Featured Artist: melody.

Profile
Birthdate: Feb. 24, 1982
Birthplace: Hawaii

Quick Facts

• She began her career in Japanese music in 2003
• Her songs have been featured in many Japanese commercials ranging from videogames to automobiles
• Her first single, Sincerely become a major hit, reaching third spot on the Oricon charts
• One of her most successful singles "realize" was featured in the J-dorama Dragonzakura
• She had her first solo music tour in 2006
  

Interesting Facts

• She was raised by Japanese parent in Hawaii so she can speak English and Japanese fluently
• She's the VJ for a new Japanese music show called J-MELO
• J-MELO is recorded completely English and is about introducing J-music to the world

Discography ♥= My Favourites

Albums

• [2004.01.21] Sincerely
• [2006.04.12] Be as one ♥
• [2007.07.04] READY TO GO! ♥

Singles

• [2003.02.19] Dreamin' Away
• [2003.06.18] Simple As That / Over The Rainbow
• [2003.11.27] Crystal Love
• [2004.06.09] Believe me
• [2005.01.12] Next to You
• [2005.08.17] realize / Take a Chance ♥
• [2006.02.15] see you... ♥
• [2006.11.08] Lovin' U ♥
• [2007.02.14] Finding My Road
• [2007.05.30] Love Story ♥

Now, sit back, look at some melody. pics and listen to her two previous albums, Be As One and READY TO GO!





Previous Featured Artists
Bonnie Pink
Kou Shibasaki
Younha

Review: NANA 2 (live-action movie)

Summary
Genre: Romance
Release Date: Dec. 9, 2006
Starring: Nakashima Mika as Osaki Nana, Ichikawa Yui as Nana "Hachi" Komatsu

NANA 2 takes place after the events of the first movie. Komatsu Nana meets her favourite member of the popular rock band TRAPNEST, Takumi. Takumi brings Nana to his hotel room and the next thing you know, he starts liking her. Meanwhile, Osaki Nana has her doubts about Takumi and is experiencing difficultly in her own life. Both girls must now keep their friendship from falling apart and deal with their issues in life.

Interesting Fact
Many of the actors and actresses in NANA did not reprise their role in NANA 2. The most notable change is that Miyazaki Aoi no longer plays Komatsu Nana. Other changes include the characters of Ren and Okazaki Shinichi.

Review
Just like the First NANA movie, NANA 2 is flat-out boring to sit through. There are tons of moments where nothing is happening. Moments where one character is just starring at another character, no dialogue, no movement, no action...no joke. I also noticed that many of these scenes are boring because there's a lack of background music. Background is important in any movie. In NANA 2, there's scenes where a lot of drama is going on, but absolutely no background music is present. Having more background music would have greatly reduced the boringness.

To makes things worse, NANA 2 ended without finishing the Takumi storyline. Close to the ending, you get to find out something about Takumi that's a bit shocking, but then the movie ends and the story feels a bit uncompleted.


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Pros

• Real-life J-music artist, Yuna Ito does a nice short preformance
• Story does get a bit more interesting halfway through...

Cons

• ...but shortly after that, it gets boring again
• just flat-out boring throughout
• lack of background music (especially in very dramatic scenes)
• minor cliffhanger at the end
• it's more than 2 hours long
• I thought Miyazaki Aoi played Komatsu Nana better

Recommendation
Unless you enjoy every aspect of the first NANA movie, I suggest you stay away from this one.

Rating: 6.5/10

Review: Kurosagi

Summary
Alternative Title: クロサギ, The Black Swindler
Genre: Police, Crime, Romance
Episodes: 11
Broadcast: Apr-Jun 2006
Starring: Yamashita Tomohisa as Kurosaki/Kurosagi, Horikita Maki as Yoshikawa Tsurara

Kurosagi is about a young man named Kurosaki who had his family destroyed by swindlers (con artists). When Kurosaki grows up, he becomes a swindler named Kurosagi, so that he can avenge his family. Ever since his family was destroyed by swindlers, Kurosagi swindles other con artists and returns the money to the victim.

Kurosagi's life changes when a law student name Yoshikawa moves into the same apartment. Yoshikawa soon finds out about Kurosagi's illegal activities. She immediately disapproves of his actions, but how will she convince him to give up?

Review
Kurosagi is a bit different then most other J-dramas. Most dramas focus on one main plot, but in Kurosagi, every episode has a completely different story. In other words, every episodes has a different main plot and the sub-plot for every episode is about Yoshikawa's attempt to stop Kurosagi's swindling. This causes most episodes to be quite boring and sometimes even confusing.

Most of the episodes basically go like this: a swindling victim comes to Kurosagi for help...Kurosagi goes to apartment to put on disguise....Kurosagi meets up with the swindler....after talking, Kurosagi successfully swindles the culprit...Kurosagi calls the police...police arrest swindler...the victims get their cash back and everyone's happy!

The only thing that wasn't boring about Kurosagi is the sub-plot about Yoshikawa. This drama only touches on the sub-plot for only about ten minutes at the end of every episode. I wish there was more of a balance between the different swindling jobs and the Yoshikawa sub-plot.


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Pros

• Sub-plot about Yoshikawa trying to stop Kurusagi's swindling
• Yamashita Tomohisa!!!!! >//< (That one was for the females)
• Horikita Maki plays her character very well

Cons

• Every episode has a different main plot
• Every episode is dominated by Kurosagi on a swindling job
• Sub-plot about Yoshikawa only takes up a small portion of each episode
• Ending was a cliffhanger
• Some scenes had way too much coincidence

?Perplexing?: How come every time the police arrest one swindler, they have to use like a hundred police officers?

Recommendation
Watch Kurosagi is you absolutely love Yamashita Tomohisa (I know that many girls do) or crime dramas.

Rating: 7.5/10

TopChart: Top5 Most Boring PVs

These are the most boring PVs as chosen by me.
Note that I'm NOT judging the PVs by the actual song, melody, or lyrics. This list is only based on the visual content of the PV.

In my opinion, all of these PVs are really nice to listen to, but they're a drag to watch. Here's a definition of boring so that you'll know what these PVs represent.

Boring - adjective
stimulating no interest or enthusiasm

5. Utada Hikari - Flavour of Life
One of my all-time favourite J-ballad songs, but the video just shows Utada singing in a music studio.


4. ayaka - Mikazuki
Another great J-ballad song. The PV is boring since it just shows ayaka sitting on a light.


3. Mr.Children - Shirushi
This PV is boring since it only shows the lead singer of Mr.Children (Sakurai Kazutoshi) on a chair through the whole video.


2. Shimatani Hitomi - Koimizu
This PV only shows Shimatani's face through the whole video.


1. Remioromen - Island
The most boring of them all...This PV doesn't even show the artists singing. It just shows one of the members of Remioromen struggling to swim in the ocean.

Previous TopCharts
Top9 Most Beautiful PVs
Top5 Weirdest PVs