Pegsball’s Blog

Ahh... O-Chan' drama finished the other week. My initial thoughts of it having the possibility of being crappy were thankfully off the mark... I really enjoyed it. It did have some cringeworthy moments though, but on the whole I liked seeing a lighter side of Ohno and the character seemed quite real - apart from the fact that someone that hot would not be without a girlfriend! I hated his ex-girlfriend - yet again a Japanese drama shows a female charcter in a really crappy light. She was easily manipulated into dumping her hot b.friend, chucking him out the band and then rubbing his face in their fame!!! Huh!!?? It's rare to see a female character who feels real - even the sister was just a typical 'mumsy' type character who didn't even get mad when smacked in the face by her brother! Who would not be totally pissed if their little brother whacked them AND ruined dinner at the same time!!

Anyway - enough ranting! I hope it isn't too long before O-Chan is doing something else - wouldn't it be great if he got the Monday - Fuji - 9pm slot!!? Would he be the first Arashi member to do that?? I think so.

I'd love to see him in a more romantic role - completely different to anything we've seen him do!

I was thrilled to hear that Ohno was doing another leading role in a drama already! However, not so thrilled at the network, the hour its on or the premise!! It all sounds a little bit crappy! I really, really hope its not but I can't remember the last TV Asahi drama I loved ~ I really hope it turns out to be a quirky and fun drama.... But the premise of being a Kid's TV presenter sounds like a hideous opportunity to be well cheesy and mainstream - and that's not very Ohno.

Anyway - I hope I am proven completely wrong and look forward to the first episode!

Ah! The last episode of Maou has been and gone. What a fantastic series - one of my fave J-Dramas to date... just loved the Toma and Oh-Chan pairing - I think this series really gave them both the chance to show off their acting chops. I sincerely hope that Ohno doesn't do a 'Nakai' and just very, very occasionally do a drama!! I really wanna see him try out all sorts if different TV roles now that he's shown to the world he can do TV acting as well as stage work. Please Oh-Chan - do another... PLEASE!!!

So it's farewell to Maou and in about a month it's hello to Ryusei no Kizuna. I can't wait! I wish it started next week so I didn't have time to miss Ohno & Maou. After editing the novel with Yanie's great translations, I have become even more excited to watch the drama. The novel is intense and straight away it develops great characters for the siblings - especially Koichi (Nino's role). I really wanna see the direction Nino takes with it - I think he is perfect for the role.

What am I gonna do without a drama to watch for the next month!! Guess I'll have to re-watch one... I was thinking Bara No Nai Hanaya - it's been too long since I had some good Shingo action and he's cute as a button in that! And also I have the new SMAP album to look forward to... it's been too long boys!!!

Oh my God! This was like the best going away present ever!!! I tried to watch as much as possible - which turned out to be a lot!

Highlights for me...

NINO'S LETTER!! Cho Kawaii!!! I really loved how the members were blown away that it was coming from Nino - the person they least expected to put his feelings in a letter. They all really treasured what he said because they said it wasn't often that he expressed his feelings. Riida looked so touched and MatsuJun cried a bit... Ahh!!!

DANCE COLLAB - I loved the dance collab with 'Ill Ability'. I really liked the behind the scenes footage of the rehearsal. All the boys were so cute there!

JUN IN CAMBODIA - Wow, this was a really great documentary. You have to keep reminding yourself that all the kids on the screen have HIV. It's terrible. Jun looked a little overwhelmed - and I don't blame him. His reaction to the birthday card was adorable.

RIIDA'S ART PROJECT - The VTR of him and the 19 year old woman was so cute. He is really natural with people... even though he doesn't speak up much, when he does he is so easy going and friendly. Throughout the whole 24hrs, I kept thinking 'Oh, come on!! Where's Riida!!?' even though I knew he was working on his 24 figures, I wanted to see him more!! But then when he came on screen I was like, 'Riida!! Get back to your figures!! You won't finish!!' The final product was great - Sasaga Riida, ne!

There were plenty of other cute moments - but I'm too tired to write them down! Shame that its over (although I bet the boys couldn't wait to climb into bed together). But tomorrow there's the behind the scenes Shukudai-kun. Can't wait to see how the boys did behind the cameras! Wonder who was the tiredest (*coughs* Riida *coughs*). Which makes me remember... How super genki was MatsuJun and Sho-kun!!? They are hardcore!

Wah!! Finally! A new album is being released!!! It's out September 24th and I can't wait to get a copy!! It was advertised on SxS tonight and it said one of the tracks was by Will I Am from the Black Eyed Peas - how cool is that!??

Also a tour has been announced for September too. I am so gutted!! After living in Japan for nearly 2 years I have not managed to see a concert - now as I am leaving next week they announce a tours for a couple of weeks after I leave!! Ahhh!! So unfair! Then again - I do wonder if I would have even managed to get tickets - all my quests for Arashi tickets were unsuccessful so I have to tell myself that maybe it would have turned out the same for SMAP.

Anyhow - next week's SMAP promises to be great... WILL SMITH!!! Yeah! My favourite SxS guest and he is returning to the Bistro so it should be great... he will have Charlize Theron in tow though! Hope she's a laugh.

And toight's Shukadai Kun!! Much love between Ohno and Sho!! It was so cute! Ohno was wiping Sho's face and patting him on the back after he had choked on his drink!! I really liked the guest too... (her ichiban was Ohno!) she was an ex-yankee - but she was a nice change from the usual female guests. As for MatsuJun total cop out on the spicy stuff!? What a girl (though I wouldn't have faired much better)! Even Aiba was giving the other stuff a go - but he was sweating like crazy! It seemed that only Ogura and Ohno didn't run over to the 'Oasis Zone' for a drink to cool the tastebuds! Yappari O-Chan!!

God! I'm gonna miss Monday nights after I go back home...

Wow!! What a HOT issue of Wink Up this month! Nearly had a heartattack in the supermarket when I saw this!! Sorry as usual that I can only take photos with my camera and not scan them... but you get the picture (literally!)

Plus - Random musings on Maou episode 8... OMG!!!! Can O-Chan seriously get any hotter!? I love his look in this episode where he gets his fire back after he's been straying on the path of humanity and becoming someone more or less normal. How gay was the fireworks scene!!? I was caught between 'O-chan! Kawaii!!' and laughing at the sheer cheesiness of it! At the end of this episode, I really wondered what they are gonna do for the next 3... How will they conclude this all!? Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Just been watching tonight's SxS... They did a hilarious take on the Sex & The City girls... was so funny!! How do they manage to look so much like the people they are dressing up as!? Goro as Charlotte was disturbingly similar! And as for Tsuyoshi's random character they just slotted in!!?? WTF!!?? You would never get away with something like that on English TV!!

Ending song!!? They did Bang! Bang! Vacance!! Yatta! Also at the top of the show they did their latest single - which I am loving - especially the harmonies.

I'm not one to bother much about ratings... but 12.1% for episode 7!!! Well Done O-Chan!!! That's a huge leap from last week and so deserved too!!

This was seriously the best episode of the series. It had so much in it. When Ohno said that this drama would become more human as it went on, he wasn't kidding. Ohno did such a beautiful job in this episode - he has layered his character in such an interesting way. The scene between him and Yuka was wonderful - the tears that he shed were so genuine and really broke your heart. Turns out Yuka's character knew all along that he wasn't her brother - but she went along with the pretence because of the kindness he showed her. As he is leaving the room (looking very distressed) she calls his (fake) name and wishes him 'Happy Birthday' - all choked up he finally replies 'Thank you, sister' (I just about died here!!)

Another great bit was when Toma said he wanted to talk to the sister more - Ohno's reaction was so interesting - for the first time we see an emotional anger, not the calculated kind we only seen so far, but a real flare up that he seems to instantly regret.

As for the end - Naruse ends up crying on Shiori's shoulder - I wish he had at least dropped his breifcase!! He seems inseparable from that thing... even though he appears to do no work whatsoever!!

I seriously hate waiting for the next episode!!!

Wah - I seriously can't get over how good the Truth performances are. Ohno's voice just sounded amazing on tonight's Music Station... made up for the fact he barely spoke!! Wish SMAP had been on too. Sho-kun flew in specially for the performance and bought presents for the boys from Beijing - cute little headbands which they all wore!!

I've just seen the preview for Maou - which is on any minute - and BY GOD it looks so good! Naruse was hugging Shiori... OMG!! Well I'm off to watch it...