I wish Wendy and everyone have a Happy Valentine’s Day~ Not much of a special day for me since Wendy isn’t around, but due to the fact that it’s Valentine’s Day, I went out.

The traffic was horrible today, I guess it was caused by people in the entire world are coming out of their home, in fact I haven’t seen such crazy traffic jam for years. Took me 30 minutes to get to my destination instead of the usual 10 minutes or so. I actually had a few things in mind that I wanted to buy.

What did I get myself for Valentine’s?  I got a gel-filled chair cushion for my new chair since the foam was kind of crappy (or was it normal?) that it collapses pretty severely so after seating there for an extended period of time my ass was feeling funny/stressed (same thing with my old leather chair) The new cushion’s working pretty well so far (had dinner and watched a couple Japanese drama episodes sitting on it) and my butt’s still feeling great

And yes, I usually tend to get more than one thing whenever I’m in the mood to shop. I also got myself a plant to replace my “flies infested” foliage. I love mine but somehow little flies kept on coming out of the soil flying around my place, and it was really annoying. I didn’t want to throw it away (it’s lived with me for 2.5 years, since I moved in) so I placed it out in the patio, and I hope that it’s okay with the much cooler temperature… Anyway the new one I got’s called “Crotons”. It’s super colorful, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen them. Each leaf’s got kind of a different color. I really like its colorful nature and I thought it’d look great having it at home. Also got a black colored pot to be its new home. The plant’s just $15, so cheap and nice~ Now I’m just going to hope for it being bug-free for the coming years…!

Last but not least, I got this “Microsoft Technet Subscription” membership card from mail today. I wasn’t even sure why/when I became a member, I guess I was automatically subscribed to the program when I went for the Microsoft Tech Days event last month. Well, the card looks cool and I guess I’ll go online and see if they’re offering any free downloads and stuff with the card..

Ryokiteki na Kanojo is the Japanese remake of the Korean drama “My Sassy Girl” which was hugely popular all over Asia back in 2001. The Korean version was extremely well made, easily one of my all time Korean favorite (of course partly because of the extremely pretty actress Jun Jihyun / ???) I didn’t really know that it’s the Japanese version of My Sassy Girl until I finished watching episode 3 or 4 and was trying to search online for more info about this drama - The beginning of the drama really didn’t remind me of anything in the Korean counterpart. Anyway, I downloaded this movie mostly being a fan of Rena Tanaka / ???? since about 10 years ago (still have a huge poster of her that I bought in Hong Kong). I don’t know, she looks like a cat..lol. I like the main guy Kusanagi Tsuyoshi / ??? (from SMAP) a lot too, think he acts really good and is really natural (he actually made me cry in this drama, and I actually haven’t for a couple years…)

Anyway, the story begins with the main guy bumping into this girl in a train. Girl was really sick / drunk and was yelling around and walking in a weird way like a drunkard. Guy tried to save her from falling over into the train platform, and then followed her onto the train. Girl continued to act like a retard, till guy sent her to a hotel to settle her down. Of course, the next morning somehow they bumped into each other again and the girl was accusing him of “doing things” to her the other night…etc. The girl also moved to the unit right next to the guy’s home, later explained in the story that it was the girl’s ex-boyfriend’s ex-home. So yes the girl was dumped by her boyfriend, and he just “disappeared” without leaving anything for her. The main guy therefore somehow gotten really close to the girl, partly due to the fact that the girl was REALLY rude with a violent attitude so guy, while trying to be nice, was getting forced to do a lot for her. She asked him to join her up in the search for her ex-boyfriend.

Needless to say, during the search, they got really close together and fell in love. The story thereafter was all about how they the lover are separated (due to a 3rd person) and how they somehow got back together again …etc. Pretty straightforward storyline in general. Yea the story itself was just so so and pretty predictable, but the thing that really really stood out was the performance. Rena was just so so, being cute all the way (yea she’s too cute even when she was trying to act violent/annoying). On the other hand, Kusanagi’s performance was incredible. I would say he made the whole story came to life. I actually cried in episode 9 or 10 I forgot, when the girl was going to the States with her fiance (marriage arranged by her dad), and the guy rushed to the airport, messed with the people at the information desk and spoke to the microphone which was connected to the airport announcement system, that he didn’t want her to leave. It was really touching In fact, the story actually started glowing past the first half. The first half was okay, kind of funny but it was kind of draggy as well. It became more serious of a story in the second half where the twists and characters emerged which made the story really entertaining.

Overall, it’s an above average drama. It’s not a ground breaking, but it does have a nice storyline and will certainly drive you to tears at some point. I don’t mind watching it again.

SCANDAL is a Japanese drama that was shown in Japan around August to December in 2008. I came across this drama out of nowhere really, I can’t even recall where I first saw it and why I downloaded it but I’m glad that I did. I have to say that THIS DRAMA IS AWESOME, and I haven’t been watching such a nice one for quite a while, maybe ever since Karei Nru Ichizoku / ??????. Well in fact, three out of four main characters from SCANDAL had performed in Karei Nru Ichizoku about two years ago - Suzuki Kyoka / ????, Kyoko Hsegawa / ?????, and Kazue Fukiishi / ????. I didn’t really know any of them except for Kazue Fukiishi whom I knew long time ago since her debut drama Tokimeki Memorial / ????????? in 1997. She was considered one of the best looking Japanese teen girl back then as I heard that the main character for Tokimeki Memorial was chosen from 1000 interviewees. Anyway, the 4th character Momoi Kaori / ?????, who is a 57 year-old mom in the story, was very well performed as well and I liked the way she is extremely laid back and funny at times.

I’m not sure how to start about talking about the story..lol. It’s really such a complex story with loads and loads of twists, mysteries, surprises, and comedies. I would say it is a mystery type of comedy. The story begins at the wedding of this girl where she’s invited four of her friends to the ceremony (these four ladies are the main characters of the story). After the ceremony 5 of them went to a bar and the girl asked her four friends to play a game of nanpa (dating guys) since it would be the last “chance” for her to date any guy once married. Each of them has to date a guy anywhere in town and bring him back to the bar, the ones that couldn’t do it will have to treat everyone else drinks. Oh by the way, these four girl friends of her are all married, ranging from age 28 to 5x. Most of them aren’t willing to play the game since they are all married but the newly wed girl forced them to. The four ladies basically haven’t seen each other before. So each of them began the search for a guy, and this was where the story began.

Each of them were able to find a guy except for one of the them. Eventually they returned to the bar but the newly wed girl did not return. She’s gone missing. The entire story is basically about how these four ladies try their best to find their missing girl friend, and how they got to know each other very well and became very very good friends. During the search, they have uncovered lots and lots of mysteries behind the real cause of the girl’s disappearance - mysteries involving each of their husbands, their friends, even themselves. I can’t even remember how many different miniature stories have been told in the plot. As the mysteries uncover, it gets very exciting and will definitely keep you watching. A character based mystery show with an excellent cast and writing. Everybody has some to hide, and it’s the revelations of these secrets which drives the plot, but at no time does it feel forced. The ending was a little anticlimactic, but satisfying. While watching it I actually learned a lot about relationships between housewives and husbands, and that between males and females.

Here is a short intro from dramaplot.com

Another story about family life, four married women from different generation. From their days of living, they seem so blissful, peace and so harmony with their family. But underneath that their days are strewn with betrayal, misery and deceit.

Takako is one of them, from outside she look like a perfect housewife. But her family life is a mess as she deals with a rebellious daughter and an unfaithful husband. At the wedding party she meets her co-friend worker Risako, and three other women with same trouble with her.

When Risako suggests they play a “game” to see who is the last to pick up a man at a bar, the women get caught up in an incident that brings them together as friends.

This is just too good to miss. You would just want more after watching each episode. I finished everything in about 3 days, lol. This is a MUST watch, highly recommended drama.

finished watching this drama almost 3 weeks ago but I didn’t have time to do a review. I have to do it today since it’s such a good drama I felt bad not doing something for it. Akihabara@Deep / ??????DEEP is a 11-spisode drama that was shown in Japan starting June 19, 06. It wasn’t that popular I believe as I haven’t really heard about it anywhere on the internet. I came across it I believe on some forums where I often visit to see if there are any new movies coming out…etc and I got caught by the interesting name of the drama “Akihabara@Deep” (which didn’t really make any sense) so I Googled it and figured that it’s a really good one to watch.

The story talks about a group of “Otaku” people (refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime and manga) in Akihabara (Most popular district in Japan for electronics and anime) that initially are frequent visitors to an online site called “Yui’s Life Guard”. It’s a website / discussion group that helps people out with their difficulties in their lives. These Otakus are all “weirdo” kind of person with weird interests and weird problems with their personalities. Yui, the owner of the website, wanted to help this group of people so she asked them to meet up to form a group. She wants people in the group to help each other out on each of their difficulties they face in their lives. But as soon as they group formed, Yui died due to a drug overdose. Interestingly, one of the members of the group (Izumi, who is really good at computer) had secretly worked with Yui before her death, to create a computer software with artificial intelligence, that would act like Yui, and able to think and speak like Yui. After her death, Izumi presented this system to the group, and the group is able to “communicate” with Yui once again.

The group decided to find an office space and establish their own company, named “Akihabara@Deep”, to help anyone that are troubled in Akihabara on anything. The main focal point of the drama is about how the group helped out different people and it’s really interesting to watch - it’s really creative and the content and storyline were very very interesting and sometimes hilarious. It’s fun enough to watch how these Otakus acted weirdly due to their weird personalities - one of the guys “Page” can’t really talk properly and often needs to use a laptop as a medium to communicate with people; guy “Daruma” is a costume maniac who was once a hikikomori (people that always shut themselves in their rooms) but he’s really good at sewing and creating anime costumes; girl “Akira” works at a maid cafe and is really good at combating; guy “Box” had a tendency to clean his hands every 10 minutes but I think he’s the most “normal” person in the group; “Taiko” is a guy that is really good at computer music, but he has a weird sickness that is whenever he sees flashy lights or objects he would “freeze up” (stops moving)…weird enough, but extremely entertaining.

Here’s a synopsis from Wiki:

It all begins when a mysterious online personality named Yui decides to assemble these outcasts to try and form a group dedicated to solving the problems that plague Akiba by forming the “troubleshooting” company, Akihabara@DEEP, often shortened to just @DEEP. One example of this troubleshooting would be that the otaku of Akiba have come under a surge of bullying. @DEEP’s first task was to eliminate this bullying. After getting rid of this problem, @DEEP began taking up other tasks as well. Some of these include clearing the name of a cosplayer in a case that involved the distribution of underground videos depicting other cosplayers getting undressed in dressing rooms, protecting a news anchor from attacks by otaku who were enraged at a story that she had previously worked on that bashed the youth of Akiba, and helping out a maid cafe that the people of Akiba frequent from an opposing maid cafe that was acting extremely hostile to this maid cafe and even provided various prostitution services to the visitors of the opposing maid cafe.

While @DEEP solves these cases, the group unintentionally attracts the attention of a seedy character named Nakagomi Takeshi. The reason behind this is because of a secret past relationship between Nakagomi and Yui. What adds to this is a fully self-reliant AI program that Nakagomi would greatly benefit from if he got his hands on it. This is because he is the president of a very influential electronics company called Digital Capital, often shortened to DigiCap. He will eventually raid @DEEP’s headquarters, steal Yui’s AI, and kidnap Akira.

This drama is VERY HIGHLY recommended. It’s extremely entertaining and each episode has its own theme and guaranteed wouldn’t make anyone bored. I don’t really mind watching it again if I have the time. WATCH IT!

Another medical doctor movie? No. This one talks about emergency doctors that takes helicopters to get to places where accidents occurs needing immediate attentions…cool enough. This 11-episode drama “Code Blue” was shown in Japan from July to Sept 2008, and received an average viewership of 15.6%, which is pretty good (the first episode received 21%!) Well it’s got to be getting this high viewership with the appearance of Yamashita Tomohisa / ????. I really like him he’s not just good looking but he did really well in a couple of previous dramas that I watched, including Kurosagi and Nobuta o Produce. There are two of the hottest actresses in Japan as well, namely Aragaki Yui / ???? and Toda Erika / ?????. Aragki..I’ve seen her in Papa to Musume no Nanokakan (My Review here) where she really shined. In this drama though she is a quite/intelligent/serious kind of girl, and I was a bit surprised. On the other hand Toda Erika is probably one of the prettiest actress in Japan among teenage guys. I haven’t seen much of her performance either but somehow her face looks really familiar, guess she’s been appearing in a lot of Japanese TV shows. I think I last seen her in the drama Liar Game, in which her performance was just so so. She’s pretty good in this one, very natural and just…acting right. The only nurse in the drama, performed by Higa Manami / ????, was a pretty role too. I actually visited her blog, and she’s pretty cool as she’s posted a lot of videos on her blog which none of the other Japanese celebrities have been doing as far as I know.

Anyway, the story is about a group of young trainee doctors that hope to become flight doctors, having to go through some harsh real-life emergency trainings in order to build up their experiences and also to establish their roles in the emergency centre/hospital. Working under guidance of a couple experienced flight doctors, they soon grew to become tough and strong-minded in order to fulfill the needs from the dying patients. The storyline itself wasn’t anything too special, but it’s really refreshing to me to see these otherwise handsome looking actor/actresses all dressed up in uniforms, performing some serious and mission critical tasks. The helicopter looks cool too, and everything that happens around the emergency centre looks very professional and real-life alike - I really like how the Japanese people put so much attention to very small details, which are what made this drama so cool and worth watching. Their immediate “boss” performed extremely well as well, he actually outperformed all the pretty guys/girls and he was one of the actors that I was looking forward to check out every episode.

All in all this is a great drama with lots of medical terms, professionalism, semi gross scenes (during the surgical operations), and a whole lot of pretty faces. It is definitely a highly recommended.

The ending theme song “Hanabi” (fireworks) was really really good, sung by Mr. Childrean. The lyric fits the story perfectly…I wonder who wrote them. Here it is:

Original MTV:

Have been watching these Japanese drama everyday since half a year ago but it’s been a really long time since I last watched any Korean ones. Lately I downloaded a couple new Korean dramas and I think I’ve started developing this uncontrollable craving for them… Usually I get addicted to nice dramas really quickly and oh my god it’s happening again…! This Korean drama “????” (or “????” in Chinese, “Witch Yoo-Hee” in English) really rocks! Needless to say it’s got some really pretty faces in it, like the main girl ???(???) has this really cute /attractive face, and this other guy in the movie Dennis Oh(???·?) was even named the coolest looking guy in the Korean history (yea man he IS handsome)!

The story’s about this poor guy riding on a bike rear-ended this girl’s BMW, and how the girl wouldn’t let go unless he pays her $40,000,000 (Korean $) for fixing up the car. The poor guy of course has no way of paying that off so the girl asks him to be her “household assistant” which basically means being a slave and he has to obey to her orders like doing chores, groceries…etc. You might have already guessed, as they started living with each other they get closer and eventually developed into an relationship. It is fun to watch, as the girl has a really bitchy, cocky temper (that’s where the title of the movie come from) and her co-workers all call her “the witch” in her back. It’s so fun to see how the girl harasses the guy telling him to do all sorts of fun stuff, and eventually falling for him.

This drama is highly recommended, in fact I’ve watched only up to the 6th episode and of course I got to go now for more!