I think the plot is improving with the later episodes and I am looking forward to the ending.

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

I'm quite happy that Xiu Mei returned to Shanghai, because this gives Rensuke and Maemi a chance!

Slightly off topic. Please stay with me....

re Long Vacatiion

I think somewhere earlier on, there was a statement that SMAP ruined the
LaLaLaLove song by singing off key.

Well I just listened to a piano solo of this song and it changes key so often that it sounds offkey.

It repeats itself several times so I imagine that any lyrics must be very different and with repeats of chorus. Anyway, I have not heard any other singing group do this song and as far as I know it has not been covered by anyone else. I defy anyone to sing with four other people and stay right on the note throughout. It's a tough song to sing.

SMAP by the way is not a choral singing group and not a precision dancing group. they are all individuals who do their own thing although they have the same song and the same dance routine which they interpret slightly differently. They make it interesting and fun which can hardly be said for some of the Japanese and Korean 'groups' these days.

Now back to our programme :-)

Peggy

yea I argee it started getting good to the end .. but too bad it was cut short
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i don't remember when i posted the last time in jdorama..

it was the time when sis juliana_phang is still seen often.. miss u sis..
anyway, pop to comment on this new dorama kimura in... haven't watched anything so can't really say it's a comment.. but leave that aside..

there's almost no kimu dorama that i haven't watched since long vacation or the earlier one.. mybe only gift.. and one more i forget.. but i agree about statements on how kimu's dorama are lacking the romance factor lately.. from engine though.. im still wondering why he changed so suddenly in one year but still engine is a nice cast... his unawareness of his ability to influenced and helped the kids,.. when he's not really have an intention to do so.. was something really original and raw from him...

still miss his classic grand romantic titles though

@ender's
remember me who commented on ur blog about buzzer beat and kimutaku doramas before... ?
dunno u're here in jdorama too

and one more: question for kimutaku lovers... what's the best scene in kimutaku's dorama that u remember? << pls remind me if this should be in another thread
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brad2 wrote:

Slightly off topic. Please stay with me.... re Long Vacatiion Anyway, I have not heard any other singing group do this song and as far as I know it has not been covered by anyone else. I defy anyone to sing with four other people and stay right on the note throughout. It's a tough song to sing. Now back to our programme :-)

BoA did a cover and she hits it just right I think. I think she performed it with Kinki Kids too, and they sounded fine. But you're right that it would be difficult to sing with four other people. Kubota's solo and the piano version are always gonna be my favorites.

Anyway, dramawiki reports that the TnK finale was 16.2% viewer rate. That's good but no where near what a drama starring KimuTaku used to pull in. It could be overshadowed by other televison events too though, I guess.

I think that this latest Kimura drama was rated lower than any other he has done. There were one or two reasons that made sense like the World Cup etc. Otherwise after they kept on pushing Chi Ling into every possible scene and giving her all the dialogue (which she could not enunciate)...then the interest dropped. It became so irrititating listening to that baby voice and the silences between words so that the meaning was lost..I began to consider fastforwarding. This is something I rarely do and never in a Kimura drama.

The ratings don't bother me but it is important in the business sense. I don't think any episode reached 20% and the final total was as you say. DISMAL and never happened before with Kimura. He always has a fine cast and actors love to be in one of his dramas. This time he had a splendid cast so it is obvious that the failure rests entirely on the shoulders of Chi Ling. I read somewhere that she has a contract with P and G and they were involved in this project so that is why she got so much screen time. I don't know if this is the case and I also am not sure who P and G are unless it is Proctor and Gamble. She is a model for them. I hope she will stick to modeling because she will never be able to act.

I was most dissatisfied with this drama entirely because of Chi Ling. Must have been some strong wire pulling behind the scenes. Fuji failure this time.

Peggy

Slightly off topic again but to do with ratings this season.

The drama 'RYOMADEN' playing at the same time as TnK has ratings over 20% for every episode and still going strong.
I am watching this on NHK, showing with English subs every Saturday morning. It is so interesting.

Peg

This wasn't one of the best doramas, but I really liked the ending.

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

Yay! Rensuke and Maemi got married But I felt really sorry for Yuzuki...

I really liked this one. I liked the ending, too!

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

I thought xiu mei was gorgeous and her japanese didn't bother me at all. I really liked how she, Ming, and Kamizu brought a great international feeling and expression to this drama. Xiu mei and Yuzu were sad about not being able to be with Ren, but thats life and love and doesn't always go as smooth as most dramas portray. I liked this one a lot. Surprised the ratings were as low as they were.

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kirei_lanford wrote:

@ender's remember me who commented on ur blog about buzzer beat and kimutaku doramas before... ? dunno u're here in jdorama too and one more: question for kimutaku lovers... what's the best scene in kimutaku's dorama that u remember? << pls remind me if this should be in another thread

Oh, hullo! Yep, I've been camped out here since March or April of last year. Didn't know you were a member, too.

Re your question, hmmm... The scene that's popping into my head the most is The Kiss from PURAIDO (). Can't say if it's the best scene Kimura ever did, but def. one of the most memorable for me (and for a lot of other fans, I suspect).

brad2 wrote:

I think that this latest Kimura drama was rated lower than any other he has done. There were one or two reasons that made sense like the World Cup etc. Otherwise after they kept on pushing Chi Ling into every possible scene and giving her all the dialogue (which she could not enunciate)...then the interest dropped. It became so irrititating listening to that baby voice and the silences between words so that the meaning was lost..I began to consider fastforwarding. This is something I rarely do and never in a Kimura drama. The ratings don't bother me but it is important in the business sense. I don't think any episode reached 20% and the final total was as you say. DISMAL and never happened before with Kimura. He always has a fine cast and actors love to be in one of his dramas. This time he had a splendid cast so it is obvious that the failure rests entirely on the shoulders of Chi Ling. I read somewhere that she has a contract with P and G and they were involved in this project so that is why she got so much screen time. I don't know if this is the case and I also am not sure who P and G are unless it is Proctor and Gamble. She is a model for them. I hope she will stick to modeling because she will never be able to act. I was most dissatisfied with this drama entirely because of Chi Ling. Must have been some strong wire pulling behind the scenes. Fuji failure this time. Peggy

I wasn't necessarily knocked out by her performance, but bear in mind that she is acting in a second language. I expect her acting comes across a lot differently when she does it in Mandarin. I haven�ft seen Red Cliffs, but she was in that and it is pretty highly regarded, as far as I know.
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Rensuke seemed so indifferent to everyone throughout all the episodes, I feel.

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

I agree that the unhappy ending for Yuzuki and Xiu Mei makes it feel more realistic than an "everyone lived happily ever after" ending, but I can't help feeling sorry for them.

I've started watching this. Finished episode one just now. It wasn't bad at all. I'll check further episodes.
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i don't think it's a bad dorama at all..first thing is.. it's been a long time since kimura do a romantic role.. the only problem is, chi ling can't follow his standard... though looked really pretty at poses, shots,.. the girl didn't really do much at all.. i found it difficult to be understand why ren could fall to xiu mei, while before meeting her, his heart is like an iceberg.. she just didn't shine enough to rock the a person like him. her character isn't bold, at first she wanna make ren fall in love before throwing him out.. but later she become weaker... where's the spirit she had before??? i dunno if she did manage to fool the audience at the end << still in 6th episode

secondly, the nuance of this dorama is too rigid..

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

it excited me a bit, the scene when kazami brought maemi to the same restaurant where ren and chi ling is in.. and also when maemi cried at the park and kazami came to calm her down.. seriously the one really making the dorama is ren and maemi, they're the real saver.. but many of the scenes really aren't memorable enough.. at least until now.. that includes the scene when xiu mei mention the "amenbo" thing... if that could move ren's heart than he's actually not a rigid person at all... although perhaps the real reason is because it has something to do with his past with maemi..

okay still watching so be quiet for now....
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There's a story of four guys who woke in the middle of winter night at an almost neverendless sea of snow ....

Nobody knew where they came from and who they were?? do you??

yebisu wrote:

I really liked this one. I liked the ending, too! Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler: I thought xiu mei was gorgeous and her japanese didn't bother me at all. I really liked how she, Ming, and Kamizu brought a great international feeling and expression to this drama. Xiu mei and Yuzu were sad about not being able to be with Ren, but thats life and love and doesn't always go as smooth as most dramas portray. I liked this one a lot. Surprised the ratings were as low as they were.

You're one of the few people that had anything positive to say about the drama and Chiling. I just watched this on DVD and I liked it as well. Unlike some of the other posts, I thought the first three episodes were very good. Later, around episode 6 and 7, Chiling disappears. I thought this actually slowed down the drama. Chiling's acting is fine.

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

When she's crying, for example, on the phone talking to menai or leaving back to Shanghai at the end, I didn't see any overacting.

Also, she speaks three languages and japanese isn't her first language. So, I think she did very well. I guess i'm always impressed with people that speak more than one language as I only speak english.

[quote="nakamotosan"]

Chiling's acting is fine.

Also, she's almost 36 and she is absolutely gorgeous, especially the modeling scene in the black dress in Shanghai. In Japan, the japanese actresses are considered too old probably at 30.

yup, i think its a worth while watch!
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@suzzy

Quote:

yea I argee it started getting good to the end .. but too bad it was cut short

I don't think that it was cut short. Since it is so big-budget and it started so late in the season, it was planned from the start to be shorter than the average drama. I'm just glad that they had a 2-hour finale to wrap things up, especially in the relationships that Rensuke had with all the other characters, including Kazami.

Oh, and just wanted to share,

NG scenes from Tsuki no Koibito in Fuji TV's Ganbatta Taishou 2010.09.06.

Link: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/6tj2GK0XjD4/

1. Shinohara Ryoko and Kimura Takuya.

Brief description: Shinohara-san does not realise that the place where she is standing can be seen on camera.

2. Kitagawa Keiko and Kimura Takuya.

Brief description: Kimura-san stares at Kitagawa-san, but before they can continue with the scene Kitagawa-san becomes bashful and starts giggling.

3. Several cast members.

Brief description: A serious scene (and tension) is broken when Xiu Mei's poster falls.

4. Hamada Gaku's birthday dokkiri.

Brief description: It was mentioned on Kimura-san's What's Up SMAP, and I was so delighted to see that it was filmed. Basically, Hamada-san comes late to the day's rehearsal. Kimura-san and Shinohara-san pretends to be angry about it. Kimura-san "scolds" Hamada-san, asking him if he has apologised to everyone for the inconvenience he caused. But Hamada-san's apology does not help because both Kimura-san and Shinohara-san are so angry that Kimura-san leaves the studio and Shinohara-san follows him (Before Shinohara-san leaves, she can actually be spotted trying to hide her laughter ). Then, Shinohara-san can be heard yelling that she has had it with filming and wants to go home. Just as Hamada-san looks like he's about to cry, the both of them come back into the room and a staff member rolls in a cake to celebrate Hamada-san's birthday.

5. Several cast members.

Brief description: Pay attention to the foreign actor.

Description source and credit: Iris Zephyr @ D-Addicts

awesome thanks!
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I dunno, people seem kinda about this... I actually liked it a lot. I'd say my favorite episodes were like 3-5, towards the end it got slightly messy, but still very good. I've watched maybe 10-15 doramas so far and I think romantic ones can tend to drag with whole episodes that are little side-stories with nothing to advance the plot. This moved well, had some plot twists, and likable characters. Though, I can see the criticisms... esp. Takuya-related.