Summer Update

New Layout! Haven’t been watching that many dramas/movies, but do have a few reviews coming out including Kimi ni Todoke Live Action and Nodame Contabile 2.
P.S. there are subscribers?! Thanks, guys!

Japanese Drama- Bloody Monday

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Director: Hirano Shunichi, Hatano Takafumi, Miyashita Kensaku
Cast: Miura Haruma, Kawashima Umika
Type: Crime, Drama
Rating: 2/5

Summary: Takagi Fujimaru (Miura Haruma) is a student, who is also a computer hacker. He’s enlisted to stop a terrorist attack. If he doesn’t, then the people of Tokyo will die.

Impression: Sorry, I watched this drama a long time ago and don’t remember what happens, which is why the synopsis is so short. I do remember that there are lots of plot twists in each episode (total of 11 episodes). There’s a Bloody Monday 2, which was aired last year (2010), but I’m not planning to watch it. I prefer romantic comedies because there’s more character development. Action movies are really focused on cool graphics and outwitting the enemy. Oh! I saw Miura Haruma in Kimi ni Todoke (2010) and that was a sweet movie. He’s really smiley in that movie.

Korean Movie – 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant

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Alternative Titles:  Slave Love, 내 사랑 싸가지
Country: Korea, 2004
Director: Shin Dong-Yeop
Cast: Ha Ji-Won, Kim Jae-Won
Type: Romance, Comedy
Rating: 3/5

Summary: It all starts with a high school girl, Ha-Young (Ha Ji-Won) who dumps her boyfriend. She’s really mad/depressed, so she kicks a soda can that hits Hyung-Joon (Kim Jae-Won) in the head while he’s driving a car. As a result, his car is ruined. He has a bit of a temper and starts yelling at her to pay for the damage, but she runs away. Hyung-Joon stalks her and tries to get her to pay for the damage. Since she can’t repay him, he decides to make her his slave for 100 days. This means she has to clean his clothes, apartment. Things happen, blah blah blah and they end up falling in love with one another. Suddenly he leaves her and she’s devastated. Ha-Young decides to focus on getting into the university Hyun-Joon attends, but she still misses Hyung-Joon and wonders why he left.

Impression: This movie kinda reminds me of “He was Cool”, another Korean movie, but happier. This movie also reminds me of “My Tutor Friend” and “My Tutor Friend 2″, so go watch those if you want to. It’s a funny and light movie. Good if you want to turn off your brain for a couple hours.

Korean Movie: A Man who was Superman

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Alternative Titles: A Man who was Once Superman, 슈퍼맨이었던 사나이
Country: South Korea, 2008
Director: Jeong Yoon-chul
Cast: Hwang Jung-min, Jun Ji-hyun
Type: Drama, Human Interest
Rating: 5/5

Summary: Human interest documentary-maker, Song Soo Jung (Jun Ji-hyun from My Sassy Girl), works at a flailing production studio. One day, she meets Superman, or Lee Hyuk-Suk (Hwang Jung-min) who saves people in everyday ways. He believes that he is Superman and runs around town saving people from small accidents (rescuing a lost puppy to saving people from burning cars and buildings). Soo Jung makes a documentary about him and it instantly becomes a hit. As she continues to follow him around and learns more of hist story, his strange antics start to make sense to her. It turns out he has a bigger story to him. His story is so tragic, but it inspires so much hope. And it ends up transforming the cold-hearted Soo Jung.

Impression: I watched this movie because Jun Ji-Hyun (from My Sassy Girl and Windstruck) was in it and I like her as an actor. She’s still a good actress, but looks crossed-eyed when she cries Anyways, I also really enjoyed the movie because of the good story behind it. As I mentioned above, Superman’s story is so sad…about his family, etc. But he’s so full of hope and he’s so funny. I would watch this again.

Korean Movie – The Naked Kitchen

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Alternative Title: 키친
Country: South Korea, 2008
Director: Hong Ji-Young
Cast: Shin Min-a, Kim Tae-Woo, Joo Ji-Hoon, Jeon Hye-Jin, Ban Eun-Jin
Type: Romantic Comedy, drama
Rating: 2.5/5

Summary:
Mo-Rae (Shin Min-a) is the owner of a small umbrella shop and she’s also married to Sang-in (Kim Tae-Woo) and they’re celebrating their first anniversary! Mo-Rae and Sang-in have a comfortable relationship and she calls him "hyung". This is a Korean term that is used between to males to show a close brother-like relationship. The movie goes into detail why she calls him "hyung".

Her romantic bubble pops when she goes to a gallery to buy a gift for her hubby. There, she meets a stranger and for some reason they get intimate. During their anniversary dinner, she tells Sang-in of her actions and at first he’s angry, but he can’t do anything about it because she doesn’t even know the guy’s name. Aigoo. So, he decides to drop the matter.

Sang-in wants to become a chef (from what I remember), but he’s not really good at it. So, somehow Sang-in gets Park Doo-re (Joo Ji-Hoon) to come from Paris to help him cook. (sorry for the lack of clarity here…I don’t remember how Doo-re is related to Tae-Woo). I think Sang-in wants to learn how to sandwiches. Anyways, Doo-re comes to live with Mo-Rae and Sang-in to train Sang-in.

And here’s where the interesting bit comes in! Doo-rae turns out to be the stranger from the gallery! Of course, neither Mo-Rae nor Doo-re want to reveal that fact to Sang-in because he’s such a nice guy. Throughout the movie Mo-Rae grows more attracted to the mysterious Doo-re. He’s kind of like a nomad, wandering around and using disposable cameras. Doo-re is also attracted to Mo-Rae and blah blah blah. So the rest of the movie builds up to two climaxes, the first one is when Sang-in finds out about Mo-Rae and Doo-re’s relationship and the second one is a surprise. If you’ve watched enough Korean movies/dramas, you can probably guess, but I’m not going to reveal it here!

Impression:
Gah, I really need to re-watch this movie. Sorry if some parts weren’t clear. I watched this movie because Joo Ji-Hoon and Min-a were in it, but I wouldn’t watch it again. The scenery and music was very nice, but after the three of them start living together, the plot gets really predictable. I was disappointed with how indecisive the characters were…this even showed in the ending. I guess I like some closure to what I watch.

Korean Movie – Il Mare

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Alternative Title: 시월애
Country: Korea, 2000
Director: Lee Hyeon-seung
Cast: Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Jung-jae
Type: Romance, Drama, Fantasy, Melodrama
Rating: 4/5

Summary: This movie is about a girl and a boy (as most romances are :p). Eun-joo (Jun Ji-hyun) is moving out of her house and leaves a letter for the next resident to forward her her mail. Sung-hyun (Lee Jung-jae) receives this letter, however, he’s actually the original owner of the house…not the next tenant. This movie is about them figuring out they live in different times and also helping each other out with personal problems (Eun-joo and her boyfriend; and Sung-hyun and his father). I’ve decided not to include spoilers, but if you want them, read the wiki entry (link above under “info and photo”).

Impression: So, this movie was remade by Hollywood in 2006 (The Lake House). I think they’re pretty much the same, except this one has an amazing house on the water! This movie, like others, deals with two people living in different times, but who are able to communicate with each other. Other movies like this are Ditto (I think Korean) and Secret (Taiwanese). This is one of the movies where there is NO time travel, but unlike Ditto, this one has a happier ending that actually makes sense.

If you like this movie then watch my sassy girl, windstruck (my sassy girl 2), secret (taiwanese), or the classic.

Japanese Drama – Boss

Boss Japanese Drama

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Country: Japan, 2009
Director: Mitsuno Michio, Ishii Yusuke
Cast:Amami Yuki, Takenouchi Yutaka, Tamayama Tetsuji, Toda Erika, Mizobata Junpei, Kichise Michiko, Kendo Kobayashi, Nukumizu Youichi
Type: Action, Crime
Rating: 4/5

Summary: It starts with the creation of a new division, the Countermeasures Divison and Osawa Eriko (Amami Yuki) is appointed the head of it. She is given recruits from other divisions, however, it seems like the recruits are the misfits of each department. First, we have Katagiri Takuma (Tamayama Tetsuji) who has leadership qualities but can’t fire a gun for beans. He also distrusts the police/justice organization, so does not like to work overtime. Next, we have Kimoto Mami (Toda Erika). She is brilliant with technology stuff and working on the crime scene, however, she lacks enthusiasm and likes to take naps Next is Hanagata Ippei (Mizobata Junpei). He’s more of the rookie in the team and makes up for Kimoto’s lack of enthusiasm. Then we have Iwai Zenji (Kendo Kobayashi) and Yamamura Keisuke (Nukumizu Youichi). These two tend to stick together and investigate leads of potential suspects, etc. However, Iwai is gay and Yamamura-san is a bit absent-minded. The team seems to get along, dispite differences and they are really work well together by the end of the series, especially after some of the group members are endangered (dont want to spoil anything!).

At first, the division is not taken seriously and they are given menial tasks such as putting on safety skits for children. They end up getting some big cases and Osawa Eriko proves that she is an excellent detective. She has the knack and skills for profiling criminals and this, along with her team members, helps her to solve seemingly confusing cases.

Impression: I really liked this drama because I like detective shows and because they have some really good actors in this drama. Each episode is a case (sometimes the case is over 2 episodes) and the way that Osawa Eriko solves them is amazing! So much human psychology going on. Sometimes it was a bit laggy and too action-packed, but that’s just me. A lot of the cases are terrorist-related, but that’s okay, I guess. They were also able to incorporate some personal storylines surrounding Osawa Eriko as well. No romantic parts, but I guess that’s not the focus of the drama. I loved the ending! so surprising.

As for actors, I really admire Toda Erika becuase she can play so many different roles and becuase she’s so cute! hahaha. Another good actor is Nukumizu Youichi (who plays Yamamura). He’s actually the teacher from Lovely Complex (Love Com) a very cute and light-hearted movie. He looks exactly the same with a similar role.

I watched it at mysoju.com. Check it out! I really like it becuase it’s like Sherlock Holmes or Encyclopedia Brown, but Japanese!

Japanese Movie – Koizora (2007)

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Alternative Titles: 恋空, Sky of Love
Country: Japan, 2007
Director: Natsuki Imai
Cast: Yui Aragaki, Haruma Miura
Type: School, Romance, Melodrama
Rating: 1/5

Summary: Hiro Sakurai is the rebel of the school with bleached hair. Mika Tahara is a quiet, sweet girl who’s afraid of Hiro. One day, she loses her cell phone, only to find it again in the library. It turns out that Hiro stole Mika’s phone to get the number and then he calls her at home. Over summer they talk on phone and fall in love. Mika doesn’t know who he is, and is curious to find out his identity. When school starts again, she realizes that the person on the phone is Hiro and is at first apprehensive. Then she decides to trust him (becuase he’s so sweet) and they start to date, despite the fact that his ex-girlfriend and friends plans to break them up. Suddenly, Hiro breaks up with Mika for no apparent reason in their sophmore year of high school and disappears. It’s not until university when she finds out what really happened to Hiro.

Impression: I didn’t care for this movie because I disagree with the morals and it was really sad. Not my cup of tea. First of all, if they really loved each other, they would tell each other the truth…even if it hurts. love doesn’t always feel good/happy, but it’s about being honest. At least she found out the truth at the end. The plot is pretty standard and the characters aren’t special, although there were some really sweet scenes between Hiro and Mika. I wonder if the drama will be different from the movie. I watched the movie on mysoju.com. Check it out if you liked “…ing” (Korean movie) or “Millionaire’s First Love” (Korean movie).

Japanese Movie – Udon

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Country: Japan, 2006
Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro
Cast: Kaname Jun, Katagiri Jin, Kiba Katsumi, Kinishi Manami, Kohinata Fumiyo, Masu Takeshi, Matsumoto Tortoise, Suzuki Kyoka, Yusuke Santamaria
Type: Comedy, drama
Rating: 3.5/5

Summary: Kosuke Matsui (Yusuke Santamaria), a failed-comic returns from New York, to his hometown, Kagawa Prefecture, to his family. His father owns a udon restaurant and his whole family works there. Kosuke starts to work in flailing publishing company and decides to make this company famous by developing a local guide book/magazine/column of his hometown and all the udon restaurants they have there. This instant-hit column brings lots of changes to the little village and also to the Kosuke’s family dynamics.

Impression: I learned how to make udon from this movie! Didn’t turn out too well, but I guess I’ll try again. Now to the movie. I remember watching this one twice and it was very entertaining. I got hungry just by watching the udon chefs making their dishes. This movie speaks a lot about fixing things. Kosuke seems to be the person who always wants to fix things (the publishing company, his family, etc), despite his initial failed attempts. Good and light-hearted movie to watch.

Korean Movie – My Mighty Princess

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Country: South Korea, 2008
Director: Jae-young Kwak
Cast: Ohn Joo Wan , Shin Min Ah, Yoo Gun
Type: Action, Romance, Comedy
Rating: 3.5/5

Summary: Kang So-hwi university student. Although she tries to be normal, she is actually part of a martial arts heritage and her parents are part of a group that exists to protect the Green Destiny (I think that’s what it’s called) a Chinese sword. However, it was stolen by Heuk-bong. Heuk-bong disappears, so no one is worried, but now he decides to come back to destroy stuff. The only person who can stop him is So-hwi becuase she can do a special martial arts move (which she inherited from her mother). However, So-hwi refuses because she wants to hang out with her hockey-playing boyfriend and be “normal”. Ilyoung, So hwi’s childhood martial arts friend is asked by So hwi’s father to persuade her to take up training again in order to fight Heuk-bong. He follows her around her school and is like a pestering little brother. Finally, after her father is hurt by trying to fight Heuk-bong, she decides to train and fight Heuk-bong to save the world…little does she know that Heuk-bong isn’t who she thinks he is.

Impression: They do some really cool martial arts stuff here. It’s a good movie to relax and for some laughs. No real profound revelations here. It’s mainly about So-hui and Ilyoung growing mature and discovering who they are (as part of the kids of the super-fighters).