Blog 208 > Gangsters, Grads & Gravure

What’s up, my Tangy Toyboxers? Ready for another weekly mega-cast of Japanese live-action comedies, pretty lead actresses, and former gravure idols? Ready for another massive 100-plus photo onslaught? If not, better get back to sleep. But if you are, then lean back, turn on the frequency, pump up the volume, and plug in your otaku-lobes, haha. Okay, let the mega-cast attack begin…

Part 1 of 3 > Gokusen, Gangsters & Graduates

Haha, oh wow. If you thought I raved about “Nodame Cantabile” and Juri Ueno last week (Blog 207), think again. Even more than “Nodame”, I truly love the “Gokusen” live-action drama starring the captivating Yukie Nakama! All three seasons! Plus their specials! Wow, it all began in November 2006, when I first watched the anime version. Here’s my anime speed-review back then.

Gokusen (1-13) [50]. Finished 25 November 2006. WHOA! Hilarious high-school-meets-yakuza hijinks! Maximum 4 of 5 stars for a half-season!

Here are a couple of large wallpapers to give you a tiny taste of the anime style.

 

Now, since the “Gokusen” anime download was already packaged together with Season 1 of the “Gokusen” live-action drama, I couldn’t help but watch the comedic drama immediately, lol. And with the first episode, I was hooked! Yup, Yukie Nakama‘s performance as the double-edged Yankumi is captivating and mesmerizing. But not only her, the rest of the cast of gangsters, teachers and delinquents are laughingly colorful and unforgettable as well, lol. So much so that I’ve followed their five-star antics from Season 1 (2002) to Season 2 (2005) to Season 3 (2008).

Here are a couple of Season-1 wallpapers.

 

And here are several Season-3 images of Yankumi’s family, colleagues and students.

 

 

So earlier this year, when I learned of the existence of a “Gokusen 3 – Graduation Special” (2009), I just had to look for the download! Although I found an unsubbed version a few months ago, I finally located an English-subbed version a couple weeks ago. And finally watched the 90-minute special yesterday on 27 June 2009! It’s simply incredible how after its 3 seasons and 7 years, the series can still take me from out-loud laughter to sniffling eye-blurring tears. Incredible. Yup, no doubt, another 5 of 5 stars!

To celebrate, here are 81 screencaps from the 90-minute special. How many times can you spot the infamous Aki Hoshino? Here’s the first screencap.

Here’s the second screencap. Let the fake captions begin!

“Mmmm, what hentai should I buy today?”

“Mmmm, what hentai store should I try first?”

“Hmmm, traditional hentai?”

“Let’s ask Aki Hoshino. Aki-chan, what’s your favorite hentai?”

“Ohhh, nice ecchi sketch!”

“What!!! Ecchi sketch of Yukie-chan?”

“Hahaha, nice ecchi sketch of Aki-chan!”

“Umm, okay, we’re ecchi dorks.”

“Don’t give up hope! Think of hentai!”

“Umm, okay, we’re dead ecchi dorks.”

“Fear not! I am the Ecchi Rider!”

“Oops, wait, Ecchi Rider? No-no-no, I’m not the Ecchi Rider!”

“Ecchi! Ecchi! Ecchi!”

“Heyyy, stop crowding my hentai!”

“Awww, I look good in this hentai!”

“Fight-oh! Ohhh! More ecchi!”

“Yo, that’s my bread. Like my Pops used to say, ‘No bread, no hentai’.”

“No bread, no hentai? Huh? What the frak is that?”

“Bad news. Someone found Aki-chan’s hentai.”

“Heyyy, let go! No food, no hentai!”

“Ahh, I miss the good old days of ecchi.”

“More bad news. I admit it. I found Aki-chan’s hentai. But I enjoyed it.”

“No, I don’t like gay hentai. Not anymore.”

“But I spent my allowance to get the gay hentai for your birthday!”

“Dammit. Why didn’t we get any gay hentai too?”

“Hmmm, not sure. He might’ve spent his entire hentai allowance.”

“Sigh. Ecchi is so expensive nowadays.”

“Hey bastards! Give our gay hentai back!”

“Sorry. We couldn’t help it. They stole our gay hentai!”

“I am so disappointed in you boys. I’m supposed to take the first peek!”

“Forget it! No hentai, no friendship!”

“What am I supposed to do, Gramps? They took my ecchi sketch.”

“The only thing you can do. Draw yourself a new ecchi sketch.”

“Yo bastard. If we return your bread, will you return our gay hentai?”

“Too late. The gay hentai is ours now.”

“Yours? Since when?”

“Since we’re the ones who actually created that gay hentai.”

“If I spend less on food, I can spend more on ecchi.”

“Ah, boys, here you are. Why so serious?”

“Us? Oh, we don’t have any money to buy gay hentai.”

“Watch out. If you don’t watch out, the Ecchi Rider will beat you down.”

“Hey boys! What’s up? Why so satisfied?”

“They bought what? Hetero ecchi?”

“So they gave back Aki-chan’s hentai? Awww.”

“Impressive! The gay hentai they created is exquisite!”

“I’ve finally decided. I want to become a gay-hentai artist!”

“Are you serious? A gay-hentai artist? What will your sister say?”

“Funny you should ask. She wants to become a lesbian-hentai artist!”

“That’s right! We’re heading there now! We found the hentai thieves!”

“No hentai, no friendship! No hentai, no friendship!”

“Boys! Boys! Where are you?”

“Whoa! Look at them go! Such ecchi friendship!”

“Huh? Want a piece of me? Want a piece of my hentai?”

“No ecchi, no friendship! No ecchi, no friendship!”

“Aki-chan? You want to become a lesbian-hentai artist too?”

“Hmm, now that you put it that way, a gay-hentai artist doesn’t sound so bad!”

“Freeze! Don’t move! Where’s my ecchi sketch?!?”

“I’ll ask one more time. Where’s my precious ecchi sketch?”

“Don’t you realize how precious ecchi is?”

“Please. We’re so sorry. We needed to take back our ecchi!”

“Please believe us. No ecchi, no friendship!”

“Very well. You may enter. After all, I used to be a lesbian-hentai artist myself.”

“Aki-chan, I never told anyone before. But your lesbian hentai is the best!”

“Like Ecchi Rider always says, ‘Ecchi is sooo precious’.”

“Ecchi is as precious as friendship. No ecchi, no friendship.”

“Yeah, I’ve finally decided. I want to become a gay-hentai artist!”

“Yeah! Let’s do it! Let’s all become gay-hentai artists!”

“Hooray! They did it! They’re gonna become gay-hentai artists!”

“Hey boys. What’s up?”

“Oh my god! You didn’t have to!”

“Awww! Thank you sooo much!”

“Your very first gay-hentai production!”

“Fight-oh! Ohhh! No ecchi, no friendship! No hentai, no friendship!”

“Ahhh, another class of ecchi haters.”

“Fight-oh! Ohhh! More ecchi!”

“Hey boys. Do any of you know just how precious ecchi is?”

“Huh? Precious?”

“Like my Pops used to say, ‘No bread, no hentai’.”

“No-no-no, I think he meant to say, ‘No ecchi, no friendship’. Right?”

Hahaha, so how’d you like my fake captions? Didn’t you learn something new about life, friendship, brotherhood, hentai and ecchi? No? Well, then, you didn’t let go of reality and sanity long enough, lol.

 

Part 2 of 3 > Yukie Nakama the Gravure Idol

Haha, speaking of ecchi, more gravure idols? Sure, why not? Repeating my search pattern with Juri Ueno last week (Blog 207), here’s Yukie Nakama from her “Pastel” (1997) photo book. And just like Juri-chan’s 18-year-old photo-book debut, this also appears to be Yukie-chan’s photo-book debut at the tender age of about 17-18-years-old. A full 5 years before her smashing success in “Gokusen”!

Here are 21 photos from the 70-80-page book. Feel free to enlarge the pics, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that’s all for now. Like I wondered last week, “maybe I’ll trickle a few more photoshoots in the near future”. Not only featuring Juri-chan, but Yukie-chan too, lol. Who knows? Maybe even Aki Hoshino? I mean, Aki-chan was in “Gokusen 3” after all!

 

Part 3 of 3 > You People, ProWerks & Possibilities – Part 2

Heyyy, my Tangerine Toyboxers! Remember my previous “You People” post back in May? Back in my Blog 202, Part 5? Well, to those who’ve forgotten, here’s a friendly reminder. And to those who’ve never known, here’s a tiny taste from Friday, 08 May.

Well, more than a month later, on Wednesday, 17 June, when I thought I no longer had any more scenes to play, I returned to play the silent-and-stoic “Asian businessman” once more, hehe. It was a pain to throw the constricting tie-and-jacket back on. But it was a pleasure once more to see Kelly the bespectacled director, Charisma his production guru (and wife), Will the leading man, Jon the boom operator, and Denise the script writer. And once more, it was a blast! Funny how 5 takes to film 5 seconds can feel so draining! Like a compression chamber! Compressing 5 hours of energy and pressure into 0.5 hours of time and focus.

Here’s Charisma, Jon and Kelly. Photos taken by Will.

Here’s me, the goofy Charisma, Jon and the baffled Kelly. I hardly recognize myself!

Awww, the goofy couple, lol.

A-ha! Denise joins the scene as I fill out some paperwork.

A closer view.

That’s it! As far as I know that’s my final scene for “You People” (2010). Who knows? But one thing’s for sure. I can’t wait to see how the final cut turns out! Can you?


Well, that’s all, folks! Another weekly mega-cast of Japanese live-action comedies, pretty lead actresses, and former gravure idols has come and gone! As always, let’s thank the gracious guest-starring gravure girls who graced my broadcast! Thank you, Yukie-chan, Aki-chan, Juri-chan and Charisma! Okay, maybe Charisma wasn’t a gravure girl. At least, I don’t think so, lol. In any case, time to give my elbows, forearms, wrists, hands and fingers some time to rest.

Till next broadcast. Peace. Out.

 

Final Flashback

“Oops, wait, Ecchi Rider? No-no-no, I’m not the Ecchi Rider!”

 

71 thoughts on “Blog 208 > Gangsters, Grads & Gravure

  1. Do you mean a fan-girl- squeal, aprilius20?! :P Bruuu I liked L! But the ending was inevitable so it wasn’t too bad.

    “And the rest is Gaku trying to get Riiko to have sex with Night. ” Lol Kris, I thought Night wanted that as well! XD (Though it -was- his programming..)

    Hmmmm. Hey, that makes me wonder what would happen if there were a live-action version of Chobits…boy would I love to see some of the costumes in that artbook brought to life. XD

    Ever since Keanu Reeves as that Cowboy Bebop guy and that live action DBZ, I’m trying very hard not to think about any more potential non-Asian casts. >.> Not that I’m thinking about Asian casts either..
    .-= jenn´s last blog > Ai Hime vol 1-3 [End] – Groan, forbidden love shoujo again? =-.

  2. I’ve never really watched any Japanese Live Action Drama…but you may have convinced me to try it out. I always worry that it just won’t be as good as the anime/manga and then I just don’t even bother to try! But in this case I haven’t seen Gokusen the anime yet, I’m making a list of all the series I want to watch and this series definitely just made it. I might go through all your posts and pick some of the series you’ve talked about to add too. I’m currently making the list by skimming all my old anime magazines and writing down all the series I’ve casually thought “I should watch that” but then never wrote it down and forgot about it.
    .-= lovelyduckie´s last blog > Wall Scrolls and Candy Haul! =-.

  3. @Jay-san:
    Oooooh, you just be quiet already. I’ve had enough of you. ^_^

    @Jenn:
    I mentioned Night’s pestering first in my post, lol.

    While I don’t particularly want Keanu in my Cowboy Bebop, it isn’t exactly Asian. They’re not necessarily Asian characters, so I don’t think it would matter in this case. It isn’t Avatar or Ai Yori Aoshi or something, where it DOES matter.

    Also – I am an L supporter, through and through. :) Yay L!
    .-= Kris´s last blog > Midori Days =-.

  4. @J85-man: Heyyy, no problem. That’s just my point of view. While it’s hard to ignore the 9/11 shift in American sci-fi, I don’t know about other genres. Meanwhile, Japanese animation has always felt this “loss of national innocence” since World War II and the death and devastation caused by the unimaginable atomic bomb. Hence, over the decades, we’ve all seen their end-of-the-world premises and monster-sized battles from “Godzilla” to “Graveyard of the Fireflies”, from “Evangelion” to “Haruhi”… Hmm, intriguing and thoughtful… Yeah, mixing the emotional “Joker” and the emotionless “L” would be quite weird. But what an intensely twisted character that would be! At least there wouldn’t be any shortage of eye-liner, lol… Which leads to A20-man’s question below…

    @A20-man: Ahhh, great question! So if Heath Ledger played “L”, maybe Johnny Depp as “Light”? Hmm, nice, almost there. An actor with intelligence, intensity, ferocity. But I can’t think of anyone at the moment, lol. Maybe I just haven’t seen enough Hollywood movies lately. Which ain’t a bad thing either!… LOL, well, high-school kids and sex dolls pretty much summarize “Chobits”, doesn’t it? Although, technically, Hideki is starting out in college. Close enough!… Umm, I’ll deal with your squeal with Jenn-chan’s comment below, lol.

    @Jenn-chan: Hahaha, yeah, I think A20-man’s squeal carries a tinge of “fangirl”, doesn’t it? Gah, but that “L Change the World” (which I just finished) wasn’t just inevitable, it was so mediocre. Ugh. It’s gonna be tough finding the energy to do a review, lol… Hey, I just mentioned “Chobits” with A20-man above, but don’t be like Kris-chan and cause any further indirect spoilage from the manga! LOL, I”ve still only watched the first 2 episodes of the live-action “Zettai”. Haha, sorry, Kris-chan!… Actually, you could probably google some pretty amazing “Chobits” cosplay if you want to imagine the art brought to life… As for American live-action casts for anime series, I tend to agree! But I don’t mind the Japanese live-action casts, lol.

    ***Start of Possible Death Note Spoiler!***

    @A20-man: While I don’t necessary favor Jenn-chan’s “L” or your “Light”, it was kinda disappointing in the anime to see “Light” fail miserably at the hands of “M” and “N”. Oh well. At least, the live-action films kept it to a battle between “L” and “Light” alone.

    ***End of Possible Death Note Spoiler!***

    @Duckie-chan: Awww, thanx. But you just pointed out the biggest obstacle. If you can let go of the comparisons between anime-manga versus live-action, it’s easier to enjoy! I’m not saying “letting go is easy”, since I agree it takes some adjustment, but I also think “getting used to it” will also ease the transition. I guess it depends on how attached you are to the anime world, hehe… Heyyy, cool! If you come across any decent titles I might’ve missed, feel free to share! After all, my infinite list isn’t necessarily meant to get shorter, is it? ^_^

    @Kris-chan: Hahaha, awwww, don’t say that. Besides, my mind is odd enough in that it can selectively suspend or forget certain spoilage. As long as it’s not repeated too often, lol… Speaking of supporting “L”, what would you say to A20-man’s question above? I mean, if Heath Ledger played “L”, would Johnny Depp play “Light? Or even Keanu? Hehehe.

  5. @Kris-chan: Well, when he tries to comment on Blog 208, he gets a message that it’s posted, but it’s not appearing. He’s also tried duplicates and non-duplicates. But same thing, not actually appearing.

  6. @xjaymanx- Oh yeah, I remember discussing the hair thing before. If I was in the same situation I’d probably take care of my hair a lot too.

    And I’ll give those titles a try. I want to see if any of them actually make me bawl. xD
    .-= Coco the Bean´s last blog > Anime Expo 2009 =-.

  7. @Coco-chan: Hehe, no hurries, no worries… So are you an easy bawler? I’m not sure if you fight back or laugh away your emotions (like typical guys tend to do, lol). But if we don’t think too much, then smiles will show and tears will flow whenever they want. No more, no less. Just like life? ^_~

  8. If you want to check out all of Gokusen and any other Foriegn dramas I have this link http://www.mysoju.com/gokusen/ I was one that did not want this series to end. I to was not only laughing my ass off but was brought to tears many times. I wish this kind of program could be brought to American tv ,without it being butchered by the censors, you know how the viewing public is. Have seen GTO and it was in a class by itself.
    There are 2 series I’m watching now 1) “Scrap Teacher” and 2)”Sensei wa Erai” both found on my soju. But neither 1 can hold a candle to Gokusen.
    IMHO. Yukie Nakama is quite the looker if I do say so myself
    Ja mata ne
    .-= whipcracker´s last blog > Barnes and Noble Exclusive Offers =-.

  9. @whipcracker: MySoju and other streaming sites are the reason so many fansub groups have dropped softsubs or have stopped subbing altogether, please don’t support them. Get your drama’s from D-Addicts.

  10. @Whip-man: No worries! Except for a special or two, I’ve seen every “Gokusen” episode in all 3 seasons. Nice. But why bring it to the West if we can already watch the stream or download, right? Ahh, A20-man above already suggested “GTO”, so that’s already on my list somewhere! And Yukie-chan is definitely easy on the eyes, lol.

    @Joe-man & @Whip-man: As for MySoju.com and streaming sites, I’ve never really used them. If I’m gonna watch a K-drama or J-drama, I’d rather watch a higher-quality BitTorrent download on the big TV while eating or hitting the treadmill, lol… Hey Joe-man, could you explain that a little more? Even though I don’t watch streams, don’t those sites sometimes include shows subbed by the same groups who subbed the downloaded versions too? So how does a MySoju or BitTorrent delivery preference hurt the subbing groups if both methods are subbed by the same group? Or maybe streaming sites have their own subbing groups? I didn’t think that was the general case, was it?

  11. It’s basically that the streaming sites upload the fansubbers work without permission, take credit for it and in many cases make money out of it. They also believe that it brings unecessary attention to the scene, increasing their chances of being shut down. The reason they are going away from softsubs is so that the streaming sites can’t edit out their disclaimers. Theres a big thread here: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_66651_0.htm

  12. @Joe-man: Ahhh, gotcha. While I don’t buy the “unnecessary attention” argument (since there’s already attention), I can understand the “credit and money” argument. Haha, then again, even the concepts of “fansubbing” and “file sharing” themselves are gray areas for both fans and money-makers. I mean, everyone is “taking advantage” of everyone else, right?… In that case, if fansubbers shift away from softsubs, will “hardsubs” be enough? Or perhaps it’s just part of the gray-upon-gray territory?

  13. Forgive me for being a newbie to all of this. But i did read about people getting cease and decist letter from their internet providers for using too much bandwith to download.So could someone give me some more info want the matter?
    .-= whipcracker´s last blog > RedEnvelope.com Specials =-.

  14. @Whip-man: Well, I’m not too familiar with the current news on that, but you could try Joe-man’s link above. Or research Wikipedia. Or Google-Search for “file sharing”, “bandwidth”, “downloads”, or even “torrents”, and so on. That should be a good start.

    But personally, to stream music or improve blog times, I slow my BitTorrent bandwidth way down to under 100 kbs (up+down) for only a few hours per day. Obviously, I’m in no hurry. So my simple advice would be: “Just tune down your bandwidth, man! Do you really need to watch so much so fast? Do you really have no life?” LOL, well, less so than mine.

  15. “But compared to non-Asians, her difference is barely noticeable, lol. I guess that’s one thing in our favor, ain’t it? ^_~”

    @xjaymanx: that was also noted by one of the early European travelers to the Far East, Marco Polo, in comparing the physical signs of aging in the Chinese/Mongol women as opposed to Italian women.
    .-= The Envoy´s last blog > French Crêpes in Peru =-.

  16. @Envoy-man: Yeah, kinda makes one think. Almost 700 years after Marco Polo’s travels, Asian women are still mesmerizing in their relative “immunity” to visible aging.

  17. @A20-man: Ahh, true, myself included! Especially when my style, expression and behavior fit seamlessly among friends and colleagues, both guys and gals, 10 years my junior, lol. Nice. The gals, I mean. ^_~

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