Takuya Kimura's "Pride"...

Another Jdrama review....

What is all the fuss with Takuya Kimura? This guy created a storm back when I was in high school [ (O_o) ... I think it was high school...]. He acted in a drama that stirred up not only Japanese community but I believe Malaysian also but unfortunately I cant remember which drama it was. I was probably too preoccupied with school...miahaha.... Ya, right!!!.... But lets leave it as that.

Now... might I say after watching Takuya Kimura's "Pride", I know what was the fuss all about. Takuya's acting skill is unquestionable since he can really carry the roles that was given to him really well. This quality seems to be lacking in some of the younger Japanese actors. Takuya oozes charisma on screen and I believe that's why after all these year, women still go ga-ga over him.

Coming back to Pride, Takuya Kimura played Halu Satonaka, the ice hockey captain of Blue Scorpions and his opposite, Aki Murase played by Yuko Takeuchi is just an ordinary office lady. The story begins when Aki, after being spotted in Face Off Bar, which was the hangout place for Blue Scorpions, was reluctantly forced to go out on a date with Halu. Halu treats ice hockey very seriously and to him romance is just a game. Aki become the perfect love game partner when he found out that Aki had been waiting for her architect boyfriend to return from abroad. The promise that been made by Aki's boyfriend was for them to meet at the bridge he had design when he returns. Sadly Aki's boyfriend had not been in contact with her for the last two years and giving no sign of coming back. Eventually a mutual agreement was made between Halu and Aki. Both of them will enjoy each other's company until Aki's boyfriend returns with no strings attached. As the relationship progressed, it seems that they are walking on a thin line in the game that they are playing. Both parties then started to have doubt about each other's true feelings. Halu's looked like that he's going to lose the game while Aki having doubt about whether she should continue on waiting for her boyfriend. Well thats all I telling about the storyline, don't want to give anymore spoilers. :-p

Herm... now, why do I totally fell in love with this show? First of all, I just love the fact that they used Queen songs in the show. It just fits perfectly. I Was Born To Love You perfectly suited to be the theme song and throughout the whole show they brilliantly inserted other Queen songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, Too Much Love Will Kill You, Let Me Live and obviously of coz We Are The Champions.

Second reason is the great chemistry between Halu and Aki. Just loved the sarcastic small talks that was made by Halu and Aki when they argued. Sooo.....cute. And Halu's sly behavior when he's around Aki, teasing her around. The facial expressions on both of them are priceless. Aki's 'I'm always for you' or 'forever there for you' attitude touches the heart. Both TK and YT brilliantly played their roles. The silent scenes also give out a clear meaning of what they wanted to express.

Lastly, I love the way the show was made. Beautiful cinematography. Making it so enchanting when both Halu and Aki together. Over all, it is like watching the Korean drama "Winter Sonata", great chemistry between the main characters and the show was beautifully made but minus the overly mushy love story.

Now.... I think I go and search for that whirlwind drama that first made Takuya Kimura a famous man he is now....