Japanese Dramas

          

I am so happy right now! Aragaki Yui and Matsumoto Jun are going to be in the drama “スマイル” (smile) together, which starts showing in April!
The plot is: Bito (MatsuJun) is a half-Filipino whose father has died and mother has disappeared. Despite his misfortune and the issues he deals with, such as race, he lives his life positively with a constant smile. Similarly, Hana (Yui) is a young woman living cheerfully despite losing her ability to speak due to an accident.
It seems like a really touching drama, i can’t wait!! They haven’t acted together, so i wonder what they’ll be like…It will definately have really high ratings too. Yui always gets to act with johnny’s..it’s not fair! xD

I am also excited about the special for Zettai Kareshi. Though it doesn’t make much sense about what they will do considering how the series ended..i did feel that i wasn’t completely satisfied with how it ended, so maybe this will satisfy me. (i doubt it though, most special’s are completely pointless to be honest – hana kimi SP…) Actually i think one of the main reason’s i’m excited for this special is Aibu Saki. The reason is because she’s dating Nagase Tomoya who is absolute love. Ahhh i think they’re such an adorable couple. Ah….

There has also been a two-part drama “チャンス!” (Chance!) confirmed which stars Horikita Maki and Kuroki Meisa (the lead who will be in Subaru) It also stars Hamada Gaku who played Tsurumi Hisashi in Proposal Daisakusen (he was the one who was obsessively in love with Eri) The plot for this seems..alright. Horikita plays a 22-year-old who struggles to find a job, finally landing one at a travel company. Kuroki plays a career woman at the same firm who happens to have the same last name. One day, they mistakenly take each other’s cell phones, and as a result, Horikita’s character ends up having to give a critical presentation. This becomes her “chance” at success.
It airs on the 7th and 14th of March. 🙂 I will be watching!

As for the other upcoming Spring dramas, the ones which have been confirmed are shown here. Looking at the names of the actors alone, the one’s i’ve mentioned are the only actors which i’m aware of/like. (I’m not really a kinki kids fan…) BUT, after checking out the plots for each of them, only this one seems interesting.
Ghost Friends which stars the girl who was the mean girl (and Miyabi from Berryz Koubou look-a-like..) in LIFE – Fukuda Saki. The plot: Fukuda plays a high schooler who can see ghosts as a result of a car accident. The story follows her growth as she interacts with the spirits she meets, and even falls in love with a young male ghost named Kaito (Nishijima Takahiro).
The others are about tea and solving boring crimes. Hopefully more interesting one’s will be added soon!

Haha, i’m really getting ahead of myself aren’t i? These all start in April which is still quite a bit away…I still haven’t got around to watching most of the winter dramas i wanted to either. It’s only because i hate waiting for them to be subtitled and my Japanese isn’t good enough to know everything their saying without subtitles, so i’ll wait until more episodes are subtitled i think. Maybe. Ah stuff it i may just start watching Mei-chan no Shitsuji now…

Aragaki Yui

I would like to introduce you to my favourite female soloist – Aragaki Yui. In fact, i would say she is also one of my favourite actresses! If you recognise her it may be because she was the lead actress in the popular film “koizora!”
Recently she has been releasing music too, where she has managed to get within the top 3 for all of her singles! Well you can see why though..even if it’s just because she’s so kawaii!

Here is her first single, “Memories.”

I think that listening to it really makes me realise all over again how much i love her songs! It really reminds me of summer, or maybe it reminds me of studio ghibli films! I think it’s the background music, ❤

Here is her second single, “heavenly days.” This was released for the film Koizora. If you haven’t seen it already, this video will probably make you want to!

Here is her third single “make my day.” It reached number 2 on the oricon weekly chart and has sold 82,206 copies!

Her forth single “Akai Ito” which reached number 3 on the weekly charts, selling 59,223 copies. The video also features Kobukuro singing the song, which isn’t featured on the single, so here is just the single with only Yui singing.

She has an upcoming single called, ‘piece’ which will be released on the 25th of Feburary. Here’s the tracklist for it:

1) piece
2) スパークル (Sparkle)
3) あなたに (Anata ni)
4) piece(naked voice ver.)
5) piece(instrumental)

It comes in 3 editions, (as most Japanese stuff does..)

Limited Edition (Type A)

<

Limited Edition (Type B) (i’m unsure if this is the actual cover for it)

Regular Edition

The first press editions of all these feature a mini poster, so order soon if you would like it as it’s still available!

The song “piece” is composed by the same person who composed her first ‘single’ “heavenly days” so it should be good 🙂
Also, apparently Yui wrote the lyrics for the song ‘sparkle’ herself 🙂 and the third song, ‘anata ni’ is a cover of a MONGOL800 song.

I decided to do some research into MONGOL800…as i thought their name sounded slightly familiar. Turns out they did an insert song for the drama Proposal Daisakusen! Here it is if you’re interested…

Anyway…they are a successful band who debuted in 1998 and managed to sell over two million copies of their debut album despite not much advertising! Ah it’s alright for some isn’t ittt~

Ah i found their song “anata ni” on youtube:

I’m sure Yui’s will be better…haha..actually i don’t mind this band too much. They have a nostalgic kind of sound (but maybe it’s just because that’s how one of their songs were used in Propal Dai) and they give me the feeling of sunny, lazy days! 🙂

Anyway, i’m looking forward to Yui’s version! I’m really glad that she always seems to have good B-sides to her songs as i’ve loved all her previous ones!
I am very tempted to buy the limited type A, just based on the cover alone which i’ve fallen in love with ❤
I’m really hoping that she’ll release an album soon though. Well one is due right? Please release one soon! One with all the singles on it please 😀
Ah, but…then again…the cover to "piece" is so pretty…ahhhhh.
Please be more decisive than me and buy it!

If you would like to find out more about her, here is her wikipedia page.

Here are the purchase links for Aragaki Yui in cdjapan (which counts towards oricon chart) and yesasia.

EDIT: I’ve also recently found these download links for Aragaki Yui’s discography here! I’m not sure if they work, but hopefully!