Archives For hachimitsu to clover

I haven’t actively looked for Yu Aoi fan-made videos in a long time, but here we go~ I hope this one doesn’t get deleted, coz we’ve been suffering from that a lot lately. Regular Yu Aoi film footage applies, with nice additions of Tamatama, and Otouto… though, Raiou would have been nice to have.

via Kawaii Joyuu

I guess the poll was for the release of Raiou… which was a bust. The film opened at #8, and has since then dropped out of the Top10. Where are the Masaki Okada fans when you truly need them?

From the Top10, 5 are dramas (Osen, Dr. Koto, Ryomaden, Tiger & Dragon, Unubore Deka) and two of those are recent. Considering her Ryomaden guest star has officially ended this Sunday, it boosted it to the Top5.

*goes rabid fan* Seriously, people! Honey & Clover over Hana & Alice??? O_O

This question should be, “which is the most popular Yu Aoi role?” For a “more proper” rank or a better guide on what you should be checking out — in case you’re a new fan — Check this Yu Aoi Ranked.

Also, Poll time!

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So… casting over at the current NHK Taiga drama gets even more interesting with the announcement that Yusuke Iseya will be playing Takasugi Shinsaku, samurai friend of Ryomaden.

His first appearance will be in the episode scheduled to air on July 18th. It starts from the scene where Ryoma meets Shinsaku and other Choshu samaurai by chance at a restaurant in Nagasaki.

Suzuki Kei, the chief producer, explained: “Ryoma and Shinsaku both died young, had an unconventional fashion sense, dreamed of activity overseas, there were a lot of common features between them. We’ll be depicting them as ‘having the same soul,’ the friendship and intermingling of two people as soulmates.”

via Arama They Didn’t.

Bolding mine.

I gotta be honest with you, I haven’t kept up with Ryomaden, mainly because it just gets a really difficult time-slot here. It airs like at 6am, and then it re-airs at 1pm… Maybe NHK should really think about differing their transmission. But then I would be complaining about that too, right?

Six Degrees of separation! Well, not really… Yu Aoi — anyone knows when her character will show up? — played opposite Yusuke Iseya on Honey & Clover. Their names also appeared together on Tekkonkinkreet… and Tekkon is much cooler than HachiKURO xD

I just wanted to post this photo.

A regular person would have 8 or 9 films, on this video you’ll get to see clips for 27 films (though a few of those are just blink and miss them, or just a still). I’ve seen most but 6 films, I think. I’m still looking for 1980, and JUKAI.

Plus, this is the best way to choose what Yu film you wanna watch~ xD

[iframe src=”https://www.tudou.com/v/ozVm6oSk6p8/v.swf” width=”480″ height=”400″]

check post tags for movie info. some missing because they’re not on this blog.
by the way, Ikechan looks sooooo weird. I wonder if the movie is any good.

WOOOOOO!! A freakin’ year~~~~

Yu Aoi - Year One

Today a year ago, I was introduced to Yu Aoi’s work on Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou, and the Shunji Iwai-related Rainbow Song. Little did I know that the characters that interested me the most in the films were played by the same actress. Nine days later, I watched Hula Girls, and a month later I was completely hooked with Yu Aoi, and yet another Shunji Iwai film… Hana & Alice.

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Hey, people!! For those of you just beginning to read this blog, the 6-Month-Mark refers to how long my interest seems to last.

I’m sooooo happy to say that it’s almost a year since I first saw All About Lily Chou Chou, and Rainbow Song. In fact, I’ve got my timeline all figured out (thank you, FB hahaha) – It will be a year on the 16th… since I got Asian (Japanese) cinemaphiled… a year of complete Yu Aoi also.

I’m preparing a ‘special’ post for that day, hahaha ‘coz it’s been a long time since I had found a subject to last this long… 3 years, give or take of fluttering fandoms. And because Yu Aoi fandom seems scattered, or very idol-craze sometimes… I have taken as my ‘job’ to create a place where we focus a lot on projects, and work less on icons, banners and graphic making. A place to discuss films, the seldom ‘crazy good’ photoshoots and NOT focus on personal life. LOL

As much as I love reading Lainey every weekday… I will not be blogging about Yu’s personal life. I have decided~~~ Now, you can blame that on two websites I visit (two actresses… one I’m a frequent visitor, and the other I’m even ghost staff almost hahaha). I’ve been taught to respect their privacy, and so I will. *sighs*

I will not be re-branding my site… this will still be my blog, and I will post about any other subjects that I want (specially during Award Season)… but hopefully I will have a good amount of Yu Aoi postings monthly. You may have also noticed that some links to Yu Aoi films are not working anymore, and I doubt I will be posting any film on my own… they are quite easy to find through Google.

I’m not against downloading stuff for distribution sake, I’m also in favor of fansubs… but if you love one of the films, and a release with the subtitles of your liking is officially available, go ahead and buy it. Buy photobooks… and other merchandise you feel like getting as long as it is to support an actor and their work. Don’t go around saying you support someone if you haven’t ever bought one of their films (in any region), or haven’t even gone to the theater to watch their films (in case the film is distribute theatrically), or even spent $20 to buy their ‘official’ calendar.

Yes, I know. Photobooks are pricey, so are Japanese region DVDs (and some don’t even have subtitles!!), but there are other ways you can support someone. American fans can go watch Tokyo! in theaters… they can buy Hana & Alice, or All About Lily Chou Chou, they can also buy Hula Girls. They can also support Yu projects by buying TekkonKinkreet on DVD and Blu-ray… or buying Honey & Clover which seems a pretty popular Yu Aoi film, or the Tetsujin 28 which I haven’t even dared to watch.

As a final note, you can pre-order Tokyo! (if you liked it, I’m not making anyone buy anything against their will) on DVD and Blu-ray discs, which will be released on June 30th.

Live Action version of the famous manga series Hachimitsu to KURO~BA, it follows the lives of five art school students, who are trying to find their way through life and love. Takemoto is not a very good art student… preferring to talk about Japanese castles and models. Morita (Yusuke Iseya – Kiraware Matsuko no Issho, Blindness) is an amazing artist, but fears the real world and prefers to stay behind in the safety of college life. Mayama (Ryo Kase – Tokyo!, PAKO to Mahou no Ehon, GUGU Datte Neko de Aru) is in love with (and stalking) his boss, while Yamada is head over heels for him. And Hagumi (Yu Aoi) is a child prodigy…

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