Archive for the ‘Jdrama’ Category

Arashi member Sho Sakurai and actress Maki Horikita attended the press release conference for the new drama “Tokujo Kabachi/特上カバチ!!” in Tokyo a few days ago. The character played by Horikita, an administrative scrivener, is quite “S” and always torments the character of Sakurai. “It is my first challenge to a character of an aggressive career woman.” commented Horikita. “She becomes ‘S’ gradually during the hard work. She feels better when she is more dominant than others.” she said with a quick grin.

And Sakurai introduced himself with “This is Sakurai with the masochistic face”. The colleague actor Kenichi Endo commented Sakurai’s character: “Last time, Arashi appeared in a singing program, and I thought Sho-kun was going to sing. But suddenly he rapped fluently. I was shocked. Though my character in the drama is always angry (with Sho-kun), I admire him a lot.” On the other hand, Sakurai mentioned his experience with senior actors with his eyes sparkling: “I don’t have a lot of experience in playing with many seniors. I feel quite fresh with Endo-san, Katsumi Takahashi-san, and Masatoshi Nakamura-san. And I have learned a lot from them in a joyful way.”

Horikita said jokingly: “Though it is my first time to play with Sakurai-san, Tamura (Sakurai) and Misuzu (Horikita) hate each other in the drama, I try to be unlovely in the always.” “It’s totally not like this! We couldn’t stop laughing in the spot!” Sakurai explained quickly. According to the title of drama, Horikita was asked about the “Tokujo/特上”(premium) experience recently, “It’s quite not that luxury yet. I drink tea in a champagne glass. Some one sent me a set of superfine glasses, but I don’t drink alcohol in home and I don’t want to waste it…” answered Horikita.

From Music Japan Plus

I’m excited about this drama, cannot wait to see the interaction between Sho-kun and Maki-chan. They seem to be enjoying themselves on the set, who wouldn’t when Sho-kun’s around.

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Arashi appeared at the Light-Up event in Fuji TV at Odaiba on Jan.5th. All the lights covering on the north side of the building were lighted up, in order to promote their new drama “Saigo no Yakusoku / 最後の約束”. Each member has his own color, Satoshi Ohno with blue, Sho Sakurai with red, Masaki Aiba with green, Kazunari Ninomiya with yellow and Jun Matsumoto with purple.

They also start the work for the new year as Arashi the day before yesterday. It was the first time for them to perform on the NHK Kohaku Gassen (紅白歌合戦) last year. “I was really nervous, feeling like I arrived somewhere unusual.” said Nino. Matsumoto revealed his aim as well, “I hope we work with distinction so that we can perform on Kohaku again this year.”

In the light-up event, they switched on the light with hand putting together, showing the great relationship among five members.

Sakurai commented the ‘Arashi Color (嵐色)’ blazing up the beginning of the new year, “It is a good start! The drama will strengthen the bond not only among five characters but also among Arashi members. It is a precious property to us at the time of 10th anniversary.”

To the new 2010, they also promised that they will “bring their own color into full play like these five colors.” (said Matumoto).

Source: Music Japan Plus & Oricon

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Some more exciting news, the themesong’s to Sho-kun new drama will be sang be Arashi. It’s titled Troublemaker (love the name btw ). From Tokujo Kabachi’s website, he commented that the song has a catchy beat.

I’m certainly not surprised, Arashi is starting out the new year with big bang – three themesongs at once and it’s only the first week of January! It’s going to be another awesome year!

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[The] Arashi’s posters, which are for promotion of the new drama “Saigo no Yakusoku/最後の約束 (lit. The Last Promise)”, are hijacking Omotesando station from December 28th. The drama will be aired from January 9th and it has been 10 years since all five members play the lead roles in one drama together.

Big images of five members are shown on the posters, with their mouths taped up and tied according to the story. These posters are put up on ten pillars in the station, and at the same time, tied up with real ropes! In addition, there is one special large-size poster with 5.8m in width and 2m in height. “We are held hostages in the drama, but we will hijack the Omotesando station at the beginning of the New Year! Please don’t untie the rope.” said Jun Matsumoto. The posters will be displayed until January 3rd. You should better go and check it out!

From Music Japan

CM for Saigo no Yakusoku and Sho-kun’s docudrama

I’m getting more and more existing after seeing the trailer, love the suspense aspect. Jun-kun was so darn cute with his comment, Please don’t untie the rope. He is such a masochist at heart! I would love to see the pillars, who wouldn’t want to see half-naked Arashi, ne.

UPDATE:
Kyaa~~~ Look what I’d found. Thanks to fybabe, the pictures of these smoking hot, noseblooding posters can be found at Flickr.

My mind went blank after seeing these, really wish I was in Japan to see them up-close and personal. This was such an awesome PR move and definitely draws attention. I’m sure massive fangirls are swamping the station now…hehe.

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A second season for the TBS drama series “Bloody Monday” has been officially confirmed. Based on Ryo Ryumon’s action/suspense manga of the same name, the original drama aired last fall and averaged 11.4% ratings.

Haruma Miura (19) will reprise his starring role as a talented hacker fighting against the threat of terrorists. Other returning cast members include Takeru Sato (20), Michiko Kichise (34), Hiroki Narimiya (27), and Umika Kawashima (15). New characters will be played by Tomoka Kurokawa (20) and Masahiro Takashima (44).

The new season will air on Saturdays at 7:56pm, starting January 23. Miura currently stars in another Saturday night drama, “Samurai High School” on NTV.

Source: Tokyograph
Official website: TBS -- Bloody Monday 2

Season 2 CM:

Just had to post this since I’m have become a huge fan of Miura Haruma and the first season. Definitely looking forward to it along with a my massive list of other ones to see. :p

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The press conference for the drama special was held today.

I’m quite excited to see the additional cast for the special. The ones present at the conference were Kuroki Meisa, Fujiki Naohito, Otsuka Nene and Tsugawa Masahiko. The others include Kitamura Yukiya and Kosakai Kazuki (found this info on D-Addict). It’s such a strong cast, ne! I’ve seen most of the others works and am delighted to see that Arashi will be interacting with them.

Kyaa~~ It was also announced that the themesong will be sang by our boys, its title is Sora Tataku/ High Sky.

Arashi is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and now for the first time in 10 years they will all appear in the same drama. They recently attended the press conference of the upcoming drama ‘最後の約束 / Saigo no Yakusoku [lit. 'Last Promise']‘. Since it’s been a while since they last acted together in the same drama, Matsumoto Jun said he was savoring the experience. “It is a whole new experience to see all five of us inside the same dressing room for a drama.” Ohno Satoshi also said he was enjoying the novel situation. “If feels kind of strange. I can’t wait to see it on TV.” The main soundtrack ‘空高く / Sora Takaku [lit. 'Sky High']‘ performed by Arashi was especially written for the drama.
The main focus of the drama is the bonds shared between people. The Arashi members play the roles of 5 unrelated men who just happen to be inside a building that is taken over by criminals. The serious suspense drama shows the changing relationships among the 5 men and other people left stranded inside the building. The last time the members all appeared together was in the 1999 drama ‘Vの嵐 / V no Arashi’. Ninomiya Kazunari commented “I’m happy that we are getting a chance to create something together.” Sakurai Sho also sounded excited. “It was a bit funny seeing the members each developing their roles right beside me.” Aiba Masaki was asked the highlight of the drama. “This is a realistic drama about 5 men trapped inside a building, and it also has some aspects of fantasy in it too.” Since it wasn’t exactly the serious comment everybody had been expecting, it caught both the cast and staff off-guard. Matsumoto summarily dismissed Aiba’s claims and made everyone laugh. “There are absolutely no elements of fantasy! It’s a fast paced drama, and you can’t afford to miss any of the scenes. All the characters have different reasons for being in the building.” The New Year special drama ‘最後の約束 / Saigo no Yakusoku’ will be broadcast on January 9th.

From Music Japan

Preview and coverage of the filming:

Truly looking forward to this, only a few more weeks before it airs. 2010 will be another awesome year for Arashi!

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Looks so much fun, cannot wait for it to be aired. I’m wondering if the themesong is an Arashi one, wasn’t able to tell since the announcer’s voice was overriding. Though, it does have an Arashic feel to it, we’ll just have to wait and see.

The official website has also been updated with new info and images.

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Arashi member Aiba Masaki is playing the lead role in the drama series ‘マイガール / My Girl’. Fellow member Sakurai Sho will guest star!
It has become something of a tradition where fellow Arashi members appear as guest stars in the final episodes of dramas that feature one (or two) of the members as lead actors. For ‘よい子の味方 / Yoi Ko no Mikata’ with Sakurai playing the lead, Matsumoto Jun, Ohno Satoshi and Aiba appeared as guests. Ohno also guest-starred in ‘山田太郎ものがたり / Yamada Taro Monogatari’; the lead actors were Ninomiya Kazunari and Sakurai. Ohno played the lead role in ‘魔王 / Maou (Maoh)’, and Ninomiya made an appearance in the final story.

For the upcoming episode Sakurai will become ‘Sato’, the new employee at the photo studio where ‘Masamune (Aiba)’ works. Sato will be crucial in showing Masamune’s feelings. Sakurai soon became a natural part of the cast. “Everyone was cheery and kindly welcomed me in.”
Aiba in between rehearsals discussed extensively with Sakurai about the timing and pace of their characters’ conversations to better ready themselves for the filming. Aiba said that their talk renewed his love for the group. “Arashi is superb.” Their consulting each other also showed how passionate and serious Aiba was about the drama.
The filming of Sakurai’s scene started at 23:00. When he appeared at the film set the staff and cast members loudly applauded. After an hour, the filming was complete. While taped music played in the background Sakurai was even handed a bouquet of flowers. Since it was the final day of filming for the entire drama, he joined the staff and cast members when they took a group photo.
Sakurai later talked about it during an MC at a concert held on December 4th. Ninomiya asked “Did you actually join them [in the photo]?” Matsumoto took a step closer and said “I hope you had the decency to stand to the side.” Sakurai smiled shyly and replied “Well, uh, everyone said I should go ahead…” He revealed that [despite having only a bit role] he stood dead center in the group photo alongside Aiba.
The drama’s official blog also recounted Sakurai’s guest appearance, and made a surprising announcement! “We succeeded in including a scene where we have a rare close-up of his eyes. Sakurai-san said it was a ‘great honor’ to have that scene included. We hope you enjoy watching that part.” Fans can’t afford to miss that crucial scene.

From Music Japan

I’m going to look forward to this, just cannot believe that My Girl will be ending soon. I wouldn’t mind see Koharu-chan is a few more episode, she is just too kawaii.

Now there’s only Jun-kun left that hasn’t made any guest appearances since Sho-kun’s Yoiko no Mikata. I would love to see him in a drama with Riida or Nino, ne.

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