"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! 

My Nishida Hikaru Top 50 Song List!

I've been in love with Nishida Hikaru and her music ever since I first heard her single "Melody" way back in 1996, and since then I've cherished just about every single thing she's ever done, her music ranking up there in my Top Five Favorite J-Pop artists of All-Time!!

Besides featuring some of the catchiest, poppiest and at time sad and lovely songs, every one of Hikaru's albums and singles also have an incredible amount of sentimental significance for me, so when I was asked recently which songs of hers were in my Top Ten, I knew it wouldn't be a query I could answer without some difficulty!

In fact, when I came right down to it, I couldn't do a fave list without any less than fifty positions, because there were just too darn many songs I loved that were of equal  appreciation, and in the end, the best I could do was give a sort of "general" placement of the songs in the list.

By that I mean that a song ranked at, say, #11 isn't necessarily more loved than a song at #13, but probably more beloved than a song at #33 or so. But let's face it, I love everything Hikaru's done, and the list is merely a fun thing to look at to "spotlight" the songs of hers that have meant more to me and have gone even beyond beloved in my book!!

Z's 西田 ひかる TOP FIFTY SONG LIST! :)

01-  Kokoro Dake Soba ni Iru ~Here In My Heart  /Esprit

02- Namida Tomaranai    /Sundance

03-  Kimi No Yukini Kampai    /Esprit

04- Oh My God!!~Dane    /Tokimeki No Prologue

05- Dear My Soul     /2-4

06- Ikiterutte Subarashii   /19 Dreams

07- Miracle   / Love Always

08- Don’t Worry Yourself    /Esprit

09- Melody   (single)

10- Meguriai   /19 Dreams

11-  Hohoemi ni Yakusoku     /19 Dreams

12-  Once Upon A Time     /A File Of Life

13-  Tokimeite     /Esprit

14-  Racuen Densetsu   /A File Of Life

15-  Jibun Rashiku Nareru    /A File Of Life

16-  Dear My Friends   /Sundance

17-  Sore ga Hajimari   /A File Of Life

18-  C’mon C’mon C’mon    /A File Of Life

19-  Tenshi Kara No Telepathy  /Esprit

20-  Aru Asa, Koi ni Tsuite Kangaetakoto   /A File Of Life

21-  A Song For You  /Sundance

22-  Yes   /Esprit

23-  Happy Ever After   /Love Always

24-  I'm Alright ~Yasashiku Naritai~   /2-4

25-  Watashi Dake Hero     /Esprit

26-  Watashi No No.1    /2-4

27-  Juliet No Kuchibue     /Clear

28-  Kitto Aiga Aru    /Love Always

29-  Happy Dream     /19 Dreams

30-  Koi Wa Shiroi T-Shirt   (single)

31-  Til The End Of Time   /19 Dreams

32-  Tomodachi ni Naritai   /19 Dreams

33-  Nakushita Kunai no Anata o   (single)

34-  Mamoritai no...   /Love Always

35-  BIBIDEBU/  Love Always

36-  Tsukiyo Ni Kiganjuu    /Tokimeki No Prologue

37-  Sukida to Iwareta   /19 Dreams

38-  Kagayaki! Kudasai    /Sundance

39-  Suki de... Suki de... Suki na no   /2-4

40-  Dolphin Christmas    /Love Always

41-  Pun Pun Pun    /Tokimeki No Prologue

42-  Totsuzen no Natsu  2-4

43-  Truth   (single)

44-  Madobe No Secret   (single)

45-  Nice Catch     /Clear

46-  Iin Jyanai    (single)

47-  Go Beep!   (single)

48-  Natural Summer Days   /Silhouette

49-  Little Chance     /Clear

50-  Fifteen     /Clear

Notes:

Looking over this list, it is pretty apparent which Hikaru Albums are my favorites! The list leans quite favorably towards her middle albums, the ones that I consider her “peak” releases: Esprit, 19 Dreams, Sundance and Love Always, with a handful of faves from later releases like A File Of Life, and the album that came out just as I was getting into her, Two-Four.

The releases that seem to appear less on my list are Hikaru’s early albums, Clear, Silhouette and Tokimeki No Prologue, where I always felt like she was still developing her own style and still sounding like the electronic j-pop of the early 80’s. It wasn’t until Esprit came along that I feel she came into herself, and from there, there was no stopping her!

A couple of albums that don’t appear at all here are Hikaru’s two latest releases, Shiawase No Katachi and Love For All Seasons, and it’s not for lack of great songs. Though all the tracks on these albums are terrific tunes, because they came so much later than the previous albums, I simply haven’t got a chance to get as sentimentally attached to them as the others. Yet!

Another Hikaru Book I Don't Have: P-Can Island

 

P-Can Island is another Hikaru book I don't have nor know too much about. 

I mentioned this before, but seeing Hikaru with her Short Boy cut always unnerves me as I've always known her with long hair, LOL

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!

Shonen Sunday 1992.12

 

Shonen Sunday 1992

 

An Afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida CD singles.

Spent a pleasant afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida 8cm singles into MP3s. When I first got my Ipod, the Nishida Hikaru CDs were among the first CDs to get the MP3 treatment, but I didn’t get around to digging out the singles until now. I’d put it off for as long as I ccould, but there were a few singles (like fave song Melody, et al) that didn’t appear on any of her albums proper, and I really needed to get those onto my player! Not only that, but one of the great things about those old Pony Canyon singles was the fact that most of them were BACKED by songs that weren’t featured on any of her albums either, and some of them were pretty darn awesome!
One thing that struck me as I was taking them out of their cases and ripping/scanning them was just how BEAUTIFUL some of the covers were! Hikaru was an idol of the highest degree, of course, and the photographers always made the very most of each shoot, producing some of the prettiest covers ever! Here are scans of just a few of my faves.
Besides the covers, some of the CD singles had cute little bonuses like cards and (in one strange instance) an unusual “Hikaru All- Access Pass”(!) What in the world was this supposed to give me aceess TO?! Ahahahahaa! Some cd singles even seemed to be given the “deluxe” treatment, and in particular, the CD single for Hikaru’s single “Tokimeite” had this elaborate fold out cover with pretty pictures of Hikaru throughout, packaging that made one wonder if Pony Canyon was making any money on the sale of these singles after spending so much on the presentation!

When I got into Hikaru Nishada (around 1996), I was lucky enough to get all her albums (at that point she had just released the awesome “2-4”) 90% of her concert videos, and about 80% of her singles, as well! If memory serves, I think that by the time I discovered the Used J-Pop CD store Otokichi Preium, I only needed to get two or three singles (and one concert) to complete my Hikaru Nishida collection!

In 1994, Pony Canyon released a CD collection called “The Very Best Of Hikaru”, which featured many of the elusive B-sides like Koi Wa Shiroi T-Shirt and Truth, but a single CD just wasn’t enough space to cover them all, not to mention all the singles and b-sides that came out after 1994! So tracking down the actual singles seems to be the only way to get em all! Besides, when the CD packaging and artwork is so nice, it really makes it worth the effort!

Hikaru ‘s last album release was the sweet “Love For All Seasons”, and her last single was “Sorairo”, way back in 2000, almost ten years now! She left the biz for a bit to get married and raise her family and though we’re extremely happy for her, we’re still waiting for her to stop by again with some new tunes!

Favorite Hikaru Singles: Watashi No No.1~ You're the Only One~

A Svelte and SEXY Hikaru belting out the SASSY "Watashi No no.1" off of her album two-four:

.

Oh My look how SLINKY she is here....Same outfit she was wearing in the PV, oh my heart..

I remember back in the day, the ONLY live performance I ever saw of Hikaru doing this song was for some special where she sang to a sumo wrestler who looked on with mild boredom, LOL...

this perf is MUCH better!!!!

Nishida Hikaru Video Clips "HIKARU"

 
Part 2 of Hikaru's best and only (at the time) PV Collection was called "Hikaru Video Clips Since 1993, and featured:

１．涙 止まらない

２．きっと愛がある

３．人生変えちゃう夏かもね

４．C'mon³!

５．Go! Paradise

６．私のNO.1 ～You're the only one～

Along with her PVs, the video was filled with CMs and promo clips for her singles, and, as I've mentioned many times before, in the promo for Kitto Ai ga Aru, Hikaru actually rode her bicycle right past the old apartment where I was living at the time!

So crazy- If you look here in this screencap, see the window on the second floor? That's my apartment and that's my air conditioner for my bedroom!! If only I'd looked out the window at the time!

I moved out of there some time ago and the last time I drove by it, the entire Apartment had been gutted and renovated and turned into a bank!

Nishida Hikaru Video Clips: "NISHIDA"

As I had mentioned before, my introduction to Hikaru performing was through a Japanese broadcast of "Music Fair" where she did her single "Melody" as well as a medley of oldies. After that, I managed to get my hands on her back catalog of music (and fell in love instantly), but I had never seen any of her music promotion videos until I got hert twin VHS set "Hikaru Nishida Video Clips". Part One was called "Nishida" Video Clips Since 1988 and featured:

１．フィフティーン

２．Nice-Catch!

３．Natural Summer days

４．オーマイゴッド!!だね

５．ときめいて

６．生きてるって 素晴らしい

７．輝き! ください

Hikaru BOMB Cover 1995

 

Ah, BOMB Magazine, truly the bible of generations of fanboys for decades!!