Beautiful Life: brace for the crash. Also Fruits Basket and some OTP mvs
Wow.
WOW.
This is officially my second favorite jdrama, behind only Pride. (Because no one beats Halu and Aki).
To get little things out of the way first: I love the way Kimura runs. I wonder if he is athletic. It's very fluid. Oh, and OMG, when he dorkily imitates Neo? *dies*
But but but but.
That is not what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about that scene in ep 3. You know which one.
The one with SHOES and KISSING. The one that made me scream.
Basically, the set-up is this: Shuji and Kyoko go out to celebrate his deciding on a new hairstyle. They get a bit plastered and by the time they come out and sober up her car has been towed. They end up catching a taxi (as he insists on seeing her home) and halfway there, she realizes she needs to go to the restroom (this drama really made me appraciate little things I take for granted). She can't go to the public ones because they are not wide enough so he takes her to his apartment (which is such a guy place, messy and not particularly comy but very lived on. No pretentions at all, just like the owner). And he carries her into the restroom (OMG, guys carrying their OTPs is a bullet-proof kink of mine. See e.g. Shin and Chae-Gyung in Goong). And later when she comes out, and he is making coffee, she is still sitting on the floor and she idly looks around and she notices a box and she looks inside it and..
IT IS THE RED SHOES.
RED SHOES.
RED SHOES.
The ones she wanted so badly but didn't have enough courage to go into the store to buy. And he turns around, because she is frozen and quiet (he is hunting for powedered milk to put into her coffee) and sees her holding them and tells her he bought them for her because she wanted them and he went in on impulse but didn't have time to give them yet (I love how matter-of-fact and real this scene feels. Because it is incredibly romantic but it is shot and acted in such a real way: they are in his messy apartment, there are no dreamy close-ups, he is matter of fact).
And she asks him why he is so nice to her and he answers, after a tiny pause 'Because I care about you' and OMG OMH you can tell that he didn't realize before he said it, and it's almost as much a surprise to him as it is to her. And he repeats it a couple more times, as if to try it on for size, to sink it in (Kimura doesn't just have an expressive face but an incredibly expressive voice, doesn't he?)
And he suddenly swoops down and briefly kisses her on the lips (I love how natural and slightly awkward it is, and how it's a total impulse).
SERIOUSLY, I WAS CRYING AT THIS POINT.
And then she is all radiant and he asks her if he can hold her. DIES. And he asks how he can do it (because of her handicap) and she replies, 'like normal' and he leans down and holds her and that shot is to die for, and it's slightly uncomfortable (they aren't used to each other physically yet) and there is more kissing and I love the little real touch of his telling her he has to stop hugging because his back hurts.
Seriously, this is such an amazing drama. You feel like you are watching real people. It's the little touches, you know?
Like the fact when they go outside to wait for a taxi, she is cold and he runs back to his apartment to get her an extra jacket (btw love his earlier panic about the mess in his place and putting the toilet seat down :D). And he runs to her but then he pauses for a second when he is near, as if he is drinking her in.
DIES.
But then he is at the library again and she's left for her planned trip without telling him. She does that, doesn't she? She is afraid of loving, of getting hurt. In a way, it's her way of testing the boundaries, testing him. I love how transparent he is coming to the library again (the librarian friend tells him he doesn't need to check out the books as he isn't going to read them). Oh, and he becomes top stylist meanwhile.
And then she comes back. And she got his jacket dry-cleaned and she bought him a dream catcher from the US. And she packs it up with so much care and she goes to give it to him but she chickens out at the last moment (because she thinks his co-worker ex and decides to give it later. She doesn't want to be vulnerable in front of the ex).
But meanwhile she learns that her brother's arranged marriage fell through because the girl found out Kyoko was in a wheelchair and a burden. And there is this really sad of her in her dark room, in the wheelchair. So she gives up (she is strong but she is vulnerable too, you know?) and just sends his jacket to him through the mail.
And of course he is tearing mad and he comes to the library and they have a fight because he is trying so hard to get her to admit that what they have is special (he is so forthright and so open with her) but of course she is walling off and pushes him away. And he leaves, mad as hell, but the librarian friend catches up with him and explains why Kyoko is so upset (and I love that it doesn't automatically makes it OK, he has to calm down a bit, and he finds out about the dream catcher).
So next day, she is in her apartment and the phone rings and IT'S HIM.
Because the friend gave him her home number. And she is so happy and she asks hy he called and he quips 'to continue to fight from yesterday' and then says it's because the day is nice and he rented a van and they should go for a drive. And she grins into the phone that she'll be there in ten minutes and he grins back that it should take longer as she should dress up because it's a date. DIES.
And she goes out, and she sticks the dreamcatcher on the back of her chair. But the road is closed for construction and in trying to go a different way, she gets stuck, and there is no way for them to contact each other because they don't have each other's phone number.
I was whimpering at this point. It's little things but I got so involved with the characters! And it intercuts with her anxiously checking the time and trying to attact someone's attention so they would help her andhis freaking out and he runs around everywhere looking for her and can't find her and then he finally gives up and as he is about to pull away in the car, defeated, he sees her coming.
EEEEEEE!
And she tells him she is so late because of make-up as it's a date but he points out she is cold. And she says she had to take an alternate route. And then he says she should give him her cell phone number and there in an adorable scene where they exchange cell phone numbers and he calls her with her being right there :D
And it's happy and wonderful, but then we get the voice-over of doom. That he can't forget her phone number. Even though she isn't there.
They are doomed, aren't they? I am going to have a blotched swollen from crying face by the end of this? Right?
Gosh, this is AMAZING.
In other dorama news, tatterpunk, I found a source for Brand 2000 so hopefully I'll have it soon. EEEE!
And I have continued to read Fruits Basket and I have totally fallen for Kyo now. I can pinpoint the exact moment, actually. It's when he comes home from the first day at school (which was rough for everyone concerned) and he is all 'I was horrible to Tohru, I only say mean things to her' and the Hot Cousin points out that maybe he should be nice at first if he is going to be beating himself up as much as he is doing over not being nice. And Kyo admits he has no idea how to be social and how to interact and Cousin points out that it's more natural for some people than others, but he has to work at it and he'll be good. (Meanwhile Tohru is feeling bad that the 'cat' her favorite from childhood doesn't like her. Awwww).
I am getting the weird vibe that even though it's funny and fluffy, there is going to be some major angst in this one, right? I can just tell.
And speaking of angst, I found a cool MV for Kyo/Tohru from the anime. It gets points (though Iam not sure whether coolness or geekiness points, or both, for being set to a song from Buffy's S6 musical ep).
And because I am in a youtube kinda mood, I found a MV for my all-time favorite secondary couple, Xi Men and Xiao You in Meteor Garden. Their equivalents Soujiro and Yuki in Hanadan don't ping my OTP sense very much, but Xi Men and Xiao You? Oh boy. Probably because you really get the sense of his liking her a lot but not allowing himself to go forward.
Oh, and my shiny official Goong DVD set shipped early last week. Hopefully I'll get it this week. I wants it, my preciousssss. It's odd. I really really liked Goong when I first watched it, but it's one of the rare dramas where the more time passes, the more I love it.
WOW.
This is officially my second favorite jdrama, behind only Pride. (Because no one beats Halu and Aki).
To get little things out of the way first: I love the way Kimura runs. I wonder if he is athletic. It's very fluid. Oh, and OMG, when he dorkily imitates Neo? *dies*
But but but but.
That is not what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about that scene in ep 3. You know which one.
The one with SHOES and KISSING. The one that made me scream.
Basically, the set-up is this: Shuji and Kyoko go out to celebrate his deciding on a new hairstyle. They get a bit plastered and by the time they come out and sober up her car has been towed. They end up catching a taxi (as he insists on seeing her home) and halfway there, she realizes she needs to go to the restroom (this drama really made me appraciate little things I take for granted). She can't go to the public ones because they are not wide enough so he takes her to his apartment (which is such a guy place, messy and not particularly comy but very lived on. No pretentions at all, just like the owner). And he carries her into the restroom (OMG, guys carrying their OTPs is a bullet-proof kink of mine. See e.g. Shin and Chae-Gyung in Goong). And later when she comes out, and he is making coffee, she is still sitting on the floor and she idly looks around and she notices a box and she looks inside it and..
IT IS THE RED SHOES.
RED SHOES.
RED SHOES.
The ones she wanted so badly but didn't have enough courage to go into the store to buy. And he turns around, because she is frozen and quiet (he is hunting for powedered milk to put into her coffee) and sees her holding them and tells her he bought them for her because she wanted them and he went in on impulse but didn't have time to give them yet (I love how matter-of-fact and real this scene feels. Because it is incredibly romantic but it is shot and acted in such a real way: they are in his messy apartment, there are no dreamy close-ups, he is matter of fact).
And she asks him why he is so nice to her and he answers, after a tiny pause 'Because I care about you' and OMG OMH you can tell that he didn't realize before he said it, and it's almost as much a surprise to him as it is to her. And he repeats it a couple more times, as if to try it on for size, to sink it in (Kimura doesn't just have an expressive face but an incredibly expressive voice, doesn't he?)
And he suddenly swoops down and briefly kisses her on the lips (I love how natural and slightly awkward it is, and how it's a total impulse).
SERIOUSLY, I WAS CRYING AT THIS POINT.
And then she is all radiant and he asks her if he can hold her. DIES. And he asks how he can do it (because of her handicap) and she replies, 'like normal' and he leans down and holds her and that shot is to die for, and it's slightly uncomfortable (they aren't used to each other physically yet) and there is more kissing and I love the little real touch of his telling her he has to stop hugging because his back hurts.
Seriously, this is such an amazing drama. You feel like you are watching real people. It's the little touches, you know?
Like the fact when they go outside to wait for a taxi, she is cold and he runs back to his apartment to get her an extra jacket (btw love his earlier panic about the mess in his place and putting the toilet seat down :D). And he runs to her but then he pauses for a second when he is near, as if he is drinking her in.
DIES.
But then he is at the library again and she's left for her planned trip without telling him. She does that, doesn't she? She is afraid of loving, of getting hurt. In a way, it's her way of testing the boundaries, testing him. I love how transparent he is coming to the library again (the librarian friend tells him he doesn't need to check out the books as he isn't going to read them). Oh, and he becomes top stylist meanwhile.
And then she comes back. And she got his jacket dry-cleaned and she bought him a dream catcher from the US. And she packs it up with so much care and she goes to give it to him but she chickens out at the last moment (because she thinks his co-worker ex and decides to give it later. She doesn't want to be vulnerable in front of the ex).
But meanwhile she learns that her brother's arranged marriage fell through because the girl found out Kyoko was in a wheelchair and a burden. And there is this really sad of her in her dark room, in the wheelchair. So she gives up (she is strong but she is vulnerable too, you know?) and just sends his jacket to him through the mail.
And of course he is tearing mad and he comes to the library and they have a fight because he is trying so hard to get her to admit that what they have is special (he is so forthright and so open with her) but of course she is walling off and pushes him away. And he leaves, mad as hell, but the librarian friend catches up with him and explains why Kyoko is so upset (and I love that it doesn't automatically makes it OK, he has to calm down a bit, and he finds out about the dream catcher).
So next day, she is in her apartment and the phone rings and IT'S HIM.
Because the friend gave him her home number. And she is so happy and she asks hy he called and he quips 'to continue to fight from yesterday' and then says it's because the day is nice and he rented a van and they should go for a drive. And she grins into the phone that she'll be there in ten minutes and he grins back that it should take longer as she should dress up because it's a date. DIES.
And she goes out, and she sticks the dreamcatcher on the back of her chair. But the road is closed for construction and in trying to go a different way, she gets stuck, and there is no way for them to contact each other because they don't have each other's phone number.
I was whimpering at this point. It's little things but I got so involved with the characters! And it intercuts with her anxiously checking the time and trying to attact someone's attention so they would help her andhis freaking out and he runs around everywhere looking for her and can't find her and then he finally gives up and as he is about to pull away in the car, defeated, he sees her coming.
EEEEEEE!
And she tells him she is so late because of make-up as it's a date but he points out she is cold. And she says she had to take an alternate route. And then he says she should give him her cell phone number and there in an adorable scene where they exchange cell phone numbers and he calls her with her being right there :D
And it's happy and wonderful, but then we get the voice-over of doom. That he can't forget her phone number. Even though she isn't there.
They are doomed, aren't they? I am going to have a blotched swollen from crying face by the end of this? Right?
Gosh, this is AMAZING.
In other dorama news, tatterpunk, I found a source for Brand 2000 so hopefully I'll have it soon. EEEE!
And I have continued to read Fruits Basket and I have totally fallen for Kyo now. I can pinpoint the exact moment, actually. It's when he comes home from the first day at school (which was rough for everyone concerned) and he is all 'I was horrible to Tohru, I only say mean things to her' and the Hot Cousin points out that maybe he should be nice at first if he is going to be beating himself up as much as he is doing over not being nice. And Kyo admits he has no idea how to be social and how to interact and Cousin points out that it's more natural for some people than others, but he has to work at it and he'll be good. (Meanwhile Tohru is feeling bad that the 'cat' her favorite from childhood doesn't like her. Awwww).
I am getting the weird vibe that even though it's funny and fluffy, there is going to be some major angst in this one, right? I can just tell.
And speaking of angst, I found a cool MV for Kyo/Tohru from the anime. It gets points (though Iam not sure whether coolness or geekiness points, or both, for being set to a song from Buffy's S6 musical ep).
Click to viewAnd because I am in a youtube kinda mood, I found a MV for my all-time favorite secondary couple, Xi Men and Xiao You in Meteor Garden. Their equivalents Soujiro and Yuki in Hanadan don't ping my OTP sense very much, but Xi Men and Xiao You? Oh boy. Probably because you really get the sense of his liking her a lot but not allowing himself to go forward.
Oh, and my shiny official Goong DVD set shipped early last week. Hopefully I'll get it this week. I wants it, my preciousssss. It's odd. I really really liked Goong when I first watched it, but it's one of the rare dramas where the more time passes, the more I love it.