Wasy-Kun's Japan: J-drama

Hotman 2

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 22:56:28 GMT

http://www.j-fan.com/drama/drama.cgi?action=viewrev&season=Fall_2004&show=HOTMAN_2

Cast and characters:

Sorimachi Takashi
<<Furiya Enzo

Itou Misaki
<<Furiya Shima

Shiraishi Miho
<<Ootsuki Ayame

Ichikawa Yui
<<Furiya Hinata

Saitou Shouta
<<Furiya Haiji

Saitou Keita
<<Furiya Ryuunosuke

Yamauchi Nana
<<Furiya Nanami

Miyama Karen
<<Mizusawa Ichigo

The HOTMAN is Back!

Have you seen the original "HOTMAN" drama? Probably most of you haven't, so I'll give you the gist of it now. Sorimachi Takashi plays a 'hot man' named Enzo. Unfortunately, the usual English slang meaning of "hot" as attractive/hoty is obviously not the intended meaning here. If you translate it to the Japanese equivalent of "atsui otoko", you get the real intended meaning of the drama, the nuance of which is a man who is extremely passionate about what he believes and is fast to act very vocally and physically to uphold it. This is exactly what Enzo is. (As usual, the Japanese writers chose to ignore potential nuances when making the English title.)

In the original series, Enzo lives with his siblings: Shima, Haiji, Ryuunosuke, Hinata and his young daughter Nanami. They all live together in the house that belonged to their deceased mother. Enzo, as the eldest, has taken it upon himself to raise his younger siblings in leu of their parents. He is very (and overly) protective of his family, and strictly enforces rules for them. Enzo used to be a recluse who associated with Yakuza and such, but now takes extreme measures to make up for his previous mistakes and vows to raise his family right. His daughter has an atrophy of the skin which he blames himself for, and in order to make up for this he now feeds the whole family health food which most of them hate. Enzo works at the school that the twins: Haiji and Ryuunosuke and Hinata go to, but the family has a lot of financial difficulties which become a large focus of the series. They are very passionately attached to their mother's house, which they vow to keep at all cost.

To make a long story short, everything works out okay for them in the end, and in a subsequent special, all the family members went their separate ways, leaving Shima alone in their mother's house. That was the original HOTMAN. Now let's talk about HOTMAN 2.

When the series begins, Enzo and Nanami are happily living in the countryside near the ocean. (Actually, their house is right on the beach! I wonder if that's safe.) They love all the other people who live in their town. Nanami has a little boyfriend she plays with every day and, overall, they seem much happier here than they did in Tokyo. Shima comes to visit them, and she looks like she has something very important to tell Enzo, but she ends up going back to Tokyo without telling him. When she suddenly leaves without notice and Enzo can't get a hold of her, Enzo becomes worried and makes a trip back to Tokyo.

There, he finds his mother's house condemned and Shima's new business establishment closed. He also goes to see Haiji and Ryuunosuke, but they haven't been in contact with Shima either. (Hinata is away at medical school.) When he goes back to his favorite bar (a recurring set in the first drama and apparently in this one too), he happens to meet his old girlfriend who is also Nanami's biological mother (if I remember the first series correctly). She knows where Shima is and tells Enzo. Enzo finds Shima working at a hostess bar and he learns how she lost her business and their mother's house. Enzo is furious of course, and he forbids Shima to work as a hostess any more. (Even though Shima is an adult, Enzo still regards himself as her guardian.) Shima agrees to quit her job, but she is unable to support herself financially.

Enzo goes back home and consults with Nanami, who says she loves living in their little town, but would be most happy living with the whole family together. Despite how happy the two of them seemed living in the country, they make the decision to move back to Tokyo and live with Shima.

They rent a little house which seems much worse than their mother's house, which is now gone. They go about finding a new job for Shima, and Enzo gets a job at the elementary school that Nanami goes to. There, Enzo is romantically paired with Nanami's teacher played by Shiraishi Miho. (It was a different teacher played by Yada Akiko in the first one, but nothing ever happened between those two anyway.) Enzo gets in arguments with her over Nanami's education. Nanami isn't doing as well as the other kids in her class. She makes 'friends' with a girl played by that girl who played Rin in "boku to kanojo to kanojo no ikiru michi". She was a perfect girl in "boku to kanojo...", but in this drama she seems to have vile intentions toward Nanami.

Nanami wants everyone to live happily together again, but Haiji, Ryuunosuke, and Hinata refuse to leave their current dwellings. Their various problems create a heated argument which reminded me very much of the first series. It looks like the problems for this family are far from over, and HOTMAN 2 is going to be very true to the original.

I was a bit disappointed. I liked the beginning when Enzo and Nanami were living in a different town and all the other characters were absent. I was thinking that the second was going to be very different from the original, but apparently not. This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that the original was annoying! I thought that I liked the original when I watched the first few episodes, but I very soon tired of the repeatedly overdone heated arguments by the characters. It's not just Sorimachi Takashi that I don't like, as I have enjoyed him somewhat in other dramas and the other star in HOTMAN are almost equally irritating, but I think it may be the writing/direction that I really don't like. It's just too overdone. Anyone who got this loud and passionate about something in real life would probably be told to shut up immediately and that would be the end of it. Near the end of the first series, I was hardly paying attention any more, and I'm pretty sure I didn't even bother to watch the last episode or two. I wonder how long I will continue watching the second.

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10/10 ^__^

need to say no more

if u miss this drama,

then you have missed one of the best jdrama's

and its so funny one too

Hotman

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 21:21:55 GMT

HOTMAN
Cast: Takashi Sorimachi, Akiko Yada, Nana Yamauchi, Manami Konishi, Yui Ichikawa, Shota Saito, Keita Saito, Tomoka Kurotani
Theme Song: "Together" by EXILE

Synopsis:
An #######, Yuriko Furuya passed away 10 years ago leaving five children with little savings. The children have different fathers except for the twin. The siblings, who were once separated because of their mother's death, start to live in their mother's house again for different reasons.
The oldest son, Enzo (Takashi Sorimachi) used to be a leader of bad kids, he changes completely ever since he finds the baby in front of his house with a letter saying "he is her father." He accepts that possibility, but he has no idea who the mother is... The baby, Nanami (Nana Yamauchi) suffers from severe skin disorder, and Enzo feels responsible for her condition considering how he has been eating junk food. He become a high school art teacher to support his family, and is now obsessed about natural food in order to help Nanami.
(thanks to USN for the synopsis)

Review: (this is my own review)
When I first started watching this drama, I thought, "Aw Takashi Sorimachi plays almost an identical character to his character in GTO." Not that he's not good; he's a great star. I just wanted to see a different side to him. This drama was great in many ways - maybe not exactly the type of drama you would go for if you don't like extremely family oriented stuff. It focuses on the lives of Enzo, his 4 brothers and sisters, and his daughter, Nanami. Each of the family members have problems and the drama goes through their problems with Enzo being the solution-maker to them all. Also, because Nanami has skin problems, Enzo focuses much on her too. By the end of the drama, I thought, "Boy, Takashi Sorimachi has done it again! - been in another great drama." I loved this drama and I rate it out of 5

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this drama sounds boring but is very funny,

makes u laugh alot,

the part2 to this drama is even funner

so i'll give this 9/10 and part2 10/10

its too good to miss,

comes 2nd place of 1 liter of tears ^_^, in my ranks

review of part 2 comes now

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/HOTMAN

Love Generation

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:50:17 GMT

Title: Love generation
Genre: JDrama / Love story
Year: 1997
Episodes: 11
Theme: Shiawase na Ketsumatsu by Ohtaki Eiichi; Hear me cry by Cagnet; True True by Meo
Cast: Kimura Takuya, Matsu Takako, Fujiwara Norika, Uchino Masaaki, Junna Risa ...

About

The story starts with Teppei (Kimura Takuya) trying to pick up Riko (Matsu Takako) who just been dumped on the roadway. The next morning Teppei gets transferred to a different department in which Riko seems to work at. What embraces you in the following episodes is a roller coaster journey of feelings between heaven and hell. There are so many wonderful and happy moments created for Riko (yea she is the main char) but just as many grave disapointments.

Katagiri Teppei (Kimura Takuya)

Uesugi Riko (Matsu Takako)

Teppei and Riko don't exactly fall for each other at first but gradually Riko kind of likes what she sees. Teppei is slower to realise that the girl he everyday sits next to at work is trigging his feelings. But then one day Sanae (Junna Risa) appears who was his high-school sweetheart. Problems arise as she is engaged to Teppei's brother Soichiro (Uchino Masaaki) who is unknown of their romantic past. In the middle Riko finds herself torn apart when she realises that Teppei can't that easily forget about Sanae.

It's really about 4 relationships entangled into each other as it appears Soichiro himself also have a hidden secret in his past as a public procecutor. It's a secret that in a way will affect Riko's relationship to Teppei.

Characters

Main character Katagiri Teppei is played by Kimura Takuya (Long Vacation, Beautiful life, Good Luck). This is the 4th drama I've seen of his and it's one of the best, which honestly don't say much since they have all been very good, but teamed up with Matsu Takako (Hero, Itsumo futari de) playing Uesugi Riko makes it an unforgettable pair in an unforgettable story. Hero was good too but this is the drama to watch.

Riko's friend and obvious side figure is Takagi Erika by none other than Fujiwara Norika (Akimahende!, Sutaa no Koi, Kinyoubi no Koibitotachi e). She has a very small part and makes what expected out of it. Teppei's brother Katagiri Soichiro is played by Uchino Masaaki (Ace wo nerae!, Fukigen na Jiin). And lastly Teppei's ex-girlfriend Mizuhara Sanae is played by Junna Risa (Rasen, Hitoribocchi no kimi ni, Kougen e Irasshai).

Katagiri Soichiro (Uchino Masaaki)

Mizuhara Sanae (Junna Risa)

Takagi Erika (Fujiwara Norika)

Keywords

Riko's Haircut, Ring toss, The magic hat scene, Riko's personal message.

Riko's magic routine ( )

Opinion

What drives this drama forward is the cute little things Riko does to draw Teppei's attention. It's everything from being pure annoying to being a sincere sweetheart in doing the dearest things. Whether it is the haircut or that cute magic hat scene it's always a delight to watch. In terms of cuteness I would have to compare it to Mukodono with Yuko, times 10, i.e. it's absolutely lovely to watch.

Riko (Listen up)

I use to think that whatever profession the main characters have is irrelevent and most times less interesting. In this drama it is held to a minimum and the balance is satisfying.

Something has to be said about the music. It is Cagnet and therefor soft and laid back. Like in Long Vacation it's a perfect fit and it's one of those times when you figure listening to the music alone would have made not as much impact as it would discovering it from the drama. Probably the best song is the opening theme sung by Ohtaki Eiichi.

When grading I usually consider intense moments and overall performance such as interesting side-stories. In this case there is plenty of intense moments and situations mostly covered by the friction between Riko and Teppei.

Some dramas have pace problems or just not enough material to fill 11 episodes. This is not one of those.

Moment of happiness (Teppei's announcement)

Seeing this drama just leaves you with a big silent smile. And it's all for Riko. Or rather, it's really all for Matsu Takako, cause she is the one who makes this show one-of-a-kind fantastic putting her heart and soul into the set. She feels perfect and real. If you have a thing for love dramas go and see it. If you already have, go see it again.

Yes I love this show. It's definately one of my favourites.

Grade 10/10.

JDorama - Love Generation

Yep 10/10.

its funny and sad, better than other love drama's

and matsu takako in it too ^_^

lol my reveiws gone crap sorry if its really bad reveiw, read the above one hehe

thats from jd

1 Litre of Tears

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:43:28 GMT

The latest Japanese show I’m watching is called 1 Litre of Tears/Ichi Ritoru no Namida and is so far absolutely fantastic!

15-year-old Ikeuchi Aya was an ordinary girl, the daughter of a family who works at a tofu shop, and a soon-to-be high schooler.

However, odd things have been happening to Aya lately.

She has been falling down often and walks strange.

Her mother, Shioka, takes Aya to see the doctor, and he informs Shioka that Aya has spinocerebellar degeneration -

a terrible disease where the brain gradually deteriorates to the point where the victim cannot walk, speak, write, or eat.

A cruel disease, as it does not affect the mind in the least. How will Aya react when told about her disease? And how will Aya live from now on?

If it gets more sad than it has been so far (I’m about to start watching episode 5) I don’t know if I can go on.

OK, that’s probably a bit exaggerated, but anybody who’s watched it know what I mean and it really IS sad.

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Wasy said

it is very very sad but the same time really good, i give this 10/10 too, so u should watch this ,

i got sad watching it , and i've watched it all,

i dont wanna say more bout it, coz i might spoil it so

here's the link http://blog.orgday.org/2006/01/24/1-litre-of-tears/

if that link not working try searching on JPOPSUKI Tracker