Tag: yu aoi

  • Long Version – Masaki Okada and Yu Aoi for MAIKA’s Kokoro – Raiou MV

    Okay, this is bordering on Spam~

    But Raiou opened on Friday (it’s been more than half the day in Japan already). So there’s been a lot of news naturally, and I hope there are more reviews… super-hoping in English. xD

    You know I’ve been listening to Maika’s album right? That she reminds me of Shakira, and I’ve been pimping some of Maika on YAM [1][never never never give up]. Also OFF-TOPIC, but this made me realize Twitter needs a search your tweets feature.

    Anyway, this is Kokoro… but 2 minutes longer =D So more Yu and Msaki Okada singing. LOL

    [iframe src=”https://player.yinyuetai.com/video/player/88676/v_5501040.swf” width=”480″ height=”334″]

  • First Ouch Reviews for Redline and Raiou

    Okay, the Raiou review isn’t so ouch because it’s in Japanese, and it didn’t seem to talk much about the film – other than the synopsis – but they gave it 2/5 which… you know, it’s bad. It doesn’t really surprise me after Ryuichi Hiroki’s April Bride. We’re not talking about Shinobu Terajima — fully, in-your-face actress — with Ryuichi Hiroki. We’re talking about Eita and Nana Eikura — the idols.

    But still, as an idol film, I think it’s gonna floor me. I’ve seen the clips, it’s got Yu-chan riding a horse in slow-motion. Screaming. Talking with an accent. Shooting an arrow. It’s got Yu-chan’s first proper on-screen kiss — it’s not an “in your head” kiss scene, it’s not a stolen kiss — it’s a proper romance.

    Then Mark Schilling from the Japan Times – who also kicked FLOWERS in the shins – kicks Redline too. I’m gonna pick the phrases that sum up his review the best:

    “Redline” is all about visceral thrills that peak in the first slam-bang, headlong race scene. The film then spends the next 90 minutes trying to top this opener — about 90 minutes too long for me.

    …

    But the first 10 minutes are terrific.

    There you go. He gave it a 2.5/5

    But he says the animation is good, which… I mean – have you seen the World Record short from The Animatrix? Same guy directing. I can’t wait to just feast my eyes. Maybe, if the story and action is as sucky as he says (not enough drama, again?) Maybe I’ll just watch it one more time. I mean, he did love Tekkonkinkreet.

  • Yu Aoi on Asahi TV’s Tetsuko’s Room

    Or at least that’s what I translated Tetsuko no Heya. xD

    The interview is good, we learn a bit — including two questions that some fans wanted to know, or at least that’s what your questions were about. What was her favorite role (or at least that’s what I understood when she replied), and a bit about her family… which also gave us some new photos – including this one!

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  • Why Raiou Needs to Reach #1~

    Raiou, based on the novel by Mari Ueza about tragic lovers, is set to open next week on Friday the 22nd. It stars idol-in-the-rise Masaki Okada opposite established-idol-transitioning-to-actress Yu Aoi. What does Raiou mean to their careers?

    A rising-star and an established-idol starring in a period drama romance? If it succeeds, it means the rising-star will keep on rising, and the established-idol still has “it”. A period drama romance lays solely on its protagonists’ shoulders, and their chemistry. If it fails, it’s because of them. That’s a lot of scary thoughts right there~

    Why does Yu Aoi need Raiou to succeed? She is indeed an idol still. She sponsors products, and she makes a living selling products. She’s young — to westerners, anyway — she’s cute, youthful… the whole shebang. However, the life-span of a Japanese female idol is short, some of them have retired at 20! So Yu, having turned 25 already, isn’t… well, a young idol any longer. She’s been away of major mainstream entertainment, she’s had relationships, she’s been on tabloids as people discuss who she really is dating. Everything takes its toll. She’s now a woman. An actress who is still an idol. Will people support her passed her prime-early-twenty years like they did when the hit Hula Girls came out?

    Raiou holds Yu’s idol-hood future. Will it be a hit right away? Shoot to number one the first week to then drop the next? Will it slowly climb to number one in two or three weeks and stay there a week or two? Will it climb slowly up to stay there for several weeks? Will it never reach number one?? Whatever happens, it will change Yu’s bankability.

  • Hello, Goodbye YAM012~

    Hello to YAM012.

    Goodbye (sorta) to YAM PDF.

    Hello to yam-mag.com~

    Head over, for the last time, to my portfolio to download the latest and last issue.

  • Yogashiten Coin de Rue Trailer

    Okay, too much Yu-overload this week. My fan-brain can’t handle all this information. Plus, the new film opens nearly one week after my 25th bday –oh, Grilled Cheesus! I’m so old!

    [iframe src=”https://www.nipponcinema.com/v2/play.swf?config=https://www.nipponcinema.com/cfg/yogashiten-coin-de-rue-trailer” width=”560″ height=”315″]

    Highlights from the trailer? Hello, tasty pastries? It wasn’t long ago that I was trying to think of nice Foodie films. I think Coin de Rue could be a good candidate. That mousse looked potentially-mouthwatering-inducing.

    Second, I love that Yu-chan gets to work with pastries. And this one’s even more about the pastries.

    Third, Yu-chan cheek-pulling. I literally burst out laughing when I saw that. Does that happen a lot? I know that in America is considered very “aunt-y” for a woman to pull her nephew or niece’s cheek. I think it happens a lot in Asia. All my Korean roommates (and some friends), we used to pull each other’s cheeks all the time. But then again, there was also some un-wanted Korean spanking.

    via Nippon Cinema.

  • Raiou at the Pusan Film Fest

    Yu-chan’s been busy! Or it’s actually been busy for us…

    REDLINE opened in Japan, as well as some dates in San Francisco – jealous! There was also the re-run of last-last week’s episode of Ryomaden on Friday night. On Saturday, there was a re-run of Hana & Alice on i-Sat. Plus, Yu-chan’s also been in Korea for the Pusan Film Festival to promote Raiou!

    G-Dragon must be there stalking. He really should visit the site and comment, we could really be friends.

    Anyway! As you know, Yu-chan’s pretty popular in Korea. Hana & Alice opened there as well, and even her film Letters from Nirai Kanai (with no subs yet) was released there under the name “Aoi Yu’s Letters” Snap!

    Yu-chan looks so pretty xD

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  • SF Yu Aoi and Animation fans: Redline Opens this Week in your City

    I wish I had known sooner, but I just found out today.

    REDLINE will be opening in San Francisco this Friday 8th at 7.15pm at VIZ Cinema – at the same time as in Japan! And will continue showing the film throughout the week. I already added them to the Yu Aoi Events calendar.

    Friday 8th – 7.15pm
    Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th – 12.30pm , 2.45pm , 5pm , 7.15pm
    Monday 11th – Thursday 14th – 5pm , 7.15pm

    Admission is $10

    If you catch the show, let me know. Would love to hear your thoughts.

  • Masaki Okada and Yu Aoi for MAIKA’s Kokoro – Raiou MV

    It’s supposed to be the short version – remember this? – Well, it’s here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu2aVWvP__o

    Have I told you that MAIKA reminds me a LOT of old school Shakira in her Donde Estas Corazon and Donde Estan los Ladrones days? You know, before she turned blonde on me and began doing that thing she calls Shakira music in English? Kind of like Alanis when she became happy. Shakira was the Latin American Alanis.

    So I approve of Maika. Must now find if she’s got an album – hmm… kinda reluctant to get a single. But, anyway… remember Masaki and Yu were going to lip-sync? OMG, it’s the cutest thing ever. I hope there’s a long version of just the two of them lip-syncing because that was the highlight of the video.

  • 31-Day Movie Meme: Anomalous Edition

    Ahh… I hope I can finish this post in less than 30min. LOL Or sure I’ll be whining with the people at Anomalous Material for posting so many Memes xD

    But we’re lazy, so we’re doing a 31-day Meme into one post. Just like we did on the TV Meme… only with more pictures! Because I think that TV Meme needs photos, right?

    1. A Sequel that Shouldn’t Have Been Made

    You know there should be something wrong when all the sequels went straight to DVD. That’s a sad sad ending for a good cheesy film like Bring it On. The sequels bring so much shame when mentioning Bring it On, which by the way had Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku… and Gabrielle Union. And cheers. I said Brrrr it’s cold in here! There must be some Clovers in the atmosphere~~~ LOL a perfect introduction to setup what the cheese will be about, and a more poppy-end-of-the 90s-rendition of Hey, Mickey!

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