....at this point I think I'll end up needing a Shun/Jun icon soon. .__.

[beckerbell]

Wow, I'm only on episode 10? I'd have thought I'd be further along than that by now. orz Anyway, on to Kamen Rider Kabuto, SPOILERS for the episode listed at the very least (and very likely into the 30s and possibly the whole series), I don't plan these things in advance, we'll see from there.

Comments

[kegom]

I didn't read about half of the stuff here, because I didn't want to spoil myself for HnA ep.12 (or the Hanadan movie), but I read your ep. 11 description and ...yeah. I have to agree with you - the beauty stuff was just ...pretty boring. :( Even if I cracked up like hell about the fact that the last three things I saw on HnA were a.) child minders, b.) "secrets" of a certain fashion trend, and c.) beauty tips. Add to that the "romance movie" stuff they had before that and the (fake)"romantic date", and HnA is starting to look A LOT like the television form of a women's magazine

[beckerbell]

I really wanted to like Himitsu #11, I am totally LOL over how much they're tailoring the show to stuff that appeals to women, it's just... I don't know, nothing quite came together without understanding the language, I suspect. But it hasn't helped that they've had some really spectacular segments lately, so these probably looked even more boring in comparison, but... I dunno, it sort of felt like Sho/Ohno/Jun didn't really get much to DO during them, they just sort of sat there.

I'm slowly being won over to the Jun/Mao-chan pairing because they are SO CUTE together and it's not like they get along perfectly, they tease each other a lot and poke at each other and they just. Their chemistry seems to be different lately, since the filming of the movie. Which may have to do with how the movie is more focused with the Tsukasa/Tsukushi scenes, rather than having them with the others quite so much? They seem to... really know each other, like, they can practically finish each other's sentences

[kegom]

You know, at some point during Himitsu 11 I suddenly wondered whether those three weren't actually bored, too, because at some point they were just sitting there and not really speaking with each other, just waiting, and I think Ohno was slouching badly again (not like he never does, or anything, but still^^") and somehow, I got the feeling that he was about to fall asleep and all in all, I don't think this has been the most interesting section for them

[beckerbell]

All three of them hardly said a word the entire time, I can't imagine that it was that much fun for them, either. And that shows--it's like, you look at Nino's reports and they're so much fun because he's throwing himself into them and interacting with animals or running around in the places or trying out the airplane seats or whatever. We're tuning in because we want to see Arashi doing stuff, not just Arashi standing around while there's an infomercial going on. Even if it was nice to see Matsui-san again.

It is hard to judge Jun and Mao-chan because we don't really see them doing much outside of their roles or promoting the movie, but I'll be curious to see what you think after Himitsu #12. You might still feel the same way, but there were a few moments in it that further convinced me that I could ship them. I think what got me the most with them is watching the first time they appeared on TFP2 where Jun immediately guessed Rammenstein (I think?) from Mao-chan just based on the way she banged the buttons. I'd love to see

Aaaaaand it happened again. Part 1

[kegom]

We're tuning in because we want to see Arashi doing stuff, not just Arashi standing around while there's an infomercial going on.That's it, exactly! I'm actually rather easily drawn into things, so it's pretty easy to get me into reports even if there isn't much Arashi antics going around, but as far as I could tell, this was pretty much an advertising for one (or maybe a few) skin care products with ...something... inside them to make the skin very smooth again. (Maybe the well-loved collagen

Aaaaaand it happened again. Part 2

[kegom]

you can see that Jun and Mao-chan genuinely gravitate towards each other, much like Jun and Shun gravitate towards each other.This makes me curious about the first appearance of the Hanadan crew on TFP, because that was something I hadn't seen at all during the second appearance, so it might only be noticable after having seen them there twice. During this second one, I just assumed that they were standing next to each other according to their movie relationships, i.e. Tsukushi standing next to Tsukasa, because he's her romantic interest in the movie (and Jun and Mao having the most scenes with each other) and the other two guys then standing next to each other, because they're the F4 together (minus one flower ;P). When Mao returned to Jun's side between games, I thought she was just going back to her position again, nothing more; especially since Jun didn't really look at her much when she was standing next to her. (Of course that doesn't mean he doesn't have romantic feelings for her, just that it made it less noticable that she

Let's see if I can get this in under the comment limit... yes!

[beckerbell]

I'm not really sure why this segment didn't go very well, if they were just tired or if it was just poor planning or just one of those things that maybe isn't as interesting to Westerners as it is to people in Japan or what. But it just felt like one long infomercial and they didn't even make it fun like they did with GRA, where they got the guys involved in it. Like, I don't mind you guys trying to sell some facial cleanser, honest! Just make it fun if you're going to be on Himitsu no Arashi-chan.

And I get where you're coming from with a reluctance to ship the romantic leads of a series, that kind of tripped me up with Jun/Mao for a long time, too. I suspect that is a large part of the reason that a lot of their fangirls ship them, because they like the drama versions of Doumyouji and Makino, because they like the idea of Matsujun and Inoue Mao, rather than because there's any actual chemistry there that they're picking up on. And it IS possible to, you know, ACT like a couple when you're in a drama and not actually be into