Hana Yori Dango (2008 Movie)

Cast:
Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi
Matsumoto Jun as Domyouji Tsukasa
Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui
Matsuda Shota as Soujiro Nishikado
Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasaka Akira
Fujiki Naohito as Kaburagi Kazu

Genre: Shoujo, Romance, Comedy, Friendship, JMovie

Summary: After all they've been through in the Drama series which I didn't watch entirely *cough* Forgive me MatsuJun, I was distracted by AkiraPi and didn't... just find time to later on ^^', it looks like Domyouji and Makino can finally get married. They have the approval of Domyouji's mother, even, and she gives Makino a tiara, known as The Smile of Venus which legend states will protect eternal love, as a wedding present.

Unfortunately, it gets stolen.

Review: I read the manga (quite a while back O_o) and I remember that I found Domyouji sweeter and more adorkable in the live action, and Makino more annoying. This hasn't changed in the movie. If anything, it has enforced the image even more.

Matsujun is freakin' adorable, and is such a brat, but he clearly loves Makino, while Makino is all wishy-washy and generally annoying. It's entirely possible I'm biased *cough*

The movie has no real point, and the story line is kinda erm-yeah-okaaayish, but it has it's sweet (if cheesy) moments, and F4 (Matsuda Shotaaaaaa *______* ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥) makes for awesome eye candy? ^^;

Music:
One Love by Arashi
Kisshug by Aiko

Rating: 5/10

Quotes:

~ At SongStories ~

 

Note: This might have rated better here if I had reviewed it as soon as I watched it, while still on the OOH SPARKLES! high. Pity I am lazy and waited around three days before forcing myself to write this (in accordance to the #FictionalMemories2010 program.)

Tada-san, erm, Buchou, um, *checks* yes, Fujiki Naohito is also in it! And looks awesome. *__* I found it interesting that apparently he played Rui in the 1995 version. I need to hunt that down sometime, definitely. Domyouji was played by the Yoroshiqueeeen guy!
[Hmm, they managed a movie about pretty boys with out any Jyannies back in those days. Imagine that!]

Also, yes, MatsuJun, babe: ENGRISH (he can speak it!). XD

Gokusen

Cast:
Nakama Yukie as Yamaguchi Kumiko
Matsumoto Jun as Sawada Shin
Namase Katsuhisa as Sawatari Goro
Utsui Ken as Kuroda Ryuichiro
Anan Kenji as Wakamatsu Hiro
Kaneko Ken as Asakura Tetsu
Uchiyama Shinji as Tatsukawa Minoru
Ryogoku Hiroshi as Sugawara Makoto
Oguri Shun as Uchiyama Haruhiko
Waki Tomohiro as Kumai Teruo
Narimiya Hiroki as Noda Takeshi
Ishigaki Yuma as Minami Youichi
Ito Misaki as Fujiyama Shizuka
Nakazawa Yuko as Kawashima Kikuno

Genre: School Life, Teaching, Juvenile Delinquents, JDrama

Episodes: 12 + Gokusen Special

Summary: Yamuguchi Kumiko is the heir to a Yakuza family, but her dream is to become a teacher. However, if she is to become a teacher, she cannot afford anyone to find out about her family's business. She starts her life as a teacher in Shiroken high school, filled with hopes and anticipation.

She is stuck in class 3D, which is basically the class full of rejects and troublemakers, the utterly hopeless ones. And of course there is Sawada Shin (MatsuJun! Yay~), the "ring leader" who is extremely un-figure-out-able. However, she does not judge them based on there appearances, but truely accepts them and promises to see them all to their graduation through all kinds of troubles.

Review: Yankumi's character was perfect. It was utterly dorky and strange at times, then all cool when she switched to her fighting mode, ditching her rubber bands and her glasses.

I absolutely LOVED Yankumi's knack for appearing suddenly out of nowhere when the students are discussing stuff. And her little trick of tapping the shoulder and poking peoples cheeks was so cute too. And her theatrics, and all the sound effects while she moved and was talking and stuff.
The rest of the teachers were quite a bunch of characters as well.

But more importantly, Why is Oguri Shun so damn adorable? ~_~ And also, Matsumoto Jun is HOT in this one. I had to knock myself on the head a coupla times to actually REMIND myself that I am a Yamapi fangirl.

This is a drama with cheesy lines, useless actions, and totally contradictory lessons being taught in it. BUT it sure is funny, so who cares really? AND there is the added bonus of a very pretty Matsumoto Jun AND Oguri Shun, and that guy who looks like a cat.

Yankumi's character is also pretty lovable, and all the 3D guys end up being really good kids AT HEART so you like them, and the cheesiness kinda moves you too. Occasionally. So it's a pretty good drama, and it is kinda a classic in JDramas I think, so definitely worth a watch.

Music: "Feel Your Breeze" by V6 (A song which starts undoubtedly strangely. -__-')

Rating: 6/10

Quotes/Taglines:

Yankumi: Me? I am those guys homeroom teacher.
(mostly in response to being asked who she is after she beats people up)

~Quotes here~

Note: Speaking of "Teachers with unconventional teaching methods" drama's, I personally liked Great Teacher Onizuka better, even if there is more of an abundance of adorable guys here. Although I hear Dragon Zakura is pretty good too, and intend on checking it out. I have high hopes for it, since Fably says it's great AND there is Yamapi and other pretties in it ^_^ *oh ho ho ho ho*

Kiiroi Namida

Yellow Tears

Cast:
Sho Sakurai as Ryuzo Mukai
Masaki Aiba as Shoichi Inoue
Kazunari Ninomiya as Eisuke Muraoka
Satoshi Ono as Kei Shimokawa
Jun Matsumoto as Yuji Katsumada

Genre: Life, Drama, Dreams, JMovie

Summary: Four young men, with not so conventional chosen paths in life, are brought together by circumstances and they develop a very strong friendship. Life makes them meet again, sooner then they had planed.
They live together, and are total struggling artists, to the point they have to pawn the very tools of their trade (pen, guitar, etc...) to escape starvation. After a while, they manage to get a hold of a substantial amount of money, by selling one of Kei's paintings and by Eisuke working as a mangaka's assistant. They squander away a bit of the money, but Eisuke convinces everyone to use the rest of the money to 'restart' again. He convinces them that they should dedicate the time, without worrying about how to get their next meal, to concentrate on their dreams and to try to succeed. So they spend an entire summer together in a tiny apartment, each dedicating the time to their own specific dreams.

Review: This is a very, very good movie. It totally exceeded my expectations. Since the main cast of this movie consisted of Arashi{Japanese pop idol group}, I was expecting a movie dedicated mainly to fan service, with shirtless anorexic bishie guys, funny little jokes and maybe a guy forced to dress in a girls dress or two. This movie totally threw my expectations miles into the ocean!

It is set in post atomic bomb Japan, in Tokyo, in 1963, and the essence of the time is perfectly captured in this movie. How the culture of Japan was changed by the allied occupation, and how a country with very simplistic and traditional values were adapting to the changes. There are little clips scattered through out which gives you a really good idea of the time period, and of what is happening then.

What I like about this movie is the fact that it captures the essence of the Japan that I have always been in love with. Quaint, quiet, minimalistic and a deep resounding silence which echoes with a kind of sadness. (Kind of like Japan in Mimi wo Sumaseba, but not quite). The laundry hanging off the balcony and across a rope strung in across the room, baths in bath houses, tiny cramped rooms in which all aspects of life are carried out from sleeping to working to cooking. This movie has it all in perfection. No, it's all so perfectly imperfect, which is what makes it amazing.

Spoilers

The movie starts with Eisuke Muraoka the more-or-less main character of the movie asking his friends to pretend to be doctors so he can convince his mother to leave her home town and go to a hospital in Tokyo to get treatment for her illness. The charade somehow works, and Eisuke is extremely grateful. They part ways, saying that all of them, will meet once they have made it in there chosen careers.

They meet sooner then they thought, and spend a summer trying to succeed with there dreams. To save money and to make the money they have last till summer is over, they try to cook there own meals and came up with the most amusing results, like actually burning a hole through the bottom of the pot they were cooking in O_o

The friendship is also very touching. When the other three guys show up in his apartment, Eisuke barely has enough money, and yet, he goes on and tries to find more work to do because he will now have roommates and he wants to be able to help them. He does not turn them away, or not help them.

So much else happens in this movie and all of it is so important that I am not even going to try telling it all. But I would strongly recommend anyone and everyone to watch this, its not your typical jdrama or movie, its so much more better. Granted, there are no quirky little themes or in your face hilarity, but its different, and totally and completely worth watching.

There is also a 'romantic' element to it although that too is tragic as it mainly deals with unrequited love and disillusionment, although Matsumoto Jun's character DOES get a happily ever after (He is the only one who does). But he is not really a main character in this movie either (At first I was really disappointed but the movie totally made up for the lack of MatsuJun.)

This is definitely not a happy movie. In the end, everyone has to face the harsh realities of life and they give up on there dreams, and choose more practical careers. Nor is it a movie of undying friendship, as they only meet after the particular summer once, in a reunion. It is not a movie that gives you the message that 'if you try hard enough, you will succeed', or 'if you are a good person, good things will happen to you.' Instead, it shows you life.

Rating: 10/10

Quotes:

I was just 8 years old when the war ended.
When I lost everything, not having anything to trust...
It was still one thing that gave courage to me& my friends...
that was manga

~Eisuke Muraoka

***
Starving is part of being an artist! It adds to the experience.

~Ryuzo Mukai

***
We can't have real jobs. I refuse to sell my body for money. (Referring to working)

~Ryuzo Mukai

***
No point in being lonely together. Isn't it easier to be lonely alone? no?

~Tokei

***
Do you remember? When you came back from your assistants job in July?
Back then you asked us,
"What is freedom?"
I remember telling you
"Freedom is doing what you want when you please. Eisuke does manga, Ryuzo does novels, Shouchi does pop songs, I do oil paintings."
Now tht summer is over, I quit painting, just like Ryuzio-kun has quit writing.
How ironic that our season of doing what we please has caused us to abandon just that.
We can't live life for paintings and novels.
If someone is there, we cannot help but do something for them.
If we are lonely we step out to find company,
we are just week willed ordinary human beings.
We were just week willed human beings.
There will never be a summer like this.
Never again will we shed the tears we cried this summer.
Never again.
In parting, I'll let the French poet Ryuzo told us about, express our feelings of farewell.
"In the face of my life all I can do is panic, such is my useless and pathetic youth.
Now, what we acquire along with our first wrinkle, is our trust in life,
this constant and this smile, which says,
'Friend, I know all about you.'
Looking back we learn, Life never deceives man, Life... has never deceived a man."

~Kei Shimokawa(In a letter to Eisuke Muraoka)

Note: My opinion of Arashi has definitely risen, before watching this, I did like their songs (although even I found some of the videos just hillarious) and I did like Matsumoto Jun, but I really did not care much about any of the other members. I only considered them to be bubblegum pop idols, but now I respect them more. The acting was superb. Specially Nino. I always thought he was this total hyper kiddy in the group, but he is reaally good at acting. The expressions on his face and his gestures were totally natural and he was really mature-ish in the movie

You can watch the movie at crunchyroll ^_^

Hana Yori Dango

Cast:
Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi
Matsumoto Jun as Doumyouji Tsukasa
Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui
Matsuda Shota as Nishikado Soujiroh
Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasaka Akira

Genre: JDrama, Comedy, School Life, Romance

Episodes: 9

Summary:
Makino Tsukushi is the only poor student at Eitoku Gakuen, the school of the ridiculously rich and privileged that is ruled by Flower 4 or F4, a group of four boys who come from extremely powerful families: Domyoji Tsukasa, the leader and heir of the Domyoji World Finance Group; Hanazawa Rui, the introverted son of a large company; Nishikado Sojiro, a player who is the heir of a tea ceremony school; and Mimasaka Akira, a madam killer with ties to the underground. If a student gets on the F4’s bad side, he/she gets a red notice and is bullied and driven out of school.Makino hopes to pass her days quietly-- without drawing any attention to herself-- but one day, she stands up to Domyoji in defense of her friend. The next day, Makino gets the dreaded red notice. Even though she is harassed, Makino decides to keep going to school because she is a “tough weed”. She declares war right back on the F4 and one thing leads to another...

Review:
Its a typical drama about the poor girl and the rich boy falling for each other. Told in a very different style. For one thing, the girl, Tsukushi is kick-ass-tough. She really lives up to her name of being a weed; no matter how many times she gets stepped on, she gets back up on her feet right away! Though i noticed that she has a habit of lying to herself... And the snobbish, no-mannered Tsukasa the bully is surprisingly innocent in the love area.
Possible spoilers

You should see how he first asked Tsukushi out on a date! Hilarious I tell you! And you just can't help yourself from going "awww, that's so sweet" when Tsukasa is being gruffly nice to Tsukushi.

Hana Yori Dango will have you glued to the seat without any super glue smeared on your bottom (that's quite an achievement you know). I blame it all on the cliffhangers at the end of each episode! And its got lots of twists and turns too.
Ending spoilers

Oh, and the ending was spectacular! A girl chasing after a private jet is really original, see its usually the boys who do that. And the confession in the sunset gave me goosebumps. Really moving. The Grumpy Tsukasa Cookie Thingies were even more moving. ^.^

Recommended highly for people who likes high school romance with stunning guys in it. ^.~

Music:
Wish by Arashi
Planetarium by Ai Otsuka

Rating: 9/10

Quotes: >>

Inspirations:
Should respect food more, first fill yourself up with the aroma of the food, then proceed with eating! And avoid wasting at all costs.
Appreciate my (somewhat) warm family.

PS: Jun is really adorable in this show, though i like his hairstyle a lot more in Gokusen. And since Shun plays a very passive role in HYD, he ain't that standoutish. Liked him better in Gokusen and Hana Kimi. But that's just me.