Never Mind The Jackal, Here Comes Seo YiAn

Kim Jaejoong and Song Jihyo in Codename Jackal

  I’ve been dying to check out the Song Jihyo/KimJaejoong movie The Jackal is Coming ever since I first heard about it almost a year ago, so I’m kind of bummed to report that I wasn’t overly thrilled with the movie when I finally DID get to see it. The story of Jackal Onda which concerned a hapless Hitman named Min-Jung (Jihyo) who’s on the case to assassinate Hallyu Star Choi Hyun (Kim Jaejoong) while the police are infiltrating the building on the hunt for the mysterious Jackal, actually started out pretty good, but by midway through it got SO slapstickly silly-

 By the time it got to Jihyo hiding behind a couch trying to poison ChoiHyun's manager, it felt more like I was watching a zany SNL skit than a theatrically released movie...and it didn’t help that pretty Jihyo was set up with the most god-awful of afro wigs! Blech! Why couldn’t she have looked like the smoking siren she was in the Theatrical Poster? 

Seo Yi An as YoungSun

Thankfully, there was ONE bright star in this whole mishmash of silliness, and that was the pretty young actress playing the part of the protégée Police Detective Young-Sun, a “Level 9 Ranked Officer” according to her. Stats say her name is Seo Yi-An, and she was just about the only reason I stuck around when the film began moving south! In fact, strangely enough, the sillier the movie got, the more serious and pretty SHE got! 

  When she first appears in the scene with Inspector Ma at the Police Station, I was like, “Whoa, that girl in the background is kind of cute!”, then when she accompanied Ma to the Crime Stakeout and I got to see her in her “regular”clothes, i.e. tanktop, flannel shirt and demin skirt, I was all like “Aw Heck yeah, this chick is freaking FINE!” 

From a character who started off in the movie simply as the assistant to Inspector Ma who makes her the errand girl whose main job seems to be to get snacks and drinks for the stakeout team (where she silently demands money from the head inspector, so funny!)...

...before you knew it, she began to emerge as the only competent agent there! While everyone else is out and about getting into zany situations, Young-Sun is the ONLY one seriously working the case, poring over the Jackal casebook articles and examining the clues...

...As well as even going undercover as one of the Hotel Staff so she can look through the lodging's past receipts (and all the while getting hit on by the Hotel's sleazy manager, LOL) Look at her face, one of the cutest aspects of this character is how she NEVER shows any kind of emotion regardless of if she's happy, sad, interested or angry, it's always that same blank expression (her apathetitc demeanor kind of reminded me of f(x)'s Krystal, LOL)

 SO yeah, by the show's halfway point, YoungSun was the MAIN reason I was watching the show! And I can't hide how disappointed I was that she wasn't a bigger factor in the show's conclusion (in fact, it seems like as the story wound down, they kind of just forgot about her, tbh)... So much for THIS movie- I’ll have to see MORE of Seo YiAn in some of her OTHER shows!

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Oh Aunty Michi, How I Have Loved Thee!

The Lovely Kimiko Yo as Aunty Michi in the 1997 Drama Virgin Road

   Watching Summer Nude, (gee a lot of posts have been about that drama lately, haven't they) the Photography Studio that Asahi (Yamapi) worked at reminded me so much of the Studio/Living Place that the family owned in the superb classic 1997 J-drama Virgin Road, that I just HAD to dig up my old dramas and compare the two.
   While the two Studio-Homes ended up not looking very much like the same place (my memories, it seems. are getting a bit rusty), I DID enjoy re-watching some of the Virgin Road episodes again, the heartwarming story of a pregnant Emi Wakui asking a cool Takashi Sorimachi to pretend to be her fiance for the sake of her dad (played brilliantly by Tetsuya Takeda) was so much fun and the dialog so witty, I was remembering why I love it so much! And MAN,  I was ALSO reminded of one of the MOST IMPORTANT reasons I watched this show, for the lovely, lovely Ms Kimiko Yo, here playing the family's pretty and reliable Aunty Michi!

WOW, was I EVER in  LOVE with her! As a matter of fact, she may be the first "Older Woman" j-drama crush I'd ever had, and I fell HARD! I'd already developed a hankering for her in the awesome "Say You Love Me"(Aishiteiru To Ittekure) drama series as Koji's Gallery Agent Kanzaki, but it was her role as Aunt Michi that set my heart aflutter and my mouth a drooling...so STYLISH and always in the PRETTIEST of dresses and outfits....Always looked forward to seeing her excitedly "wave" at me each episode during the beginning credits as Namie Amuro belted out "Can You Celebrate"!

Now THAT's a WOMAN!!!

This was really a prime-time to be checking her out, as her role of Aunt Michi was soon followed by the lusciously sexy role in the drama "Three Grown Men"(Otona No Otoko). In THAT particular drama, she had the hots for Koji Yakusho, and he's forever lost any respect I had for him for not JUMPING ON THAT ACTION when she 'd desperately "Come on" to him each episode! LOLOL, Okay, he didn't take advantage of her because he was a gentleman, demo sa....it's not what I would have done....

in Aishiteiru To Ittekure (Say You Love Me)

In Churasan

in Okuribito (Departures)

   Kimiko Yo has always been a VERY busy gal in dramas and movies, and even after that period when my flames of love (and lust) burned for her, I'd still continue to see her pretty face everywhere (some notable ones include the warm-hearted but klutsy Yoko in Churasan and the sympathetic receptionist Uemura in "Departures" (Okuribito), and I know I'll continue to see her in the years to come as well! Go, Aunty Michi, GO!!!

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Who's That Girl: Yamamoto Mizuki

Mizuki Yamamoto as Aoi in Summer Nude

Okay, who's this pretty young thang playing the bold and seductive Aoi Hirikiri in the Yamashita Tomohisa drama Summer Nude, anyway? In the story she's referred to as "that half-white girl" so I assume she's an Asian mix nationality, while that's kind of obvious with her striking features, I have to say that the first time I saw her sassily playing mindgames with Yamapi in Summer Nude's first episode, I thought she looked a lot like T-ara's Jiyeon, LOL!

Teasing Asahi (Yamapi)

    Dramawiki stats inform me that she's an actress/model named Mizuki Yamamoto, but her filmography (or, rather, lack thereof) tells me she's only entered the industry very recently. In fact, just about the only other thing I can read up about her is her upcoming appearance in the 2014 Gouriki Ayame/Mizushima Hiro movie BLACK BUTLER! Well, Gouriki Ayame's already a plus, MAN, looks like now I'll HAVE to check this one out!

As Lin in the upcoming  movie BLACK BUTLER

Ah well, for now, I'm quite satisfied seeing Mizuki flaunting her cute li'l self in each episode of Summer Nude, and in fact, despite her role seeming like one of a cameo type, they seem to be developing Aoi's character a bit, giving her more and more screentime as each episode progresses!
Can't wait to see where they take her next!

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Favorite J-Pop Songs: Morning Musume / Dance Suru No Da

Decided on a whim to take along an old Morning Musume collection I’d made awhile ago with me on my errands today, and I have to say that after all these years I still can’t believe how much those songs still hold up-I love those old tunes! And going through all the hits and singles, one song that REALLY hit home and took me back was the Girls’ superb “Dance Surunoda”. MAN, how I love this song- in fact, the last time (way, way back in the day) that my friends and I had done out favorite Morning Musume “Song Rankings”, that song was listed at Number ONE. and I’ll be darned if it doesn’t STILL have the impact if had on me all those years ago!

Originally appearing on Morning Musume’s third album “Third Love Paradise” with the Generation Three Line-Up, it wasn’t until the group was already onto their Fourth Generation that they released this wonderful PV (originally for an interactive video game where the viewer could use the controls and scroll back and forth to view the girls who were singing in a formed circle), its circular dance stage and split-screen visual was such an interesting and dynamic way to watch a video!

Scrolling Version (with Subtitles!):

Never mind that for the most part, this wasn’t even the real “line-up” who originally did the song they were lipsynching to, the sheer energy and HAPPINESS exuding from the performance of this catchy Jackson Five-ish funky tune with the sweet message of making the most of your life while you’re alive makes it as “Definitive” a version if there ever was one! It was this video’s unique innovation as well as the girls looking so doggone ADORABLE, singing and having fun that made me totally and utterly fall in love with the song! 

...and the wonderful Split-Screen Version:

Sure, there’ve been other singles that were stronger songs and there are older tunes from them that I’m more sentimentally attached to, but to me, “Dance Surunoda” captures everything that made Morning Musume special to me, the catchy melodies, the pretty outfits, the playful demeanor and of course the charisma of those Morning Musume Girls are just a few of the reasons why I loved them sooo, soooo much back then!
Ahhhn~, watching this video now and seeing all the familiar faces, it occurs to me that this was really my favorite line-up of MM, where we had the best of all worlds, faves from Gen1 like Yuko and Nattchi, Marippe from Gen2 and Gocchin of Gen3 mixed in with the innocence of Rika, Yossie, Aibon and Nonochan creating the perfect balance of youth and experience, cuteness and confidence! Maybe I’m waxing too philosophically, but I always get into this kind of mood when I listen to the classics, really!

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The Sexy As Hell Dan Mitsu

Oooh man, I KNOW that the point of the thrilling drama “Hanzawa Naoki” is for said Bank Operative Hanzawa to catch Loan-jumping Con Man Higashida and recover the millions swindled out of them, but DAMN, as long as that criminal is on the run, we’ll continue seeing his seductively slutty girlfriend Miki, and as lusciously played by super-babe Dan Mitsu, I’m praying for her to continue escaping the arm of the law!!

Man, when I first took a fancy to the cute but demure actress in Otenki Oneesan as the sweetly purring Mitsuya (nudge nudge wink wink on THAT name), I thought she was a pretty lady and that was that! Gads, who KNEW she had such a torrid back-catalogue of depravity in her filmography? Not me, but you can bet that once I found out, I wasted NO TIME getting to know them better!

In the hot movie “”(Be My Slave) you get to see Dan Mitsu (and I do mean ALL of Dan Mitsu) cavorting around in stuff from bondage, S&M and the Holy Grail of Nothing At All, but for me she was at her fetching best when duked out in her smart n sexy clothes or scintillating lingerie- readers of this blog know how very much I love a pretty gal in pretty outfits, and MAN does this movie deliver!

And THEN of course, I HAD to check out some of Dan Mitsu's extensive Gravure collections all of which were as knock-out gorgeous and picturesque (and naughty) as her dramas and movies! 

 Ah yes, this girl has really found her niche and is running with it!

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