekawa Yasuyuki, Nakamura Tomoya, Watanabe Dai, Hulk Ren, Nakagoshi Noriko, Sakurai Sachiko, Toda Naho, Miyasaki Yoshiko, Endo Kenichi, Terada Minori, Nakahara Takeo, Emori Toru, Nagato Hirouki, Ishibashi Renji, Katsuno Hiroshi, Matoba Koji, Ibu Masato, Suzunosuke Tanaka, Inoue Takashi, Hashimoto Ichiro, Matsuo Satoru,
Synopsis: It is the final months of 1945 and war drew a close. Allied naval forces expanded in the South Pacific and Japanese military headquarter decides to form special attack corps which the world now knows as Kamikaze pilots. Tomihara Tome is keeping a restaurant in Kyushu and witnesses their last days and cherishes their memory. 
Rating: 5/5
I was afraid to watch it, because I am not good with watching war movies. I am pacifist, there is no justified reason for war - it is just people killing people just because some "important leaders of the country" want more or have speaking disability. I understand when in the start of the ages, people

fought to survive, but to gain more land, wealth, resources (that is not FOOD) does not make sense to me. Of course it is different with home wars, but actually this is not the place or time to talk about my views on these things, so let's move on to the review.

Deka Wanko (2011)

Country: Japan
Format: drama in 11 episodes
Genre: detective, comedy
Cast: Tabe Mikako, Tegoshi Yuya, Sawamura Ikki, Masu Takeshi, Ohkura Koji, Mikami Kensei, Watanabe Naomi, Ishizuka Hidehiko, Taguchi Tomorowo, Fukikoshi Mitsuru, Sano Shiro, Ito Shiro, Ueda Koichi, Imai Kazuko, Shimura Rena,
Synopsis: Drama: Hanamori Ichiko, a rookie detective with an amazing sense of smell, is newly assigned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Having 7 men as her colleagues it is sure to get interesting as Ichiko tries to find her place in the cruel men's world with her cute poodle Patrache and Lolita clothes.
Christmas SP: Wanko is in France on holiday, when she suddenly pumps into Kiri, Koma and Duke in Paris! Yana's personal things got stolen and Shige's location is unknown. Wanko also meets a girl named Leticia whose boyfriend Shige is living in Japan. Things get more absurd when they are suddenly called back to Japan and Wanko ends up in parallel world in Edo-period. 
Rating: 4/5
It is definitely not another usual detective drama. It is based on same-named manga by Morimoto Kozueko.

Ichiko gets her nickname Wanko for several reasons - beside the fact that her nose is as good as dog's one ("Wan" is the sound the dog makes in Japanese and "Wanko" resembles a small puppy), her name meas "First/One Child", which is half translated by Duke who says "One-ko", which seems to others as "Wanko". Her clothes are absolute love and I noticed that many things were from Angelic Pretty shop (Girls, if you want to look as cute as Wanko then I added a link to shop), at least some of her head-dresses. She is talking to herself out loud a lot, which makes her annoying to others, but it is damn funny when the situation is rough. She is naive and never gets the atmosphere. Sometimes she rushes into the action with out confirming the facts, which leaves her into the situation of being kidnapped countless times. 

 Shigemura (Shige) is the best negotiator. I think he never visited the actual crime-scene, but he had 100+n ways to make the culprit to confess. He is the man with many mysteries. You never know what is his deal, because he never gives any direct answer when it comes to something personal. He might be as great in his job as he can be, but there are times when even he needs help. There are jokes about Sawamura Ikki dramas and his real life self too as some people say in drama that Shige looks like Sawamura Ikki.
 Koma is almost like a leader. He has been in the group longest with Shige and that is the reason why these two keep fighting with each other. Others describe him as a smoker with long oily hair - even when he has just washed them. (no room to add a picture)

Yanagi (Yana) is one of the most useless ones in the group. He is very emotional, always torn between Shige and Koma and he has a different taste in women as others. Even though he looks like he would not harm a fly, he gets really violent when he is irritated - Wanko feels his head kicks really often.Wada (Chanko) is a former sumo, who loves to eat. He is prone to accidents, even though he hardly gets into real action as he is too slow. He is a man of few words and like you know than every big chubby guy has one cute secret in the closet.

Kirishima (Kiri) is the ikemen of the force, even though you might had imagined him being taller while you read the manga, but well Tegoshi pulls it off with his powers too. Kiri is very short-tempered, most of the time seems to be angry and he is the one who must put up with Wanko the most. He actually almost becomes her trust-person, because she calls him a lot. He is forced to play newly-weds, cross-dress, go undercover as an idol and so on. I am going to ruin the excitement and say that you do not know until the end if Kiri has feelings for Wanko or not - there are some many  jokes and hints for it. I seriously think that it might be Tegoshi Yuya's best role ever, at least the most interesting. It was funny as they put in NEWS and Tegomasu related jokes, as you know, Tegoshi is a member of both of them. For explanation "Juice" and "NEWS" sound similar in Japanese and in movie, when Wanko says that in kindergarten Yuya and Takahisa fought for her, it is hinted to Masuda Takahisa who is Tegoshi Yuya's co-member in NEWS and duo-partner in Tegomasu.

Duke (just Duke) has been in the group for a year, he entered with Kiri, who is pretty much his best friend. Duke has grown up in States so he is bilingual with English being his mother tongue. Sometimes he even does not understand if he is speaking in English or in Japanese. Like I understood, then his mother was Japanese and father American. Even though Mikami Kensei should be pure Japanese, he makes a great accent in both Japanese and English.
From other characters the most important is Mikhail von alt Oppenbauer zon (also sometimes

written as Micheal). I bet that he and Wanko would start to date if Mikhail would be an human. He has a different relationship with Wanko - they are biggest rivals, but at the same time thier mutual understanding is incredible.. and actually from time to time Mihkail takes a human form in Wanko's imagination. I still do not understand why his name is Mikhail - it is Russian name, not German..
It is funny and not that serious drama. It does not suit for people, who are looking for realism, but I recommend it to people, who want to have a great laugh. I must say that only thing that stopped me from adding final star was the missing KirixWanko joke in the end of the SP. how to say it? The cherry was missing from the cake.

Kimi ni Todoke (2010)

Also known as: From me to you, Reaching for you
Country: Japan
Genre: youth, school, romance, comedy
Format: movie
Cast: Miura Haruma, Tabe Mikako, Kiritani Mirei, Renbutsu Misako, Watanabe Natsuna, Aoyama Haru, Kanai Yuta, Arata, Tomita Yasuko, Katsumura Masanobu, Haruyama Rena
Synopsis: Kuronuma Sawako, with a nickname Sadako as she reminds Sadako from "The Ring", is always misunderstood by other people. Actually she is a normal girl whose motto is "One good deed everyday" and who wants to live up to other's expectations. Until the day when the school's most popular guy starts to speak to her, she has been alone and left out. Since that day everything changes.
Rating: 5/5

It was made after same named manga. It is amazing how similar are manga characters and real actors!! There actually was  a popularity guess who should play in the live-action and Miura Haruma was like 100% winner, but Tabe Mikako was not even listed (she was not so famous actress, I think).
I wish I would have seen it as first Miura Haruma role (not "Koizora the movie"), because in this movie, I understood why he is so talented and loved actor! I agree that he is great! He just was Kazehaya! It did not seem acting at all! It was a copy-paste of the actual Kazehaya from manga!!! 

There is a great friendship between Sawako, Chizuru and Yano. Like every friendship, their friendship suffers from false rumors and it is so sad how Sawako tried to clear them away. But I liked Chizuru's and Yano's thought that only thing that matters is what they think of each others (Not sure if that thought was brought up in movie..). Shizuru and Yano are so cool! They are totally different, but they truly are best-friends. Also what is great is Shizuru's and Ryu's story - it is a small side story, but cute.

I love Sawako's character!! She was a late-bloomer - knew nothing about friendship and love. She saw many things through pink glasses, but she was so cute at the same time. Usually I get annoyed by too naive people, but I found Sawako just a sweet person. All this unknowing and shyness explains many her actions too. She definitely is the cutest character in the story. Maybe one thing that is different than in manga is that in movie you cannot see much her feelings so much. As it is a shoujo manga, then there are all those *too much emotions* thing xD

Kazehaya at the same time did everything that makes a girl heart beat fast and he showed his emotions much, but on the other hand, he seemed to be like it with others too. There are sooooo cute scenes between Kazehaya and Sawako. It looked like he did not want to lose a sight of Sawako no matter what the situation was xD (OMG! Miura Haruma's smile is irresistible!)
It is one of those cute high-school love-movies, which everyone wants to have during their school-years but few have. (Mind went blank again.. I should not write reviews, when I am sick and have to write poetry-essay of Jessenin, Blok and Brjussov (Russian poerty writers).. I definitely would change my studies with high-school love ^o^).

There is much action and really different story lines in it. (Like you know, I am not the slow-movie type xD) I first watched the movie and then fell in love with manga too. Like I have heard, then it is a pretty popular stuff =P I actually cannot recall any annoying aspect of the movie!! O.o Now I would like to watch it again ^^ (Please, do not tell me that I have not finished my homework and tomorrow is a school day!) 

(For people who know "The Ring" girl as Samara: In American version it really is Samara, but the original, Japanese version, is Sadako. Japanese version is said to be much scarier, so Americans decided to make a less scarier version and also changed the name, because Samara is more American than Sadako)