News and trivia

Eita is currently filming 2 dramas at the same time, Last Friends and Astu HIme. The latter is a very popular period drama with ratings burst through 20% every episode. Since it's a period drama, hair dyes are not considered fashionable, men combed up their hair neatly and clipped it stiffly in place.

I've been fascinated with Takeru's wavy and ethereal-like hair in Last Friends thus I'm amazed at how EIta is transformed into this character in Astu Hime. The wonders of a hairpiece.

he' s beautiful even with this hairstyle !

I find Eita he's a real funny guy. In this video, Last Friends Extras - Promo Snippet Interviews, he was asked by the coordinator whether he's satisfied with this new hairstyle (the wavy one), he replied yes and chuckled, and after a moment of reflex, queried the coordinator is this not ok.
The embarrassed coordinator denied promptly and remarked its good. Juri and Masami are having a good laugh over his interaction with the coordinator while Eita patiently explained to him his hair is naturally curly and don't have much moisture.
He nonchalantly tell him this styling of his hair is not to give off a sense of sensuality and his hair has grown much. Juri and Masami continued cracking up over his manner of speech to the subdued coordinator.

He was successful in stroking everyone's laughterbone. The entire scene was so funny,thus I can imagine they really have alot fun filming this drama together.

Scoop! As May 25 was Juri's birthday, the cast of LF celebrated her birthday together as seen in the photos below. They sure looks cute together... Look at Eita's caricature in the birthday card for Juri!




Eita's present to Juri is a pair of Birkenstock-like scandals as seen while Masami and Asami gave a white dress. The production team also gave her a box of fireworks to set off on her birthday. I want those scandals too ...

He used to be a member of the football (english, not american) team till Sixth grade and was recommended to high school based on this excellent attribute of his. As you can see below in those Puma ads, he's still the sportsman at heart.

I spotted the following screencap from Episode 3 of Omoinotama on CR. http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-349560/Omoinotama-Episode-3.html
Doesn't the guy looks suspiciously like Eita, with his windswept hair and big ears...



so I decided to do a little investigation, find more details and screencaps for this show but I can't find Eita in the credits (actors) to this show except for these:-

Third Bead: It's Me [ 参の珠 - オレオレ ]
Director: Naoki Kusumoto

Yuki and his more volatile yakuza-wannabe friend are enjoying the quick rewards of a phone fraud scheme targeting the elderly. By simply calling and saying "It's me", the victim eventually suggests a name ("Oh, is that you Fred?"). Once they have a name, they describe some emergency requiring the victim's immediate monetary help, saying a friend will be over shortly to collect the cash. Things run smoothly until local yakuza catch wind of the scheme and Yuki goes to collect cash from a particularly senile old woman who continually mistakes him for her own grandson.

To me, this seemed the strongest and most impressive story of the entire collection. The sub-themes of yakuza violence and family sentimentality come through fully, and there is a really good twist involving a rather unique depiction of Shinto/Buddhist belief. Interestingly, director Naoki Kusumoto's other story in this collection, which in my estimate is equally creative though not nearly as impressive, also deals with the societal and spiritual role played by grandparents.

This is a ghost tale built upon Shinto/Buddhist notions of afterlife and the central importance of the "O-bon" or death anniversary rituals.



For the entire series, you can click here to find out more http://www.sarudama.com/japanese_movies/prayer_beads.shtml

If you're wondering why I'm just didn't click on Ep 3 to find out more, you're right. I can't do that as I can't stomach watching horror shows. If any fan of Eita can kindly do this favour and confirm his presence in the drama, Arigato.

Hehe I spotted Matsuda Shota in 3 of the photos too. Cool!

Mm I am not a big horror fan to begin with so please count me out.

Last Friends soundtrack is on sale soon. You can click on the link below to hear snippet music clips and relive those bittersweet moments...
http://www.emimusic.jp/foozay/last_friends/

Eita the joker is at work again , managed to grab screencaps while the cast of LF was promoting the show at 笑っていいとも! 2008 春の祭典SP showing him and Juri teasing each other. Look at Masami and Asami, they're laughing with such open mouths, total loss of control at Eita's dazed look and Juri's mockery of his look .

Accordingly to temporary actors who were at the set of EP 7, while Eita and Juri were waiting for their scenes, they went to play the elevator (the funfair type which brings the rider to a frightening height and drops to the ground vertically). While the elevator was ascending, Juri was already making a big fuss while Eita kept repeating "Oh no, so scary!". Their exhilarating shouts are heard clearly by the temporary actors who had been watching the entire scene and laughing at their reactions. Juri was heard complaining to Eita " Don't keep making weird sounds to scare me!"

The best part is after experiencing this scary elevator, Eita invited Shigenori to accompany him and Juri for a 2nd round of screaming. This time, Eita was completely calm and expressionless while Juri still couldn't help gripping her ears in anticipation and Shigenori was showing obvious fear in his face.

Hilarious couple to watch. Notice no one else in the cast of LF do such silly stuff together unless forced to... (poor Shigenori)

Apparently Eita's archery skills need improvement and this could be the reason that he didn't represent the cast of Last Friends in Warantee Iitomo in this segment The attached video shows him being outclassed by Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi while he gets up to his antics of being the "upset" loser. Hiroshi couldn't help laughing at his dramatic behaviour.

I discovered this magazine for the month of May which is distributed free at Tower Records and various stores in Japan. This 80 pages magazine features Eita, Masami and Juri in pictorial spreads and interviews! Eita likes tinkering with his guitar and dabbles in photography too. Since Juri is musically-inclined and we see Masami posturing with the electric guitar too, so are these 3 going to form a band?! Update: more photos are posted in the group photos and click here for translated interview http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/Eita/pages/triple+alternatives+may+2008

Click here for the official website of the magazine where you can view the entire spread of photos.
http://www.magabon.jp/special/kazetorock/monthly/index.html#

Eita's bowling skills is superb as presented during the Nakai Masahiro no Nama Super Drama Festival. He single-handedly beat every opponent he is against and helped to win the grand prize for his castmates of Unfair. Btw, there is a very weird scene of Katori Shingo trying to itimidate Eita , click on the video below to find out why:-

Last Friends has been voted as the most popular spring drama by the young readers of Orion Style issue no June 09. Basically the readers' comments are about how riveting the drama is bringing out the issues that afflict the current generation and they are keen in following the intricate characters' interpersonal relationships, secrets and plot development. "Prisoner of Love" also won the top spot for most popular spring drama theme song.

『オリスタ読者が選ぶ好きな春ドラマランキング』　ＢＥＳＴ５
１位／『ラスト・フレンズ』（フジ系）
２位／『ROOKIES－ルーキーズ－』（ＴＢＳ系）
３位／『ごくせん』（日テレ系）
４位／『おせん』（日テレ系）
５位／『ＣＨＡＮＧＥ』（フジ系）

Click here for original text:-
http://contents.oricon.co.jp/news/deview/55055/