Hikaru in "Renai Kekkon No Rule"

Was going through some old episodes the the excellent 1997 drama "Renai Kekkon No Rule" for a post about stars Kyoko Koziumi and Satomi Kobayashi, but couldn't help snapping a few shows of our lovely Ms. Nishida who had a support role in the show....

Though the drama centered around Koziumi and Toshiro Yanagiba, a side story is about Toshiro's old father (Soichiro Kitamura) marrying a much younger woman. And that woman was portrayed by Hikaru! Sadly the old geezer is set in his "old school" chauvinistic ways, and it's up to the support of Kyoko and Satomi to come to her defense and tell those guys how to treat a lady in the modern era!

Below: Hikaru constantly asking for help from the dynamic duo of Kyoko Koizumi and Satomi Kobayashi

Thankfully, the two ladies help smooth things over so the mismatched couple can have a "happy end"!

Awwww...Can't have better friends than this!

This was, as I recall, one of the last times I saw Hikaru in any J-dramas for awhile, too bad as she was such a great talent! Oh well, she could focus back on her singing career, and her 1998 album "Shiawase no Katachi" was just on the horizon!

Depart! Natsu Monogatari

 Was watching a compilation of J-drama Theme Song Opening/Ending credits and found out for the first time that Hikaru's song "Tokimeite" was the theme song for an earlier 1991 version of her 1996 drama Natsu! Depart Monogatari, called "Depart! Natsu Monogatari"!

Seemed to follow the same set-up as the 1996 drama, only instead of Tatsuya Yamaguchi as the newbie in love with Hikaru Nishida's character Sayuri, it's a very young Masahiro Takashima(!)

PS: 

On the SAME compilation, I saw that Hikaru had appeared in some other show called "High-Leg Queen Romane", featuring Hikaru in all her swimsuit cheesecake glory!!! WHOA!

Ya learn something new every day!

Favorite Hikaru J-Dramas: Chance! (1993)

Chance

[1993]

The story of a washed-up rock superstar attempting as comeback, Chance stars Mikami Hiroshi as egotistical and unwieldy rock musician Yuji, while Nishida Hikaru plays Aoi, the girl forced into the role of his ever-suffering manager and caretaker…and eventually, the only one who truly believes he can really make a comeback!

With wonderful songs by Toshinobu Kubota, this  is one really sweet drama, one I really wish more people had the chance to check out. Chance! was an early show written by the “Queen Of Romance Dramas” Eriko Kitagawa, who would later go on to pen both “Long Vacation And Aishiteiru To Ittekure”!

I remember I had tried to get my friend Golden to watch Hikaru's previous drama "Ue O Muite Aruko" but he stopped watching it 'cause he said his Mom though it was too wacky. I then gave him this drama, saying it was a more serious drama and very, very good, but he refused to watch it, D'oh!

Well, it's his loss. Chance is such a great little drama.

"Ue O Muite Aruko"

When I first got into J-pop, the J-pop Buyer  at work made me a cassette (the first of many, it would turn out) of the latest j-pop singles out at the time, and it was then that I first heard artists I would later come to love, like Nakayama Miho, Hiramatsu Eri, and Koizumi Kyoko!

Anyway, the mix began with an explosive little number called “Shiawase Wo Tsukamitai (which I’ve gushed about in an earlier post) by quirky singer/songwriter Hirose Kohmi, and that wasn’t all, as the second song on that cassette mix was yet another Kohmi song, but this one was a lot more fun and playful, a GREAT contrast to the previous ROCKIN’ tune!

 The song was called “Dramatic Ni Koishite” and for a while I ‘d thought my friend had simply put the Shiawase Wo Tsukamitai single and its B side together,(as they almost seemed connected) but it wasn’t, as I was to find out when I actually purchased the Shiawase Tsukamitai single and found a DIFFERENT song entirely as the B side! It wasn’t until I picked up Kohmi’s stellar HARVEST album that I finally GOT the happy Dramatic Ni Koishite tune in my possession!

Anyway, fast forward a few years, and I’m not only quite heavily into j-dramas, but have reached the point where I’m trading with other j-drama enthusiasts online. It was there that I hooked up with someone who had a copy of a wacky little comedy called UE O MUITE ARUKO, which I was DYING to see because of my burning love for its lead star, Nishida Hikaru!

Nishida Hikaru in Ue O Muite Aruko

 Ue O Muite Aruko is the story of a gofer named Chiaki (Nishida) at a zany TV station where she’s the perpetual slave to the station’s snobby and bossy Sports Commentator played by Tachi Hiroshi; from the get go, they are at each other’s throats, and the running gag is that he calls her “Kobuta” (Piggy) and she retaliates by calling him “Wani”!  With a supporting cast that included Katsunori Takahashi, Ishida Yuriko, the ever-zany Ibu Masato, as well as a very young Tomosaka Rie, this show was as fun as it could get!

Nishida Hikaru as Chiaki "Kobuta" Hosoi

And with every fun drama, comes an equally fun theme song and opening credits, right? In this show, I was kind of expecting the theme song to be the latest single from Hikaru herself, or (most likely) some rendition of the famous Kyu Sakamoto song that the show was named after! So I’m sitting there watching the show, and as it goes into its wacky opening credits, who do I hear, but Ms. KOHMI HIROSE, belting out DRAMATIC NI KOISHITE!

 I just fell over- THAT SONG WAS JUST PERFECT!!!! Sooo much fun as the song follows Nishida Hikaru battling against Tachi Hiroshi in the grand  “Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner style- it REALLY matches the visuals as the two chase each other across the cartoon town, ultimately coming to a Three-Stooges-style ending with the title proclaiming (in “Looney Tunes font): The KOBUTA and WANI Show!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Below: Hikaru, Hiroshi Tachi and Yuriko Ishida magazine promotion for Ue Wo Muite Aruko!

This must have been only the fourth or fifth drama Yuriko Ishida ever did...who could have guessed from these humble beginnings what a terrific career she had ahead of her!

"Ren'ai Kekkon No Rule"

“Renai Kekkon No Rule is the story of an average but goodhearted man named Koichi who’s just looking for someone who he can spend time with, a “nice girl”, if you will. He goes on a dating-service meeting, and meets the girl of his dreams in Asako (Koizumi). They seemingly hit it off, much to Toshiro’s delight, but it all comes crashing down when he realizes SHE has no interest in seeing HIM!

Fate seems to have other plans, however, and time after time the two cross paths and before you know it, they are thoroughly intertwined in each other’s lives and affairs, both literally AND figuratively! Along with Toshiro’s overbearing relations and Kyoko’s meddling co-workers and friends, it’s a crazy mish-mash of plotting, deception and…falling in love!!!

The actors in this show are all top notch, with a cast that includes Koizumi Kyoko and Yanagiba Toshiro as the leads, with an incredible supporting cast filled out with Kashiwabara Takashi, Koyuki (in her first ever drama!) and Hikaru Nishida as the young love of Toshiro’s FATHER(! )

One thing that always seemed clear to me is that the actors and actresses involved in Renai Kekkon No Rule were having FUN shooting this drama, and there's no better evidence of this than this HILARIOUS NG montage clip I got off one of those NG shows. 

Hikaru and actor Soichi Kitamura appeared on one of those NG Happening shows where they show all the drama bloopers of the past season, to laugh at their flubs on Renai kekkon...

Watch as Kobayashi Satomi bangs into tables, forgets her lines and Kyonkyon and Toshiro crack up, Hikaru-chan forget her lines when she is distracted by crispy nori being eaten, and the hilarity the ensues when the guy who plays Toshiro's Pop keeps forgetting it's his turn to talk! TOO FUNNY!!!!

Even after all these years, Renai Kekkon No Rule remains  one of my Top Ten Japanese Dramas of all time, and as the years go by, it becomes even more and more precious to me! 

BOMB Magazine 1995

I had initially picked up this 1995 issue of idol magazine BOMB because it contained a nice pictorial of CoCo Member Rieko Miura, but I was pleased to discover that it also contained a nice set with Hikaru!

As these behind the scenes pics show, Hikaru was in the middle of shooting "Natsu! Depart Monogatari", the comedy with TOKIO's Tatsuya Yamaguchi that featured her song "C'mon,C'mon,C'mon" as the ending theme!

BOMB really was CHOCK full of good stuff for the budding J-pop/Idol enthusiast!

Favorite Hikaru Singles: C'mon, C'mon, C'mon

The theme song for the wacky drama Natsu! Depart Monogatari starring Tatsuya Yamaguchi of TOKIO fame as the bumbling but hard working department store clerk whose dream is to become a first rate employee and date the daughter of the company, played by Hikaru Nishida!

Though this show was fun and entertaining, I must warn anyone wanting to check this drama out for the sole purpose of seeing Nishida Hikaru: She's hardly in it at ALL! Far from what you might think by the promotional picture. (above) Hikaru only appears at random points in the show to smile at or encourage Yamaguchi as he bumbles earnestly through the latest problem! Sigh...but she does look nice when she's onscreen!

C'mon, C'mon, C'mon (or rather, C'mon3, as it's REALLY titled) played during the ending credits as the cast members all gathered together at the beach to play volleyball, followed by the TOKIO song “Soko Na Shi Love” as the previews for the next week’s episode ran...

Maybe it was the visual of the kids playing volleyball and having fun or the sheer poppiness of the song, but this tune always seemed like a really “genki” song, sure to put a smile on your face!

A nice bonus to picking up the C’mon3 single was the c/w song called “Go Beep”, which is a great, catchy little song she performed live on the “Live 2-4” tour that isn’t available on any album!

Below: Behind The Scenes via BOMB Magazine:

BOMB really was CHOCK full of good stuff for the budding J-pop/Idol enthusiast!

Favorite Hikaru Singles: "Melody"

My first exposure to Nishida Hikaru was through a zany comedy on NGN called “Natsu! Depart Monogatari” starring TOKIO’s Tatsuya Yamashita and Hikaru. Though it barely showed Hikaru at all in it (more of a cameo character), she did sing the ending song "C'mon, C'mon, C'mon," which piqued my interest!

Then during a chance viewing on MUSIC FAIR, I caught Hikaru singing a variation of Oldies with fellow guests Uchida Yuki and a woman whose name I can't recall for the life of me , including an extremely cute rendition of "Kissing On The Phone", before she broke out her new single “Melody”…and boy, did that voice blow me away! Sultry and silky, I had to have that single, so I immediately went out and got it!

It could have ended there, but I loved that song  so much (as well as the Natsu Depart Monogatari song),that I was DYING to hear her other stuff!

At the same time, Golden, the Tower Records J-pop buyer in town, told me he'd ordered Hikaru's entire catalog of stuff, which got sent to the wrong store and did I want to go along with him and pick it up? Hell YEAH! Seeing All of Hikaru's wonderful back-catalog, I couldn't WAIT to purchase them and start DIGGING IN!

Clear, Esprit, Nineteen Dreams, Silhouette, Sundance, File Of Life, Love Always…. Over time, I managed to acquire her entire back catalog of CDs and Singles, (through such outlets as Tower Records, Shirokiya's BOOK OFF and the good old OTOKICHI PREMIUM), and I have to tell you that each and every CD and single has incredible sentimental value to me. I’d just moved to another town, and I spent many days taking walks around the neighborhood, listening to my walkman, Hikaru as my only and dearest companion!

Probably my greatest Hikaru moment was watching a video collection of hers. In the PV for her song “Kitto Aiga Aru”, she is riding her bicycle through what I immediately recognized as my own town! She rode past my neighborhood park, down my street, and THEN RIGHT PAST MY APARTMENT! I was in utter shock! Hikaru-chan had ridden right by my house ! Where the heck was I at that time?! :)

Hikaru-chan rides past my apartment!

I know that you all are wondering how it is that I even can tell that it's my apartment Hikaru's ridin' past in this screen capture. While it's true that there really isn't too much to go on, the CM for Kitto Aiga Aru shows a few different camera angles of this scene, including a pulled-back shot where you can clearly see Hikaru and my humble abode! AHAHAHAHAHA!