tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8760820919921341672024-02-18T14:20:22.723-05:00The Keizou JournalKeizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-71647704587087601302009-08-18T11:10:00.002-04:002009-08-18T11:14:06.125-04:00New About PageI've been using the same about page since I started The Keizou Journal, so I thought it would be a good idea to do a major revamp of it.<br /><br />Overall, it tells you a lot more about the blog and me. Hope every likes the <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/08/about-splash-page.html">new about page</a>!<div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-36978487957550605372009-07-31T20:48:00.001-04:002009-07-31T20:49:23.074-04:00Review: Zettai Kareshi Special<a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/07/review-zettai-kareshi.html"><span style="font-size:85%;">Warning: This review contains spoilers for those who haven’t watched the Zettai Kareshi drama series.</span></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/?action=view&current=800px-Zettaikareshi.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 369px; height: 211px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/800px-Zettaikareshi.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: Absolute Boyfriend, 絶対彼氏。<br />Genre: romance<br />Broadcast: Mar. 2009<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Hayami Mokomichi as Tenjo Night</li><li>Mizushima Hiro as Asamoto Soshi</li><li>Aibu Saki as Izawa Riiko</li></ul>It’s been 3 years since the events of the last episode of the drama. Riiko has returned from Paris, successfully completing her patissier training. She is hired by Asamoto’s business to create a new pastry and Night is mysteriously revived by a Kronos Heaven employee.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Pros</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Acting remains somewhat solid:</span> Just like in the drama, I thought Hayami Mokomichi does a good job playing a robot and Aibu Saki is pretty good as well.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51); font-weight: bold;">Continues the Zettai Kareshi “saga”:</span> This isn’t really a “pro”. It just that there isn’t really nothing that I enjoyed in this special, but at least they made a continuation of the drama series, which ended abruptly.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5363894584220797585%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Cons</span><br /></div><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">More like a retelling of the original series: </span> My biggest dislike for this special is the story. There are several things that I thought were done poorly (which I described below). But my biggest upset was how the story is very similar to that of the drama. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I’ll just say that you’ll get a lot of déjà vu when you watch this special.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">No scenes showing Riiko’s patissier (pastry chef) training:</span> As you might have remembered, at the end of the series, Riiko went to Paris to train to be a patissier. I thought the special would show how Riiko goes through her training. The whole patissier thing was pretty important in the drama series, but in the special, it’s very insignificant. The special just fast forwards 3 years when Riiko returns from her training.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Ending was unsatisfying:</span> The ending left a lot to be desired. It doesn’t quite finish up the storylines that were introduced in the drama and in this special. For example, the special doesn’t explain if Soshi’s pastry business goes well. Plus, there’s a bunch of other things that go unfinished.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">That American company was a huge gimmick:</span> The makers obviously wanted this special to be more attractive by randomly adding this top secret US organization to the story. In the end, it actually made the overall story even worse. It seemed like it was supposed to be a main part of the story, but the organization is quickly introduced and eliminated. In addition, the story doesn’t do a good job of explaining this secret organization, leaving you with a plot hole.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Bad special effects: </span>Not a significant dislike for me since there wasn’t too much special effects. But the special effects were absolutely terrible, just like in the drama series.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation:</span> I only recommend this special to those who watched the series and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I think you’ll be disappointed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating: </span>5/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s the first 5 min. of the special.<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gM-P7oRctDY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gM-P7oRctDY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews</span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/07/review-zettai-kareshi.html">Zettai Kareshi</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-66713013992539462572009-07-24T09:36:00.006-04:002009-08-14T14:15:55.338-04:00Announcement: All TopCharts updatedI've been hard at work for the last 2 weeks trying to convert all TopCharts into video playlists and replace broken videos. I was originally going to convert all my charts into the playlist but I decided that the charts with fewer than 10 PVs will be kept in their original format.<br /><br />I also had to remove my first TopChart since one of the PVs mysteriously disappeared (I think it has something to do w/ imeem closing down its video service).<br /><br />Anyhow, here's a list of all my TopCharts for your enjoyment (starting from the oldest ones).<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/weekly-topchart-top5-weirdest-pvs.html">Weird PVs<br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/topchart-top9-most-beautiful-pvs.html">Most Beautiful PVs</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/08/topchart-top5-most-boring-pvs.html">Most Boring PVs</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/12/topchart-top13-winter-pvs.html">Winter PVs</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/03/topchart-top23-sakura-pvs.html">Sakura PVs</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/06/topchart-top15-summer-pvs.html">Summer PVs</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/07/topchart-top30-winter-pvs.html">Winter PVs 2</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/06/topchart-top15-slow-motion-pvs.html">Slow-motion PVs</a><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-84847133439432009042009-07-18T13:24:00.008-04:002009-07-19T17:44:35.388-04:00Annoucement: TopCharts now in playlist form<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/06/topchart-top15-slow-motion-pvs.html"><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/Image1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Over the past few days, I've been hard at work converting my TopChart posts into very slick video playlists, using a website called <a href="http://embedr.com/">Embedr</a>. I doing this so that it's easier to view the TopCharts.<br /><br />The video playlist allows you to easily view TopCharts without having to load every single embed on the page (which can take a while for slow internet connections).<br /><br />I'll make another announcement once I'm done all TopCharts. So far, I've converted my <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/06/topchart-top15-slow-motion-pvs.html">Slo-mo PVs</a> and <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/07/topchart-top30-winter-pvs.html">Winter PVs</a> into video playlists.<div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-9722049025810205132009-07-11T18:08:00.000-04:002009-07-11T18:16:45.891-04:00Review: The Handsome Suit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/index_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 373px; height: 264px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/index_01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: ハンサム★スーツ, Hansamu sutsu<br />Genre: romance, comedy<br />Release Date: Nov. 1, 2008<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Muga Tsukaji as Takuro Ohki</li><li>Keiko Kitagawa as Hiroko Hoshino</li><li>Shosuke Tanihara as Annin Hikariyama</li></ul>Takuro has never had a girlfriend. After his mother dies, he takes over ownership of her diner. Everyone likes his food but his face and body aren’t so great. He falls in love with a girl who comes in the diner looking for a job. However, she is not attracted to him. When finding a tux for a friend’s wedding, Takuro ends up with the Handsome Suit, a suit that transforms the wearer into a good-looking guy.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Pros</span><br /></div><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51); font-weight: bold;">Unique story: </span>The number one thing I liked about this movie is it’s story. Only after learning about the story had I decided to watch it. There were some silly and far-fetched things in the story, but at least it’s unique compared to other romance J-movies I’ve watched. I’m getting pretty tried of the classic J-movie romance story about a boy and girl, boy-falls-in-love-with-girl, separated-somehow, girl-gets-deadly-disease, and love-isn’t-found storyline. The story in this movie is more like a blend of Zettai Kareshi and Densha Otoko.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51);"><br />Underlying message:</span> </span>Another plus side for me was that the movie had an underlying message for viewers that love should be for what’s in the inside. It’s cliché, but the movie brings out the message well.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51); font-weight: bold;">Good mix of romance and comedy:</span> Being my first romantic comedy J-movie, The Handsome Suit has a good mix of both genres. There were some hilarious scenes, but that didn’t deter me from enjoying the romance part of the story. Overall, the teary-eye scenes and the funny scenes were done pretty well.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51); font-weight: bold;">All-star cast: </span>Most people wouldn’t consider this drama to have an all-star cast, but I do. This is partly due to the fact that the two main characters from Mop Girl (one of my J-drama favs) play leading roles in The Handsome Suit. There also a bunch of other actors that fans might remember from popular J-dramas <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-hana-kimi.html">Hana Kimi</a>, <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/06/j-drama-review-hana-yori-dango.html">Hana Yori Dango</a> and <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/review-densha-otoko.html">Densha Otoko</a>.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5356135916441072561%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Cons</span><br /></div><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Story is a bit predictable:</span> About a third way’s through the movie, you’ll probably get a very good idea as to how the story will turn out. I don’t think the story is entirely predictable, since there is a twist in the story that I didn’t see coming.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Some wackiness:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Although not a huge annoyance for me, I have to admit that sometimes, the movie tries too hard to be funny. It just ends up being really dry and wacky, no humour at all.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Recommendation:</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>I know a lot of people will hate this movie, but if you’re looking for a more unique romance J-movie then watch The Handsome Suit. I would also recommend this movie to those who enjoyed <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/review-densha-otoko.html">Densha Otoko</a> or <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/07/review-zettai-kareshi.html">Zettai Kareshi</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 8/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Note that this trailer does contain some minor spoilers. If you want to avoid them, just watch the first minute of this trailer.<br /><object height="280" width="500"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5508258&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5508258&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="280" width="500"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-38390283479626261602009-07-05T19:20:00.004-04:002009-07-05T19:31:01.724-04:00Annoucement: twitter!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://twitter.com/the_kj"><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/twitterbadge.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div>I've decided to finally join twitter so that you can follow The Keizou Journal via twitter. You can find my twitter page at <a href="http://twitter.com/the_kj">twitter.com/the_kj</a>.<br /><br />What's twitter? If you don't know, see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o">this quick video</a>.<br /><br />Why follow The Keizou Journal on twitter?<br />Because you'll get...<br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;">very short versions of my reviews (for those really lazy people)</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">a heads-ups on upcoming reviews and other posts<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">short reviews on non-Japanese movies (J-movies aren't the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >only</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> movies I watch)</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">updates on what J-music song that I'm currently addicted to</span><br /></li></ul>This is my first time ever using twitter so I'm not sure how it'll turn out. If things go well, I'll probably use twitter for even more things, so stay tuned!<div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-2497888081626128312009-07-02T12:12:00.005-04:002009-07-02T12:22:03.931-04:00Review: Cat Street<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/06/announcement-new-review-format.html">Note: This review follows my brand new review format. Click for more details.</a><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/Cat-Street.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 362px; height: 271px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/Cat-Street.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: キャットストリート<br />Genre: Romance, drama<br />Episodes: 6<br />Broadcast: Aug. - Oct. 2008<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Tanimura Mitsuki as Aoyama Keito</li><li>Katsuji Ryo as Mine Koichi</li></ul>Aoyama Keito was once a popular child actress, but following a traumatic incident involving her best friend, she distanced herself away from society and her acting career. She is now 17 years old and accidentally enrols in a school for dropouts.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Pro</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Background music:</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51);"> </span>I’m guessing most J-drama fans don’t pay too much attention to the music in a drama, but it’s something that is important to me and Cat Street does it well. The background music didn’t play too often but when it does, there’s some very nice orchestral music to be heard. Furthermore, the insert song was actually integrated into the story which I thought was very unique and interesting (you’ll see what I mean by this when you watch ep.3).<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5353898031682800273%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" height="267"></embed><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Acting:</span> You’d expect good acting from the main character since she’s an actress playing an actress, but not so. She does the teary scenes alright, but most of the time she shows no emotion. Also, I noticed that she always stands still, there no emotion in her movements either. Of all the other actors, there’s no one that stood out to me. All of them were you’re average drama actors. Some of the sad scenes were acted out very poorer and I felt like a lot of the actors were melodramatic in alot of the scenes.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Too many diversion from main plot:</span> I expected (and hoped) that the drama would focus on the main plot about Keiko’s acting career. I thought it was a very original story that very few dramas have touched on. In addition, I thought it would be interesting seeing how Keiko progresses through her acting career. However, after watching the drama, it was the complete opposite of what I expected. Most of drama was not about Keiko’s acting career. There were many diversions from it including an episode focusing on a minor character’s love life. There were only two scenes that actually showed people filming and there was only one time we got to see Keiko act in a scene.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Slow pace:</span> Cat Street is only six episodes and I expected the story to move quickly, but overall, this drama had a dreadfully slow pace. I usually find in good dramas that the story is a bit slow at times, but cliffhangers and unexpected twist make up for the slowness. I can’t say the say the same about Cat Street, it was pretty much slow from start to end. Cat Street is filled a lot of scenes where you feel like nothing’s happening to progress the story. Just to give you an ideal of how slow this drama is, Keiko doesn’t go back to her acting career until more than halfway through the drama (!)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />I had high expectation from a drama based on a manga by the same manga-ka as HYD. It had very high potential but in the end, it was a huge disappointment. Even if you’re a fan of Kamio Yoko, I wouldn’t recommend this to you.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 5/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s the first 5 min. of episode 1.<br /><object width="500" height="375"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5397902&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5397902&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="500" height="375"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews</span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/06/j-drama-review-hana-yori-dango.html">HYD season 1</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/review-hana-yori-dango-2.html">HYD season 2</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-hana-yori-dango-movie.html">HYD movie</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-27354108162617266872009-06-22T17:30:00.006-04:002009-06-26T17:04:29.220-04:00Review: The Place Promised in our Eearly Days<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2009/06/announcement-new-review-format.html">Note: This review follows my brand new review format. Click for more details.</a><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/the_place_promised.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 279px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/the_place_promised.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: 雲のむこう、約束の場所, Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho<br />Genre: romance, sci-fi<br />Release Date: Nov. 20, 2004<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Hidetaka Yoshioka as Hiroki Fujisawa</li><li>Masato Hagiwara as Takuya Shirakawa</li><li>Yuuka Nanri as Sayuri Sawatari</li></ul>Japan is divided into two parts after the second World War. One part of Japan, Hokkaido, was taken over by an organization named “Union”, while the rest of Japan is occupied by the United States. After the separation, a mysterious tower was constructed at Hokkaido. In the summer of 1996, three high school students make a promise that they would build an airplane and fly to the tower. While the student are preparing for their adventure, the two parts of Japan edge closer to war as the US tries to unravel the mystery concerning the tower.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Pros</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Animation:</span> Like Makoto Shinkai’s newer movie, 5 Centimetres per Second, the animation in this movie is absolutely breathtaking. It was released in 2004, but the animation is some of the best I’ve seen. The lighting is very realistic and there’s a great amount of detail in just about everything in the movie. Every single frame in this movie is beautiful. Even when the movie shows a torn down warehouse, all the lighting effects and detail make it irresistible to stare at. Just take a look at the sceenshots and see for yourself.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Poetic script:</span> The script in this movie is very poetic and well-thought. Sure, most of it doesn’t really progress the story, but it is sometimes very touching to listen to and it adds a lot to the emotion to the scene.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5350170322320853585%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" height="267"></embed><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Cons</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Sci-fi, romance…scimance:</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> </span>This movie blends sci-fi with romance, but it doesn’t focus of any one genre, leaving me wishing it did. The sci-fi segments were very loosely explained, creating some confusion about the story. The characters rarely mention the conflict between the two parts of Japan and we mostly learn more about the conflict through short TV messages. Some of the technology seen in the movie looked really interesting, but it’s not explained enough to keep your interest. Also, the romance part of the movie wasn’t really completed. I expected a bit more to happen in terms of the romance sub-plot<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Get’s a bit confusing 30 min in:</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"> </span>After watching about 30 minutes, the story suddenly flashes forward 3 years and you’re pretty much dropped into a setting which you know nothing about. By the end of the movie, you sort of get the main point of the story, but you’ll probably be still confused about some parts of the story, especially the stuff about the tower. In addition, I wish the movie spent more time explaining what happened to the main characters in those 3 years that we know little about.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Slow-placed story:</span> </span>I also thought the story was a bit slow-paced. There are many scenes showing one of the characters just poetically talking to themselves about life. However, the superb animation and the script sort of make up for those otherwise boring scenes.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />There wasn’t enough sci-fi to satisfy sci-fi fans and there’s wasn’t enough romance to satisfy romance fans. However, just taking the animation into consideration, I recommend this movie to everyone.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 8/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s a short 1 min. spoiler-free trailer. Note that I had to cut out parts from the original trailer because it had some major spoilers. It actually explained pretty much the whole story!<br /><object width="480" height="381"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x9nkp9_the-place-promised-in-our-early-day_shortfilms&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x9nkp9_the-place-promised-in-our-early-day_shortfilms&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="480" height="381"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews </span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/05/review-5-centimetres-per-second.html">5 cm per Second</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-3106428870065181312009-06-20T13:28:00.004-04:002009-06-20T14:03:43.440-04:00Announcement: New review formatI previously said that I’ll be making one major change, so here’s it is. I decided that it’s time to change the format of my reviews (for all future reviews).<br /><br />The new format is designed to be more organized and concise. Also, I hope it will satisfy all types of readers, those who like to skim by reviews and those who actually read the whole thing. I’ve created a new <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/06/review-guideline.html">Review Guideline</a> page that briefly explains the new format.<br /><br />Like my previous reviews, the new reviews will be completely spoiler-free (incl. the screens, summary and video). If there happens to be a section with spoilers then I’ll clearly indicate it.<br /><br />One last thing: I’ll be posting a poll sometime in the future (after I’ve wrote a couple of reviews in the new format) so that I can get an idea of what readers think of the new format.<br /><br />Hope everyone likes the new format (^_^)!<div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-11733865657379388682009-06-18T09:55:00.000-04:002009-06-18T16:23:19.040-04:002 Year Anniversary<center><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/sunset.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></center><br />Today's the day. The Keizou Journal was officially started 2 years ago from today.<br /><br />Because of this, I've decided to make a few changes to the blog that will take effect over the next few weeks. So far, I'm <span style="font-style: italic;">planning</span> to make one major change and few minor changes.<br /><br />Note the word "planning" since I'm not too sure yet. However, I hope everyone will like the changes (if they do come).<div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-90557582359939037572009-06-14T19:04:00.004-04:002009-06-14T20:29:56.333-04:00Review: LIFE<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/?action=view&current=Life-drama.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 410px; height: 242px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/Life-drama.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: ライフ<br />Genre: School<br />Episodes: 11<br />Broadcast: Jun. - Sept. 2007<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Kitano Kii as Shiiba Ayumu</li><li>Fukuda Saki as Anzai Manami</li><li>Hosoda Yoshihiko as Sako Katsumi</li></ul>Shiiba Ayumu has a terrible past. She receives help from her best friend Yuuko to successfully complete an exam and enter a prestigious high school. However, Yuuko fails to enter the same school and blames Ayumu for her failure. As a result, Yuuko attempts to commit suicide. Ayumu attends the new school but things get worse. She is continuously bullied by her classmates because of the incident that happened to her in the past.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />If you thought <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/06/review-nobuta-wo-produce.html">Nobuta wo Produce</a> dealt with bullying in schools, you’re in for a surprise. LIFE pretty much deals with a ton of issues including bullying, raping and gangs, just to name a few. But after watching the entire series, I have to say that there’s way too much bullying for the first 5 or so episodes. There was almost no progression in the story. It was just about the main character getting bullied with few students or teachers caring about the situation.<br /><br />However, the first 5 episodes weren’t the biggest issue for me. I thought the biggest annoyance was the music. Most of the background music is this synthesized heavy-metal music stuff. Saying it was dreadful would’ve been an understatement. LIFE has some of the most repetitive, horrible, annoying background music I’ve ever heard. It almost ever fits with the mood of a scene since it’s always fast-paced and repetitive. Out of all the scenes in the drama, there were only a very few that actually had good music. Another thing I disliked was the ending. I don’t want to reveal anything too much about the story so all I’ll say that the ending might leave some disappointed.<br /><br />In terms of the good stuff, I would have to say the last half was LIFE’s strongest advantage. After episode 5, I saw myself wanting to watch LIFE more than before. The story got more exciting and it wasn’t just about the main character getting continuously bullied. Another plus side is the acting. Overall, I thought every actor did a good job, considering most of them are old teenagers or young adults. The actor that stood out the most was definitely the main character played my Kitano Kii. Lately, she’s been starring in leading roles in more J-movie and J-dramas. I’m certain she’ll be one of the most popular J-drama actresses in the years to come.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.ca/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.ca&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.ca%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5347277727377827521%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" height="267"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pros</span><br /><ul><li>Acting, epically from main character</li><li>Second half of the series</li><li>Deals with a lot of issues not found in other dramas</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Con</span>s<br /><ul><li>Absolutely horrible background music</li><li>First half of series</li><li>Ending might leave some disappointed</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />I certainly consider the pros to outweigh the cons for LIFE. The music is horrible but the story and acting will make up for it. If you’re a fan of school dramas, this is one school drama that is like no other and you should give it a try.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 8/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />This a short clip from the first episode. It basically shows what I described in the summary above.<br /><object width="500" height="375"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5118915&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5118915&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="500" height="375"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-31506270526175968492009-06-07T12:09:00.017-04:002009-07-18T13:24:01.904-04:00TopChart: Top15 Slow Motion PVs<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/slowmotionpvs.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></div><br />This is probably the most interesting TopChart I’ve done so far. I can’t believe I actually found 15 PVs with slow motion footage!<br /><br />I based this list mostly on how enjoyable the slo-mo was for each PV. ENJOY! (^_^)<br /><br /><center><div style="width:580px;height:637px;"><object width="580" height="637"><param name="movie" value="http://embedr.com/swf/slider/top15-slow-motion-pvs/580/637/0x7e858c/false/std"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://embedr.com/swf/slider/top15-slow-motion-pvs/580/637/0x7e858c/false/std" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" width="580" height="637" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><a href="http://embedr.com/playlist/top15-slow-motion-pvs" target="_blank" style="background:transparent url(http://embedr.com/img/embedr-custom-video-playlists.gif);float:right;margin:0;padding:0;outline:none;width:115px;height:35px;position:relative;top:-35px;"><span style="display:none;">Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com</span></a></div></center><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-39757238484964356472009-05-19T10:37:00.002-04:002009-05-19T10:41:48.738-04:00Review: Mop Girl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/mop_girl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 383px; height: 246px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/mop_girl.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: モップガール<br />Genre: Crime, Mystery<br />Episodes: 10<br />Broadcast: Oct. - Dec. 2007<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Kitagawa Keiko as Hasegawa Momoko</li><li>Tanihara Shosuke as Ohtomo Shotaro</li><li>Asami Reina as Ookouchi Hina</li></ul>Hasegawa Momoko works for a wedding planning company, but after a workplace incident, she is transferred to Little Angels, a subsidiary of her former employer that provides funeral services. When she was a child, Momoko was involved in a traffic accident but was saved by a mysterious woman who gave Momoko the ability to travel back in time. When she becomes an adult, she learns that in order to use her ability, she has to touch an important item belonging to a deceased person. Working for a funeral planning company, she often comes into contact with dead people and uses her power to travel back in time to save that person’s life.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />Mop girl is probably the biggest surprises I’ve seen and I consider it to be one of the most underrated J-dramas ever. I decided to give Mop Girl a try after reading the summary. It seemed like a very original storyline in terms of J-dramas. However, I didn’t expect much from this drama. I didn’t know most of the cast and I’m not a huge fan of mystery/crime dramas since they’re too episodic for me. After watching the series, I was thoroughly surprise.<br /><br />The thing I liked most about Mop Girl is that even though it is largely episodic, there’s an overarching plot. Every episode features a different mystery with different secondary characters, but there’s an overarching plot about Momoko’s powers. We don’t know anything about the women who gave Momoko’s power and why exactly did that person have time-travelling powers in the first place. This overarching mystery entices you to continue watching.<br /><br />Another plus for Mop Girl is that overall, each mystery was fairly good. Most had an unexpected plot twist at the end and I think it’s fair to say that each one was enjoyable. I have to say though, it does get a bit repetitive. All episodes start with a scene briefly showing a mysterious culprit and all episodes end with more or less the same plot twist. However, there’s a lot of variety in each episode that makes up for the repetitiveness. Each mystery features a very different setting and very different characters that we haven’t seen in previous episodes. One episode features a very bad rapper while another is about a group of authors. In terms of setting, one episode takes place in a maid café while another is set in a school.<br /><br />In addition, I thought Kitagawa Keiko played her role excellently. She’s good at those humorous scenes, but she’s equally good at acting in those sadder scenes. This was the first time I’ve seen her in a drama and I definitely look forward to other J-dramas that feature her.<br /><br />The biggest upset for me was the last episode. The mystery in the last episode was a bit less enjoyable than the other episodes. The characters introduced in the episode were a bit bland and the story was predictable. Also, the episode only explains the overarching story for less than 5 minutes. I wished they went into more detail about the incident when Momoko received her time-travelling powers. I can only hope a special will be made that will go into further detail and fill in the plot holes.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5337194536576146689%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" height="267"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pros</span><br /><ul><li>Surprisingly good episodic mystery J-drama</li><li>All episodes were fairly enjoyable</li><li>Largely episodic but overarching storyline keeps you wanting more</li><li>A lot of variety in each episode in terms of characters and setting</li><li>Kitagawa fits her role well</li><li>Good mix of comedy, mystery, romance and drama</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Con</span><br /><ul><li>Last episode didn’t go into much detail about overarching story</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />Mop Girl is one of those undiscovered gems. It’s unpopular, but in my opinion, you should give this drama a try, even if you’re not a fan of mystery dramas.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 9/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s a clip from the first episode.<br /><object width="500" height="375"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4718352&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4718352&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="500" height="375"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-56020926494152791022009-05-05T11:30:00.003-04:002009-05-05T11:37:10.881-04:00Review: Hana Yori Dango movie<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/hana_yori_dango_movie.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 356px; height: 269px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/hana_yori_dango_movie.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: Hana Yori Dango Final, 花より男子~ファイナル~<br />Genre: Romance<br />Release Date: Jun. 28, 2008<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Mao Inoue as Tsukushi Makino </li><li>Jun Matsumoto as Tsukasa Domyoji </li><li>Shun Oguri as Rui Hanazawa</li></ul>The popular J-drama series Hana Yori Dango ends with this movie. After Tsukasa announces his engagement with Tsukushi, his mother presents him with the family heirloom, a precious tiara called the Smile of Venus. Shortly after, the tiara is stolen and the feuding couple go on an adventure around the world in search of it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />This is one movie I had a lot of expectations (and hype) for. After finishing the second season of Hana Yori Dango, I’ve been waiting for more than a year for this movie to be released. There were definitely a lot of surprises with this movie and not all of them were good.<br /><br />Let’s get the bad surprises off my shoulders first. One of things that surprised me about this movie was that it’s nothing like the drama series. The drama was known to have addictive episodes with a lot of drama and unpredictable twists. The movie on the other hand, had none of that. I didn’t feel like there were any sad moments like in the drama. In addition, the story was very predictable, you’ll probably have a good idea of the ending once you get halfway through the movie.<br /><br />In addition, the movie seemed to have a totally different genre than the drama. The drama was mostly drama/romance, but this movie tries to mix in a bunch of stuff that just doesn’t work for a HYD movie. There’s a bit of a mystery element to the movie and there’s even this very long chase scene! It was almost like they were trying to make this a Bond movie and if you think about it, the movie does have a lot of similarities to recent Bond movies. There’s a chase scene, exotic locations, nice hotel rooms, a mysterious baddy, nice cars etc.<br /><br />I also thought there was some very unnecessary scenes like the one on the tropical island. Overall, it seemed like the plot wasn’t made for Hana Yori Dango fans. They tried to appeal to a greater audience and it failed miserably. I just wish they had formulated a plot that was similar to the drama series.<br /><br />There wasn’t really anything that stood out for me. The only good thing I can really say is that the movie concluded what the drama started (but of course, not is a good way).<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5332360317654919825%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" height="267"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pro</span><br /><ul><li>It concluded what the drama started</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Plot is completely different from what HYD fans would expect</li><li>Poor attempts at other genres like mystery/action</li><li>The extremely long chase scene</li><li>Ending is lame</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />I’m guessing everyone who has watched the HYD drama has already watched this movie. If you’re a HYD fan, I recommend it since it does sort of puts an end to the story, but in my opinion, you’re probably going to be disappointed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 5/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s the clip of that dreadful chase scene that I mentioned.<br /><object width="500" height="375"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4484308&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4484308&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="500" height="375"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews</span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/06/j-drama-review-hana-yori-dango.html">Hana Yori Dango season 1</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/review-hana-yori-dango-2.html">Hana Yori Dango season 2</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-71475581925404009062009-05-01T12:19:00.002-04:002009-05-05T11:37:16.472-04:00Back in Action!You may have noticed my ~3 month hiatus. I'm happy to announce that I've just finished my final exams, so I'll be devoting a lot more time to the blog for my summer break.<br /><br />In fact, I'm currently working on several posts right now, so stay tuned!<div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-79195721499806565882009-02-14T17:47:00.002-05:002009-05-01T12:19:19.889-04:00Review: L - Change the World<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/L-change-the-world.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 233px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/L-change-the-world.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: Lの本当の秘密<br />Genre: Action, adventure<br />Release Date: Feb. 9, 2008<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L</li><li>Mayuko Fukuda as Maki Nikaido</li></ul>After writing his own name in the Death Note in order to beat Light Yagami, L only has 28 days to live. He takes on one final case involving a bio-terrorist group that wants to kill humanity with a virus.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />I honestly didn’t expect much from this movie. Being a spin-off of the Death Note series, I didn’t think it was going to that good. In the end, this movie was a complete waste of time.<br /><br />The main problem about <span style="font-style: italic;">L: Change the World</span> was the story. Firstly, it’s obvious that this movie is supposed to be a suspense/mystery movie, but it comes no where near it. The original anime was one of most suspenseful animes that I’ve watched and <span style="font-style: italic;">L: Change the World</span> fails to provide any suspense. The story was very predictable, with no twists to keep it interesting. The story was also supposed to have a grand scale. There’s a virus that’s about to infect the whole world. But the movie makes it seem like L is the only person in the world that cares. At one point, an FBI agent comes to help, but he seemed more like an ordinary Japanese salary man than FBI material.<br /><br />Another dislike I had was the beginning. The beginning seemed like it was going to start off strong, but it turned out to be really terrible. It had some of most cheesy acting, with all those infected people trying to act like zombies. But it looked more like they just had a sever acme condition and were moaning.<br /><br />The movie also had the most unnecessary use of English I’ve ever seen in a J-movie. For some reason, the boy in the first scene (who looks perfectly Japanese) can only understand English. This makes for some pretty laughable scenes, especially in the beginning scene where the Japanese investigator is driving away from the bad guys and tells the boy to get help, but since the actor can barely speak English, the scene is totally out of place…no suspense at all (see the video preview below).<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5302789748387745569%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pro</span><br /><ul><li>L was in it</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Absolutely no suspense of mystery</li><li>Story was very predictable</li><li>Cheesy acting</li><li>Unnecessary use of English</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />Officially the worst J-movie I’ve ever seen (at the time of this posting). I don’t recommend this movie to anyone, even if you’re a Death Note fan.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 2/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s the clip that shows what I mean when I say “unnecessary use of English”.<br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3217517&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3217517&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews</span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/06/review-death-note-live-action-movie.html">Death Note</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/review-death-note-last-name-2nd-movie.html">Death Note: The Last Name</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-51574384760437797692008-12-29T17:38:00.000-05:002009-07-19T18:06:50.663-04:00TopChart: Top30 Winter PVs<center><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/winterpvs.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></center><br />Here’s my top 30 PVs about anything winter (xmas, snow etc.). I based my rank on the PV as well as the actual song.<br /><br />You can also check out <a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/12/topchart-top13-winter-pvs.html">last year’s Winter PV TopChart</a>, it has a completely different set of winter PVs.<br /><br />Sit back and ENJOY!(^_^)<br /><div style="width: 580px; height: 637px;"><object height="637" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://embedr.com/swf/slider/winter-pvs/580/637/0x7e858c/false/std"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://embedr.com/swf/slider/winter-pvs/580/637/0x7e858c/false/std" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" height="637" width="580"></embed></object><a href="http://embedr.com/playlist/winter-pvs" target="_blank" style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; background: transparent url(http://embedr.com/img/embedr-custom-video-playlists.gif) repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; float: right; outline-color: -moz-use-text-color; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; width: 115px; height: 35px; position: relative; top: -35px;"><span style="display: none;">Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com</span></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-58858344902088394812008-12-19T11:12:00.001-05:002008-12-19T11:18:29.404-05:00Review: Last Friends<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/Last-Friends.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 425px; height: 219px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/Last-Friends.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: ラスト・フレンズ<br />Genre: Romance<br />Episodes: 11<br />Broadcast: Apr. - Jun. 2008<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Nagasawa Masami as Aida Michiru</li><li>Ueno Juri as Kishimoto Ruka</li><li>Eita as Mizushima Takeru</li><li>Nishikido Ryo as Oikawa Sosuke</li></ul>Michiru has to deal with many life issues. Her father died when she was young and her mom constantly drinks and invites other men to her home. She is also bullied at her workplace where she is a hairdresser. Michiru decides to live with her boyfriend, Sosuke, a man who works at Child Welfare. Later on, Michiru coincidentally meets Ruka, a childhood friend that Michiru hasn’t seen since high school.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Review</span><br />After seeing the cast of Last Friends, I knew I had to give this drama a try. It probably has one of the most all-star casts I’ve ever. All the main characters are played by actors you’ve probably seen in another popular drama. Ueno, Eita and Mizukawa also starred in Nodame no Cantabile. Nagasawa is in just about every romance J-movie out there and Nishikido is from the J-pop group NewS.<br /><br />Let’s start with the good stuff first. I thought the number one thing this drama did good was the story. First of all, it was fast-paced. Each episode ended with an interesting cliff-hanger and I didn’t feel that much time was wasted. Secondly, the story touches on issues you normally don’t see in other dramas. In other words, there aren’t the usual clichés that you would find in other dramas. Another aspect of the story I liked was how it ended. The last episode didn’t introduce anything too new or introduce another twist in the story. The series just ended exactly the way that I wanted it to end.<br /><br />Even though, most aspects of the story were very well done, there were some negatives about it as well. Some episodes felt a little repetitive with same thing happening over and over again. Also, I felt that some episodes had a slower story midway through and didn’t continue on the previous episode’s cliff-hanger. The biggest downside for me was Nishikido Ryo (the guy from NewS who plays Sosuke). I know the girls will disagree but Nishikido should not be allowed to act. He is probably my pick as the worst actor ever. He shows absolutely no emotion and always seems to act cool. However, with the exception of Nishikido, the rest of the cast was superb in acting, especially the actresses who played Michiru and Ruka.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5281535402366605025%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pros</span><br /><ul><li>Fast-paced story (for most episodes)</li><li>Touches on issues you don’t find in other dramas</li><li>Ending was perfect</li><li>Most of the acting was very good</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Nishikido Ryo’s acting </li><li>Story was a bit repetitive at times </li><li>Story was slow midway through some of the episode</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />If you’re looking for a unique J-drama that deals with sensitive issues then watch Last Friends.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 8/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s a short CM for Last Friends.<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AXm40PuALlw&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AXm40PuALlw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-29199753891326997632008-12-17T17:43:00.003-05:002009-05-05T11:37:26.889-04:00Annoucement: New Holiday HeaderI've decided to create a header image for the winter holidays. I hope everyone likes it! (^_^)<br /><br />From now on, I hope to create different headers during special days...I guess the next time that I'll change the header image is during valentine's day...so stay tuned!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/kjheaderv3withframe.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/winterheaderv1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-73191739087066713222008-12-15T19:41:00.004-05:002008-12-15T19:51:21.649-05:00Review: Sword of the Stranger<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/?action=view&current=stranger-of-the-sword.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 321px; height: 240px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/stranger-of-the-sword.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Titles: ストレンヂア -無皇刃譚-, Mukoh Hadan<br />Genre: Action, adventure<br />Release Date: Sept. 29, 2007<br /><br />While being attacked by solders from China, a young boy named Kotaru is saved by a samurai named Nanashi. Still unaware of why the Chinese would want Kotaru, Nanashi agrees to protect him.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />Ironically, I’ve never watched a historical anime movie even though I’m a huge fan of historical movies. Even by watching the first few minutes of the movie, I knew that Sword of the Stranger was going to be one of the best anime movies I’ve watched. After watching the whole movie, it didn’t disappoint. Sword of the Stranger is action-packed film, so I expected the action sequences to be good. But to my surprise, it was a lot better than I had thought. So much so that I think this movie has the best fight scene animation I’ve ever seem is an anime series or movie. The animation for the action scenes were smooth and crisp, the choreography was unique, and there was a lot of exaggerated gore like spraying blood. In addition, the music was also very well done, especially for the action scenes. The background music added even more excitement to the fight scenes.<br /><br />Also, you might think the story is pretty basic, but it’s actually pretty good, with plenty of twists to keep it interesting. My summary is very basic because I didn’t want to give away too much of the story.<br /><br />I didn’t have any major things I disliked, only a few minor things. My first dislike was that I thought some of the action sequences were way too fast, especially in the last scene. I even had to rewind and re-play several scenes to actually figure out what happened. However, I consider this to be minor because I think it adds some excitement to the movie. Another thing I disliked was how some of the characters were killed off too quickly. I really wanted to see them in more action because they seemed like good fighters, but they’re quickly killed at the beginning of a battle.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5280183528076611937%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" height="267"></embed><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Keizou29/SwordOfTheStranger#">view larger screens</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pros</span><br /><ul><li>Some of the best animated fight scenes I’ve ever seen</li><li>Fight scenes were smooth, crisp, unique and exciting</li><li>Music adds even more excitement to the fight scenes</li><li>A lot of exaggerated gore</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Some parts of the fight scenes were way too fast</li><li>Some characters killed off too quickly</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />If you’re into action/adventure anime, then this is a must-watch.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 9/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Here’s a short teaser showing the beginning of a fight.<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FSJd2o6bThY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FSJd2o6bThY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews</span> (historical/quasi-historical)<br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/07/review-shinobi-heart-under-blade.html">Shinobi – Heart Under Blade</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-azumi.html">Azumi</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-azumi-2-death-or-love.html">Azumi – Death or Love</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-39195995257563108862008-10-07T19:07:00.003-04:002008-10-07T19:18:06.998-04:00TopChart: Top15 Animated PVs<center><img src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/Logos/animatedpvsheader.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></center><br />To qualify for this TopChart, the PV must have at least one animated scene and the animation must be original (not from an anime, game etc.).<br /><br />Note that I based this list solely on how well I thought the animation was.<br /><br />This is a pretty long list so sit back and ENJOY!!!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">15. Yuki - Hoshikuzu Sunset</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k4UsobQ1xmEbNtnPGX&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k4UsobQ1xmEbNtnPGX&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">14. NewS - Happy Birthday</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="328"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k6Dkpb5C371hYlLrgX&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k6Dkpb5C371hYlLrgX&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="328"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">13. Genki Rockets - Heavenly Star</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="257"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k10qsnFs7lIb40fh08&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k10qsnFs7lIb40fh08&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="257"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12. YUI - CHE.R.RY</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k3rC2d2wnslUR0mBYx&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k3rC2d2wnslUR0mBYx&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11. SMAP - Arigatou</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k41DTLHSphl4NHwyGu&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k41DTLHSphl4NHwyGu&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10. JULEPS - Tabidatsu Hi Kanzenban </span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k6YzcljgA68a7xoFd0&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k6YzcljgA68a7xoFd0&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9. Takasugi Satomi - Yukiboshi </span><br /><div> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bd5BXTACMAs&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bd5BXTACMAs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. Arashi - One Love</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k41DTLHSphl4NHwyGu&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k41DTLHSphl4NHwyGu&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Miyu Nagase - Akane</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k341aSk1hCu5y0Cehe&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k341aSk1hCu5y0Cehe&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Bonnie Pink - Ring a Bell</span><br /><div><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B6WI7EWPjxc&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B6WI7EWPjxc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. LOVE - White Choco</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k2E5Tnfe0CRSpSpgLt&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k2E5Tnfe0CRSpSpgLt&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Ai Otsuka - Yumekui</span><br /><div><object width="460" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://media.imeem.com/pl/7YSfg-6HBb/aus=false/pv=2/"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://media.imeem.com/pl/7YSfg-6HBb/aus=false/pv=2/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="460" height="390"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. Utada Hikaru - Boku wa Kuma</span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k6KTGgybf4nlkk9Diy&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k6KTGgybf4nlkk9Diy&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Monkey Majik - Endless Summer with Blaise Plant </span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k5mlzti3DR5gVrBonQ&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k5mlzti3DR5gVrBonQ&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Utada Hikaru - Stay Gold </span><br /><div><object width="420" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k1VI04J3ahtkLBsBud&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k1VI04J3ahtkLBsBud&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="336"></embed></object></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-25048152443794327942008-08-10T09:41:00.002-04:002008-08-10T09:48:27.046-04:00Review: Koizora<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/koizora.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 265px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/koizora.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Titles: Sky of Love<br />Genre: Romance<br />Release Date: Nov. 3, 2007<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Aragaki Yui as Mika</li><li>Miura Haruma as Hiro</li></ul>Mika is freshman at a high school. One day she loses her cell phone. A classmate at her school named Hiro finds her cell phone and tells her where it is. Hiro calls Mika to have conversations even though Mika doesn’t know who’s calling. At first, Mika is annoyed by the stranger that keeps calling her, but after a while, Mika starts to fall in love with him.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />I haven’t had a good experience with romance J-movies. The only romance J-movie that I gave a very good rating to was <span style="font-style: italic;">Heavenly Forest</span>. I find most of them to be very slow-paced with an unoriginal story. <span style="font-style: italic;">Koizora</span> was no different. It has the most cliché storylines packed into a single J-movie. Judging from my summary, it might seem like the story is original, but I just describe the first 30 or so minutes of the movie. After that, the movie is filled with things we’ve seen a million times in Japanese dramas and movies. In addition, the story is incredibly slow-paced which makes it boring at times. There are many scenes were there’s complete silence without any background music or dialogue. In addition, like many other romance J-movies, the ending is a bit controversial. You’ll probably wish that the ending was slightly different.<br /><br />On the positive side, Aragaki Yui brought some enjoyment to the otherwise boring movie. She’s a perfect fit as a schoolgirl. Aragaki has actually starred in several school dramas before and she has great acting in all of them. Aragaki isn’t as good as popular actresses like Horikito Maki and Toda Erika, but she’s pretty close. However, I wasn’t too pleased with the acting of Miura Haruma. He didn’t act out some the scenes as good as I would’ve liked, especially in the very tense scenes.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5232523047797804913%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Keizou29/Koizora"><span style="font-size:85%;">view larger screens</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pro</span><br /><ul><li>Aragaki Yui fits perfectly in a school girl role</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Most cliché storylines packed into one J-movie</li><li>Very slow-paced </li><li>Some might not like the ending</li><li>Didn’t like acting from Miura Haruma</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />Some people might get some enjoyment because of Aragaki Yui, but if you’re not a fan then you should stay away from <span style="font-style: italic;">Koizora</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 5/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br />Warning: The second half of this trailer contains spoilers.<br /><div><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NePlZ5i4dOM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NePlZ5i4dOM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews</span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/01/review-papa-to-musume-no-nanokakan.html">Papa to Musume </a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-dragon-zakura.html">Dragon Zakura</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-71605651978110973992008-08-02T18:23:00.003-04:002008-08-02T19:55:37.042-04:00Review: Attention Please Special<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/230px-Attention_Please_SP.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 292px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/230px-Attention_Please_SP.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: アテンションプリーズ<br />Genre: Romance, comedy<br />Broadcast: Jan. 2007<br />Starring:<br />Ueto Aya as Misaki Yoko<br />Nishikido Ryo as Nakahara Shota<br /><br />Now that Misaki Yoko has passed her basic flight attendant training, she begins her training for international flights. As part of her training, she is assigned to a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />I wasn’t pleased with the original series, so I wasn’t expecting a lot from the special. But to my surprise, the special was a lot worse than I imagined. The number one thing that ruined the special was definitely the story. It was the most lame, cheesy and downright boring mix of story elements I’ve ever seen in any drama or drama special. The first 45 minutes had absolutely no story, just a bunch of training sessions and Yoko serving people on the plane. It’s not until an hour into the special that a story starts to develop, but it’s just a very lame and predictable romance story involving some hula dancer. The conflict of the story is quickly resolved in 30 minutes and then you realize that you’ve wasted 1.5 hours of your time.<br /><br />The series was supposed to be a comedy, but it really wasn’t. Same with the special, it tries really hard to be funny, but there was nothing that made me laugh (other than how lame the romance story was). In addition, I hoped that the special would finish off the romance subplot from the original series involving Misaki Yoko, but in my opinion, it didn’t. Overall, like the series, the special doesn’t focus on one genre. It tries to be many different genres and doesn’t excel at any of them.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5230042472209299537%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Keizou29/AttentionPleaseSP"><span style="font-size:85%;">view larger screens</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pros</span><br /><ul><li>[Can’t think of anything]</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Lame and predictable romance subplot which doesn’t last long</li><li>More scenes showing flight attendant training</li><li>First 45 min. had absolutely no story</li><li>Other subplots are boring</li><li>Labelled as comedy, but wasn’t funny</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />The worst drama (series or special) that I’ve ever watched.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 2/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Review</span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/05/review-attention-please.html">Attention Please (series)</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-75160907934268475132008-07-15T20:21:00.006-04:002008-07-15T20:29:00.023-04:00Review: Dororo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/dororo_wp03_s.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 401px; height: 221px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Movie/dororo_wp03_s.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Title: どろろ<br />Genre: Action, adventure<br />Release Date: Jan. 27, 2007<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Shibasaki Kou as Dororo</li><li>Tsumabuki Satoshi as Hyakkimaru</li></ul>After losing a battle, a desperate feudal lord makes a pact with demons, offering his son’s body in exchange for the ability to rule the world. When the son is born, being an immortal and barely human, he is abandoned by his parents. Many years later, that same son, now named Hyakki-maru, is on a mission to kill the demons that took away his human body. After fighting one of the demons, he meets a thief named Dororo.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Review</span><br />As some of you may have guessed, I’m a hug fan of historical/quasi-historical J-movies. I’ve seen several of them so far, but none of them disappointed me greatly. All of the historical J-movies I’ve reviewed so far had something I liked. But that was before I watched Dororo. I had high expectations after watching the awesome trailer, but it turned out to be the worst historical J-movie I’ve ever watched.<br /><br />This is the first J-movie that I’ve watched with a lead male role played by women. I thought it would be interesting to see actress Shibasaki Kou play a boy, but it wasn’t. I thought Shibasaki tries way too hard to act like a boy. She forces her voice lower, slants her eyebrows and always tries to look tough throughout the entire movie. The result is a extremely annoying character that makes the movie almost unwatchable. Another huge miss is the CGI used to create the monsters. Saying that the CGI was terrible would be an understatement. They were sooo terrible even the first Starwars movie had better CGI and it was made more than 30 years ago. CGI was unrealistic (some even looked 2-D) and some of the monster movements were choppy.<br /><br />It wasn’t only the CGI that was bad, all the special affect were terrible. In one scene, they even used someone dressed in a monster costume and it looked like one of those monsters from Power Rangers. This scene probably had the worst special effects of the whole movie, since they tried to make the monster seem gigantic but it was obviously just the size of a human.<br /><br />The only major thing that I liked about Dororo was how it remained gritty and dark throughout the whole movie. The colours are very dark and some effects were used to add to the dark feel. I noticed that for one scene they made the picture look a bit grainy which fitted well with what was going on in the scene. However, this didn’t do much to make the overall movie more enjoyable.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5222879214041402401%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Keizou29/Dororo"><span style="font-size:85%;">view larger screens</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pros</span><br /><ul><li>Maintains a dark/gritty look throughout the whole movie</li><li>Last fight scene was decent</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Shibasaki tires too hard to act like a boy, making her character very annoying</li><li>Special effects were TERRIBLE!</li><li>Every other fight scene was mediocre</li><li>Minor characters get too much attention</li><li>Story was unoriginal</li><li>Music was annoying at times</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />Stay away from this one at all costs!!!(>_<) <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Rating:</span> 3/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br /><div><object height="336" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x1qh2r&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x1qh2r&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="336" width="420"></embed></object></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876082091992134167.post-21372564880109823222008-07-06T14:06:00.006-04:002008-07-09T10:06:48.071-04:00Review: Zettai Kareshi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/800px-Zettaikareshi.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x269/KeizouImages/J-Drama/800px-Zettaikareshi.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br />Alternative Titles: 絶対彼氏。, Absolute Boyfriend<br />Genre: Romance, comedy<br />Episodes: 11<br />Broadcast: Apr. - Jun. 2008<br />Starring:<br /><ul><li>Hayami Mokomichi as Tenjo Night</li><li>Mizushima Hiro as Asamoto Soshi</li><li>Aibu Saki as Izawa Riiko</li></ul>Kronos Heaven, a robot maker, develops “Tenjo Night”, a robot programmed to be the perfect boyfriend. The company finds a temp office worker named Izawa Riiko and realizes that she’s the perfect person to test the new robot on. Kronos Heaven gives her a free 5-day trail, but Riiko only sees Night as an appliance.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Interesting Fact</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Zettai Kareshi</span> is based on the manga of the same name, but the two are very different. For example, in the manga, Riiko is a school girl and Soshi is her childhood friend. In the drama, Riiko is an adult working at a pastry company and Soshi is her boss.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span><br />I expected that this was going to be a good drama. I’ve read a couple of Yuu Watase mangas before, but I’ve never read <span style="font-style: italic;">Zettai Kareshi</span>. Nevertheless, I thought this going to be a fun drama to watch. After finishing the series, it was actually a bit better than I first thought.<br /><br />The number one thing I liked about this drama was the story. I thought it was very original, but more importantly, it was well-paced. Nearly every episode ended with a cliff-hanger to keep you tuned and I didn’t feel like there were any downright boring scenes. In other words, every episode had something to offer to keep your attention. I also thought the character development was done very well done. The series does a great job showing how Riiko grows closer to Night. In addition, the acting was good. Aibu Saki is perfect for the role. As for Hayami Mokomichi, I think he did an alright job portraying a robot, though its hard to critique someone who’s playing a robot since robots aren’t suppose to have emotions.<br /><br />I had only had two major annoyances. The first episode introduced a co-worker at Riiko’s workplace who Riiko had a crush on. However, at the end of the episode, he just disappears from the series and he’s never seen again in any other episode. This left the story kind of unfinished at the end of episode one. Also, the last episode was a bit weaker than I thought. The main conflict with Night was resolved very early on, so most of the episode was more like an epilogue and it was slow-placed compared to the other episodes. But anyhow, the ending was good.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FKeizou29%2Falbumid%2F5219949600998700033%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Keizou29/ZettaiKareshi">view larger screens</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pros</span><br /><ul><li>Story was well-paced</li><li>Cliff-hangers keep you watching</li><li>Character development was excellent</li><li>Acting was good</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cons</span><br /><ul><li>Story in first episode was a bit unfinished</li><li>Last episode was weaker than I thought</li><li>Special effects were terrible</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommendation</span><br />Most J-drama fans will get plenty of enjoyment from this drama. I recommend you to watch at least three episodes before deciding whether you want to continue.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating:</span> 8.7/10<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Preview</span><br /><div><object height="336" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x4rqlu&related=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x4rqlu&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="336" width="420"></embed></object></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Reviews</span><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2008/05/review-attention-please.html">Attention Please</a><br /><a href="http://keizou.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-hana-kimi.html">Hana Kimi</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">(note to feed readers: music playlists are not viewable in feedreaders)</div>Keizouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361938613163749543noreply@blogger.com4