Kabuto 11 + Zettai Kareshi + Arashi
This might make me a horrible person (and, god, I am so addicted to those lolcats and loldogs and failblogs sites, but at least they entertain me, I guess) but this made me laugh REALLY HARD.
ALSO ALSO ALSO. * SO FULL OF GLEE OMG* HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN. ♥
Anyway. I don't even know what I'm filling these commentaries with anymore. Four (or more) pages every episode? Really? Really? Wtf, self. Anyway, on to Kamen Rider Kabuto, with 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.
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 11: I love how the recap of the previous episode puts all the focus on Kagami giving up TheBee and then flashes on Tendou walking away as Kagami says that he has something more important than TheBee.
I always found it a little weird that there was a woman dying in the ruins of Shinjuku... I guess there are people still living there? Though, the show never really touches on it much later on the series, most of the time the place is totally abandoned or policed by ZECT to make sure no one is there. I guess it makes sense that there would still be pockets of people living there, those that lost their homes or jobs and didn't have anywhere else to go. Just. A little bit odd.
The whole scene with Daisuke doing the dying woman's makeup is a lot less WTF this time around, but I remember the first time I watched this and going, "..................................what." at it a lot.
It was sort of the opposite for the scene following, where Juka suggests that Tendou should give the takenoko to both Hiyori-san and Kagami-san, which Tendou agrees to Hiyori, but why Kagami? There's a limit to how unsuited that guy is, after all. Which I didn't make much of the first time around, Tendou was just Tendou. But this time... it's the episode immediately after Kagami gave up being TheBee, after Tendou basically encouraging him into doing so, even giving it up for the right reason. He even smiled at Kagami at the end of their fight, he almost glanced back while he was walking away. So why suddenly so Bah, Kagami's stupid! about the whole thing? Lazy writing? Tendou being somehow PSYCHIC and knows that Kagami has lost his fighting spirit, despite that he flung himself into harm's way to protect Tendou? Tendou realizing that maybe he likes Kagami (as a friend or something more, either way) and pulling back because no no he totally doesn't have time to ~*like*~ someone? I lean towards the third option, if only because... well, because it fits my view of the series better, but also because it gives a reason for Tendou's behavior within the series.
I like to think it fits better, too, because Tendou is seriously cranky at Kagami even before he ever steps foot into La Salle and it's not like he's usually that pissy at Kagami, not even if he forgets to say "Irasshaimase" to a customer. And he does have the whole "You've forgotten something important." bit coming up (re: Kagami forgetting why he joined ZECT in the first place/to defeat the Worm), but... he seemed pleased at the end of the previous episode, then suddenly he's pissed. Even allowing for the possibility that Tendou's pissy because Kagami gave up fighting with TheBee (whereas he was previously pissy because Kagami was going up against him half-heartedly, then briefly pleased that Kagami stabbed his shoulder, then pissy because Kagami gave it up), that's... not much of a reason to be that pissy with Kagami. Not when it's before Kagami showed signs of having forgotten that he wants to defeat all the Worm.
Thus, I am left to conclude that Tendou's being a bitch because he doesn't want to like Kagami as much as he does. Shut up, it totally works in my mind. >:| (And even if it's actually about how Kagami isn't fighting anymore, that's... a rather strong reaction from Tendou, when he's usually THE REST OF YOU PUNY MORTALS SHOULD JUST GET OUT OF MY WAY.) He is very deliberately ignoring Kagami in that scene, not like he doesn't register Kagami's presence so much as he is very clearly putting all settings on IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE.
Though, whatever the real reason for Tendou's crankiness, I will forgive this episode anything because it has the scene where Kagami practically pounces on Tendou, dragging him over to the other side of the restaurant, and is way, way up in his personal space while Tendou makes the best OH MY GOD EW GROSS GET YOUR FEEEELINGS OFF OF ME faces.
Tendou says, "What is it? I'm fed up with you." And... really, what reason does he have to be fed up with Kagami? Kagami did the right thing, unless Tendou wanted him to stay as TheBee? But, given the way Tendou is making a very strong point in this scene, I think it leans more towards not really being about what Kagami has done/not done. Because Kagami's not really showing signs of having lost his fighting spirit, he's going on about HOW GREAT IT WAS to fight WITH Tendou, not OKAY I'LL LEAVE IT TO YOU THEN!, so. Unless Tendou is pissed about Kagami wanting to fight with him? But that's nothing new. Maybe in over-analyzing it, I'm missing something obvious?
Anyway, that's when Kagami goes all puppy-eyed at him and Tendou makes the best freaked out faces EVER and SOFT ROMANTIC MUSIC PLAYS. Like, the first time I was watching these episodes, I was already shipping them at that point, but. That just completely sealed it. OTP FOREVER AND EVER after that. E-especially when you phrase it like, "What's with that passionate look?" and "I felt it that time...." and "When I was fighting you... You and I were connected...!" Seriously. LOL and OTP. If it were anyone but Kagami, I would have half-suspected them of doing it on purpose just to fuck with Tendou.
(I kind of think that eventually Kagami will start doing it just to freak Tendou out sometimes because it's REALLY FUNNY when cool, calm, collected Tendou goes all OMG GROSS GET YOUR FEELINGS OFF ME and tries to scoot away. Much later, once they're more settled into their friendship/relationship, that is. It'll be nice to have something to fight back against Tendou with. XD)
That's Tendou's breaking point, when he scoots away from Kagami's stare and goes OMG QUIT IT and Kagami says "There's no reason to be embarrassed! :D" and it's the timing of Tendou's reaction more than anything that kind of makes me wonder if they weren't kind of going the route I think they were going. Not that they meant it seriously, but. Like, with a sense of humor about the whole thing, like half-parody of it, because they kind of HAVE TO KNOW. So many of the scenes in the series are just so... blatant in a lot of ways that I wonder if they're not kind of fucking with the fangirls in the audience on purpose.
Except it kind of doesn't come off as parody when the rest of the storyline kind of, you know, backs up the emotional emphasis being on the OTP.
So Tendou snaps, OKAY LISTEN. "In the past, present, future, all ages there is always a single person more perfect than others. A man like me.... Do you think I can befriend a commoner like you?"
Now. The show never really explains why Tendou hates the word "friends" so much, but if you think about it, it's kind of easy to guess why. For all that he's really smart and really insightful and really quick on his feet, he is also sometimes a total social retard and he's put everything of himself into this obsessive goal to protect his sisters and defeat all the Worm. (That and he doesn't really want anyone to get close to him as Kabuto, because they might discover the secret that he's keeping (about Hiyori), even if he doesn't seem to really mind that Kagami works at La Salle or that he's friends with Hiyori.) Of course he's not going to have time for friends or people he cares about. And if he starts to like one? Well, it's not that Tendou would be in denial about liking the person, but that he would think to himself, well, I'm just going to squash that impulse. What better way than to squash Kagami when he's trying to make friendly overtures?
It's also kind of a really gay scene. Like, you don't just grab someone's ear and blow into it (ostensibly to "clean out his ears to hear") especially when they have clearly heard you and are in shock at the really bitchy, blunt tone in your voice. Tendou's making a very clear point about how he's not going to tolerate this, but he was in that mood even before he got to La Salle, so.
The door slams shut with a very loud, final ring to it and Kagami slumps against the counter. "I gave up TheBee for that guy?" So, well, yes. His "something more important" is Tendou and... I'm not supposed to interpret that wrong?
Hiyori says, well, I don't know what happened, but I think he's thinking of you in his own way, because there's enough takenoko for three people. Kagami starts to brighten a little, which is when Tendou walks back in to further make his point that HE DOES NOT LIKE KAGAMI NOT AT ALL THERE WILL BE NO LIKING OF KAGAMI EVER NOT ONE LITTLE BIT. He does stop to turn and say, "Kagami. You are forgetting something important." Kagami looks about two seconds away from taking the wooden spoon to Tendou's head and then....
Tendou walks around the city while staring at the third takenoko that he took back from Kagami. All right then. .__.
At least until he runs into Misaki and you know I think this was about the point I realized I loved the show. There's this very serious scene and she's waiting for him on one of the little ducky spring rides and the atmosphere is heavy and tense... all while the little spring ride is wobbling back and forth while quacking in the most cheerfully silly way.
Then snapshots of Daisuke and Gon, where he's carrying her on his shoulders so she's not in the middle of the dust cloud and them sitting on the bench while holding hands and laying on the slide with their heads tilted towards each other and a;sdlfkja;lsjk I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. ♥ And when he's trying to be all, hey, Gon, how long are you going to hang onto me? shouldn't you be off on your own now? and she just totally owns him without even trying.
I was amused as hell during the scene where Daisuke rescues the female hostage the first time I watched them, because as;dlfkjaslkj the flower backgrounds and sparkles and YET STILL SOMEHOW Daisuke manages to be the straightest one in the cast. It's a mystery! (Also, the hostage girl looked WAY CUTER pre-makeover, I have to say.)
When Misaki gets angry at Tendou (for suggesting that she might fall in love with him if she gets too close, which was clearly calculated to piss her off), Daisuke comes over and says, no, you mustn't make women angry! Treat them like flowers! He's the person who will protect all women, so Tendou says well then he's the person that will protect all life on this planet. And they get along JUST GREAT from that point on, REALLY.
You know. When Tendou transforms into Kabuto, he's STILL carrying the takenoko around with him. I didn't really notice or pay attention to that the first time, but it's kind of interesting to note.
So, more Daisuke stuff, which I really don't have a lot to say about, but then Tendou goes home (and I don't see the takenoko anywhere anymore?) and Kagami is there, cleaning because he kind of felt badly about saying too much earlier and it's kind of interesting the way it's shot. It's in widescreen, so it's not like Kagami and Tendou practically have to be in each other's personal space, but you can see Tendou cross the room (and see the really nice house in the background) and stand really, really close to Kagami. And then... they get into a passive aggressive snit about a group date being cancelled and how Tendou thinks Kagami should get a girlfriend and in the back of my head all I can think is, "Well, no, he's already got one, just that his would-be girlfriend is PMSing right now. >_>" and possibly I am a really terrible person.
And... Tendou says, I see, so without a friend, you can't do anything and Kagami says, well, what am I supposed to do, and then Juka-chan offers Tendou to go along with. Kagami has this o_O You were listening?? look on his face and Tendou... turns to look at Kagami with this really calculating, weighted look for just a second. ...and then gets even further into Kagami's personal space and looks really determined and declares that he'll... I don't know, out-date Kagami? (Like suddenly he can't stand the idea of Kagami on a date? ....bzuh?)
Well, gosh, Tendou. I don't know why you would confuse Kagami. First you push him to get a girlfriend (yeah, that's not fitting with the theory that Tendou's trying to push him away or anything, because why does Tendou care?) and then you say that you'll be a better date than he is and says it'll be like "the sun and a snapping turtle" and... Kagami flops over from the sheer headache of trying to deal with Tendou. XDDD I would, too. I mean. The scene was totally not one big attempt on Tendou's part to push Kagami away and then change in mid-scene to kinda go YOU'LL SEE HOW AWESOME A DATE I AM BECAUSE I AM THE BEST AND YOU'LL BE TOTALLY IMPRESSED BY HOW AWESOME I AM SEE SEE SEE because he kind of does that with Kagami a lot.
It's interesting the emphasis they put on that scene. Like with Daisuke, Tendou still got kind of bitchy at him, but it wasn't at all the same level as what you see in this scene with Kagami. Like... why does Tendou even care about Kagami's group date or trying to show Kagami up? Much less care enough to go on the date with Kagami and spend the entire time trying to out-do Kagami? I mean, I realize it's a way to get Tendou onto the ferry to be in the middle of the Worm attack, but really. There had to be other ways (he could have been wandering around after his talk with Misaki and happened to run into Kagami's group date, for example) besides having him get all in a snit over Kagami's date.
You know. And then leave it (after he's made sure to make a better impression than Kagami) to go be crazy at the ferry's chef by making the tempura himself. Kagami makes some interesting faces as he tries to decide whether or not to eat Tendou's food and then Daisuke crashes the date to do the girls' make up and Kagami turns to Tendou and says, "You lost." I swear, that's kind of a little bit when Tendou gets truly pissy about Daisuke, pushing Kagami's chopsticks violently away.
Then Gon sees a body on the top of the ferry and goes to try to tell Daisuke about it and... Daisuke is kind of a dick about shooing her away, despite that she's all DAISUKE, REALLY BIG TROUBLE! but Tendou pays attention to her. And... I would say that it's kind of out of character for Daisuke to ignore her so completely like that... except it's really not out of character at all. I love Daisuke, but he's kind of a jerk sometimes. :<
So, they figure out who the Worm in the group is, Tendou transforms, everyone else runs to safety, the Worm follows them, Kagami yells for Tendou (seeing as he has no weapons or anything on him), I lol a lot, Tendou shows up and very deliberately says, "I'm not saving you.", I lol some more, and Tendou reiterates that Kagami has forgotten something important. Daisuke transforms into Drake, then the adorable ending tag with Tendou CHEATING WITH CLOCK UP TO WIN AT CARDS. And LAUGHING at Kagami yelling at him for cheating. ♥
So, I've also been watching Boukengar (I'm partway through episode 5 and I will say that one thing I already love about this show is that it makes Kamen Rider's special effects look polished) and Zettai Kareshi, which I've continued to go through like it's candy. At least considering my usual jdrama pace, that is.
SPOILERS for up through episode 7 at least. I keep thinking that I'm just going to watch one more episode, then I'll go do something else. And I'll end up watching two or three episodes and still be ready for more. Usually getting me to watch jdrama is a pain, I have trouble focusing on it and it takes me forever to be in the right mood. But these episodes just charm me right from the first few minutes and it goes by SO FAST OMG.
It did take me awhile to warm up to Night, mostly becasue he was just unfailingly loyal and supportive of Riiko, no matter what. Which is nice sometimes, but it felt kind of empty for awhile, because it didn't matter what Riiko said or did or looked like or how she came off, he would say that she was the best and that he loved her. Unconditional love sounds nice on paper, but I think what got me was that it wasn't discerning at all, it was like a tape recorder always saying that it loved you. What you did didn't matter, it was just a program set to spit out the same answer no matter what, it wasn't real.
It's not until a little over halfway through that Night starts to develop beyond his programming and that's when I started to really warm up to the character. I still lean towards Soshi/Riiko just because, you know, he's a human being and he's so delightfully quirky and adorable and kind of dorky and I love how Mizushima Hiro plays him and he has great chemistry with Aibu Saki/Riiko.
Though, you know what I think would really be awesome? And this is one of the few times this tactic works for me, but. I would totally do a threesome with those three. Like, it would be SO EASY to convince Night to do it. "Having a threesome with Soshi-san would make Riiko happy? Okay. :D :D :D" I like to think that Soshi wouldn't be entirely opposed to it, the way he watched Night lifting all the heavy boxes and went, "Wow, you're really strong! :D" was A+++ a-and. Th...the collar straightening scene in episode 7 was kind of really hot. .___.
Part of me feels kind of badly going for the slash, but I don't think the slash would really work without Riiko and... I don't really feel that guilt about going for the Night/Riiko/Soshi threesome because I like all three permutations of it.
My other favorite moment was in episode 6, with Night totally Spider-Man'ing it in the bathroom while Riiko's dad was there, who looks up to see him on the ceiling, and I seriously spent an entire minute going LOL with shrieking laughter. ♥
Though, you know, I can never quite figure out how I feel about Soshi's older brother, sometimes he seems like a giant dick, then other times he seems almost like he really wants Soshi to stop fooling around, like he really cares about his little brother. Then half an episode later, he's back to being a dick again. It's really kind of confusing after awhile. .__.
And, finally, the ARASHI stuff again. As always, there are SPOILERS for anything listed under the cut. (Ousama no Brunch - Hanadan Final [2008.06.28] + Utaban [2008.06.26] + Hana Yori Dango Final SP [2008.06.27] + Gakkou e Ikou! MAX [2008.04.22] + Gakkou e Ikou MAX! [2008.04.29])
♥ - Ousama no Brunch - Hanadan Final [2008.06.28] - I didn't really plan to watch this right away, I might have tried to get around to it eventually, but. I was browsing my flist and litany_sh's post (with animated gifs!) caught my eye and-- was that Jun shoving Oguri Shun's face into a fan to ruin his hair!?
Yes.
Yes, it was.
They have this quiz going on and I... guess you have to grab the ball for when you're going to answer it? It was cute how many of the answers Jun got right. But he was obviously in a really good mood right then--it was so cute how they each had their introduction to show off the outfits they were wearing and Jun spends about 45 seconds in the interview before he can't help being distracted by Ohno slightly off camera and going over to go :D :D :D :D at him and be all cutely happy about Ohno's MAOU promotions. SO ADORABLE OMG.
So, anyway, they have this quiz thing and it features a light ball being held up in the middle of the air by a fan in the podium in front of them, like when they take a balloon and it floats in mid-air over an air cleaner, you know?
So what does Jun do?
Naturally, he pulls Shun over and SHOVES HIS FACE INTO THE FAN so it totally ruins his ~*stylish bangs*~. On national TV.
Of course.
That's how you know Jun loves you.
Also, I want to know what the hell was with Jun's suit. Did they not have any in his size? Seriously, that suit was like at least two sizes too big for him, what the hell.
Eh, I'm just going to pretend that he was in Shun-kun's dressing room right beforehand and grabbed the wrong suit when he got dressed again. *washes hand of problem* (Though, really, it just looks too big for him, not too tall, but I'm still going with my version. .__.)
...also. It is not at all funny that they each pick a favorite movie for this show and Jun picks Love Actually as his favorite. While the others all pick more action-oriented movies. I'm not questioning his taste in movies so much as... I'm loling kind of hard at it! ILU FOREVER, JUN. NEVER CHANGE FROM YOUR GIRLY, GIRLY SELF.
About 3/4ths or so into the segment, they're in the middle of the quiz and I swear, Jun and Shun are supposed to be paying attention to the questions (about Mao-chan? about Tsukushi? about the storyline?) but instead they're whispering and giggling to themselves and it's so fucking cute.
I want them to just make out on camera already. ;___;
♥ - Ousama no Brunch - Maou [2008.06.28] - I was holding off on the MAOU part of the appearance (well, more like I zoomed over to the Hanadan part before I'd finished my other backlogged episodes) but before I could hardly blink, Aki had translated it and it had been subbed. OMG I AM SO PAINFULLY WAITING FOR THIS DRAMA. Like, my expectations for most dramas tend to be pretty low, but so far this one actually looks PRETTY DAMN AWESOME. Ohno's devil expressionless faces are genuinely creepy, holy shit. And I-- I think I might actually be okay with Toma in a drama! (I have nothing against Toma, just that I dislike the association everyone has with him as Nakatsu.) The flattering haircut helps a lot, too.
I'm still a little wary of the drama not living up to expectations, only because I don't want Ohno's first leading role in a drama to fail, despite that I think it's amazing how much he's doing ALL THE TIME lately (seriously, Ohno, TAKE A NAP, holy christ .__.) and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but-- it looks really good so far and I'm kind of dying for it to come out.
(I guess I just worry. YamaTarou started out really well and had tons of promotion all over the place, too, and then it just sort of. Didn't go anywhere. I don't want the same to happen to MAOU! Even if YamaTarou apparently got solid ratings the whole way through.)
It's adorable to see how supportive everyone is with Ohno in this drama, how excited they all are for him. And JUN. MOTHER HENNING OHNO BY ASKING IF HE'S BUSY ALL THE TIME. ASKING IF FILMING IS HARD ON HIM. CHEERING HIM ON. ASD:LKJASLKJA SO CUTE. And apparently Jun also had a Talk with Toma to take care of Ohno. a;sdlkfja;lkjs MOAR OHNO/JUN PLZ.
A...and Nino being in the first episode of MAOU and that wasn't gay at all the way they introduced the clip of him. .___.
♥ - puipui interview-matsujun and mao-chan - ....as;dflkjasljk I've seen the puipui interview around and of course I saw the poke she gave him, but anon-san pointed out the subbed version and I am so gleeful about it. Because YES THEY ARE SO FREAKING CUTE TOGETHER.
They have this really delightful, playful interaction with each other and when one of the staff asks her if Matsumoto has any weak points, she leans over a little and laughs that he has one right here, poking him in the side. He practically flails out of his chair in the most adorable spaz ever and she giggles so hard. Then she says, well, you have to be careful when you do it, because if you do it at the wrong time, something really bad might happen.
asd;flkjas;ldkjalkj AHAHAHA OH MY GOD I LOVE HER SO MUCH MY HEART IS FILLED WITH IT.
Especially when Jun's kind of okay with that, he says you have to read my mood first, right? Yeah, you have to read his mood first and you can tell that he's a little embarrassed by it but not mad or anything. ....and possibly, I realize, it might be Mao/Jun instead of the other way around. XDDDD ESPECIALLY WHEN SHE MOCKS HIS BAD TEMPER AHAHAHAHA.
♥ - Utaban [2008.06.26] - It's not just me, this appearance seemed kind of low-key for an appearance on the show, didn't it? I'm not sure if it's because it was kind of dull or if it was just that so much other stuff has been SO AWESOME lately that it only looks dull in comparison or what, though. Like, it's kind of hard to top Himitsu no Arashi-chan lately or all the awesome MAOU or Hanadan Final promotion that the group has been doing.
It wasn't bad--Nino doing card tricks is never bad ♥--but it didn't really grab me, either. I wonder if it would be better with subs to go along with it? I was a little blinded by Aiba's shirt (what the hell was that thing?) but Jun looked so pretty that I found it hard to complain. Nino and Sho's clothes were nice as well and Ohno... well, I think he pulled off that blue shirt, yeah.
The ranking part actually wasn't so bad, but that's because I love stuff like that, I never get tired of it, and I was following along with Aki's summary so I had a decent idea of what they were saying. (LET JUN TAKE A NAP, YOU GUYS. IT IS GOOD FOR HIM. +__+) And the bit about Aiba's laziness is just-- as;dljkfal;kjs it will never not be funny imagining him being scolded for not flushing because he forgets.
As for the pervert ranking, I love that they still give Sho crap for being the biggest pervert in Arashi, while I suspect... well, I've always looked at it like Sho seems to be a bit of an accidental pervert, like he's not a healthy male like Aiba is, he has these thoughts that appear in his head, accidentally sharing them (or watching more porn than he should--NEVER NOT FUNNY when they tell that story, too) and his bandmates give him crap about it because it's really, really funny. At least that's the way I generally look at it. (The rankings are obviously not that serious because they ranked Jun as second, which is clearly a lie. XD I love that they're giving him crap about it, too.)
Oh, and I did love the Utaban camera guys being LIKE NINJA when they where whipping around to reposition themselves for Nino's magic trick. XD
A-also, Jun kind of staring at Aiba's cream puff and then the two of them totally giggling and a;sldkfjl;kjas SHUT UP I CAN TINHAT IF I WANT TO. And poor Aiba got the awful one and it looked really awful and I-- asd;lfkjal it may be terrible of me, but I did kind of laugh when not a single one of his bandmates went to help.
asl;dfjffffff ....a-and did Jun make Taka-san and Nakai check the final binoculars when the rest of Arashi cleared that game? ....I love Jun forever.
So, overall, not my favorite Utaban appearance, but definitely worth the half hour that I spent watching it! And I actually liked this performance much better than the one on Music Station--the blue sky behind them fit with the theme of the song really well, their outfits looked gorgeous and while I still wish there had been more of a dance to go with the song, at least they were moving around a little this time. Not much, but. I dunno, maybe I'm just in a better mood over it this time around. XD
♥ - Hana Yori Dango Final SP [2008.06.27] - Admittedly, I skimmed the flashback portions of this (except for the season 1 finale because that scene outside the plane gets to me every single time) but the original parts were delightful. It really is kind of fascinating to watch Jun go from Doumyouji to Jun and... for all the similarities they have, you can just see the difference as soon as he drops the act.
A large part of it is Doumyouji's arrogance and attention-hogging ways, but... even when Jun himself is being kind of arrogant, it's not the same way as Doumyouji does it, and seeing him interact with Arashi here highlights a lot of that even more clearly.
I do have to wonder... wh...what was with the bow-ties for the Arashi performance? Like, seriously, you guys are SO CLOSE to being perfectly dressed, WHY ARE YOU RUINING IT WITH THE BOWTIES? I firmly believe that Nino wore his loosely to protest this fashion statement. A...at least Aiba isn't wearing one (and he looks really good and also randomly wearing a big ass ring and I lol a little bit) and I love how they're all in black while Jun's in the maroon suit. They all look really nice. *__*
Plus, the second part of the special is just. So completely worth it for Arashi singing the Hanadan-related songs (WISH, Love So Sweet, and One Love) in front of a big screen playing Hanadan-related drama moments. Like, when Japan decides they really love us a lot, they really love us a lot.
Also, totally worth it for the rest of Arashi giving "Doumyouji" crap and the look Aiba gives him when Doumyouji is yelling at all of them and getting all up in their faces, like, obviously he's playing it up for the cameras, but it's a really great o__o look anyway. And OHNO SATOSHI. HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD YET? YOU ARE A LITTLE BASTARD AND ILU FOREVER.
Totally fun and worth watching and I want suuuuuuubs. *pines*
♥ - I was going to go watch the second episode of Gakkou e Ikou! MAX that was subbed recently and then realized, oh, crap, I don't think I'd yet watched the first one, Gakkou e Ikou! MAX [2008.04.22] yet. orz So I hunted that one down and plopped down to watch it because I'd heard about it.
And immediately it's great, with Nino alone in his dressing room playing his DS (after the host goes, "Is he crying? Oh, no, he's playing his DS." a sd;lfkja;lkj) and oh my god seriously I would watch half an hour of Nino just playing his game. I would watch that show every week, so long as they showed a little screen of Nino's actual game so I could watch his progress on it, too. But it cracks me up so hard that Nino doesn't even notice, because he's so wrapped up in his game, when Nino's the one that usually notices these things right off the bat. And I loved when they sent the third guy in, the one in the kimono, and it could have been such an awkward moment, but Nino doesn't look annoyed or pissed at all, just sort of cutely curious.
And I love, LOVE that they prank Nino first... so that, yes, of course. Now Nino can join in pranking the rest of his bandmates.
--holy crap, did Aiba SERIOUSLY JUST ASK IF HE WAS FAT? NO, AIBA. NO, YOU ARE NOT. NOW EAT SOME MORE CHIPS RIGHT NOW. *stares* But I love Aiba a lot for laughing at being called "Suzuki-san" and not really minding the girl's "mistake" and then as;dlfkjas;ljk the poor girl (well, boy) says Sho does the news in the morning, right? and it's just so adorable.
a;lsdfjka;lskjfffffff and. And. When they finally reveal the prank and that they're boys? The first thing Aiba asks about? Well, what about their boobs?? REALLY?? :O
*crying* I love Aiba forever.
Also, oh my god, their faces. *cried some more*
And then they make fun of Ohno sitting cross-legged (indian style, I think?) in his chair and how he looks like a little old Japanese man and I love this show even more.
Of course, it's also NO SURPRISE AT ALL that Nino is a little fucker with some of the stuff he suggests. And he's the one to say, well, he [Jun] does have an unexpectedly moody side to him when they were wondering what kind of person he was, and Aiba says, YEAH HE'S THE ONE MOST LIKELY TO GET MAD and I was kind of dying a little.
It was actually really interesting to see even aside from the prank aspect, because you get to see how a lot of their interviews must be conducted and it's interesting to see Jun actually giving serious thoughts to the usual magazine-style interview questions and then OH MY GOD AIBA MASAKI HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE AFTER THAT SUGGESTION? He... he suggested that the crossdresser interviewing Jun should ASK HIM OUT and I am kind of really surprised Aiba lived after Jun saw this show.
It's also interesting that, out of all of them, Jun is the one that gets the most suspicious, after the reporter asks if he's dating anyone right then. The look on Jun's face when the boy in the kimono entered was great, too. As was the expression when he said, "Gakkou e Ikkou is kind of...." and trailed off, because the LOOK ON HIS FACE SAID IT ALL.
Nino's total fascination and wanting to come back the next week was kind of precious, too.
Anyway, after that I picked up Gakkou e Ikou MAX! [2008.04.29] to watch and 1:28 into the episode, I am practically choking with laughter because they played Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" and just. Oh, Japan. Never, ever stop making me LOL with your often oddly appropriate (or wildly inappropriate sometimes, if not in this particular case) music choices.
The whole episode was just... wow. It was hard to avoid seeing images of the kiss with Nino and one of the girlboys, since it was plastered all over my flist, but the whole episode just. You really have to see it to understand how great Nino's reactions are. And I CANNOT BELIEVE some of those girlboys, they had amazing legs, just about all of them! Like, I can understand make up and hair and stuff. But how do you get such amazing legs like that?? ....not that Arashi should talk, Sho's got a nice pair, too. >_>
I cannot believe they got Nino to kiss a girlboy through an acrylic square not once but TWICE.
Just. I don't even care about your crazy gender issues right now, Japan, I love you so much.
ALSO ALSO ALSO. * SO FULL OF GLEE OMG* HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN. ♥
Anyway. I don't even know what I'm filling these commentaries with anymore. Four (or more) pages every episode? Really? Really? Wtf, self. Anyway, on to Kamen Rider Kabuto, with 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.
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 11: I love how the recap of the previous episode puts all the focus on Kagami giving up TheBee and then flashes on Tendou walking away as Kagami says that he has something more important than TheBee.
I always found it a little weird that there was a woman dying in the ruins of Shinjuku... I guess there are people still living there? Though, the show never really touches on it much later on the series, most of the time the place is totally abandoned or policed by ZECT to make sure no one is there. I guess it makes sense that there would still be pockets of people living there, those that lost their homes or jobs and didn't have anywhere else to go. Just. A little bit odd.
The whole scene with Daisuke doing the dying woman's makeup is a lot less WTF this time around, but I remember the first time I watched this and going, "..................................what." at it a lot.
It was sort of the opposite for the scene following, where Juka suggests that Tendou should give the takenoko to both Hiyori-san and Kagami-san, which Tendou agrees to Hiyori, but why Kagami? There's a limit to how unsuited that guy is, after all. Which I didn't make much of the first time around, Tendou was just Tendou. But this time... it's the episode immediately after Kagami gave up being TheBee, after Tendou basically encouraging him into doing so, even giving it up for the right reason. He even smiled at Kagami at the end of their fight, he almost glanced back while he was walking away. So why suddenly so Bah, Kagami's stupid! about the whole thing? Lazy writing? Tendou being somehow PSYCHIC and knows that Kagami has lost his fighting spirit, despite that he flung himself into harm's way to protect Tendou? Tendou realizing that maybe he likes Kagami (as a friend or something more, either way) and pulling back because no no he totally doesn't have time to ~*like*~ someone? I lean towards the third option, if only because... well, because it fits my view of the series better, but also because it gives a reason for Tendou's behavior within the series.
I like to think it fits better, too, because Tendou is seriously cranky at Kagami even before he ever steps foot into La Salle and it's not like he's usually that pissy at Kagami, not even if he forgets to say "Irasshaimase" to a customer. And he does have the whole "You've forgotten something important." bit coming up (re: Kagami forgetting why he joined ZECT in the first place/to defeat the Worm), but... he seemed pleased at the end of the previous episode, then suddenly he's pissed. Even allowing for the possibility that Tendou's pissy because Kagami gave up fighting with TheBee (whereas he was previously pissy because Kagami was going up against him half-heartedly, then briefly pleased that Kagami stabbed his shoulder, then pissy because Kagami gave it up), that's... not much of a reason to be that pissy with Kagami. Not when it's before Kagami showed signs of having forgotten that he wants to defeat all the Worm.
Thus, I am left to conclude that Tendou's being a bitch because he doesn't want to like Kagami as much as he does. Shut up, it totally works in my mind. >:| (And even if it's actually about how Kagami isn't fighting anymore, that's... a rather strong reaction from Tendou, when he's usually THE REST OF YOU PUNY MORTALS SHOULD JUST GET OUT OF MY WAY.) He is very deliberately ignoring Kagami in that scene, not like he doesn't register Kagami's presence so much as he is very clearly putting all settings on IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE.
Though, whatever the real reason for Tendou's crankiness, I will forgive this episode anything because it has the scene where Kagami practically pounces on Tendou, dragging him over to the other side of the restaurant, and is way, way up in his personal space while Tendou makes the best OH MY GOD EW GROSS GET YOUR FEEEELINGS OFF OF ME faces.
Tendou says, "What is it? I'm fed up with you." And... really, what reason does he have to be fed up with Kagami? Kagami did the right thing, unless Tendou wanted him to stay as TheBee? But, given the way Tendou is making a very strong point in this scene, I think it leans more towards not really being about what Kagami has done/not done. Because Kagami's not really showing signs of having lost his fighting spirit, he's going on about HOW GREAT IT WAS to fight WITH Tendou, not OKAY I'LL LEAVE IT TO YOU THEN!, so. Unless Tendou is pissed about Kagami wanting to fight with him? But that's nothing new. Maybe in over-analyzing it, I'm missing something obvious?
Anyway, that's when Kagami goes all puppy-eyed at him and Tendou makes the best freaked out faces EVER and SOFT ROMANTIC MUSIC PLAYS. Like, the first time I was watching these episodes, I was already shipping them at that point, but. That just completely sealed it. OTP FOREVER AND EVER after that. E-especially when you phrase it like, "What's with that passionate look?" and "I felt it that time...." and "When I was fighting you... You and I were connected...!" Seriously. LOL and OTP. If it were anyone but Kagami, I would have half-suspected them of doing it on purpose just to fuck with Tendou.
(I kind of think that eventually Kagami will start doing it just to freak Tendou out sometimes because it's REALLY FUNNY when cool, calm, collected Tendou goes all OMG GROSS GET YOUR FEELINGS OFF ME and tries to scoot away. Much later, once they're more settled into their friendship/relationship, that is. It'll be nice to have something to fight back against Tendou with. XD)
That's Tendou's breaking point, when he scoots away from Kagami's stare and goes OMG QUIT IT and Kagami says "There's no reason to be embarrassed! :D" and it's the timing of Tendou's reaction more than anything that kind of makes me wonder if they weren't kind of going the route I think they were going. Not that they meant it seriously, but. Like, with a sense of humor about the whole thing, like half-parody of it, because they kind of HAVE TO KNOW. So many of the scenes in the series are just so... blatant in a lot of ways that I wonder if they're not kind of fucking with the fangirls in the audience on purpose.
Except it kind of doesn't come off as parody when the rest of the storyline kind of, you know, backs up the emotional emphasis being on the OTP.
So Tendou snaps, OKAY LISTEN. "In the past, present, future, all ages there is always a single person more perfect than others. A man like me.... Do you think I can befriend a commoner like you?"
Now. The show never really explains why Tendou hates the word "friends" so much, but if you think about it, it's kind of easy to guess why. For all that he's really smart and really insightful and really quick on his feet, he is also sometimes a total social retard and he's put everything of himself into this obsessive goal to protect his sisters and defeat all the Worm. (That and he doesn't really want anyone to get close to him as Kabuto, because they might discover the secret that he's keeping (about Hiyori), even if he doesn't seem to really mind that Kagami works at La Salle or that he's friends with Hiyori.) Of course he's not going to have time for friends or people he cares about. And if he starts to like one? Well, it's not that Tendou would be in denial about liking the person, but that he would think to himself, well, I'm just going to squash that impulse. What better way than to squash Kagami when he's trying to make friendly overtures?
It's also kind of a really gay scene. Like, you don't just grab someone's ear and blow into it (ostensibly to "clean out his ears to hear") especially when they have clearly heard you and are in shock at the really bitchy, blunt tone in your voice. Tendou's making a very clear point about how he's not going to tolerate this, but he was in that mood even before he got to La Salle, so.
The door slams shut with a very loud, final ring to it and Kagami slumps against the counter. "I gave up TheBee for that guy?" So, well, yes. His "something more important" is Tendou and... I'm not supposed to interpret that wrong?
Hiyori says, well, I don't know what happened, but I think he's thinking of you in his own way, because there's enough takenoko for three people. Kagami starts to brighten a little, which is when Tendou walks back in to further make his point that HE DOES NOT LIKE KAGAMI NOT AT ALL THERE WILL BE NO LIKING OF KAGAMI EVER NOT ONE LITTLE BIT. He does stop to turn and say, "Kagami. You are forgetting something important." Kagami looks about two seconds away from taking the wooden spoon to Tendou's head and then....
Tendou walks around the city while staring at the third takenoko that he took back from Kagami. All right then. .__.
At least until he runs into Misaki and you know I think this was about the point I realized I loved the show. There's this very serious scene and she's waiting for him on one of the little ducky spring rides and the atmosphere is heavy and tense... all while the little spring ride is wobbling back and forth while quacking in the most cheerfully silly way.
Then snapshots of Daisuke and Gon, where he's carrying her on his shoulders so she's not in the middle of the dust cloud and them sitting on the bench while holding hands and laying on the slide with their heads tilted towards each other and a;sdlfkja;lsjk I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. ♥ And when he's trying to be all, hey, Gon, how long are you going to hang onto me? shouldn't you be off on your own now? and she just totally owns him without even trying.
I was amused as hell during the scene where Daisuke rescues the female hostage the first time I watched them, because as;dlfkjaslkj the flower backgrounds and sparkles and YET STILL SOMEHOW Daisuke manages to be the straightest one in the cast. It's a mystery! (Also, the hostage girl looked WAY CUTER pre-makeover, I have to say.)
When Misaki gets angry at Tendou (for suggesting that she might fall in love with him if she gets too close, which was clearly calculated to piss her off), Daisuke comes over and says, no, you mustn't make women angry! Treat them like flowers! He's the person who will protect all women, so Tendou says well then he's the person that will protect all life on this planet. And they get along JUST GREAT from that point on, REALLY.
You know. When Tendou transforms into Kabuto, he's STILL carrying the takenoko around with him. I didn't really notice or pay attention to that the first time, but it's kind of interesting to note.
So, more Daisuke stuff, which I really don't have a lot to say about, but then Tendou goes home (and I don't see the takenoko anywhere anymore?) and Kagami is there, cleaning because he kind of felt badly about saying too much earlier and it's kind of interesting the way it's shot. It's in widescreen, so it's not like Kagami and Tendou practically have to be in each other's personal space, but you can see Tendou cross the room (and see the really nice house in the background) and stand really, really close to Kagami. And then... they get into a passive aggressive snit about a group date being cancelled and how Tendou thinks Kagami should get a girlfriend and in the back of my head all I can think is, "Well, no, he's already got one, just that his would-be girlfriend is PMSing right now. >_>" and possibly I am a really terrible person.
And... Tendou says, I see, so without a friend, you can't do anything and Kagami says, well, what am I supposed to do, and then Juka-chan offers Tendou to go along with. Kagami has this o_O You were listening?? look on his face and Tendou... turns to look at Kagami with this really calculating, weighted look for just a second. ...and then gets even further into Kagami's personal space and looks really determined and declares that he'll... I don't know, out-date Kagami? (Like suddenly he can't stand the idea of Kagami on a date? ....bzuh?)
Well, gosh, Tendou. I don't know why you would confuse Kagami. First you push him to get a girlfriend (yeah, that's not fitting with the theory that Tendou's trying to push him away or anything, because why does Tendou care?) and then you say that you'll be a better date than he is and says it'll be like "the sun and a snapping turtle" and... Kagami flops over from the sheer headache of trying to deal with Tendou. XDDD I would, too. I mean. The scene was totally not one big attempt on Tendou's part to push Kagami away and then change in mid-scene to kinda go YOU'LL SEE HOW AWESOME A DATE I AM BECAUSE I AM THE BEST AND YOU'LL BE TOTALLY IMPRESSED BY HOW AWESOME I AM SEE SEE SEE because he kind of does that with Kagami a lot.
It's interesting the emphasis they put on that scene. Like with Daisuke, Tendou still got kind of bitchy at him, but it wasn't at all the same level as what you see in this scene with Kagami. Like... why does Tendou even care about Kagami's group date or trying to show Kagami up? Much less care enough to go on the date with Kagami and spend the entire time trying to out-do Kagami? I mean, I realize it's a way to get Tendou onto the ferry to be in the middle of the Worm attack, but really. There had to be other ways (he could have been wandering around after his talk with Misaki and happened to run into Kagami's group date, for example) besides having him get all in a snit over Kagami's date.
You know. And then leave it (after he's made sure to make a better impression than Kagami) to go be crazy at the ferry's chef by making the tempura himself. Kagami makes some interesting faces as he tries to decide whether or not to eat Tendou's food and then Daisuke crashes the date to do the girls' make up and Kagami turns to Tendou and says, "You lost." I swear, that's kind of a little bit when Tendou gets truly pissy about Daisuke, pushing Kagami's chopsticks violently away.
Then Gon sees a body on the top of the ferry and goes to try to tell Daisuke about it and... Daisuke is kind of a dick about shooing her away, despite that she's all DAISUKE, REALLY BIG TROUBLE! but Tendou pays attention to her. And... I would say that it's kind of out of character for Daisuke to ignore her so completely like that... except it's really not out of character at all. I love Daisuke, but he's kind of a jerk sometimes. :<
So, they figure out who the Worm in the group is, Tendou transforms, everyone else runs to safety, the Worm follows them, Kagami yells for Tendou (seeing as he has no weapons or anything on him), I lol a lot, Tendou shows up and very deliberately says, "I'm not saving you.", I lol some more, and Tendou reiterates that Kagami has forgotten something important. Daisuke transforms into Drake, then the adorable ending tag with Tendou CHEATING WITH CLOCK UP TO WIN AT CARDS. And LAUGHING at Kagami yelling at him for cheating. ♥
So, I've also been watching Boukengar (I'm partway through episode 5 and I will say that one thing I already love about this show is that it makes Kamen Rider's special effects look polished) and Zettai Kareshi, which I've continued to go through like it's candy. At least considering my usual jdrama pace, that is.
SPOILERS for up through episode 7 at least. I keep thinking that I'm just going to watch one more episode, then I'll go do something else. And I'll end up watching two or three episodes and still be ready for more. Usually getting me to watch jdrama is a pain, I have trouble focusing on it and it takes me forever to be in the right mood. But these episodes just charm me right from the first few minutes and it goes by SO FAST OMG.
It did take me awhile to warm up to Night, mostly becasue he was just unfailingly loyal and supportive of Riiko, no matter what. Which is nice sometimes, but it felt kind of empty for awhile, because it didn't matter what Riiko said or did or looked like or how she came off, he would say that she was the best and that he loved her. Unconditional love sounds nice on paper, but I think what got me was that it wasn't discerning at all, it was like a tape recorder always saying that it loved you. What you did didn't matter, it was just a program set to spit out the same answer no matter what, it wasn't real.
It's not until a little over halfway through that Night starts to develop beyond his programming and that's when I started to really warm up to the character. I still lean towards Soshi/Riiko just because, you know, he's a human being and he's so delightfully quirky and adorable and kind of dorky and I love how Mizushima Hiro plays him and he has great chemistry with Aibu Saki/Riiko.
Though, you know what I think would really be awesome? And this is one of the few times this tactic works for me, but. I would totally do a threesome with those three. Like, it would be SO EASY to convince Night to do it. "Having a threesome with Soshi-san would make Riiko happy? Okay. :D :D :D" I like to think that Soshi wouldn't be entirely opposed to it, the way he watched Night lifting all the heavy boxes and went, "Wow, you're really strong! :D" was A+++ a-and. Th...the collar straightening scene in episode 7 was kind of really hot. .___.
Part of me feels kind of badly going for the slash, but I don't think the slash would really work without Riiko and... I don't really feel that guilt about going for the Night/Riiko/Soshi threesome because I like all three permutations of it.
My other favorite moment was in episode 6, with Night totally Spider-Man'ing it in the bathroom while Riiko's dad was there, who looks up to see him on the ceiling, and I seriously spent an entire minute going LOL with shrieking laughter. ♥
Though, you know, I can never quite figure out how I feel about Soshi's older brother, sometimes he seems like a giant dick, then other times he seems almost like he really wants Soshi to stop fooling around, like he really cares about his little brother. Then half an episode later, he's back to being a dick again. It's really kind of confusing after awhile. .__.
And, finally, the ARASHI stuff again. As always, there are SPOILERS for anything listed under the cut. (Ousama no Brunch - Hanadan Final [2008.06.28] + Utaban [2008.06.26] + Hana Yori Dango Final SP [2008.06.27] + Gakkou e Ikou! MAX [2008.04.22] + Gakkou e Ikou MAX! [2008.04.29])
♥ - Ousama no Brunch - Hanadan Final [2008.06.28] - I didn't really plan to watch this right away, I might have tried to get around to it eventually, but. I was browsing my flist and litany_sh's post (with animated gifs!) caught my eye and-- was that Jun shoving Oguri Shun's face into a fan to ruin his hair!?
Yes.
Yes, it was.
They have this quiz going on and I... guess you have to grab the ball for when you're going to answer it? It was cute how many of the answers Jun got right. But he was obviously in a really good mood right then--it was so cute how they each had their introduction to show off the outfits they were wearing and Jun spends about 45 seconds in the interview before he can't help being distracted by Ohno slightly off camera and going over to go :D :D :D :D at him and be all cutely happy about Ohno's MAOU promotions. SO ADORABLE OMG.
So, anyway, they have this quiz thing and it features a light ball being held up in the middle of the air by a fan in the podium in front of them, like when they take a balloon and it floats in mid-air over an air cleaner, you know?
So what does Jun do?
Naturally, he pulls Shun over and SHOVES HIS FACE INTO THE FAN so it totally ruins his ~*stylish bangs*~. On national TV.
Of course.
That's how you know Jun loves you.
Also, I want to know what the hell was with Jun's suit. Did they not have any in his size? Seriously, that suit was like at least two sizes too big for him, what the hell.
Eh, I'm just going to pretend that he was in Shun-kun's dressing room right beforehand and grabbed the wrong suit when he got dressed again. *washes hand of problem* (Though, really, it just looks too big for him, not too tall, but I'm still going with my version. .__.)
...also. It is not at all funny that they each pick a favorite movie for this show and Jun picks Love Actually as his favorite. While the others all pick more action-oriented movies. I'm not questioning his taste in movies so much as... I'm loling kind of hard at it! ILU FOREVER, JUN. NEVER CHANGE FROM YOUR GIRLY, GIRLY SELF.
About 3/4ths or so into the segment, they're in the middle of the quiz and I swear, Jun and Shun are supposed to be paying attention to the questions (about Mao-chan? about Tsukushi? about the storyline?) but instead they're whispering and giggling to themselves and it's so fucking cute.
I want them to just make out on camera already. ;___;
♥ - Ousama no Brunch - Maou [2008.06.28] - I was holding off on the MAOU part of the appearance (well, more like I zoomed over to the Hanadan part before I'd finished my other backlogged episodes) but before I could hardly blink, Aki had translated it and it had been subbed. OMG I AM SO PAINFULLY WAITING FOR THIS DRAMA. Like, my expectations for most dramas tend to be pretty low, but so far this one actually looks PRETTY DAMN AWESOME. Ohno's devil expressionless faces are genuinely creepy, holy shit. And I-- I think I might actually be okay with Toma in a drama! (I have nothing against Toma, just that I dislike the association everyone has with him as Nakatsu.) The flattering haircut helps a lot, too.
I'm still a little wary of the drama not living up to expectations, only because I don't want Ohno's first leading role in a drama to fail, despite that I think it's amazing how much he's doing ALL THE TIME lately (seriously, Ohno, TAKE A NAP, holy christ .__.) and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but-- it looks really good so far and I'm kind of dying for it to come out.
(I guess I just worry. YamaTarou started out really well and had tons of promotion all over the place, too, and then it just sort of. Didn't go anywhere. I don't want the same to happen to MAOU! Even if YamaTarou apparently got solid ratings the whole way through.)
It's adorable to see how supportive everyone is with Ohno in this drama, how excited they all are for him. And JUN. MOTHER HENNING OHNO BY ASKING IF HE'S BUSY ALL THE TIME. ASKING IF FILMING IS HARD ON HIM. CHEERING HIM ON. ASD:LKJASLKJA SO CUTE. And apparently Jun also had a Talk with Toma to take care of Ohno. a;sdlkfja;lkjs MOAR OHNO/JUN PLZ.
A...and Nino being in the first episode of MAOU and that wasn't gay at all the way they introduced the clip of him. .___.
♥ - puipui interview-matsujun and mao-chan - ....as;dflkjasljk I've seen the puipui interview around and of course I saw the poke she gave him, but anon-san pointed out the subbed version and I am so gleeful about it. Because YES THEY ARE SO FREAKING CUTE TOGETHER.
They have this really delightful, playful interaction with each other and when one of the staff asks her if Matsumoto has any weak points, she leans over a little and laughs that he has one right here, poking him in the side. He practically flails out of his chair in the most adorable spaz ever and she giggles so hard. Then she says, well, you have to be careful when you do it, because if you do it at the wrong time, something really bad might happen.
asd;flkjas;ldkjalkj AHAHAHA OH MY GOD I LOVE HER SO MUCH MY HEART IS FILLED WITH IT.
Especially when Jun's kind of okay with that, he says you have to read my mood first, right? Yeah, you have to read his mood first and you can tell that he's a little embarrassed by it but not mad or anything. ....and possibly, I realize, it might be Mao/Jun instead of the other way around. XDDDD ESPECIALLY WHEN SHE MOCKS HIS BAD TEMPER AHAHAHAHA.
♥ - Utaban [2008.06.26] - It's not just me, this appearance seemed kind of low-key for an appearance on the show, didn't it? I'm not sure if it's because it was kind of dull or if it was just that so much other stuff has been SO AWESOME lately that it only looks dull in comparison or what, though. Like, it's kind of hard to top Himitsu no Arashi-chan lately or all the awesome MAOU or Hanadan Final promotion that the group has been doing.
It wasn't bad--Nino doing card tricks is never bad ♥--but it didn't really grab me, either. I wonder if it would be better with subs to go along with it? I was a little blinded by Aiba's shirt (what the hell was that thing?) but Jun looked so pretty that I found it hard to complain. Nino and Sho's clothes were nice as well and Ohno... well, I think he pulled off that blue shirt, yeah.
The ranking part actually wasn't so bad, but that's because I love stuff like that, I never get tired of it, and I was following along with Aki's summary so I had a decent idea of what they were saying. (LET JUN TAKE A NAP, YOU GUYS. IT IS GOOD FOR HIM. +__+) And the bit about Aiba's laziness is just-- as;dljkfal;kjs it will never not be funny imagining him being scolded for not flushing because he forgets.
As for the pervert ranking, I love that they still give Sho crap for being the biggest pervert in Arashi, while I suspect... well, I've always looked at it like Sho seems to be a bit of an accidental pervert, like he's not a healthy male like Aiba is, he has these thoughts that appear in his head, accidentally sharing them (or watching more porn than he should--NEVER NOT FUNNY when they tell that story, too) and his bandmates give him crap about it because it's really, really funny. At least that's the way I generally look at it. (The rankings are obviously not that serious because they ranked Jun as second, which is clearly a lie. XD I love that they're giving him crap about it, too.)
Oh, and I did love the Utaban camera guys being LIKE NINJA when they where whipping around to reposition themselves for Nino's magic trick. XD
A-also, Jun kind of staring at Aiba's cream puff and then the two of them totally giggling and a;sldkfjl;kjas SHUT UP I CAN TINHAT IF I WANT TO. And poor Aiba got the awful one and it looked really awful and I-- asd;lfkjal it may be terrible of me, but I did kind of laugh when not a single one of his bandmates went to help.
asl;dfjffffff ....a-and did Jun make Taka-san and Nakai check the final binoculars when the rest of Arashi cleared that game? ....I love Jun forever.
So, overall, not my favorite Utaban appearance, but definitely worth the half hour that I spent watching it! And I actually liked this performance much better than the one on Music Station--the blue sky behind them fit with the theme of the song really well, their outfits looked gorgeous and while I still wish there had been more of a dance to go with the song, at least they were moving around a little this time. Not much, but. I dunno, maybe I'm just in a better mood over it this time around. XD
♥ - Hana Yori Dango Final SP [2008.06.27] - Admittedly, I skimmed the flashback portions of this (except for the season 1 finale because that scene outside the plane gets to me every single time) but the original parts were delightful. It really is kind of fascinating to watch Jun go from Doumyouji to Jun and... for all the similarities they have, you can just see the difference as soon as he drops the act.
A large part of it is Doumyouji's arrogance and attention-hogging ways, but... even when Jun himself is being kind of arrogant, it's not the same way as Doumyouji does it, and seeing him interact with Arashi here highlights a lot of that even more clearly.
I do have to wonder... wh...what was with the bow-ties for the Arashi performance? Like, seriously, you guys are SO CLOSE to being perfectly dressed, WHY ARE YOU RUINING IT WITH THE BOWTIES? I firmly believe that Nino wore his loosely to protest this fashion statement. A...at least Aiba isn't wearing one (and he looks really good and also randomly wearing a big ass ring and I lol a little bit) and I love how they're all in black while Jun's in the maroon suit. They all look really nice. *__*
Plus, the second part of the special is just. So completely worth it for Arashi singing the Hanadan-related songs (WISH, Love So Sweet, and One Love) in front of a big screen playing Hanadan-related drama moments. Like, when Japan decides they really love us a lot, they really love us a lot.
Also, totally worth it for the rest of Arashi giving "Doumyouji" crap and the look Aiba gives him when Doumyouji is yelling at all of them and getting all up in their faces, like, obviously he's playing it up for the cameras, but it's a really great o__o look anyway. And OHNO SATOSHI. HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD YET? YOU ARE A LITTLE BASTARD AND ILU FOREVER.
Totally fun and worth watching and I want suuuuuuubs. *pines*
♥ - I was going to go watch the second episode of Gakkou e Ikou! MAX that was subbed recently and then realized, oh, crap, I don't think I'd yet watched the first one, Gakkou e Ikou! MAX [2008.04.22] yet. orz So I hunted that one down and plopped down to watch it because I'd heard about it.
And immediately it's great, with Nino alone in his dressing room playing his DS (after the host goes, "Is he crying? Oh, no, he's playing his DS." a sd;lfkja;lkj) and oh my god seriously I would watch half an hour of Nino just playing his game. I would watch that show every week, so long as they showed a little screen of Nino's actual game so I could watch his progress on it, too. But it cracks me up so hard that Nino doesn't even notice, because he's so wrapped up in his game, when Nino's the one that usually notices these things right off the bat. And I loved when they sent the third guy in, the one in the kimono, and it could have been such an awkward moment, but Nino doesn't look annoyed or pissed at all, just sort of cutely curious.
And I love, LOVE that they prank Nino first... so that, yes, of course. Now Nino can join in pranking the rest of his bandmates.
--holy crap, did Aiba SERIOUSLY JUST ASK IF HE WAS FAT? NO, AIBA. NO, YOU ARE NOT. NOW EAT SOME MORE CHIPS RIGHT NOW. *stares* But I love Aiba a lot for laughing at being called "Suzuki-san" and not really minding the girl's "mistake" and then as;dlfkjas;ljk the poor girl (well, boy) says Sho does the news in the morning, right? and it's just so adorable.
a;lsdfjka;lskjfffffff and. And. When they finally reveal the prank and that they're boys? The first thing Aiba asks about? Well, what about their boobs?? REALLY?? :O
*crying* I love Aiba forever.
Also, oh my god, their faces. *cried some more*
And then they make fun of Ohno sitting cross-legged (indian style, I think?) in his chair and how he looks like a little old Japanese man and I love this show even more.
Of course, it's also NO SURPRISE AT ALL that Nino is a little fucker with some of the stuff he suggests. And he's the one to say, well, he [Jun] does have an unexpectedly moody side to him when they were wondering what kind of person he was, and Aiba says, YEAH HE'S THE ONE MOST LIKELY TO GET MAD and I was kind of dying a little.
It was actually really interesting to see even aside from the prank aspect, because you get to see how a lot of their interviews must be conducted and it's interesting to see Jun actually giving serious thoughts to the usual magazine-style interview questions and then OH MY GOD AIBA MASAKI HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE AFTER THAT SUGGESTION? He... he suggested that the crossdresser interviewing Jun should ASK HIM OUT and I am kind of really surprised Aiba lived after Jun saw this show.
It's also interesting that, out of all of them, Jun is the one that gets the most suspicious, after the reporter asks if he's dating anyone right then. The look on Jun's face when the boy in the kimono entered was great, too. As was the expression when he said, "Gakkou e Ikkou is kind of...." and trailed off, because the LOOK ON HIS FACE SAID IT ALL.
Nino's total fascination and wanting to come back the next week was kind of precious, too.
Anyway, after that I picked up Gakkou e Ikou MAX! [2008.04.29] to watch and 1:28 into the episode, I am practically choking with laughter because they played Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" and just. Oh, Japan. Never, ever stop making me LOL with your often oddly appropriate (or wildly inappropriate sometimes, if not in this particular case) music choices.
The whole episode was just... wow. It was hard to avoid seeing images of the kiss with Nino and one of the girlboys, since it was plastered all over my flist, but the whole episode just. You really have to see it to understand how great Nino's reactions are. And I CANNOT BELIEVE some of those girlboys, they had amazing legs, just about all of them! Like, I can understand make up and hair and stuff. But how do you get such amazing legs like that?? ....not that Arashi should talk, Sho's got a nice pair, too. >_>
I cannot believe they got Nino to kiss a girlboy through an acrylic square not once but TWICE.
Just. I don't even care about your crazy gender issues right now, Japan, I love you so much.