Voice of a Murderer

그놈 목소리 (Voice of a Murderer) is a South Korean crime-thriller drama movie that is the fictionalized version of a real kidnapping in 1991. The movie was released in 2007.

Story: Han Kyung-bae is a famous news anchor of the 9PM news. His wife Oh Ji-sun is a Christian who tries to make their chubby Han Sang-woo lose weight. One day Sang-woo goes out to the playground and doesn't come back home. His mother tries to reach friends and family but during the night it becomes clear that Sang-woo disappeared without a trace. The kidnapper calls the father and gives clear instructions on what to do so the parents will get their son back alive. However, soon Ji-sun informs the police and a special task force is set up under detective Kim Wook-jung to find the young boy.

Cast: Sol Kyung-gu as Han Kyung-bae and Kim Nam-joo as Oh Ji-sun were really good in the roles of the parents who try to do everything to save their son. It was a realistic way of portraying desperate parents and both actors put their feelings into those roles.
Kim Young-chul as Kim Wook-jung was also really good when it came to portraying the feelings of his personal situation - for example in a trunk to always be with the father in his car - showing how much energy this case cost the police force as well. While he was of course not as emotionally involved as the parents having a child himself he did work hard to try and get the boy back.
Ko Su-hee as Cha Su-hee brought some funny aspect to this movie in parts while it still kept it's serious atmosphere. Song Young-chang as Captain No tried to keep a rather calm atmosphere around him and to give the parents some hope and safety.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Kwang-gyu, Kang Dong-won and Yoon Je-moon.

So I did like this movie in some way. The story was interesting and it is definitely not something to take lightly. It was good to watch but left a bitter taste behind. Some parts were filmed very shakily so it would've been nice to hold the camera a little more still and pay more attention to the way it was filmed. As the story, setting and acting were good I would give this a 7/10 rating.

My Tutor Friend 2

동갑내기 과외하기 레슨 II (My Tutor Friend: Lesson 2) is a South Korean movie directed by Kim Ho-jung and Ji Kil-woong and was released on April 19th 2007.

Story: Junko Kitano is an exchange student from Japan who plans to study in Korea to find Woo-sung and learn the Korean language. She lives in a guesthouse in which the friendly owner is cooking for his son and the tenants. At some point she finds out that the room she rented is actually the room of the owner, Heo Jong-man. She plans on leaving the guesthouse but Jong-man's father offers her a package deal - he makes Jong-man teach Junko Korean. Since Jong-man doesn't want to tutor the exchange student, he gets her into a lot of trouble and the two start fighting each other..

Cast: Lee Chung-ah is in this movie as Kitano Junko. I openly admit that my Japanese is not that good so I don't know how good she was at Japanese but acting as if she's at a beginner level when it comes to speaking her own language seems kind of difficult to me. Of course it is her job as an actress but I found it believable (I even checked whether she was Korean-Japanese mixed or something). Park Ki-woong as Heo Jong-man was also really nice to watch, someone working hard because of a sad past. He's a talented actor and his acting in this movie in general was good though I sometimes felt it was overdone - but then again it was supposed to be a comedy.
Jong-man's father Heo Ha-ryong was played by Lee Young-ha and I really loved this kind of father-son-relationship. It was some chaos but it was somehow cute and that's what actually makes things more interesting and somewhat more realistic (though not all parents occasionally insult their children in playful ways I guess).


After all this movie is more realistic than the first one though it is not always a good idea to travel to another country to find someone you loved.
A 7.5/10 rating seems to work well in my opinion. The movie is funny but does have it's serious moments so sometimes it loses some of it's strength but it's still pretty much alright.

Recommended to Rom-com fans and of course fans of the lead actors!

1 Litre of Tears

1リットルの涙 (1 Litre of Tears, 1 Litre no namida) is a Japanese drama series that aired from October 11th to December 20th 2005 on Fuji TV.

Story: The drama tells the story of Aya Ikeuchi, a young girl at the age of 15 who enters the highschool she wanted to along with her best friend. After tripping often lately, her mother, Shioka Ikeuchi, is worried and takes Aya to see a doctor, Hiroshi Mizuno, who diagnoses her with spinocerebellar degeneration. Though Shioka meets many other doctors as well as the specialist about this disease, the reality that it cannot be cured remains. She didn't tell Aya, but in the meantime the girl is able to figure out what's going on with her body on her own. One day when visitting Dr. Mizuno again, the information she found becomes reality - she won't be able to walk or speak or write and will be bedridden someday. "Why did the disease chose me?" As her everyday activities become more difficult, she even has to leave her friends and can't realize her dream to graduate from Higashikou anymore. But the young woman refuses to give up hope, also because of Haruto Asou whom she met on the day of her entrance exam and though the two of them didn't get along that well at first became a reliable friend.

Cast: Erika Sawajiri does a brilliant job as Aya Ikeuchi. She's fighting for her freedom, her life and in the end for her body to remain hers. Not being able to control her body anymore is a nightmare and I usually felt how thankful she was towards her friends and family but in the same time she was so sorry for being a burden to those around her. Also Ryo Nishikido as Haruto Asou is good in this one. I don't know if I would describe his acting as excellent. Sometimes he seems a little too cold, especially when he's more or less rebelling against his father but the scenes with Haruto and Aya were always nice to watch and I loved their friendship - I won't say love because not even once it is officially stated they are dating - we only know that they like each other. A lot.
My favorite actors in this series were actually Hiroko Yakushimaru and Takanori Jinnai as Aya's parents, Shioka and Mizuo Ikeuchi. Parents fighting for their child, trying to comfort her though they are in pain as well. Especially Aya's father has difficulties accepting the truth about the disease and though he tries to not show that he's in pain sometimes, when Aya's not around, it still comes through. As for Aya's mom, it's almost the same. She's trying hard to be strong in front of her children so they won't worry too much but then again her pain comes through while she's still fighting.
Naohito Fujiki as Hiroshi Mizuno is the doctor caring for Aya and while at first he's the one to accept the fact that he can't cure the disease, Aya becomes someone to make him go forward and work and research much more than before because he wants to cure the young woman.
Riko Narumi as Ako Ikeuchi at first seems like a rebellious teenager who wants attention from her parents because Aya always was the number one in the family. As she didn't seem to care too much at first, she's trying hard to help her sister later and even wants to try and get accepted at Higashikou so she can fulfill her sister's dream. The development of her character is really good and actually something one can understand. Yuma Sanada as Hiroki Ikeuchi has a lot less screentime but I somehow found him to be an interesting character as well. While he was somewhat embarrassed at first when his team mates found out about his sister 'walking strangely' he changed due to something Ako said and was sorry for hurting his precious older sister.


Soundtrack: One song became incredibly popular and I knew it belonged to this drama even before watching it - "Konayuki" by Remioromen! I still love this song a lot, especially the various versions shown in this drama. It's also known to be Aya's and Haruto's theme song.
But honestly one song made me cry. Once. "3月9日 (Sangatsu Kokonoka/ March 9th)", originally performed by Remioromen as well usually appears as a choir version. When watching Ep. 8, the very end of that episode, you might understand why this got me. Thinking about this scene still makes me cry.
Just to complete the soundtrack, there is one ballad track on the OST performed by Korean singer K/ Kang Yoon-sung called "Only human" which actually is the theme song of this drama. Combined with the pictures at the end of each episode it's beautiful but makes me feel sad as well.
After all it's a well-chosen soundtrack in my opinion.


My rating for this series is a definitely strong 9.5/10. I'm not a person who cries often when it comes to series but I admit that there were some episodes (or more endings of episodes) that got me. It's a good and strong series but with a rather slow development, especially in the beginning but it's a melodrama after all and it's not surprising. In the end, it became a lot faster and there were many times when suddenly months or even years passed by. I see why they did that though. Only watching Aya's daily routine in the hospital wouldn't have been interesting - at least not that much.

As for the special from 2007, I think it's worth watching if you enjoyed this drama a lot and want to see some moments again. The special is about two hours long but I'd just guess that roughly half of this are only flashbacks. That's why my rating for the special is only 6.5/10. It's interesting though to see how the family and Haruto dealt with the happenings as well as all those people coming to 'meet' Aya.

Takumi-kun: And The Spring Breeze Whispers

!Warning! This is a Boys Love movie - don't like it? Then ignore it.

そして春風にささやいて (And The Spring Breeze Whispers), also known as the first part of the Takumi-kun series, is a Japanese movie that was released in 2007. The whole movie series is based on a manga series of the same name.

Story: As soon as the new year begins, Saki Giichi and Takumi Hayama become roommates. Gii confesses to Takumi quite early and tries his best to safe him but also gets closer to Takumi by accepting his "human-phobia" that is caused by traumatic events in the past. But Izumi Takabayashi, who has a crush on Gii, as well as Daisuke Nozaki, who asks Takumi out, try to interfere. Shozo Akaike, a close friend of Gii, meanwhile supports the two of them.

Cast: Sadly, the first movie is the only one with this main couple. We have Tomo Yanagishita as Takumi Hayama and Keisuke Kato as Giichi Saki. I would've loved to see the two of them in the other movies as well just because they are too adorable together. They're one of the really few couples in Boys Love movies that do have an impressive chemistry. Anyways~
The opposing characters Izumi Takabayashi and Daisuke Nozaki were played by Yasuka Saito and Tetsuya Makita. I usually don't like that kind of characters and I didn't really like them in here as well - I can deal with Takabayashi though - but as actors those two made a really good job I think.
The last one I need to mention is the saving grace also known as Shozo Akaike played by Yukihiro Takiguchi. I remember that even when I've watched the movie for the first time I really liked his character so much. Yes, he seems like a creeper sometimes just appearing out of nowhere but without Shozo it probably wouldn't have worked at all. Cheering for him all along.

Soundtrack: There is just one thing I need to mention when it comes to the soundtrack. I love the way how the classical music was used as well as the usage of silence, especially in the end.

9.5/10 is my rating for one of my absolute favorite Boys Love movies. This movie is just so cute and if you're into romance and don't mind watching Boys Love, than this is definitely something for you. Rewatch value? Ha ha, nice try. I've been watching this time back in 2010 and I loved it. I think I've watched the first part around five times back then. Now, after all those years, I still find myself loving this movie for various reasons. It has some of the best movie scenes I've ever seen combining chemistry, setting and music/silence.
Why only 9.5/10 then? Well, it does have some flaws. For example the logic in some parts - or the lack of that so-called logic. Usually, when living in a dormitory, students shouldn't walk around at night or they're going to get into big trouble. But then again I don't remember seeing any teacher except for the music teacher (who was around for like 20 seconds).

And now a round of free "aaaaaawwwwwww" feelings for everyone~ Reasons why I love this onscreen couple part 2.:

This is one of my all-time-favorite scenes! So much love for this!

Boys Love 2 - Schoolboy Crush

 !Warning! This is a Boys Love movie - don't like it? Then ignore it.

BOYS LOVE 劇場版 (Boys Love, the Movie; later retitled as Schoolboy Crush) was created after the success of the first Boys Love movie. It was released in 2007.
However, except for sharing the title both movies are different, therefore you don't need to watch one part to understand the other.

Story: Kairo Aoi is a teacher at a prestigious all boys school. After he gets dumped by his ex-girlfriend he spends some time with Sora Amakami, a young man who's selling his body. Soon after that, the two of them meet again - Sora transfers into his class so Kairo has to deal with the possibility of being caught having a personal relationship with a student.
Sora's roommate, Ichiyou Mizuki, is one of the best students and falls for Sora. But Riku Hanazono, whose relationship with Ichiyou is complicated, ends up being jealous of Sora.

Cast: There is indeed something - or rather someone - connected to the first movie in this one. Once again Yoshikazu Kotani can be seen as one of the lead characters, Kairo Aoi. Comparing this one to the first part, he seems to be more comfortable though his character still shows some strange behaviors - but that's okay since his character finds himself endangered. The other male lead character, Sora Amakami, is played by Atsumi Kanno - and he is self-confident in this role. Sure it's about the confident character but he definitely knows how to leave a good impression in this movie.
Other than that we have Yuuki Kawakubo as Ichiyou Mizuki and Kazunori Tani as Riku Hanazono. While the relationship between their characters seems to be a mess at first and Riku definitely isn't a charming character, there was something about their acting that captured my attention.
After all I'd say the acting in this one seems a lot better and more natural than in the first movie though sure there are some exaggerations.


Personally, I gave this movie a rating of 8.5/10 because actually I think the taboo of a teacher-student-relationship is something really interesting. It even inspired me to write some stories but then again I admit that it's not a really unique story. However, watching the movie again after four to five years definitely won't influence my rating for the worse - I actually gave an even better rating nowadays than I did earlier. Some parts made me laugh, others were really sad, but this moving definitely has a story deeper than the first one.