Resident ~ 5nin no kenshui~ (2012)

Country: Japan
Format: drama in 10 episodes
Genre: medical, drama
Cast: Naka Risa, Masuda Takahisa, Hayashi Kento, Oomasa Aya, Ishibashi Anna, Sudo Risa, Arakawa Yoshiyoshi, Minakawa Sarutoki, Terajima Susumu, Furuta Arata, Ozama Yukiyoshi, Chiba Yudai,
Synopsis: Five interns become part of a medical team to but their skills into practice. They do not have to save only lives of their patients, but their mind must grow as doctors to be able to continue saving lives in future. Each of them faces the challenge of their past that keeps interfering their work.
Rating: 3/5
Seriously, I have never waited after subtitles for so long as for "Resident", but I am so grateful that they still decided to finish it even if it took around 1,5 years.

Helter Skelter (2012)

Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: ***, plastic surgery, drama
Cast: Sawajiri Erika, Terajima Shinobu, Omori Nao, Ayano Gou, Mizuhara Kiko, Arai Hirofumi, Suzuki Anne, Terajima Susumu, Momoi Kaori, Aikawa Sho, Harada Mieko, Kubozuka Yusuke,
Synopsis: Lilico has gone under full-body plastic surgery and has become the most famous model in Japan, but all that falseness has also brought misery. Nothing lasts forever and so the surgery has begun to give backlashes and the new rival in beauty industry promises to ruin her little happiness she has left.
Rating: 5/5
I have not read the manga itself, but as much as I have heard, then it is a bit shallower than manga, but I really enjoyed the movie. It contains sex, drugs, violence, bad language and it is the closest thing to porno that I have ever seen and yet it was able to captivate me because of the amount of different feelings that you will get from this movie is huge. Each second was really interesting for me. But I admit that I would not let any person under age 16 watch it.. never..

No matter how hated or scandalous Sawajiri Erika is she is a brilliant actress. Everyone still thinks that she is beautiful and great actress. I think she is one actress who might do whatever she wants and it all will be forgiven, because her acts in the past have made it possible to act in movies like this. Would you imagine Kitagawa Keiko or Aragaki Yui in a role like that? Of course not, because many have said and I think so too, that Sawajiri Erika was acting as herself in many scenes.

Lilico has done full-body plastic surgery. As there is almost everything fake about her and that has

brought her enormous fame, but it has also made her soul empty. Everybody loves her but at the same time no one really loves her. "What do they love - I even have not met them or talked to them". Even now I am not sure if she was the victim or the culprit. She is selfish, does not care of other people's feelings and wants to be the best, nr. 1 forever, but at the same time she is nothing, just trying to please everyone, the sadness and emptiness are killing her!

That's why I felt sorry for her while hating her. Beauty and fame do not bring happiness especially when everything is fake - it is just a curtain before the theater stage. Fake creates fake and that's the way it is. Lilico gave people the fake they wanted and she got the fake response to it too, but you can see how she was actually looking for something real like true love and life without lies, but these things were already impossible for her. Her falseness was explained really simply "Beautiful on the outside, but eaten by the bugs inside".

The scariest part of the movie was when I found myself a little similar to Lilico. I have seriously nothing similar to her, but in some way I understood her and what she was going through. It is so strange that even though the movie shows how fake Lilico was, it also shows how fake our society is - especially woman's beauty - fake eye-lashes, contacts, nails, make-up, push-ups, hair-extensions and simple beauty injections/surgeries - they are all really everyday-ish things.

People have become so obsessed with outer beauty, that it stops being beautiful and it is really ironic when these kind of people are criticizing how others are fake. I am not against beauty products or surgeries, but I think that each thing has it's limits and sometimes people are the prettiest when they are natural. Lilico says "Beauty makes you strong", but I do not think so - being beautiful gives you more confidence, but it does not bring you more strength.

The only people Lilico really needs to have by her side are assistant Hada Michiko  and her make-up artist Kin-chan. With out them she would not have survived. But Hada-san was really weird character. She was hopelessly in love with Lilico, but sometimes she loved to stab her back. Then again she was not a lesbian, because she had younger boyfriend Shin. Shin is acted by Ayano Go and I really did not recognize him in the movie. Hada-san is used by Lilico as personal slave, who is treated like trash and then spilled over with "presents". I think that with Hada and Shin, Lilico's worst personality traits came out and it was soooooooooo sick! I almost vomited several times because of her actions.

In the end, I think that the most horrible character in the movie was Mama. Saying that Lilico is her creation and the real girl Lilico used to be is nothing. Using someone only for money.. and then ruining the original agreements for what Lilico was able to cope with all that hard work..
I think it is one of a kind movie and it is exactly "helter skelter" aka "total chaos". Even when the time has passed, I am fascinated by everything in this movie and I seriously want to know how it is shown in Japan, but at the moment my bowl of chips got empty, so only thing to say is "WATCH IT and tell me what you thought of it" :)

SPOILER-review: The end was so scary! The moment when she killed herself was so horrible and sad at the same time. For a moment everyone stopped and watched, but then they continued to take pictures - reminds me how people are now making photos and uploading them to internet before calling help. When person makes a suicide in front of you, YOU CALL AMBULANCE! -.- And then the movie went on and I found out that "HOLY SH*T! THAT WAS ALL A PLAN!!!" O.o but I really was screaming in the end "F*** THAT B***H WON'T DIE!!" (I was so scared that I was even unable to replace the words as I usually do..)

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.

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. 

Code Blue

CODE BLUE (2008)
Season 1
Country: Japan
Genre: work, medical, life
Format: drama 11 episodes + special
Cast: Yamashita Tomohisa, Aragaki Yui, Toda Erika, Higa Manami, Asari Yosuke, Ryo, Kodama Kiyoshi,  Katsumura Masanobu, Yanagiba Toshiro, Sugimoto Tetta, Terajima Susumu, Yuui Ryoko, Shima Kaori
Synopsis: Interns Aizawa, Shiraishi, Hiyama and Fujikawa start their flight-doctor training. They must save people in unpredictable and dangerous situations with less time and equipment.
Rating: 3/5
I did not liked the first season very much, it was kind a boring. Almost in every episode they saved the person, but in real life it is great if there is at least one person who doctors can save. Also in first season it totally looked like they do not have a personal life (except for Hiyama), that made drama monotonous.

I liked that Aizawa's character made trough a big change during the drama. At first he was a "bastard", then he became "cool bastard", then "cool lifesaving bastard" and finally he was "cool lifesaving bastard with emotions and reasons". Why he still was bastard? Because he was so egoistic and thought he really is better than other (Oke he was the best, but it is a big difference between knowing it and showing it!!). But I must say that I would have preferred to be treated by Aizawa too, because he  was sooo ahead of others.

I also liked Kuroda-sensei, he had personality problems, but in the end he did everything to help interns. Who I did not like, were Shiraishi and Mitsuno-sensei. Shiraishi was just too theory-type person and that made her annoying. Mitsuno-sensei was the doctor, who did not have the doctor-attitude... but I must say that I did not recognize Ryo at the first place, because I was more used to see her with really short hair. And on Hiyama and Fujikawa spot, I much stayed neutral. Drama does not concentrate on other doctor's personal thinking at all, which makes the drama a little bit too plain. It is like only Aizawa's world. You could say that it pretty Japanese version of "Dr. House", exepct that dr. House is young fresh intern in "Code Blue" and is named Aizawa.. 
There is only one special story-line and it is "them as interns"... yes, nothing more.. but it is a great "mediacal research drama"! =P
The special really seemed like another episode of season 1, so there is not much to bring out.

CODE BLUE (2010)
Season 2
Country: Japan
Genre: work, medical, life
Format: drama 11 episodes
Cast: Yamashita Tomohisa, Aragaki Yui, Toda Erika, Higa Manami, Asari Yosuke, Ryo, Kodama Kiyoshi,  Katsumura Masanobu, Sugimoto Tetta, Terajima Susumu, Yuui Ryoko, Shiina Kippei, Shima Kaori, (Quests: Lily Franky, Hamada Gaku, Hirayama Hiroyuki, Yoshida Yo)
Synopsis: After going back from the suspension, interns are soon going to end their internship. They all have their hesitations and concerns about the past and future.
Rating: 4/5
I liked it much more than the first season. First of all people died in it, which made it more like real life, but now in every episode someone died. It kind a look like, when in first season they saved all the people, then in second season they cannot save them. Secondly, it showed their personal life, so they are not all robots and workaholics. Even a doctor has it's own family and personal problems.

In season two Aizawa was not a bastard anymore (Thank you, Kuroda-sensei!!), he turned into cool!best!handsome! New supervisor was annoying at the start, but he turned out to be more appealing that you will guess. Also Shiraishi was less annoying.
In first season, there did not seemed much friendship between four of them, but in second season they stand for each other. I think that because of the suspension they bounded together, which was great.
Surprisingly I did not cry much during it, but the episode where Hamada Gaku was guest was the saddest and the BEST episode of all seasons. This episode totally gave a plus marks to it.
In the end, second season was much better - it has more activity going, more realistic, characters' personalities have made trough a change etc. They more concentrate on characters' thinking and life-views. So it has more different story-lines than in first season.But still it mostly concentrated on Aizawa and his past.