Japanese – Kimichee

November 19, 2013

RE TV SHOW: Switch Girl!! [Japanese high school comedy]

Title: Switch Girl!!
Genre: Japanese high school comedy
Actors: Nishiuchi Mariya, Kiriyama Renn, Sakata Rikako, Jinnai Sho, Mizuki Nana.

Synopsis borrowed from DramaWiki: Based on a manga with the same name created by Aida Natsumi, ‘Switch Girl!!’ revolves around a high school student named Nika (Nishiuchi) who appears to be a stylish and fashionable girl at school, but that’s really a fake persona that she uses when she’s in public. At home, she “switches off” the facade and her returns to her true slovenly nature. Kiriyama Renn plays the good-looking transfer student Arata, who is Nika’s love interest in the story.

Season 1 is 8 episodes.
Season 2 is 8 episodes.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this drama. It’s unfortunate, but to me most live-action manga spinoffs have been pretty hit or miss to my taste. This though … my interest was caught and I watched both seasons in one night.

Nika is funny when she’s in Off-mode at home, with her hair in that tri-corn hairdo and her overreactions to everything, and she’s beautiful when she’s dressed up in On-mode. Nishiuchi Mariya really owned the part and didn’t shy away from even the most embarrassing of scenes. I wish there had been a bit more with her sister, because we mostly see Rika in Off-mode with her blue sweatsuit and “old man” manners and the few instances of her dressed up were startling by the difference.

I’m used to watching kdramas, so I was a bit surprised about all the on-screen mentions of sex and love motels, but it’s a cute show and there’s somewhat of an implication of waiting for someone that really likes you for you, rather than just for looks. Plus Nika is a likeable character and Arata in his glasses made … Read the rest “RE TV SHOW: Switch Girl!! [Japanese high school comedy]”

February 3, 2012

RE MOVIE: Returner [Japanese]

Title: Returner (2002)
Genre: sci-fi, action
Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki
Written by: Takashi Yamazaki, Kenya Hirata
Starring: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anne Suzuki, and Goro Kishitani

Summary from IMDB: A young woman from the future forces a local gunman to help her stop an impending alien invasion which will wipe out the human race.

aStore: DVD

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Okay, so this movie is basically ET, The Matrix, Transformers, and Terminator all rolled up into one. And it was pretty awesome, if I must say.

The lead guy is pretty hot. The girl is kind of cute in a very normal girl kind of way. The story is somewhat nonsensical and you have to wonder why the heck they would do some of the things they do. The dialogue is sometimes incredibly stupid and you’re left wondering what kind of people they really are. It was pretty juvenile sci-fi fan service in some of its scenes. But it was also a truly awesome movie.

It will never be my favorite movie, I would never go that far, but it was very good and I was left with that soaring heart feeling you only get from movies that have in some way effected the way your brain thinks of something, even if you don’t know what the effect could mean. This movie had some personal significance to me, though all I really know is that it made me happy to watch it.

The lead guy is seeking vengeance on this crazy guy over the death of his childhood friend, and he doesn’t seem to care if he dies to do it. So he becomes a paid assassin. His bad guy is the bad guy, which gives the good guy a double reason to go after the jerk and rip out his pound of flesh.… Read the rest “RE MOVIE: Returner [Japanese]”