Not so new...
Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends jmovie! The version I saw had some questionable subtitles, so really hope the subs were not from the official blu-ray/dvd release. Anyway, the movie concludes Shishio's arc and his demise. As with the other movies, the featured sword fights were pretty cool. You don't get the technical commentary as you do in the manga and anime, but occasionally, they'll mention the particular skill...or if you are a fan, you may recognize the technique...haha. I was slightly disappointed by the final showdown with Kenshin and Shishio since it was more of a tag-team effort rather than Kenshin being all awesome himself. It was nonetheless fun to watch. I was impressed by the athleticism of Soujirou and Kenshin especially; stuntmen? cgi?. There was a lot of low ground work and running on the walls. Did anyone else question the final scene....everyone arrives on shore half-dead with obvious life-threatening injuries, and NONE of the police give them a hand...or run to get a doctor? Overall, I was surpisingly happy with the three movies. The main cast grew on me and the production was exciting. It's nice to see that anime-to-live action movies can stay faithful to the original source, and does not have to look too cartoonish. ~8/10 rating~ for this movie.
Tomorrow's Cantabile kdrama 1-4! is the Korean live-action drama version of the manga, Nodame Cantabile. Yoo Jin (Chiaki), a young music piano student dreams of becoming the conductor of an orchestra. He is arrogant and supposedly handsome (hmmm...not a cute as Tamaki Hiroshi). Nae Il (Nodame) is a free-spirited piano student who has a part-time job playing for kids (not as quirky as Ueno Juri...no 'gyabo's!'). This version doesn't stray too much from the original, but this drama makes me miss the jdrama a lot. The jdrama really captured the manga quite perfectly. The kdrama is a pretty good imitation of it, too. It doesn't throw in the cute over-the-top comedy that the jdrama did. Because it is a kdrama, there is more time-filler scenes with the adult professors. The kdrama does retain the key, cute scenes like when Yoo Jin washes Nae-Il's hair because it stinks so much. I'm inclined to just go and re-watch the jdrama since the kdrama doesn't really bring anything new to the story. If you watch the jdrama and kdrama side-by-side, the jdrama paces itself better and ends the episode on better cliffhangers. I think kdrama fans will still like this version. As always I enjoy the kdrama's choice of modern architecture.