The J-drama saga continues
I've been UNABLE to break away from drama-watching as of yet. It kept going all through aunt and cousin's visit (nice to see them, but rainy weather buu). Luckily my three-day enforced stay in Yokohama (fun!) that ended yesterday has made me take a little break at least, but who knows how long that will last...
In roughly chronological order:
Kurosagi
Wow, Yamapi is hot. HOT. I'd like to see more emotional growth in his character. I think that was the biggest flaw in this series. He's pretty much decided that he died with his family, so of course dead people can't connect with other people. He starts out and ends the same way--completely focused on his family's death. There's a *little* room for future growth, with the girl, but I'd like to see characters change more over the course of a series, as a general rule. Very knotty and complex relationships between most of the underworld characters, however. I enjoyed that.
Summer Snow
This was such a wonderful drama, filled with fun, sweet character interaction--just really great. Until the last episode. Where the writers suddenly ambushed us with Deep Japanese Literary Themes. (I actually felt I had to write a little response essay to this. Because I am a dork.) I didn't like the way it was an ambush--the rest of the drama wasn't filled with high-minded themes. (This week's lesson: you too can become pregnant in high school and find lifelong happiness! Also: nonviolent protest, a practical guide. And: police officers, evildoers or victims of buerocracy?) And I didn't like the *way* the writers carried it out. They wouldn't just come right out and say what happened, but kept teasing us with the possibility of a happy outcome until we finally figured out it wasn't going to happen. I could *see* what the writers were doing, and I really resented it, but I still couldn't keep from falling for it.
The ending seriously destroyed me. Just crying and crying and crying while cursing out the writers. (The baby. He never got to see the baby.) But it was still skillfully done manipulation of my emotions, and a relatively happy ending. Kind of a... literal interpretation of typical romantic sentiments. I would still recommend this series. Good acting all around, not the least from Oguri Shun.
Goong
My first Korean drama! This was so ENJOYABLE. Really soapy, but hella fun. I haven't been able to stop THINKING about it, even though it's been several weeks since I watched it. I just want MORE. It's a good thing they're supposed to be making a sequel's all I can say! I haven't been able to get into the spinoff after watching 2 episodes--I just don't like Se7en enough for him to carry the series. It was fun to hear all the random onyomi Japanese words, and pick up some *totally useful* formal palace Korean. But I didn't like the sporadic meta references by the characters--"Haha, this is just like a manhwa or TV drama!" That's not clever, that's just breaking my suspension of disbelief. Uncool. And dude, the teddy bears freak me the fuck out. Especially in the spin-off where they now have no reference to Shin Goon's teddy bear, so more random, and also MORE CREEPY when they MOVE by themselves. ::shudders::
Anego
Um. I think Jin was prettier in Gokusen 2 (hmm I should finish that...). I thought the premise was interesting, but ultimately I don't think Jin can carry a series, and the ending, while happy for the characters, was just not emotionally satisfying enough for me. Bad writing throughout. Also there was no KISSING. Buuu.
Sapuri
Wow Kame's character in this starts out SO ADORABLE. God. I think from what I've seen of Kame that this character is pretty close to what he's like in real life too. Eeee. Pretty also. I appreciate all his multiple adornments! He and Jin look like the boys in those yaoi manga with the extremely skinny limbs and the flat faces at an angle on their necks--I used to think that was just artistic license, but wow people actually look like that. Awesome.
On the whole I enjoyed this series. The two main characters were well-written and strongly acted, and their relationship was interesting to me. I liked the secondary romance too. I don't know that I liked the way it ended, necessarily, but I totally admired how skillfully the woman was stringing that guy along and manipulating his emotions for so many years.
I think the relationship between the two main characters started to take a bad turn when Kame's character tried too fast to better his position and she became his mentor in that too, mixing romance and work. I thought that whole trying to become the same level as her was a bad idea. He wasn't ready, obviously. And he was trying too hard to fit in, losing his own identity. I felt a little too much vicarious embarrassment for Kame's character too. I resent characters who do that to me.
Also Kame had the same problem with *touching girls* that he had in Tatta Hitotsu no Koi. With boys he can always snuggle and flirt (omg the way his character in this kept playing the role of wife to his male boss, with the apron and the bentou and the childcare and the nagging and deciding to sleep with his boss all cozy in bed), but with girls he's always so physically tentative and... false. I guess it's partly the asian touching thing, partly the girl/boy cootie thing, partly the falseness of a lot of physical expressions of romantic feeling in j-drama, and partly just Kame's thing about *touching girls*.
Engine
Very enjoyable. I liked this better than Good Luck. KimuTaku is so cute and immature! Also naked sometimes. I enjoyed the way the first image of the series was KimuTaku's naked chest. They know what we want...
The drama with the children was well-done and emotionally affecting. I wish we'd gotten a bit more wrap-up on the romance, the way we had text at the end on how all the children are doing. Also more wrap-up on his career! Did he ever get back into the winner's circle like he promised? What was the job he was doing at the end? Was that the lucrative test-driving job his ex-gf offered him before? I thought he was all about the racing only. Hmmm.
Koyuki's character was kind of annoying, but their relationship was nice. Sweet.
Hanadan
How SHOCKING last week's episode was. I'm glad the plot is showing some resolution, and that Shigure isn't evil anymore. Though wow that scene between Shigure and Domyoji was intense and awesome. (My male cousin was like "Naked? What?" And then I was translating the rest of the episode for my aunt and cousin as it aired.) I need to catch up on watching the last 3 eps subbed.
Nishikado better not let his hatsukoi marry another man. That's all I'm going to say.
I think MatsuJun has a lot of presence and charisma and talent, but not a lot of acting skill. (No, the trembly lip of emotion TM does not count as a skill.) It's really obvious when he (over)acts with Oguri Shun, who totally needs his own starring role like now. (He's that rare non-Johnny male talent.) Watching the Christmas special, it was funny to hear how MatsuJun was a fan of Rui and read shojo comics in his formative years. (He was all like "No, they were really my sister's...!" Hahaha.) I should finish the manga too, hm. But it's interesting in publicity situations how differently MatsuJun behaves from like Kame, who eats up attention with a spoon and camps out for everyone, or Yamapi, who is totally awesome and laid back and cool, or Oguri Shun, who is dorkily genki and COMPLETELY ADORABLE. MatsuJun is kind of standoffish and more private. Courteous and charming to be sure, but always kind of uncomfortable. I think that's how I would react in that situation too. Haha, like when Hard Gay came to the set of Hanadan and kept saying "Hana Yori Danshi," MatsuJun just would *not* stop correcting him "Nono, it's danGO, danGO," even though it was obvious Hard Gay knew that and was just doing it for a "Hee! Hard Gay likes boys!" laugh. Heh. Hard Gay's wife must be a saintly woman.
Karei Naru Ichizoku
I accidentally watched the end of last Sunday's ep of this when I was in Yokohama. (Well, it was *mostly* an enforced break from dramas, then...) I had avoided watching it before, because when I researched the story and read a synopsis of the movie version from the 70s, KimuTaku's character kills himself at the end! (For a stupid reason too!) This is why I avoided the KimuTaku-as-a-hairdresser drama. Main character death is bad! When I get more of a guarantee that KimuTaku death won't happen in the drama, I'll definitely check it out. The part that I saw was well-done melodrama. (I especially enjoyed KimuTaku's "old-fashioned" hairstyle that still managed to be a Japanese man-mullet. Hee. Usually it's the *women's* hairstyles that are anachronistic in historical films and TV.)
Oh speaking of haircuts, I got my hair bobbed in Yokohama! It's kind of chin length now wheee. The hairdresser dude was totally fun and cute, and got me a little drink service of juice and shoulder massage included along with the shampoo for only 3780! My friend got hers cut at the same time in the same shop but with a surly woman, and got none of the services but paid like 5000. Lame. I think this is my first time having a man cut my hair (yeah I don't get it cut that often), but maybe I should stick to men now! I asked him why Japanese men (him included) had that LARGE spiky hairstyle. He said he didn't really know... It must be fashion brainwashing! Like all the 80s fashions I see coming back now (nooooo).
Before that I also got this like strange physical therapy thing where they stretched you out to straighten your bones. Kind of a gentle chiropracty. (I miss my American chiropractor like CRAZY. But of course he does much more than straight chiropracty.) I think it was called satai or something, where the tai was 体. It was nice. There was also foot reflexology offered there, but I didn't do it.
I'm so behind on ALL my American TV. ::whistles::
My aunt and cousin watched a lot of Japanese TV while they were here. Because they had the TV on, I got to see this awesome piece on NHK about an onnagata. A woman who likes to dress up as a man and hates her own femaleness talked to this fabulous onnagata of whom she was a fan. And they talked about finding your own path and finding jibun no rashisa and how the woman who hated her own femaleness was according to the onnagata only otokoppoi in her suit jacket and tie, not otokorashii. So the onnagata dressed the *woman* up as an onnagata, with all the traditional makeup and everything, to help her experience her own femininity. While he was out of costume himself. And the gender theory made my brain HAPPY. (Judith Butler and all performing gender and stuff). And the onnagata talked about how men were able to portray a more ideal femaleness than women were. (The artifice is more true than reality, the men are able to analyze femininity from the outside, etc.) Like CLASSIC kabuki and Japanese historical theory still being said by people today! So cool! I wish I had it on tape. Wow, I can't wait to see Takarazuka in March, which has the same practice in reverse.
In roughly chronological order:
Kurosagi
Wow, Yamapi is hot. HOT. I'd like to see more emotional growth in his character. I think that was the biggest flaw in this series. He's pretty much decided that he died with his family, so of course dead people can't connect with other people. He starts out and ends the same way--completely focused on his family's death. There's a *little* room for future growth, with the girl, but I'd like to see characters change more over the course of a series, as a general rule. Very knotty and complex relationships between most of the underworld characters, however. I enjoyed that.
Summer Snow
This was such a wonderful drama, filled with fun, sweet character interaction--just really great. Until the last episode. Where the writers suddenly ambushed us with Deep Japanese Literary Themes. (I actually felt I had to write a little response essay to this. Because I am a dork.) I didn't like the way it was an ambush--the rest of the drama wasn't filled with high-minded themes. (This week's lesson: you too can become pregnant in high school and find lifelong happiness! Also: nonviolent protest, a practical guide. And: police officers, evildoers or victims of buerocracy?) And I didn't like the *way* the writers carried it out. They wouldn't just come right out and say what happened, but kept teasing us with the possibility of a happy outcome until we finally figured out it wasn't going to happen. I could *see* what the writers were doing, and I really resented it, but I still couldn't keep from falling for it.
The ending seriously destroyed me. Just crying and crying and crying while cursing out the writers. (The baby. He never got to see the baby.) But it was still skillfully done manipulation of my emotions, and a relatively happy ending. Kind of a... literal interpretation of typical romantic sentiments. I would still recommend this series. Good acting all around, not the least from Oguri Shun.
Goong
My first Korean drama! This was so ENJOYABLE. Really soapy, but hella fun. I haven't been able to stop THINKING about it, even though it's been several weeks since I watched it. I just want MORE. It's a good thing they're supposed to be making a sequel's all I can say! I haven't been able to get into the spinoff after watching 2 episodes--I just don't like Se7en enough for him to carry the series. It was fun to hear all the random onyomi Japanese words, and pick up some *totally useful* formal palace Korean. But I didn't like the sporadic meta references by the characters--"Haha, this is just like a manhwa or TV drama!" That's not clever, that's just breaking my suspension of disbelief. Uncool. And dude, the teddy bears freak me the fuck out. Especially in the spin-off where they now have no reference to Shin Goon's teddy bear, so more random, and also MORE CREEPY when they MOVE by themselves. ::shudders::
Anego
Um. I think Jin was prettier in Gokusen 2 (hmm I should finish that...). I thought the premise was interesting, but ultimately I don't think Jin can carry a series, and the ending, while happy for the characters, was just not emotionally satisfying enough for me. Bad writing throughout. Also there was no KISSING. Buuu.
Sapuri
Wow Kame's character in this starts out SO ADORABLE. God. I think from what I've seen of Kame that this character is pretty close to what he's like in real life too. Eeee. Pretty also. I appreciate all his multiple adornments! He and Jin look like the boys in those yaoi manga with the extremely skinny limbs and the flat faces at an angle on their necks--I used to think that was just artistic license, but wow people actually look like that. Awesome.
On the whole I enjoyed this series. The two main characters were well-written and strongly acted, and their relationship was interesting to me. I liked the secondary romance too. I don't know that I liked the way it ended, necessarily, but I totally admired how skillfully the woman was stringing that guy along and manipulating his emotions for so many years.
I think the relationship between the two main characters started to take a bad turn when Kame's character tried too fast to better his position and she became his mentor in that too, mixing romance and work. I thought that whole trying to become the same level as her was a bad idea. He wasn't ready, obviously. And he was trying too hard to fit in, losing his own identity. I felt a little too much vicarious embarrassment for Kame's character too. I resent characters who do that to me.
Also Kame had the same problem with *touching girls* that he had in Tatta Hitotsu no Koi. With boys he can always snuggle and flirt (omg the way his character in this kept playing the role of wife to his male boss, with the apron and the bentou and the childcare and the nagging and deciding to sleep with his boss all cozy in bed), but with girls he's always so physically tentative and... false. I guess it's partly the asian touching thing, partly the girl/boy cootie thing, partly the falseness of a lot of physical expressions of romantic feeling in j-drama, and partly just Kame's thing about *touching girls*.
Engine
Very enjoyable. I liked this better than Good Luck. KimuTaku is so cute and immature! Also naked sometimes. I enjoyed the way the first image of the series was KimuTaku's naked chest. They know what we want...
The drama with the children was well-done and emotionally affecting. I wish we'd gotten a bit more wrap-up on the romance, the way we had text at the end on how all the children are doing. Also more wrap-up on his career! Did he ever get back into the winner's circle like he promised? What was the job he was doing at the end? Was that the lucrative test-driving job his ex-gf offered him before? I thought he was all about the racing only. Hmmm.
Koyuki's character was kind of annoying, but their relationship was nice. Sweet.
Hanadan
How SHOCKING last week's episode was. I'm glad the plot is showing some resolution, and that Shigure isn't evil anymore. Though wow that scene between Shigure and Domyoji was intense and awesome. (My male cousin was like "Naked? What?" And then I was translating the rest of the episode for my aunt and cousin as it aired.) I need to catch up on watching the last 3 eps subbed.
Nishikado better not let his hatsukoi marry another man. That's all I'm going to say.
I think MatsuJun has a lot of presence and charisma and talent, but not a lot of acting skill. (No, the trembly lip of emotion TM does not count as a skill.) It's really obvious when he (over)acts with Oguri Shun, who totally needs his own starring role like now. (He's that rare non-Johnny male talent.) Watching the Christmas special, it was funny to hear how MatsuJun was a fan of Rui and read shojo comics in his formative years. (He was all like "No, they were really my sister's...!" Hahaha.) I should finish the manga too, hm. But it's interesting in publicity situations how differently MatsuJun behaves from like Kame, who eats up attention with a spoon and camps out for everyone, or Yamapi, who is totally awesome and laid back and cool, or Oguri Shun, who is dorkily genki and COMPLETELY ADORABLE. MatsuJun is kind of standoffish and more private. Courteous and charming to be sure, but always kind of uncomfortable. I think that's how I would react in that situation too. Haha, like when Hard Gay came to the set of Hanadan and kept saying "Hana Yori Danshi," MatsuJun just would *not* stop correcting him "Nono, it's danGO, danGO," even though it was obvious Hard Gay knew that and was just doing it for a "Hee! Hard Gay likes boys!" laugh. Heh. Hard Gay's wife must be a saintly woman.
Karei Naru Ichizoku
I accidentally watched the end of last Sunday's ep of this when I was in Yokohama. (Well, it was *mostly* an enforced break from dramas, then...) I had avoided watching it before, because when I researched the story and read a synopsis of the movie version from the 70s, KimuTaku's character kills himself at the end! (For a stupid reason too!) This is why I avoided the KimuTaku-as-a-hairdresser drama. Main character death is bad! When I get more of a guarantee that KimuTaku death won't happen in the drama, I'll definitely check it out. The part that I saw was well-done melodrama. (I especially enjoyed KimuTaku's "old-fashioned" hairstyle that still managed to be a Japanese man-mullet. Hee. Usually it's the *women's* hairstyles that are anachronistic in historical films and TV.)
Oh speaking of haircuts, I got my hair bobbed in Yokohama! It's kind of chin length now wheee. The hairdresser dude was totally fun and cute, and got me a little drink service of juice and shoulder massage included along with the shampoo for only 3780! My friend got hers cut at the same time in the same shop but with a surly woman, and got none of the services but paid like 5000. Lame. I think this is my first time having a man cut my hair (yeah I don't get it cut that often), but maybe I should stick to men now! I asked him why Japanese men (him included) had that LARGE spiky hairstyle. He said he didn't really know... It must be fashion brainwashing! Like all the 80s fashions I see coming back now (nooooo).
Before that I also got this like strange physical therapy thing where they stretched you out to straighten your bones. Kind of a gentle chiropracty. (I miss my American chiropractor like CRAZY. But of course he does much more than straight chiropracty.) I think it was called satai or something, where the tai was 体. It was nice. There was also foot reflexology offered there, but I didn't do it.
I'm so behind on ALL my American TV. ::whistles::
My aunt and cousin watched a lot of Japanese TV while they were here. Because they had the TV on, I got to see this awesome piece on NHK about an onnagata. A woman who likes to dress up as a man and hates her own femaleness talked to this fabulous onnagata of whom she was a fan. And they talked about finding your own path and finding jibun no rashisa and how the woman who hated her own femaleness was according to the onnagata only otokoppoi in her suit jacket and tie, not otokorashii. So the onnagata dressed the *woman* up as an onnagata, with all the traditional makeup and everything, to help her experience her own femininity. While he was out of costume himself. And the gender theory made my brain HAPPY. (Judith Butler and all performing gender and stuff). And the onnagata talked about how men were able to portray a more ideal femaleness than women were. (The artifice is more true than reality, the men are able to analyze femininity from the outside, etc.) Like CLASSIC kabuki and Japanese historical theory still being said by people today! So cool! I wish I had it on tape. Wow, I can't wait to see Takarazuka in March, which has the same practice in reverse.