From what I gather, イケメン is derived from the root words いけてる(iketeru), which roughly translates to “hawt”, or “cool” (yeah, what a strange irony), an alternative for the more familiar term kakkoi, and めん(面), meaning “face” or looks. Whether this ‘men’ comes from the literal English word “men” would also be a point of contention, but in the end it still retains the essence of this lingo. Now put these two together and you get, イケメン, which refers to “hawt guys”.

Let’s cut the lingo crap and get to the point of this post. A few days ago I ordered two magazines from HMV. They’re ROOKIES and イケメン-filled magazines +___+ They were delivered to my office so my officemates and I shared the joy of drooling staring at the Japanese hotties in the said magz. I had some free time today so I scanned pics from the Koi-Men ‘08 Spring magazine, filled with photo gravures of the bishies of Spring! I loved the other magazine I got as well, +act mini vol.01, a must-have for ROOKIES fans. It’s like a ROOKIES fanbook of some sort, filled with pictures and interview of the main cast. The photos in this magazine weren’t as good as the first magazine I got, so I didn’t bother scanning them anymore.

Scans overload down below, for the fangurls (and fanboys?) out there who want to share my joy! If RL bishies scare you away, or you’re someone who couldn’t care any less about these guys, feel free to skip my random raves and go straight to my ROOKIES pimping.

Yusuke Yamamoto

Taiki~~ <3 The first time I saw Yusuke Yamamoto casted as Taiki for the HanaKimi jdrama, I was turned off by his pouty lips lol. That's all thanks to the not-so-good Hanakimi picture I saw back then, because after the JDrama aired, I've come to love this guy. Oh and he's also in Gokusen 3, btw.

Hiro Mizushima

Minami Nanba of the Hanakimi JDrama, and Soshi of Zettai Kareshi. A certified IKEMEN~ And I’m glad he’s finally becoming less skinny than he was in Hanakimi

Haruma Miura

I didn’t know who this guy was until I got this magazine. He’s part of the Gokusen 3 cast, as well as the Koizora and Akihabara@DEEP movie.

Yuu Shirota

OMGZ Yuu Shirota makes me faint. He’s the hawtest guy in HanaKimi and ROOKIES, and one of the shallow reasons why I decided to watch these two JDramas. Too bad he didn’t have much of a screentime and HanaKimi, and ugh… they made him gay too. I’m just glad ROOKIES made up for that, made him more GAR than ever.

Yuichi Nakamura

It’s a TRAP!! This trap coincidentally has the same name as one of my favorite seiyuus, and their biggest difference is well, the trappyness factor ^^;

ROOKIES

I’m biased for these guys, so their pics are the only ones I scanned lol

…last but not the least, the guys of the awesome JDrama ROOKIES. If you’re not watching this JDrama, go do so, NOW! I have long been thinking about evangelizing about this show like Os and Blissmo, but that didn’t quite happen. So now I’m taking this chance to preach about the PURE AWESOMENESS of ROOKIES. As Os aptly describes, this is a a GTO x baseball kind of jdrama, except that it has a lot more SOUL than GTO. Never have I seen a drama with this much SOUL. It’s baseball with so much GAR and HEART. The best sports drama I’ve seen so far.

Kawato, the teacher / coach in this JDrama, reminds me so much of Kamina from TTGL, from the way he gives his inspiring GAR talk about not giving up on dreams, and how he puts so much faith in his students despite how notorious bad guys they are. In just about every episode, he gives out a Kamina-esque speech ala “Believe in me who believes in you!”, and he certainly lives by his word. Prepare to be moved with each episode of ROOKIES, down to the deepest depths of your being. Every episode of this never fails to give me goosebumps of excitement and move me to tears. GAR manly friendships and bonds between men FTW!!

It’s amazing how they brought this manga to life. Simply amazing! I’m out of words, so I’ll just say it one more time. GO WATCH ROOKIES!!Similar Posts:

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I don’t expect anyone else to be excited about this except old-school animu fans, but anyways.

I saw this news in akiba-station of the upcoming JDrama adaptation of the classic shoujo manga/anime Here is Greenwood, which, according to my antique precious little diary, was something I watched way back year 2000! High school years, VHS times and all that age of antiquity. Amazingly enough, despite having watched this 6-episode OAV only once, the impact it had on my still immature-animu-fan self back then is evident in how I could remember much of its details — the hijinx inside the Greenwood dormitory, the TRAP of the show, and the sweet romance between a tsundere girl and a tsundere guy which brought me to tears despite not understanding how the girl got to realize who she loves orz. It had this poignancy which made it really memorable, and throughout these years I had this lingering thought of rewatching the show. The news of this upcoming live action series reawakened those thoughts, made it all vivid again, and perhaps this time around, I’ll finally be able to get my lazy butt to watch it, so I can finally understand it once and for all, demmit!

Since I haven’t had a dose of JDrama as of late (despite having Zettai Kareshi in my pile of backlogs), I might just follow this series given my [un]forgettable love for the anime, and enjoy the comedic and romantic antics of the show in a modern light (as opposed to the old-school atmosphere of the anime, that is). It’s one of those fun lighthearted romantic comedy / drama series, which I find perfect as a live action adaptation, so I’m really hoping this will turn out good! I just hope they won’t make fun of this show the way they did with the Hanakimi JDrama — entertaining and fun, yet lacking in development and overall substance x__x;;

Here’s to hoping that a JDrama adaption of the wonderful classic shoujo manga Cipher is in the works!! ;___;Similar Posts:

• Here is Greenwood: Love Truly is Better the Second Time Around
• My Moe-mpathy for Taiga (and Lack of Sympathy for the Novel/Manga Elitists)
• S.A.^2 (Special A, Soon to be an Anime)
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There’s nothing special with mangas being turned into jdramas, as it’s been done so in the past, though the number of these adaptations are considerably less compared to manga turned animes.

Other notable adaptations in 2006 include Kurosagi, Iryu, Teppan Shoujo Akane, and Sapuri. Upon further checking, I discovered that there are a total of 13 manga-based jdramas in that same year, though most of the titles it was based on is something I have yet to come across with.

Things changed in 2007, particularly during Spring and onwards, where the influx of manga-based jdramas became evident. There’s a total of 30 of these adaptations in this year alone, more than twice as much as last year’s. The year started off with only two(2) manga to jdrama adaptations for the Winter 2007, before the influx kicked in: Spring (9), Summer(11), and Fall(8).

I noticed this sudden rise in the number of manga-based dramas this year during Summer, as it was the season where Hanakimi aired. My brief stay in Japan also allowed me the convenience of seeing a glimpse of the dramas airing during this time, such as Yamada Tarou Monogatari, LIFE, Hotaru no Hikari, Boys Este, and Tantei Gakuen Q in its jdrama forms, whose mangas I’m fairly acquainted with. I was surprised to see Hotaru no Hikari and Boys Este among the jdramas, as they are not one of the mainstream ones, yet whose mangas are something I was able to read a few months back.

Another thing I noticed is that, shoujo mangas have more chances of being turned into jdramas (most of the adaptations are actually shoujo mangas, if you haven’t noticed), particularly those involving the lives of OL people, or normal slice-of-life ones, most likely because it’s easier and cheaper as compared to adapting action-packed shounen mangas.

Here’s a detailed list of these adaptations I’m talking about, a comparison of some sorts for the year 2006 and 2007:

In all this, I think this post will all boil down to the message…

See how well the little microbes blend with the 3D world? It just has to be made into a jdrama!

I want to see Moyashimon jdrama-fied! \o/Similar Posts:

• Countdown to Christmas #7: HanaKimi-Kiss
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Among the many manga to jdrama adaptations shown this year, Hanakimi is one of the few ones I set my eyes on right from the start, as an avid fan of the manga myself. It’s always interesting to see various forms of media with crossdressing elements, especially a girl disguising as a guy. And with tons of bishies gathered for this show, what more could fangirls ask for!

Maki Horikita took on the role of Mizuki, who, despite being so obviously female, certainly brought her character to life, earning her the Best Actress Award for 2007 at that.

Despite Maki Horikita’s exemplary acting however, what I found to be the most eye-popping, mind-boggling, attention-catcher scene in the series is this… (I think the post title already gives a hint to that)

Warning: NSFW. Your eyes are gonna burnnn, especially if you’re a guy

Show ▼

Honestly, this was really unexpected. Who would’ve thought that they’d insert this BL scene in this drama?! o__O Looks like the staff went all out in making fangirls scream in delight with this… lol. What was even more amusing was Kagurazaka’s reaction afterwards…

omgz. my first kiss~ lol.

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Hanazakari no Kimitachi, a popular shoujo manga by Nakajo Hisaya was adapted to a live action drama by Fuji TV and aired starting last July 03, 2007. It ran for 12 episodes and stars Horikita Maki, Oguri Shun, and Ikuta Toma. It won Best Drama and two other awards in the 54th Television Drama Academy Awards held last October 24, 2007.

Horikita Maki won Best Actress in her role as gender-bending Ashiya Mizuki, a Japanese living in America who goes to Osaka Gakuen, disguised as a boy, to meet her idol, Sano Izumi played by Oguri Shun. While crowd favorite, Ikuta Toma, bagged the Best Supporting Actor award with his comical and entertaining portrayal of Nakatsu Shuichi, a soccer player who is slightly confused of his sexual preference because of his supposedly homosexual attraction to, supposedly boy, Ashiya Mizuki.

A complete list of winners can be found at Television Drama Academy Awards page at DramaWiki. The drama was also covered here at Scrumptious, check it out here for some episode summaries and a whole lot of screenshots, character introductions, the last episode, and some other juicy tidbits.

Ikuta Toma’s win is well-deserved. I loved his character portrayal the best and every time he was onscreen, he stole the audience’s attention. His role in HanaKimi was pretty light compared to Junpei in his short stint with Hana Yori Dango. However, it proves his range and versatility as an actor. With his upcoming role as Takemoto Yuuta in the live action adaptation of Honey and Clover 「ハチミツとクローバー」, I believe it is the most difficult role he has taken on so far. Hopefully, he can rise above the challenge and deliver a solid and memorable performance.Similar Posts:

• Hana-Kimi Goes Live This July (Again)!
• Hana-Kimi: Food for the Craving Fangirl Soul
• Countdown to Christmas #7: HanaKimi-Kiss
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 01
• This is Madness! This is Honey and Clover! LIVE!

• Hibari has Mizuki’s passport and tells the three dorm heads about a certain situation in Osaka Gakuen.
• Nakatsu intervenes just before Hibari was able to tell the dorm heads that Mizuki is a girl.
• Mizuki realizes she has lost her wallet and Nakatsu tells Sano about the situation.
• Sano asks Hibari if he could have the passport back and to keep quiet about the situation.
• The three dorm heads searches about the school grounds and sees a girl changing clothes.  Nanba tells Oscar and Tennouji to keep it between themselves.
• Not being able to hold off the guilt, Tennouji accidentally tells Kana that he saw a girl in campus.
• Word spreads fast that there is a girl in campus.
• Sekime is able to talk and understand animals?!?
• Everyone tries to use their special devices to find out who the girl is but Sano and Nakatsu intervenes during Mizuki’s turn for them not to know that she’s the girl.
• Sano retrieves Mizuki’s wallet from Hibari.
• The three dorm heads tries to find out who it was they saw by going back to where they saw the girl.  They see Mizuki running out of the place.
• The dorm heads calls Mizuki and asks if she’s a girl.
• Sano and Nakatsu finds out that Mizuki was called by the dorm heads and goes to see Mizuki but was too late as Mizuki already told them that she indeed was a girl.
• Sano and Nakatsu tries to defend Mizuki but Mizuki tells the dorm heads that she is there because of her own will.  Nanba understands and will keep quiet about the situation.
• Everyone goes to prepare for the festival
• Mizuki turns down Nakatsu and tells her that she’s really sorry for she only likes him as a friend.
• Whilst doing the preparations for the festival, Mizuki falls of a ladder and fell unconscious.  The others try to help her by loosening her clothing and sees her oppai-hiding-thing (what do you call that btw?)
• After she recovers, everyone asks if she’s a girl.
• Kayashima tells Nakatsu that everyone has found out about Mizuki.  He goes on to say that he knew about it from the beginning because of her aura.
• The next day when Mizuki enters the classroom everyone seems to be mad at her for what she did.
• Some of the guys pick on her for entering the men’s bathroom but Sekime and the others chases them away.  They then apologizes for what they did.
• Everybody is back to their old happy selves again.
• Mizuki tells Sano that she’s going back to America.
• Festival/Celebration time and WTF moments a plenty. (You’ll have to see this part for yourself XD)
• Fashion show and more WTF moments.  (You’ll have to see this one as well XD)
• Mizuki prepares to pack up her things.  As she’s about to leave the campus, everyone sees her off including Kagurazaka, the Principal, Akiha and etc.
• Everyone says their goodbyes. Tears, memories, tears, flashbacks and more tears.
• Sano and Umeda accompanies her to the airport.
• More memories.
• At the airport, Umeda and Sano sees her off but before she leaves Sano kisses her.
• Back in America, Ashiya sees an arrow on their lawn w/ a newspaper clipping with the pictures of everyone in it.
• The End.

P.S.  Thoughts and more screenshots coming up later. Similar Posts:

• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 02
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 01
• Hana-Kimi Goes Live This July (Again)!
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• First Impressions: Mokke

A proper summary will be added soon. For now, please enjoy the screen shots. I’ve also added a short of list of major events in the episode.
- Dr. Umeda finds out that Mizuki is a girl
- Nakatsu starts to feel an unexplainable attraction to Mizuki, whom he thinks is a guy
- Sano adds Mizuki into his long list of victims he has kissed when he becomes drunk
- Sano’s rival, played by Yuu Shirota, makes an appearance
- Mizuki comes clean of her intentions in enrolling at Osaka Gakuen
- Flashback when Sano and Mizuki first met
- Sano saved Mizuki from a group of thugs attempting to kidnap her and injures his foot in the process
- Dr. Umeda comes out of the “closet”
- Mizuki joins the Mr. Osaka Gakuen contest
- Yuujirou wins and gets a nice and sexy flat-screen TV while Mizuki wins as Queen of the night.
- Sano gives Nakatsu a big smack
- Mizuki receives an email from her brother that he is coming to Japan to visit her

Episode 03 Preview

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Mizuki Ashiya’s (Horikita Maki) first day at school starts with going through a crowd of crazed fangirls waiting to get a glimpse of the students of Osaka Gakuen, an all-boys school where the main admission requirement is good looks. Running late, she quickly shoves her shoes into the nearest shoe rack. Soon after entering the class, she quickly becomes the object of her classmates’ teasing and jeering. It does not get better when she finds out that Sano Izumi (Oguri Shun), the very reason why she is there, gets annoyed because she placed her shoes inside his shoe rack.

An upcoming marathon event stirs the interest of the dorm leaders. Word quickly gets around that Mizuki is a fast sprinter, thus the dorm leaders try to coax her into joining them. In the end, Mizuki chooses to stay at the second dorm, where Sano is also residing. Coincidently, Mizuki becomes Sano’s roommate. While trying to move her belongings, she spills the contents of a box filled with newspaper clippings of Sano’s high jumping career. Sano sees it, gets irked even more, and storms out of the room.

The second dormers hold a meeting to choose the contestants for the marathon. The winning dorm will get to go out for the weekends the whole year round. Nakatsu (Ikuta Toma) invites Sano to join, mentioning that he is now able to because his leg has healed completely from the injury. Sano refuses and tempers flare, prompting Mizuki to volunteer instead of Sano. Over at the first dorm, Tennouji (Ishigaki Yuma), threatens to double the workload of his karate members if they lose the marathon. Meanwhile, the third dorm leader, Oscar (Kyou Nobuo), schemes a plan to switch runners in the middle of the race, since they are inclined to the performing arts and will not be physically capable to win the match.

The opening of the marathon is quite the event, complete with a marching band, decorations, balloons, and screaming fangirls. Before the race begins, Mizuki’s foot gets injured with spikes. When she realizes what happened, the culprit was long gone. Despite the bleeding in her foot, Mizuki pushes through with the race, as she told Sano that he must try high jumping again if she wins.

The third dorm gets disqualified after getting caught for cheating. Others got pulled out for various reasons. In the final stretch, Mizuki leads with Nakatsu and Tennouji following closely. The last lap of the race, the pain in her foot causes Mizuki to fall. Sano quickly rushes in and carries her to the clinic. When Mizuki finally comes about after her rest, Dr. Umeda surprises her and asks: “What is a girl doing in an all-boys school?”

Thoughts

While the Taiwanese version chose to religiously follow the course of events as depicted in the manga, the Japanese version chose to mix it up, reshuffled some chapters, added some twists to the characters, included a touch of melodrama, and lightened it up with a good dose of humor. They event threw in some shameless fanservice for good measure.

The deviations made it fun to watch. Fans of the manga will not always be able to predict what happens and will keep you guessing resulting in a much more enjoyable experience. Also, despite the various changes, they still managed to retain the essential parts of the story and the characters.

It was like watching an episode of Ouran High School Host Club with Mizuki’s gender bending. This type of storyline always seems to tickle my fancy. Perhaps, it is because of all the potentially awkward moments generated with this type of gender-confusion.

I enjoyed it much. If you are looking for something wacky fun, light drama, and some brainless entertainment, Hana-Kimi may just hit the spot for you.

Want more Hana-Kimi?

Read our character introduction or our announcement post.

Ending Sequence Shots

Episode 02 Preview

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The Perfect Trap

Oguri Shun as Sano Izumi A strong and athletic guy (thank goodness for athletic men) who is well-known for his abilities in high jumping. He was at the height of his career until one sudden accident changed all this, and it’s up to Mizuki to make a miracle and bring him back. It’s also worthy to note that he loves dogs and becomes a kissing freak when he turns drunk

The hairstyle irks me… x__x

Ikuta Touma looks so cute! Nakatsu > Sano (in this case)

Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu Shuichi The fun and quirky soccer-loving character who provides much of the comic-relief in the series. He becomes infatuated with Mizuki and is in constant battle with his feelings of BL (or so he thinks).

Kamikawa Takaya as Umeda Hokuto The school doctor who finds out Mizuki’s secret right away (thanks to his BL-ESP), and acts like an older brother to her as he becomes his constant source of advice (especially with regards to the secret she keeps). He’s known for being a ‘playboy’ and delights in the fact that he’s surrounded by BOYS in the school he’s in.

Umeda?! Blasphemy!!! D: (give me back the real Umeda!!)

Yet another perfect trap >D

Kimura Ryou as Senri Nakao A TRAP feminine-like guy holding strong feelings for Minami, who at first keeps it secret but eventually stands up for his love and constantly throws attacks (physically, or glaringly) at girls flirting with him.

Okada Masaki as Sekime Kyogo The megane-kun captain of the track team who’s often seen together with Shinji Noe (his roommate).

aww… I was hoping for bishie Masaki Okada to play a bigger role D:

First glance: HAWT & bishie; Closer look: skinny =__=

Mizushima Hiro as Nanba Minami The sexy and flirtatious leader of Dorm#2, who’s also the nephew of Umeda. He is known to be a “ladies man” (aka playboy), but doesn’t get involved in a serious relationship due to a melancholic past relationship. No, he didn’t become gay like his uncle after that incident, he’s a genuine feminine-loving heterosexual.

Yamamoto Yusuke as Kayashima Taiki Nakatsu’s roommate and also his good friend. A serious and emotionally-void-looking guy who can see poltergeists and detect people’s auras, and used to be teased due to his ESP-like abilities.

What’s with the thick and pouty lips?! x__X

Yuu - OOZING with SEXINESS (talk about being biased :p)

Shirota Yuu as Kagurazaka Makoto A competitive person by nature and Sano’s great rival in high jumping. He may be a recurring character, but we don’t think the title will live up to its name if not graced with the presence of Yuu Shirota (so sue us) :p

• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 02
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 01
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 12 (Finale)
• Hana-Kimi Goes Live This July (Again)!
• HanaKimi Drama in Full Bloom at 54th TV Drama Academy Awards

Fuji TV has announced the Japanese live-action adaptation of the famous shoujo manga Hanazakari no Kimitachi e 「花ざかりの君たちへ」 from mangaka Hisaya Nakajo. The Hana-Kimi J-drama is set to start hitting the airwaves on July 3, 2007 (Tuesday) at 9PM. Horikita Maki (Nobuta wa Produce, Kurosagi), Oguri Shun (Hana Yori Dango, Detective Conan, Densha Otaku, Gokusen) and Ikuta Toma (Hana Yori Dango 2, Akihabara@deep, Asuka e, Soshite Mada Minu Ko e) will play the leading roles.

Horikita Maki as Mizuki Ashiya

Plot Summary

The story revolves around Mizuki Ashiya, a teenage Japanese girl living in America, who sees Izumi Sano on a televised high jump competition one day. She becomes a fan and eventually decides to transfer to Japan to see Sano. Armed with her extreme fandom, she manages to enroll herself in Osaka Gakuen, Sano’s school. The only problem? Osaka Gakuen is an all-boys school, so she needs to hide the fact that she is girl. With a cross-dressing lead in-love with a snobbish athlete, add a soccer player who thinks he is gay because of his attraction to supposedly-boy-Mizuki, and you have a formula bound to get comedic results!

Oguri Shun as Izumi Sano
Ikuta Toma as Shuichi Nakatsu

Thoughts

usagijen: OMGz!!! Finally! A Hana-Kimi J-Drama!!! Oh how much I’ve been waiting for this to happen!! To think that my wish (and MANY other people’s as well) has finally been granted!!! I think I can die now… Err… never mind I said that…

Anyways, as I was saying… (ahem) * goes back to raving mode * This makes me a really happy HanaKimi fangirl!! And now I’ll finally be able to see Mizuki and Sano come to life (without having to bear the agony of watching Hana-Kimi butchered in the so called Taiwanese drama with the horrendous Mizuki!! * cries * -> expressing sadness over the previous drama, and happiness over the new drama)!!!

Wai~ I still can’t believe it…!! I can’t contain my happiness!! And I see many exclamation points as well! I think I’m hallucinating…! but still… OMGz!!!

* Seleria takes out her tranquilizer gun and cocks it *

Seleria: Shhh… Be vewi vewi quiet… I’m hunting wabbits…

* Seleria sees a rabid usagijen, aims, and fires! *

Seleria: Sorry about that folks, we forgot to put a lock on usagijen’s cage. She’s not supposed to be out at this time of the hour. Now, that’s been taking cared of, let’s move on…

This is just great news! I am an avid fan of J-drama and with a story like Hana-Kimi it has the potential to be a fun show. Just the thought of it makes me smile very happily that it scares me. Hana-Kimi is just my cup of tea, a romantic-comedy in a school setting (* ahem * an ALL-BOYS school). This show is screaming shoujo, which happens to be one of my favorite genres.

I saw an episode of the Taiwanese version. The male leads were played by Wu Zun and Jiro Wang (Fahrenheit), while the female lead was Ella Chen (S.H.E). I really did not think that Ella was fit for the role. The first episode was quite a pain to sit through. The acting was just exaggerated and uninspired. I did not find Ella funny at all and I was just irked looking at her. Admittedly, the guys were hot, but they too could not deliver the same feel and charm of their manga counterparts.

I am really glad that a Japanese adaptation is coming out. Please… please… do justice to the manga.

My special thanks to Emi for the Hana-Kimi images.

usagijen: * convulses * I still can’t believe it!! OmGzzzzzzz… * faints *Similar Posts:

• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 01
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 02
• HanaKimi Drama in Full Bloom at 54th TV Drama Academy Awards
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• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 12 (Finale)