Yoshitaka’s Christmas StoriesI know the news is already a few days old, but I didn’t want to post it before the start of the actual campaign. Actress Yoshitaka Yuriko is teaming up with the Sogo & Seibu department stores to bring a nice and bittersweet Christmas story. The campaign is called "LOVE Xmas Percentage of Love" and will feature her in 9 different short movies that are connected to one main story.The clips will be played in the stores and thanks to the QR-Codes, you’ll also be able to watch them on your mobile phone. Additional to that, you can also access all of the clips on the official website of the campaign. Of course you need to watch all 9 of the little clips to get the whole story, but as a bonus you can even watch an almost 5min long opening movie as well as an ending of about 3min. In total you get a nice 20min story about love, Christmas and presents.The story starts off with Honoka (Yoshitaka) being head-over-heels in love with her boyfriend and texting with him all those cute messages. She plans to spend the Christmas Eve at his place, but obviously her father isn’t too fond of that idea and doesn’t allow her to do that. Sad she phones her boyfriend to complain about her evil dad, when suddenly he dumps her over the phone. It came totally out of the blue and just like so many girls, the first thing she does is to release her stress and broken heart by eating sweets. While she lies on her bend and stuffs herself with rice cookies, she realizes that she needs to do something else so that she won’t have to think about him all the time. Honoka decided to go shopping and spend most of her savings. That’s the point where we get to the 9 shorter clips that feature several products from the mentioned department stores. Instead of buying useless things, she bought presents for family and near relatives. The nice feeling of giving presents and the happy faces of her family soon help her to forget about the painful feeling in her heart. On her way she also gets some good advices from her auntie and the chance to kick her younger brother in the ass. ^_^Yoshitaka plays the starring role of course, but I have to warn you that the little boy in some of those clips easily steals her the show with his incredible cuteness. ^o^ You can either go here to watch all the clips online at the official site or take my offer to download them here (*.rar package – *.flv format video files – 97MB – various mirrors, feel free to ask for more). Online the 9 short clips aren’t in any order, so I took the right to order them by numbers inside the download package. I don’t know whether that’s the exact order, but at least it’s less confusing for me that way, since there are some obvious connections between the clips.
Yoshitaka joins Ninomiya, Matsuyama in "Gantz"Last October, it was revealed that Hiroya Oku's sci-fi manga "GANTZ" is being adapted as two live-action films, starring Kazunari Ninomiya (26) and Kenichi Matsuyama (24). It has now been announced that actress Yuriko Yoshitaka (21) is taking on the heroine role.The story revolves around two young men named Kei Kurono (Ninomiya) and Masaru Kato (Matsuyama) who should have died in a train accident, but a mysterious entity known as GANTZ brings them back to life and sends them on missions to hunt down alien beings.Yoshitaka will play the role of Tae Kojima, Kurono's classmate at university. A pure romance develops between the two characters, contrasting with the brutal violence that Kurono and Kato engage in for their missions under GANTZ. Yoshitaka will also participate in some action scenes (including wire-action).Both of the "GANTZ" movies are scheduled for 2011.
Yoshitaka Dumps Tamaki for Flumpool Bassist?It seems that actress Yoshitaka Yuriko (21, photo left) has split with actor Tamaki Hiroshi (30) and has already moved on. A source close to Tamaki told the Sankei Sports newspaper that the pair split up about a month ago. Meanwhile, today's issue of the "Josei Seven" weekly magazine includes shots of Yoshitaka on a recent date with Amakawa Genki (25, photo bottom left), bassist with the rock band Flumpool. After enjoying the cherry blossoms and dinner at a local izakaya restaurant, they returned to Amakawa's apartment. Asked to comment on the relationship, management for Yoshitaka said the pair are just good friends and had stayed up late playing video games!Yoshitaka and Tamaki started dating after they worked together on the 2009 TBS drama "Love Shuffle." But their mutually busy TV and movie schedules, and Tamaki's music career, kept them apart for long periods. In an Oricon poll last year of the most promising actresses for 2010, Yoshitaka was ranked No.1.
Yoshitaka plays three sisters in WOWOW dramaYuriko Yoshitaka (21) will star in a short drama series on WOWOW this summer, titled "Tofu Shimai." She will play three different characters on the show.As the title suggests, the story focuses on three sisters, all played by Yoshitaka. The eldest is an overly serious woman troubled by an affair, the second is a top hostess with a lively personality, and the youngest is a popular actress. The three lead very different lives with their own problems."Tofu Shimai" will air on Saturdays at midnight, starting on July 31. A total of five episodes are planned.
Yoshitaka to star in her first dorama this summerIt has been announced that actress Yoshitaka Yuriko (21) finally landed her first starring role in a dorama. The new dorama called "Mioka" will start start in July and is based on a novel written by Ishida Ira. Yoshitaka will play Mioka, a girl struck with an incurable illness. "At first I was really surprised. Really? The starring role? The anxiety and pressure is truly overwhelming. I think it will take a lot of energy to play this Mioka." She commented on her first starring role.Mioka is aware that she is facing death with her incurable brain disease and tries to live every day to the fullest. Of course she isn't alone, there are her boyfriend, her family, the doctors and her friends that support her the best they can. It will be a story all about the importance of love and what it means to be alive. Yoshitaka has a strong personality and will put all her effort into the role. She already has some hospital experiences herself. In 2007 she got involved into a severe traffic accident and had to be taken to an ICU. She suffered from a broken jaw and several bone fractures."You never really know what is on Mioka's mind. She doesn't really approach others, but on the other hand she doesn't want to leave the people who are around her. She never loses that side of her and it actually might be one of her most charming features. Therefore it's even more important for me to play that side of her with utmost care." Yoshitaka explained her role.The producer about picking Yoshitaka for the role: "It's a dorama about an illness. There are many earnestly living young woman, but there is nobody like Mioka. There is something unique about Yoshitaka-san as well and she's a really individual actress. That's exactly the kind of woman we needed for this role."Young actor Hayashi Kento (19) will play Mioka's boyfriend Taichi and is going to have a tough time portraying such a passionate and painful love. Aside from her illness Mioka still only is a young girl with various other problems and she can always count on her mother played by Maya Miki (46) for support.The story begins with Taichi living an ordinary student life. He freely lives his life, does things at his own pace and has a very wild behavior. One day he happens to run into Mioka and immediately gets charmed by her strong power to live. She tells him about her incurable disease and that there is no treatment or medicine that could help her. Mioka lives every day as if it would be her last one, but soon her illness advances to a stage that doesn't make it possible for her to live like that anymore. This doesn't stop Taichi from loving her wholeheartedly and he decides to stay with her until the very end.NTV will air "Mioka" every Saturday at 9pm.