Gokusen (2005)

SEASON 2

Country: Japan
Format: 10 episodes
Genre: school, youth
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Koike Teppei, Koide Keisuke, Hayami Mokomichi, Namase Katsuhisa, Utsui Ken, Kaneko Ken, Uchiyama Shinji, Anan Kenji, Tanihara Shosuke, Waki Tomohiro, Otoha, Inoue Jun, Azuma Mikihisa, Mizushima Hiro, Kawamura Yosuke, Nakamura Yuichi, Miura Ryosuke
Synopsis: It has been 3 years since Yankumi’s first students graduated and through accident Yankumi becomes a teacher at Kurogin High school. Her new homeroom 3D is again full of delinquents, who face fights, troubles, misunderstanding and possibility of expulsion everyday. With only 3 months left until graduating Yankumi must give her all to guide her students to the right path.  
Rating: 4/5
Read the first season review here!
Like some other viewers I had fears that second season might not be so good or I do not start to like the guys as much as I liked in the first season. Fortunately, just look at the cast, how can I not love them! Now I know that I had no reason to worry, because "Gokusen" stays "Gokusen". 

Lovely Complex (2006)

Country: Japan
Format: live-action movie
Genre: school, romance, comedy
Cast: Fujisawa Ema, Koike Teppei, Kudo Risa, Mizushima Hiro, Tamaki Namami, Tanihara Shosuke, Terajima Susumu, Yamazaki Yusuke, Nukumizu Yoichi, Yamasaki Shizuyo, Kato Mio, Wentz Eiji
Synopsis: Koizumi Risa has a problem with love - she is 170 cm tall and gets always rejected by guys for being too tall (172 in manga). At the same time, Otani Atsushi has the same problem, but vise versa - he is 159 tall (in actual manga he is 156). First annoyment grows into friendship after they discover that they have many similarities, but heart has its own way and soon Risa finds out that maybe it is not just friendship she wants - but uncertainty of confessing grows as everyone find tall girl and short boy couple a real joke.  
Rating: 3/5
Live-action movie of popular anime/manga "Lovely complex" by Aya Nakahara.The movie looks too fast-forward, because they show all three high-school years in less than 2 hours - so they almost took the most important scenes from the manga.

The lead is character is Koizumi Risa - she is rather silly, naive, childish and she does not have that big complex with her height as Otani has. She falls in love too easily and she tends to over-react with her actions - especially later when she has a crush for their new teacher. Even though it looks like she falls for Otani too fast, she actually did start to have doubts about her feelings in manga too. She and Otani are just so similar and the way Otani acts would make every girl's heart beat faster. I did not like Fujisawa Ema's acting as it was a bit overacted and unreal - even though Risa was unfeminine. It is funny that they made Fujisawa Ema wear high heels to seem taller - she is actually 167cm, which is the same with Koike Teppei's height. Also, which makes the illusion of her being tall, are the hairstyles - sorry, but does not every girl know that exactly these up-dos make you look reaaallly tall?

Otani is sweet guy, who acts like though and strong. He is the star of the basketball team, even though the coach is always displeased with him. He has much bigger complex about his height as he had some mental traumas, which stayed as a painful spot into his heart. Teppei's acting is good - he brings out the way Otani actually is and gyoza he looks cute with those hair-clips, but he did was not as thickheaded as Otani really was. I do not like that they showed too long scenes of baseball game and not much of Otani's feelings.

There has been on and on discussion about "being unable to find girlfriend/boyfriend for girl while being tall and for guy when being short". I would say that first of all, it is difficult to find good relationship whatever you look like. Secondly, if the height matters to another person, then for sure they are not worth your feelings. If you like someone, then like someone for who they are and the height is just part of them - unlike the weight of a person, the height cannot be changed when wanted.

Sadly it did not show the other characters much - it was movie only about Koizumi and Otani, with almost no side-stories, which sucked as it made the movie one-sided. But from other characters Suzuki was my favorite - sweet, shy guy who happens to have a wide imagination, especially when things come to "ero"-stuff, so he ends up having nose-bleeds time to time, even though this line was totally added to movie, because in manga he was not perv. He is together with Chiharu, who is just as shy as he is. They both are really good-looking and actually Otani and Koizumi had a crush on them in manga, but that is not reverberated in live-action. Last friends are Nobuko and Nakao, who again are a couple. Nobuko is Risa's best-friend and constantly tries to hook her up with somebody and Nakao is always helping her with her schemes.

They brought in Kuniumi Maitake or "Mighty/Maity" and left out Haruka - I do not know if it was the best idea, but I have not read that much manga yet. I know that we would have had much fun with Haruka or Seiko.
In the end, the most annoying part was the scenes with English audio - if you want to make a movie with English audio, then find someone who does not have that big accent and has a nice pronunciation. I did not understand a word of what he was saying.

It is a great movie when you want to laugh and say "Awwww" after every 5 minutes, but if you seriously want to have the best of "Lovely Complex", I recommend watching anime and reading manga - I bet for real fans the movie might had been a big letdown. At least for me it proves that it is difficult to make a great live-action of a fabulous manga. They have reorganized the time order to put it into movie time, but it makes it totally different from the original story.

Shabake

SHABAKE (2007)
Country: Japan
Genre: supernatural, mystery
Format: TV-movie
Cast: Tegoshi Yuya, Tanihara Shosuke, Takasugi Ko, Miyasuki Hiroyuki, Maya Miki, Kishibe Ittoko, Okada Yoshinori, Takaki Yuya, Saotome Taichi
Synopsis: Story takes place in Edo period, where young Ichitaro is able to see ayakashis (ghosts/supernatural beings), but he keeps it secret from everyone. He was born with weak health, which makes his parents worry about him more than they should. While he tries to find a way to connect with his separated half-brother, murders start to take place. 
Rating: 3/5
I fancy all kind of supernatural things and since I am a fan of anime "Natsume's Book of Friends", then I reallly liked "Shabake" too. Shabake is actually made after same-named novel by Hatakenaka Megumi.

To start with, Ichitaro's character is plainly weird. His mother acts like he is 5 years old, he acts like 10 and in reality he is 17 and dad tries to force him to marry. Ichitaro is kind, intelligent and friendly. Even though, Tegoshi Yuya played the main role - Ichitaro's character was just weak, so he does not make any impressive impact on viewer (expect for Tegoshi's fans, who "kya~!" every time he is on screen).  Mostly he has that annoyingly sweet, calm and "lets make the world a better place" nature and voice.

 Hakutaku and Inugami were Ichitaro's bodyguards, servants and babysitters. As people they are known as Nikichi and Sasuke. Tanihara Shosuke is quite cool in it - Hakutaku/Nikichi is wise, thoughtful and composed. At the same time Inugami/ Sasuke has very short temper, many times scared and rather stupid, but his loyalty is astonishing - his similarity to dogs comes out in consistent barking, if you do not know then in rough translation Inugami means "Dog-god" (If you know Inuyasha, then his father was Inugami too). Hakutaku is here referred more as a horse with many horns, but actual meaning of Hakutaku is Bai Ze - Chinese mythical beast who is half lion and half goat, has many horns and 8 eyes.

Ichitaro has a Byobu Nozumo in his room - he is some kind folding screen ghost, who cannot leave the room. Also there are yanaris - they are second-best ayakashis. They are made with 100% computer - they are sooo cute and funny~! My favourite ayakashi was Suzuhiko-hime. "She" is so beautiful, stylish, elegant and I liked that "she" had some feelings for Hakutaku. but there is a joke with "her" (read the review of second series for that)
About human-beings: Dad is stupid and believes in all kind of charms. He made a very stupid

mistake in the past, when he got one other woman pregnant. But I think that even worse is mom's actions - because of her Matsunosuke (that half-brother of Ichitaro) was kicked out and left on his own under the clear sky. I understand it is painful etc, but it was heartless. AH! there is Eikichi too - he is Ichitaro's only childhood friend, who does not know about Ichitaro's special ability either.
Story is interesting if you like supernatural things with a loony side. You might hate the shootings - even though it is 2007 year movie, it looks like from the start of 2000 - I know the video had a bad quality too~!

Spoilers: The end is rather unexpected. I did not understand why Ichitaro did not think that mother kept all these years it a secret that she can also see ayakashis, while he was suffering. Beside, he did not leave any sign that he was surprised by the fact that his grandma was ayakashi! In addition, I understood that the woman Hakutaku loved was also grandma - why not when granny was over 3000 years old and Hakutaku over 2000...

SHABAKE 2ND SERIES: USOUSO (2008)
Country: Japan
Genre: supernatural, mystery
Format: TV-movie
Cast: Tegoshi Yuya, Tanihara Shosuke, Takasugi Ko, Miyasuki Hiroyuki, Maya Miki, Kishibe Ittoko, Okada Yoshinori,Takaki Yuya, Saotome Taichi
Synopsis:  Ichitaro's adventure goes on. He starts to feel earthquakes, which no-one else does, and a voice telling to kill Ichitaro. His grandma gives him one flower's seeds and also tells Ichitaro's mother to let him go to Hakone. Mother approves it and Ichitaro takes up a trip to Hakone with Matsunosuke, Hakutaku and Sasuke, but only two of them arrive to Hakone, where earth trembles even more and people are more vulgar.
Rating: 3/5
Funny, that many people do not know that Shabake had a sequel too - there are only view places to read about it - and one is here!! ^^
It was more interesting than the first movie, also it had much better screening - all shooting was great and they added more believable computer-effects.

Ichitaro was even more naive than in the first movie. He and Matsunosuke were ready to sacrifice themselves for each other all the time and that's why they got into really stupid situations.
Mostly the movie dedicates on jealousy and how people tend to compare each other lives. Most of them tell that Ichitaro is so lucky and his life is easy, but in reality he is hanging on the edge of a life and death. I do not understand why people are jealous - everyone have their lucks and happiness as well as serious problems and worries - some of them just do not show the bad side to the whole world.

Even so, Himegisama story is sad and made me cry. I have never liked humans personality for its two-faced being, but this is just so wrong in the movie. She is so sweet little girl.
In fact, there is Death Valley/Hell Valley/Great boiling Valley in Hakone. It is a popular tourist place, which stinks, and where you can buy longevity eggs.
Now the "joke" about Suzuhiko-hime.. "She" decides to help Ichitaro. After that you will meet with a wanderer Suzunosuke - and you can see that it is a guy, but

Gyoza sake how similar he is with Suzuhiko-hime. and then you want to find out the actress of Suzuhiko-hime and actor of Suzunosuke and then there is the truth that they both where played by Saotome Taichi - one of the most famous taishu enki (kabuki one form) actor and he usually plays young males and beautiful women. Well, how many girls have confidence that they are pretty as girls when they must stand beside him - he makes a prettier girl than most of girls are... In the end, I felt like both Ichitaro's father and mother are going to abuse him O.o Father dragged him home and just look Mom's glance at him =P

Ranma 1/2 (2011)

Country: Japan
Genre: comedy, martial arts, romance
Format: Live-action movie
Cast: Aragaki Yui, Kaku Kento, Natsuna, Furuta Arata, Namase Katsuhisa, Hasegawa Kyoko, Nishiyama Maki, Tanihara Shosuke, Nagayama Kento, Kanai Yuta, Tayama Ryosei, 
Synopsis: Made after Takahashi Rumiko same-named manga/anime. Tendo family's dojo is in danger as their last follower quits. Right at that time the family head Tendo Soun receives a postcard from his old friend Saotome Genma, which says that he is bringing his son Ranma to Tokyo. Years ago Soun and Genma made a promise that their children will marry each other in order to inherit the dojo's. However there is a big "BUT" - while training in China, Ranma and Genma fell into Jusenkyo's springs, which now make then transform when their head get wet. Genma turns into Panda with cold water and Ranma into girl. Even though they turn back with hot water, Ranma wants to find a secret spring, which will make him 100% man again for ever and that spring is said to be in Tendo's hold.
Rating: 4/5
I am not a big fan of live-actions as usually they tend to fail at making them and I "Ranma 1/2" my favorite anime ever. I did not hold my expectations high, so the movie actually surprised me. Once again, if someone is to make live-action, please let Japanese do it (because USA live-action of "Dragon Ball" is the worst thing ever!!!!!).

Ranma was played by Kaku Kento. After seeing his martial art skills I understand why he was picked. He made all the moves himself. He was a little bit too skinny from face, but it is not the actor's fault that I imagine Ranma a little bit chubbier from face. I love how Kaku Kento nailed Ranma's attitude and personality. Ranma has rude speaking and uses rude expressions, many times he is full of himself and his so-called "pride" loses its meaning in certain circumstances.

Natsuna in Ranko (Female Ranma) role was on the top. It was enjoying to see how there were similarities to Kaku Kento's face-expressions. Natsuna acting was great. She looked exactly how she supposed to be and she was able to give right attitude to Ranko. I do not think she did her fighting for her, but it seemed that they used a stunt (just be the way the shootings were made).

Most doubts I had for Aragaki Yui. I have seen many dramas by her, so I did not believe that she could pull it off, but she took me by surprise. She was perfect for the role, maybe she had a little bit too feminine and less tom-boyish attitude, but it is forgivable as most of the scenes needed her to be more emotional. I did not liked that they made her to do kendo, Tendo's dojo was just for "anything goes with" martial arts (cannot explain it) with kicks, blocking, jumps etc, not for kendo. I liked that they portrayed AkanaxRanma relationship really well. It was cute and exactly as in manga/anime.

From other characters I most enjoyed Nabiki, because with her attitude it was a great idea to put her into host club and that made seducing Ranma for her own good more funnier. Easily said Nabiki is the daughter who will sell even her own family for certain amount of money. Also believable were Soun and Genma. I did not like the fact that they had made Kasumi's cooking skills to fun - as every time the it took hours for her to finish cooking. Actually she was a great cook, but it was good that they showed how naive Kasumi was.

I understand why they put Kuno's character in it, but I do not understand Gosunkugi role, because he is one of the most unimportant characters! They changed Sasuke's role with Gosunkugi, those fail spying were Sasuke's thing, not Gosunkugi's. Well, Kanai Yuta made a great work as Gosunkugi, especially by appearance. Same goes to Nagayama Kento who made Kuno look hot - in manga/anime he more is just masculine.

The authors of the movie (director, scriptwriter etc) have said that they wanted to make the movie like it is another OVA of anime, so that is the reason why they put in the new villain. I did not like the new villain as he was.. fail? I have nothing against drag queens, but it was a little over the board for me. It was amazing how much drag queens there were! On the other hand, Ranma 1/2 has always had weird, extra-ordinary characters, who have weird reasons for their actions. As they made it as a OVA it does not disturb that they do not have some reaaaaalllly important characters as Ryoga, Shampoo and Ukyo. They do mention Happosai, but in the girls locker room it would have been fun to see him. 

More than everything, I liked that they had put into script some legendary must-needed things like body-comparing, Ranma's first kiss (actually it was another male character who stole his first kiss in the manga), Akane's hair, awkward moments between Akane and Ranma and there even is a hint to Ryoga's joke. ah! one fail what the filmmakers did, is that the computer tricks are horrible. Maybe they did not have enough budget for it, but I find that most live-actions suck at computer effects. The story itself was as great as it would have been written by Takahashi Rumiko herself, but I believe that Yoshihiro Izumi made a great research before writing the script.
I know that for all Ranma 1/2 fans it is a must-see movie and even if you do not know anything about it, the movie itself is so easy to understand. All actors have made a great job to bring out their characters.

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This is my last review in this year. I made some look-ups and found out that during the year 2011 I watched 14 dramas (+3 as I watched both seasons of "Code Blue" and rewatched "Yankee-kun to Megane-chan" and "Nobuta wo Produce") and 26 movies (+6 if you count rewatching) = in total 40 Asian mediaworks (49 all together). I would like to say that I try to watch more and write reviews faster next year, but I cannot. I hope you understand me when I say that I am going to have university entrance exams and high school finals in spring. Hope you all enjoyed last year and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY!!!