S. Yue Michaelis

Mitsutaka Oji (Hidekazu Mashima) is 43-years-old and works as a sales department manager. He is divorced and lives alone. His colleagues respect him at work, but he has a secret. His secret is that he likes cute things, including dolls of the Pug Taro character. (asianwiki-2020)


I am very happy to see Imai Tsubasa doing well! He looks amazing, and I am happy that this drama did it so well.

It is a very lovely and funny drama; my 2nd favorite of this season. The trailer may look a bit silly but fun: a middle-aged man loving kawaii things secretly. A tsundere loving cats secretly. A boy loving shoujo manga secretly.

While it is cute and funny to see grown-up men loving characters so much, it is also showing us our secret desires that we feel we must hide because of our age. Other people may look at an adult otaku like he/she is a freak, only for the fact that he/she likes anime and manga. I have the same issue, not because I like to have a keychain of Sebastian Michaelis it means I am weird! But people like to judge, and because we do not want to be ridicule or whatever, it is easier to hide it. But it also can make us a bit miserable, having to pretend we are someone else. Ahhh if we can only show proudly what we like without having other people judging you!


This is what the drama is about, and also, while hiding who you are, you will feel lonely eventually. Oji-san (haha, ojisan) is very reserved because of that.. we may listen to his thoughts when he is happy but since he doesn't show much, sensitive people like Kenta may feel like their feelings are not conveyed. Oji-san is super happy to have a new friend that understands him and share the same feelings as him, but if he doesn't say it out loud, Kenta wouldn't know. It takes him some time to properly say his feelings XD


Their friendship is so cute (remember, it is a FIRST for them) so it may look like a BL: the overthinking, over-analyzing, both of them thinking about each other, being happy just being together; the little gifts, some awkward encounters and the final "I like you" XD But it is really just about a treasured friendship between two older guys who, finally, are not afraid to show their "feminine" side XD


There are many merchandising about Pug Taro / Pagtaro thoughout the drama... it is so cute I also want a plushie! Both Oji-san and Kenta visit a big store, full of kawaii things, called Hakuhinkan. I've read it has like 5 floors of toys and plushies, and I want to go there sometime! I visited Kiddyland, which was cute of course, but it can also be a bit overwhelming.

Yaeko Kogure (Haru) is a 27-year-old OL. She informs her company that she will resign to get married. Her fiance then informs her that he is in love with another woman and he breaks off their engagement. Yaeko Kogure now doesn't have a job or a boyfriend. While crying, she hears "Air on the G String" playing live in a shopping mall. The song inspires her to enroll in a violin class for adults. There, she meets university student Rihito Kase (Taishi Nakagawa) and housewife Yukie Kitagawa (Yuki Matsushita). Yaeko Kogure becomes attracted to Rihito Kase. (asiawiki-2019)


I picked this up not only because it was subbed by a trusted subber (thank you aoihachi!) -and by "trusted" I mean I know this subber will finish the subbing, but also because I've watched the TFP episode where the 3 leads guested, and I loved their team spirit, which is reflected again in the drama and it is one of the highlights of the show.

This is a fun, light show, there are no villains, it is a slice of life, involving music, friendship and romance. The beautiful "Air" by Bach is a wonderful companion throughout the drama, and it is also a big part of the plot. There is a character development in all characters, from Yaeko-san, Rihito-kun and Yukie (the 3 main leads). For their relationship alone, I love the entire drama, but all in all, even the romance was sweet and fun and far from corny or believable. Thank God there was a chemistry between Haru and Taishi, and in spite of the 7-8 years gap, it wasn't obvious at all since Taishi does look older than in his twenties.

Even the OP song was cute.. I love all of it :)

Set in Osaka before the war.

Fukuko (Sakura Ando) has a mother and two older sisters. She and her family are poor, but she is loved by her family. Her oldest sister becomes sick and dies. Her second sister gets married and leaves their home. Fukuko decides to encourage herself.

A few incidents leads to Fukuko meeting young businessman Manpei (Hiroki Hasegawa). They fall in love and eventually marry. Manpei’s business goes through a cycle of success and failures. Fukuko at first only tolerates Manpei's ideas, but she gains strength and supports him in his unique business ventures. Finally, the couple develop instant ramen. (asiawiki-2018)


It is only my second Asadora, but I can confirm they are really addictive. Easy to watch and easy to fall in love with the characters. It is like they become part of your family, I am going to miss them ^_^.

I love Sakura Ando as Fukuko; she was cheerful and strong and my, her tears were so good. She had a nice chemistry with Hasegawa Hiroki; they were truly a wonderful married couple. They look the part too.. they look young at first and older at the end, unlike Kaname Jun (Tadahiko) and Matsushita Nao (Katsuko), who still looked too young to be grandfparents. Manpei was the ying and Fukuko the yang in their relationship, the complimented each other. If it weren't for Fukuko, Manpei wouldn't go anywhere with his ideas (but let's face it.. most of the good ideas came from Fukuko but Manpei-san was the one who was able to reproduce the idea or make it real).

I love Fukuko's mother.. she was such a character! Annoying and meddlesome but so funny and with a good heart. By the end of the series, I was loving every one, from Sera to Shinichi. How nice that Shinichi was still part of the family, even after so many years after Saki's death. And how nice that Saki was still present in their lives even though she died so many years ago. How nice that Kanbe-kun admired the Tachibana couple so much. And how nice how everyone was involved in one way or the other in the success of Manpuku Noodles.

The support of family, friends... all of them were so important to make Manpuku Noodles come to what it is. As always in a J-drama, family and friends are pivotal in the main character's lives (and at the same time, they influence positive in the others).

Some scenes were a bit slow for my liking, like all the times Manpei went to prison. Reason why I rate this 8.5. And sometimes I just wanted to smack Manpei-san... I know he was a genius and couldn't see straight beyond his ideas, but poor Fukuko suffered so much many times and years (but she loved that her husband was an inventor). He was the reason of all her tears; of her happy and sad tears.

Main song was cute and the opening sequence very dorky, I loved it.

I will mourn for a couple of weeks and then start a new Asadora ^_^

Junko Harumi (Kyoko Fukada) was once a model student during her middle school and high school days. She failed to enter prestigious Tokyo University and her life has not gone smoothly since then. She has a hard time finding a job and having relationships with men. Now, at the age of 31, she works as a teacher at a private institute. 3 men, who vary in type, appear in front of her. Masashi Yakumo (Kento Nagayama) is smart and a cousin of Junko, Kyohei Yuri (Ryusei Yokohama) is a disorderly high school student and Kazuma Yamashita (Tomoya Nakamura) is Kyohei ’s teacher in high school. (asiawiki-2019)

It's been a long time since I've been this giddy with happiness watching a drama. A fresh (pink) air of breath XD Each episode was better than the previous one. And every time I finished an episode, I couldn't wait for the next week, so much I rewatched the last episode and couldn't think of nothing else XD

As the J-netizens said, I would like to think Yuri was the heroine of this drama. I loved how supportive was everyone of him. There isn't a single bad character here. And all 3 rivals were nice, handsome guys who wanted nothing more than Junko's happiness. Each one of the guys had their amount of support from the netizens, I am not sure who was the most popular. But since episode 1 I had my favorite, and that is because I am a huge fan of manga-Shinkumi <3 The chemistry between Yokohama Ryusei and Fukada Kyoko was AMAZING. I think she had a tiny crush on him, they were so cure together! I wouldn't say they have a 14-year-gap at all. Maybe 8 or 10 top.

Yuri-Yuri was a delight to watch; he has a lot of character development. The actor is not only super handsome but such a nice actor as well. Every time he smiled, I was happy. His tears were also so beautiful... His hands... his teeth... awwww handsome XD

I have yet to watch the final episode subbed, but just watching it raw I loved it (I covered my eyes but peeked between my fingers in the last scene). I'll write a proper review (with a proper rant over this actor I fell head over heels) when I finish the subbed last episode.

Favorite scenes, in no particular order:
- The "heroine in a dating game" (but the whole study camp made me happy)
- The "betrayed" look in front of Junko's house
- All the hugs (kyaa they were all amazing, the most romantic I've even seen)
- every time my favorite smiled
- Nishioi and Miwa were funny, but together they were hilarious

Favorite drama of the year? XD too early to tell but I loved it so much I am having drama withdrawal symptoms ^_^ And listening to the OST ("Happy birthday" by back number) isn't helping ^_^

Kayo Baba (Kyoko Koizumi) is imprisoned on attempted murder charges. She stabbed her husband who had an affair. In the prison, Kayo Baba meets Akemi Adachi (Aiko Morishita), who is in prison for illegal drug possession, Chinatsu Katsuda (Miho Kanno), who is in prison for for tax evasion, Yoko Daimon (Maki Sakai), who is in prison for fraud & embezzlement, and Shinobu Edogawa (Kaho), who is in prison for murder. Chinatsu Katsuda is the leader among the prisoners. Meanwhile, Futaba Wakai (Hikari Mitsushima) is a strict prison officer. She observes the prisoners and tries to help them with education.

At first, Kayo Baba finds it difficult to adapt to life prison. She forms a bond with the 4 prisoners. She also learns Shinobu Edogawa is imprisoned due to a miscarriage of justice

Six years later, Kayo Baba is released from prison. She meets with Akemi Adachi, Chinatsu Katsuda and Yoko Daimon. They make a plan to take revenge for Shinobu Edogawa. Futaba Wakai also joins their plan. (asiawiki-2017)


Heartwarming, and Girl Power, two things that defined this drama.

I am planning on watching all Kudo Kankuro's works because the ones I did watch were amazing. Like this one. When I finished it, it left me with a bittersweet feeling. I loved it, but I will miss the gang. And I felt like 10 episodes weren't enough. I think that, at least one more episode would have been ok. The last episode was a bit rushed, and the final 5 minutes needed a longer explanation... But that's my 2 cents.

The plot is about 5 women kidnapping a powerful man. Episode 1 is the kidnapping and till Ep. 9 all happens in the same night. Except that each episode shows flashbacks of these women when they meet in prison, start to bond and finally, to plan the kidnapping and the justice for Hime/Yusuke.

The whole thing with Yusuke hit me hard since I lived more or less the same with my precious niece (the mean guy would be, in my case, my sister-in-law). The bond these women made was all because of Yusuke. While most of the story develops inside of a prison, this wasn't a dark nor gloomy story. The worst thing that shows is the dehumanization of these girls by being called by their prison number. And that's it. There is no bullying, no jealousy, no hard feelings.

The acting was on point, the characters were all colorful. The only one I think didn't do very well was the Thai girl, but I mostly think the same of foreign actors in a Jdrama... they are somewhat awkward and stiff and I think they feel out of place. But all of them were extremely likeable, even the "villain". In fact, I think the villain was quite charming. I could see why all these strong women swooned over Iseya Yusuke... he looks like a rake, but a charming one.

Of course my favorite was Mitsushima Hikari. She does wonders with tough roles (and with quirky roles... and with pathetic roles...). That hairstyle suits her soooo well. Definitely one of the prettiest, and most talented, actress in Jpn. There is one scene where it looked like she, the actress, was having a hard time to not laugh, and it surprised me, since she doesn't have that kind of "slip". But of course it wasn't a slip... it was her character that was trying not to smile XD She is amazing.

To be honest I love them all, from Baba Kayo (Koizumi Kyoko) to Hime (Kaho).

The ED song is "Showtime", by Namie. Fun, girly and catchy.

There is a mini-reunion from "Gomenne Seishun": Anego, Actress and Sensei. And of course, the screenwriter too XD

In 1802, 8-year-old Mio lost her parents in a river flood in Osaka and feels all alone after she is also separated from her childhood friend Noe. She is saved by Yoshi, the proprietress of ‘Tenman Icchoan’, one of Osaka’s famous restaurants, whom she happened to meet. Mio begins training as a cook because of her gift for taste in a time when females were still banned from the kitchen. However, the restaurant was burnt down in a fire and she sets off for Edo with Yoshi and her husband Kahei. By some lucky coincidence, they are invited by Taneichi, the owner of ‘Tsurya’, to work at his soba shop. Mio is bewildered by the contrasting flavors of the Kansai region and Edo, and also has to deal with the obstructions of a rival shop and a status difference in her love with the samurai Komatsubara. She overcomes these difficulties and eventually becomes a top female cook. (mydramalist-2017)


A very heartwarming dorama. I wasn't expect that, since the summary tells that it is about the difficulties of a young girl to be a cook in a chauvinistic world. And it is but it is also about the kindness of people, how they help each other in small but significant ways; it is also about family and to care about someone else's well being. And of course, it is also about overcoming the difficulties in life with the help of people who loves you.

I am adding Kuroki Haru in my list of favorite actresses. Whenever role she plays, I just want her to be happy And when she is, her happiness is contagious. And she is so gentle, so Japanese-lady-like. My other favorite in this dorama was her mistress (Yasuda Narumi), who loved her as a mother. Her love for her adopted daughter, and for her son was beautiful. Her sad smile was so poignant...

There is a little reunion of members of "Juhan Shuttai", which made me really happy (4 of them!). Starting with the MC, who again works hard in what she loves XD And is spite of working again with Nagayama Kento (Nagata-sensei), I was rooting for Komatsubara-san since the very beginning. I loved when there is respect and a little bit of teasing from the love interest XD

I love the setting, since historical stories set in Edo period are most of the times my favorites. The food that are shown look mostly so tasteful (and there is a little culinary demonstration of the main recipe of the day at the end of each episode, performed by the amazing Kuroki Haru). The other time, when I was eating with other people and they were "ohhh my, so delicious" I laughed internally because that's what happens every time people eats Mio's food).

The OST is lovely, it helped to keep the tone light.

For rewatch value, yes, I would watch it again, specially when the SP is subbed (there HAS to be a SP... when I finished Ep 8 I was like, WHAT?). Besides, it is very short, with 8 episodes only, of 35 minutes aprox each ep.).

Takumi (Keisuke Koide), Kyohei (Ryo Katsuji), Hideto (Gou Ayano), Kazuo (Ryohei Suzuki), & Yuki (Tsuyoshi Muro) are five friends who form a rock band to perform at an upcoming school festival. When the friends learn that the festival is cancelled, they threaten to blow up the high school unless the school's administration reinstates the festival. The vice principal agrees to their demand, but the friends find themselves unable to stop the timing device on their homemade bomb. The classroom in which they are barricaded then blows up and so does their hopes for a bright future.

Three years later, Takumi & Kyohei walk down a street and witness a blond haired woman hit by an oncoming car. When they run down to the scene of the accident, they see the blond haired woman remove a pistol from the driver of the car and then drive off with his car! To Takumi and Kyohei's further amazement, they realize that the driver of the car is none other than high school pal Kazuo who now works for the yakuza.

Later that day, mob boss Kito (Kotaro Yoshida) walks into Takumi's workplace and looks for Kazuo. Before leaving, Kito threatens to kill Takumi, Kyohei, and their families if they don't return 300 million Yen and a prostitute (Manami Konishi), he believes they may know, by tomorrow. The longtime friends must now frantically search for the prostitute and the 300 million Yen ... (asiawiki-2010)


This movie has SHOUNEN written all over it. A group of childhood friends, an old crush from their childhood days, running, performing in a band, going thru dangerous moments... The pace is fast, things happen all the time, many fun cameos (most of them I didn't know beforehand, so I was pleasantly surprised, saying over again "what! that one too!" Oguri Shin sure does have a lot of friends...

The comedy is minimal but the story was fun. It is more dramatic since the yakuza boss is no joke. But I feel like the actors had a lot of fun filming this movie, they have a lot of chemistry, and I love their friendship. The only one that overacted a little bit was the one playing Kyohei. The other 3 guys are my favorite actors anyway, they are always good. I mean, even I who knows that Ayano Go is NO IKEMEN thought he was pretty awesome here. His "killer glance" was believable, haha. It could be his hair? He looked good here. Suzuki Ryohei looked lovely silly and Koide looked cuter than ever. And Muro playing a student **giggles** All of them, actually. It was hilarious.

The role of the main girl was meaningful, thank God. Usually, in shounen movies, like "CROWS ZERO", seems like they add a female role just to have some pretty girl among so much testosterone. Thankfully, Misa-chan was important to the story. Without her, there wouldn't be any story, more or less.

Mini-reunions: Stresseman, as the father of Masami-chan XD, and Makino with 2 of the F4 (I bet MatsuJun would have loved to be in this movie, if there were any chance), Kai and Maho (from "Orange Days").

If I find a better quality, I sure will watch this again.

Moritaka Mashiro (Takeru Satoh) doesn't want to follow in the path of his uncle who worked as a manga artist, but ultimately died because of exhaustion. Moritaka Mashiro figures he will graduate from school and work at an office. Things change though when falls in love with a girl at school. The girl, who hopes to become a voice actress, tells Moritaka they can marry, but only after they both achieve their dreams. Moritaka then teams up with fellow classmate Akito Takagi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) to publish their first manga. (asianwiki)


I waited so much to see this movie. I think I have never waited so much for a movie before. When the cast was announced I was excited. I thought, and still did while watching it, that Takeru should have been Shuujin, and Ryunosuke should have been Saiko, but nevertheless, it was a good movie. The pace was well done, the special effects were very good as well. There isn't a single slow moment in the movie. All actors were spotted on. And the setting! The department looked exactly the same, the clothes were exactly the same. To see the real Shounen Jump building and offices (at least, I think they were the real locations) was as exciting as it was impressive. All those papers.. thousands and thousands of it. All those mangas!

Speaking about mangas, I was so satisfied to see that the manga used in the movie were done by the same mangaka that did BAKUMAN. His style is unique; any fan of his can recognize his work. And to see works like Otter in real life! Otter is a manga written by Hiramaru in Bakuman, and I always wanted to read it, even if it doesn't exist really.

So, the cast. There was a good chemistry between the lead actors, which didn't surprise me since I know they have worked together before. I liked that they could shake hands -or whatever you called that- only when they get serialized. It was a good point. I like that the "love story" with Miho wasn't as pathetic as in the manga/anime. In fact, they talk several times, over the phone and face to face, and it wasn't awkward, just 2 teenagers getting to know each other. She even sends him a photo of her! Something that lame Miho in anime/manga wouldn't have done. I think the scriptwriter or the director disagreed with the portrayal of the main female character in the manga/anime (it was sexist, let's be honest), so they made her less pathetic and less "I wanna be a seijuu to marry you".

Kiritani Kenta as Fukada-san was SPOT ON! He was excellent, he does this kind of character so well! The one who is rebellious and kind of a gangster but with a big heart. By far my favorite. I love his outfits, his expressions, and I am glad his role wasn't tiny. But well, all members of Fukada-team were good: Hinamaru had his moments of depression that did not fail to make me laugh, Nakai-san was there with his big belly helping his friends... True, no Aiko in the story, but it was understandable. Not all characters could be in a 2-hour-movie.

Yamada Takayuki was, I guess, a mix between the 2 editors the boys have, because he certainly wasn't confident Hattori-san. He even wears glasses and has long hair (again, not Hattori-san), and he is smaller than the boys, unlike Hattori-san. If I didn't have to compare, I'll say he was good, but nothing outstanding.

So, what was my main concern: Nizuma Eiji, who is one of my favorite characters, besides having an unique personality. Was Sometani Shouta exactly like Eiji is supposed to be? No. He wasn't as loud, as crazy, and with such weird and funny expressions and movements as Eiji. Was I disappointed? Well, not exactly. To be honest, Eiji is not a character that can be portrayed faithfully in real life, so what Sometani did was good. He did his role well, he did his research: he walked funnily, slouching, just like Eiji. He has a goody smile, like Eiji. When he has a -metaphoric- battle against Ashirogi-sensei (which was never used in the movie, btw... they go by their names, no pen-names there), he has the wings and when he is jumping, he does an Eiji-pose. Just with that I am grateful.

In the manga/anime, the guys form some kind of alliance when they encounter problems with their editorial. It begins when Saiko is in the hospital and the director forbids him to keep drawing while he is sick. All the other mangaka (Nakai-san, Aiko, Fukada-san, Eiji) support Ashirogi-sensei. Unfortunately, due lack of time, that alliance could not be done as in the manga/anime. Instead, the guys help Saiko to finish his work. I liked that, that we could see it, how the guys, although rivals, are all friends. And although Eiji did not help him in drawing (it would have been very OoC) he helps in another way. Very well done, scriptwriter!

I liked the end, that things remain not-finished: Saiko and his relationship with Miho; their career as mangaka... I liked that they have this brainstorming of ideas with a blackboard, because for us fans, it was meaningful. We know what other mangas there will be, so this was like a "to be continued..."

For fans of the manga/anime, and for people interested in how the mangaka work, this movie is highly recommended. I am very happy to say that I wasn't disappointed and that I highly liked it.

Nodame (Juri Ueno) is still pining for the affections of Chiaki (Hiroshi Tamaki), but Chiaki wants them to concentrate on their musical careers and moves out. Chiaki then gets the opportunity to perform with Song Rui (Yu Yamada) and the Wiltord Orchestra of Vienna. Meanwhile, Nodame remains at the conservatory in Paris, but Professor AuClair refuses to let her compete in musical competitions that could kickstart her career. When Nodame goes to a concert with her friends, she hears Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major and decides that is the song that she will one day perform with Chiaki. Unknown to Nodame, Chiaki is about to perform the song in front of her with Rui ...


So many feelings... In spite of having watched it before, watching the last movie was bittersweet. On one hand, it was like seeing my old friends after several years. My dear Nodame, my beautiful (and super thin) Chiaki-sempai, my lovelies Masumi-chan and Mine... and saying goodbye again... :(

The only part I disliked in the whole movie is the beginning, because it shows scenes that happened between Movie I and this one, Movie II. Meaning, it was all condensed and it is like there is a whole Movie inbetween that I missed. But no, there isn't, it was just all cut down, which to me is a huge waste.

There is less Stresseman and more dramatic scenes between Nodame and Chiaki. It is all because Nodame found the piece she wanted to play wit Chiaki... and turns out, it is the same piece that Chiaki will play with Rui. The possibilities! Gosh, this mangaka seriously makes them suffer.

Not all the movie was angsty, though. There are some light moments, like when Nodame is celebrating that Auclair calls her "Nodame" instead of "Bebe-chan" (so cute!). Or when Chiaki catches Nodame, Mine and Masumi-chan mocking him (so funny!). And of course, all the photographs of Mine and Masumi-chan and Nodame in Paris was a plus.

I love the OST of this movie... I've been searching the list to have them on my Ipod... Very beautiful.

Kuroki-kun is so cute! Why in the world didn't Becky date this guy instead of that ugly and married one??

I wish Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi date in real life... such a beautiful couple... <3