kittyflumpin

So Song Jae Rim is playing a HS boy?! Okay. I'll still probably check it out, I just wasn't understanding b/c I thought *he* was the coach (the series synopsis here is very short & generic). Thanks for clearing that up!

You caught my eye at "noona romance" regarding the first series but I went and looked and the male lead is older than the female lead so... what am I missing?

No kidding! I would've kept my distance after that initial conversation over the necklace when they were children. I can't fathom why this friendship has endured 20+ years, except that Mayuko must've been (& continues to be) an extremely lonely individual.

I went into this sort of hoping that these two had met *after* Naomi had grown up, and they hadn't really interacted at all when he was a child. But having watch ep.01 (thanks to thebluepanda's subs) that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm guessing that, like the story Mayuko keeps alluding to, this situation she's carefully orchestrated (seriously, 20 years though? whatever happened to "living well is the best revenge"?) will come back and bite her on the a** and she's going to actually fall in love with him or... something. Ah well, it's fiction (irl I'm positive these 2 would've developed a more maternal-type relationship, esp. since his *actual* mom seems pretty useless) so I'm gonna keep watching, but with a big bowl of "yikes" at hand for when I need them.

For anyone looking for subs, thebluepanda has made softsubs available at their livejournal (http://kataomoinoaji.livejournal.com/). It's a closed community *but* it's super-easy to join and there are some other current J-drama subs that may interest you as well...

Probably nobody here will know what I'm talking about since they're not Korean, but every once in a while I'll see photos that at first glance I *think* are Suda Masaki but end up being Murakami Nijiro. Not every photo certainly, and I never mistake it the other way around, but it's happened enough that I think if they ever need someone to convincingly play Suda's younger brother, he's their guy.

Yeah, I kinda don't want to see him opposite Ishihara Satomi? Because imo if he's gonna do something even vaguely romcom-like, he deserves to act opposite a really good, consistently strong female lead actress. And she ain't it.

I'm sort of amused that here Emoto Tasuku plays a detective who cooks, whereas last season his little brother (Emoto Tokio) had to play host to a cooking yakuza boss in his apartment in Otoko Meshi. They're unrelated dramas (as far as I know) but the crossover potential is fun to consider.

Too many titles of interest to even bother listing! The only ones I definitely *won't* bother checking out are the handful of sequels, and that's only b/c I haven't seen the previous installations yet.

Really it's just a matter of waiting and seeing what the fansubbing gods bestow upon us...

Weird, since I use VLC too... maybe go to the subtitle menu and make sure they're selected? Since it's mkv format, it's possible that the subs got turned off or were unselected or something. I can also see subs when I play it with Media Player Classic.

Pretty sure it's from the Chinese drama "Love Is More Than a Word," not on this list.

P.S. Not sure if this is intentional or not, but the banner pic on the front page for this article looks like it's from the upcoming Chinese drama Love Is More Than a Word-- something I also plan to watch (if possible), but is not included in this list.

Definitely gonna check out Love Like Fate: Saito Takumi + older woman = WIN.

I'm sort of confused how they can be childhood friends if they're that far apart in age (the actress/actor in real life are 13 years apart) because that 10+ age difference is much more significant the younger you are. So will we have a teenage girl humoring a preschooler in the inevitable flashback scenes?

I'm not complain about the premise, mind you-- just curious how they'll explain their meeting.

The first 3 eps are available hardsubbed at Nyaa. Search for the title & they're the only live action videos there-- a bit confusingly, the torrent titles don't indicate the subber's name but they are subbed (when you open the torrent you'll see that they're labeled as "[SOFTSUB] Drama Yowamushi Pedal").

Subs are thanks to greatblaster (http://great-blaster.tumblr.com).

Yeah, me too. Never say never, I may like Ishihara Satomi in this role! I'll try to give it a fair shot.

On the one hand, Suda Masaki! ...But on the other hand, Ishihara Satomi. Ah, to watch or not to watch...

Ah, thanks but I was actually looking for something with English subs-- even softsubs would do, since I got the raws elsewhere. Oh well, I guess I'll hold onto it in hopes someone subs it someday? (yeah, right!)

I've seen quite a few of these but Doku flew right under my radar! I'm off to look for it now to correct this oversight-- wish me luck! (unfortunately, given its vintage, I think I'll need it)

I'll third Kimi wa Petto with Koyuki & MatsuJun.

Otherwise I think IwahashiGirl has named most if not all of my favorites below...

After going through my list I'll add:

Bitter Sugar
Love to Eros (a.k.a. Love and Eros)
Over Time
Platonic
Sapuri (a.k.a. Suppli)
Second Virgin
Shima Shima (a.k.a. Striped Sheep)
Starman ~Kono Hoshi no Koi (a.k.a. Starman ~This Star's Love)
Tatakau! Shoten Girl (a.k.a. Fight! Bookstore Girl)
Wood Job! (movie)

It should be noted that since these are J-dramas there is no guarantee of a happy (or even definitive) ending for the couples in question (though most of them do juuust fine, if you get my drift).

Edit: Oh, how could I forget Yuriko no Aroma (movie)? Hmm, another Sometani Shota movie (he stars in Wood Job too) that has him becoming involved w/an older woman. Interesting, since in January he married Kikuchi Rinko, probably best known to the Western audience for Pacific Rim, who is 11 years his senior.