A Sleeping Forest

(Dramawiki)

This is a mystery drama, from 1998. Its first scene was really interesting. The only thing that can be expected from this drama is the unexpected, and there's a cliffhanger at the end of every episode. The use of sounds like classical music, or the lack of them, to add tension to the scenes was effective. Certain parts remind me of A Million Stars Falling from The Sky, but this drama is not as scary. But everyone looks he might be a bad guy, lol. That's why I think it's true, that there are both good and evil in everyone. Don't judge a book by its cover! You've been warned, haha.

Naoki is such a creeper :S. All stalkers are scary, but he seems like such an easy-going person, so he's not that scary. And he'd really do anything for Minako.

Takuya Kimura was already a good actor, even then :)). (He's even better now though xD.) I've really grown to like him with long hair! I guess very good-looking people like him look good with any style LOL ^^;;. And he wore wifebeaters so often in this drama, that I couldn't help but stare at his arms. Not my fault, okay xDD. I don't mind spending hours staring at his face, but I swear I can actually stare at his eyes for god-knows-how-long HAHA.

I think if I were Minako, I'd have gone crazy. Imagine finding out that your memories aren't real. It's really scary, haha. Nakayama Miho is very pretty :). But I think she looks like Matsu Takako, don't you think? Maybe it's the face structure. And she's of the same "type" as Aki from Pride, haha.

Kiichiro seemed like a good guy. He was thoughtful, kind and secure; very suitable as a husband. But everything he said sounded like it came straight out of "The Book of Gentleman", if there ever was one.

This drama is very sad ;__;.

Mr. Brain

(Dramawiki)

Takuya Kimura stars as Tsukumo Ryusuke, a neuroscientist working for the National Research Institute of Police Science. This drama follows how he used neuroscience in solving crimes, along with his assistant Yuri Kazune, as well as policemen Tanbara Tomomi and Hayashida Toranosuke.

I was really looking forward to watching this drama! The topic itself -- neuroscience -- is good enough reason to watch the drama; it's really interesting. I learnt a lot, haha ^^. After watching this drama I've become even more interested in neurology and psychology :). The cases always turn out differently from what the audience would expect, which is a good thing. Some of them are very touching too. But 8 episodes are just too short :((. The ending wasn't very conclusive either. I hope there'll be a sequel to this! But Takuya Kimura doesn't usually do sequels :S.

And this drama is unexpectedly HILARIOUS; it made me laugh a lot xDD. The cartoon characters are sooo adorable! :DD

Kimura's acting is just awesome :)). He brought out Tsukumo's quirky personality, which often made me laugh at his silliness, and at the same time when he got serious and spoke with conviction in his eyes, he was totally cool. And now I think he looks good with long hair too ^^.

I like the supporting characters as well, especially Tanbara. He's a very good policeman! Hayashida is a scaredy cat lol xP. The other scientists are funny too! And there are a lot of guest stars in the drama, which is a plus x). I recognised a lot of them, which made me realise that I have been watching quite a lot of Japanese dramas lol ^^;;.

Oh and I realised that this is the third drama with Mizushima Hiro that I've watched, after Hana Kimi and Zettai Kareshi. He's good-looking! xP

This might just be my second favourite drama of Takuya Kimura, after Pride ^^.

Change

Just finished watching Change, the 2008 Takuya Kimura's drama. I'm too lazy to say what the story is about, so here's the summary at dramawiki. Or to simplify things, just in one word: politics.

(Usually I always include at least the poster of the drama, but blogger is being crazy and it is not letting me post any pictures these few days. Not that it makes any difference for this post 'cos the poster is as uninteresting as the main topic of the drama.)

Politics. Even the mere mention of the word makes me sleepy, y'know. Honestly I put off watching the drama for a long time, just because of that. However, the drama actually exceeded my expectations. It's not as boring as I expected, and I actually enjoyed watching it. Hiroshi Abe's character and some other supporting actors provided the necessary comic relief for the otherwise relatively dry drama. I think the biggest plus about this drama is definitely its actors, whether it's the main actors or the supporting cast -- everyone acted their part really well. Eri Fukatsu had that tough professional image of a steely woman down pat. I really like how the drama ended too.

Takuya Kimura was really good with his role. I've probably said this in every damn post that is tagged "Takuya Kimura" in this blog, but I can't help but say this again -- I really like his eyes. He can say a whole page long of dialogue with them. And like I said before, they hold a lot of conviction, which happens to work very well for this role. That aside, his little actions, like some hand gestures and even the quiver of his mouth, speak volumes about his emotions. The rather extraordinarily long pauses he has between certain phrases, accompanied by a frown and a calm yet confident tone, makes one feel that he's not just reciting lines, but saying what he truly believes in. I can go on, but I'll just be boring you. In short, Kimura is a really good actor.

I like Keita Asakura, Kimura's character. I think if he really exists in real life, I'd have voted for him in elections. He's an amateur when it comes to politics, but he's just a very honest, down-to-earth, hardworking person. Maybe that's why his words could reach out to average citizens.

That being said, of course, the drama is not without flaws. It lacks realism, for one. It's strange that a grade-school teacher can turn into a Prime Minister within a month and is suddenly able to do his job well, right? I also have this nagging feeling that the politics world represented in the story is oversimplified, like everything seemed too easy to be real. Watching the drama definitely reminded me why I dislike politics, though -- the greed and the struggle for power, the fake and the politically correct.

I enjoyed watching the drama :). It won a Best Drama award and Kimura won two Best Actor awards for it, which are well deserved, I feel.

Kimura's '09 drama is Mr Brain, which is currently airing. He's acting as a neurosurgeon brain scientist this time! Pretty looking forward to watching it ^^. You know, even though he was born in '72, which makes him 37 this year, watching his dramas never fails to remind me why he's my favourite actor :). The ratings for his recent dramas aren't as high as they used to be, though; I wonder why :(.

The Grand Tribe

I just finished watching Karei-naru Ichizoku (The Grand Tribe), which stars Takuya Kimura. And OMG in the last episode he shot himself with a rifle T_____T. Why the heck is the whole story so convoluted that someone as optimistic and strong as Teppei would feel so bad about his own existence that he killed himself. What a horribly sad ending =((.

How did he manage to look so good just lying in a coffin? LOL xD.

This drama is very serious and can get boring at times, plus the storyline is quite far-fetched (because I refuse to believe that such things do happen in real life, otherwise I'd lose the tiny bit of faith I have in humanity, lol) and I felt suffocated just by the thought of having such a family *shudders*, but I think the acting of the cast made it good. They all act very convincingly and surprisingly, I don't dislike any of them. Taro (Teppei's son) is so adorable :D!

Kimura speaks with a lot of passion and conviction, as seen clearly in his eyes =). Oh and of course, he is as kakkoi as always xDD.

Next I'll watch Gift, which was released in 1997 (his long hair there makes me cringe, but I've long decided to watch all his dramas, so yeah xP), and after that, Change, which was released only this year. Apparently the ratings for Change weren't that good for a drama starring Takuya Kimura =X.

fiction.

I've been watching dramas these days, which explains my lack of posts. So now I feel like taking a break and do short reviews of some of them. During the holidays, I watched 5 dramas: Witch Yoo Hee, Love Generation, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (Japan), Coffee Prince and A Million Stars Falling from the Sky. I feel quite accomplished, really, since initially I was kinda reluctant to start watching any of them.


Hanazakari no Kimitachi e












Initially, I watched this drama for Oguri Shun, and also because I was curious of how different it would be from the Taiwanese version. Shun did a good job portraying the character of Sano. However, I thought this role totally didn't allow him to show his acting capabilities; most of the time all he had to do was to stand there looking cool. He looks good though. xD That aside, I had a good laugh watching the show, mostly because Nakatsu's funny actions and facial expressions. The only complaint I have is that no matter how I looked at Mizuki, she looked like a girl through and through. She might have behaved like a guy in the first two episodes, but from then I couldn't help but wonder why anyone could be fooled into thinking that she was a male. She's really pretty, though. Overall, I think this drama is better than the Taiwanese one, in terms of the male lead's acting (I swear I'm not biased), the story progression, and the ending.

A quote by the dearest Nakatsu:
-----------------------------------------------
If you are hurt, shout it out!
If you want to cry, let it out!
Stop acting cool, you freaking idiot!
-----------------------------------------------
..which are words that I can never say.

bonus:


















^Sano!








^ROFL retarded face. xDD


Coffee Prince












I watched this drama for Yoon Eun Hye, since the whole 'girl acting like a guy' thing seems to be the 'in' thing now. I must say that out of the three female actresses that have done this type of role, her actions were the most 'guy-ish' one. I could imagine myself mistook her for a guy if not for her face. I thought that both her and the male lead (Goong Yoo) did a good job in the crying scenes, as somehow I felt like they were drowning in their sorrow when they cried. I laughed a lot too when I was watching him starting to have feelings for her. I enjoyed watching most parts of the drama, except for the parts about the family, which were quite boring. The 'Princes' are really likeable too, whether it's the innocent 'gorilla', the cheerful playboy, or the cool 'waffle-guy'. It's a good drama.

Anyway, to all the homosexuals out there, I'm truly sorry that once upon a time I thought that you guys were weirdos and freaks. I now understand that it must have been hard to accept it yourselves. I know that feelings are uncontrollable, so it's inevitable. It's nobody's fault.


A Million Stars Falling from the Sky
A Takuya Kimura drama. I just finished watching it in two days, and I must say that I got hooked not because it's him, but because of the plot. Out of these five dramas, it's the only one that I didn't fast forward any part because the story is so tense. It's very unexpected, which would probably keep you watching to the end no matter how disturbed you were by the whole darkness of the drama. The actors were all good; I especially liked Akashiya Sanma as Kanzo and Shibasaki Kou as Yuki. Everyone commented that the ending was very sad, but for me, it was a fitting one; I wouldn't want the story to end any other way.

Takuya Kimura acted as Ryo, a cold, unfeeling and cruel man who by the middle of the story, I already deemed as someone wasn't fit to be a human. I suspect that he wasn't really a human inside, actually, since humans are creatures of emotions and it's just impossible to be so unfeeling as him. But anyway, even though it's Takuya Kimura, I wanted Ryo dead. No matter how good-looking he is, how pitiful his past was, or how much he wants to change; someone who had done so much bad things in life didn't even deserve a chance to have a new life. I must give credit to Kimura, though, as he totally convinced me that Ryo was a cold-blooded murderer by his killer eyes (which means beautiful eyes but here it also means the eyes of a murderer), and his slight smile when he was facing someone but a blank and almost evil look when that person turned away from him. There were a lot of kissing (damn he's a good kisser) and killing, but for my part, there was a lot of frustration, disgust and fear. Yes, I was damn bloody scared of him. Which speaks volumes about his acting. However, really, even though this drama totally exploits and shows Kimura's good looks, if you want to just drool over him, DON'T watch this drama. Watch Good Luck!!, Engine, or any other drama of his. Because this may be too emotionally draining for you. Seriously, I'm now still pondering about Ryo's character and imagining how terrible it'd be if someone like him really exists. *shudders*

But now, I'll reward you with pictures of Takuya Kimura.
























































Say it with me: kakkoiii! xD

Takuya Kimura

I don't think I ever spazzed about Takuya Kimura other than the one mentioning that he's a good actor. I've just watched Hero SP on Channel U yesterday, so I feel like spazzing a little. =P

At first, I didn't think that he was handsome. Frankly, until now I still don't think he is. He's just good looking (in my dictionary, good looking does not equate to handsome). The first of his drama that I watched was Pride, and it remains as my favourite Asian drama ever. Honestly, before I watched that drama I never described any guy as "sexy" before. But after I watched it, I understood the meaning of the word. No, I'm not exaggerating. His role there is just so manly, so hard to understand yet so simple. I cant find any words to describe, but if you watch it, you may understand what I'm talking about. Satonaka Haru (but he's called Halu) is the drama character that I like most. The ratings for the drama wasn't that good compared to his other dramas though. =/


















Acting-wise, what can I say? I said before that he's my favourite actor. Maybe it's because no matter how bad his hair may look in some dramas, he always keeps me glued to the screen. Maybe it's because no matter what role he's acting as, it always comes across as believable. Uhm, I don't know?

Popularity-wise, he's needless to say the most popular Japanese actor. Ask any Japanese and they'd say that they know who Takuya Kimura is. Even though he's been in the entertainment industry for a decade, his dramas still top the ratings. The average rating for his dramas is 30%, while other Jdoramas usually only reach 20+% at most. All the discussions about who is gonna be "the next Takuya Kimura" is proof that his level of fame is the one that every actor is aiming for. I can go on and on, but it'll be too long as until now I'm still amazed at how popular he is.

Just for your information, he's 35 years old. Yeah yeah, I know that's like old. But I believe that all those charm comes with age, really. If you compare his facial features now and when he first acted in Long Vacation, you'd notice that they look quite different. Now he looks more rugged; his facial features and expressions just scream "character". Younger actors have prettier faces, but they don't leave as much an impression as he does. Even at that age and being a father of two daughters, he can still look like that, so that's saying something. And I still think that he's the only male that can pull off long hair without looking feminine. I'm not a fan of guys with long hair; I firmly believe that any guy looks better with short-ish hair. Even though the same goes for Takuya Kimura, he still looks good with long hair, so I don't really mind either way. But I'm watching Love Generation now and in the first episode, I had the urge to snip his hair off. xD



















Oh, I forgot to say that I really like his eyes. Well actually I like eyes in general. Very.. intense. xD

bored.

The release date of Jay's album has been postponed to today. But I was too lazy to go out. I'm going out tomorrow to take my All About DBSK II anyway. Currently I'm in the middle of watching Hero, Takuya Kimura's drama. I'm planning to watch all of his dramas, but I'm watching this one first as I'll be watching the movie version when it comes out here on the 22th. Seriously, Takuya Kimura is a very good actor. =)