February PGSM News Update

Rika Izumi Gives Exercise Lessons

Rika Izumi (PGSM Sailor Mercury) recently made an appearance on the TV Asahi program Easy Sports. The purpose of Easy Sports is to make athletics and a healthy lifestyle accessible to women of all body types and ages. Viewers who were watching the program during the week of January 18 to January 22 would have been treated to some footage of Izumi performing various yoga lessons. Izumi, who lists Pilates as one of her favourite sports on her profile, showed viewers five different poses for the week long stretch that she was featured. We're also linking you to videos that we have been able to find! Monday's lesson was for a triangle pose, which enhances thigh flexibility and strength of physique. Tuesday's lesson was an Extended Side Angle pose, which helps the back and improves blood circulation. Wednesday's exercise was the Bound Angle Pose which strengthens the back and abdomen. Thursday's exercise was the Upward Dog Pose, which strengthens the back of the legs and improves posture. Finally, Friday's lesson was the Bridge Pose, which strengthens the abdominal and back legs. For pictures and descriptions of Izumi's lesson, visit here.

In other Rika Izumi news, the former PGSM actress will be appearing in a supporting role on "BeeTV", a station geared towards mobile devices and the internet. She will be making some cameo appearances on the omnibus love dorama, "Onna-tachi wa Nido Asobu". Aibu Saki, Koyuki, Hazegawa Kyoko, Yuuka and Misukawa Asami will be the full time cast members that Izumi will be acting with. A typical episode of this show will feature five different mini-episodes within its 24 minute run time.

Also Buzzing Around on BeeTV is A Turtleman!

Poor Masaya Kikawada (PGSM Motoki Furuhata), your infamous turtle antics from PGSM will live with us fans forever...He is also appearing on a dorama on BeeTV that is also a collaboration with FujiTV called Hidamari no Basho ~Hatsukoi~, which translates to "Place of Sunshine ~First Love~". He plays a supporting role in this show about a delinquent who falls in love with the most perfect girl at school. Fans can click here to learn more about the show and watch a trailer!

Masaya also posted something pretty quirky on his blog. Last December, he admitted to really liking the scent of Downy (y'know, the fabric softner?). He was the happiest person in the world when he discovered that popular Japanese laundry detergent Bold has a limited edition detergent out that has the scent of Downy in it (similar to the "Tide with a Touch of Downy" we have here). He thinks that now he is washing his clothes with this, that he will be more attractive. We couldn't help but laugh reading this entry!


Mew Azama Endorses Suntory Products

Suntory, a company which specializes in various drinks, has put together a special campaign for Jug-Nana, a popular line of beer. Suntory has gathered six young idols for its latest promotion, one representing each day of the week. Sharing Thursday for this promotion is none other than Mew Azama (PGSM Sailor Jupiter) . Some of the idols representing the other days of the week are Yuriko Yoshitaka (Monday), Sayo Aizawa (Tuesday), Airi Taira (Wednesday), and Inamori Izumi (Friday). All six idols will represent Saturday and Sunday.

PGSM Stars Reunite (Well, Almost...)

Special thanks to reader RB for sending in this sighting! Mew Azama and Ayaka Komatsu (Sailor Venus) hosted a combined birthday party for Mew and a New Years' Party a little over 2 weeks ago. The only one who couldn't make it this time was Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars). Miyuu Sawaii (Sailor Moon), Rika, and Ayaka all posted images and a few thoughts on their blogs! Rika remarked that it was fun to get together with everyone again after a long time, and that they are so close that they can talk for hours. Ayaka also said that she was happy to see everyone, and that they were so restless when they caught up with each other! Miyuu just wrote that they had a great time and they talked a lot. Here come the photos:

From Rika's Blog:


From Ayaka's Blog:


From Miyuu's blog:


Keiko Kitagawa is Valentine's Queen, Journalist Offender, and a Hair-Raiser!

Keiko is too busy doing promotions for her new productions and filming others, but she still continues to make some quirky appearances in Japanese news. On February 3rd, she was voted a Valentine's Day Queen in the categories of Drama Heroine and Most Fascinating Female Celebrity. This was a survey done by 300 Japanese High Schoolers sponsored by both Oricon and Pocky. Valentine's Day is a little different in Japan - women give men chocolate, and then men return the favor giving women chocolate exactly a month later. So, Keiko was voted the woman that these High Schoolers would most like to receive chocolate from! Standing alongside her is Japanese idol Masuwaka Tsubasa (who is best known for her Gyaru modeling). Keiko was quoted during the event: "I attended a girls’ school for junior high and high school. Making homemade chocolates was not one of my strong points. Instead, I often received really cute chocolates made by other girls." Mishapen or lumpy Keiko, it's the thought that counts! Fans can watch some highlights from the event here. Keiko also wrote something that offended journalists a few days later on her blog (English translation here), ranting about how she finds it difficult to keep her answers consistent during interviews ahead of the March 10th premiere of her upcoming movie After the Flowers, and that she thought she put all the intense stress on her brain away after she graduated. We hope that this doesn't hurt the press because the movie looks really good (and could hopefully be picked up for international distribution). On the bright side, some critics have already lauded her performance in this movie "Hair-Raising","Trembling" and "impressive" at a preview screening held on January 26th.

Natsumi Kiyoura Releasing First Album!

Natsumi Kiyoura (Sailor M) is releasing her debut album, and boy has she come a long way since her days on PGSM. She is a singer, and has even sung the theme song for Spice and Wolf "Tabi no Tochu". The song is featured on her upcoming album "19 Colors", which is produced by many big names in the industry. It even has a song ("Anone Demone") produced by Yoko Kanno, who is legendary among anime fans for her work on anime movie and TV show soundtracks. This long awaited release will come out on February 24th, and fans should order it now from overseas retailers as it is predicted to be a hit!

PGSM Winter 2009 Update Extravaganza!

2009 has been a significant year in the world of Sailor Moon. Hard to believe, but it has been 5 years since PGSM has come to an end. Many fans of PGSM have continued to follow the careers of the cast members since the show has ended, and there is some recent news to report.

Masaya Kikawada Goes to Vienna!

Masaya Kikawada (Motoki Furuhata) co-hosted a documentary about life in Vienna, Austria, along with Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura. Yoshino appeared in the movie Sukiyaki Western Django (which is not a movie that is everyone's cup of tea). In the documentary, Yoshino sought to discover what made life comfortable in Vienna, and also met with the conductor of the world famous Vienna Philharmonic (Rainer Kuchl). Masaya took another route and learned about how the people live in Vienna, and visited lots of markets and taverns. http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=">Producer Yutaro Mimuro was quoted that he aimed to look beyond the history and tradition, to discover why the people of Vienna had such a richness in life. While we were unable to find any pictures of Masaya in the documentary, we did find an entry on his official blog with a picture of him in the Vienna airport. He said that he was having a fun time and was sad that the final scenes were going to be shot that next week. It was an experience that he will never forget!

New Voice Role For Ayaka Komatsu!

Ayaka Komatsu, who recently portrayed Minako Aino (Sailor Venus) in the live action version of Sailor Moon, is turning towards voice acting for her latest role. PGSM fans might want to check out a movie called Goey-ETO, which is an adaption of a one-off manga chapter in the June 1998 edition of Weekly Shonen Jump. The story is centered on the relationship between male and female rabbit like aliens. In this movie, Komatsu will be voicing a male character named Shibushige.

Host Club Drama for Takeshi!


Masu Takeshi, who portrayed Rei's father in PGSM is currently starring in a host club drama called "Rondo Of The Wind". This soap opera is part of Tokai Fuji's "TV's Night Indigo", and its start date is January 5, 2010. In this drama, a successful female editor loses her husband and her job due to an embezzlement accusation, leading her to decide to manage a host club. The female editor and her co-workers work together as a team of detectives in an attempt to restore her reputation.

Keiko Kitagawa Rumored to be Dating? and is Cast Once Again!



Once again, the cleanest idol in Japan’s industry has been the subject of tabloid fodder once again. This time, she is rumored to be dating another star - actor Tomohisa Yamashita, who is a year older than her. The two starred together in the drama Buzzer Beat, and also went to the same college (he was a year ahead of her). They have been spotted out and about holding hands. On November 21st, he performed his first solo concert show ("Short But Swell") at Yokohama Arena. Fans can read a review of the concert in English here - he even performed a rendition of Michael Jackson's Thriller! One of his songs is titled Daite Senorita and after the concert ended, our poor Sailor Mars was bombarded with reporters asking if she was Tomohisa's senorita. She snapped back at then and said they were just friends who sometimes go out to dinner together. Poor Keiko just can't catch a break, can she?

Kitagawa has continued to obtain acting roles in the wake of the success she has earned playing Sailor Mars in PGSM. Kitagawa will portray the role of Rie Saito (a number 1 hostess) in the TBS drama Hitsudan Hostess. The story is somewhat based off of Saito's personal life, as the title character becomes deaf at the age of one due to an illness, and she rebels against her strict parents. Kitagawa's new role will require very little dialogue, making this one of her most challenging acting roles to date. The two hour long episode is based off of a best selling book by Rie Saito, of which Keiko is a big fan of. Keiko is looking forward to utilizing her skills in calligraphy and writing - skills that she obtained in her childhood.


Kaori Moriwaka Writes Hit Song!

In September of this year, popular J-Pop singer Maki Goto (pictured) released a new album with her new collaboration featuring her record label Avex, popular radio station J-Wave, and Japanese social networking site Mixi. She called the collaboration (and the album) "SWEET BLACK" because those two words describe perfectly the positives and the negatives in the life of today's women. The album has 8 tracks, featuring unique collaborations with people like Japanese reggae star BIGGA RAIJI, mangaka Erika Sakurazawa, and Japanese rapper Ken the 390. The song TEAR DROPS, featuring the singer KG is a sad and beautiful song, and has a connection to PGSM - Kaori Moriwaka (Ikuko Tsukino) wrote the song! This is a little different since we're normally used to hearing rockier tunes from her! Fans can watch the video here, and read a lyrics translation here.


Two Rival Fashion Magazines Get Together For a Fashion Show That Thunders! and Jupiter Speaks Up.


Excuse the horrible Sailor Jupiter pun! Mew Azama was one of a handful of CanCam magazine models chosen to appear in a special fashion show with rival models from ViVi magazine that was sponsored by Sony Ericsson. Sony Ericsson was launching the S002 "THE SUPER FIT" which is a phone being marketed as the worlds smallest "WanseguKeitai" (or "oneseg" cell phone capable of mobile TV). The fashion show took place on December 1st at Tokyo's JCB Hall, and some of the fashions modeled had a "sexy santa" theme. Fans can check out more pictures here - and Mew is sporting a new, shorter, haircut! She's the one in the beige gown pictured here! It's a relief to see some pictures of Mew in classier clothing compared to the ridiculous things she sometimes wears as the weather girl on NTV's Zoom! Saturday.

And speaking of which: Mew Azama was also featured in a Hochi Sports (part of Daily Yomiuri) article!  For the first time, she speaks of her role as a weathercaster on NTV’s Zoom Saturday!    She made her debut on the show over a year ago in October of 2008.   She was anxious since she didn’t think that she was good at public speaking, but got serious and took lessons!  It was a struggle, but she persevered!   When she first started, even though she had her script memorized, she kept stopping because she was so nervous.  She would often fear she would forget something on her cheat sheet when it would be taken away from her and she worried that people could tell that she was in a hurry.  Sometimes she would have to wake up at 2 or 3 to get to her shoots on time, and sometimes she couldn’t operate on a couple hours of sleep!  Now she is fully adjusted to her schedule and she is also getting used to this just like she had to for her early morning modeling shoots. 

We’ve featured a few of her strange costumes on this blog before, asking fans to caption the photos!  But her fans in Japan have come to love her costumes, and also the clothing she wears on the show.  She even talks about her outfits on her blog.   She looks forward to doing more in 2010, and hopes to be an anime seiyuu too.  Our fearless Mew can accomplish anything she puts her mind to, with a little perseverance!


New Idol DVD and a Strange Dream for Rina Koike!

PGSM's youngest star has another new idol DVD out, this time co-starring two other young stars, Yui Koike and Aya Koike. Despite sharing surnames these three are not closely related in real life, but they play sisters in the movie. Rina also made mention of a strange dream she had involving Michael Jackson. As best we can tell, she dreamed she was on a plane that crashed in a jungle in the Amazon, and Michael Jackson came riding in on a blue throne set on an elephant and brought two other people to rescue her. After Rina had the dream, she called her friend and she said it was all in her head. An interesting dream indeed!



Gundam Character Astrology Book!

Keiko Han (Luna in the anime and PGSM) has a new book out, "Fortune Telling of Sune" Written from the perspective of her character Lalah Sune from Mobile Suit Gundam. The book is illustrated by Hideki Ohwada, author of a Gundam parody comic and is meant for Gundam fans to enjoy!

Caption This #5: Not a Fanart Edition!

Mew Azama... our beloved PGSM Sailor Jupiter has done so much since her time on the show. She’s been in some commercials for Japanese mobile phone provider AU, she’s been on some variety shows, she had a role in Salariman Kintaro 5, and graduated from the Faculty of Lifelong Learning and Career Design at Hosei University with a Bachelor of Arts degree on March 24th (pictured)! Mew is also a weekend weather anchor on NTV’s Zoom in Saturday , a morning news and variety show. We came across a set of pictures from last Saturday’s show somewhere on the net, and two of them struck our eye. We didn’t quite understand why Mew is wearing what we think is a squirrel tail and ears in a cowboy hat? But it’s been too long since we’ve had a Caption This post - so here we go fans! Give us your best captions in the comments below!



Sailordees:

5:51:
Guy in Yellow Shirt: Mew, when did you get a tail?!
Mew: Latest fashion! Us CanCam models have to keep up with latest Akihabara trends!
Lady: Where do I get one? This top is so tacky!
5:55:
Mew: And here is the winner of the Tokyo Dog Show!
Dog: I’m going to moonwalk onto the stage!
Guy in Yellow Shirt: Hmm... interesting....
Lady: Please hide my embarrassment off camera. That’s not even a real dog! What has this show become?




The Me:

5:51:
Guy in Yellow Shirt: So, uh.. What's with the tail?
Mew: It's for community service with my local dog catcher. Puts them more at ease.
Lady: It's certainly working on him...
5:55:
Mew: Watch! Come here boy, good boy~
Dog: Not sure if want...
Guy in Yellow Shirt: *hypnotized* Yes Ms. Mew.. Whatever you say..
Lady: Why did I even bother today?.. I'm out of here.


*** Warning - No Pets or Ms. Mew were harmed in the making of this "Caption This" Segment ***

BREAKING NEWS: Two Lost Souls Have Returned!

In the last few days, two very important people involved with Sailor Moon have finally returned to our radar!

Sailor Moon R II: The Promise of Naoko

Forgive us for the Sailor Moon Return pun :p. For the last few years, pretty much the only news we had heard of Princess Naoko came from people who had been around her, from students in 2004, to more recently, Naoko's own husband. On New Years' Day of this year, it looks like Princess Naoko's Room has returned in a much different form to the official Sailor Moon Website. And, we were lucky enough to get a picture of Naoko (even if it is from last October). In Shizuoka City, lies Bandai's Hobby Center, which is their main toy factory. The toy factory has a showroom, and also aspires to be the first green toy factory with zero emissions, and wants to be a pioneer in plastics recycling. Naoko visited the Bandai Hobby Center in October, and had the opportunity to check out some Gundam plastic models (known as "Gunpura") and has joined the ranks of other mangaka in drawing their characters in a Gundam style (it is Gundam's 30th anniversary after all!). Naoko says that this is a drawing of Usagi in a Hobby Center Uniform. The entry hints that there may be more updates from Naoko to come in 2009! To check out a full translation, go visit here! We are so happy to finally have a new picture and some words from Naoko in many years! Naoko, please continue to update your site - we miss you!

Rika Izumi Makes a New Splash!

Rika Izumi (otherwise known as Chisaki Hama) is well-known for playing Sailor Mercury in PGSM. After the show wrapped in 2004, she disappeared altogether, and castmates were rumored not to be allowed to talk about her on their blogs or post pictures. Last summer, she made her return modelling in magazines, and she even got a role in the movie Clearness playing the character Reiko. She appeared in 3 scenes in the film, the last of which we have pictured here for you with an arrow. The movie is a romance based on a keitai shosetsu (mobile phone novel), about love in the sex trade. More recently, she has appeared in a noodle commercial as the beautiful Kimono Girl of a lonely boy's dreams (played by SMAP's Masahiro Nakai). This morning, we read an article all about her "re-debut"! Rika confirms that she gave her school the priority after PGSM ended, and that she graduated with a literature degree from Meiji University in 2007. Shortly afterwards , she took up modeling again! She wants to do more acting, and she hopes to be able to express herself as sexy and as lovely as Marilyn Monroe did. She wants to costar with everyone that she can, and she is still good friends with her former costars of PGSM. The article makes special mention of her friendships with Keiko Kitagawa and Mew Azama (Sailors Mars and Jupiter). When she was ready to return to the entertainment business, she sent her own shots around to agencies before she was signed. The article also features a brand new photo shoot, along with a few shots from her noodle commercial. Click here to see! Fans can also go to A Fruitful Spring to check out her most recent magazine appearances!

PGSM Stars Reunite!

Ayaka Komatsu (PGSM Sailor Venus) turned 22 on July 23rd, but didn't have her birthday party until last Thursday! Joining her were her other four costars from PGSM, Miyuu Sawai (Sailor Moon), Rika Izumi (Sailor Mercury), Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars) and Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter). Three of them blogged about it and all featured this picture that they took at a restaurant with Ayaka's amazing birthday pastries (we hope they tasted as good as they looked). Our birthday girl remarked on her blog that it had been a long time since she had seen her costars, and that they are so strong when they are together. She couldn't believe that they have known each other for five years already! Keiko had invited them for a preview and press conference for her upcoming movie, Handsome Suits and Ayaka (while looking forward to Keiko's movie) also put in a quick plug about her own movie, Pandemic which will be out in theaters shortly in Japan. Ayaka was also lucky enough to be given a bottle of champagne that was personalized! Mew says that she is a little scared of turning 22, and she will be there in a few months. She wrote that the time really flew from her PGSM days until now, but she was glad to see everyone and that the party could not have been great unless all five of them were there! Keiko blogged that at the press conference, she wore a very trendy Donna Karan pink spangled dress. Her character in the movie wore clothes that weren't very fashionable and with light makeup so she wanted to show up at this conference with a bang! She had invited all her PGSM costars to come, but Miyuu Sawai couldn't make it because she had to work. At Ayaka's birthday party the day after, she wrote that they were told a lot by the crew that when the 5 girls would get together that they would fight a lot. But it still isn't true, the 5 of them are still the best of friends years later. They talk a lot about their auditions and the 14 months they spent together on PGSM. They will all be friends for life, she says! She also thinks her acting in PGSM was so horrible for her own debut that she doesn't want to watch it anymore, but she is so glad she met the other actresses! She hopes that they can get together again for her birthday party, and ended her entry with some old PGSM pictures for old times' sake!

In other PGSM news, Mew Azama is now part of an elite group of models whose blogs on Ameblo have been fused with idol magazine CanCam. This new portal will also allow users of Ameblo to access some pretty cool features, including the same skins that the models use on their blogs. Mew sure seems to be doing a lot these days with the cyber world, in our last update we learned that she is now a special celebrity answerer with MSN's Questionbox. Rika Izumi is now a model with Sun Music Brain, and has posed for photos with Ray Magazine. Ayaka Komatsu's movie Pandemic has something to do with the world being hit with some kind of superbug and will be out in January. Keiko Kitagawa's Handsome Suits is a comedy about a man who is a horrible Italian Chef, but who one day has a change of heart in his career and opts to work at a men's fine clothing store! This one will be released sometime in November. Aya Sugimoto (Queen Beryl) achieved tabloid notoriety again when Jason Lewis (who played Smith Jerrod in the Sex and the City Movie) appeared for a promotional event ahead of the movie's release in Japan. Aya appeared on the stage and he swept her off her feet with a typical Hollywood kiss (and that's what we've got pictured). As of this writing, we're not entirely sure if she had a dubbing role with the movie in Japanese or if she was just at the premiere because of her celebrity status.

News From The Other Side Of the Pond #16 (Part 1)

PGSM Edition!

Keiko Kitagawa in New TV Drama

Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars in PGSM) has been cast in the new Fuji TV drama, Homeroom on the Beachside (literal translation: Classroom of the Sun and Ocean). She is going to play a rookie teacher at a preppy high school as a fresh graduate of the University of Tokyo. The show begins July 21st at 9PM. Keiko has said on her blog that she is anxious to play this role, because she does not have much drama experience - she’s only 21! Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter in PGSM) is one of her closest friends, and they have known each other since before PGSM when they were modelling. Mew told her that although a lot is expected from her at that timeslot and for that role, that there are a lot of people who are supporting her and she should be confident and enjoy herself! Those words of wisdom from her fellow senshi have helped to clear her anxiety. On the official site of the show, if you click on Cast&Staff, you will see a blue box to the right of Keiko Kitagawa’s name. Click that to see an interview about the show with her!

In other Keiko news, there are rumors that she is in a relationship with one of her costars from the movie Heat Island. His name is Ryo Kimura and he is 19 years old. It is rumored they spent the night in a hotel together after karaoke in May. We find it humorous that one of our news links pointed us to this. Keiko is also featured on a new, glamorous Coffret D’Or commercial, which can be seen here (for the one with Keiko, pick the one on the right side under Jul '08). Keiko is also in the June commercials, she is wearing a blue dress that looks like it has a matching scarf. She spent two days working with Coffret D’Or on this campaign, one day just to shoot the 15 second and 30 second commercials, and the second day just to shoot the promotional stills. She was surprised at how long it took and how much effort was needed to do something so simple!

Miyuu Sawai Has New Photobook, DVD and Movie!

Miyuu Sawai (Sailor Moon in PGSM) released a new photobook at the end of May called Present and she has definitely taken a dip in the Gravure Idol pool. There are a lot of poses of her in bikinis. She made a few appearances at bookstores for signings at the end of May. On June 20th, she released an idol DVD called Riyuu Sawai and we assume the title is a pun on the word "Real Sawai". This one is supposed to show how she has grown up as a very charming woman, in traditional Japanese dress, to a swingy white skirt, and a blazing red dress. We probably won't get the chance to look at any of these, but any of her diehard fans who want to send us in a review of the photobook and/or the DVD, we'd be happy to feature you in an upcoming article! Miyuu also has a role in the Japanese spinoff of Shaolin Soccer, called Shaolin Girl. This one is about a Kung Fu coach who works to rebuild her grandfather's Dojo and joins her University Lacrosse Team. It looks really funny, and we managed to find a trailer subtitled in English for you all to watch!

Chisaki Hama/Rika Izumi Returns to the Modelling Industry!

Chisaki Hama (Sailor Mercury in PGSM) was really born Rika Izumi. However, her agency changed her name when she first started out because there was another idol by that name, and Chisaki Hama translates roughly to "Thousands of Flowers Blooming By The Shore". She had disappeared not too long after PGSM ended and no one knew where she went. Occasionally other PGSM stars would write about hanging out with her on their blog, but they would not post pictures of her. There were rumors going around that she didn't want to be in the entertainment industry anymore. Last week we learned that she has returned to modelling and is in the running for Pinky Princess (Princess of the Pinky magazine, we assume). She has definitely changed since the last time we saw her, and we are loving her new hair! We really hope to see her in more things soon! According to her entry, Rika is an avid Saxaphone and Euphonium player (there's an instrument you didn't expect to hear about!) and she has recently taken up aromatherapy and candle making as a hobby. She likes to watch movies, have homemade meals, and manicures. She is a big fan of Angelina Jolie and Audrey Hepburn, and loves to wear Jill Stuart. She is eager to learn anything she can to become a better model!

Mew Azama Endorses MSN QuestionBox!

Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter in PGSM) was part of a trio endorsing MSN Japan's QuestionBox. QuestionBox is a lot like Yahoo Answers, where users post questions and other users answer with information or opinions. The other idols part of the consulting party to promote the site were Shizuka Kondo and Moe Oshikiri. Mew is on the left side in the pink top in the picture. Mew commented on her blog that they were given Honey Milk Latte at this event and that it was delicious. She looks forward to reading other people's opinions on QuestionBox.

Ayaka Komatsu Appeared in New Drama!

Ayaka Komatsu (Sailor Venus in PGSM) just finished playing a waitress on the NTV Drama Bambino. This show was about a college student who travels to Tokyo's upper class district of Roppongi from his home in Fukuoka to work in an Italian restaurant. He aspires to be the best Italian chef, and endures many hardships in this new place. Ayaka played Minakawa Kozue, a waitress whose smile could warm even the saddest of souls. The show just ended a few weeks ago, however it was very popular with viewers, scoring at least 2.5 million plays! The show has been renewed for a second season, and Ayaka will be returning in her role. We saw the show's first episode and really like it, so along with the Mop Girl recaps, we hope to bring you recaps of this show.

Aya Sugimoto Tries Her Hand At Flamenco!


Aya Sugimoto (Queen Beryl in PGSM) is best known for being a writer of novels for the older crowd. We just learned she has in fact, returned to the TV screen, as a Flamenco Dancer! She appears in the video Hoshi no Flamenco by the Japanese-Spanish Flamenco sensation Rayito. We found the video here, and we really liked it. The premise of the video was very simple but her dance added a nice touch to it. We especially liked the use of the kaleidoscope view of her dancing. The song is a sad one about a man who misses his girlfriend. It was a pleasant surprise to hear of this sighting and we think Rayito does a very good job of merging Spanish Flamenco with Japanese lyrics.

Masaya Kikawada in New Movie About Physics!

This made me squeal with academic delight when I read this. Masaya Kikawada (Motoki in PGSM) plays the genius Airi in Kamisama no Puzzle. This movie is about some students of physics who want to work out the mysteries of the "God Particle" (the particle that began our universe). Airi is a genius, but argues the other side saying that it cannot be found. The film was well written so anyone could watch it, even if they didn't understand physics (they would learn what they needed to know in this movie). Unfortunately, Kadokawa Pictures is not doing very much promotion for it, and we're a little dismayed. Masaya has had quite a few notable roles over the last few years (especially with his work in Kamen Rider) and there should have been a little more. Besides, we like it when Masaya plays someone smart!