I am in love with the new Japanese drama Sunao ni Narenakute, also known as Hard to Say I Love You. It’s fresh and modern and giddily romantic, and combines a lovely playful vibe with (already!) a good dose of angst, and Eita as a hot young photographer ala Matsuda Shoda in Love Shuffle is mmmmm. It was marketed as a Twitter drama, but there’s absolutely  nothing frivolous about it – it’s romantic and well-acted with lots of darkness and already traces of mystery. I am deeply, madly in love – haven’t fallen for a Japanese drama this hard since Love Shuffle.

Synopsis(via Wikipedia):

“Nakajima looks up to his father, who was a war photographer, but can only get a job as an assistant for gravure magazines. Mizuno is a provisional high school teacher, currently on probation. Nishimura is Mizuno’s best friend, whose boyfriend has been avoiding her since she discovered she was pregnant. Ichihara works at a magazine where he is being blackmailed into sexual favours by his chief editor. Park, on Twitter, takes on the persona of a doctor, when he is actually working at a company that sells medical equipment to disinterested doctors, and at the same time, trying to take care of his younger sister.

This is a story about the blossoming friendship of five young people who were brought together by Twitter, and their journey to finding honesty with each other and with themselves.”

Download the RAWS and subs for the first episode at Noanymore

• Title (English): Love Shuffle
• Format: Renzoku
• Genre: Romance, comedy
• Episodes: 10

Cast:

• Tamaki Hiroshi as Usami Kei
• Karina as Aizawa Airu
• Matsuda Shota as Sera Ojiro
• DAIGO as Oishi Yukichi
• Yoshitaka Yuriko as Hayakawa Kairi

Usami Kei is a salaryman who has risen in status due to his engagement with Mei, the wealthy daughter of his company’s president. Shortly after she breaks off the engagement, a power failure leaves him stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Trapped with him are three others living on the same floor – Airu, a trilingual interpreter, Ojiro, a model photographer, and Masato, a psychiatrist. While waiting, their conversation turns to their love lives and the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to try “shuffling” their relationships with each other.

Review:

Quirky, hilarious, romantic, and brilliant, this is easily one of the best(directed, and produced at least) Asian dramas I’ve seen thus far; a bit Before Sunset, a bit Lost in Translation, and a bit every good romantic comedy you’ve ever seen, Love Shuffle is that rarest of things; a really really good drama, one that you can recommend to your friends and which you want to go shout from the housetops after finishing it. It’s very rare to find a drama which manages so well to be both dark and heartwarming, laugh-out loud hilarious and yet deeply serious. Angsty, well-written and clever, it’s populated with oddball, hilarious characters who are all played by beautiful people who can also act (it’s superbly cast and the characterization is across-the board excellent: I adore almost every single one of the characters and even those whom I don’t adore I find amusing). Finally, even by Japanese standards it’s exquisitely produced with careful, stunning cinematography.

Love Shuffle, in 10 episodes, somehow manages to be romantic, a great friendship story, funny and deadly serious at the same time, a growing-up tale for all the adults in it, a suave, sophisticated artsy piece, and to touch on art, death, love, sex, unemployment, friendship, self-destructive impulses, insecurity and self-identity.

When it gets good: First episode is dull, no two ways about it. Get through it by dint of fastforwarding if necessary, pausing every now and then to pick up important details. It’s basically all background and set-up. The drama picks up speed rapidly in ep 2 and is AWESOME by ep 3

How/Where to watch:

Download/torrent RAW episodes and get the subs from D-addicts.com.

Download OST (or alternate link)

• Title (English): Pride
• Genre: Sports, Human drama
• Episodes: 11
• Viewership ratings: 25.1
• Broadcast network: Fuji TV
• Broadcast period: 2004-Jan-12 to 2004-Mar-22
• Theme song: I Was Born To Love You by Queen

Pride is one of the most perfect and seamlessly written dramas I’ve ever seen. It’s about a lot of things – people and their relationships and how they work and what drives them, and hockey and friendship and loyalty and “pride” – but above and beyond all that – it’s a story about two people. Halu(Kimura Takuya), a smart-mouthed, offbeat, bad-boy hockey captain with a playboy past and a set of issues an inch deep, and Aki(Takeuchi Yuko), an old-fashioned, spunky “good girl” committed to her long-distance boyfriend whom she hasn’t heard from in two years. Highlighted by exquisite acting and a fiery OTP chemistry that can shift from nuanced and low-key to heartbreakingly intense in the space of a second, it’s just a brilliant love story and a really really good story, so real sometimes that it hurts. It’s never over the top but can pack a powerful emotional punch in a single scene or moment, and the writing is impeccable, as is the production and directing(Queen’s “I Was Born to Love You” is a wacky but inspired choice as the theme song, and the opening credits are so pretty). If I were to describe it, I would say that it’s a cross between Mars and Tatta Hitotsu no Koi(the former for content and the latter for its very straightforward plot/story arc).

Download with English subs from Silent Regrets.com

Download some songs from the soundtrack at the Asian Drama OSTs page

• Title (romaji): Proposal Daisakusen
• Tagline: Operation Love
• Genre: Romance

• Episodes: 11
• Viewership ratings: 17.3 (Kanto), 17.2 (Kansai)
• Broadcast period: 2007-Apr-16 to 2007-Jun-25
• Air time: Monday 21:00
• Theme song: Ashita Hareru Kana by Kuwata Keisuke

C&I rating: 4/5

One-line review: A sometimes slow but mostly deeply compelling and well-written drama, with quite possibly the BEST final episode(the special) of any drama I’ve ever seen.

Synopsis:

Iwase Ken and Yoshida Rei have been friends since elementary school. On the day of Rei’s wedding to another man, Ken watches her, coming to the full realization for the first time that he’s in love with her and always has been, and that he was simply too stubborn to admit it. Fortunately for him, a fairy who lives in the church has been observing him, and decides to give him one last chance(or two) at a happy ending. He sends Ken back in time, giving him the chance to remake the past so that he can chance the present.

Review: Proposal Daisakusen is that rare story of childhood sweethearts-turning-into-grown-up lovers done right. Most stories such as this have a couple falling in love as children and then being split up or separated by fate and losing track of each other until they magically meet again later, at which point they either don’t immediately recognize each other or other obstacles arise(usually both). The most difficult part of this plot – the aspect which almost all films that I’ve seen with this theme have screwed up on – is showing the two falling in love all over again as adults. The entire weight of the romance tends to rest on their childhood feelings for each other, usually shown mostly in flashbacks, and quite simply that’s not going to cut it. For one thing because we rarely experience their childhood with them – it’s shown almost invariably as a first meeting followed by a few pretty images of them together and then a flash forward to the present, so we as the audience never really empathize with it or are convinced by it. Proposal Daisakusen, thankfully, doesn’t follow this theme at all – Ken and Rei remain solid and close(in proximity at least) friends their until lives, and know each other as well as two people in that position could be expected to know each other(by which I mean they have as many misunderstandings and fumblings as any couple fighting toward love would have) so their feelings for each other are both convincing and constantly before our eyes. Ken doesn’t need to love some childhood memory of a girl because he loves the girl standing right before him.

Having said that, the drama does have some flaws – the format of Ken’s returns to the past ensures that the drama is very(and unusually, for a drama) episodic and lacks much of the forward momentum of most dramas – there is an overall thread which runs through everything, but the drama’s movement rests on single events which happen one after another, rather than on one overall result of those events. This slows it down quite a bit, especially as Ken so consistently fails, so the drama can drag and be more than a little frustrating in the middle. To make up for that, however, I will admit that in amost every episode there is at least one(actually, usually just one:) delicious scene with either him and Rei or him and their group of friends. (It also doesn’t hurt that Yamashita Tomohisa, better known as Yamapi, is so gorgeous that I could stare at him ALL.DAY. So whenever you get bored, just focus on his absolute perfection of features.)

Which brings me to another strength – the friendship theme. Ken and his 5 friends stay together their whole lives, and each of Ken’s interactions with Rei are blanketed and shaped by the actions and sometimes commentary of those friends. In a really beautiful way, the friendship in this group is so strong that it informs and shapes the romance. More importantly, however, there are times when the relationships between the 6 as friends is more important than their romantic entanglements, and I found this one of the most compelling things about the drama. The bond between these 6 is one of the deepest motivations of their lives; they’re keyed to each other’s lives, each other’s likes, dislikes, loves, jokes, etc. They have a set of traditions as set in stone as that of a family, and if a member of the group cannot be a part of that tradition, they find themselves unable to go through with it. They are there for each other in non-obvious but profound ways through thick and thin, through arguments and inter-group romantic struggles, through mood swings, financial crises, and all the changes that come their way. The story of this group’s enduring friendship is one of the most resonant and memorable parts of the drama.

That is not to downplay the romance, however, which is still the heart of this drama and what keeps me going through it even when the pace sags. Rei and Ken make an absolutely adorable couple, and Yamashita Tomohisa and Nagasawa Masamai are both revelations as their characters, in completely different ways. As actors, they have a poignant, subtle, shining chemistry, and as a couple, the drama reveals gradually through the course of 11 episodes, that they do belong together, not necessarily because they are the only people who can make each other happy(at least for Rei) but because their feelings have forged too strong a bond to be broken by any outside influence. I also loved the romance, despite all of Ken’s frustrating fumblings and the ridiculous coincidences which keep them apart, because the drama portrays them as genuinely insecure people, with odd foibles and ways of dealing with things, which in turn reflects on their relationship. Which both rang true and was a refreshing change after a surfeit of dramas filled with uber-confident boys and plucky girls who either have no insecurities at all or who hide them to the point of absurdity. The ending of this romance is one of the most beautiful ones I’ve seen – the moment when their story, painstakingly told over the arc of those episodes, comes to its resolve, when the two childhood friends can finally confess their love and be together as they’re meant to be, as they belong to through that bond built up over a lifetime. Also, the final episode, the special was amazing beyond all reason; virtually all dramas have their climax in the 3rd-or-fourth-episode before the end, and after that just lose steam. Proposal Daisakusen has possibly the best, most satisfying finale I’ve ever seen, chockful of delicious moments and even, yes, I will say it, brilliant scenes. Even if you’re not ever going to watch the rest of the drama, watch the special – you’ll still enjoy it. So amazing.

I definitely recommend Proposal Daisakusen overall. It won best drama, special award and best theme song at the 53rd Television Drama Academy Awards, and there’s a reason why: even though it has all the flaws of most jdramas, it’s still overall a very well-written and compelling story.

Particularly good episodes: 2,8-11

Watch online on Mysoju or on Aznv.tv(you need to be a member) or on Veoh(must have Veoh Web Player)

Download here

Torrent download, as usual, from D-Addicts

One of the dramas that I’ve been most excited about for this entire year of dramas is Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, otherwise known as The Perfect Girl Evolution, based on a wildly popular Japanese manga called The Wallflower. I haven’t read the manga but the cast and plot both sound to die for – Kamenashi Kazuya!! (pictured above in his look for the drama) In an edgy, offbeat role which reminds me, based on previews, of nothing so much as Vic Zhou’s stellar turn as Ling in Taiwanese drama Mars, also based on a manga which is an odd mix of darkness and comedy! And a plot which I summarize as : four hot boys move into a house and try to makeover a very odd, quirky, independent reject girl but instead they all become friends and one of them, quick-tempered Kyohei(three guesses as to who plays him?) falls for her. Oh yes. Delicious.

Dramawiki synopsis: Takano Kyohei is a handsome but bad-tempered university student who is always ready for a fight; Toyama Yukinojo possesses a cuteness that can be mistaken for a girl; the cool-headed Oda Takenaga excels in academics and sports; and the princely Mori Ranmaru loves females, accept a proposal from the female owner of the house where they are lodging at for “free lodging if they are able to transform her niece into a proper lady”. Her niece, Nakahara Sunako lives in a gloomy and solitary world because of an inferior complex about her looks.

You can read more about the plot here, but the main character, Sunako, is apparently a solitary, dark-minded girl with an unhealthy liking for horror movies and skeletons who avoids people at all costs but can stand up for herself when necessary. So essentially we have Takano, whom everyone loves for his looks but who is imprisoned by them, and Sukano, whom everyone hates for her appearance and is equally imprisoned by them – and so the two violent oddballs, one the king of the world and one a reject – fall in love. MMMMM. A year ago, I suspect I would have found this drama entirely too odd and macabre, especially Sukano’s character, but other jdramas especially Nobuta wo Produce, which features a similar though less extreme female lead, have prepared me for it – and well, what can I say – it’s Kame!!

The RAW for episode 1 is here, though no subs yet.

It will be softsubbed by GiriGiri subs(who are apparently fast, but of course not this fast – the first episode aired yesterday) and hardsubbed by JORsubs.

A group for it on viikii did come up but there are no videos there, subbed or unsubbed, so I’m rather concerned that viikii’s new copyright policies extend even to Japanese dramas…which will be hell.

I cannot wait.

Download (Sabakan version)

English lyrics/translation:

We tried walking so far, walking holding nothing.
Even now, that day, having met you, is treasure.

I didn’t want you to be able to see my profile hidden by the sunset.
Tiny tears came one by one and
Gently, I let go of your hand.

Surely, if we could have said good-bye,
Could we have forgotten more easily?
When we someday can meet again,
I’ll be able to say “thank you”…

The laughing voice I hear from that picture has resonated such a long way.
My tears stood alone miserably, gutlessly and
I pretended to be a bad person on purpose.

Surely, if we could have said it like always,
Would we have been able to laugh more easily?
When we someday can meet again,
We can say it like always…

Surely, if we could have said “don’t forget,”
Would we have been able to believe that?
I want to become just a little stronger

So that I can become calmer.

Surely, if we could have said good-bye,
Could we have forgotten more easily?
When we someday can meet again,
I’ll be able to say “thank you”…

We tried walking so far, walking holding nothing.
Even now, that day, having met you, is treasure.

Soulmate:

This is Not a Love Song, Nouvelle Vague

Download

Pride:

Theme song: I Was Born to Love You, Queen

Download

Ep 5: Let Me Live, Queen

Download

Smile Again: (download entire OST here)

You Can Get It If You Really Want It, Jimmy Cliff

Download

You’re Beautiful:

Without Words, Park Shin Hye

Download