Long Vacation! And Kimura Takuya!

[dangermousie]

Yes, once I finish Nobuta Wo Produce (most likely today), I am going to restart Long Vacation. winterspel, I know you think I should give up because I've tried for months, but I really hate not finishing once I start, and also, hey, NwP love didn't kick in until ep 8. Most importantly, I have a Kimura Takuya withdrawal. I think now that I know I don't care for the heroine and have made peace with the fact that she is unlikely to grow more lovable (for me), I'll be OK. Also, now that I realize I am unlikely to be as in love with this as everyone seems to be, my expectations are tampered down so I think it will help with enjoyment.

Of course, the problem is I've seen the first two eps so long ago (and watched an ep more recently), it's all a little disjointed in my mind :D

OK, can people rec me Kimura Takuya dramas? I've only seen Pride and some of Long Vacation. I know, I know. In a way, it's the same thing meganbmoore has with the male lead in Damo. I loved him so much in Pride, I am half afraid to watch him in anything else. But I know I want to, so there it is.

I have Good Luck, but I am thinking of more dramatic ones, and hopefully with romance.

Thanks.

Comments

[ginger001]

Pride and Long Vacation are my favorites with Good Luck!, so I recommend you Good Luck! where Takuya plays a pilot-to be, but I'm sure you've read about this one in koalathebear's posts because she absolutely loves this drama.

I've seen some others...

One that is quite sad but I really love too is 'Beautiful Life', where he plays a hairdresser. I also like like 'Concerto', where he plays a young man with a gift for architecture. Both doramas I think you can find at jdramas.

'The Sleeping Forest' and 'Million of Stars Falling from the Sky', are doramas where he plays darker characters but are quite good too.

I really like one called 'Gift', but that one I haven't found it with English subs, I've only seen it with Chinese subs, so I can't tell all the details about what it is about.

A favorite of a lot of people is 'Love Generation', but I haven't seen it yet.

Another good one is 'Hero' where he plays a kind of solicitor after being a problematic young man.

'Engine' is the most recent one if we don't count the new one that has just started airing but it's not one of my favorites though.

Hope it helps!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thank you for these! Beautiful Life sounds awesome!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

actually,I gotover that when I realized he was the male lead in shadowless sword(he looks completely different) which was "Not as amazingly awesome, but more than good enough" and he has been moved to "Must.have. aaaaaaaalllllllllll"

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

What is TSS about?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*rummages for link to picspam cuz it's easier*

Basically, historical korea(duh) where a group of assassins are wiping out the entire royal family, and a swordswoman is sent to bring back the exiled prince, who was once known as the prince of war but he became an exile when he refused to kill anymore. It has underwater OTP kissing.

http://meganbmoore.livejournal.com/tag/shadowless+sword

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

I adore Good Luck! as you know. I've recently recced A Sleeping Forest and Hero to miss_dian, but knowing your taste, you're better off with either Love Generation or Beautiful Life. Be forewarned that in BL, Kimura looks his worst, but the OTP is incredibly touching and is still worth seeing the drama for.

Hero is a very good drama (imo), even if a bit formulaic, mostly because the chemistry between Kimura and Takako is amazingly good so that despite the lack of romance there is UST and that kept me glued to the screen - and this drama earned a crazy 30+% rating when it aired. I'm really hoping for a Hero II, especially since the Hero SP this summer set a sequel series up very nicely.

Personally, I didn't care for Engine, but it's not horrible.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

winterspel I checked out Matsu Takako's bio in wikipedia and the pic of her there is SO different to what she looked like in Long Vacation. I know it's been 10 years since LV, but she just looks like a completely different person in the wikipedia pic. Perhaps it's the smoking that 'caused it >_

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

That pic does look a little strange, but she looks perfectly fine as of the Hero SP (summer 2006).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am probably going to get either Love Generation or BL. They do sound like my thing. Isn't Hero about him being a prosecutor? I dislike law based shows, so I think I'll pass :) Until I get really desperate for a KT fix :D

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched it yet but some say Beautiful Life is good (Kimura as a straight hairdresser, haha!). There is also Hero (Kimura plays a prosecutor IIRC), but it was made the year he got married so not much romance there >_>

I'm watching Good Luck, and unfortunately I really don't like the lead girl. Kimura in uniform, aviator glasses and a long brown leather jacket makes me forget she exists, though XD Oh, and I adore the supporting cast in Good Luck ^^;;

Oh Pride... I had my withdrawals too. I loved him so much as Halu ^^;;

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hero doesn't really sound like my thing. I don't like legal-related shows. Hmmm. Good Luck seems nice but angstsless. But Beautiful Life? Yes please.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention Love Generation. As kaoko_cow told me, it has some romance, but I don't think it is the angsty type that you seem to like :D

Engine, his most recent one, shows off Kimura's talent as a professional F1 (?) racer. It also involves lots of kids, and since you didn't even like Sang Doo that much (which I ADORED mostly 'cause the little kid Bori was UBER cute), I doubt that you'd like it much. One of the lead girl in Engine is the girl in The Last Samurai, though, and I love her 'cause she's so delicate and pretty :) Too bad she doesn't play Kimura's love interest there.

I am really curious about his current new drama that is airing. I wish I live in Japan, LOL ;p

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have to have angsty romance (though Beautiful Days just shot high on my list because of that), so Love Generation it is.

I am not much on kids in dramas, so you are right. Engine is probably not my thing.

[grey-fuzzy.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way as you do about Kimura Takuya... I don't want to mentally spoil the perfection of Pride by watching a drama with him that I don't like. Some of his dramas are supposed to be really good though (obviously, I can't rec you any) but reading above posts, I think I might be convinced to try one.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Glad I am not the only one who feels that way. It's just pride was so amazing!

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

What can I say that hasn't already been said???

If you want Angst, Murder and unintentional incest Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi (One Million Stars) is a must. Kimura is fantastic there. It was the first time I realized that this guy really can act (and is not just a pretty idol). And it has Sanma in it and they both - despite their antics as SanTaku - pull off the seriousness of their roles very well. Unfortunately, because of the strong incestual themes it is a very underrated drama, it is a shame really as Kimura is good.

I reviewed Good Luck, Sleeping Forest, Beautiful Life and Concerto in my LJ. And apart from Concerto, I loved these series very much.

Then there are the historical mini series like Oda Nobunaga (he plays young Nobunaga before he became one of the most famous Daimyos & unifiers of Japan in a very cheeky way) and Chuushingura 1/47 fantastic supporting cast and lots of Angst and sword fights (and Kimura with loooong hair).

After having watched the first ep of Karei-naru Ichizoku raw it might become my favourite drama of Kimura-san. It promises to be very good and I can't wait for it a) to continue and b) to be subbed.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

SKFInH sounds interesting and potential for an incest storyline doesn't put me off things (see Temptation of Wolves).

And Beautiful Life sounds angsty and good.

The historical ones sound the best though. Yum!

[catdecember.livejournal.com]

Pride is my all time favorite, because it was my first takuya drama. :)

I also enjoyed Beautiful Life - there was just one scene that totally pwned me and it sort of made me love the whole series.

one of the other Kimura dramas i also love to death is Love Generation . it is adorable!!!

i've also seen Long Vacation (really long, and very talk-y but i liked the ending. a lot.), Engine - which wasnt much storywise, but i liked seeing Kimura interact with kids! (there wasnt much interaction with Koyuki, the main lead, whom i OTP'd with Jun so bad in Kimi Wa Petto !!!)

i've yet to see Hero and Sleeping Forest (which i have dvds of)- and for that, i fail in life. :(

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! So far Love Generation sems the clear winner ;D