Hotaru no Hikari
I now will be posting about Hotaru no Hikaru.
I was looking for a light and funny ren-ai to watch after my last semester in college. My female "kohai"'s suggested to get this particular drama. I then went around J-dorama blogging sites to see what they have to say about this one. Generally, it was positive feedback. So, I scoured my local media pirates place for a copy. They did not have it at the time. It was only this March, that I was able to get a copy alongside another dorama starring Fujiki-san entitled "Antique Bakeshop"
Hotaru no Hikaru is a live action dorama adaptation of the shoujo manga with the same name. I guess the manga is still running or had just recently concluded circulation.It seems the tag line "Himono Onna" the mangaka coined did not got around so much but the fact that a relatively new manga having a LAA (live action adaptation) is such a feat in itself. The one thing that puzzles me is that I haven't seen this manga scanlated in any of the online reading sites I frequently visit.
As for the story, it is basic shoujo stuff. What did you expect from a LAA of a shoujo manga, ne? It is a combination of two typical shoujo models. Hotaru no Hikaru could be described in a nutshell as a cross between your "ugly ducking into a beautiful swan" story and the "love contract" plot outline. Let me expound on what I've said. It is a story from the mold of "the ugly duckling to swan" thing because the drama presented Hotaru as such. In the initial episodes of the drama, Hotaru is subtlely being chastised as being a "himono onna". However, as the series progresses, we and other characters in the drama, I suppose, see her unique charm and we all grew to appreciate her quirks. It being a love contract is so obvious. The leads consciously went into a situation that has very high possibility of nurturing a romantic relationship. That folks constitutes to what I define as a love contract. The Korean employ this kind of shoujo style in a very silly manner. They actually make their characters draft a real contract and have it notarized! I know many of you can name those K-dramas that coincindentally became famous in the Philippines.
The slight variation this drama offered is that for the majority of the series, we did not get to see the leads pursue the romantic relationship budding from the circumstances that they willingly put themselves into. Talk about giving a new spin to the phrase "koi no tsubomi". It is only towards the end that we see the male lead's true character. He is in fact a tsundere character! Hahahaha. Well to be honest, I saw that coming from miles when I was watching the initial episodes but I was amazed at how the production team kept emphasizing the first love romatic pairing of the female lead with the supporting actor right until lets let us say 16/18 into the whole series.
This drama has high enjoyment factor. The story is character driven so much of the laughs will come from the presentation of Hotaru being a lovable "Himono Onna". I think this is one of those dramas you guys can rrecommend to your friends if you want your friends to catch the J-dorama bug. It is light, funny and basically has more than average standards for the technical stuff you would expect for a J-dorama.
I was looking for a light and funny ren-ai to watch after my last semester in college. My female "kohai"'s suggested to get this particular drama. I then went around J-dorama blogging sites to see what they have to say about this one. Generally, it was positive feedback. So, I scoured my local media pirates place for a copy. They did not have it at the time. It was only this March, that I was able to get a copy alongside another dorama starring Fujiki-san entitled "Antique Bakeshop"
Hotaru no Hikaru is a live action dorama adaptation of the shoujo manga with the same name. I guess the manga is still running or had just recently concluded circulation.It seems the tag line "Himono Onna" the mangaka coined did not got around so much but the fact that a relatively new manga having a LAA (live action adaptation) is such a feat in itself. The one thing that puzzles me is that I haven't seen this manga scanlated in any of the online reading sites I frequently visit.
As for the story, it is basic shoujo stuff. What did you expect from a LAA of a shoujo manga, ne? It is a combination of two typical shoujo models. Hotaru no Hikaru could be described in a nutshell as a cross between your "ugly ducking into a beautiful swan" story and the "love contract" plot outline. Let me expound on what I've said. It is a story from the mold of "the ugly duckling to swan" thing because the drama presented Hotaru as such. In the initial episodes of the drama, Hotaru is subtlely being chastised as being a "himono onna". However, as the series progresses, we and other characters in the drama, I suppose, see her unique charm and we all grew to appreciate her quirks. It being a love contract is so obvious. The leads consciously went into a situation that has very high possibility of nurturing a romantic relationship. That folks constitutes to what I define as a love contract. The Korean employ this kind of shoujo style in a very silly manner. They actually make their characters draft a real contract and have it notarized! I know many of you can name those K-dramas that coincindentally became famous in the Philippines.
The slight variation this drama offered is that for the majority of the series, we did not get to see the leads pursue the romantic relationship budding from the circumstances that they willingly put themselves into. Talk about giving a new spin to the phrase "koi no tsubomi". It is only towards the end that we see the male lead's true character. He is in fact a tsundere character! Hahahaha. Well to be honest, I saw that coming from miles when I was watching the initial episodes but I was amazed at how the production team kept emphasizing the first love romatic pairing of the female lead with the supporting actor right until lets let us say 16/18 into the whole series.
This drama has high enjoyment factor. The story is character driven so much of the laughs will come from the presentation of Hotaru being a lovable "Himono Onna". I think this is one of those dramas you guys can rrecommend to your friends if you want your friends to catch the J-dorama bug. It is light, funny and basically has more than average standards for the technical stuff you would expect for a J-dorama.