Guess who's in Tsuki no Koibito?

I'm ashamed to say it took me 4 episodes to realise that Tsuki no koibito is a big waste of one of the most promising actress in Japan. Maybe it was the fact that the camera never really framed her properly. She only gets one middle of frame face shot in the beginning of the first episode but she looks like crap. The rest of the series she hardly gets any lines its always middle shots of her and chibi guy. Maybe its the short hair and the fact she dresses like a boy but the fact that it took me up to episode 4 to recognise her fills me with shame.

So how does it feel going from an opera singer in Puraido to this thankless role?

I am talking about Mitsushima Hikari. The logo of this blog and the star of one of the greatest jmovies ever, Ai no Mukidashi. (Yes, that's her with the middle finger at the top of this blog) I think it was because I had watched her movie Puraido the day before, that she started looking a tad familiar. I respect her management for taking her from Folder 5 and gravure vids and turning her into a real jmovie actress but why put her in a Kimutaku dorama in a role that any talentless gravure idol can do? Mitsushima Hikari did three movies last year (can't wait for her yuri movie Kakera) and she did 4 movies this year. Is that not enough to establish her as a potential top tier actress?

I can appreciate that putting her in a Kimutaku dorama is potentially good exposure to the general public but it just saddens me to see her in such a minor supporting role. Lin Chi Ling is not even a quarter of the actress that Mitsushima Hikari is. Its as if whatever she has achieved in jmovies is irrelevant in the jdorama world where ratings have no correlation with talent. This is the equivalent of having Kevin Durant on your NBA team and playing him as the 12th man/human victory cigar.