I CAN disown you, Japan, don't think I won't.
I just finished skimming the first episode of the Hanakimi jdrama and I think my two biggest problems with this drama are:
- this drama is obviously going to be huge and I'm going to have to spend ages trying to chill the hell out whenever I see all the comments about the characters from people who've never read the manga and I want to explain why no no no no bad adaptation in three-page long essay form and knowing that's utterly ridiculous of me (and would come with a lot of personal bias, obv.)
- I think it's a bad adaptation
It's not a bad drama. It's actually a really great drama so far, from what I've seen. (Admittedly, I was skimming.) It's funny, it's well-paced, the scenery looks fantastic, the actors are fabulous, they've got great chemistry, Maki is as cute as a button, etc. I could have loved this drama if it weren't trying to pretend to be Hanakimi.
Anyway.
One thing I really loved was the way they handled Kayashima, who was appropriately weird ghost boy without, you know, being a stoned idiot like in the twdrama. Seeing him pop up all over the place was totally A++ hilarious. ♥
I don't like the whole bit with the fangirls, no matter how much of an all-star cast this is shaping up to be, that just feels weird combined with Hanakimi. St. Blossom (or Blossom Gakuen here) was kind of hilarious, though. I'm giving that part a cautious thumb's up, even if I don't like that they're fangirls instead of competitors. I liked the rivalry between the two schools before. D:
Something else that caught my attention....
They're all trying to get Mizuki into their dorm because they heard she runs fast and they're chasing her all over (while Nanba's giving her a tour) and Himejima said to Nanba (after telling Mizuki to stop hanging around Nanba because he'd get her pregnant), "Due to your walking genitals, do you know how many of us have taken your poisonous bite!?"
I seriously hit rewind/pause on that part because....
Did Himejima just say what I think he just said?
Considering that Nanba--who, by the way, has a rat's nest for hair and is acting extremely hyper and what the HELL, Japan!?--said, "There's no way that's true!" immediately after and Mizuki was all, "....*HORRIFIED RECOIL*", I'm leaning towards maybe Himejima actually did say what I think he just said.
I'm undecided on Maki and Shun as Mizuki and Sano, they're... not really Mizuki and Sano, but they're so adorably cute that I'm having trouble working up much frothing hate.
Umeda, on the other hand... *TWITCH* It's not even that the actor is a bad choice (he's not who I would have chosen, I would have gone younger, but he doesn't look bad), it's just... he's wearing giant rings on his hands.
I--
I just--
No, okay?
I'm still willing to see how they play the character off in the future, but those rings really, really made me nervous.
Also, what the hell is up with the school principal character?
The photographer lady (Karasuma? Akiha? Some unholy combination of the both of them? I WILL DISOWN YOU, JAPAN, DON'T THINK I WON'T.) also makes me v. v. v. nervous. With all that conversation at the beginning, they couldn't have let her get her name out so I could stop having a fit about it? *twitch*
- this drama is obviously going to be huge and I'm going to have to spend ages trying to chill the hell out whenever I see all the comments about the characters from people who've never read the manga and I want to explain why no no no no bad adaptation in three-page long essay form and knowing that's utterly ridiculous of me (and would come with a lot of personal bias, obv.)
- I think it's a bad adaptation
It's not a bad drama. It's actually a really great drama so far, from what I've seen. (Admittedly, I was skimming.) It's funny, it's well-paced, the scenery looks fantastic, the actors are fabulous, they've got great chemistry, Maki is as cute as a button, etc. I could have loved this drama if it weren't trying to pretend to be Hanakimi.
Anyway.
One thing I really loved was the way they handled Kayashima, who was appropriately weird ghost boy without, you know, being a stoned idiot like in the twdrama. Seeing him pop up all over the place was totally A++ hilarious. ♥
I don't like the whole bit with the fangirls, no matter how much of an all-star cast this is shaping up to be, that just feels weird combined with Hanakimi. St. Blossom (or Blossom Gakuen here) was kind of hilarious, though. I'm giving that part a cautious thumb's up, even if I don't like that they're fangirls instead of competitors. I liked the rivalry between the two schools before. D:
Something else that caught my attention....
They're all trying to get Mizuki into their dorm because they heard she runs fast and they're chasing her all over (while Nanba's giving her a tour) and Himejima said to Nanba (after telling Mizuki to stop hanging around Nanba because he'd get her pregnant), "Due to your walking genitals, do you know how many of us have taken your poisonous bite!?"
I seriously hit rewind/pause on that part because....
Did Himejima just say what I think he just said?
Considering that Nanba--who, by the way, has a rat's nest for hair and is acting extremely hyper and what the HELL, Japan!?--said, "There's no way that's true!" immediately after and Mizuki was all, "....*HORRIFIED RECOIL*", I'm leaning towards maybe Himejima actually did say what I think he just said.
I'm undecided on Maki and Shun as Mizuki and Sano, they're... not really Mizuki and Sano, but they're so adorably cute that I'm having trouble working up much frothing hate.
Umeda, on the other hand... *TWITCH* It's not even that the actor is a bad choice (he's not who I would have chosen, I would have gone younger, but he doesn't look bad), it's just... he's wearing giant rings on his hands.
I--
I just--
No, okay?
I'm still willing to see how they play the character off in the future, but those rings really, really made me nervous.
Also, what the hell is up with the school principal character?
The photographer lady (Karasuma? Akiha? Some unholy combination of the both of them? I WILL DISOWN YOU, JAPAN, DON'T THINK I WON'T.) also makes me v. v. v. nervous. With all that conversation at the beginning, they couldn't have let her get her name out so I could stop having a fit about it? *twitch*