Archives For Japanese

Yu Aoi for Kiyoshi Kurosawa x Minato Kanae’s Shokuzai

November 1, 2011 — 2 Comments

I hope everyone is as excited as I am.

First… of course, I love Yu-chan. It seems like when my fandom is faltering, she throws a bone at me. LOL

Then… it’s a Minato Kanae revenge story. Kokuhaku wasn’t mind-blowingly amazing but it was pretty good, so I can’t complain from a revenge story about a woman who’s lost her kid and tries to get her now-grown friends to remember and seek atonement.

There’s also Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who directed Tokyo Sonata — which, you know… I wasn’t really as blown as everyone seemed to be with him. But it’s always exciting to see new people coming together to make projects. Especially since WOWOW is involved. I tend to like their off-beat dramas that get a lot of indie J-film flare.

Kyoko Koizumi — who has actually worked with Yu-chan in the play Gakuya — stars as the mom, and the four friends of her dead child are Yu Aoi, Chizuru Ikewaki (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish), Eiko Koike (Paco and the Magical Picture Book, Wool 100%) and freaking Sakura Ando (Love Exposure, 1).

The four women are being played by Aoi, Koike, Ando, and Ikewaki. 15 years earlier, when they were elementary school students, they had been playing with Emiri up until just before her death. They were the first to discover her body, and although they saw the culprit’s face, they were unable to remember it well enough to identify the person. As a result, Emiri’s mother (Koizumi) demanded that they find the killer, or else find a way to atone for themselves to her satisfaction. Now grown up, those women find her words coming back to haunt them as tragedy begins to befall them.

via BionicBong.com

Lasting only five episodes, the drama starts on January 8th, 2012.

Hope a fansub group subs this as soon as possible.

In Books, Celebrity, English, Japanese, Photographs, Sharing, Television , , , , , , ,
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Yu Aoi for Air frame5 CM

Oh, my gosh. I love Weibo. Not only do I get to see post such as this [1, in case you can’t see it], I also get to find out stuff xD. Plus, dedicated streams to Yu-chan stuff.

I get to semi-talk to other fans too.

It seems Yu is also promoting J!NS’ Air Frame — which are apparently super duper light. In the previous CMs (which are plain Air Frame ones) with Joe Odagiri and Chiaki Kuriyama [1]. They claim they’re only 10gr. which I guess is pretty impressive considering they look pretty sturdy.

My semi-rimless glasses seem pretty heavy in comparison.

There’s an HD version available but it’s not an official upload so it might get deleted.

*EDIT*

Here’s some behind the scenes and a small Q&A via JIJIPress.

Here’s a clip of the Making Of.

Posted on September 17, 2011 In Celebrity, Commercials, English, Japanese, Sharing , , , ,
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Traveling with Yu-chan and Calbee

I refuse to believe there’s no script on this one [1]. I just refuse to believe Yu-chan is this cute in real life. And I have an urge to eat some chips, with the lack of Calbee Potato Chipusu around – I’m just gonna have to get any other chips.

By the way, two funny CMs [KOIWEB] in like one week. Yu-chan, I know you do this on purpose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeXqCRUEB4A

— EDIT —

There’s also an Amusement Park version.

Posted on September 7, 2011 In Celebrity, Commercials, English, Japanese, Sharing , , , , , , , , ,
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My 13 Most Iconic Movie Images

September 4, 2011 — 6 Comments

Nick, over at Anomalous Material, did his list of 13 Iconic Movie Images (for him). I thought I would share mine here since things have been a little on the weak side lately.

I dunno exactly why 13, but… it suits me fine. It gave me room to include things I wouldn’t have included in the first place. I’m surprised I cut so many from my Top10 Fave Films, but I did manage to squeeze half of them in. LOL I also set myself two rules… no black and whites, or animated films. ;O

So here we go~~~

Tony Takitani


Continue Reading…

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In Chinese, DVD/BR, English, Films, Fun, Japanese, Screencaps, Sharing, Spanish, Stills, Swedish , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Moarrrr Yu Aoi Short takes

September 2, 2011 — 1 Comment

Seriously, it’s like Yu conspires to release info day by day for a whole week, and then she decides to close the news running for a whole year.

Starting September 5, Calbee Potato Chips [1] will be running new Yu Aoi CMs with non-scripted Yu!

The CM shows off her natural charms, as she laughs loudly, takes pictures, and strikes up fun conversations — all of which makes one feel as if they were on a vacation with her as well.

[…]

Furthermore, the producers did not provide a script for the actress, so she just went with the flow to deliver as much of her natural behavior as possible. Apparently, her acting was so good in this CM that the filming went smoother than expected.

via Tokyohive

—

In other news, I just found out what High School Yu-chan attended with Koike Teppei [1]. LOL, you know… I never thought of finding out, I just ran into the information while looking for something. It listed Teppei as a student there, and I thought… wait a minute! Didn’t Yu… and yes – yes, she was.

Horikoshi High School is a pretty unusual high school in Tokyo, in that… it’s common for idols to attend this school for its flexible schedules for hard-working idols. And it seems to be pretty expensive too~ Other notable students of this school are Ayumi Hamasaki, Aya Ueto, Matsumoto Jun, Kyoko Fukada, Masami Nagasawa, Asami Mizukawa, Anne Suzuki, and Ikuta Toma. [1][2][3]

Yup, that’s it.

Stuff for the next Wiki update? xD

In Celebrity, English, Japanese, Screencaps, Sharing , , , , , ,
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Yu Aoi for BEAMS’ KOIWEB: Koi o Shimashou

Yu-chan, why do you do these? I mean, release stuff on the same day. It makes me do multiple posts, and makes this blog look hugely disproportionate. xD

Having said that, what are these? Because they’re hilariously cute.

Continue Reading…

Posted on August 31, 2011 In Celebrity, Commercials, English, Fun, Japanese, Sharing , , , , , , , ,
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Yu Aoi for Rurouni Kenshin Live-Action

August 30, 2011 — 7 Comments

Is any of you Yu-chan fans a fan of Rurouni Kenshin?

I gotta admit that I’ve never read the manga — but I hardly read any manga or comic, so… — and I seldom watched the anime series they just to show regularly on Cartoon Network. But I did watch (and own) that OVA movie… Samuari X: Truth and Betrayal. I kinda loved it.

But I don’t know much about the Rurouni Kenshin universe, so I can’t tell you much.

Yu Aoi has been confirmed as Takani Megumi, which according to Wikipedia:

Megumi is the youngest daughter of Takani Ryūsei, a well-known doctor in Aizu which was an important province supporting the Tokugawa Shogunate. During the Boshin Wars, Megumi’s father died and the rest of her family went missing, leaving her as the sole survivor.

[…]

Watsuki’s describes his standalone Megumi as bearing a “lighter quality” as she had a small role in that story. In the final series Watsuki decided to give her an “earthy quality” so she could make an impression on the reader.

The description on Wikipedia makes it sound like an interesting role involving Megumi knowing Western and Eastern medicine… and the tragic disappearance of her family, as well as an opium storyline. But alas, I doubt they will deal with that in the film, considering she’s not a main character xD

Yu-chan is joined by Munetaka Aoki, who was on Nihonjin Shiranai no Nihongo and also shared credits with Yu-chan on NHK’s Taiga drama last year. Both actors will be back together with their Ryomaden director, Keishi Otomo.

In Celebrity, English, Films, Japanese, Manga, Sharing ,
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Yu Aoi for Tamatama Movie

August 25, 2011 — 5 Comments

I don’t… even know how she does it.

Or in general. How does Japan do it to not let anyone outside the production know that they’re making any type of movie? Because when they want you to, they make sure you know.

How is it possible that we find out Yu Aoi was shooting a movie in location in Ireland a little over a month before the movie is set to open? Yes, Yu Aoi’s new movie is called Tamatama (translated to “by chance”) and is set to open on October 15th.

Little details are known from this Tokyograph report:

The film’s main concept is “tamatama,” which means “by chance.” Aoi plays a young woman who travels to Ireland, and the fantasy story depicts her life there as she encounters different people and places, resulting in occasional “miracles.”

Except for the miracle part, it sounds a lot like One Million Yen Girl… sans the Bitter-bug. xD

The film marks the debut for CM and MV director Komatsu Mayumi (小松真弓).

In Celebrity, English, Films, Japanese, Misc., Photographs, Sharing ,
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When Aoi Was Natsui

My gosh! Look what I found on Weibo~

At the time, Yu was only 1.50m xD

By the way, she’s turning 26 in two days. Yu is now closer to her 30s than her 20s. O_O

Posted on August 15, 2011 In Celebrity, English, Japanese, Sharing, Snapshots , , , , , ,
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Yu Aoi: Today’s Kakigoori

July 30, 2011 — 5 Comments

I am pretty (99,9%) sure that this used to be called Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu Kakigoori (春夏秋冬かき氷), which I translated as Kakigoori for All Seasons or Shaved-Ice for All Seasons. But now it’s called Kyou mo Kakigoori (今日もかき氷). I don’t know when that happened. But look!

We know how much Yu lovessssssssssss shaved ice, she’s like… super passionate about it. Some people love animals from shelters, melt for abandoned puppies and other assorted pets — Yu-chan loves herself some Kakigoori. She loves Taiwan for it, and my Mandarin teacher who’s from Taiwan tells me shaved-ice in Taiwan is off the hook out of this world.

I have no illuminating knowledge about shaved ice, because apparently Peruvian raspadilla has NOTHING on Taiwanese shaved ice. But there you go! Now you know how to say shaved ice in Peruvian Spanish~ I’ll put it in katakana: ラスパディーヤ // RASUPADI~YA. LOL The root of the word comes from “raspar” which means “shave” – and while in English, there’s also what we call “snow cones,” raspadillas aren’t really served in a cone.

Another common name for shaved ice in Spanish is granizado, in katakana: グラニザード // GURANIZA~DO, which comes from the word “granizo” as in “hail” ~~~ and also the term nieve raspada (shaved snow) or in katakana: ニエーベ　ラスパーダ // NIE~BE RASUPA~DA, which in itself is a wonk term because you can’t shave snow… can you?

Are you bored by now with my Kakigoori knowledge? Well, in any case Yu is willing to travel the world for the perfect Kakigoori… I guess she’s going to need to know how to call it in different names. But if my teacher is telling me the truth, then Taiwan is all Yu needs.

Here are some more photos!

Continue Reading…

In Celebrity, English, Japanese, Photographs, Reading, Screencaps, Sharing, Spanish , , , , , ,
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