Ah Yada! Akiko that is! Quite possibly my favourite actress from Japan (though I wouldn’t mind watching her duke it out with Yukie Nakama for that honour). She’s attractive yes. Beautiful really. I don’t know if it’s how they light her on camera or if there’s something in her pupils, but I could swear her eyes actually twinkle (the deliberate SFX used in My Little Chef notwithstanding). She seems to manage that perfect balance of girlish charms (without stooping to cutesy kawaii tactics and voices) and womanly grace that many of her peers tend to stumble over (Misaki Itou, I’m looking at you!).
She has also built up quite the repertoire of impressive J-dramas and movies.
Yamato Nadeshiko: B; Yada plays the sweet but naïve second-banana to the lead man-eater star of the show, Nanano Matsushima (GTO). Both of them are airline attendants vying for the attention of fish-monger man Shinichi Tsutsumi (Good Luck! Lunch Queen). Yamato Nadeshiko is a bit uneven since I found myself sympathizing with the kind and caring AkikoYada so much that I ended up resenting the lead characters! Poor Akiko!
My Little Chef: A-; Yada plays a young chef with a special knack for “reading” her customers and whipping up a perfect dish for each of them in this good-hearted and sentimental drama that got my mouth drooling and my eyes a bit weepy; Hiroshi Abe (Trick) and Aya Ueto (Attack No.1) top off a very good supporting cast
Hotman: B+; A Sorimachi Takashi (GTO himself) series in which Yada co-stars as a health teacher and (of course, why not) his love interest. It’s a feel good family drama with Takashi playing a single dad to moppet Nana Yamauchi and big brother to his undisciplined siblings. Unfortunately Yada’s girlfriend character isn’t carried over into the sequel series (though Swing Girls’ Miho Shiraishi is a fine replacement, IMO)
Ringu the Series: B; Same as the hit horror movie except drawn out into 12 episodes. Yada is part of an ensemble cast that tries to solve the mystery of the psychic murderess, Sadako. Has a bit of a toned down “television” feel, but each episode ends with a suspenseful cliffhanger and a few scenes can be appropriately described as “creepy”.
Last Christmas: A; Yada’s breakout role as a lead actress in a J-drama. She plays a secretary with a loose past working in an ad firm who catches the concern and attention of co-worker and apartment neighbour Yuji Oda (yeah that’s him singing Wham’s Last Christmas at the end credits) . A huge hit in Japan, it’s pretty close to the top among my favourites. Sure it gets a heap load melodramatic at the end but any show that centers itself around the Christmas season is expected to be that way. And Yada’s spunky performance partnered with Oda’s more even keeled character made them a romantic combination worth rooting for. Very funny and touching with an ending that must have had the producers screaming as they filmed it: “Dammit! It’s pure mush but let’s make it work!” And it worked. Give your girlfriend a box of tissues as you watch it together.
Pyrokinesis (movie): B+; Yada goes all Firestarter in this feature film as she plays a solitary woman who can control fire with her mind. Directed with verve by Shusuke Kaneko (Gamera, Azumi 2), this is a slick film with some very good special fire effects that swerves from superhero action, murder mystery, grisly humour, and horror. The beautiful Akiko Yada easily elicit’s the viewer’s sympathies as she struggles alone to control, then unleash her superhuman powers.
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