With Love

Rate: 7.0
Broadcasted in Japan: FujiTV April-June 1998
Duration: 12 episodes
Themesong: Destiny by MY LITTLE LOVER

Synopsis: It all started when Takashi(Takenouchi), a talented composer who could not write a love song ever since his girlfriend, Rina, left him suddenly, accidentally sent an uncompleted piece of his latest work to Amane(Tanaka) via email. Deeply touched by his music, Amane wrote back to him, without getting a reply. Amane continued writing to him, pouring out her thoughts. Only when she signed as "Teru Teru Bozu", did Takashi responded with a mail saying "WHO ARE YOU?", because what Rina left him as a farewell gift was a 'teru teru bozu'!

Acting performances:

Yutaka Takenouchi as Takeshi Hasegawa(Hata-san)
So cool!!!^O^ Hata-san no koto...daisuki!! Hontou kakkoi! Definitely love his appearance & performance! He can really reflect Hata's feelings of pain and agony perfectly!! And I definitely like Hata's cool attitude more than Eiki's^^(Takenouchi in Ice World)
And, I can see why Takenouchi-san got a Best Actor award for acting in this dorama!! He definitely deserved it!!^^
 

Misato Tanaka as Amane Murakami(Teru Teru Bozu)
I think she only gives a fair performance. She's not a beauty and don't really look compatible with Takenouchi. But, I think her character meant to be that way, so it's okay^^
Unfortunately, she's not a good actress, most of her expressions seems plain. What dissapointed me the most was her reaction when she found out Hata's true identity. Her expressions is not as shocked as I was expected >_<
 

First sight: I'm not really interested when I first read the synopsis. There are also not-so-good reviews on this dorama. But since, I'm a big fan of Takenouchi and my friend really recommended this coz Takenouchi looks cho kakkoi here, I decided to watch it!!^^

Comments: Such a SUPER slow-paced story!! Pheww...if it's not because of Takenouchi-san, I could've doze off watching this dorama^^ The theme of the story itself didn't really give the chance for the script to develop more, so it only goes round and round on one spot, with no progress at all until the last 3 episodes >_<
I mean, what can you expect from 2 people keep sending e-mails with each other, without knowing their true identity? There couldn't be possibly a progress unless they reveal their identities...and, that's when the story suppose to be ended!^^ That is why, this dorama can't get any faster than this =P
Takenouchi's performance is excellent, though!! His acting really worth to watch! Unfortunately, Misato Tanaka doesn't act well here, such a dissapointment. There are only few memorable scenes, too.
The themesong, Destiny by My Little Lover is great! Love the song!! Love the opening sequence too! And how I fell in love with "Once In A Blue Moon" tunes, such a beautiful music composed by Hata-san!!^_~
Overall, I recommend this to all Takenouchi's fans! And those who can stand such a slow-paced story^^

Watched: once, borrowed the VCD from a friend

Likes: Takenouchi as Hata, the themesong, the background musics and few memorable scenes

Dislikes: the slow-paced plot, the guy who had crush on Amane(such an irritating guy!! yuck! >_<)

Yamato Nadeshiko   

Rate: 9.0
Broadcasted in Japan:FujiTV Oct-Dec 2000
Duration: 11 episodes
Themesong: Everything by MISIA

Synopsis: Matsushima Nanako plays a character of Sakurako Jinno who grew up poor. Her wish is to grow up and never be poor again. So, her wish is to marry into a family that is rich and that has blinded her from truly finding a good man. Tsutsumu plays Nakahara Osuke, a brilliant academic who won an award for mathematics but throws away his future to take over his father's fish shop. What happens when Sakurako dates Nakahara with the assumption that he is a very rich man?

Acting performances:

Nanako Matsushima as Jinno Sakurako
Great acting by Matsushima!! She really made me laugh here!^____^ She rarely act in romantic comedy...so, its a fresh thing to see^^
 
 
 
 

Shinichi Tsutsumi as Osuke Nakahara
He's definitely a great actor!! He cracked me up so many times, with those innocent and ridiculous faces!! x)
 
 
 
 
 

First sight: Have read good reviews on it...^^

Comments: Sugoooooooi!!!!!! I loooove this dorama so much!!^O^ The idea of the story is very fresh and original! Its such a funny romantic comedy, either! Matsushima and Tsutsumi acted fabulously!
The part that made me cried buckets, is when Sakurako's father came to town....., Sakurako don't really appreciate his poor father, and wanted his father to act rich, in front of the guy's family he's about to marry.....poor father =( The father and daughter's last scene, is very touching T_T
As a Jdrama fan, you're definitely gonna enjoy this one!!^_~

Watched: once, borrowed the VCD from a friend

Likes: The story, Matsushima as Sakurako, the funny scenes, the themesong, and...what a great ending!!!^_^ very, very satisfied!!

Dislikes: ??

Yoisho no Otoko   

Rate: 7.0
Broadcasted in Japan: TBS April-June 2002
Duration: 11 episodes

Synopsis: Kotaro Sakurai(Inagaki) has reached a supervisory sales position at the insurance company he works for faster than any of his peers, precisely because he has cultivated a "super power" for sucking up to his betters. Consequently, he is resented by these peers and not entirely trusted by his longtime girlfriend, Naomi (Akiko Yada), who appreciates his innate kindness but feels uncomfortable with his need to please everyone all the time.
Things at the company have become complicated, however, with the arrival of a new sales division manager from a foreign company that is thinking of buying the ailing insurance firm. Makiko Ogata (Yuko Asano) has an MBA from a prominent American university and very little tolerance for traditional Japanese corporate culture.

Acting performances:

Goro Inagaki as Kotaro Sakurai
Yeahh......this character has proven Goro as a truly fabulous actor!!! We definitely seldom get to see the playful and ridiculous side of Goro!! If u want to see Goro making funny faces ridiculously, well....this is it!^_~
Althou, he love sucking up his bosses....but, he's actually very nice and sweet at heart.....that's why I really love his character in this drama!!!^_^
 
 

Akiko Yada as Naomi
Very cute! And made a great pair with Goro!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Somegoro Ichikawa as
Takako Matsu's older brother!!^^ I think he's a great actor, too!
 
 
 
 
 
 

First sight: Goro acting in a comedy is a must-see for me...^_~

Comments: The story itself is so-so to me....company's problems, didn't really attract me. But the funny scenes are quite hillarious! Goro is hillarious, too!
I love Kotaro and Naomi's sweet and cute scenes here!! They really have good chemistry....and they're such a cute couple! All "rabu-rabu", just like the couple in Mukodono^^ The funniest part is when Kotaro and Naomi is giving love letters to each other at the office(just like highschool kids!!^^), without realizing it, Naomi accidentally put the letter on top of the meeting's papers....the memo is copied, too. Kotaro and Naomi was so embarrased when fellow officemates read the love memo!! Haha!^___^ So cute!
Quite an enjoyable drama, if only I can get this with subs x)

Watched: once, collected the vcd

Likes: The funny scenes/plot, Goro and Yada's chemistry

Dislikes: boring plots....

Yomigaeru Kinro(The Wolf/Rebirth of Golden Wolf)

Rate: 8.0
Broadcasted in Japan: NTV April-June 1999
Duration: 11 episodes
Scriptwriter: Haruhiko Ohyabu
Themesong: Sleep My Dear by Miki Imai

Synopsis: Asakura Tetsuya(Katori Shingo) is the younger step brother of Fujiki (ex-president of Shin Towa finance). His step brother tried to commit suicide after his company went into big debt. He is now in the hospital. After this incident Mogi Corporation takes over Shin Towa finance. Asakura goes to work at the company as an ordinary salaryman and a spy. When he's at work he is a very sweet guy but when he's not he's very disturbed. His plan is to get rid of Mogi Corporation and buy enough Shin Towa stock to get back his brother's company. He finds out that behind the president of the company he works for, there is a bigger more powerful company.

Acting performances:

Shingo Katori as Tetsuya Asakura
Shingo looks soooooo goood here!!!^_~ He is definitely 'The Man of The Story'!
Tetsuya Asakura, 23 years old, is an ordinary salaryman by day. He wears glasses, has this quiet manner and such a sweet-tempered guy. But when night comes, he is a twisted man with a revenge mission and has a potential physical power, such an expert in using guns, too.
I have to say, Shingo's performance here is beyond cool!! And without no doubt, I can say his acting skill is magnificent! As night-Tetsuya, he made this weird expressions when he's in action, but I realized those are spontaneous expressions he had and it's just....soooo Tetsuya!(hope you get what I mean^^ a little hard to explain here)
I also love how Tetsuya sometimes use English or other language phrases, like: "Oh my god,", "Time is money!", "Adios!", and what I love the most is the way he shout, "SHUT UP!!" ^_^ Kakkoi!
Unfortunately, Shingo is no Jet Li, he's not really an action actor. He didn't do too good in fighting scenes, his moves are quite stiff, so the movements didn't seem to flow. I think this is also because, Japanese fighting choreographer is not as good as Hongkong's =P I'm glad, he only had 1 fighting scene, while the rest are just about guns-shooting duels!!^^ And Shingo definitely have no problem doing guns action scenes!! Looks sooo kakkoi in those scenes! I'm amazed on how Tetsuya can shoot in ANY kinds of positions! He can shoot while jumping, while falling down the stairs, he also can shoot in an upside down position^^ A great performance by Shingo!!

Takako Uehara(of SPEED) as Arisa Mogi
She don't have much role here actually, although she's Tetsuya's love interest. Arisa is the 'princess' of Mogi family, Tetsuya's main enemy. She's a 17-18 years old girl and kind of spoiled. She first met Tetsuya when he arrested her for awhile to get money from Arisa's father. And Arisa falls in love with Tetsuya, since then. At first, Tetsuya only want to 'use' her, but his feelings unstoppably grows too for her, although he never want to admit it. They only meet once in a while, and only exchange few words in every episode, except the last eps. Hmm...I actually can already guess from the beginning, where this kind of relationship leads too....
As for Uehara herself, I dunno if her character meant to be that way, but most of her expressions are plain. And I think she only gives a fair performance. Can't really judge, coz this is the first time I ever see her act in a dorama^^

First sight: Interested ever since I read the brief synopsis, and interested more, when I got so fond of Shingo recently =P

Comments: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! This is the first action dorama I ever found!! And I enjoyed it soooo much!! Actually, the story is standard -yakuza and revenge- story. But, the super-cool action scenes here gives all the plus points!! Sugoi! Sugoi!
Another plus point, is Shingo's performance! Cho kakkoi! And such an interesting character too! Actually, Shingo sometimes look not-so-handsome, but he definitely have the cool-looks and charm! And the most important, is that Shingo have the screen presence, where one would feel that the room would stand and turn their heads when he walked in ^_~
Although, Uehara's acting is only fair, but she's surprisingly have a very good chemistry with Shingo! Maybe because they look so compatible^^ I love the few scenes with them together, sometimes their scenes together felt cold yet sweet at the same time^^ And facing Arisa, Tetsuya's (usually)rough voice turns to more soft tones and sounds more caring, although he put on such a cold expression. Love it!
The action scenes are soooo great, intense and exciting!! Love 'em! With his clever tricks, usually Tetsuya wins that night's duel with Mogi's people. But there's also times, when I thought everything goes fine and so happy that Tetsuya seems winning...but turns out, it's the other way around, and it's Tetsuya who has been deceived >_< That is the exciting part^^
Sometimes, it has comedy elements too, esp. when it involves scenes in Tetsuya's office. There are such funny characters here, his boss and his office mates! And how it made me laugh, everytime quiet&sweet-Tetsuya goes offering their company's service to customer together with his 2 office mates, they always put on this funny act in the end, where they showed the company's card together at the same time...can't really explain, this is something you have to watch yourself to have a good laugh!^^
What gives away this dorama is that the ENDING sucks!!>_< Hate it! Everything goes great and exciting along 10 episodes! But then, there's a sudden drop in the finale episode!>_< Too bad...
Anyway, I love the background music for the tragic scenes! So classic! And I like the slow ending song, too: Sleep My Dear by Miki Imai!!^^
A great action dorama adapted from a manga!!! So, if you like -action manga- stories, -action movies- fan or a fan of Shingo(and perhaps, Uehara's fan?), you'd love this one!!^_~

Ending Spoiler: (if u really want to know and sure, that you're not gonna watch this, so you feel it's ok to know the ending, feel free to block below paragraph which written in white font^^)
Why do I hate the ending? First of all, TOO MANY people died!!! I actually think, it seems like Tetsuya is the only one who still alive!>_<(which is a good thing, coz there's this several times either when I thought he's dead or gonna die in the ending =P)
When Tetsuya's brother died, I still felt touched. I feel so sad when one of Tetsuya's friend died. But then, there's also one of his office mate died. And Arisa even died too, protecting Tetsuya from a gunshot! I didn't really feel touched, coz I somehow, already guessed from the beginning, that these two could never be together with that kind of situation =( However, although I didn't feel that touched when Arisa got shot...there's this sweet scene I love! After the incident, Tetsuya hugging Arisa's body tightly, sit on a running 'merry-go-round' in the amusement park. Sooo sweet!!^^
Anyway...after Arisa, Yurisa(Tetsuya's brother's girlfriend) and his most trustable partner also died -_- What's the matter with this people all dead?!?
And what upset me more, the climax scene, is definitely NOT a climax scene. See, at first it seems like, Arisa's father is the most evil one. But in later episodes, we get to know that it's actually Arisa's grandfather is the real evil! So, the climax scenes, is between Tetsuya & Arisa's grandfather, holding up their guns and shoot at the same time!>_< That's it? Yes, that's it!!
A really really dissapointment for such a great series. Oh, well...at least, Tetsuya's brother's company is back alive, and come to think of it, at least...3 characters(aside from Tetsuya) which names comes up in the opening credits are still alive^^ And of course, Tetsuya is also still alive. However, again...the VERY ending scene(the scene after the ending credits) puzzled me >_< My friends who watched this are really sure that scene meant Tetsuya is dead at the end. But, I refuse to believe so!! I choose to believe Tetsuya is still alive in the ending!!^_~

Watched: the whole series once & countless of times of my favorite scenes ^_~, collected the VCD

Likes: Shingo as Tetsuya, Shingo and Uehara's chemistry, the super-cool action scenes, ending themesong

Dislikes: the ending! yada!

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