I’m not sure how I missed this dorama when it first aired, but I’m happy to have found it and watched the whole series in a couple days. (A couple long nights, actually) I’m a fan of Miho Kanno and thought she did a great job as Kiina, a detective who handles the odd cases that the regular detectives find either too goofy to take. Each episode is about a single case, usually involving some kind of supernatural angle, but ultimately is solved by some kind of scientific explanation. It’s pretty easy to figure out who the culprit is but the interesting part is how they explain how the crime was done. What makes Kiina (the character) special is that she has a photographic memory, and picks up on obscure clues throughout the investigation. She’s also very idealistic, and her partner serves as a counterbalance to her personality. It’s a pretty good dorama, and I recommend watching it. My only complaint was that the subplot involving the chief wasn’t very interesting, or the resolution of that subplot wasn’t as fulfilling as it could have been. But still, each episode is pretty fun to watch. Also, each episode features a different guest star who will be familiar to regular dorama viewers.

Listening to Capsule a lot these days! Love them.

My second favorite My Little Lover song, from 2001.

We were driving somewhere the other day listening to Crystal Kay when this song came on and I remembered it from one of my favorite CMs when I lived in Japan. In fact, I blogged about it a while back. The song was actually written by Yoko Kanno who is well-known for her soundtrack work in anime and television. It’s such a great song!

Read a great post over at Amiyudas and figured I’d post my favorite Puffy (AmiYumi) song. Be warned, it’s an oldie!

This weekend we watched the movie Departures, the 2009 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s about a man who loses his job as a cellist when the orchestra disbands, and his new job as an “encoffiner” which mean he prepares dead bodies for the coffin. At first I thought that this is going to be a really upsetting movie, but it is actually really touching and has a lot of humor as well. Throughout the movie, you experience the emotions that Daigo (the main character played by Masahiro Motoki) has, starting with shock and surprise. Soon, you start to see the importance of his job to the families of the deceased. You also understand the feelings of his wife Mika (Hirosue Ryoko) and her objections to his new line of work, and then you relate to the predicament that Daigo is in. The story is excellent and the acting is great. My favorite character is the owner of the encoffining business. You would probably recognize him as the cowboy from Tampopo. He’s so cool, yet you can tell how caring he is. All-in-all, Departures is a great movie. Just make sure to have some tissues handy since it can be a real tear-jerker!

We finally went to the theater to see the new Studio Ghibli film, “Ponyo” and it was wonderful! It’s so fun to see a new release from Hayao Miyazaki because you are sure to see quality artwork and a great story, set to a terrific musical score. Ponyo has all of these elements, but the artwork was what truly stood out for me. You could see so much detail in even the most basic areas of the scene. For instance, the colored-pencil shading was made up of so many different colors as opposed to many other animated films or cartoons, you’d just see a flat grey. Near the beginning of the movie, Sosuke is running down the hill from his house to the water, and the grass alongside the path was amazing. I really can’t wait to get this movie on disc so I can pause different scenes just to check out the quality of the artwork.

The English voice-acting was pretty good, and it was cool that they used all the Japanese names for the characters. And it was pretty neat to see a Ghibli movie set in Japan again. I like the movies that are set in other places, but the Japanese ones seem the best to me. Totoro and Spirited Away are examples. I guess it’s because I think Japan is such a neat place, and it just seems natural for a Miyazaki movie. To me, it’s a little strange to hear Kiki or Porco Rosso speaking in Japanese while the setting is in a Western country. (Yes, I prefer to have Japanese audio/English subtitles) Ponyo has a lot of really Japanese elements to it, like the mother’s micro-car, the Kindergarten, and even the mother cracking open a big beer! (looked like a Sapporo to me).

Another thing I love about Ghibli movies is that you find yourself expected to take these fantastic and unexpected things as being normal. For instance, this strange fish with a human face and hair is seen as just a goldfish to everyone. And the towering waves that were chasing a car were so crazy, but the mother just remarked casually something like “what’s with the waves today?”. That kind of thing really opens up your mind and you think that anything is possible in that world.

I’m not sure how much longer Ponyo will be in theaters here in the U.S., but if you haven’t seen it yet, you should!

One of my favorite bands has a new single and video. I like it.

At Kuroshio Sea in Okinawa. It looks so cool!