The ratings for trendy dramas in Japan have been rather low since the start of this year but trust the ever-popular Mr. Kimura Takuya to put things right. His new drama Mr. Brain jumped to the top of the ratings charts on its very first episode on Saturday, leaving the competition in the dust.
Mr. Brain's rating of 24.8% is the highest rating for doramas to date this year and cements Kimutaku's reputation as the ratings king in Japan's television drama land. In Mr. Brain, Kimura Takuya plays a club host who unexpectedly becomes a genius after suffering brain injuries from an accident (wow, that's... er... incredible!). He joins the police force and becomes the resident neuroscientist who uses his newfound brain power to solve the most complex crimes. Like his previous drama series Hero, this drama series also has different guest stars for each episode. And in the first episode, the guest star just so happens to be Ryoko Hirosue, who was last seen in the Oscar wining film Okuribito. Future guest stars include pop idol Gackt and pop group KAT-TUN's Kazuya Kamenashi.
Mr. Brain also stars Ayase Haruka and Mizushima Hiro. Here is one of the trailers for the TV series:
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20090515TDY14004.htm, http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/MR.BRAIN
Tags: Mr. Brain, Kimura Takuya, Japanese drama series, ratings.
Kimura Takuya Continues Winning Streak
Gokusen V.S. Change
This battle between the new dramas in Japan this season is starting to look very interesting indeed! Gokusen 3 starring Nakama Yukie has exceeded all expectations scoring a sky high rating of 26.4% on its very first episode last Saturday! This result has undoubtedly put pressure on ratings king Takuya Kimura's new drama Change which will debut on May 12, whether Gokusen 3 will continue to triumph when Change debuts remains to be seen. But it definitely looks set to be a tough fight!
[Update 20/05/08
According to the latest ratings for the week of May 12 to May 18, Gokusen 3 is still on top with an average rating of 25.3% beating Change's 23.8%. But Change is only just a little behind and could still end up being the ultimate winner as this dorama has been getting generally postive reviews since it started airing on May 12. ]
The main attraction of Change is undoubtedly Kimura as the Prime Minister of Japan. He reportedly gained weight to make himself look more serious and authortative. And after seeing some screen shots of his new "un-kimutaku-like" nerdy image in the drama serial from this site, I think this drama could just be the vehicle that he is looking for that will finally allow him to leave his "teen idol" image behind him and propel him to greater heights in his acting career.
And besides Change, he is also starring in a new English language movie - I Come With The Rain with Josh Hartnett, South Korean hunk Lee Byung-hun and Hong Kong hotshot actor Shawn Yue. Here is the trailer of the film that I managed to find on YouTube. With so many good looking hunks all together at one place, this definitely looks like a great movie to me ;-)
Tags: Gokusen 3, Change, Kimura Takuya, Nakama Yukie, ratings, Japanese drama serials, drama series, dorama, I Come With The Rain.
Make A Date With Takuya's Kimura's Hero On September 8
The much anticipated Japanese movie Hero starring Takuya Kimura, Matsu Takako and South Korean heart-throb Lee Byung-hun will be released in Japan on September 8. Hero the dorama serial was pretty entertaining and had one of the highest ratings in Japan when it was shown a few years ago. I think the movie should be just as good if not even better so try to catch the movie if you happen to be in Japan during that time :-)
A super clear wide-screen version of the trailer (no English subtitles) can be found on the official website of the movie: http://www.hero-movie.net/index.html
Just select "Trailer" on the menu at the website.
And Takuya Kimura and Lee Byung-hun will be collaborating again in another major production, this time with Josh Hartnett in the US-French thriller I Come With The Rain. Hong Kong actor Shawn Yue will also have a role in the movie. Seems that more and more East Asian actors are participating in Hollywood movies (or more precisely international co-productions), for example, My Sassy Girl Jun Ji-Hyun and Japanese actress Koyuki in Blood: The Last Vampire and Korean superstar Rain (Jung Ji-hoon) in Speed Racer .
The time of the Made-On-Earth movie is almost here, I think... ;-)
Information from:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971132.html?categoryId=2663&cs=1;
http://yummycelebrities.com/;
http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-1549
Tags: Hero, Takuya Kimura, Lee Byung-hun, I come with the rain, Josh Hartnett, internation co-productions, Japanese movie, thriller.
Japanese Movie - Love And Honor
After watching Love and Honor (Bushi no Ichibun), the final instalment of Yoji Yamada's samurai trilogy, I could not help but be extremely impressed with Yoji Yamada's attention to detail and his ability to create highly realistic depictions of life in Japan's samurai era.
Yet although the setting was realistic, while watching the movie, I could not help but feel that even if the whole movie (excluding the samurai fighting) was transported to a modern setting, the dialogue and storyline would not be out of place at all. This feeling was especially strong in some scenes early in the movie when samurai Shinnojo Mimura (played by Japanese pop idol Takuya Kimura) was teasing his wife Kayo (Rei Dan) and his elderly servant Tokuhei (played by Takashi Sasano) or when Shinnojo was complaining of his dead-end job to his wife. At such moments, Shinnojo could very well be a modern day newly-wed Japanese salaryman feeling very dissatisfied with his dead end job at a major corporation...
Takuya Kimura played the role of Shinnojo much better than I expected. He was particularly impressive in depicting Shinnojo's change in character and inner struggles after becoming blind. But I have to say that somehow I felt the role of Shinnojo was just too similar to the types of roles that Kimura has played numerous times before in TV doramas - that of the rebellious and playful young man who meets with a cruel twist of fate but somehow overcomes his insurmountable difficulties with sheer willpower and becomes a wise adult at the end. So much so that Shinnojo could just be Kimutaku in Long Vacation or Love Generation but with a much more cruel twist of fate - Shinnojo looses his eyesight whereas the others just had difficulties in their careers and relationship troubles.
Rei Dan was also impressive in her role as the Shinnojo's stoic wife Kayo. Besides somehow maintaing a quiet dignity even under the most difficult circumstances, I felt that she exuded a certain purity and luminosity that is quite rare in actresses today. (In fact, she actually reminded me of Tanaka Yuko, the actress who played Oshin...)
In the end, Yoji Yamada's attention to detail made all the difference between an excellent film and a so-so film. Minor details like the state of Shinnojo's house was not forgotten - at the beginning of the film when Shinnojo had a happy family, the house was bright and squeaky clean. At the end when Shinnojo was struggling with blindness and marital troubles, the house became dingy and old. A true reflection of our hero's inner struggles :-P
Tags: Love And Honor, Bushi no Ichibun, Yoji Yamada, Kimura Takuya, Rei Dan, Japanese Movie, Japanese Film, Period Movie, Samurai Movie.
