Hakoiri Musume

[Pemu]

Whee! I switched on the monitor when I woke up this morning. Had a look at jdrama channels on irc and suddenly saw a new drama release, Hakoiri no Musume, at the topic of jtv channel!!! A project by Anime-One who was also behind You're Under Arrest live action project.

I dunno much about the drama, it's about two sisters and an onsen in the countryside. A gaijin guy is an elder sister's love interest.

Starring two beauties Naoko Iijima and Kyoko Fukada. I can't wait to see the series!

[SushiMaki]

Konnichiwa Pemu. I have been watching it, and I like the story. I'm on episode 4 and 5. I actually wanted to see Naoko again more than Kyoko. Sorry, but the gaijin is not a good actor. They probably grabbed him from God knows where. Enjoy it!

[Pemu]

Hello there!
Glad to hear you like the story. Kyoko-dramas usually have had quite weak receptions in the past except Kamisama mou sukoshi dake.
As for the Gaijin guy. How is he portrayed? Is he another silly gaijins as described to the viewers (misgiven an actual picture about him) or is he a gaijin who has settled down and accepted in Japan? The gaijin guy been found out of nowhere? hehe Prolly the talent scouts have found him on the streets and asked him if he wanted to take a part in a drama After the series has aired, his face is seen everywhere. His fame skyrocketly emerges and a new lifestyle has begun

[UWFShooter]

If he's an unknown jobber actor, I mut say he's quite good for the role he plays.

[Michi]

is this Kyoko Fukada new dorama??

[Pemu]

Yup yup.

[Pemu]

Hmm...still no sign of it. The series was removed from the topic of the JTV channel. I wonder what happened

[gerwalker]

Oh God, no!!!

I'm a big fan of Iijima Naoko, and I feel that she is a great actress. I especially liked her as a guest star in HERO and when she played the lead role in Wedding Planner. However, I stopped watching this drama after the 2nd episode or so.

Hakoiri no Musume is one of the best rated doramas this season, but I have to say that they don't have much competition. I don't like Fukada Kyoko; the only roles in which I liked her was in Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake and in S.O.S.

Personally, it's a run of the mill story about how Iijima and Fukada's characters cope with the challenges of love; Fukada falls in love but her boyfriend gets in an accident and loses his memory, so now she plays the doting girlfriend trying to make the boyfriend remember/love her; Iijima plays a character who gets dumped by her boyfriend, so she goes home and resolves to help her family. Meanwhile, everyone finds out that she's pregnant, and her gaijin boyfriend, who is smitten by her, agrees to go to her parents and state that he's the father. Now Iijima has a love/hate relationship with him -- does she love him, or does she hate him?

The gaijin is played by a relative newcomer by the name of Mark Condon. I think this is his first acting job, and he is portrayed as the usual gaijin from the Japanese view -- speaks Japanese with a horrendous accent, doesn't know proper Japanese customs etc. but is very sweet to Japanese women.

Being a foreigner in Japan, I just detest other foreign actors being typecast. It's like back in the pre-WW2 days when Americans typecasted Japanese as miniature Asians with buck teeth and thick glasses, or every Chinese as people who know kung fu.

Give it a cursory look if you must, but there are much better dramas out there...

[Pemu]

Good news! Ep 1 is out in the #JTV channel. Prolly distributed on BT soon.
Go leech it!

[Michi]

Pemu
usually how long does it takes u to leech one episode of dorama?

[Pemu]

Michi wrote:

Pemu usually how long does it takes u to leech one episode of dorama?

Actually it depends whom I download from. Cable modem is good at downloadin but it needs to have fast upload from the other party. If a sender got back speed, cable modem receives at poor speed. It takes usually a few hrs to 8 or more to complete an episode.

[Michi]

oh ok. 8 hrs for one eps. thats good enough.. it took me nearly 1 month to dl friday's lover ep. 1

[Pemu]

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you'll be able to download the complete series. Hang in there.

[Michi]

i will

[Takez0]

It's available on bitorrent already here:

http://a.scarywater.net/fob/

[ruroshin]

Nice, Iijima Naoko and Kyoko Fukada together in another drama. Damn, I'm already downloading so much...looks like I'll be trading for this one.

[Pemu]

Not necessary to trade for since the BT release is out, I'm sure it'll be seeded for the time being.

[maxstlg]

thanks for the info pemu. gonna try this one. good that it is on BT, not a fan of mIRC.

[ochanto]

SushiMaki wrote:

Konnichiwa Pemu. I have been watching it, and I like the story. I'm on episode 4 and 5. I actually wanted to see Naoko again more than Kyoko. Sorry, but the gaijin is not a good actor. They probably grabbed him from God knows where. Enjoy it!

Can you tell me where can I download all series for this

[enau]

Hi Mark ,

Welcome to this wonderful and friendly forum (Really, this is true ). Hope you'll have great times here like me and other members here.
Sugooiiii !! That must be a wonderful experience for you playing dorama in Japan.
How was it playing dorama there (especially for a new actor like you) ?
How did you participate on the audition of HAKOIRI MUSUME in the first place ? (i.e. : Did you see the commercial for the audition or getting the info from your agent or...... ?)

Nice to know you and good luck for your further projects (another dorama maybe ?? )

enau

eranbeard wrote:

Hi there. My name's Mark Condon and I played the gaijin Keith in Hako Iri Musume. I've been reading the posts on what people thought of it and it's actually quite interesting. I don't mind at all being called a bad actor for three reasons. First off, I thought I was a terrible actor when I watched it, very wooden and unnatural. Secondly, apart from primary school plays (!) it was the first time I've ever acted in anything, it's just funny that the first time I have a go at it, it's on prime time Japanese tv being watched by millions! And thirdly, it's actually pretty damn hard remembering lines in another language and trying to get them out at the right time infront of all the set people (at least 30 for every scene). I'd only learnt Japanese for 10 months before the drama, so I guess I was actually kind of like the character I played in terms of my Japanese capability. As for the accent, it's the British in me I'm afraid, but I was actually meant to be portraying a gaijin who'd been in Japan for a year, and spoke very broken English. The director actually told me to stand as stiff as a board when saying my lines and not to move my expressions too much, which left me very little room for any natural acting. I find it very unusual that the Japanese actually thought I was a good actor, unless it's all "ooseji" ofcourse! In my home country of England, with acting like that I'd have been axed after the first episode, but for some reason, they kept me on the whole way through (there was a back-up plot where my character Keith would get killed in a car accident if I sucked too much!) When I went for the audition, I hadn't even heard of Iijima Naoko and Fukada Kyouko - it's actually quite interesting to see how much interest there is of them on this site. Iijima Naoko is a really nice person, very beautiful in real life, even more so than on tv which is a rare thing. However, as friends, I got closer to Fukakyon, probably as our ages are closer. The DVD is coming out this month. Hope you enjoy it! Mark