Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge: half-drama review
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Maybe I was expecting too much from it?
Or maybe it's because I've never watched/read/heard of the original before.......
hm...
Well, what ever it is, I officially can't watch Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge.
J-One did their sub, and like a loyal workdog I am *coughnotdonetimingcough* I watched the drama for the first time today. *looks at time* .... yesterday.
It was like... all jumpy all over the place and really hard to follow. The humour was subtle and I couldn't pick up on it if I wasn't really watching properly, and the concept seems too...... overdone.
Let's start with the humour:
Although Kame has shown great acting in his ability to protray a humourous character before in 1 Pound no Fukuin, he hasn't quite caught Kyouhei's humourous side yet. The other actors didn't appear enough to really gauge them at all, let alone even figure out their character's names. True, there were some parts I laughed at, but I laughed at the ridiculous things rather that the things I could see they were trying for a humourous effect with.
Concept:
If I were to ignore all the manga I've read up to this point and went by drama alone, this concept of 'producing' a girl if you will is WAY too overdone in Asian dramas in general. Adding the 'complex' thing in really didn't change anything. Not to be biased, but take Nobuta wo Produce as an example: Sunako and Nokuko share the typical 'to produce' girl qualities: socially awkward, bullied, little to no friends, unwilling to accept help. Kyouhei and Shuuji [coincidentally played by the same person] share the typical 'producer' qualities: not really interested in producing, in it for themselves, go through a larger character transformation than the character being produced, etc. The only reason the concept can get away with being overdone in manga is because the drawing style differs from artist to artist. In dramas, people are people no matter who they are.
Jumpyness:
This was the most annoying. It wasn't jumpy so much as it just wasn't very smooth. The transitions weren't good enough or weren't present at all. How/when/why did they go to Hokkaidou so SUDDENLY? Little to no proper explaination was really given besides the random 'side characters' who didn't even go. And then suddenly we're back in Toukyou? Ignoring flight times and school are we? Typical... And where'd they get all the make up and stuff? Aren't they broke <-- not explained very well. And the.... random fighting...... also not explained very well. The whole thing seemed to be one big inside joke that I wasn't getting. I blamed that on my never having heard of the series up until now, and that had I read the manga, I'd understand what was going on more. Nevertheless, the drama is supposed to reach out to a variety of audiences without having some kind of backstory nessecary to understanding, unlike the .hack// series.
I can now see what newshfan was talking about when it seemed like there were too many big names in this drama: Kamenashi Kazuya, recongnized actor as well as famous group KAT-TUN; Tegoshi Yuuya, recongnized actor with a new movie coming out in March, internationally recongized singer, and part of famous group NEWS; Hiroki Uchi, infamous downfall of NEWS; the ballet guy, top of his profession and probably a good actor, nevertheless he's a big name; and there are some people I don't recongized 'cause I'm not as up to date in Japan as I'd like to think I am.
All those big names were supposed to make up for the lack of understanding avalible to those of us that haven't read the original. Also probably to make up for the bumpy explainations as the drama moves on in it's plotline.
I'll give the drama the benefit of the doubt though; it was just the first episode, and 1st episodes are often rather rough. I was totally surprised at the lack of structure to the episode though; even the dramas I watched before discovering REAL dramas were better structured. I'm hoping the director was just trying to get his barrings and it'll get better. *fingers crossed*
Because I'm a snoop, I also went to look at dramacrazy's subs on episode 1 and 2.... and 3, but that's not the point. Turns out it's not a sub group per say; the entire WEBSITE allows anyone to put a translation up. I could write garbage for all they cared. A lot like Wiki I guess... Anyway, for some reason, people's comments appeared at the top every once in a while. And I couldn't help be annoyed at them.
"Kyouhei looks nothing like the real Kyouhei"
"Why couldn't they have the anime's opening song than this stupid one?"
"That wasn't supposed to happen! That was never in the manga!"
... Yes, you N00BS: you've just stepped out of your drawing world and into another. Please don't critisize, or I'll have to bite your head off. -_-'
Of COURSE Kyouhei doesn't look like Kyouhei! There may be such people in the world that look like him, but think about it for a second: can Japan REALLY get a guy that looks like a DRAWING and can ACT? I didn't think so either.
I'm sorry, but if you liked the anime opening sequence better, then why are you even watching this drama? Even anime doesn't keep the same song playing past the 1st season, none that I've watched anyway. And I'm an extremely biased KAT-TUN fan: Any attack on KAT-TUN is an attack on me. I'm not afraid to EAT you T_T
Well DUH things happen different; no one would watch if everything was the same. And keep in mind these are REAL people; they can't do the same things that drawings can do. And if you liked the way the anime/manga was, then why are you even watching the drama anyway? Seriously, I didn't complain at the Prince of Tennis live action, I laughed at it.
I noticed a lot of translation errors too, but I'm too lazy/annoyed to fix them.
Dude, what's it like to be watching all this stuff without knowing Japanese? I can't undo what I know, so I'll never know, but I've always wondered. It would mean being absolutely dependent on subtitles for everything, which is like ignoring their voices right? Can people even tell their voices apart? Can they hear the accent of a person, or do they rely on whether the accent's English equlivent has been used in the subs? How can people put so much trust in a translator like that? I was noticing it 'cause at the end of DramaCrazy's episode 2 of YamaNade, there was a random translation instead of what they were really saying to promote the site rather than the present the actors were giving away. And I thought to myself: are there people out there that would believe that that was ACTUALLY the real translation?
0.o''
My dad says there was another Japanese Idol guy hanging around, and that all the asian girls were swooning him, but he didn't find out his name or get the picture he thought he should take for me in case I might know him T__________________T
WHAT IF SHO CAME BACK!??!?!
Geez... stupid father... he went right up to him and talked to him to make sure he had the right credentials to be in the building >______>''
DARN YOU FATHER THAT REFUSES TO GET INVOLVED IN MY JAPAN-OBSESSED WORLDDDDDDDD!!!!