#saki takaoka

[gradexmovies]

[beautifulwomen047]

Saki Takaoka

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

篠山 紀信 + 高岡 早紀

Time Difference (2006)

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

[umikaze-85]

高岡早紀 saki takaoka

[japanesedoramaandanimelover91]

The screenshots from "Warau Matryoshka".

Episode 5.

26.07.2024. Part 2.

[stuff-diary]

In Love and Deep Water

Movies watched in 2023

In Love and Deep Water (2023, Japan)

Director: Yusuke Taki

Writer: Yuji Sakamoto

Mini-review:

I enjoyed this a lot. It's far from Yuji Sakamoto's best work, but even his lesser scripts still have above-average quality. I must admit I didn't really care for the murder-mystery part of the story, although the final twist did surprise me more than I expected. That being said, I definitely liked the romcom parts way more. The writing is as witty as one could expect from Sakamoto, and Ryo Yoshizawa and Aoi Miyazaki know how to play off each other. The banter between their characters is delightful. The rest of the cast is also great, and it's clear the actors had fun making this movie. On top of that, I also loved the social commentary that permeates the plot without overwhelming it. Overall, I had fun with In Love and Deep Water.

[imsailorpluto]

Last weekend I watched Bataashi Kingyo (Swimming Upstream), a Japanese movie from the 90s, adapted from manga of same name.

It's one of those movies I wish I watched 15 years ago, you know, when I was 15.

It's about a teenage boy Kaoru who is all into motorcycles, then one day, as he passes by his school's swimming pool, a girl accidentally pours a bucket of water on him. In frustration, he starts shouting at the girl, but when he realises that's Sonoko, the leading girl of the swim team, his tone changes and all frustration melts away. It's the moment he falls in love with the girl, decides to quit riding his bike with the boys, and joins the swimming team. He doesn't even know how to swim, but he's confident to win Sonoko's heart by becoming an Olympic medalist.

Of course, the movie isn't about his journey towards becoming a professional swimmer, it covers a fairly short period of time during which Kaoru constantly pursues Sonoko. There are some more spoilers ahead - all the way to the blue The End.

His swimming and training skills are only those of a beginner and willpower alone is not enough for an overnight transformation. His sport journey can be compared to that of winning over Sonoko. While chasing the object of his desire, he's tactless, impatient, stubborn, self-centred and doesn't understand a word no. His sense of self is extremely distorted. He's the main character in his own story, just like any other boy, but he's also convinced he's the main character in everyone else's story too. Especially Sonoko's, which couldn't be further from the reality. Meanwhile, the only person who sees him as the main character is the mechanic girl, his friend who is in love with him, Puu.

In this silly little triangle, he doesn't care much about this bike girl, just like Sonoko doesn't care much about him either. And isn't that just a typical teenage love story? Puu is really awesome tho.

While Sonoko is annoyed and repulsed by Kaoru's pushy behaviour, she eats her frustration away in hopes to gain weight and become less pretty to Kaoru. It is the last act of desperation, since everything else she tried didn't work. Not even fake dating with Nagai, the number 1 swimmer of their high school.

Of course, due to overeating and a change of lifestyle, she ends up depressed. And despite all of it, Kaoru still sees her the way she is, and is still just as in love as he was the first time he saw her. Once he finally understands his actions are hurting Sonoko, he gives up. In the meantime, Sonoko got so used to his presence that she starts missing him. She loses the weight and decides to pursue him. Eventually, they both end up having a fight and a conversation followed by Kaoru's love confession. The End.

This one was a lovely break from both life and kdrama for me. It is such a cliché but it depicts how boys behave during their teenage years and, to be honest, it also depicts the majority of grown men as well, those who never grow up to stop the kind of stubborn and annoying act of an immature teenager. It also shows the neverending harmful coping mechanisms girls and boys run to in acts of desperation. The main characters are teenagers but I can't stop thinking how not much changes in the adult age. Overeating, social distancing, procrastination, self-hatred. Such typical behaviour for a woman when she's hurting. And stubbornness, spite, persistence and exploitation, as traits of generally extremely immature and hurting men.

It's a good movie with everything in mind, especially for these sultry summer days, when all you need is some icy drink, deep shade and something to play in the background. And, you know, you can always not overthink it to this extent and make it a bit more enjoyable.

Have any of you watched Swimming Upstream already? I haven't found many posts about this movie at all, which could be just Tumblr search engine doing a lousy job, again. Sure, it isn't as popular nowadays nor is it trending, but I find it kind of nice to get familiar with this kind of "old school media." Acting isn't superb, and neither is the plot, but filming is so calming and beautiful I can't help but recommend this one (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

[gacougnol]

Kishin Shinoyama

From “One, Two, Three” featuring Takaoka Saki

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

篠山 紀信 + 高岡 早紀

Time Difference (2006)

[miki-my-love]

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

映 画 を 見 て

[japanesedoramaandanimelover91]

Today you can watch the eleventh and final episode of the dorama "Laughing Matryoshka" at 22.00 p.m. on japanese time and 15.00 p.m. on european time on "TBS".

Don't miss it!

"All secrets revealed! Michiyue vs. the manipulator!" It turns out that Hiroko (Saki Takaoka) is not Hanussen manipulating Seike (Sakurai Sho).

And the "BG stock incident" involves not only former Foreign Minister Morohashi (Kenichi Yajima), but also Prime Minister Hanyu (Akira Otaka).

As these shocking revelations come to light, Michiue(Asami Mizukawa) receives an unexpected offer from Seike "to be his brain" and she accepts, believing that by being by his side as his brain, she will be able to find out what Hanussen is up to.

Seike asks for Michiue's opinion every chance she gets, absorbing Michiue's ideas as they are and putting them in her own words. Watching Seike like this, Michiue begins to feel a certain sense of satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Yamanaka(Tomoki Maruyama) urges Michiue to uncover the evidence of Hanyu and Morohashi's involvement in the BG stake case and remove them as soon as possible, but Michiue becomes worried, thinking that confronting the administration will lead to her leaving her position as Seike's "brain"....

[mindrat]

Hey Guys! Here are all the members of AKB48!

Team A 入山杏奈 [Anna Iriyama], 加藤玲奈 [Rena Kato], 佐藤美波 [Minami Sato], 篠崎彩奈 [Ayana Shinozaki], 鈴木くるみ [Kurumi Suzuki], 田口愛佳 [Manaka Taguchi], 千葉恵里 [Erii Chiba], 西川怜 [Rei Nishikawa], 古川夏凪 [Nazuna Furukawa], 道枝咲 [Saki Michieda], 宮崎美穂 [Miho Miyazaki], 向井地美音 [Mion Mukaichi], 山根涼羽 [Suzuha Yamane], 横山由依 [Yui Yokoyama]

Team K 市川愛美 [Manami Ichikawa], 岡田梨奈 [Rina Okada], 小林蘭 [Ran Kobayashi], 込山榛香 [Haruka Komiyama], 下口ひなな [Hinana Shimoguchi], 長友彩海 [Ayami Nagatomo], 永野恵 [Megumi Nagano], 武藤小麟 [Orin Muto], 武藤十夢 [Tomu Muto], 茂木忍 [Shinobu Mogi], 安田叶 [Kana Yasuda], 湯本亜美 [Ami Yumoto]

Team B 岩立沙穂 [Saho Iwatate], 大竹ひとみ [Hitomi Otake], 大盛真歩 [Maho Omori], 大家志津香 [Shizuka Oya], 柏木由紀 [Yuki Kashiwagi], 北澤早紀 [Saki Kitazawa], 久保怜音 [Satone Kubo], 齋藤陽菜 [Haruna Saito], 佐々木優佳里 [Yukari Sasaki], 田北香世子 [Kayoko Takita], 谷口めぐ [Megu Taniguchi], 中西智代梨 [Chiyori Nakanishi], 福岡聖菜 [Seina Fukuoka], 山邊歩夢 [Ayu Yamabe]

Team 4 浅井七海 [Nanami Asai], 石綿星南 [Sena Ishiwata], 稲垣香織 [Kaori Inagaki], 大森美優 [Miyuu Omori], 岡田奈々 [Nana Okada], 蔵本美結 [Miyuu Kuramoto], 黒須遥香 [Haruka Kurosu], 佐藤妃星 [Kiara Sato], 多田京加 [Kyoka Tada], 馬嘉伶 [Chia-Ling Ma], 村山彩希 [Yuiri Murayama], 山内瑞葵 [Mizuki Yamauchi], 吉橋柚花 [Yuzuka Yoshihashi]

Team 8 坂口渚沙 [Nagisa Sakaguchi], 横山結衣 [Yui Yokoyama], 御供茉白 [Mashiro Mitomo], 岡部麟 [Rin Okabe], 本田仁美 [Honda Hitomi], 清水麻璃亜 [Maria Shimizu], 髙橋彩音 [Ayane Takahashi], 吉川七瀬 [Nanase Yoshikawa], 小栗有以 [Yui Oguri], 小田えりな [Erina Oda], 左伴彩佳 [Ayaka Hidaritomo], 歌田初夏 [Hatsuka Utada], 服部有菜 [Yuna Hattori], 橋本陽菜 [Haruna Hashimoto], 平野ひかる [Hikaru Hirano], 坂川陽香 [Hiyuka Sakagawa], 髙橋彩香 [Sayaka Takahashi], 永野芹佳 [Serika Nagano], 福留光帆 [Mitsuho Fukutome], 大西桃香 [Momoka Onishi], 濵咲友菜 [Sayuna Hama], 徳永羚海 [Remi Tokunaga], 奥原妃奈子 [Hinako Okuhara], 奥本陽菜 [Hinano Okumoto], 下尾みう [Miu Shitao], 春本ゆき [Yuki Harumoto], 行天優莉奈 [Yurina Gyoten], 高岡薫 [Kaoru Takaoka], 吉田華恋 [Karen Yoshida], 川原美咲 [Misaki Kawahara], 倉野尾成美 [Narumi Kuranoo], 山田杏華 [Kyoka Yamada], 上見天乃 [Sorano Uemi], 藤園麗 [Rei Fujizono]

Wow! That's a lot of members!

[lethekazhorai]

We watched the Spy Classroom stage play

AKA "Spy Room" officially, or "Spy Kyoushitsu" in Japanese.

We were really hyped for this one both because we're big fans of Spy Classroom, and because we knew a whole bunch of the actresses from Assault Lily plays (Asakura Fuyuna/Grete as Moroi Saho, Hoshimori Sana/Monika as Seren and Shenlin, Ishii Haruna/Thea as Nagisa and Kiito, Kitazawa Saki/Annette as Imari, Sakura Ui/Erna as Raimu.)

And it delivered! In fact it probably ties with the Bocchi the Rock stage play as the best play based on an anime (or on something that got an anime, anyway... I'm not gonna count Assault Lily in that though) that we've watched so far.

The play adapted the entire first novel (corresponding to episodes 1-3 of the anime) with some minor abridgements.

The weakest parts of it had little to do with the performers themselves. One big issue was that the stream audio, specifically the actors' mic balance, was bad. We could hear characters that had powerful voices like Klaus and ones that yell a lot like Lily, but some others like Grete and Sara were completely inaudible as often as not.

Another thing I didn't like is that Renjo Makoto used an extremely deep voice for Klaus and it was clearly at the limit of her vocal range, making it sound kind of monotone. I assume the director or someone told her to do this, probably to mimic Klaus's voice in the anime. If I were in charge, I would've leaned into Klaus being androgynous and had the actress use her natural voice.

But that's enough about the bad. Let me talk about the good.

Yokoyama Yui's Lily was excellent, which was surprising when she had relatively little experience in stage acting compared to the other performers (not none, just little.) Takaoka Kaoru's Sara was also charming, and I particularly liked the new scenes where the two of them talked with each other—they gave Lily an "encouraging big sister" vibe she doesn't get to show that often in the novels.

All the Assault Lily veterans were excellent, of course, though if I were to pick one it'd be Kitazawa's Annette and her cute antics even in scenes where she wasn't the focus.

I complained about Renjo Makoto's voice for Klaus, but that aside, her acting was great too.

And I have to give a honorable mention to Takada Jun's Guido, who left quite an impression on me despite only appearing in the final act and not being a cute girl. He should have been tapped for Majima in the LycoReco play instead of that wannabe Joker guy.

Last but not least, the effects and video projection were great, and even the extras were remarkably memorable, particularly the ones that dropped in during Erna's attempts to defeat Klaus on their date out in town.

All in all, it was an excellent and very enjoyable play that was vastly superior to the anime's take on the same novel. The anime got a lot better later on, but the disappointment of that first arc felt like getting stabbed in the back.

You've still got time to catch the final two streams on Confetti (hopefully they fixed the audio, we watched the very first performance that got streamed.) Don't dawdle though, the archives will be available for less than a week from the moment I type this.