Japanese or Korean actors who could play Doctor Who

In the UK right now, a major cultural shift is taking place: the actor who plays the lead role in Doctor Who (technically speaking the character is called “The Doctor”, not “Doctor Who”) is stepping down, and now we have months of speculation about the future of the show and who will take over.

So, as I was wondering who I’d like to see in the role, I thought, if language were no barrier, which Japanese or Korean actors could take the role? Who has the required air of alien-ness and childlike qualities? This is the list I came up with. It's in order from "unlikely" to "you know, I think this might work!"


Nukumizu Youichi

One of my favourite actors, even if he only ever plays one role: the downtrodden ordinary man. But I think he’d be good at this. Something about his self-deprecating sense of humour appeals. I’m not sure how good he’d be at action scenes, though.

Kimura Takuya

To be honest, he’s practically already played Dr Who. His performance in Mr Brain was a great example of eccentric genius, all nervous smiles and sudden bursts of energy. And his character’s constant bemusement at how other people think or feel is another aspect that I found quite Doctor-ish. The down side is that he never does two series of the same show, effectively ruling him out for this role.

Abe Hiroshi

Putting to one side the fact that Abe Hiroshi could play any role and be brilliant, I think he’d be great in this. He has physical presence, but also a subtlety in his acting which I think would fit perfectly.

Kuriyama Chiaki

I poo-pooh the idea that the Doctor must be played by a man (otherwise the British Empire will fall or something like that) and I’d be very pleased if producer Steve Moffat chooses a woman for the next series. And if so, why not the striking and unique Kuriyama Chiaki. She's a decent actress who knows how to do an action scene.

Bae Doo Na

In Air Doll, the role she played was of a newcomer to a strange world, and I think she has the right qualities of slight eccentricity and vulnerability necessary for playing the Doctor. Maybe her boyfriend (?) Jim Sturgess can convince her to go for the part.

Odagiri Joe

Slightly alien air about him? Check. Eccentric taste in roles? Check. Can do comedy and drama, even in the same scene? Check. Well, I can’t find anything wrong with this idea. Plus, he speaks English (at least, he studied drama in the US). He could actually do this! Please? Pretty please? Someone send the producers of Dr Who a link to this page, and then when he gets the job, you can all thank me later.

Watching again: Camouflage: Aoi Yu x Yottsu no Uso

There comes a point in life when funerals start to outnumber weddings. A recent death in the family is, I think, the point in my life when that begins to become true.

The evening when I heard the news was strange. It was too late in the day to get a train to go to my family and so I was rattling around in my flat, not knowing what to do. I needed some background noise to distract myself, and I returned to the first story (eps 1-3) of Camouflage.

The story is about how a woman deals with the sudden death of her boyfriend. It’s always been a favourite, and this time it seemed especially appropriate and comforting. That evening I watched it all the way through twice.

Episode three especially caught my attention. In this her cat turns into a middle aged man. She is appalled about how un-catlike he is in human form, and somewhat surprised about his simple way of thinking. While cat owners like to think of their pets as enigmatic and wise, this episode portrays them as a bit frumpy and dumb.

It’s touching and funny, especially her appalled reactions to the cat/old man who she used to pet and cuddle. But despite this, they start talking and as they do, he shows how his owner can overcome her grieving.

Strictly speaking, the episode is just a story written by the boyfriend who dies in episode one so it never really happens, but the meaning is clear: it’s okay to go for a day without recalling their memory - that doesn't make you a bad person. It’s a sweet little tale, and is (as I’ve said before) my most-watched piece of drama. It never gets old and, as I move through life, it seems to teach me something new every time.

Just finished: BOSS 2

*spoilers, in a manner of speaking... *

It couldn’t last, I suppose. The early promise lasted up until episode ten, but in the extended finale BOSS ran out of steam. One of the team is shot and seriously wounded, yet no one seems very upset by this. Certainly not the writers, who only give him a couple of thirty-second scenes to finish off his story.

Episode ten ended on high drama with everyone arrested on a variety of charges, but by the end of the first ten minutes of episode eleven, our heroes were set free thanks to a friendly superior. After that it was business as usual.

The last episode felt most like first series of BOSS, with a lot of mock drama but no real sense that anyone was in danger. The sudden appearance of another enemy to be defeated was fairly predictable once I’d realised they’d caught everybody but there were still fifteen minutes left to go.

The team discuss the case. Meanwhile, that's a very nice-looking screensaver

So, a bit of a disappointment at the end. And the final scene has Amami Yuki striding purposefully through an airport again. Only this time she is interrupted by a character from another drama. I have no idea what all that was about.

The final caption seemed to promise further episodes. Well, I suppose I'll watch them, but I'm not holding my breath.

Still watching: BOSS 2

A sudden but welcome return to work means my opportunities to watch J-dramas have decreased. And so has my chance to learn Japanese, since I can no longer get to the lesson on time (boo). But I need the money more than anything else, so I’ll just have to take the rough with the smooth.

However, I can be cheered up by the second series of BOSS, which has surprised me by being far better than I was expecting. From Amami Yuki’s sexy roundhouse kick during the opening credits to the solution to the crime which usually makes some kind of sense, this show is smarter and more assured than previously. Perhaps my expectations were so low that anything would’ve impressed me, but I am enjoying this a lot more than the first series.

Occasionally it slips back into it’s bad old habits. A couple of scenes with the K-pop band 2PM had nothing to do with the story at all and was nothing more than an attempt at boosting the ratings (which it didn’t, by the way) and the criminals still aren’t very threatening. But the comedy and crime-solving mix together with more confidence than last year.

Am I really going to watch: BOSS 2?

That’s the question I’m asking myself. BOSS is a comedy show and a detective show rolled into one, and I'm not convinced it's very good at either. But I like the cast and because I finished the first series I watched the first episode of BOSS 2 just to see how they continue the story of this group of hopeless yet apparently brilliant detectives.

Two years have passed since the first season, and in that time Osawa Eriko (Amami Yuki) has been to America and back. The opening two episodes deals with Kimoto Mami (Toda Erika’s character), and her departure from the show. She leaves the force in disgrace, then comes back, only to be kidnapped by a serial killer and then finally saved.

The rest of the team use clever new policing techniques to track the criminal, and the humour seems to be more obvious this time around. Perhaps that’s this shows greatest weakness: the silly jokes don’t really go with the idea of intelligent crime-solving. But there’s no reason why they shouldn’t. For example, shows like Keizoku 1 and 2, Trick, and Puzzle had some very stupid jokes in, but they also gave the characters a chance to be clever. For most of the first season of BOSS, the stories were solved by a last minute revelation or lucky discovery rather than any detective work. However, in the first two episodes of BOSS 2 there are a couple of nice ideas that makes me wonder if the writers have decided to make an effort this time.

Then again, the opening story of any series is usually its strongest, so I'm not getting my hopes up too much. It’s like when you've bought a cheap bottle of wine, and you don’t dislike it enough to stop completely, and you think maybe you'll get used to it after the next glass. That's how I feel about BOSS 2. I'll give it two more episodes... And then perhaps two more...

Just watched: The Seaside Motel

This film from 2010 follows the events of people staying in four rooms at the Seaside Motel (which is actually in the mountains) during one evening. The main stories involve a salesman who falls in love with a call girl who comes to his room by mistake, and two hoodlums interrogating someone who owes the yakuza money. There are other stories which aren’t so important except how they interact with these two, and they do so in some unlikely ways.

As a comedy, it’s mostly quite understated. Ikuta Toma and Aso Kumiko are impressive as salesman and prostitute respectively, and they have a great on-screen chemistry as the two of them try to work out if the other person is being genuine.

Other storylines have quite a different tone. For example, the scene with the guy in debt to the yakuza is played out like a typical gangster movie – the room is darker, with a lot of close-ups of sweaty, tense faces, as they await the arrival of the torturer (played by Nukumizu Youichi in a nice change to his usual roles) to finish off the interrogation.

In the end, I found myself wishing that the story had focused more on Toma and Kumiko. Although the other storylines were interesting and they way they crossed over each other was cleverly done, the real story was between these two. As such, it was an entertaining film and it was nicely shot and acted, but it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

Re-watching: Camouflage: Aoi Yu x Yottsu no Uso

Since it’s up on Silent Regrets [edit: well, it was while Silent Regrets was there...], why not write about it again?

This show from 2008 is a twelve part series containing four stories based on the theme of Lies. It’s the same concept as Ueno Juri to Itsutsu no Kaban, and perhaps is similar to this year’s Tofu Shimai, starring another upcoming actress, Yoshitaka Yuriko. I don’t know for sure because, despite my efforts, I can’t find it on the web anywhere. Sad face.

The format of each episode is that there's a short drama section which is between some interviews and specially comissioned photos. It’s a bit like watching the DVD extras of something before you’ve watched it.













Story one (episodes one to three) is great. It begins with the death of a boyfriend, and tells three stories based on the events that follow. Episode two, in which Yu’s character keeps herself asleep with pills so she can dream about him, is a favourite of mine and is an episode I keep coming back to. So is episode three, with Nukumizu Youichi as her cat who takes on human form.

While the first two are filmed in a naturalistic style, the third part is performed on a stage and filmed as a theatre piece. It neatly finishes the narrative, with the story explaining, from a cat’s point of view, the basics of being happy. I love these episodes – they’re beautifully shot and acted, and it’s interesting to note in the interview bit afterwards, Aoi Yu says she hasn’t acted in a theatre setting before so she was quite nervous.

 
Story two (eps four to six) has quite a different feel. It concerns itself with unrequited love – the boyfriend being unable to tell Yu how he feels about her. Meanwhile, Yu has a hobby (Is that the right word? How about “fetish” or “compulsion”?) of running as far and as fast as she can for ten minutes while inventing stories about why she’s running. The stories she comes up with are quite funny, and so is the bumbling boyfriend, but after the comedy the story ends on quite a tragic note. Or does it? I’m not sure I understand the ending, so I can’t really say.

Story three (eps seven to nine) is one of those pieces of drama which you don’t really like until you watch it again, and then you remember the good bits about it. The story is about three sisters who share an apartment. Episode seven is shot in the style of a sitcom, episode eight in the style of a daytime soap opera, and episode nine is supposed to be the final episode of a long running series.

It’s difficult to write about this one. The sitcom bit is funny, and the soap opera bit is over-acted (and why do they have such shiny faces in that episode?) which leaves the third part to be the sensible one, and it focuses on a confession about one of the sister’s love life. It doesn’t have much of an identity, and so it’s a bit forgettable. Until you watch it again.

Story four (eps ten to twelve) is almost as good as story one. From the same director as “One Million Yen Girl”, this is a sort of semi-sequel, as we see more of Aoi Yu’s character in the film. The first part is about a college student who is caught out on her constant lying. I really like this, not least because Aoi Yu does a bit of cosplay (as a raccoon).

The second is a real gem, and tells the tale of two of Yu’s co-workers who fall in love and, being poor, both try to sacrifice too much for the other’s happiness. The third is a tale about Aoi Yu splitting up with her unfaithful boyfriend, and not being believed when she tells people she’s not that upset about it. It’s shot in such a style that you can only Yu’s face when she's talking to others - they're shot from behind, or are standing up while she's sitting down, etc. It's quite disconcerting.

This series is certainly among my favourites. So much so that when I went to Japan, picking up a cheap (relatively speaking – it was still about £75!) DVD box set of this was on my list of things to do. By the way, that’s where I got the scans for this review from. This show is inventive and original and it's one that I often come back to, and it never gets old.

Just finished: Lost Time Life

Or Loss Time Life. Whichever title works for you.

It’s taken a while, but the last subs are out. This was the first J-drama I watched, back in early 2008, and it was a major part in making me interested in Japanese dramas. I’ve written about it before, but I felt I couldn’t let its completion pass without some kind of mention.

Kuriyama Chiaki, Sakai Wakana, Nukumizu Youichi (episode 10)

The final two-part story is actually two different stories that happen to the same person. In the first, the person dying is a bedbound president of a corrupt company and so has to rely on his daughter (played by Kuriyama Chiaki (Atami no Sousakan, Kill Bill)) to fulfil his last wishes. This story involves a former employee Omoto Yuuzo (played by Nukumizu Youichi) who then, in the second part, is visited by his ex-wife who is also dying. She asks him to make noodles, like he did when they were together.

Eita (episode one)

The show remains, to the end, very tragic and sentimental. It isn’t afraid to pull at the heart strings such that we’re moved by the reconciliation between husband and wife in the last episode, even though we know it can’t last. It reminds us of the things we could’ve done differently if we’d known what was going to happen, and also it appeals to the desire to end our lives on a positive note: with loose ends tied up, and words of love finally spoken out loud.

Ueno Juri, Nukumizu Youichi (episode 4)

 It’s also interesting watching it again, since now I can recognise more of the actors involved. Certainly, now I understand what a strong cast it had. I’ve really enjoyed this series, and am grateful that this was the first J-drama I saw. If I'd chosen something else, I may not have continued. As it was, it made me eager to discover more.

Tokiwa Takako (Kabachitare) in episode 7

Recommended: Satoshi Miki films

Several years ago, some friends and I went for a walk up a hill. It was a sort of saddle shape so it had two peaks, and once we'd reached one, we looked at the other, and decided that the other one was higher. So we set off to that one. But once we'd arrived and looked back at the other peak, we started thinking that perhaps the first one had been higher all along.

The only reason I tell this story is because that's how I felt trying to work out which of Satoshi's films I like most. Although I've only seen three, the choice is surprisingly difficult, and whenever I make a decision, I immediately start to change my mind. "Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers" is perhaps the funniest, and it has one scene with my "dream team" of J-drama together at last: Ueno Juri, Aoi Yu and Nukumizu Youichi (even if the scene is barely two minutes long). "Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia" has the best story and Kikuchi Rinko (Liar Game 2, Moteki) in it and Fuse Eri is hilarious playing a sweet-guzzling teenage boy. Lastly "Instant Swamp" makes most sense as a story (despite the flying dragons), and has the strongest lead performance from Aso Kumiko.



So take your pick. You can't go wrong, if you don't mind stories that aren't in any hurry to get to the end. Perhaps it is an acquired taste, but it's one that gets better each time.

Just finished: Boss

Spoilers ahead. Steady as you go...



After being fairly unremarkable for most of the series, the final two episodes of this series do make a valiant attempt at increasing the tension and, for a while, it does look as if some of the lead characters are in peril. Mostly, though, that peril only lasts for thirty seconds or so before disappearing.

So while everyone makes it to the end in one piece, the final scene is a fairly cack-handed attempt at building up suspense about the possibility of a second series. All of a sudden, the boss is going back to the US. Why? No idea. But wait – she’s just got a phone call! Maybe that’ll convince her to stay.

Or not.

In the end, it was an entertaining series, but somewhat underwhelming. I got the impression – with swooping computer graphics to set up scenes, and the occasional use of profiling and psychology bits – that this was originally going to be more based around crimes and detection rather than focusing on the characters before somewhere along the line it turned into something more light-hearted.

Currently watching: BOSS

So, in the mini-tussle between BOSS and Bloody Monday, BOSS won out simply because the files are smaller and quicker to download. Up to episode eight so far.

BOSS has turned out to be quite light-hearted in its characterisations and while this could act as a nice counterbalance to the weighty concerns of their job, the fact is the cases never seem to be too threatening. It's clear that none of the main characters are at threat which takes away any urgency, and even minor supporting characters seem to have remarkable luck when being shot at.

The cases rely very little on clever deduction, preferring instead the sudden discovery/revelation almost before its too late. So the story needs the interplay between the team to be sharp to keep the viewer interested. This is where the actors have to prop up some pretty drama-by-numbers writing. Amami Yuki is almost perfect as the beautiful career woman guiding her disparate band - when the mask slips and her vulnerable self appears it's never over-played.

But its Nukumizu Youichi who steals most of the scenes. After liking him in Lost Time Life, Camouflage, and the film Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers, this is the first time I've seen him playing a regular character in a weekly serial. His self-depreciating humour is used well even with a script that doesn't make too many demands on him, and he makes a nice change from the endlessly perfect faces that populate Japanese TV.

Recommended: Lost Time Life

The premise of this show is simple. At the point of death, the action is frozen, and the person about to die has a certain amount of time to finish up whatever unfinished business he or she has, before returning to the scene to die.

Oh, and their actions are regulated by a referee and two linesmen and the fourth official who carries the board displaying the time remaining, while the whole thing is commentated on by two (unseen) sports commentators.

Despite the bizarre premise, it makes perfect sense once it gets going and before long you’ve stopped wondering about the technicalities of stopping time in a localised area and started cheering the hero on as they race against the clock to say their last goodbyes or fulfil final wishes.

The show is full of comedy and pathos. Obviously it’s very sad by the end of every show, and it’s not afraid to pull punches, emotionally speaking, with lingering last looks, weepy music and cruel fate reminding us that life is but a fleeting thing and if we don’t say or do the things we really want, tomorrow may be too late. But despite the sentimentality, its naturalistic portrayal of a surreal situation means this is perhaps my favourite of all Japanese dramas I’ve seen to date.

Genius/10