Can't... Stop... Watching...

[fenlings]

Omiai Kekkon
Girl from Love Generation, unknown-to-me lead boy. (Oh he was the crazy best friend in Nemureru Mori. Bizarre...) Don't really care about them. Plot uninteresting. I'm watching for Kubozuka, but while his character is kind of appealing, the married girl he's romancing has a really bad personality. In fact, there's really no one I *like* in this series. It's kind of torture for me to watch them together and not jump into the drama and save Kubozuka from her. Who knows, maybe love for Kubozuka will magically improve her character. Or maybe she'll dump him soon when her husband finds out so he can be angsty and betrayed and pretty! So far I'm still stalled at episode 3.

BTW, I heard that Kubozuka has quit acting and gone with his reggae dancer wife to become a reggae music artist or mix artist or something full time. Well, I'm glad he's happy and not like committing suicide, but it's just so *bizarre*. And also I want to see him act! Why can't he do both!? I hope he'll come back later. But for now that means that the movie currently in theaters is his last project. And it's a typical choice of role for Kubozuka--the tragic kamikaze pilot, but I just don't feel emotionally prepared for watching it. It's going to be really depressing! At least I hope it will. I sincerely hope the message of the film isn't going to be about the glory of war and patriotism (because I heard the film was paid for by the psychotic ultra-patriotic mayor of Tokyo, who coincidentally also wrote the book Taiyou no Kisetsu). To be a real Kubozuka role, his character has to have a tragedy, and if the death is glorious in the eyes of the film, it's not a tragedy.

Yamato Nadeshiko
Tsutsumi! He's an adorable fumbler here, but I don't know. Something's still missing because I don't really care about him. I think it's because I get so embarrassed for both him and Nanako when they tell their lies in public. When characters cause me vicarious embarrassment it's harder for me to like them.

Nanako is looking really pretty in this as the titular ideal woman, but I just--this plot was the kind of uninteresting sideplot in Pride. "Poor girl only looks for money in her mate until she learns the true value of love from a poor boy." I just don't think that plot is enough to make a good series. So far I'm still stalled at episode 4.

Proposal Daisakusen
Hahahha Yamapi has a fairy godfather. A really over-the-top one too. Fit for a JE boy.

Kind of like with Quantum Leap, I'm concerned with the logistics. Does past!Yamapi remember that future!Yamapi temporarily possessed his body? I don't think so. Does he remember the actions of future!Yamapi as his own (with unclear motivation)? Does he not remember that period of time at all? Does he remember it still as if he had done the past actions that he did/would have done if future!Yamapi hadn't possessed him? So do the memories of future!Yamapi change now too? Like he suddenly remembers being really confused about the reactions of his friends to some things he didn't remember doing, but now he understands why they thought he did? God time travel makes my brain hurt.

Yamapi is chapatsu in high school?! Are they going for any realism at all??

I'm kind of annoyed by the blatantly episodic nature of the plot structure. It's hard to feel like anything is developing, really. I don't like the gimmicky structure of the episodes either; the "Hallelujah Chance" is nowhere *near* as awesome as "maido ari" as a structural gimmick. This lack of relationship advancement is so frustrating that I actually get really angry when I watch. Angry at the mysterious forces preventing them from being together. And it's a bad sign when skipping episodes doesn't make me miss out on any character or plot development. Or you know, entertainment. Well, we'll see how it goes. I'll try to remember to watch it tonight when it comes on! These things are always more exciting broadcast rather than viewed online. At a party last night this very nice girl told me to give Bambino a chance (and also Vineyard Man), but I just don't *know*. Both Bambino and Proposal seem like way too safe and targeted toward the general public to appeal to me. I get bored. I might try a little of Bambino, but meh. Not that excited.

Sorry to say it, but I'm over Jun! (The twincest movie may change my mind however. I already watched the making of...)

My Tutor Friend
The same teacher girl as Romance. Here she also plays the teacher who becomes romantically involved with her student. It's an entertaining film. The student in this is the same age as his tutor by dint of some years spent abroad in America. And he is violent and crude and not good at studying.

They clash against each other pretty hilariously, but eventually she also becomes someone the poor little rich boy can trust. This was fun to watch. Good comedy.

Boku Dake no Madonna
Takki's hands are SO PRETTY. I've thought so ever since Majo no Jouken, and now especially with all the silver jewelry--very nice. I liked the shower scene! Such porn. Hahaha, the director sure knows what all the Takki fans are watching this for.

I like their abusive relationship, how the "Madonna" leads Takki around on a string and Takki is so weak and repressed. Also all the secondary characters and plots are well-developed, interesting, and amusing. And the ending kiss was pretty impressive.

Casshern
Really pretty. Every frame like a painting. I want to put the movie as my desktop. Only not really because that would be distracting.

Visually it was stunning, but narratively it was a little opaque. There were a lot of... I don't want to say *holes* exactly, but places where the plot was left unexplained. And the character motivations were often left unexplored. I do really admire this as a reinterpretation, because I read a summary of the 70s anime, and I think this was pretty skilled at keeping the fanboy spirit but updating the AWESOME.

Speaking of updating the awesome in 70s series, I am interested in seeing what will be done with Transformers, and recently I saw these two NTT CMs starring SMAP as Gatchaman. It is SO HOT. I just cannot convey how *hot* it is. My God. It's hot because it's Gatchaman, of course, the nostalgia cachet. I have the Gatchaman DVDs at home, and I tried to watch them before but of course they looked stupid, just like Thundercats do now. But if they ever did make a Gatchaman movie like those commercials, I would seriously fall weak with lust. Speaking of SMAP go watch these hilarious SMAP Takarazuka parodies. I can tell I'm not quite getting all the puns, but even without understanding what they're saying, just watching KimuTaku prance around like an otokoyaku with the men in drag is worth it. Also I highly recommend the hilarious Smacourt to all of those who haven't seen it. And those of you who have PLEASE seed it on d-addicts! Okay, back to Casshern.

Of course there was a lot of philosophizing and depressing dying, and there could have been more character development, but on the whole, I really liked it. I like films that force me to interpret them. It's even better when they're well made with secret messages like "2046." Casshern is nowhere near as complex as "2046," but it is kind of like an expressionistic painting. You need to tilt your head and see it from a different point of view to get an understanding of it. And as with most anime (and this is basically an anime substituting live actors), the emotional truth is more important than things like "continuity" or "plausability." And the emotions in Casshern are well-conveyed I feel.

It took me like 3 times watching it to understand the ending, but I finally got it. The souls of humanity left in the beam of lightning to start again in another planet. It's a happy ending! Game reset! Yay!

I'm a Cyborg but That's Okay
I was attracted to the quirky title on the jdramas comm, and then I read how everyone was really excited about this film because it stars Rain. But I don't care about Rain. I suppose I *should* watch Full House and Sang Doo someday, but they're not high on my list, and I don't really know or care that much about Rain generally.

But this film seems to be a real departure for him, acting-wise, and I admire that choice. I also really enjoyed this movie! I do sort of wish they had dealt a little more with the "reality" of what was going on while we were seeing the crazy fantasies, but I also recognize that that's just me and my comfort level. Of course those fantasies are the "reality" of the characters.

This film kind of made light of psychological problems and treatment a bit, but it also humanized them and showed that it's possible to live happily with them. It was just very entertaining and touching, made me cry, etc. Good job, quirky filmmakers!

Great Happiness Space
This is a documentary about hosts in Osaka, and I was impressed by how well it was made. I like the double structure of like "a day in Issei's life" and also the structure of how the director arranged the interviews so that it's almost like the viewer is a new host, gradually going through that process of disillusionment.

Of course the main thing you come away with is that it's a sad life and vicious cycle for everyone involved, but I found it a really fascinating glimpse into that world and everyone's motivations. I want to know what will happen to Issei in the future, and what happens to ex-hosts in general.

These hosts are on the bottom of the cycle: the salarymen buy comfort from the mizushoubai female workers, and those women buy comfort from the hosts. Sometimes the women take work in the mizushoubai just to have enough money to get that comfort from the hosts. And of course once they enter that work, it's difficult to form any relationships apart from with hosts. And the host club world's general web of games and dreams and lies told even to oneself is fascinating.

Hello My Teacher
GREAT. You know I like the male student-female teacher love story, but this was a little different. It wasn't so much the couple in love fighting barriers to their love. Most of the series the teacher and student had a kind of comfortable almost sibling-like relationship while the student had HUGE UNREQUITED LOVE for the teacher. Kind of like Kimi wa Petto. It started out more like My Tutor Friend, but then it got way angsty and shit like Romance and Loveholic.

This series really brings the emo porn like a kick to the chest. Like hardcore. I was literally bawling at some points. And it brings it out quick and gets over it quick. There's no like buildup to it and very little daydreamy wangsting about it, just like sudden attacks of emo porn. Kind of like fanfic in that way, and really satisfying. I found this method of delivery of "touchingness" very different from other series where we follow one or two characters' normal life and quiet angst with maybe a few moments of emo porn at the climax of the series. But a lot of the emo porn in this series was from characters we hadn't been following emotionally or narratively, and that added that extra spice of revelation of hidden angst! (I do love my revelation of hidden angst.) Sometimes the emo porn scene is even the first introduction of the emotional problem, so it's a double whammy.

The romance plot of this is the typical two men fight over one woman, with side girls trying to draw each of the men away from the one woman. The fiance dude in this actually used to be the female teacher's teacher when she was a student, and is now related to the male student by his sister marrying the male student's father, adding more layers of wrong to the story. But the point is that this fiance is not a token fiance like in many other dramas. She really loves him and he really loves her, even if he's bad at expressing that love. He's kind of self-centered. I think it's that inability to show that love for her by doing things for her that ultimately dooms their relationship. That and the male student's constant loving presence at her side. And the family opposition doesn't help, when she felt like she was hindering her fiance's future as the family heir.

Also I think power was a big problem for her and her fiance. She felt that he still saw her as the student she used to be, not as an adult with a will and career of her own, not as an equal. And she wasn't willing to stay in that powerless position. Meanwhile at her beck and call is the male student who is TOTALLY willing to stay in that powerless position and does so for *years* after they finally get together, jumping through all these complicated hoops in the hope that she'll finally agree to marry him. So yeah, I can understand her decision, but I still feel REALLY BAD for the ex-fiance, who now--get this--runs the school where *both* of them now work as teachers. So he has to see them be lovey dovey at work, even though he seems resigned to it as years have passed. But really, poor guy! He tried his best against all those odds, and his snot-nosed nephew stole his woman (ironically becoming close through his suggestion that she supervise the nephew).