I was going to watch some Arashi stuff. Then I saw how long this post was ALREADY. orz
You know who I'm mad at? amamiyarin and elarasakurai for this entire thread. SO MAD AT YOU GUYS. D: AND TOTALLY NOT DOING THAT. D:<
You know who I'm not mad at? still_ciircee and blood_opal because they she wrote PORNO. Porno that's hot enough to MELT YOUR FACE OFF. Now, if only Zel would write porno, too. Because I'm pretty sure it'd be SUPER HOT.
Oh, hey, so, I started Bloody Monday! Wow, I am not immune to the charms of Miura Haruma. He's just. He is SO PRETTY OMG. I didn't think I'd go for him that much, his still photos didn't do that much for me, I was watching for the plot and maybe a little for Takeru, but I-- I was won over pretty quickly, I'll admit. orz
So, I pretty much spent yesterday morning--which should have been spent on other things--organizing my harddrive, which meant going through a bunch of the photobooks I had lying around, one of which was Hiro's first photobook. Jesus christ, it's practically soft core porn and god bless him for it. Ridiculous crush on Mizushima is ridiculous, but it's hard to care when he's all spread out over a bed in just his underwear or when he's making that face, the innocent face that makes you just want to pounce him despite that it's kind of killing you in your soul to be this ridiculous, while covered in soap bubbles. Or when he's shampooing up his hair and giving himself horns. Or rinsing it all off with his head bent forward and the water streaming down over him. Or the filthy things he does with that bottle of milk.
asd;flkjasd;lkjas jesus christ, Mizushima. STOP THAT. I DON'T WANT TO BE THAT FANGIRL ANYMORE, IT'S EMBARRASSING.
Anyway. Drama post again, so spoilers for anything listed. I sadface a lot at Mei-chan no Shitsuji being over and Voice just aired its finale as well (though, still waiting on ep11 subs, of course) and Zeni Geba and Uta no Onii-san finished up awhile back. N-not that I've finished either of them, but. What will I doooooo with myself now?
Aside from how (via amamiyarin) apparently TOKUYAMA HIDENORI JOINED THE CAST OF SMILE. FUCK YES. And I guess (via blood_opal) Oguri Shun might be involved with it in some way, too? SMILE has just SHOT TO THE TOP OF MY ANTICIPATED LIST FOR NEXT SEASON. Of course, Shun's got Tenchijin right now (which I need to get on already orz) but I'm not sure how deeply involved in that he is, so maybe he'd have time for a cameo or something on SMILE? OKAY, JE, GIVE US SOME SHUN/JUN PROMOTIONAL STUFF, I DEMAND IT. (I am also growing more and more okay with Jun's SMILE hair, it looks much better in action--the promotional stuff has looked really good so far!)
(ETA: via blood_opal again: AHAHAHAHAHA DO WANT THAT LAST BIT. Thank you for perking me up about next drama season!)
ANYWAY. SPOILERS AND STUFF. And the usual tl;dr warning! o/
Mei-chan no Shitsuji - episode 10 [finale]: It took me awhile to get to this episode for a couple of reasons--I'd had a lot of it spoiled for me, but also because I kind of didn't want it to be over. I have a terrible time with things like that, finishing them means they're over and there's always rewatching, but.... Anyway, I'm glad I finally sat down with it when I was ready for it because it was such a satisfying finale. Like, I know it's not the most brilliant drama ever, but it was never trying to be, it was trying to be delicious shoujo and it delivered on exactly that with the finale.
Right from the beginning it is delicious shoujo, with Mei forgiving Tami right away, saying that no matter how much she hurts others, Tami is only hurting herself. If this were a different drama, I might have rolled my eyes at Mei and her naivete. But it's shoujo, I'd have been disappointed if it turned out any other way!
That's why I'm okay with the Shiori ending as well. Actually, that's why the whole entire thing with Shiori was delicious and I wasn't surprised at all that she got her redemption and that it was surprisingly easy once she'd been broken down a little. The whole entire cagematch was one giant storyline of awesome, I cannot bless Japan enough for it.
I mean. RIHITO VS ZOISITE: CAGEMATCH. It does not get any less awesome or less fanservicey in the best way possible. And not only were those scenes satisfying on a gleeful fanservice sort of level, they were also satisfying for the Mei/Rihito scenes. Before the duel, when they were getting ready in her dorm, SHE HUGGED HIM. SHE HUGGED HIM FIRST. YES.
Because it's obvious how Rihito feels and it's understandable that Mei has been going through a lot, so she's kind of mixed up, but when she's worried? When she doesn't want to let Rihito go? She hugs him first. She puts her arms around his waist and holds him close to her. During the later flashback to that same hug, we see Rihito put his arms around her as well, then one hand in her hair and a;sdlkfja;slkjsl oh my god dying of fangirl overload.
It was such a beautiful scene visually--Rihito in the formal butler outfit, Mei in that gorgeous dress, both of them looking positively radiant--but it was such a satisfying emotional pay-off for everything they'd been through up to that point and what they were saying to each other there. And it matched everything they were both feeling right then--Mei desperately didn't want to let him go, didn't want him to get hurt anymore, he didn't want to let her go, either, but he was sure of himself because of her now.
And that's another thing I've loved about this drama and how much it brought everything together far more than I expected. Rihito is a character that was so strongly defined through Mei--he fights for her, he gains/loses his confidence based on his relationship with her, nearly all his actions are based on Mei. The only time anyone else really actually matters to Rihito's characterization is occasionally with Kento. Otherwise, Rihito's entire character is based on Mei.
Yet, at the same time, he's not just an extension of her character, because he's the other half of the driving force behind the series. Kento's rivalry with him, Zoisite's jealousy of him, Shiori's obsession with him, the way Mei is motivated by his presence. You can lift any other character out of the series and it would still be basically the same, but both Rihito and Mei were necessary to the core of what they were doing.
The ending scenes even kind of touched on it, quietly bringing up everything that made me love Rihito's character. Because he started out as this cool, flawless sort of person with an evil streak, but you couldn't see much beyond that. But after everything they'd been through, obviously he wasn't perfect. And, when it's just Rihito and Mei in the dorm at the very end, when he can finally express emotions and how he directly says that he didn't use to be able to do that, you know they were fully aware of what they were doing.
Rihito says she's his sun, that he would feel pain if she looked at someone else like that, so please only look at him. Then he kisses her and she's a little shell-shocked, but when he says that they should keep this a secret because romance is forbidden between ladies and their butlers, she nods in that fluttery sort of way that gives away a lot. And, yeah, I was all over that for the romantic payoff, because, holy shit, I didn't actually expect makeouts! I would have been happy with a hug or holding hands! Instead we got ALL THREE!
But the best part about it was bringing together the romantic resolution for Mei/Rihito together with Rihito actually being a PERSON again! He doesn't repress all his feelings anymore, he actually expresses when he feels happiness or anger or sadness or jealousy! It's such a huge transformation for him, you can tell. And I love that, because it makes Rihito an interesting character, rather than just some boring perfect sort of character, no matter how pretty Mizushima Hiro is.
Not that perfect!Rihito isn't pretty hilarious, too. Because him just totally walking off getting shot with an arrow? Lolz. And, of course, Kento is the only one who isn't all, "....that's Rihito-sama for you, amazing!" and is instead JESUS CHRIST, WHAT AN IDIOT, if a bit more sullen and quietly to himself about it. Which sort of... I don't know if I want Kento/Rihito (Rihito/Kento? I seriously cannot figure them out anymore) more or Kento with a lady who is exactly like Rihito and he spends the entire time he serves her bitching her out and it's a perfect match.
Anyway, backing up again. I was kind of surprised at how much they got out of the way in practically the first ten minutes of the episode, never mind the first half of the episode. Within ten minutes, you already had the Zoisite/Rihito cagematch underway and, man, Zoisite kneeing Rihito in his injured side was ouch. And then you saw the extended flashbacks of the hug and the promise between Mei and Rihito before the match, where she asked him to stay with her forever and he put his arms around her, one hand in her hair, and asked her to believe in him. a sd;lfkja;slkjaslkj "If you believe in me, I will live up to your trust."
And it's not just that it's total shoujo awesomeness. Though, it is that, too. But, even with Mei's sometimes vague reactions (which really aren't all that vague, it's that she's fluttery and nervous and in love, you're just not cool when you're ridiculously in love with someone, Rihito is frequently the same way) to Rihito, that is a very clear cut desire from her. She wants him to stay with her forever.
She isn't fighting this duel to beat Shiori. She isn't fighting this duel to win the position of Hongo heir. The point really isn't even that she wants to protect Rihito from being attached to Shiori, because he could have just left them both again. Instead, she's fighting this duel for that reason right there, when she hugs him desperately--because she wants him to stay with her. And how much do I love that it's that she wants him to stay with her instead of she wants to stay with him forever? A WHOLE LOT.
She's doing this for all the right reasons, unlike Shiori. And, again, the drama rewards me with calling Shiori on her shit--which is different from making her purely evil, instead she's being called on what she's doing, while still letting her be human--that she doesn't believe in her own butler, that's why she had Tami hurt Rihito. That Shiori hurt the person who was most important to her for her own gain.
And Mei won't lose to her, she definitely won't give Shibata Rihito to her. And just. As silly a show as this is, that scene was everything I'd been waiting for with Mei and this storyline. It was Shiori getting called on her shit, just like Rihito spent the last few episodes getting called on his shit, too. Hell, even Mei got called on her attitude at times.
All of these were done for the good of the person, too. It was never mean-spirited or coming from a place of hate, not even when Mei told Shiori off during the fight, she never hated Shiori. Even when Rihito called Shiori on hurting other people to run away from her own pain, even after everything she did to him, Rihito never hated her. Even when Kento was angry with Rihito over the way he acted, it was never from a place of hate. And it was obviously from a place of love when Rihito smacked Mei for her defeatist attitude.
I love that. I think that's a lot of the reason why I could never hate Shiori--along with how completely shoujo she was and how obviously broken she was inside--because you could tell that none of the main characters really hated her. And that's why I'm glad she got the ending she did. I loved Zoisite's fucked up feelings for her, that he was willing to die with her, even that Shiori was so damaged inside that finally realizing she'd never be able to break the bond between Rihito and Mei was enough to send her over the edge.
And I love that Shiori wasn't a bad person so much as she was incredibly damaged, bitter, and off her rocker. I loved that the drama went the route of her feelings for Rihito not being love so much as obsession because she never had anyone treat her kindly in the Hongo family (which we saw in that first flashback of them ripping her stuffed toy away even as a little girl) and she fixated on Rihito as the one person that she could really let in.
I also loved the total shoujoness of Shiori going for Mei with the knife and how Kento starts to run over, but doesn't even get halfway there before Rihito's sword is at Shiori's throat through the bars of the cage, even as Zoisite's sword is on him, too. I loved his desperate pleading not to hurt Mei, that he wasn't even trying to retain any sense of coolness there, he was just in pain and completely desperate and just. as d;flkjaslkj yes.
And that's what undoes Shiori for good, seeing that very real desperation on Rihito's face for Mei, and she admits to losing the duel. Rihito coming out of the cage, bloody and battered, but smiling at Mei and saying he kept his promise and she hugged him again and just. a;lsdkfja;lskj I could have exploded with shoujo fangirl OTP love.
I even really love that Shiori has two people willing to follow her down the path she's taking. Tami rushes after her and says that she'll kill herself, too, but Zoisite stops her and says Kanda would be sad if she did that. But, when Mei and Rihito rush in, he reveals that he feels about Shiori the way Rihito feels about Mei, that he did everything because he loves her. And the whole scene is really just... he's tearing up as he says this, you know he's serious about dying with her, that he doesn't want to live without her, no matter how damaged she is, he wants to do whatever he can for her.
And I'm right back to shipping them. Because sometimes I do think that maybe Zoisite might have fed into that obsessive nature she had, but ultimately I don't think so. He loved her back and, even if theirs wasn't the healthiest of relationships, it was mutual and that did a lot to calm them both down. Shiori having someone who was always there for her, who truly loved her and wouldn't leave her, someone who'd already seen the worst of her and loved her unwaveringly through it, not blindly, but devotedly, that's what I wanted for her. The scene at the end with them holding hands, Shiori taking his hand and his fingers slowly closing over hers was just. Oh, man, yes.
Because Shiori's life did suck. And, no, that doesn't excuse her actions at all. But blaming her wasn't going to change anything and Mei wasn't that sort of person at all. Shiori was lonely and she'd been treated badly ever since she was a child, because she wasn't a blood relation to the Hongo family. And so she feels like she has nothing when she loses Rihito here and then.
Then I love Mei forever because she basically calls bullshit on the whole thing and rushes in to see Shiori, who is ready to kill herself with GARDENING SHEERS and I love it without irony. WITHOUT IRONY. IT IS SO GREAT. Okay, maybe the gardening sheers bit I love with irony, because that's just so fucking hilarious that I love it, but Mei hugging her and saying that it's because Shiori was the heir that Mei could live the way she did? That Mei is who she is because of Shiori? Mei begging her to live and that Mei will be by her side from now on, too?
Without one little bit of irony.
If this had been just about any other series, I may not have felt the same way. But this drama was shoujo from beginning to end and I happily reveled in the delightfulness of it. That scene was beautiful, both of them in pretty dresses and with beautiful hair and Mei's arms around her and they're both crying and it's so much better than the way things used to be. Just. Yessss.
I also love the resolution with Kintaros and Mei being the new heir, the way he says (after she leaves) that Shiori will be a great help to her from here on. I thought it was interesting, too, because he said it in such a way that I sort of wondered if that was his plan all along, that he wanted Mei to fight for it and then have Shiori in her corner to help deal with the rest of the Hongo family, which Shiori was probably a pro at by now.
I really did find him interesting as a character and didn't find him to ultimately be that evil of a guy. He wasn't really a nice guy, either, but I think being in the position he was in probably made it impossible for him to be nice. I am glad to see that I wasn't wrong about him, though, that I didn't really want to hate him and when he clearly FUCKING LOVED that Mei ran off from her speech? Shit, yes, I loved his reaction. XD Not to mention the total WTF looks on the twins' faces when Kintaros was like THAT'S MY GRANDBABY. :D :D :D
Speaking of which. The speech, where they gave her a bunch of lies to tell? I can't really blame the Hongo family for that, since they're such an old and traditional and powerful family. Hearing that some random girl from some small village from nowhere is going to be the heir to this powerful family? That she's hardly had any training for it, she has no preparation for it? Yeah, I can't blame them.
And when she runs off, it's completely ridiculous that they would chase her, it's not like she's a fugitive. She's the heir to the Hongo family, she can do whatever the hell she wants to do! So, it made zero sense whatsoever and I still loved it, you know why?
IT'S SHOUJO. IT DOESN'T NEED TO MAKE SENSE.
It wasn't about making sense. It was about Rihito reading her mood and smiling in encouragement at her to be herself (which is something he really wants badly, too) and then bringing out the changing cloth of awesome again and standing in front of her to protect her from the Hongo guards (which was TOTALLY HOT OMG) and it was about holding out his hand to her and her grabbing it and the two of them running off together. I AM ALL ABOUT THAT.
It was also a gratuitious excuse to get one last shot of all the St. Lucia girls and their butlers helping Mei out and while I'm a little on the fence about that, it was totally worth it for certain ones. Most notably Kiba and Izumi! THE ARM BUMP WITH KIBA. All the butlers understanding Rihito's feelings for Mei and running off with her and the little touches they share. But the arm bump with Kiba! And then Izumi and Kiba standing off against the Hongo guards, martial arts battle style! And IZUMI KICKING THEIR ASSES WHILE KIBA CLAPS IN APPRECIATION IN THE BACKGROUND. YES.
Then Tami and Kanda helping! Which said so much about them right there and how Tami came around too! And then. THEN. DAIMON WITH A BAZOOKA. OH MY GOD, JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I COULDN'T LOVE THIS SHOW ANY MORE THAN I ALREADY DID.
DAIMON. WITH A BAZOOKA. I WAS CRYING.
Then there was the whole Kento storyline that needed wrapping up. There are some issues I still take with the whole thing, especially with Kento's attitude towards Mei and her feelings and his selfishness about them. I love him for being direct about it and understanding that she loves Rihito, that her proper answer to him was going to be a rejection.
But I'm on the fence about how he says that his feelings for her won't change, but when he comes back, maybe her feelings will. And it sort of itches at me because, jeez, she's a grown woman, she knows who she loves and the idea that he's not going to give up on her just because he still loves her, it doesn't matter what she wants, kind of rankles.
Except I know I'm being too harsh on Kento. It's not that he doesn't realize her feelings or tries to force the issue. He's being clear and direct about his intentions. And I'll get into how I approve pretty damn hard on the Rihito/Kento (Kento/Rihito? idk) angle of all of this. And I know he'll accept her feelings for Rihito again if that's the way she feels.
It just. Dude, she said no. She loves someone else. She made her choice, now let go of her. But even that isn't fully it, the thing that bothers me. It's more about the tone of the whole show, because everything else is so good and so well done, that this one part sticks out for me. Like she's some sort of prize to be won, rather than her own person with her own feelings and her own choices in life. Like it doesn't matter that she chose Rihito because, oh, well, he'll change her mind. Would it be okay if someone came along and did the same to Kento's feelings? Despite that his answer was very clearly, no, that he loved Mei?
And I realize it's shoujo and part of what you just have to accept if you're going to get into a shoujo series. And I know a lot of it was left kind of deliberately open so that they could bring back the love triangle aspect if they ever did a sequel. Which I would hate because it would go against the entire storyline they built up here--Mei never had feelings in that sense for Kento, he was only ever a friend to her. Even if he does become an S-ranked butler, she just never looked at him the way she looked at Rihito. The way she always looked at Rihito, the way she always thought about him, even when he wasn't right there with her.
But. Easing back up, because I love Kento and I want the best for him, I am totally, completely, absolutely pleased as hell with his reasons for going to England to become an S-ranked butler and the way he left things with Rihito. From the shock on Rihito's face that Kento was leaving and he didn't know (because he was in the hospital and Mei was with him the entire time there, so she didn't know either) to the conversation against the railing that they had.
That conversation was everything I was hoping for! Rihito getting to be human again! Kento obviously frustrated that it meant that Rihito had woken up and was with Mei because of it, but also just as obviously glad that his brother was a human being again. How he'd watched everyone and the idea of being a butler didn't seem so bad anymore, so he was doing it for HIMSELF and just. YESSSS. THANK YOU, SHOW.
I really was pleased with Rihito's reactions to Kento here, too. He says Kento has the talent for becoming an S-ranked butler and that, whether they're talking about Mei-sama or himself, Kento has saved them both. This is another instance where the show is pretty direct about what Kento did for the two of them, how he called them both on their crap in episode 08 and woke them both up. And that it isn't just that Kento did that for them, but that Rihito knows it and acknowledges Kento here. You can see how much he cares about his baby brother in this scene.
You can see that it means something to Kento, too, by the way he turns back to the railing in that sulky sort of way he has and says Rihito is clumsy. Rihito follows suit and agrees with him, another moment of them being honest with each other and acknowledging Rihito's faults and that he's human, while also acknowledging Kento's strength of character. Given all the years they must have spent with Rihito being the perfect older brother who never showed any emotion, while Kento always felt inferior, it's an important moment that's about them and not really about anyone else. Even Mei is only sort of on the periphery in that particular moment.
Not that she's not an important part of what's between them, because Rihito does envy Kento and the way Mei-sama shows a different side of herself to him. (Of course, I kept thinking, yeah, but give her about a year and you'll do something stupid again and she'll totally own your ass, too, like she did with Mameshiba. Hell, she'll probably own him twice as bad because he's so submissive to her.)
For a moment I wondered if they were trying to leave it open for Kento still having a shot, but I don't think that's it. Because Mei treated Kento the way she treated some of the other girls at St. Lucia--she totally got in their faces when they needed it sometimes. Or at least close enough. Getting to the end, it's more about... it's more about Rihito showing emotions again, that he's able to actually express that envy and let others see it. He lets Kento see it, to acknowledge that he respects Kento that much. He lets Mei see it to show that he's serious and that this is very real to him. It's not about Kento/Mei, really, it's about using it as a way to show Rihito's feelings.
Same for the way Kento directly faces Rihito and says that he'll beat Rihito and make Mei change her mind (again, my problem with Kento/Mei--he'll make her change her mind, because he doesn't like what she decided) and there's the usual "I won't forgive you if you make her cry" and "Even without you saying that, I already knew" and Rihito saying that he doesn't feel like losing to Kento here.
So, for all my crabbing (and, it's the final episode, of course I'm going to crab, but I swear I'm doing it out of love for Kento) I am pretty okay with things ultimately. It would have been hard for them to go anywhere else and, if I choose to believe that a lot of it was about Kento's weird relationship with his brother, then I can swallow it a whole lot more easily.
Especially when they gave us MORE Rihito/Kento stuff when Rihito and Mei went to see him off at the airport. Rihito told Kento to do his best and Kento got all huffy to cover up his real feelings about Aniki giving him encouragement like that and then there was the fistbump and Kento's raised fist as he went down the escalator and just. as;dlfkjaslkj yessss. And then, to make it better, Rihito watches him go and says he'll become an excllent butler, smiling. And Mei is watching Rihito as she smiles, watching him watch Kento, and that just. Yes, perfect. Because that ending was totally about the Shibata brothers.
Anyway, it's a tl;dr fangirl response to the finale. Of course I'm going to gush about my OTP and crab about the scenes that distracted from it, that's what a fangirl response is for. Ditto for how I felt like Mei's speech about being "ordinary" was kind of "...." given that she was being made heir of an incredibly important, demanding family. Ordinary, in that situation, probably means not being able to handle the pressure of such a position or having the grace to deal with sticky situations or the strength of will to get shit done. Even though I know what she means, that she doesn't think of herself as better or stuck up or anything and that's important, too.
Just. I really can't blame the family members for reacting the way they did. XD
And, finally, the ending. Izumi as the new Lucia-sama! The scene in Mei's dorm room where they interrupt the Rihito/Mei kiss and they are TOTALLY NATURAL NO REALLY when interrupted and the girls are totally not foold and Tami threatens to SPILL ALL THE DETAILS and both Rihito and Mei are all smiles at the end and just. a ;sdlfkjasl;kj yes. Also, that scene of both Mei and Rihito visiting her parents' grave? Oh, man, that made my shipper heart glee, too. Because Mei can rest easy over her parents, but also because it wasn't like Rihito was standing back and watching her, instead he was right there with her, by her side, part of her life.
And really. For all my crabbing, for all that the drama wasn't supposed to be taken seriously, that was the most satisfying ending they could have given me short of Rihito/Mei up-against-the-wall makeouts.
I'm kind of in awe at just how delightful the whole thing was, how really positive I feel about it from start to finish. I-- I know Voice is the stronger drama and Uta no Onii-san had the better humor and Zeni Geba was the drama that just knocked me on my ass, but.
Mei-chan no Shitsuji was my favorite drama this season, easily. ♥
Voice - episode 09: After the previous couple of episodes, this one was a bit more routine and thus harder to make me squee over it. At least that's what I think happened, because it's not like it was a bad episode or anything. Also, it was SUPER HARD to compare to my amazement at the Mei-chan no Shitsuji finale. So I may not have as much to say about this one.
But it's also sort of because... well, I'm not sure how I felt about the ending. I'm going to skip to that part first so that I can get the negative parts out of the way. The story is that the hospital accidentally overdosed the patient (Sakurai) and it killed him, so they covered that up. Through little things and his own worries about how he would react in such a situation, Ryousuke picks up on something not being right here and starts poking around in it.
I'm very torn on how to feel. Because Ryousuke is morally right. And I don't know how Japan works with liability or how sue-happy people are when a mistake like that gets made. And it's not like Ryousuke's father (who was actively covering things up) was evil about it, he was obviously doing this with a heavy heart, but not a hesitant hand. So, it's a very gray area.
But my problem is that Ryousuke is doing this--and he even says so himself in his conversation with Sakurai-san (the widow)--because of his own guilt. Because he tried to look the other way and couldn't, he felt too guilty about it. It wasn't even his case, he wasn't the one who overdosed the patient, he's not even thinking about the patient at all, seemingly. He's thinking about his own feelings and what he wants to live with/doesn't want to live with.
He didn't even go to his father to talk to him about it! He just had his suspicions and tried to look the other way, decided he couldn't, and went straight to the widow. Didn't even stop to consider that there might be other factors involved here or that he should be direct with his father about this. Instead, he went behind everyone's back, snuck the widow out to talk to her on the roof, and didn't even seem to think that there might be consequences for this.
Again, I don't know how Japan works with this kind of thing, if the hospital will be liable for this, if she can sue, if this'll get the hospital shut down or what. And I'm waiting to see how things unfold next week, how things ultimately end up, before I do too much judging. Just. I was not that comfortable with how Ryousuke seemed to handle this.
But back to the awesome stuff! Daiki's VERY FIRST WORD in the episode, once again, is that five year old tone of voice he uses when he goes WHHHHYYYY!? at something, it just never gets old. And then the ensuing arguement about Ryousuke putting his books on the table face down so that it damages the spines (and later we see that his dad does the same thing! I loved that little touch XD) and how that turns to bookmarks and Daiki shutting his book, only to open it back up to the wrong page and it's page 777 and their GLEEFUL SPASMS OF SHEER BOYS, while Aki sits there with this LOOK ON HER FACE.
Like. Her life. It is SO HARD, you guys. I was pretty much crying during the whole thing and I love Voice all over again because you can take two idiots like Daiki and Ryousuke, who are on opposite sides of an argument one minute, the next they're gleeing over something totally stupid together. BOYS. ♥
There really wasn't that much Hanei or Teppei in this episode, but we did get to see Hanei's mom again and she was TELLING A STORY, about the inheritance her father left behind for his three kids and they all get sucked into the story, except it has a TOTALLY LAME ENDING and a;lsdfkjasl;kj I love Hanei's mom so much. And I love Daiki SO MUCH for--after the reveal that it wasn't money underneath the floorboards, it was umeboshi--saying, "Think of the umeboshi's feelings!"
And the LOOK HANEI'S MOM GAVE HIM. The look she gives this weird kid and then says, THIS ONE SAID SOMETHING GOOD. CRYING.
One other sub-plot that I did like was when Aki was going to America that a) it was only going to be for a month, so she wasn't really leaving-leaving \:D/ and b) it was Hanei who noticed that she was reading a book on English conversations, which is what sparked the whole thing off. I love little touches like that, because Hanei totally pays attention to these things!
And then they HAVE A PARTY FOR AKI. ♥ Where Daiki and Teppei wear stupid hats that are adorable!
Afterwards, Daiki and Aki walked home together in the rain and it was totally adorable! Especially when he grabbed her hand to give her the umbrella and was all fluttery about it, I love that Daiki is obviously totally stupid for her sometimes, too. But also I am okay with this scene (as opposed to being crabby because it's taking away from the OT5 dynamic) because it means I can continue to think that Hanei, Ryousuke, and Teppei--who were well on their way to being drunk--stayed back at Teppei's apartment and made out. And I really like to spend time thinking about poor Teppei waking up sandwiched between those two, each of them with an arm thrown over him, and he panics, trying to flee, but he cannot escape and any attempts just further rouse his tormentors and if they wake up, they'll start doing things to him again, except he's kind of torn on whether or not he really wants to run and mostly I just like to torture Teppei. A lot. :D
As much as I wasn't that into the case this week or was sort of "...." about parts of it, I did like a lot of things about it. I liked the parallels of these two wives asking for explanations that they could understand/accept, reasons why their husbands were gone. And, as much as I was dreading it, as much as I was hoping there'd be some last minute twist, the reveal that the window-washer husband did commit suicide (that was my first thought for why he took the watch off--if it was so important, he wouldn't have wanted it to get broken when he fell) and the family wouldn't get the life insurance money, as much as I wanted things to work out happily, I love that Voice didn't go there.
I love that this episode wasn't about the reveal, it was about these five people having to face the idea that their results aren't always going to help the families, they're not always going to be better off for knowing the truth. This is also why I'm sort of on the fence about Sakurai-san and Ryousuke--is knowing the truth really going to help her? If so, it's an odd story to include along with a story where finding the truth only made things harder.
I did really like the story with the son, where they conveyed the father's true feelings, rather than giving them the money. And, no, life wasn't going to be easy for them, but at least they knew how much he loved them and that he did his best for them. If that had been a Western family, I think it would have been pure tragedy, pure pointlessness because the father was still gone and he died for nothing. But this is Japan and a Japanese drama. The feelings he left behind and what he tried to sacrifice did seem to ease the son's anger.
Plus, I love his anger at his father and the stupid job he had, that Hanei interrupted and said he didn't get it, that this job was the best job. Of course Hanei would be the one to get that and speak up first. But then all the others joined in and it was even better. ♥
And I liked the way the five of them came back around at the end. They didn't get into forensics to make people's lives happier, they got into it to bring the true final words of the person to light. I-- I may have totally wibbled at the flashbacks. ♥
Overall, I do think this was one of my least favorite episodes of the series so far, but it had some awfully big shoes to fill and it wasn't centered on my favorites, so, well, of course it was going to have a hard time. And it doesn't mean I didn't still love it. <3
Uta no Onii-san - episode 07: I actually watched this one quite awhile back, but never got around to writing up my feelings on it. OKAY, FIRST THINGS FIRST. I'm going to start with the Giselle stuff to get that out of the way!
I think I came out of this episode with a different view than a lot of people did because I was spoiled for the events, so I had certain expectations on them. If I had gone into the episode without any knowledge of what happened, would I have had a different view of things? Quite possibly.
But I was expecting Haruki and Sousuke to be completely, 100% loathesome and they... kind of weren't. I thought they might be at first, because they showed up in Kenta's costume heads, saying they're so popular now that they have to do stuff like this and it was just. Yeah, way to be really obvious about it and rub it in Kenta's face. Except, I think they really were supposed to be just that dumb.
And then they asked him to return to the band, despite that they knew they didn't have the right to ask it. That they acknowledged that kind of went a long way with me. And it's Kenta who brings up the debut terms, not them. And it's Kenta who scolds them for not working hard for their dream and points out that, if they wait awhile, the wind will blow in a different direction and they can do what they want.
It's aggravating that they're doing exactly what Akane accused Kenta of doing, but I get the impression that that was just Akane's excuse to him. (And I'm not to thrilled with her for running away as soon as it got hard, because that was her reason for dumping him.) I get the impression that they were two guys who wanted to debut, didn't think Kenta was serious about it, so they took an uncool route to get there.
But they never asked for Kenta's apology, they didn't seem to expect it or feel it was necessary. They seemed kind of surprised by it, while Kenta was the one who seemed to think he should say it. They knew they were being unfair by coming back to him, but they didn't know what else to do, they came there with their tails between their legs, as much as the drama could show us that.
So, I-- I can't say I like them or I approve of them. But I walked away from that scene not wanting them to DIAF. If Kenta's okay with them, well, all right. I'm okay with them then, too, I guess.
The rest of the episode was super great fun! SHOOOOOOO~~~!!! I saw the clip of their scene beforehand, of course, which I'm both glad I did and sort of sad about, because it's the exact same footage, nothing really new, but I'm also glad about it because it would have been hell trying to catch what they said and it was TOTAL LOL. God, I love Sho's face, he is clearly trying not to die of lolz, while Ohno's face is ROCK SOLID and doesn't so much as blink during the whole scene. And I loved the mention of the Arashi song title, ;lkasjdfl;kajs this drama is going to leave a hole in my heart when it's gone.
There were other things I liked about this episode, too. RETURN OF HIMURO! o/ I'm sad that it was only for a brief time and they didn't really give him much depth here, but, well. It's hard to complain when Kenta SHUT THE PAPYRUS TREE IN HIS FACE and the whole exchange about why Himuro couldn't sleep at night, do you know why? "It's that thing where old people can't sleep." LOL, I missed them a lot!
It's a shame there wasn't a Himuro/Urara scene, either, but. Well, this episode made me really sit up and re-notice that Urara's not really a bad person--she could easily have sold the rest of the crew out when she thought that Manabe was firing people. But instead, she gets on everyone's cases to behave themselves so that no one will get fired! She's, in her own crazy way, looking out for them, Kenta and Mamoru especially!
I also really loved Kenta lecturing Manabe about the way she treated the show ending and how she didn't tell everyone and why they were mad, it showed how much he had matured, too. It'd be really interesting to go back to the beginning episodes and see the changes in a lot of these people, I think, it's impressive how far they've come in only seven episodes so far!
And you know who I kind of love? Anzai. He's totally okay with being the bad guy! He's totally owning what a dick he is and not really apologizing for it and that is what I like to see in an antagonist like him. That confrontation scene at the end was kind of fabulous, I totally loved watching the whole thing. I'm going to be sad that there's no more Anzai after the last episode, in a way, which is always the mark of a good villain character for me.
So, overall. A really great episode, I'm still on the fence about Giselle largely because I'm tired of being so angry at them, but I still kind of want them to crash and burn, yet I know they won't, so I'm trying to be laid back about it. And this episode had some great moments in it, whyyyyy must this drama have ended so soon? ;___;
You know who I'm not mad at? still_ciircee and blood_opal because they she wrote PORNO. Porno that's hot enough to MELT YOUR FACE OFF. Now, if only Zel would write porno, too. Because I'm pretty sure it'd be SUPER HOT.
Oh, hey, so, I started Bloody Monday! Wow, I am not immune to the charms of Miura Haruma. He's just. He is SO PRETTY OMG. I didn't think I'd go for him that much, his still photos didn't do that much for me, I was watching for the plot and maybe a little for Takeru, but I-- I was won over pretty quickly, I'll admit. orz
So, I pretty much spent yesterday morning--which should have been spent on other things--organizing my harddrive, which meant going through a bunch of the photobooks I had lying around, one of which was Hiro's first photobook. Jesus christ, it's practically soft core porn and god bless him for it. Ridiculous crush on Mizushima is ridiculous, but it's hard to care when he's all spread out over a bed in just his underwear or when he's making that face, the innocent face that makes you just want to pounce him despite that it's kind of killing you in your soul to be this ridiculous, while covered in soap bubbles. Or when he's shampooing up his hair and giving himself horns. Or rinsing it all off with his head bent forward and the water streaming down over him. Or the filthy things he does with that bottle of milk.
asd;flkjasd;lkjas jesus christ, Mizushima. STOP THAT. I DON'T WANT TO BE THAT FANGIRL ANYMORE, IT'S EMBARRASSING.
Anyway. Drama post again, so spoilers for anything listed. I sadface a lot at Mei-chan no Shitsuji being over and Voice just aired its finale as well (though, still waiting on ep11 subs, of course) and Zeni Geba and Uta no Onii-san finished up awhile back. N-not that I've finished either of them, but. What will I doooooo with myself now?
Aside from how (via amamiyarin) apparently TOKUYAMA HIDENORI JOINED THE CAST OF SMILE. FUCK YES. And I guess (via blood_opal) Oguri Shun might be involved with it in some way, too? SMILE has just SHOT TO THE TOP OF MY ANTICIPATED LIST FOR NEXT SEASON. Of course, Shun's got Tenchijin right now (which I need to get on already orz) but I'm not sure how deeply involved in that he is, so maybe he'd have time for a cameo or something on SMILE? OKAY, JE, GIVE US SOME SHUN/JUN PROMOTIONAL STUFF, I DEMAND IT. (I am also growing more and more okay with Jun's SMILE hair, it looks much better in action--the promotional stuff has looked really good so far!)
(ETA: via blood_opal again: AHAHAHAHAHA DO WANT THAT LAST BIT. Thank you for perking me up about next drama season!)
ANYWAY. SPOILERS AND STUFF. And the usual tl;dr warning! o/
Mei-chan no Shitsuji - episode 10 [finale]: It took me awhile to get to this episode for a couple of reasons--I'd had a lot of it spoiled for me, but also because I kind of didn't want it to be over. I have a terrible time with things like that, finishing them means they're over and there's always rewatching, but.... Anyway, I'm glad I finally sat down with it when I was ready for it because it was such a satisfying finale. Like, I know it's not the most brilliant drama ever, but it was never trying to be, it was trying to be delicious shoujo and it delivered on exactly that with the finale.
Right from the beginning it is delicious shoujo, with Mei forgiving Tami right away, saying that no matter how much she hurts others, Tami is only hurting herself. If this were a different drama, I might have rolled my eyes at Mei and her naivete. But it's shoujo, I'd have been disappointed if it turned out any other way!
That's why I'm okay with the Shiori ending as well. Actually, that's why the whole entire thing with Shiori was delicious and I wasn't surprised at all that she got her redemption and that it was surprisingly easy once she'd been broken down a little. The whole entire cagematch was one giant storyline of awesome, I cannot bless Japan enough for it.
I mean. RIHITO VS ZOISITE: CAGEMATCH. It does not get any less awesome or less fanservicey in the best way possible. And not only were those scenes satisfying on a gleeful fanservice sort of level, they were also satisfying for the Mei/Rihito scenes. Before the duel, when they were getting ready in her dorm, SHE HUGGED HIM. SHE HUGGED HIM FIRST. YES.
Because it's obvious how Rihito feels and it's understandable that Mei has been going through a lot, so she's kind of mixed up, but when she's worried? When she doesn't want to let Rihito go? She hugs him first. She puts her arms around his waist and holds him close to her. During the later flashback to that same hug, we see Rihito put his arms around her as well, then one hand in her hair and a;sdlkfja;slkjsl oh my god dying of fangirl overload.
It was such a beautiful scene visually--Rihito in the formal butler outfit, Mei in that gorgeous dress, both of them looking positively radiant--but it was such a satisfying emotional pay-off for everything they'd been through up to that point and what they were saying to each other there. And it matched everything they were both feeling right then--Mei desperately didn't want to let him go, didn't want him to get hurt anymore, he didn't want to let her go, either, but he was sure of himself because of her now.
And that's another thing I've loved about this drama and how much it brought everything together far more than I expected. Rihito is a character that was so strongly defined through Mei--he fights for her, he gains/loses his confidence based on his relationship with her, nearly all his actions are based on Mei. The only time anyone else really actually matters to Rihito's characterization is occasionally with Kento. Otherwise, Rihito's entire character is based on Mei.
Yet, at the same time, he's not just an extension of her character, because he's the other half of the driving force behind the series. Kento's rivalry with him, Zoisite's jealousy of him, Shiori's obsession with him, the way Mei is motivated by his presence. You can lift any other character out of the series and it would still be basically the same, but both Rihito and Mei were necessary to the core of what they were doing.
The ending scenes even kind of touched on it, quietly bringing up everything that made me love Rihito's character. Because he started out as this cool, flawless sort of person with an evil streak, but you couldn't see much beyond that. But after everything they'd been through, obviously he wasn't perfect. And, when it's just Rihito and Mei in the dorm at the very end, when he can finally express emotions and how he directly says that he didn't use to be able to do that, you know they were fully aware of what they were doing.
Rihito says she's his sun, that he would feel pain if she looked at someone else like that, so please only look at him. Then he kisses her and she's a little shell-shocked, but when he says that they should keep this a secret because romance is forbidden between ladies and their butlers, she nods in that fluttery sort of way that gives away a lot. And, yeah, I was all over that for the romantic payoff, because, holy shit, I didn't actually expect makeouts! I would have been happy with a hug or holding hands! Instead we got ALL THREE!
But the best part about it was bringing together the romantic resolution for Mei/Rihito together with Rihito actually being a PERSON again! He doesn't repress all his feelings anymore, he actually expresses when he feels happiness or anger or sadness or jealousy! It's such a huge transformation for him, you can tell. And I love that, because it makes Rihito an interesting character, rather than just some boring perfect sort of character, no matter how pretty Mizushima Hiro is.
Not that perfect!Rihito isn't pretty hilarious, too. Because him just totally walking off getting shot with an arrow? Lolz. And, of course, Kento is the only one who isn't all, "....that's Rihito-sama for you, amazing!" and is instead JESUS CHRIST, WHAT AN IDIOT, if a bit more sullen and quietly to himself about it. Which sort of... I don't know if I want Kento/Rihito (Rihito/Kento? I seriously cannot figure them out anymore) more or Kento with a lady who is exactly like Rihito and he spends the entire time he serves her bitching her out and it's a perfect match.
Anyway, backing up again. I was kind of surprised at how much they got out of the way in practically the first ten minutes of the episode, never mind the first half of the episode. Within ten minutes, you already had the Zoisite/Rihito cagematch underway and, man, Zoisite kneeing Rihito in his injured side was ouch. And then you saw the extended flashbacks of the hug and the promise between Mei and Rihito before the match, where she asked him to stay with her forever and he put his arms around her, one hand in her hair, and asked her to believe in him. a sd;lfkja;slkjaslkj "If you believe in me, I will live up to your trust."
And it's not just that it's total shoujo awesomeness. Though, it is that, too. But, even with Mei's sometimes vague reactions (which really aren't all that vague, it's that she's fluttery and nervous and in love, you're just not cool when you're ridiculously in love with someone, Rihito is frequently the same way) to Rihito, that is a very clear cut desire from her. She wants him to stay with her forever.
She isn't fighting this duel to beat Shiori. She isn't fighting this duel to win the position of Hongo heir. The point really isn't even that she wants to protect Rihito from being attached to Shiori, because he could have just left them both again. Instead, she's fighting this duel for that reason right there, when she hugs him desperately--because she wants him to stay with her. And how much do I love that it's that she wants him to stay with her instead of she wants to stay with him forever? A WHOLE LOT.
She's doing this for all the right reasons, unlike Shiori. And, again, the drama rewards me with calling Shiori on her shit--which is different from making her purely evil, instead she's being called on what she's doing, while still letting her be human--that she doesn't believe in her own butler, that's why she had Tami hurt Rihito. That Shiori hurt the person who was most important to her for her own gain.
And Mei won't lose to her, she definitely won't give Shibata Rihito to her. And just. As silly a show as this is, that scene was everything I'd been waiting for with Mei and this storyline. It was Shiori getting called on her shit, just like Rihito spent the last few episodes getting called on his shit, too. Hell, even Mei got called on her attitude at times.
All of these were done for the good of the person, too. It was never mean-spirited or coming from a place of hate, not even when Mei told Shiori off during the fight, she never hated Shiori. Even when Rihito called Shiori on hurting other people to run away from her own pain, even after everything she did to him, Rihito never hated her. Even when Kento was angry with Rihito over the way he acted, it was never from a place of hate. And it was obviously from a place of love when Rihito smacked Mei for her defeatist attitude.
I love that. I think that's a lot of the reason why I could never hate Shiori--along with how completely shoujo she was and how obviously broken she was inside--because you could tell that none of the main characters really hated her. And that's why I'm glad she got the ending she did. I loved Zoisite's fucked up feelings for her, that he was willing to die with her, even that Shiori was so damaged inside that finally realizing she'd never be able to break the bond between Rihito and Mei was enough to send her over the edge.
And I love that Shiori wasn't a bad person so much as she was incredibly damaged, bitter, and off her rocker. I loved that the drama went the route of her feelings for Rihito not being love so much as obsession because she never had anyone treat her kindly in the Hongo family (which we saw in that first flashback of them ripping her stuffed toy away even as a little girl) and she fixated on Rihito as the one person that she could really let in.
I also loved the total shoujoness of Shiori going for Mei with the knife and how Kento starts to run over, but doesn't even get halfway there before Rihito's sword is at Shiori's throat through the bars of the cage, even as Zoisite's sword is on him, too. I loved his desperate pleading not to hurt Mei, that he wasn't even trying to retain any sense of coolness there, he was just in pain and completely desperate and just. as d;flkjaslkj yes.
And that's what undoes Shiori for good, seeing that very real desperation on Rihito's face for Mei, and she admits to losing the duel. Rihito coming out of the cage, bloody and battered, but smiling at Mei and saying he kept his promise and she hugged him again and just. a;lsdkfja;lskj I could have exploded with shoujo fangirl OTP love.
I even really love that Shiori has two people willing to follow her down the path she's taking. Tami rushes after her and says that she'll kill herself, too, but Zoisite stops her and says Kanda would be sad if she did that. But, when Mei and Rihito rush in, he reveals that he feels about Shiori the way Rihito feels about Mei, that he did everything because he loves her. And the whole scene is really just... he's tearing up as he says this, you know he's serious about dying with her, that he doesn't want to live without her, no matter how damaged she is, he wants to do whatever he can for her.
And I'm right back to shipping them. Because sometimes I do think that maybe Zoisite might have fed into that obsessive nature she had, but ultimately I don't think so. He loved her back and, even if theirs wasn't the healthiest of relationships, it was mutual and that did a lot to calm them both down. Shiori having someone who was always there for her, who truly loved her and wouldn't leave her, someone who'd already seen the worst of her and loved her unwaveringly through it, not blindly, but devotedly, that's what I wanted for her. The scene at the end with them holding hands, Shiori taking his hand and his fingers slowly closing over hers was just. Oh, man, yes.
Because Shiori's life did suck. And, no, that doesn't excuse her actions at all. But blaming her wasn't going to change anything and Mei wasn't that sort of person at all. Shiori was lonely and she'd been treated badly ever since she was a child, because she wasn't a blood relation to the Hongo family. And so she feels like she has nothing when she loses Rihito here and then.
Then I love Mei forever because she basically calls bullshit on the whole thing and rushes in to see Shiori, who is ready to kill herself with GARDENING SHEERS and I love it without irony. WITHOUT IRONY. IT IS SO GREAT. Okay, maybe the gardening sheers bit I love with irony, because that's just so fucking hilarious that I love it, but Mei hugging her and saying that it's because Shiori was the heir that Mei could live the way she did? That Mei is who she is because of Shiori? Mei begging her to live and that Mei will be by her side from now on, too?
Without one little bit of irony.
If this had been just about any other series, I may not have felt the same way. But this drama was shoujo from beginning to end and I happily reveled in the delightfulness of it. That scene was beautiful, both of them in pretty dresses and with beautiful hair and Mei's arms around her and they're both crying and it's so much better than the way things used to be. Just. Yessss.
I also love the resolution with Kintaros and Mei being the new heir, the way he says (after she leaves) that Shiori will be a great help to her from here on. I thought it was interesting, too, because he said it in such a way that I sort of wondered if that was his plan all along, that he wanted Mei to fight for it and then have Shiori in her corner to help deal with the rest of the Hongo family, which Shiori was probably a pro at by now.
I really did find him interesting as a character and didn't find him to ultimately be that evil of a guy. He wasn't really a nice guy, either, but I think being in the position he was in probably made it impossible for him to be nice. I am glad to see that I wasn't wrong about him, though, that I didn't really want to hate him and when he clearly FUCKING LOVED that Mei ran off from her speech? Shit, yes, I loved his reaction. XD Not to mention the total WTF looks on the twins' faces when Kintaros was like THAT'S MY GRANDBABY. :D :D :D
Speaking of which. The speech, where they gave her a bunch of lies to tell? I can't really blame the Hongo family for that, since they're such an old and traditional and powerful family. Hearing that some random girl from some small village from nowhere is going to be the heir to this powerful family? That she's hardly had any training for it, she has no preparation for it? Yeah, I can't blame them.
And when she runs off, it's completely ridiculous that they would chase her, it's not like she's a fugitive. She's the heir to the Hongo family, she can do whatever the hell she wants to do! So, it made zero sense whatsoever and I still loved it, you know why?
IT'S SHOUJO. IT DOESN'T NEED TO MAKE SENSE.
It wasn't about making sense. It was about Rihito reading her mood and smiling in encouragement at her to be herself (which is something he really wants badly, too) and then bringing out the changing cloth of awesome again and standing in front of her to protect her from the Hongo guards (which was TOTALLY HOT OMG) and it was about holding out his hand to her and her grabbing it and the two of them running off together. I AM ALL ABOUT THAT.
It was also a gratuitious excuse to get one last shot of all the St. Lucia girls and their butlers helping Mei out and while I'm a little on the fence about that, it was totally worth it for certain ones. Most notably Kiba and Izumi! THE ARM BUMP WITH KIBA. All the butlers understanding Rihito's feelings for Mei and running off with her and the little touches they share. But the arm bump with Kiba! And then Izumi and Kiba standing off against the Hongo guards, martial arts battle style! And IZUMI KICKING THEIR ASSES WHILE KIBA CLAPS IN APPRECIATION IN THE BACKGROUND. YES.
Then Tami and Kanda helping! Which said so much about them right there and how Tami came around too! And then. THEN. DAIMON WITH A BAZOOKA. OH MY GOD, JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I COULDN'T LOVE THIS SHOW ANY MORE THAN I ALREADY DID.
DAIMON. WITH A BAZOOKA. I WAS CRYING.
Then there was the whole Kento storyline that needed wrapping up. There are some issues I still take with the whole thing, especially with Kento's attitude towards Mei and her feelings and his selfishness about them. I love him for being direct about it and understanding that she loves Rihito, that her proper answer to him was going to be a rejection.
But I'm on the fence about how he says that his feelings for her won't change, but when he comes back, maybe her feelings will. And it sort of itches at me because, jeez, she's a grown woman, she knows who she loves and the idea that he's not going to give up on her just because he still loves her, it doesn't matter what she wants, kind of rankles.
Except I know I'm being too harsh on Kento. It's not that he doesn't realize her feelings or tries to force the issue. He's being clear and direct about his intentions. And I'll get into how I approve pretty damn hard on the Rihito/Kento (Kento/Rihito? idk) angle of all of this. And I know he'll accept her feelings for Rihito again if that's the way she feels.
It just. Dude, she said no. She loves someone else. She made her choice, now let go of her. But even that isn't fully it, the thing that bothers me. It's more about the tone of the whole show, because everything else is so good and so well done, that this one part sticks out for me. Like she's some sort of prize to be won, rather than her own person with her own feelings and her own choices in life. Like it doesn't matter that she chose Rihito because, oh, well, he'll change her mind. Would it be okay if someone came along and did the same to Kento's feelings? Despite that his answer was very clearly, no, that he loved Mei?
And I realize it's shoujo and part of what you just have to accept if you're going to get into a shoujo series. And I know a lot of it was left kind of deliberately open so that they could bring back the love triangle aspect if they ever did a sequel. Which I would hate because it would go against the entire storyline they built up here--Mei never had feelings in that sense for Kento, he was only ever a friend to her. Even if he does become an S-ranked butler, she just never looked at him the way she looked at Rihito. The way she always looked at Rihito, the way she always thought about him, even when he wasn't right there with her.
But. Easing back up, because I love Kento and I want the best for him, I am totally, completely, absolutely pleased as hell with his reasons for going to England to become an S-ranked butler and the way he left things with Rihito. From the shock on Rihito's face that Kento was leaving and he didn't know (because he was in the hospital and Mei was with him the entire time there, so she didn't know either) to the conversation against the railing that they had.
That conversation was everything I was hoping for! Rihito getting to be human again! Kento obviously frustrated that it meant that Rihito had woken up and was with Mei because of it, but also just as obviously glad that his brother was a human being again. How he'd watched everyone and the idea of being a butler didn't seem so bad anymore, so he was doing it for HIMSELF and just. YESSSS. THANK YOU, SHOW.
I really was pleased with Rihito's reactions to Kento here, too. He says Kento has the talent for becoming an S-ranked butler and that, whether they're talking about Mei-sama or himself, Kento has saved them both. This is another instance where the show is pretty direct about what Kento did for the two of them, how he called them both on their crap in episode 08 and woke them both up. And that it isn't just that Kento did that for them, but that Rihito knows it and acknowledges Kento here. You can see how much he cares about his baby brother in this scene.
You can see that it means something to Kento, too, by the way he turns back to the railing in that sulky sort of way he has and says Rihito is clumsy. Rihito follows suit and agrees with him, another moment of them being honest with each other and acknowledging Rihito's faults and that he's human, while also acknowledging Kento's strength of character. Given all the years they must have spent with Rihito being the perfect older brother who never showed any emotion, while Kento always felt inferior, it's an important moment that's about them and not really about anyone else. Even Mei is only sort of on the periphery in that particular moment.
Not that she's not an important part of what's between them, because Rihito does envy Kento and the way Mei-sama shows a different side of herself to him. (Of course, I kept thinking, yeah, but give her about a year and you'll do something stupid again and she'll totally own your ass, too, like she did with Mameshiba. Hell, she'll probably own him twice as bad because he's so submissive to her.)
For a moment I wondered if they were trying to leave it open for Kento still having a shot, but I don't think that's it. Because Mei treated Kento the way she treated some of the other girls at St. Lucia--she totally got in their faces when they needed it sometimes. Or at least close enough. Getting to the end, it's more about... it's more about Rihito showing emotions again, that he's able to actually express that envy and let others see it. He lets Kento see it, to acknowledge that he respects Kento that much. He lets Mei see it to show that he's serious and that this is very real to him. It's not about Kento/Mei, really, it's about using it as a way to show Rihito's feelings.
Same for the way Kento directly faces Rihito and says that he'll beat Rihito and make Mei change her mind (again, my problem with Kento/Mei--he'll make her change her mind, because he doesn't like what she decided) and there's the usual "I won't forgive you if you make her cry" and "Even without you saying that, I already knew" and Rihito saying that he doesn't feel like losing to Kento here.
So, for all my crabbing (and, it's the final episode, of course I'm going to crab, but I swear I'm doing it out of love for Kento) I am pretty okay with things ultimately. It would have been hard for them to go anywhere else and, if I choose to believe that a lot of it was about Kento's weird relationship with his brother, then I can swallow it a whole lot more easily.
Especially when they gave us MORE Rihito/Kento stuff when Rihito and Mei went to see him off at the airport. Rihito told Kento to do his best and Kento got all huffy to cover up his real feelings about Aniki giving him encouragement like that and then there was the fistbump and Kento's raised fist as he went down the escalator and just. as;dlfkjaslkj yessss. And then, to make it better, Rihito watches him go and says he'll become an excllent butler, smiling. And Mei is watching Rihito as she smiles, watching him watch Kento, and that just. Yes, perfect. Because that ending was totally about the Shibata brothers.
Anyway, it's a tl;dr fangirl response to the finale. Of course I'm going to gush about my OTP and crab about the scenes that distracted from it, that's what a fangirl response is for. Ditto for how I felt like Mei's speech about being "ordinary" was kind of "...." given that she was being made heir of an incredibly important, demanding family. Ordinary, in that situation, probably means not being able to handle the pressure of such a position or having the grace to deal with sticky situations or the strength of will to get shit done. Even though I know what she means, that she doesn't think of herself as better or stuck up or anything and that's important, too.
Just. I really can't blame the family members for reacting the way they did. XD
And, finally, the ending. Izumi as the new Lucia-sama! The scene in Mei's dorm room where they interrupt the Rihito/Mei kiss and they are TOTALLY NATURAL NO REALLY when interrupted and the girls are totally not foold and Tami threatens to SPILL ALL THE DETAILS and both Rihito and Mei are all smiles at the end and just. a ;sdlfkjasl;kj yes. Also, that scene of both Mei and Rihito visiting her parents' grave? Oh, man, that made my shipper heart glee, too. Because Mei can rest easy over her parents, but also because it wasn't like Rihito was standing back and watching her, instead he was right there with her, by her side, part of her life.
And really. For all my crabbing, for all that the drama wasn't supposed to be taken seriously, that was the most satisfying ending they could have given me short of Rihito/Mei up-against-the-wall makeouts.
I'm kind of in awe at just how delightful the whole thing was, how really positive I feel about it from start to finish. I-- I know Voice is the stronger drama and Uta no Onii-san had the better humor and Zeni Geba was the drama that just knocked me on my ass, but.
Mei-chan no Shitsuji was my favorite drama this season, easily. ♥
Voice - episode 09: After the previous couple of episodes, this one was a bit more routine and thus harder to make me squee over it. At least that's what I think happened, because it's not like it was a bad episode or anything. Also, it was SUPER HARD to compare to my amazement at the Mei-chan no Shitsuji finale. So I may not have as much to say about this one.
But it's also sort of because... well, I'm not sure how I felt about the ending. I'm going to skip to that part first so that I can get the negative parts out of the way. The story is that the hospital accidentally overdosed the patient (Sakurai) and it killed him, so they covered that up. Through little things and his own worries about how he would react in such a situation, Ryousuke picks up on something not being right here and starts poking around in it.
I'm very torn on how to feel. Because Ryousuke is morally right. And I don't know how Japan works with liability or how sue-happy people are when a mistake like that gets made. And it's not like Ryousuke's father (who was actively covering things up) was evil about it, he was obviously doing this with a heavy heart, but not a hesitant hand. So, it's a very gray area.
But my problem is that Ryousuke is doing this--and he even says so himself in his conversation with Sakurai-san (the widow)--because of his own guilt. Because he tried to look the other way and couldn't, he felt too guilty about it. It wasn't even his case, he wasn't the one who overdosed the patient, he's not even thinking about the patient at all, seemingly. He's thinking about his own feelings and what he wants to live with/doesn't want to live with.
He didn't even go to his father to talk to him about it! He just had his suspicions and tried to look the other way, decided he couldn't, and went straight to the widow. Didn't even stop to consider that there might be other factors involved here or that he should be direct with his father about this. Instead, he went behind everyone's back, snuck the widow out to talk to her on the roof, and didn't even seem to think that there might be consequences for this.
Again, I don't know how Japan works with this kind of thing, if the hospital will be liable for this, if she can sue, if this'll get the hospital shut down or what. And I'm waiting to see how things unfold next week, how things ultimately end up, before I do too much judging. Just. I was not that comfortable with how Ryousuke seemed to handle this.
But back to the awesome stuff! Daiki's VERY FIRST WORD in the episode, once again, is that five year old tone of voice he uses when he goes WHHHHYYYY!? at something, it just never gets old. And then the ensuing arguement about Ryousuke putting his books on the table face down so that it damages the spines (and later we see that his dad does the same thing! I loved that little touch XD) and how that turns to bookmarks and Daiki shutting his book, only to open it back up to the wrong page and it's page 777 and their GLEEFUL SPASMS OF SHEER BOYS, while Aki sits there with this LOOK ON HER FACE.
Like. Her life. It is SO HARD, you guys. I was pretty much crying during the whole thing and I love Voice all over again because you can take two idiots like Daiki and Ryousuke, who are on opposite sides of an argument one minute, the next they're gleeing over something totally stupid together. BOYS. ♥
There really wasn't that much Hanei or Teppei in this episode, but we did get to see Hanei's mom again and she was TELLING A STORY, about the inheritance her father left behind for his three kids and they all get sucked into the story, except it has a TOTALLY LAME ENDING and a;lsdfkjasl;kj I love Hanei's mom so much. And I love Daiki SO MUCH for--after the reveal that it wasn't money underneath the floorboards, it was umeboshi--saying, "Think of the umeboshi's feelings!"
And the LOOK HANEI'S MOM GAVE HIM. The look she gives this weird kid and then says, THIS ONE SAID SOMETHING GOOD. CRYING.
One other sub-plot that I did like was when Aki was going to America that a) it was only going to be for a month, so she wasn't really leaving-leaving \:D/ and b) it was Hanei who noticed that she was reading a book on English conversations, which is what sparked the whole thing off. I love little touches like that, because Hanei totally pays attention to these things!
And then they HAVE A PARTY FOR AKI. ♥ Where Daiki and Teppei wear stupid hats that are adorable!
Afterwards, Daiki and Aki walked home together in the rain and it was totally adorable! Especially when he grabbed her hand to give her the umbrella and was all fluttery about it, I love that Daiki is obviously totally stupid for her sometimes, too. But also I am okay with this scene (as opposed to being crabby because it's taking away from the OT5 dynamic) because it means I can continue to think that Hanei, Ryousuke, and Teppei--who were well on their way to being drunk--stayed back at Teppei's apartment and made out. And I really like to spend time thinking about poor Teppei waking up sandwiched between those two, each of them with an arm thrown over him, and he panics, trying to flee, but he cannot escape and any attempts just further rouse his tormentors and if they wake up, they'll start doing things to him again, except he's kind of torn on whether or not he really wants to run and mostly I just like to torture Teppei. A lot. :D
As much as I wasn't that into the case this week or was sort of "...." about parts of it, I did like a lot of things about it. I liked the parallels of these two wives asking for explanations that they could understand/accept, reasons why their husbands were gone. And, as much as I was dreading it, as much as I was hoping there'd be some last minute twist, the reveal that the window-washer husband did commit suicide (that was my first thought for why he took the watch off--if it was so important, he wouldn't have wanted it to get broken when he fell) and the family wouldn't get the life insurance money, as much as I wanted things to work out happily, I love that Voice didn't go there.
I love that this episode wasn't about the reveal, it was about these five people having to face the idea that their results aren't always going to help the families, they're not always going to be better off for knowing the truth. This is also why I'm sort of on the fence about Sakurai-san and Ryousuke--is knowing the truth really going to help her? If so, it's an odd story to include along with a story where finding the truth only made things harder.
I did really like the story with the son, where they conveyed the father's true feelings, rather than giving them the money. And, no, life wasn't going to be easy for them, but at least they knew how much he loved them and that he did his best for them. If that had been a Western family, I think it would have been pure tragedy, pure pointlessness because the father was still gone and he died for nothing. But this is Japan and a Japanese drama. The feelings he left behind and what he tried to sacrifice did seem to ease the son's anger.
Plus, I love his anger at his father and the stupid job he had, that Hanei interrupted and said he didn't get it, that this job was the best job. Of course Hanei would be the one to get that and speak up first. But then all the others joined in and it was even better. ♥
And I liked the way the five of them came back around at the end. They didn't get into forensics to make people's lives happier, they got into it to bring the true final words of the person to light. I-- I may have totally wibbled at the flashbacks. ♥
Overall, I do think this was one of my least favorite episodes of the series so far, but it had some awfully big shoes to fill and it wasn't centered on my favorites, so, well, of course it was going to have a hard time. And it doesn't mean I didn't still love it. <3
Uta no Onii-san - episode 07: I actually watched this one quite awhile back, but never got around to writing up my feelings on it. OKAY, FIRST THINGS FIRST. I'm going to start with the Giselle stuff to get that out of the way!
I think I came out of this episode with a different view than a lot of people did because I was spoiled for the events, so I had certain expectations on them. If I had gone into the episode without any knowledge of what happened, would I have had a different view of things? Quite possibly.
But I was expecting Haruki and Sousuke to be completely, 100% loathesome and they... kind of weren't. I thought they might be at first, because they showed up in Kenta's costume heads, saying they're so popular now that they have to do stuff like this and it was just. Yeah, way to be really obvious about it and rub it in Kenta's face. Except, I think they really were supposed to be just that dumb.
And then they asked him to return to the band, despite that they knew they didn't have the right to ask it. That they acknowledged that kind of went a long way with me. And it's Kenta who brings up the debut terms, not them. And it's Kenta who scolds them for not working hard for their dream and points out that, if they wait awhile, the wind will blow in a different direction and they can do what they want.
It's aggravating that they're doing exactly what Akane accused Kenta of doing, but I get the impression that that was just Akane's excuse to him. (And I'm not to thrilled with her for running away as soon as it got hard, because that was her reason for dumping him.) I get the impression that they were two guys who wanted to debut, didn't think Kenta was serious about it, so they took an uncool route to get there.
But they never asked for Kenta's apology, they didn't seem to expect it or feel it was necessary. They seemed kind of surprised by it, while Kenta was the one who seemed to think he should say it. They knew they were being unfair by coming back to him, but they didn't know what else to do, they came there with their tails between their legs, as much as the drama could show us that.
So, I-- I can't say I like them or I approve of them. But I walked away from that scene not wanting them to DIAF. If Kenta's okay with them, well, all right. I'm okay with them then, too, I guess.
The rest of the episode was super great fun! SHOOOOOOO~~~!!! I saw the clip of their scene beforehand, of course, which I'm both glad I did and sort of sad about, because it's the exact same footage, nothing really new, but I'm also glad about it because it would have been hell trying to catch what they said and it was TOTAL LOL. God, I love Sho's face, he is clearly trying not to die of lolz, while Ohno's face is ROCK SOLID and doesn't so much as blink during the whole scene. And I loved the mention of the Arashi song title, ;lkasjdfl;kajs this drama is going to leave a hole in my heart when it's gone.
There were other things I liked about this episode, too. RETURN OF HIMURO! o/ I'm sad that it was only for a brief time and they didn't really give him much depth here, but, well. It's hard to complain when Kenta SHUT THE PAPYRUS TREE IN HIS FACE and the whole exchange about why Himuro couldn't sleep at night, do you know why? "It's that thing where old people can't sleep." LOL, I missed them a lot!
It's a shame there wasn't a Himuro/Urara scene, either, but. Well, this episode made me really sit up and re-notice that Urara's not really a bad person--she could easily have sold the rest of the crew out when she thought that Manabe was firing people. But instead, she gets on everyone's cases to behave themselves so that no one will get fired! She's, in her own crazy way, looking out for them, Kenta and Mamoru especially!
I also really loved Kenta lecturing Manabe about the way she treated the show ending and how she didn't tell everyone and why they were mad, it showed how much he had matured, too. It'd be really interesting to go back to the beginning episodes and see the changes in a lot of these people, I think, it's impressive how far they've come in only seven episodes so far!
And you know who I kind of love? Anzai. He's totally okay with being the bad guy! He's totally owning what a dick he is and not really apologizing for it and that is what I like to see in an antagonist like him. That confrontation scene at the end was kind of fabulous, I totally loved watching the whole thing. I'm going to be sad that there's no more Anzai after the last episode, in a way, which is always the mark of a good villain character for me.
So, overall. A really great episode, I'm still on the fence about Giselle largely because I'm tired of being so angry at them, but I still kind of want them to crash and burn, yet I know they won't, so I'm trying to be laid back about it. And this episode had some great moments in it, whyyyyy must this drama have ended so soon? ;___;