Celebrity of the Day: Inoue Mao

Plenty of people have seen the extremely popular Japanese drama, Hana Yori Dango. The pretty Inoue Mao (井上 真央), born January 9, 1987, was the main actress of the drama. She has been acting for a long time, starring in small roles ever since the young age of five. But it was in 1999 in the drama, Kids War (キッズ・ウォー　～ざけんなよ～) that audiences began to really take notice of the rising star.

In 2005, Mao dominated the screens with Hana Yori Dango (花より男子) where she starred as Makino Tsukushi (牧野 つくし) alongside the band, Arashi’s, member Matsumoto Jun (松本 潤). The drama was hugely successful (note: see JDrama section for Ratings & Review) and the sequel, Hana Yori Dango Returns (花より男子 ~リターンズ~) aired in 2007 under great anticipation.

Mao enrolled in Meiji University at the age of 19 where she studied theater and literature. Her

JDramas (Ratings & Reviews): Hana Yori Dango

Hana Yori Dango (花より男子)

Summary: Makino Tsukushi (牧野 つくし) is a poor, hardworking student at the prestigious Eitoku Gakuen reserved for the rich and privileged. There, she tries to stay invisible and quietly pass away the high school days. However, Fate does not think so. One day, when defending her friend, she has a run in with the leader of the F4, Domyouji Tsukasa (道明寺 司). The F4, rulers over the school, immediately issue her a ‘red notice’. Now the entire school gangs up on Tsukushi to make her life hell. Stubborn, Tsukushi refuses to drop out of school. In light of her obstinacy, Domyouji can’t help but fall in love with this very different girl. He’s not winning her over easily, though. Tsukushi’s got a crush on another F4 member, Hanazawa Rui (花沢 類), and hates Domyouji with her life. Starring Inoue Mao (井上 真央), Matusmoto Jun (松本 潤), Oguri Shun (小栗 旬), Matsuda Shota (松田 翔太), Abe Tsuyoshi (阿部 力)

Review: This was my first Japanese drama. FIRST! So, it holds a lot of special meaning for me. Anyway, I absolutely loved it when I first watched it. It was lively, it was stupidly funny, it was well formed. Unfortunately