While doing home improvement...

[fenlings]

Home Drama
I found it on tudou.com (yay chinese pirates!). It very WAFFy and makes you cry. Tsuyoshi is BEAUTIFUL. It slowed down a bit toward the end, but I still liked it. And I love the themesong "Original Color."

Bokura no Yuuki: Miman Toshi
I finished it. I can't believe they killed Yuri. In that way! (OT3 lives on in my head!)

Also the ending was WEAK. The public doesn't know?! That's ok?! What was the point of the whole mystery then! I didn't like the way it ended with everyone just going back to their normal lives and forgetting. Like, what was the point? Koichi's gf was annoying. But the Kinki Kids were kinda gay for each other again, so that was good.

I remain deeply in love with Tsuyoshi in particular and the Kinki Kids in general.

Niji wo Kakeru Ouhi
Okadaaaa. He did a good job. It was sad! I liked it. The keigo while they were courting was a little out of control!

Princess Hiro
Too long! Boring writing. It's amazing how the writers managed to make such interesting characters and calamatous events so *boring*. Good chinese speaking! Especially the lead. Who is magically ugly in this drama! (After "With Love" I never would have thought it possible.) Also the main couple never touched, which is bad for a love story.

Ppoi
So much fun!

I LOVE Takki, King of the Juniors. My God, how adorable he is, perving on child!Yamapi. And the drama itself was full of FANSERVICE. Oh, Johnnys, making teenage boys crossdress and dance half-naked and kiss each other for 40 years. Why doesn't our country have such an eminent cultural institution?

Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru
Jun's acting! This is the BEST acting I have ever seen from him! I especially liked his use of pauses--well, most of the time. But OMG he really DOES walk like that all the time! ::giggles:: The actress that played the sister was good in the dolphin scene. But I couldn't really judge her acting otherwise because in other scenes I just can't see her face.

I remembered some scenes from the anime/manga, but sadly there was no church sex.

The cinematography so good it was almost distracting. Each shot could be framed as art, literally, and you would see so many layers of potential meaning because each scene looks so *iconic*. So all those potential meanings in the *image* actually distracted me a bit from the real meaning of the image in that *scene*: the characters in that scene and their actual relationship to each other.

Yamada Tarou Monogatari
I feel like this series had so much unfulfilled potential. The characters were great, but the plot was kind of a let down. In that there wasn't much of one! I feel like they could have played more with the archetypal elements they introduced, brought things to more of a crisis. This drama played it too safe and never *went* anywhere. That said, I loved spending time with the characters, and they were all well-played and entertaining. And seeing Taro and Mimura be gay for each other was ALSO GOOD.

Hanzakari no Kimitachi e
At the end of this season, I had reversed my opinion and I was much more emotionally attached to Hana Kimi than Yamataro! Most of the reason for that was Nakatsu. Now I'm a Toma fan! (Because Toma kind of is Nakatsu. Someone who's not picked first, but who keeps cheerfully doing his own thing and supporting those who were picked and those who do the picking. I was scouring the net for Tomapi fics. There aren't nearly enough!)

Maki's acting had some iffy parts. Like when Nakatsu hugged her from behind, she should have startled a bit because she didn't even know anyone else was in the room ostensibly. And her way of corded-neck crying really annoys me--looks unnatural. I think she did a much better job as Nobuta. Shun did well, but I just didn't warm to Sano the way I did to Nakatsu. I will say that I didn't see any of Shun's other roles in Sano, so he at least successfully created a character. I can't say that for sure about Maki. She did do a good job apeing male mannerisms. In the end, I think this drama belongs to Toma the way HanaDan belongs to Shun.

But everyone was just so *funny* and FANSERVICEY. It was just hilarious and lots of fun to watch. Yay! I want more! They totally left things open for at least a special. (Though, God, please don't make them speak any more English.) I should finish the manga too. I actually like it better than the drama I think.

Motokare
I'm really impressed with Hirosue Ryoko here. She seemed annoyingly bland in "Summer Snow," but this role completely convinced me of her range and talent as an actress. I also loved her character, so that didn't hurt!

Tsuyoshi didn't seem to... well, *act* much in this. There were many times when one of his girlfriends said something shocking or meaningful and the camera cut to him and he was just kind of blank-faced. That's why his crying after he told Makoto to go to Kobe seemed to come out of nowhere. If, after Toji finally realized he still loved Makoto, Tsuyoshi had made a committment to truly express Toji's feelings of helpless passion and longing, I think it would have been a much better drama. Then I would have really empathized more with his conflicting feelings of duty and guilt and love for Nao. As it was, he just seemed kind of a useless fellow who couldn't make up his mind and had no initiative. They did show his feeling for Makoto a little in the train-stalking and rooftop scenes, but I think Tsuyoshi could have done a much better job. But maybe the director told him to be blank-faced; maybe it's not his fault.

Regardless of its flaws, this is still a good series. I watched it all in like one day; that's how much I wanted to see what happened. It got me emotionally involved, and the side characters were interesting too. Speaking of side characters, the nerd love was ADORABLE. For once I wasn't cheering on the younger male student/older female teacher coupling, because it threatened the NERD LOVE. OMG the nerd girl was so cute--I want a wife like that! The main love triangle was well-done, too. I was definitely not sure which girl he was going to end up with! But I'm happy about the choice! And the relationship between exes was well-done as well. Much more interesting than simple boy meets girl. Yay complicated relationships!

To Heart
I don't really like the characters or story. The subs are wrong in a lot of places, unpredictably. The main girl plays the same obsessive, childish, stalker character she played in SOS. And I like her about as much as I did then: not at all. The only thing that made her tolerable in SOS was the incest and the Kubozuka sexing.

Dude, why was that elevator girl so evil? She was just such a hilarious caricature of evilness. Inviting Tsuyoshi to have tea... IN HER BED. LOL so evil. For no reason!

BUT she created that situation where he doubted Toko's virtue, a scheme straight out of Shakespeare. And that was emotionally affecting! Yay. And of course she becomes *rehabilitated* later. Hey, I guess it's easier than introducing a new character to be Toko's friend...

When Tsuyoshi's coach, who played his father in "Ningen Shikkaku," first appeared and was like ::sniff:: boxing with Tsuyoshi ::sniff:: I seriously started crying! Makotooooooooooo! ...I'm completely traumatized by that drama.

I can see why Tsuyoshi chose this drama, because of the 「愛はパワー」 theme, but it didn't really do much for me as a drama, and his character's decision about the match at the end was *stupid*.

When the main couple actually overcome their differences and support each other they're PRETTY CUTE. I just wish she weren't such a doormat. Sigh.

One of the theme songs is very catchy! Beware!

Second Chance
So far this drama is AWESOME. I found the second half of it on clubbox, so paranoid_ninja and I can watch it together! It's SO GREAT to see Akai Hidekazu entirely let loose his comedic side. (Soon I'll be watching Suna no Utsuwa, so it's good to have this to bolster me. Wah.) Tsuyoshi's mothercon is HILARIOUS AND YAY. Kuroda Yuki plays a boy being bullied as okama AGAIN.

Bengoshi no Kuzu
Aaaand the parallels between Toyokawa Etsushi and KimuTaku continue! I've only watched one episode of this so far with glaphix, but I LIKE IT. He is so CRAZY. I've *never* seen him this *funny*. After all his angsty roles it's almost shocking. But FUN.


Who's excited about It Started with a Kiss 2??? I know I am! I anticipate many I-Love-Lucy-esque married hijinks!

Comments

[fenlings]

Yeah true, Mizuki in the manga is much more stalkery. It's good the writers gave her more motivation. Wow, I don't think I'm ready for pedo Mimura!

NAKATSU LOVE!