#mokkori dance

[listening-to-thunder]

Q: Ryo’s “Mokkori” dance in the film was an incredibly funny scene. How did that come about and how did you practice that?

Ryohei Suzuki: In the script, it only said he dances in the cabaret, and the line was mokkori-sho, and that was it. So, we didn’t know what kind of dance he does or what kind of tricks he does.

But I had a sense that I knew what kind of dance Ryo would do if he was in the modern day. He is 100% going to imitate some Japanese comedians who, you know, comedians with naked dances. And I got inspiration from four great Japanese comedians.

So, I told the director that I was going to choreograph for the dance, and I rented a studio. And I went there with an actor friend, and we choreographed together. We shot the scene, edited the video, made that mokkori dance scene, and showed it to the director, and the director liked it. So, that was the dance [in the film]. [Source]

[hotarutranslations]

Jinsei Blues! Ara Ara Kashiko!

Evening Its Ishida Ayumi

 Jinsei Blues

 The MV was uploaded

 It will be for sale on June 12th, I realized that’s in 2 weeks! Look forward to it~

 For the released of the single the MV was uploaded, I was also super looking forward to it! Its what I was most interested in the reactions for! This time,

 The MV shooting went for 2 days! Where we were on what days, I think you’ll understand from watching it lol

Since the costumes and makeup are different

 In this way there were a lootttttt of shots,

 We are all together at 4:36, I thought, its really lonely~

 For Jinsei Blues,

 The dance and mysteriousness is fun too!

 Today the MV was released, I’m only…a bit into the later half! Since there is also a dance shot version

 It’ll be in the first press SP edition! (By the way we haven’t seen that yet…)

 Look forward towards buying the CD…❤ that is,

 Buying the CD,

 You can seriously listen to just the song! I also want you to do that ❤

 The lyrics are really, very deep,

They’re difficult…

Also there is a lot of mystery in the MV!?

 While linking up with the lyrics, I think that you’ll definitely interpret each on in your own way~ the meaning gotten with the audition….

  MV shooting offshot lol

 The black person under the lights! the role! is Ishida Ayumi! Lol

 The person in front of me is really the staff-san!!

 Ah, finally,

 I’ve become a member of those in black……

 In other words Jinsei Blue is,

 Song, dance, MV,

There are various things that you can enjoy! Look forward to it! The double A side has another song,

 Seishun Night

 Its also here! Ya-----y! lol

 Look forward towards its release ❤

 Morning Musume ’19 6/12 Release 67th Single “Jinsei Blues/Seishun Night” Commemorative Release Event List

  Today is,

 Sendai Broadcasts “Ara Ara Kashiko” broadcast day ❤

 In Tome’s “Roadside Station Minamikata” at “Mokkori Chives”  I was able to learn about chives!

Let’s increase the motivation, energy, liveliness! With the meaning of firing up the whole town, it seems “mokkori” has become this regions catchphrase

 And, this mokkori chives are,

Have a really deep and delicious flavor!

 You’d definitely want to eat these fresh~

 Chive juice is delicious, really!

  Ishida-san struggling to make “chigimi” with chives

 Thank you to everyone who checks out the broadcast ❤

Look forward towards the next broadcast~ ❤

 See you ayumin ❤

 https://ameblo.jp/morningmusume-10ki/entry-12465574903.html

[listening-to-thunder]

City Hunter 2024

Don't mind me I just watched a live action adaptation of the show I absolutely imprinted on as a little fan sprout in the late 80s/early 90s and I have feelings?! (Tl;dr - the adaptation is so faithful I am so happy.)

So yeah. I watched the (censored) French version of the City Hunter anime during summer vacations and then languished as Sweden did not have City Hunter (or anyone who had heard of City Hunter, other than my little brother). So I did stuff like...record it on VCR, pause the VCR, and trace character portraits off the prickly cathode-ray tube TV. (Screenshot technology has come a long way!)

Later on I read the entire un-censored manga (with the original names restored!) in French, and downloaded the Japanese songs from some pages I found on AltaVista (which took forever on modem), and brough the full set back in Japanese after I lived there for a while. And then I found out there is an official "megafan gets transmigrated into the story"-manga about City Hunter, and I read that, too.

Basically: I have had this story in my life forever, and watching the live action movie now gives me echoes of all those feelings I had as a lonely fannish kid. Which is a weird feeling, but not in a bad way, because the live action adaption (not the first, but the first Japanese one!) is...good? It's fun! And it's as faithful to the original story as it could possibly be while also being updated for the 21st century in the best ways?

Okay, I'm just gonna dive in!

I love how prominent Shinjuku is in the live action. It's gorgeously shot, and you can really feel a sense of place. The characters always talk about "this city", and Shinjuku is that city.

And right off the bat Suzuki Ryohei gets to shine in a fun, fast fight scene with a manga flair to it!

Everyone in Shinjuku knows Ryo-chan! And here's where I will admit to my own ignorance, because reading in translation at a young age I honestly don't know if the manga touched on how Shinjuku as a place where the queer community meets? But here the owner of the bar Ryo rushes through is a glorious okama!

Saeba Ryo and Makimura Hidekyuki and HI MY FEELS. (I will probably get back to how much I adore that Ryo is played by an actor who's hit 40 - but Andou Masanobu is nearly 50?! HOW.)

YES GOOD the iconic coat from the manga (that I like a lot more than the silly little anime jacket) running down the streets of Shinjuku as the equally iconic red car (an old Mini Cooper?) races past the neon lights.

Oh man I have cried about this scene so many times. And here I just love how they got the dramatic rain in, despite the circumstances and setting of Makimura's death being different. That's what a good adaptation does: keeps things recognizable to the existing fans, while transforming it to something new and exciting. (I almost didn't see it coming because I kept thinking "It's not raining"...!)

Not to be shallow or anything but...HOT DAMN. Suzuki Ryohei!!!!

This was so delightful! Everyone was having such fun with the Mokkori Dance, and I am thrilled that they found a way of showing this side of Saeba Ryo without making him a sex pest. The mood whiplash from drama to the most frivolous silliness is extremely City Hunter, and the movie wouldn't have felt right if they hadn't nailed this. (With Ryo nudity. I am. Not complaining at all.)

Kaori's stare. Ryo's confidence. Perfect. No notes.

And then we get some T&A... and it's QUEER AS FUCK?! Instead of a strip club, in 2024 the Shinjuku nightlife scene is beautiful people voguing with a fabulous drag queen MC!

Showing off Ryo's impossibly good aim by following the bullet through a crowded nightclub was fun but again: look at this Shinjuku!! It's queer and diverse and I love it.

I could not believe how Suzuki Ryohei somehow manages to move like a manga character? He is so fast and so believable as a supernaturally good shot! I also liked how Ryo hid his gun as soon as he'd fired it - the enemy had already spotted him, so it wasn't that he was afraid of giving himself away? But he doesn't want to have a gun out at a queer nightclub, where it could start a very understandable panic.

Again with the Shinjukuness of it all...! Ryo's car is parked outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (it was my favorite place to go hang out if I had time to kill in Shinjuku) - I think they're up in the observation deck, too?? The layers of nostalgia for me... it hits hard...

SPEAKING OF HITTING HARD I love that they gave Kaori her mallet!!! YES. (And they made up a cosplay event for it, where there was a tiny bit of T&A - but where the cosplayers themselves were making sure they looked as good as possible, showing off their assets!)

This is art to me.

Saeba Ryo. Stallion of Shinjuku. Blocking creepy otaku and audience alike from getting panty shots while not peeking under her skirt and also the horse head is his penis and...

This will take some processing. (While I giggle.)

THE most City Hunter shot of the entire movie. The crosshairs! Ryo shoving someone (Kaori) out of the way of a bullet! The bullet grazing his arm!! SHOOTING BACK AT THE SNIPER. Everything. Everything is perfect.

I am looking...respectfully...?

Their poses, the city... this whole scene felt like watching the manga come to life. Kaori needs a hug and Ryo hasn't gotten to the point where he can do "emotional support" in any other way than "revenge". Ahhhh the angst.

The movie's fights are so much fun to watch, because they have Ryo being a superhero with a gun (or: several guns), and then Kaori running around terrified but also so determined to actually fight. She shoves things on people! She hits that one guy with a pipe!! I love her so much.

IT'S THEM

FEELS ARE HAPPENING

(Ryo still doesn't do "hugging", but at least he's letting Kaori sob on him this time?)

Yes shooting a guy with an upside down revolver pointing behind you is exactly what I want from City Hunter, thank you! (Also the intensity Suzuki Ryohei brings out for Ryo's protective streak... It's so good...)

I just know that I am missing a ton of Easter eggs...! (I would be surprised if the framed drawing of a revolver isn't Hojo Tsukasa's art, though.)

And here we go! Now they're roommates! Kaori has her mallet! And her 80s manga outfit...! Aaah!!!!

Though they both wear shoes indoors which... I suppose even though they live there, the building isn't..."home"-coded? (I mean having that much real estate in the center of Shinjuku actually requires more suspension of disbelief than the gun magic...).

Anyway: it's THEM!

Sequel when? I really, really want one. They did such a fabulous job with this story, I want to see them do more!!