I’m on a high after watching Shunji Iwai’s The Case of Hana & Alice, which is honestly just wonderful. The film opened back in February with both Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki back in their roles and promoting the film. I ran into a short interview they did for Filt for their Feb-Mar’15 edition, which feature this beautiful picture of the both.
… and their 3D pencil doodle.
All photos by Fumihito Katamura.
Always good to keep an eye on Gobelin students. Really nice animation on this short~
Making Of Reel available on Charles Badiller’s Vimeo.
Tell me the truth- did you miss this enthusiastic me? All these up to date project announcements take me back years into fandom when we all used to talk about all things Yu! Anyway, the latest in one of the few project announcements in Yu Aoi’s repertoire [1][2] is that she’s set for Nobuhiro Yamashita’s latest film titled Over Fence (オーバー・フェンス), which is an adaptation of a story in the anthology Kogane no Fuku (黄金の服) by Sato Yasushi.
The film also stars Odagiri Joe and Shota Matsuda.
Over Fence completes a trilogy based on Sato’s stories, beginning with Sketches of Kaitan City (海炭市叙景) and The Light Shines Only There (そこのみにて光輝く).
Sources: Eiga.com, Film Business Asia
You never really know with katakana spelling… is it Spokane’s Left Hand (スポケーンの左手)? If I hadn’t googled スポケーン, I would’ve totally thought it’s “spoken,” but apparently this brand new play is based on the 2004 Academy Award-winning Irish comedy short by Martin McDonagh, which starred Brendan Gleeson — Gleeson’s son, Domhnall Gleeson… now, sorta famous in his own right, also shows up. Watch it here.
The play also stars Nakajima Shu (中嶋しゅう) — in, I suppose, the Brendan Gleeson role, Song Ha (成河) – as Rúaidhrí Conroy, and Okamoto Kenichi (岡本健一) – as the man on the train.
Spokane’s Left Hand will be running from November 14 to Novemeber 29th at the Theatre Tram in Tokyo. Tickets are available at Ticket Pia at Y7,800.
I finally sat through Dr. Rintaro and my Yu Aoi fandom has reignited once again! PB-buying and all [1][2]. Oh, yeah~ I had it bad this week. Yu’s personal life has also -all of a sudden- become public domain (or it’s easier to run into it through social media), so it’s been out there for public consumption and mass-devouring. My street kanji-reading is poor, but Google Translate has been calling her names. Demon-woman, what is this? The Dark Ages?
Also- Miyazaki Aoi’s in a new relationship… it seems. *cough*
Anyway- Monday was Yu’s 30th Birthday, and she celebrated with a group of people I had no idea were her circle of friends- these are taken from Peter‘s blog, and also feature cross-dressing personality Mitz Mangrove and… I suppose, gravure idol Ruriko Kojima (her kanji name is all funky 小嶋瑠璃子).
And… I found this random ranking where they ask to rank young actresses based on their talent, and for the first time that I’m able to recall, Yu comes on top of Miyazaki Aoi. LOL So, more power to Yu! Though, Masami Nagasawa comes at #3, followed in #5 by Aya Ueto, Satomi Ishihara at #6, Ayase Haruka at #7, Horikita Maki at #9 and Mao Inoue at #10.
Toda Erika ranks at #4, and I don’t know who Yui Aragaki at #8 is. LOL And there’s no Hikari Mitsushima nor Sakura Ando, so this list is of idols. xD
Yu’s officially three-decades-old… but still is as cute as ever, even though she’s trying to be all grown-up and stuff. Just sit her in front of a nice matcha shaved-ice with red beans (or a velvety choco-purin), and you’ll get her all giddy.
That’s exactly what happened when promoting Dr. Rintaro on the Japanese variety Pon! with co-star on-screen mom Atsuko Takahata, who -I must say- is hilarious, too. These are obviously via the Yu Aoi Chinese fans. Watch the video. It’s 10min. long and it takes a while to load (for me).
She also did the Lilo & Stitch voice-over event [1], and apparently got back together with someone from her Oha-girl days, so they did an Oha greeting! lol
Oh, man. I remember how much I used to love Yu-chan. xD I think I’m going to watch Climbing to Spring without subs, and hope to watch The Case of Hana & Alice now that it’s out on DVD.
For the latest volume of MEKURU Magazine [Facebook][Official Website], they are holding a special on Yu Aoi who will be turning 30! I’m not sure what’s gonna be in there (Japanese being rusty and all), but there’s gonna be an interview and (maybe?) photos by Kawashima Kotori (川島小鳥) [Portfolio], who apparently is an Ihei Kimura (木村伊兵) awarded photographer for his book Star (明星) [Amazon JP].
It’s titled Aoi Yu, Saisho de Saigo ni Ren’ai o Kataru (蒼井優、最初で最後に恋愛を語る) — you’ll have to forgive my des and nis translations.
They’re totally selling it like a direct sequel to Travel Sand. xD
There will also be a poem by Shuntaro Kanikawa (谷川俊太郎) titled Aoi Yu (あおいゆう). Among other stuff I can’t make out, it’ll include 128 pages and will be listed at Y907 Yen. It’s available on Amazon JP and HMV JP.
Yu Aoi is old enough to have a daughter… from the future for this latest CM.
For some reason, her daughter has her same hair-styled bun and that adorable fuzzy hairline that everyone loves. Otherwise~ good casting! Why need a dad when your kid looks just like the mom!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOGL8z-g7v0
Also, I hope this doesn’t disappear because Japanese brands have this crazy idea that they can delete videos and accounts once the commercial’s season is over. No, people, these stay.
I haven’t caught up with Dr. Rintaro since the first episode, but Yu-chan’s name has been going around on Twitter. Apparently — according to Twitter/Google/Bing translation — Yu is one of the actresses/actors who smoke. You know Japanese magazine rags, though, all text no images xD If anyone is shocked/surprised/following this, please do let me know. Otherwise, disregard. If Yu is, in fact, smoking… for years, hats off. Gurl, how do you keep yourself so young? Genes, I tell you, GENES!
In other news… The Case of Hana & Alice is (finally) coming out on DVD/BR disc in August.
【「花とアリス殺人事件」ブルーレイ＆DVD８月１２日発売！！】 ジャケット写真のデザインが公開！スリーブケースは初回限定☆特典映像には、岩井監督、蒼井優さん、鈴木杏さんによる３Ｓインタビューの"完全版"等が収録。どうぞお楽しみに！ pic.twitter.com/jRd1Ytxn6P
— iwaiff (@iwaiff) July 7, 2015
There’s also news that Yu-chan will be voicing a character (I suppose the female robot) in an upcoming Disney Channel Lilo & Stitch SP. Complete with Yu & Stitch photo [picture][link].
… and finally~
I thought I could hate Sonam Kapoor and Fan Bingbing with a passion, but hey! Look at Mainland actor Huang Xiaoming or Japanese actor Masaki Okada, they never fail to make me want to punch them in the face. While Masaki Okada does have a sizable fandom of girls, I’ve yet to find someone (ANYONE!?) who likes Huang Xiaoming and his smug face. LOL
Battle conceded to Okada, I guess. xD
