Getting the hang of things again.
Okay, after a rough couple of days, I think I'm getting back into the swing of things properly here and I'm nearly caught up on responses, too, I think. ♥ Anyway!
Oh my god this is kind of breaking my head. An MMORPG with Cartoon Network characters and I just-- I can't decide if that's the coolest thing ever or the most god-awful thing ever or just traumatizing or what.
Anyway. Usual blah, blah, blah, and then on to Kamen Rider Kabuto ep 17, 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 17: Picking up where the last one left off, Gon hears someone following her, and I'm actually not that fond of this storyline. It makes me dislike Kageyama genuinely (rather than loving to hate the little bitch) and Daisuke is a total dick to Gon just so that there can be more drama when she disappears. Every time I watch Gon wit the ice cream, I totally want some, though. *___*
I feel so badly for Gon, who really doesn't have anyone in the world except Daisuke and when she's nearly been kidnapped, she runs over to him for comfort/protection and he doesn't believe her. (Despite that Gon doesn't really seem to be the type to play that kind of trick, you jerk.)
.....Kageyama sucking the icecream off his finger is kind of great, though. I guess he really does think sucking is the best. .___.b
After that, Kagami is still flying high after having defeated the Worm in the previous episode and it reminds me that I really do like Kamen Rider for that, the way events from the previous episode so often flow over into the next. Even when they have random Worms of the week and it's still episodic in nature, the affects of the events of the prevous episode aren't forgotten. Also, Kagami is a giant dork and totally adorable in how much he's exaggerating the story and I LOVE, WITH MY ENTIRE HEART, Tendou and Misaki sitting there listening to the story for about the billionth time with the most "ugh" expressions on their faces. Even when Misaki tries to object that she's heard this story EIGHT FUCKING TIMES NOW, Kagami's like, well, okay, if you put it that way, I'll start from the beginning!
God, it's like.
Every guy who's ever done something slightly awesome and his friends/girlfriend/co-worker has to hear about it FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH until they're so sick of it that they just want to strangle him. Misaki shushing him with the finger was A+++++, too.
Misaki finally gets the conversation on to something else, saying that after Tendou finally joined ZECT, he left again. He says, yes, his reason for joining ZECT is gone now. And Kagami says, ehhh, I think Tendou's better off working alone and Tendou is, like, SUSPICIONS HAVE BEEN RAISED, because Kagami getting something? Cause for suspicion.
I still LOL really hard at the Eiffel Tower figurine, too. Just. YOU GUYS. IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO SLASH YOU, QUIT HOLDING THE TOWER LIKE THAT.
I also love the whole conversation, because Kagami's basically going, well, I think Tendou's probably better off alone and Tendou launches into his whole thing about how he's too big for an organization to contain, etc., and it's like. Bzuh? Kagami's agreeing with you! You can dial the posturing back down now!
After that, Daisuke continues to be a dick despite that Gon is obviously genuinely freaked out and... I mean, I feel for Daisuke, it's not like he exactly asked to take on the responsibilities of a little girl and it's probably tough for him, but. Dude, you could at least try to be a little less of a dick to an obviously freaked little girl. She's jumping at every little thing, she's running to hide behind him when she's startled, she's got a constant grip on his hand. Something's obviously really bothering her, so the way Daisuke ignores her really kind of bothers me. (I say this as someone who really does like Daisuke most of the time. Just. Not so much in this storyline.)
Then Kagami KEEPS BRAGGING about the story and I love that Tadokoro-san actually put up with it the first three times he heard the story, but the fourth was enough already and he really is a way better dad than KagamiSr. (Also, Misaki's TWELFTH TIME. ILU FOREVER, Kagami.) Then more adorableness with Tendou and Juka (I'm not sure if he's playing along with her, I suspect so, because it's a little too exaggerated and when he actually fears for his sister's life, he's the type who just swoops in ninja-fast to get to her) and he's such an adorable, doting older brother. ♥ I also love that Juka asks after Kagami, what's he doing these days, he hasn't come around lately.
....I. Love that Juka has clearly decided that Kagami is prime boyfriend material because there's no way that Kagami has been around that much this early on in the series, yet she still prods at her brother a little over him. Tendou seems in a really good mood this episode, too, despite that he's had to hear that goddamned story probably multiple times by now.
And okay. I can sympathize with Daisuke, his nerves are probably frazzled, too, and he's in the middle of something really important and he's seen no evidence of Gon's attacker. Sometimes it's hard to always be patient with kids, but it's not like she meant to knock the suitcase over. (Actually, I feel less angry towards him in this scene, because this is a really important moment for him and he's in the middle of work and it's probably been a long day for him, too.) And just because we know that Gon's still in danger doesn't mean that Daisuke has any reason to suspect that himself. If he knew, of course he'd do things differently. And Tendou does later point out that Daisuke didn't understand how hurtful his words genuinely were.
But it's still heartbreaking to watch Gon go to La Salle because she doesn't have anywhere else, to see her break down into tears, Hiyori and Tendou trying to comfort her. ;___; Same for Gon asking if she can hold Hiyori's hand while they walk back to Daisuke so Gon can apologize and Hiyori looks at her hand for a moment, then says, sure. Awww. *wibbles*
(Tendou also has another really giant ass belt buckle on in that scene. And he's been wearing shorter and shorter sleeves lately, ....I approve.)
I also really like how growly Tendou gets over Daisuke's treatment of Gon, like it's very different from how he gets towards someone that tries to take Kagami's attention away, but instead it's a lot like how he treats Hiyori or Juka, he gets all furious and angry here. It's interesting to note the different ways he reacts to people behaving in ways he doesn't approve of, depending on who it is they're acting towards.
Also, hey! I didn't really notice it the first time around, I don't think, but Daisuke says, who knows if Gon was really attacked or if it was just a trick, and Tendou pops his head back out of the kitchen, like, Attacked?? And next thing we see Hiyori and Gon about to be attacked by Kageyama before the Worm pops up, he's about to transform into TheBee, when suddenly a blurred Kabuto comes into focus and we hear Clock Over, so did Tendou just use Clock Up to save time when he ran over? I'm... not used to my toku shows making that much sense, not unless they make a huge deal about it! XD
Oh and when Tendou tries to feed Gon and she makes a face, saying it's bad, the pained look on Tendou's face is awesome. STRAIGHT TO THE HEART, no one's ever told him his cooking was bad before! ;__;
The whole scene is kind of heartbreaking, because I know that Daisuke's saying that Gon's in the way, that she should just go home if her memory is coming back, because he doesn't want her to feel obligated to stay, because he's trying to protect himself from her loss, too. (You can tell, because he doesn't defend himself when Tendou calls him scum again. He's resigned to playing the bad guy here.) Even if he's a jerk about it, I can understand his feelings, but. When she takes it that she's just a bother to him, especially after the way he's acted for the past couple of days when she was more needy than usual, and runs out, it still makes me wobbly and want to maybe tear up a little.
The scene where Gon starts to get her memory back even more, when she remembers the crash a little, it's still kind of overdone (I thought so the first time through, too) but I still like it for when Tendou rushes up and calls Hiyori's name, this really sort of panicked note in his voice. For a silly toku series, I really do like a lot of the acting in it. Mizushima Hiro also has some really nice arms. *__* He might be kind of skinny as a Japanese stick, but at least I don't want to cram twenty cookies down his throat and he actually has some muscle on him. *__*
Kageyama continues to be a little bitch about punching Hiyori and when he lords it over Daisuke that they have Gon trapped and they want him to defeat Kabuto for ZECT. And possibly I love the beginning of that fight between Tendou and Daisuke, where Tendou is completely calm and collected with a saying about his grandmother, when Daisuke fires the shot and he just casually falls backwards (I love the detail of several strands of hair being clipped by the bullet) flat onto the ground. Tendou. SO FULL OF HIMSELF and yet the Universe DOES just hand him whatever he wants!
I love the gratuituous slow motion shots of the bullets from Drake's gun, the slow motion fountains in the background that are so clearly on a green screen, and I even love the ridiculous cliffhanger note they end the episode on with the Rider Kick vs Rider Shooting!
No episode tag this time, since there's a promotion for the Hibiki movie and orz orz orz I kind of want to watch it.
I've also kind of been watching a crapload of toku lately. I started both Dekaranger (two episodes down!) and Engine Sentai Go-Onger (one episode down!) and I think I ♥ the hell out of both of them. Idk if you can count spoilers for that early on in both series, but, eh, warnings just in case anyway. I think they're pretty vague, though.
Dekaranger 01-02: Man, does this show ever make Boukenger look polished! Part of it isn't really the show's fault, it's not filmed in hi-def and it's sentai, which makes Kamen Rider look polished, but. After an episode or two, I don't really mind.
I am all for Umeko and Jasmine, they are super awesome right from the beginning. Umeko is kind of like what I wish Natsuki had been more like--it's not that Natsuki hasn't grown on me tons, but she was pretty fucking twee for awhile there and I was hard pressed not to want to smack her. But I immediately took to Umeko, she's adorable and awesome!
I am also ALL OVER the Ban/Hoji. Seriously, snarling at each other and grabbing each other's jackets and being all over each other with the UST? I am there. D...do I actually ship the pairing that the rest of the fandom does, too? I DID NOT THINK THAT WAS GOING TO BE POSSIBLE WITH SENTAI. (Okay, to be fair, this is really only my second sentai, but. I was kind of crush at the lack of Red/Black fic in Boukenger. ....not that I blame people for shipping Red/Silver, I tooootally see where that was coming from. B-but--! The tiny pissy little one--!! I love him!!)
I fucking love that their leader is a giant blue dog. That is awesome. I could, however, do without boss doggy interupting Ban and Hoji's snarling at each other, they could have maybe made out a lot, DON'T INTERUPT THEM! >:<
Swan-san is totally Tsukushi's mom in the Hanadan drama, I'm happy to say that that only took me about three minutes of staring at her to figure out. XD The rest of the cast hasn't imprinted itself much on me yet, but I like everything so far.
Go-Onger 01: I hadn't really planned to start anything new until I'd gotten further into the Kabuto rewatch, finished up the last few episodes of Kiva that are out that I haven't watched yet, finish Boukenger, and maybe get a ways on Dekaranger, but. I snagged the first 19 episodes and they fit so neatly onto a single dvd and it was sitting right there when I curled up in bed, so I poppped it into the dvd player, just to watch one episode before I went to bed.
I dunno if I'll be super in love with it yet, it's hard to tell from the first episode, but I certainly enjoyed it. It's bright and pretty and, in a sense, reminds me of Kiva in the way that they're both... they both have a lot of sharp colors and while they're still totally goofy, there's something I like about the style of them.
Also, holy crap, any time you have your sentai fighters sprouting wheels on their uniforms to go do spin attacks or to flop down on their stomach and slide through their enemies like a bowling ball through pins, I AM GOING TO LOVE YOU.
I also did not stop laughing THE ENTIRE WAY THROUGH THE ENDING THEME. Holy crap, that even outdoes the awesome ending of Dekaranger. It's just. It's BEAUTIFUL. ♥
Plus, doesn't this show have Hidenori in it later on? I am totally up for that.
So far, I don't remember any of the characters' names yet or have a real bead on any of them, but. It was fun and made me want the second ep. That's all I ask.
And, of course, more Arashi stuff. Spoilers for anything listed under the cut:
→ ~2000-era interviews
→ VS ARASHI #14
→ MAOU episode 02
→ Himitsu no Arashi-chan #15 [2008.07.17]
→ AU CMs - Sho + Nino
♥ - Potato August 2000・Let's talk together!・Matsumoto Jun→Ninomiya Kazunari - This 2000 interview was really kind of fascinating--well, and also really hilarious--because you can see a lot of how they've both changed over the years and how they're still the same in some ways. It's easy to laugh at because, Nino and Jun saying they would be able to live together "exceedingly well"? Nino and Jun? But it was back in 2000 and you can see that Jun is still thoughtful about his answers and Nino is kind of snarky and there's a great banter, but you can also just totally feel the awkwardness that Jun was still trying to grow out of at that age. (Or was just about to come into.)
Even back then, there was a sense of how the two of them were on equal footing with each other, Jun is way more playful and teasing than I kind of would have expected of him back then, but it makes sense when you consider his relationship with Nino.
Jun's thoughts/feelings on love... he really does come across as the type that's going to go through unrequited love a lot, at least to me. Maybe I'm affected by the way I view his feelings for certain members of the band, but it's more than that. Jun is really up in his own head a lot and I think there's sort of this disconnect for him about his popularity. In some ways, he gets it, he's popular and lots of people know who he is. But, there's also part of him going ERROR: ABORT/RETRY/FAIL when actually taking it into consideration. Because Jun, for a long time, was not the most self-confident person and was actually sort of really insecure.
(He's gotten loads better, though. In the past year alone, you can just see how much personal growth he's gone through, he's so much more comfortable with himself than he used to be. <3)
I just feel like. Jun is the type to have these feelings and keep them to himself, whether because he's afraid to act on them, whether he's afraid of rejection, whether he feels like he can't give it his all while he's still working, whether he doesn't want to mess up the band by having a relationship (As the fangirls would go batshit over it, probably especially Jun's fans, they tend to be. Um. Crazy in the head. ....I say this as a huge Matsujun fan, of course. XD) or whatever other reason.
Anyway, drifting away from the point of the interview, which was Nino and Jun really are kind of a lot alike here and it's fascinating to see that.
capncosmo also did a summary/translation of VS ARASHI #14 and I'm not sure who I love more right now, her or Arashi. Because, wow, that is some serious lol right there. Itou-san was the guy who was the other guy on GRA and now announcer of VS ARASHI, right? I'm surprised by this because he was such a total non-presence on GRA, half of the time I forgot he was there. I was always surprised they didn't draw him into the craziness more, but eventually chalked it up to maybe that just wasn't his thing.
Except he's obviously being drawn into the craziness now and he's kind of awesome at it. Oh, man, the YOU CAN'T HAVE MY JOB, DUDE bit with Sho has been making me randomly crack up all day now. (And god bless people translating/summarizing for the rest of us. I can catch the basic gist of things sometimes, but I totally miss awesome stuff like this otherwise, too.)
♥ - MAOU episode 02 - You know what the most difficult part of watching MAOU is? Not having the entire series on hand to marathon the entire way through, because I totally would. I know it's still a jdrama and all that comes with that, but the show has impressed me two weeks in a row with how surprisingly subtle and how fantastic the pacing is. (I'm not comparing it with The Devil, since I've not seen that, so I'm not judging its merits on a retelling of that story, but as a drama that stands on its own. Though, I am sort of starting to get biased against the original The Devil just because, you guys, MAOU's not supposed to be a dramatic reading of The Devil, it's a retelling of the story. Its doing its own thing.)
The best part of this episode was probably the build-up at the end, when you realize that Naruse wasn't going after the father, but after Yousuke. Throughout the entire episode, I kind of knew that it was going to be Yousuke because I'd seen spoilery screencaps on accident (my own fault), but that didn't change a bit about the incredible pacing of those scenes. When you didn't see who gave the little bear to Sora (the little girl) yet you'd seen those teddy bears in Naruse's dark room. When you didn't see who approached Sora towards the end to take her away from the park. That's when I knew. I knew Yousuke was being set up and would have the other bear that we saw, so that the mom would think it was him.
But that didn't detract one bit from the awesome scenes of Serizawa finally piecing it together and realizing who the true target was. Then the full tilt run towards Yousuke, hoping that he would make it in time, screaming about how Yousuke had a dream to fulfill, and it wasn't enough. Toma really has continued to impress me with every scene he's in omg.
Not that I really felt that much sympathy for Yousuke. Anyone who terrorizes women and children for a living doesn't exactly inspired a whole lot of empathizing from me, no matter how he tried to work around it. While I appreciate that they made the character more gray (he was really trying to find a way not to have to hurt the woman, but it was kind of disturbing how completely casual both he and Serizawa were about it, I agree with Wolfie that it would have been nice if he'd at least had a disapproving look or made an objection about that, instead of looking like it didn't bother him either way--I know a lot of this might be cultural differences and I know Serizawa had probably been through this a million times with Yousuke, but still. For the audience if nothing else.), I still didn't exactly feel all broken up when he was the one to die.
Neither will I feel particularly broken up when SerizawaSr dies or when Souda dies, because both of those jerks can go DIAF. Especially SerizawaSr. Which is something the drama has done really well (for me) so far--it's made me feel sympathetic to Naruse's cause. He lost his little brother and Hideo's killer got off without any punishment at all, then his mother got sick and died (probably not helped by any of this, possibly even caused by all of this?) and Naruse was completely alone. He lost everything and they got away with it.
I'm really curious to see how everything unfolds. Obviously Serizawa has repressed a lot of this out of trauma and horror and guilt, so I will be really disappointed if they cop out and have him not at fault somehow. Because we have zero reason to think that it's anything other than exactly what we're seeing--Serizawa threatening Hideo with the knife, scaring the poor kid, and somehow it gets out of control and Hideo ends up dead, with Serizawa freaked out.
I also like that my initial impressions of Naruse as something along the lines of a sociopath seem to be somewhat off. There seems to be a lot more emotion in him than I was originally sensing, because he showed a lot more subtle signs of it. There was something about the look in his eyes or the subtle, subtle expression on his face or the use of the slow smiles or the way his hands were fisted at his sides a little, they spoke of Naruse having more emotions than I first thought. Which I thought would disappoint me (because I liked the sociopath angle) but with the way Ohno's playing it, I really like what it's doing for the story. Or what it could do for the story, especially once the drama hits the second half and--I assume!--things will be more about the dramatic confrontations in the rain rather than a puppetmaster pulling strings.
I also continue to adore Shiori, she is so cute and adorable and I-- I could sort of ship Naruse/Shiori maybe in the future. Depending on how they develop it. I'm less enthused about Serizawa/Shiori, but I really like their relationship over the tarot cards unfolding the way it is. Either way, I really want to see what happens with her character!
I love the use of tarot cards as well. And I love that Serizawa thinks it's about some criminal wanting to play around with his life, that it's just about choosing him and then killing the people that are close to him, one by one, while not putting together that this is about the boy he killed. That the lawyer defended Serizawa, that Yousuke and the others were there, that his dad paid the money for all of this. And a;sdfjaslkj I cannot wait for that confrontation scene god.
I mean, even just Serizawa looking a little weirded out that Naruse kept showing up or the way Naruse talked about being tired and missing something (how fabulous was that scene when looking back after the fakeout?) was smoking hot and loaded with so much chemistry (I-- I could maybe ship them a little now *__*), imagine how much more intense it'll be when Serizawa finds out. *___*
asdf;lkjlkjas;lj I want more right now. *____*
♥ - Himitsu no Arashi-chan #15 [2008.07.17] - So. I'd heard about this episode. I-- I'm easy for my darling pairing, okay? And in under a minute this show already brought the LOLZ with Aiba looking the wrong way for the intro, so he's completely turned to the side for it and just. CRYING.
It's LOL enough that I totally forgive Aiba for the shirt he's wearing, which just didn't quite sit right with me, even if it finally made him look not entirely stick-like. ....seriously, it's not just me, this looks like he actually finally ate a sandwich, right? I mean, I APPROVE SO HARD, but it's not just my imagination? He still needs another one or two, but. .__.b
I also love that Jun is apparently reluctant to do this segment again, so how does Aiba treat him? Just grabs ahold of him and drags him over into the frame anyway. A+, Aiba, it's like you knew my week was going to be tough and you wanted to make me happy. ;___;♥ Also, Jun loves me a lot because he lets Aiba get all up in his personal space and he's changed his hair! It's back to the straight hair that's only a few inches long and it's my favorite look on him and I DON'T CARE HOW NERDY I AM FOR SPENDING HALF A PARAGRAPH TALKING ABOUT A BOYBANDER'S HAIR, IT MAKES ME HAPPY. And, seriously, Aiba totally leaves his arm around/hand on Jun's shoulder kind of a long time. .__.
I don't think anyone will be surprised at how many caps I took. >__>
A...also. Did... did... did... did Aiba encourage the two guest women to go over and feel up Momo Eri's boobs? Sometimes-- Sometimes you think you can't love a boyband member more than you already do and then they let Aiba loose for a few minutes and, no, no, you can totally love him more.
S...same for when they have Jun and the hairdresser (Something-Jun that I didn't pay attention to) and they're like DOUBLE JUN :D :D :D :D together, while Matsujun is, "........... *wishes to die*"
And then. Aiba cheerfully points out the seat is almost entirely ripped out of the hairdresser's jeans just 'cause he happened to notice it and DO YOU SEE, JAPAN? DO YOU SEE WHAT AWESOME YOU CAN WREAK WHEN YOU LET AIBA GO?
Or when you have way too many people crowding in on Jun and the hairdresser doesn't step back when Aiba is done trying to drag Jun across the room, what does Aiba do? Smacks the hairdresser over the head for touching Jun/not letting go. It's like. as;dlkfj;l aside from makeouts ON CAMERA C'MON JAPAN YOU ARE LETTING ME DOWN this is all I could ask for.
Once they got away from letting Aiba loose, it kind of got a little dull again, the in-studio segments and when they were focusing on on the hair/makeup process (how many times can you really see the volume-adding trick?) I definitely started getting bored again. (Though, I'm surprised Ohno hasn't been killed, except he's Ohno, so even if he's pointing out your underwear is showing on national tv, you can't really be mad at him, I guess. XD) I really kind of didn't know what to make of the makeovers, a lot of it really seemed awkward and uncomfortable. But Japan's weird, I've accepted this. Mostly. (Though, I think the last one, the guest they've had on the show a few times now, was kind of really fantastic looking. For an Ageha-style makeover, I mean.)
So, the first 20 minutes or so of this were awesome, but it just dragged on too long and I'm not really feeling charitable towards the segment after so many weeks of it, and it wasn't balanced out by anything else this week. The rest of his bastard bandmates ganging up on Ohno was A+ and I'm curious to see context for Arashi in cowboy-style outfits.
♥ - AU CMs - Sho + Nino - Oh my god. Why does Arashi love me so much? Is it that they knew I'd need this? Is it the Universe rewarding me somehow? Is it like two of my favorite things (Arashi and tokusatsu-style costumes) come together to form PURE AWESOME? Idk, but someone loves me a lot.
I just. The costumes. Seriously, it's like Japan is apologizing for every bad thing ever.
Oh my god this is kind of breaking my head. An MMORPG with Cartoon Network characters and I just-- I can't decide if that's the coolest thing ever or the most god-awful thing ever or just traumatizing or what.
Anyway. Usual blah, blah, blah, and then on to Kamen Rider Kabuto ep 17, 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 17: Picking up where the last one left off, Gon hears someone following her, and I'm actually not that fond of this storyline. It makes me dislike Kageyama genuinely (rather than loving to hate the little bitch) and Daisuke is a total dick to Gon just so that there can be more drama when she disappears. Every time I watch Gon wit the ice cream, I totally want some, though. *___*
I feel so badly for Gon, who really doesn't have anyone in the world except Daisuke and when she's nearly been kidnapped, she runs over to him for comfort/protection and he doesn't believe her. (Despite that Gon doesn't really seem to be the type to play that kind of trick, you jerk.)
.....Kageyama sucking the icecream off his finger is kind of great, though. I guess he really does think sucking is the best. .___.b
After that, Kagami is still flying high after having defeated the Worm in the previous episode and it reminds me that I really do like Kamen Rider for that, the way events from the previous episode so often flow over into the next. Even when they have random Worms of the week and it's still episodic in nature, the affects of the events of the prevous episode aren't forgotten. Also, Kagami is a giant dork and totally adorable in how much he's exaggerating the story and I LOVE, WITH MY ENTIRE HEART, Tendou and Misaki sitting there listening to the story for about the billionth time with the most "ugh" expressions on their faces. Even when Misaki tries to object that she's heard this story EIGHT FUCKING TIMES NOW, Kagami's like, well, okay, if you put it that way, I'll start from the beginning!
God, it's like.
Every guy who's ever done something slightly awesome and his friends/girlfriend/co-worker has to hear about it FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH until they're so sick of it that they just want to strangle him. Misaki shushing him with the finger was A+++++, too.
Misaki finally gets the conversation on to something else, saying that after Tendou finally joined ZECT, he left again. He says, yes, his reason for joining ZECT is gone now. And Kagami says, ehhh, I think Tendou's better off working alone and Tendou is, like, SUSPICIONS HAVE BEEN RAISED, because Kagami getting something? Cause for suspicion.
I still LOL really hard at the Eiffel Tower figurine, too. Just. YOU GUYS. IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO SLASH YOU, QUIT HOLDING THE TOWER LIKE THAT.
I also love the whole conversation, because Kagami's basically going, well, I think Tendou's probably better off alone and Tendou launches into his whole thing about how he's too big for an organization to contain, etc., and it's like. Bzuh? Kagami's agreeing with you! You can dial the posturing back down now!
After that, Daisuke continues to be a dick despite that Gon is obviously genuinely freaked out and... I mean, I feel for Daisuke, it's not like he exactly asked to take on the responsibilities of a little girl and it's probably tough for him, but. Dude, you could at least try to be a little less of a dick to an obviously freaked little girl. She's jumping at every little thing, she's running to hide behind him when she's startled, she's got a constant grip on his hand. Something's obviously really bothering her, so the way Daisuke ignores her really kind of bothers me. (I say this as someone who really does like Daisuke most of the time. Just. Not so much in this storyline.)
Then Kagami KEEPS BRAGGING about the story and I love that Tadokoro-san actually put up with it the first three times he heard the story, but the fourth was enough already and he really is a way better dad than KagamiSr. (Also, Misaki's TWELFTH TIME. ILU FOREVER, Kagami.) Then more adorableness with Tendou and Juka (I'm not sure if he's playing along with her, I suspect so, because it's a little too exaggerated and when he actually fears for his sister's life, he's the type who just swoops in ninja-fast to get to her) and he's such an adorable, doting older brother. ♥ I also love that Juka asks after Kagami, what's he doing these days, he hasn't come around lately.
....I. Love that Juka has clearly decided that Kagami is prime boyfriend material because there's no way that Kagami has been around that much this early on in the series, yet she still prods at her brother a little over him. Tendou seems in a really good mood this episode, too, despite that he's had to hear that goddamned story probably multiple times by now.
And okay. I can sympathize with Daisuke, his nerves are probably frazzled, too, and he's in the middle of something really important and he's seen no evidence of Gon's attacker. Sometimes it's hard to always be patient with kids, but it's not like she meant to knock the suitcase over. (Actually, I feel less angry towards him in this scene, because this is a really important moment for him and he's in the middle of work and it's probably been a long day for him, too.) And just because we know that Gon's still in danger doesn't mean that Daisuke has any reason to suspect that himself. If he knew, of course he'd do things differently. And Tendou does later point out that Daisuke didn't understand how hurtful his words genuinely were.
But it's still heartbreaking to watch Gon go to La Salle because she doesn't have anywhere else, to see her break down into tears, Hiyori and Tendou trying to comfort her. ;___; Same for Gon asking if she can hold Hiyori's hand while they walk back to Daisuke so Gon can apologize and Hiyori looks at her hand for a moment, then says, sure. Awww. *wibbles*
(Tendou also has another really giant ass belt buckle on in that scene. And he's been wearing shorter and shorter sleeves lately, ....I approve.)
I also really like how growly Tendou gets over Daisuke's treatment of Gon, like it's very different from how he gets towards someone that tries to take Kagami's attention away, but instead it's a lot like how he treats Hiyori or Juka, he gets all furious and angry here. It's interesting to note the different ways he reacts to people behaving in ways he doesn't approve of, depending on who it is they're acting towards.
Also, hey! I didn't really notice it the first time around, I don't think, but Daisuke says, who knows if Gon was really attacked or if it was just a trick, and Tendou pops his head back out of the kitchen, like, Attacked?? And next thing we see Hiyori and Gon about to be attacked by Kageyama before the Worm pops up, he's about to transform into TheBee, when suddenly a blurred Kabuto comes into focus and we hear Clock Over, so did Tendou just use Clock Up to save time when he ran over? I'm... not used to my toku shows making that much sense, not unless they make a huge deal about it! XD
Oh and when Tendou tries to feed Gon and she makes a face, saying it's bad, the pained look on Tendou's face is awesome. STRAIGHT TO THE HEART, no one's ever told him his cooking was bad before! ;__;
The whole scene is kind of heartbreaking, because I know that Daisuke's saying that Gon's in the way, that she should just go home if her memory is coming back, because he doesn't want her to feel obligated to stay, because he's trying to protect himself from her loss, too. (You can tell, because he doesn't defend himself when Tendou calls him scum again. He's resigned to playing the bad guy here.) Even if he's a jerk about it, I can understand his feelings, but. When she takes it that she's just a bother to him, especially after the way he's acted for the past couple of days when she was more needy than usual, and runs out, it still makes me wobbly and want to maybe tear up a little.
The scene where Gon starts to get her memory back even more, when she remembers the crash a little, it's still kind of overdone (I thought so the first time through, too) but I still like it for when Tendou rushes up and calls Hiyori's name, this really sort of panicked note in his voice. For a silly toku series, I really do like a lot of the acting in it. Mizushima Hiro also has some really nice arms. *__* He might be kind of skinny as a Japanese stick, but at least I don't want to cram twenty cookies down his throat and he actually has some muscle on him. *__*
Kageyama continues to be a little bitch about punching Hiyori and when he lords it over Daisuke that they have Gon trapped and they want him to defeat Kabuto for ZECT. And possibly I love the beginning of that fight between Tendou and Daisuke, where Tendou is completely calm and collected with a saying about his grandmother, when Daisuke fires the shot and he just casually falls backwards (I love the detail of several strands of hair being clipped by the bullet) flat onto the ground. Tendou. SO FULL OF HIMSELF and yet the Universe DOES just hand him whatever he wants!
I love the gratuituous slow motion shots of the bullets from Drake's gun, the slow motion fountains in the background that are so clearly on a green screen, and I even love the ridiculous cliffhanger note they end the episode on with the Rider Kick vs Rider Shooting!
No episode tag this time, since there's a promotion for the Hibiki movie and orz orz orz I kind of want to watch it.
I've also kind of been watching a crapload of toku lately. I started both Dekaranger (two episodes down!) and Engine Sentai Go-Onger (one episode down!) and I think I ♥ the hell out of both of them. Idk if you can count spoilers for that early on in both series, but, eh, warnings just in case anyway. I think they're pretty vague, though.
Dekaranger 01-02: Man, does this show ever make Boukenger look polished! Part of it isn't really the show's fault, it's not filmed in hi-def and it's sentai, which makes Kamen Rider look polished, but. After an episode or two, I don't really mind.
I am all for Umeko and Jasmine, they are super awesome right from the beginning. Umeko is kind of like what I wish Natsuki had been more like--it's not that Natsuki hasn't grown on me tons, but she was pretty fucking twee for awhile there and I was hard pressed not to want to smack her. But I immediately took to Umeko, she's adorable and awesome!
I am also ALL OVER the Ban/Hoji. Seriously, snarling at each other and grabbing each other's jackets and being all over each other with the UST? I am there. D...do I actually ship the pairing that the rest of the fandom does, too? I DID NOT THINK THAT WAS GOING TO BE POSSIBLE WITH SENTAI. (Okay, to be fair, this is really only my second sentai, but. I was kind of crush at the lack of Red/Black fic in Boukenger. ....not that I blame people for shipping Red/Silver, I tooootally see where that was coming from. B-but--! The tiny pissy little one--!! I love him!!)
I fucking love that their leader is a giant blue dog. That is awesome. I could, however, do without boss doggy interupting Ban and Hoji's snarling at each other, they could have maybe made out a lot, DON'T INTERUPT THEM! >:<
Swan-san is totally Tsukushi's mom in the Hanadan drama, I'm happy to say that that only took me about three minutes of staring at her to figure out. XD The rest of the cast hasn't imprinted itself much on me yet, but I like everything so far.
Go-Onger 01: I hadn't really planned to start anything new until I'd gotten further into the Kabuto rewatch, finished up the last few episodes of Kiva that are out that I haven't watched yet, finish Boukenger, and maybe get a ways on Dekaranger, but. I snagged the first 19 episodes and they fit so neatly onto a single dvd and it was sitting right there when I curled up in bed, so I poppped it into the dvd player, just to watch one episode before I went to bed.
I dunno if I'll be super in love with it yet, it's hard to tell from the first episode, but I certainly enjoyed it. It's bright and pretty and, in a sense, reminds me of Kiva in the way that they're both... they both have a lot of sharp colors and while they're still totally goofy, there's something I like about the style of them.
Also, holy crap, any time you have your sentai fighters sprouting wheels on their uniforms to go do spin attacks or to flop down on their stomach and slide through their enemies like a bowling ball through pins, I AM GOING TO LOVE YOU.
I also did not stop laughing THE ENTIRE WAY THROUGH THE ENDING THEME. Holy crap, that even outdoes the awesome ending of Dekaranger. It's just. It's BEAUTIFUL. ♥
Plus, doesn't this show have Hidenori in it later on? I am totally up for that.
So far, I don't remember any of the characters' names yet or have a real bead on any of them, but. It was fun and made me want the second ep. That's all I ask.
And, of course, more Arashi stuff. Spoilers for anything listed under the cut:
→ ~2000-era interviews
→ VS ARASHI #14
→ MAOU episode 02
→ Himitsu no Arashi-chan #15 [2008.07.17]
→ AU CMs - Sho + Nino
♥ - Potato August 2000・Let's talk together!・Matsumoto Jun→Ninomiya Kazunari - This 2000 interview was really kind of fascinating--well, and also really hilarious--because you can see a lot of how they've both changed over the years and how they're still the same in some ways. It's easy to laugh at because, Nino and Jun saying they would be able to live together "exceedingly well"? Nino and Jun? But it was back in 2000 and you can see that Jun is still thoughtful about his answers and Nino is kind of snarky and there's a great banter, but you can also just totally feel the awkwardness that Jun was still trying to grow out of at that age. (Or was just about to come into.)
Even back then, there was a sense of how the two of them were on equal footing with each other, Jun is way more playful and teasing than I kind of would have expected of him back then, but it makes sense when you consider his relationship with Nino.
Jun's thoughts/feelings on love... he really does come across as the type that's going to go through unrequited love a lot, at least to me. Maybe I'm affected by the way I view his feelings for certain members of the band, but it's more than that. Jun is really up in his own head a lot and I think there's sort of this disconnect for him about his popularity. In some ways, he gets it, he's popular and lots of people know who he is. But, there's also part of him going ERROR: ABORT/RETRY/FAIL when actually taking it into consideration. Because Jun, for a long time, was not the most self-confident person and was actually sort of really insecure.
(He's gotten loads better, though. In the past year alone, you can just see how much personal growth he's gone through, he's so much more comfortable with himself than he used to be. <3)
I just feel like. Jun is the type to have these feelings and keep them to himself, whether because he's afraid to act on them, whether he's afraid of rejection, whether he feels like he can't give it his all while he's still working, whether he doesn't want to mess up the band by having a relationship (As the fangirls would go batshit over it, probably especially Jun's fans, they tend to be. Um. Crazy in the head. ....I say this as a huge Matsujun fan, of course. XD) or whatever other reason.
Anyway, drifting away from the point of the interview, which was Nino and Jun really are kind of a lot alike here and it's fascinating to see that.
capncosmo also did a summary/translation of VS ARASHI #14 and I'm not sure who I love more right now, her or Arashi. Because, wow, that is some serious lol right there. Itou-san was the guy who was the other guy on GRA and now announcer of VS ARASHI, right? I'm surprised by this because he was such a total non-presence on GRA, half of the time I forgot he was there. I was always surprised they didn't draw him into the craziness more, but eventually chalked it up to maybe that just wasn't his thing.
Except he's obviously being drawn into the craziness now and he's kind of awesome at it. Oh, man, the YOU CAN'T HAVE MY JOB, DUDE bit with Sho has been making me randomly crack up all day now. (And god bless people translating/summarizing for the rest of us. I can catch the basic gist of things sometimes, but I totally miss awesome stuff like this otherwise, too.)
♥ - MAOU episode 02 - You know what the most difficult part of watching MAOU is? Not having the entire series on hand to marathon the entire way through, because I totally would. I know it's still a jdrama and all that comes with that, but the show has impressed me two weeks in a row with how surprisingly subtle and how fantastic the pacing is. (I'm not comparing it with The Devil, since I've not seen that, so I'm not judging its merits on a retelling of that story, but as a drama that stands on its own. Though, I am sort of starting to get biased against the original The Devil just because, you guys, MAOU's not supposed to be a dramatic reading of The Devil, it's a retelling of the story. Its doing its own thing.)
The best part of this episode was probably the build-up at the end, when you realize that Naruse wasn't going after the father, but after Yousuke. Throughout the entire episode, I kind of knew that it was going to be Yousuke because I'd seen spoilery screencaps on accident (my own fault), but that didn't change a bit about the incredible pacing of those scenes. When you didn't see who gave the little bear to Sora (the little girl) yet you'd seen those teddy bears in Naruse's dark room. When you didn't see who approached Sora towards the end to take her away from the park. That's when I knew. I knew Yousuke was being set up and would have the other bear that we saw, so that the mom would think it was him.
But that didn't detract one bit from the awesome scenes of Serizawa finally piecing it together and realizing who the true target was. Then the full tilt run towards Yousuke, hoping that he would make it in time, screaming about how Yousuke had a dream to fulfill, and it wasn't enough. Toma really has continued to impress me with every scene he's in omg.
Not that I really felt that much sympathy for Yousuke. Anyone who terrorizes women and children for a living doesn't exactly inspired a whole lot of empathizing from me, no matter how he tried to work around it. While I appreciate that they made the character more gray (he was really trying to find a way not to have to hurt the woman, but it was kind of disturbing how completely casual both he and Serizawa were about it, I agree with Wolfie that it would have been nice if he'd at least had a disapproving look or made an objection about that, instead of looking like it didn't bother him either way--I know a lot of this might be cultural differences and I know Serizawa had probably been through this a million times with Yousuke, but still. For the audience if nothing else.), I still didn't exactly feel all broken up when he was the one to die.
Neither will I feel particularly broken up when SerizawaSr dies or when Souda dies, because both of those jerks can go DIAF. Especially SerizawaSr. Which is something the drama has done really well (for me) so far--it's made me feel sympathetic to Naruse's cause. He lost his little brother and Hideo's killer got off without any punishment at all, then his mother got sick and died (probably not helped by any of this, possibly even caused by all of this?) and Naruse was completely alone. He lost everything and they got away with it.
I'm really curious to see how everything unfolds. Obviously Serizawa has repressed a lot of this out of trauma and horror and guilt, so I will be really disappointed if they cop out and have him not at fault somehow. Because we have zero reason to think that it's anything other than exactly what we're seeing--Serizawa threatening Hideo with the knife, scaring the poor kid, and somehow it gets out of control and Hideo ends up dead, with Serizawa freaked out.
I also like that my initial impressions of Naruse as something along the lines of a sociopath seem to be somewhat off. There seems to be a lot more emotion in him than I was originally sensing, because he showed a lot more subtle signs of it. There was something about the look in his eyes or the subtle, subtle expression on his face or the use of the slow smiles or the way his hands were fisted at his sides a little, they spoke of Naruse having more emotions than I first thought. Which I thought would disappoint me (because I liked the sociopath angle) but with the way Ohno's playing it, I really like what it's doing for the story. Or what it could do for the story, especially once the drama hits the second half and--I assume!--things will be more about the dramatic confrontations in the rain rather than a puppetmaster pulling strings.
I also continue to adore Shiori, she is so cute and adorable and I-- I could sort of ship Naruse/Shiori maybe in the future. Depending on how they develop it. I'm less enthused about Serizawa/Shiori, but I really like their relationship over the tarot cards unfolding the way it is. Either way, I really want to see what happens with her character!
I love the use of tarot cards as well. And I love that Serizawa thinks it's about some criminal wanting to play around with his life, that it's just about choosing him and then killing the people that are close to him, one by one, while not putting together that this is about the boy he killed. That the lawyer defended Serizawa, that Yousuke and the others were there, that his dad paid the money for all of this. And a;sdfjaslkj I cannot wait for that confrontation scene god.
I mean, even just Serizawa looking a little weirded out that Naruse kept showing up or the way Naruse talked about being tired and missing something (how fabulous was that scene when looking back after the fakeout?) was smoking hot and loaded with so much chemistry (I-- I could maybe ship them a little now *__*), imagine how much more intense it'll be when Serizawa finds out. *___*
asdf;lkjlkjas;lj I want more right now. *____*
♥ - Himitsu no Arashi-chan #15 [2008.07.17] - So. I'd heard about this episode. I-- I'm easy for my darling pairing, okay? And in under a minute this show already brought the LOLZ with Aiba looking the wrong way for the intro, so he's completely turned to the side for it and just. CRYING.
It's LOL enough that I totally forgive Aiba for the shirt he's wearing, which just didn't quite sit right with me, even if it finally made him look not entirely stick-like. ....seriously, it's not just me, this looks like he actually finally ate a sandwich, right? I mean, I APPROVE SO HARD, but it's not just my imagination? He still needs another one or two, but. .__.b
I also love that Jun is apparently reluctant to do this segment again, so how does Aiba treat him? Just grabs ahold of him and drags him over into the frame anyway. A+, Aiba, it's like you knew my week was going to be tough and you wanted to make me happy. ;___;♥ Also, Jun loves me a lot because he lets Aiba get all up in his personal space and he's changed his hair! It's back to the straight hair that's only a few inches long and it's my favorite look on him and I DON'T CARE HOW NERDY I AM FOR SPENDING HALF A PARAGRAPH TALKING ABOUT A BOYBANDER'S HAIR, IT MAKES ME HAPPY. And, seriously, Aiba totally leaves his arm around/hand on Jun's shoulder kind of a long time. .__.
I don't think anyone will be surprised at how many caps I took. >__>
A...also. Did... did... did... did Aiba encourage the two guest women to go over and feel up Momo Eri's boobs? Sometimes-- Sometimes you think you can't love a boyband member more than you already do and then they let Aiba loose for a few minutes and, no, no, you can totally love him more.
S...same for when they have Jun and the hairdresser (Something-Jun that I didn't pay attention to) and they're like DOUBLE JUN :D :D :D :D together, while Matsujun is, "........... *wishes to die*"
And then. Aiba cheerfully points out the seat is almost entirely ripped out of the hairdresser's jeans just 'cause he happened to notice it and DO YOU SEE, JAPAN? DO YOU SEE WHAT AWESOME YOU CAN WREAK WHEN YOU LET AIBA GO?
Or when you have way too many people crowding in on Jun and the hairdresser doesn't step back when Aiba is done trying to drag Jun across the room, what does Aiba do? Smacks the hairdresser over the head for touching Jun/not letting go. It's like. as;dlkfj;l aside from makeouts ON CAMERA C'MON JAPAN YOU ARE LETTING ME DOWN this is all I could ask for.
Once they got away from letting Aiba loose, it kind of got a little dull again, the in-studio segments and when they were focusing on on the hair/makeup process (how many times can you really see the volume-adding trick?) I definitely started getting bored again. (Though, I'm surprised Ohno hasn't been killed, except he's Ohno, so even if he's pointing out your underwear is showing on national tv, you can't really be mad at him, I guess. XD) I really kind of didn't know what to make of the makeovers, a lot of it really seemed awkward and uncomfortable. But Japan's weird, I've accepted this. Mostly. (Though, I think the last one, the guest they've had on the show a few times now, was kind of really fantastic looking. For an Ageha-style makeover, I mean.)
So, the first 20 minutes or so of this were awesome, but it just dragged on too long and I'm not really feeling charitable towards the segment after so many weeks of it, and it wasn't balanced out by anything else this week. The rest of his bastard bandmates ganging up on Ohno was A+ and I'm curious to see context for Arashi in cowboy-style outfits.
♥ - AU CMs - Sho + Nino - Oh my god. Why does Arashi love me so much? Is it that they knew I'd need this? Is it the Universe rewarding me somehow? Is it like two of my favorite things (Arashi and tokusatsu-style costumes) come together to form PURE AWESOME? Idk, but someone loves me a lot.
I just. The costumes. Seriously, it's like Japan is apologizing for every bad thing ever.