Is anyone watching this Jdrama called Last Friends right now?


Description:
* Title: ラスト・フレンズ
* Title (English): Last Friends
* Format: Renzoku
* Genre: Friendship, human drama
* Episodes: 11
* Broadcast network: Fuji TV
* Broadcast period: 2008-Apr-10 to
* Air time: Thursday 22:00
* Theme song: Prisoner Of Love by Utada Hikaru

Synopsis
Last Friends tackles issues that afflict the current generation. Michiru's mother has brought a man back to their home and she is bullied at her workplace where she works as a beauty parlour assistant. She starts cohabiting with her boyfriend, a good young man who works at the Child Welfare Division and the only person who can give her emotional support, but ends up the victim of domestic violence and becomes fearful of love. The boyishly charming Ruka was a classmate of Michiru's in junior high school. She has performed brilliantly as a motocross racer and aims to win the national championship, but as the story progresses, a deep worry that she can neither confide in her parents or close friends grows evident. Takeru is a hair and makeup artist acquainted with Ruka. He is a good confidant to females due to his kindness and perceptiveness, and finds himself attracted to Ruka but has a phobia of sex as a result of a past trauma. The three of them become house mates and through their associations with others, gain the capacity to be positive about life. --jade_frost

Cast
* Nagasawa Masami as Aida Michiru
* Ueno Juri as Kishimoto Ruka
* Eita as Mizushima Takeru
* Mizukawa Asami as Takigawa Eri
* Nishikido Ryo as Oikawa Sosuke
* Yamazaki Shigenori as Ogura Tomohiko
* Nishihara Aki as Hiratsuka Reina
* Ranka Rea (蘭香レア) as Mita Sayuri
* Hirano Sayaka (平野早香) as Okabe Mayumi
* Baisho Mitsuko as Aida Chinatsu
* Nagashima Mitsuki as Kishimoto Shogo
* Shibuya Takeru as Higuchi Naoya
* Kitami Toshiyuki (北見敏之) as Endo Kenichiro
* Tanaka Tetsushi as Hayashida Kazumi
* Asaka Mayumi as Kishimoto Yoko
* Hirata Mitsuru as Kishimoto Shuji

credits: drama wiki

this drama is pretty good...
Sosuke (ryo) is scary ><" and violent, i think that he portrays his character pretty well :)

OOhh ... interesting.

I like that promo shot. Nagasawa Masami and Ueno Juri's lips are almost touching each other ... If I'm Eita, I'd keep my eyes open and look at it too. =b

Yup.. And god I love Ueno Juri in this~~! :suki

currently watching it.. love it XD
i wonder if ruka's lip really touches michiru's???? :rolleye

nice story.....

hehe, what do you say?

1....



2.....



3........



hahahahha, my answer would be YES

LOL~


Well, fuji, you've got me.....shouldn't have sent me those promo links XD

by the way, it's a nice drama~~~~, serious.

Now.........I'm a prisoner of love
:rolleye

^ That is such a spoiler for people who haven watch yet hahahah. That scene just killed me when I watched it. :suki

uchihamel:
LOL, i'm born to be a spoiler XD
anyway, that scene kindda "woke" me up.....in the middle of night~

hahaha... i was like "OMG~!! SHE KISS HER~!!!" =O

owwwwwwww.....gosh!!.....so u mean they r both girls?????....i thought ruka was a boy.....i figure out that they're both girls when i saw ajiewien's signature......ohhh...interesting movie.....

wow.. Ueno Juri, Nagasawa Masami, Nishikido Ryo in one drama..
and Eita was the cast as Mine Ryutaro in Nodame Cantabille right?
i can't recognize him cause he looks really different without his blonde eccentric hair in Nodame..
but what's with the girl kisses girl scene?? lol.. *curious mode: on*

gahhh can't wait for episode 4 @.@

this is the kind of drama where you can't wait for the subs and watch it raw, then watch it again with softsubs, then rewatch the scenes you like x.x


Raise your hands if you started watching this drama because of the cast >_>...

*raises hand*

if it wasnt for the small nodame reunion i probably wouldnt have bothered =P

^ i watched it cuz of the cast too, ROFL..omg ryo XD <3

and yah, omg, that ruka x michiru kiss scene surprised me too =ooo
the story is pretty interesting XDDD

Hmm, I didn't watch nodame so not really cos of the cast. But bcos it was mentioned in YUI locks and my friend also told me about it. :YUIFace

That award winning scene didn't shock me that much cos I think I saw a spoiler pic.. But still, din expect it at that part and before I knew it I was like yay yay go ruka~~! XD

I want ep 4 now~~

watched it...without subs....and i didn't really understand actually...but i will find one....

waaaaah No way!!!! that was so HAWT! haha the kiss caught my attention i was s curious so i watched it XDDD i havent seen such a drama in a long time dude! tnxxx for sharing im loving it yet ryo (sousuke)kowaii! and ruka is wat i call a good friend hehe :clap :good :gboy :suki prisoner of love =P

Hmmm... Interesting Eh! :hee ... Hmmm... Too bad, can't find any dvds here with that title... Tsk tsk tsk... Where to look? :rolleye ... Can anyone give me a hint? :sry ... Teehehehehe :sry

^d-addicts....

i dun think they hav the DVD out yet since they juz aired the ep4 today....

^ I thought it airs tmr?

Or you can try subpig if you read chinese.

uchihamel: spoiler pic.....hmmm who's that ya? LOL~
I'm watching TVBT's chinese subs~

akuma_tsubasa: hehe, that's why i snapped and posted the kissing scene.....hehe to promote~ I'm promoting Last friend for free XD

yue_yoshioka: DVD set..... :sayw , not so fast yet, the drama just started...... hahah, but i think you should be able to get it like a few months later?

oh izit?? i thought it airs every thurs??

dammit need need!

ajiewen: LOL! I got you good didn't I? I captured atheon as a prisoner too. Muahaha~ But wha~ to post the kiss scene like that! Now that you've spoiled everyone here, might as well spoil everyone else and start using 'that siggy' now...put a link to this thread. LOL. XD EDITED: Wow. You really did it. :good

I've got a lot to say about this show. Hmm, episode 1-3 was awesome. Never had a jdrama made me feel so much before. I'm hopelessly hooked. Knew about it a few weeks before it started. The promo and trailer with Ueno Juri looking so cool caught my interest. Haha. And the 'vibe' with Masami Nagasawa of course. Was wondering about the whole "いえない秘密" thing...kekeke. I'm glad they focused on the DV issue and "worries afflicting young people today" instead of the whole RukaxMichiru thing when promoting so it was a nice surprise. I think everyone's acting has been great so far. Especially Ueno Juri's. What a chameleon. 180degrees from Nodame. Speaking of which, Eita and Asami(Kiyora) are in it too. Along with the principal of School of Locks! LOL!

The episodes subbed by Kioku can be downloaded at D-Addicts...
If you prefer, soft subs can be found here: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_60626.htm (I recommend Suketeru's since it's more accurate)

Episode 4 airs today~ In the mean time...

Promo@Mezamashi/YouTube

"Love Love Connection~?!"


(another version of the promo pic, hehe, this is the one before photoshop-ed actually. Only that ribbon is real. It's part of the OP flash vid in the main site)

:what waaaaah i hate u for showing me this yet i have watch it im cant wait! me wanna watch already!!!!! XDDD the gif OH YEAH :clap :suki
yet i found sousuke cho kowaii i wanna slapp him *beat him using DV on poor michiru TT^TT =O

oh everyone is into this dorama. that good eh? I should download it too and put in my top priority list!

gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

too many doramas to download... :what

omg..im finally watching thx to
akuma_tsubasa for telling me..i love her..
its really good..and i love the opening..
^yep..too many drama movies to dl..

I watch without subs, with the help of this website:

http://www.dramanote.com/?cid=32103

I accidentally skimmed to that scene and I was like, "THAT'S SO WRONG!!"

LOL. Love Ueno Juri, ever since I first saw her in Engine, then Swing girls, then Nodame, Joudan Janai (weird). Cannot remember her character in Orange Days though. Orange days = LOVE it.

haha dun worry it's not you. It was someone on youtube. =P but now I find myself keep looking at ur siggy. damn. haha..

@natsumi: yea thurs, but when u posted it was still.. wed?

heh heh I've probably watched all available promo clips and whatnot so far. The official site's pretty too~!

@atheon: 'studying' japanese eh? XD wow that site, the person's really free to do that.. gotta be a hella work.

ooo yea... me kept thinkin it was thursday... sry :sry

Well, if you want, you can download the Japanese subs here: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_60451.htm
Extracted from the TV broadcast itself. Easier for you to 'study'. Hehehe.

That's why skimming is bad for your health. Haha. It's so wrong that it's good right? :hee Ueno Juri is awesome. Another award winning role I hope. =3 Love Eita's character too. Takeru is being such a great and supportive friend. He's like the 'red thread' between Michiru and Ruka(so far anyway).

@Mel: Me too. They sell the 'house' cups at the official site. Great way to promote, haha. Have you seen the Waratte Iitomo Spring Special(new dramas battle each other)? It's pretty funny. Ueno Juri got scolded for acting like such a yanki. Heheh. She really absorbs the personality of each character she plays into her everyday life. Just look at the interviews and compared to the Nodame ones. Now she's all cool and composed. =3 Masami Nagasawa is the total opposite. She brings her real self into her characters. That's why a lot of her roles so far are pretty similar I think. Only the situation is different.

My favourite scene for episode 1 is still the running in the rain part. Kakkoi~ Love Prisoner of Love and how it's integrated into the climatic scenes. "Chasing the shadow of love", "The tedious days suddenly began to shine the day you appeared", "On stormy days, or sunny days, let's walk together" (they made it rain for this?) and they made Juri run so long just so that the lyrics could stop at "You're the only one I can call friend". Gyabo~ The end of episode 3, "The cruel fate tried to tear us apart but it ended up tying us closer together". Kyaa~ So awesome. The song totally fits whether it's from Michiru, Ruka, or Takeru's perspective. It amazes me that Utada Hikaru didn't know what the drama was going to be about when she wrote the lyrics. She wrote something that can be used for both friendship and love instead. Good call. And it was originally in English. Whoa, I wanna hear~

Her comments about it here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sTIvEUc2SG4
The single comes out May 29th if I'm not mistaken. But it's already in her new album Heart Station released last March. Probably cashing into the popularity of the drama(Since the album sales have been increasing again since the drama premiered).

^ That was such a nice ranting session! haha. Ehh I haven watched that spring special yet. *off to hunt for it*

Absolutely right. You've got the point right on! :good I was actually egging her on. *faints* Now everytime I watch, I am like waiting for juri to appear.

I didnt watch nodame but I do have an image of juri in that, being so crazy and all. haha.. I like this way better! omg in episode 1 when she went after the bus which michiru left in, till she pushed her bicycle towards her, I was already blown away. Totally. hahah. Yeah the rain scene was damn cool~! WHen she paused on the phone I was still wondering what she was thinking, and then she started running. Yeah I thought the song fitted in perfectly as well.

I listened heart station at the same time when I started watching this drama. And I've also probably watched all of hikki's promotional videos, performances related to heart station, including that which was actually an hour long interview. XD Hikki was like wth it's so difficult to write both on love and friendship. Heart station rocks~! Prisoner of love single comes out on 21st May. I AM GONNA ASK MY FRIEND TO BUY IT FOR ME. both the album and the single! :suki

We are all happy fangirls~

To ajiewien: Oh I see the drama has just started. Thaks for the info you guys. :good

Longer rant coming up. Yeh, obsessed much? :sry

When they introduced the teams, Nakai Masahiro kinda pointed at the 2 'rather close' characters on the promo poster and asked who they are. Masami: Me and Juri-chan. Nakai was like, "Aren't both of them females?". Insert awkward pause. Juri & Masami:...Yes. Then of course they had to steer away from the direction it was heading...lol. This was aired around 1 week before the premiere. It's up on veoh in 3 parts. Or here for the compiled scene version.

Eh? You should really go watch Nodame then. My favourite JDrama ever. Last Friends is going for the 'most awesome' title(I won't say it's 'most enjoyable' since it's painful to watch most of the time). I'd recommend watching 1 ep of Nodame after each ep of LF. They're from opposite worlds but nice balance to each other.

Just finished episode 4. My review/comments below:

[SPOILER ALERT]
引き裂かれた絆
The bond that was torn apart
(ratings: 15.9%. Up 0.3% from previous)

"Go die Sosuke!"...is what I'm tempted to say after seeing the preview. But I'm impressed with how real(as best as a drama can) they've kept things so far. Any other shows, we'd have the DV guy as pure villain and just use him as a plotline to jumpstart the story of the main character moving into a share house and not looking back. Here, as much as I hate Michiru for causing so much pain to Ruka, she's totally in character. It isn't as simple as turning off a switch. Regardless of what Sosuke did, she still loves him. She takes comfort in the thought that Sosuke hurts as much the times when he hits her...Despite how wrong(and dangerous) that kinda thinking is, I gotta applaud the writers for putting this much depth into the characters. Michiru telling the story about Sosuke's past kinda enlightened us about how these two found a connection with each other. Why Michiru is so easy to forgive him...But it doesn't make the last scene any easier to watch. "The cruel fate tried to tear us apart but it ended up tying us closer together"...was used in a scene mirroring the end of last episode. Geh, it worked here too. But did you guys see the expression on Ruka's face when the door closed? She probably knew what's going to happen. She tried to protect Michiru from getting hurt but the one that really got hurt was herself...

How great was everyone in this episode? I get goosebumps just by watching some of the scenes. Ruka's breakdown was just too awesome. We get to see more of her struggle with the whole guy or girl issue(I'm glad the issue with the coach got resolved nicely). The scene at the bar with Takeru was totally woah inducing. Ueno Juri and Eita played off each other brilliantly. One of the best scenes yet. Then, how they ended it, "If you're going to protect Michiru, then I'll protect you." Sugoi. I'm comforted by the fact that Ruka will at least have Takeru beside her even when Michiru is acting so aggravatingly herself. Hurting people without even realizing it. At least she acknowledges how blind she was to Ruka's feelings in the monologues. Just hope it won't be too late by then.

Horror scene of the episode(there's at least 1 in each episode): When Ruka went to Michiru's mom's place. It felt too eerie. I guess Ruka sensed it too. Sosuke's stalking ways are getting better. He paid Michiru's mom to call her up and find out where she is/get her to come out from hiding! >_< Nice of them to try to protect her but seriously, you can't help someone who doesn't want to help herself. One leap forward in the last episode but 2 steps back in this one. Looks like the next wake up call would be in episode 5. Would Michiru answer it? Lotsa other stuff seems to be happening too. Looking forward to it. This drama is really surpassing itself with every episode so far. :good

[END SPOILER]

Ueno Juri at Gu~gu~Datta Neko ga Aru's premiere. Somehow the topic kept returning to Last Friends instead...
Cats, "Dear Friends" and a weird director

And this one is funny too. Ruka should probably move to Malaysia.

:shock waaaaaaaaah sousuke such a stalker! XDDD sigh another week to wait... =O

@Fujii:

haha I like your rants. Watched a compiled scene version of waratte iitomo already, now slowly watching the full version. Poor Juri keeps getting comments from Nakai. Trying to split myself between studying and temptation! But omg, in that movie premier, the topic really keeps reverting back to last friends... It's too interesting lah.

Luckily I've watched episode 4 already or I might feel like stabbing myself after seeing your long spoiler hahah. Yeah sousuke is really quite creepy as a stalker and an irritating character. But this proves that ryo-chan is successfully bringing out the character. Though I think he's still not very suitable for acting such a character. Seriously hate Michiru for not noticing Ruka's feelings, how much she wants to protect her. Yeah ruka probably knew what michiru was up to when she offered to bring the rubbish out, but she still let her have her way despite that. Sigh~ ruka~! Takeru has his own share of problems too. Hope he can overcome it as well. And I wonder what's ruka's secret as well.

Ruka did a good job of avoiding answering michiru's mom's questions, which were a little too obvious. This episode has seriously brought everything back to the start again, thanks to michiru's softheartedness. Well, in the next episode there it goes again; all of the things sousuke's getting up to. Loving ruka more with each episode.

Looking forward to episode 5! (by then my exam would have finished. woots!) :suki

p.s. I think we can rant on forever.

Glad that you enjoy my rants. Need a way to release all those pent up emotions. Haha.

"Mou ii desu yo~". He even need to be reminded to talk about HIS OWN movie there. :hee Waratte iitomo, there's another episode where they guest and played some guessing games. Also on 10/4. Notice the clothes. I think there's at least 4 shows they appeared in that day.


(I watched it but still dunno what that sign means...)

Last scene broke my heart again. Poor Ruka~ >_< Michiru was acting kinda suspicious anyway before that. Probably planning to contact Sosuke again. Doesn't learn does she? Sweet talk a bit and she runs back to him... Gah! =O Stupid...but I guess that's what dramas do, keep us coming back for more.

Seriously. ^^
They keep hinting at bad things happening though ('that death') and people are wondering if it's Ruka with all the foreshadowing. I have good reasons to say that it's not and they're just trying to distract us from the real 'victim'. Maybe I'll rant more on that later. Heheh.

In the mean time, I'll just replace that pained look of Ruka at the end with this one...


P/S: Oh yeah~ I found something in common between Juri and YUI today. Lol. Later, later....=3

Prisoner Of Love!! Totally into it!! :suki

Yes..all the same here.gosh im hating Michiru..shes so stupid..
and Ruka..i love her so much.. :suki
i cant wait no longer..eh..
so many problems with these ppl..I hate it

Big LOVE for Ruka :suki

Wow, I didn't know that there are some YL'ers watching this series too. Ruka is sooo adorable, completely opposite to her previous character, Nodame, which I loved too.

I still need to watch ep 4 >_<.

Looks like they've decided to add another episode which brings the total episode to 12 now. ^^ Hopefully this means an epilogue with a happy ending...since I assume they've got time to see people's reaction with the issues they portrayed(and how much Ruka is loved, hehe).

Yeah, was kinda waiting for someone to create a topic since I don't want to seem too obsessed...but I guess it didn't make a difference eh? :sry

Something interesting that I've noticed by just looking at the characters' names and promo. But looks like someone expanded on the theory and kinda proved that the writer or someone on the show is a fan...
Last Friends(Ruka/Michiru) Vs. Sailormoon(Haruka/Michiru)

Btw, I wonder what this is about...
http://www.fujitv.co.jp/lastfriends/another/movie.html