Category: Japanese

  • Camouflage – Aoi Yu x Yottsu no Uso – Chapter 3

    Woah, long time no see, eh?

    Let’s see if I remember how to do this. First, because the Yu Aoi posts always get the most hits, I pimp the RSS subscriptions. There’s no better way to keep updated than by subscribing. So~ here you go, Google and Yahoo.

    Also, don’t forget the poll on the side (if there’s one), and support the site by buying stuff – not necesarilly what I suggest… but you can click those Amazon, YesAsia and/or HMV HK banners, and buy whatever you want. Also, I’m not allowed to say this but… ad my clicks, if you know what I mean. ;P

    Here we are, 2 years after the broadcast of Yu Aoi’s WOWOW drama Camouflage — also known as Yu Aoi x 4 Lies. If you are interested to know, Viikii allowed Saltine to post softsubs for it. Though the last episode (ep12) is the only one missing… it’s a HUGE improvement. So thank you Saltine.

    Okay, moving on!

    Chapter 3 — aka. ep7 through ep9 — is titled AKABANE San Shimai or The 3 Akabane Sisters, directed by director Nobuhiro Yamashita (Linda Linda Linda). The concept of this chapter is to tell the story of 3 sisters — Older and reliable Matsuko aka. Macchan aka. Matsu-nei (Shoko Ikezu), Takeko aka. Take-nei (Yoshimi Nozaki) , and free-spirited Umeko (Yu Aoi), who don’t always get along that well, but always makeup by the end, in the style of old comedy shows that last for several years. The first episode is actually the first ficticious episode of the show titled “Sayonara Okada Sensei” which has the sisters returning from the funeral of their old 6th grade teacher… (more…)

  • Aoi Miyazaki’s OKAN no Yomeiri + Colorful Trailers

    ‘Tis the trailer season… too many of them, and they will probably keep on being released.

    This time around, it’s all about Aoi Miyazaki and trailers for two of her upcoming films. First of the trailer for her — tear-jerking — drama OKAN no Yomeiri, in which her mother (Shinobu Otake), after one wild drinking night, brings a younger man who apparently is ready to marry her… out of the blue – Seriously, this starts out like a comedy… until Miyazaki’s character discovers her mom is *dramatic music* dying.

    And the second one is an animated film based on the award-winning novel by Eto Mori, about a spirit who is placed into the body of a teenager who has just committed suicide, so the spirit is able to get a second chance at life. INTERESTING!

    (more…)

  • Anna Tsuchiya – Atashi

    Earlier in the year I listened to one of Tsuchiya’s albums… I think it was Nudy Show? Anyway, I really dig her on Kamikaze Girls. I mean, she’s really funny in it. But Sakuran is okay… the album was okay-ish… and the music video included on the Kamikaze Girls dvd was very Alejandra Guzman to me.

    I hope she doesn’t end up like Alejandra Guzman.

    Anyway, here comes Tsuchiya’s new single – Atashi – after having her second kid… whom she called Simba (SHIMBA) LOL Too much Lion King. xD Lucky for the kid Tsuchiya didn’t decide on  Hakuna Matata.

    Atashi is an okay song. I’m not too fond on the word “atashi” mainly because it’s used for I/Me for women. I remember one of my Japanese lessons, and my teacher (a guy only one year older than me) told me this, and I went “But WHYYY?” Because that’s how it works. BAWWWW~

    There’s a motorbike on the video! LOL

  • OUCH First FLOWERS Review

    Just to show you I’m not hiding any info. Or am I?
    Huh… food for thought.

    Anyway, this is the first FLOWERS review I find, in English… not that I scouted FLOWERS reviews in Japanese, because that would be too much extra work, to be honest.

    And because I couldn’t find a proper poster for FLOWERS, I made my own — you’d think that’s also extra work, but I do like playing around with Photoshop for fun. LOL Does it look official? xD

    Moving on! To the review. It’s not positive. Actually, I sensed a hint of irony while reading it, and of course… FLOWERS reeks of Chick Flick – non-negative connotation. Why point this out? Because there’s a lot of description of what’s going on, and the conclusion is “not enough actual drama”?

    What then to make of Norihiro Koizumi’s “Flowers,” which recreates the look of everything from the 1930s black-and-white dramas of Yasujiro Ozu to 1960s Toho Technicolor comedies? Neither slavish imitation nor inventive recreation, the film is more about its faux authentic look and feel-good story lines than actual drama.

    While pointing out Gus Van Sant’s Psycho is a shot by shot remake, the review mentions FLOWERS recreates the look of every era they’re showing in the film… which, actually to me sounds appropriate. After all, my mom thinks Mad Men should be broadcast with a funny 1960s tinge. LOL

    Maybe the film’s fault is having six leading ladies, because that’s a LOT of storylines. It just makes you feel like there’s just too much going on, and then you’ve got the chick flick.

    The solutions to the heroines’ various dilemmas mostly include finding Mr. Right — or Mr. Good Enough — and having babies.

    Though that alone makes me feel like chocking someone, I gotta put that in the context of the storyline. Perhaps the heroine’s various dilemmas are impossible to solve, so women make do with what they got. It’s called settling and survival… and Japan pretty much sucks at letting women survive without a man. RIGHT?

    And what do you know… maybe it’s emotional. I say, if FLOWERS makes me cry, I’d consider it a job done. After all, the film’s biggest crippling device is…

    “Flowers,” however, is not Koizumi’s film so much as that of Takuya Onuki, an ad-agency creative director, who got the idea for it while making TV commercials for Tsubaki shampoo. Featuring top models and actresses, the ads offered striking proof that, as the copy said: “Japanese women are beautiful.”

    They certainly are in “Flowers,” which stars six of the most gorgeous, if variously talented, Japanese actresses now working: Yu Aoi, Yuko Takeuchi, Rena Tanaka, Yukie Nakama, Kyoka Suzuki and Ryoko Hirosue. Koizumi and cinematographer Taishi Hirokawa film them in one glamour shot after another — perfectly lighted, posed, madeup and coifed.

    Bolding mine.

    Of course, ad agencies. And talent agencies…
    SUCK IT UP, Idol system! SUCK IT UP!

    If you want to read the whole review, you can head over to Japan Times.

  • Tokyo Jihen to Compose Theme for Satoshi Miki Drama

    YES!

    Japanese Rock/Jazz Fusion Tokyo Jihen (Tokyo Incidents… but Jihen sounds so much cooler, right?) will be in charge of the theme song on Satoshi Miki’s upcoming drama starring Joe Odagiri and Chiaki Kuriyama. It seems like they were chosen because leader Shiina Ringo is popular among staff member — I’m already liking the staff members.

    The song will be called Tengoku he Youkoso (Welcome to Heaven), which will be available for mobile music download on July 21st, and regular download a week later on July 28th – with no physical release.

    via Tokyo Hive.

    Even more excited about watching this. xD

  • Studio Ghibli’s CG Video Game – Ni no Kuni

    I’m not a gamer, but I love Studio Ghibli.

    I am loving the look of this new PS3 game~ It looks like something wonderful is about to happen, and makes me wanna be part of it xD But I don’t game, so I will only hear people talk about it~

  • Redline Gets a Website and YouTube Channel

    It’s always exciting to see Animated films coming together, especially when they take so long to actually get there, you know? Instead of announcing a project, and releasing it just a year later? And just chunking out the next part a few couple of months later. Where’s the quality people!

    It seems like Redline has been in production for years… — since 1995, if I read correctly — and will finally see the light of day in October. It seems more real with a website in place and a YouTube Channel. They even have a Twitter too.

  • Who Are Yu? for H Magazine

    Yu-chan will be gracing the cover of H Magazine… again. She was previously on the cover with Ninomiya for a Tekkon photoshoot… and then she was on the Futari no H cover. I have never been able to find high quality scans of that Futari no H shoot… so if anyone has, let me know.

    Also, a quick reminder~ Uso. has officially been released. You can get it through HMV Japan… though I pre-ordered it, and they emailed me with a delayed message. BAW~

    On the Futari no H link, they mention Travel Sand and Yoko Takahashi. They say Yoko and Yu make up a dream team. xD They do create magic together. You can still buy Travel Sand [YesAsia][HMV JP][Amazon JP], and Dandelion [YesAsia][HMV JP][Amazon JP].

    I think both books are pretty big sellers… it always goes out of stock, and if I recall correctly, my Travel Sand book (or is it my Dandelion one?) is already a second print.

  • T.O.P – Turn it Up

    via Julz email xD

    Hi, there TOP? Why do you sound so much like Sean Paul? No wonder Nayeli thinks Koreans speak English like Jamaican people. Look, TOP… I love your sexy voice why do you have to go and mess it up with autotune. You can do a spoken word album, and it would sound good. LOL

    Having said that. Your video looks good. You look awesome… and you being dorky kills me.

    Also… you know what would have been even more killer? If you had Yu Aoi playing those drums… even a cameo would have killed G-Dragon, and you know it.

  • The L Word + Yu Aoi Fandom Crossover

    I’m sorry, I had to post this. xD

    I ran into this post in Japanese talking about something about a The L Word London/British BBC remake version (?), and the poster asked herself who she would cast in a Japanese remake of The L Word… or something like that. You know, you should always take my translations with a grain of salt. xD

    ベット:天海祐希
    ティナ:石田ゆり子
    アリス:菅野美穂
    ディナ:梨花
    ララ:香里奈
    ジェニー:蒼井優
    マ リーナ:原沙知絵
    シェーン:柴崎コウ
    カルメン:黒木メイサ
    パピ:土屋アンナ
    ヘレナ：松下ゆき

    Bolding mine~

    As Bette Porter: Yuki Amami
    As Tina Kennard: Yuriko Ishida
    As Alice Pieszecki: Miho Kanno
    As Dana Fairbanks: Rinka
    As Lara Perkins: Karina Nose (?)
    As Jenny Schecter: Yu Aoi <- I “WHAT” at this one xD
    As Marina Ferrer: Sachie Hara
    As Shane McCutcheon: Kou Shibasaki <- OMG I laughed at this one, actually snorted.
    As Carmen de la Pica Morales: MEISA Kuroki
    As Eva Torres (aka. Papi): Anna Tsuchiya <- I burst out laughing ‘coz I can picture it.
    As Helena Peabody: Yuki Matsushita

    First thoughts? It would be actually kind of exciting… considering Jenny was often described as “the main character” on the show, that would mean Yu on a new show xD and… no disrespect to Mia Kirshner and her Jenny, but OMG… how much I wanted to hit Jenny in the face. LOL She was… exasperating. So in that sense, I would like to see if Yu could make me want to punch her in the face with her Jenny, or if the Japanese writers (and Yu’s new interpretation) would be able to make me sympathetic towards her.

    And if by any chance it gets remade… well, I doubt any Japanese network would be able to get away with all the smut, so all the smut would have to be implied. I don’t have a problem with that, as I actually think that all the smut took away from whatever little you could salvage from the telenovela.

    *sighs* I haven’t talk about The L Word since it ended… unless you count the Shane posts xD And talking about Shane… how about Kou Shibasaki as her? I don’t know man… Shane’s like iconic. LOL It’s like you say “Shane” and people should know, you know? Could Shibasaki play suave? I don’t know any actress that could pull of Shane’s player attitude.

    And since we’re talking about players… how about Papi. You know why I laughed with the suggestion of Tsuchiya. Because I was reminded the time I was watching Kamikaze Girls with a friend, and Anna Tsuchiya, playing Ichigo, was on screen with Momoko (played by Kyoko Fukada) and my friend literally “She’s sooooo cool” and then she turned around and asked me whether Kamikaze Girls was a gay film. Hence, I can picture Tsuchiya playing Papi.

    Thoughts?