neverland
Okay, so. Recently, I managed to get my hands on some raws for the jdrama Neverland, and just finished watching the first episode.
For those of you who might not know this drama, it stars Imai Tsubasa (T&T), Miyake Ken (V6), Tanaka Kouki (KAT-TUN), Murakami Shingo (K8), and Ikuta Touma.
There's a lot of people wanting to see it, and from that cast, you can see why.
However, I'm not sure if I recommend this show for anyone who is faint of heart or easily squicked. Not to mention the camera work and acting sometimes gives me a headache.
Most likely, this post will include spoilers. In fact, I can tell you right now that it most definitely will 'cause I can't explain why you can't watch it if you're squicky without having some spoilers.
And please don't kill me if I happen to insult the acting skills of someone you're a fan of.
Okay, first off:
Camera work, ow. Ow.
Like, when I began watching it, the first sequence was really hard to watch because it seemed like the camera wasn't stable and the lighting in the forest was weird.
And then it seems like they're really fond of straight forward close-ups. And do you know how creepy it is when it seems like the characters are talking to you although you clearly know they're supposed to be having a conversation with another character? And they ain't happy conversations, either.
The music was... okay, I won't say it's the worst thing I've heard, but it's not great. I mean, I love the theme song, don't get me wrong -- it's just the rest of the music and underscoring for the piece isn't what it could be. I mean, using synthetic sounds for an instrumental version of "Dasenai Tegami" during a scene that's supposed to be painful? Wasn't the best choice.
Okay, now onto the acting.
I'm going to be entirely honest. Most of the main characters so far? Not the best performances. And by main characters so far, I mean Tsubasa, Ken, and the women revolving around them. A lot of the time, it seems that they're just reading lines or something. I don't know, it might just be this particular show, 'cause I've seen Ken in other stuff, and I don't remember him being this "eh".
Hina and Ikuta are pretty okay so far, but that's to be expected. Especially Touma, since he tends to be really involved with acting. Koki is... not good or bad so far. It's just weird seeing him so small and cute. Seriously. It's hard to think this boy and Koki now are the same person.
Now, the plot.
It's angsty. Let's get that out of the way. It's REALLY angsty. And psychologically disturbing. At least the two storylines centering around Tsubasa and Ken's characters are.
Yoshikuni (Tsubasa's character) is actually more or less just angsty so far. Yes, he has a traumatic past, but it's still pretty angsty. Can't get over past trauma, hallucinating that his girlfriend looks like the woman who tried to kill him, breaks up with girlfriend, girlfriend gets depressed and tries to kill herself, etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary in the sense of tragic teenage boy angsting.
Mitsuhiro (Ken's character), on the other hand... Yeah, this squicked me. And I'm not too easily squicked.
He's very much a smart student character who doesn't want anyone meddling in his life (with maybe the exception of Yoshikuni 'cause they're friends). He has the background that his parents committed suicide when he was younger. He has a beautiful (or at least the other boys think so) step mother, but he doesn't want to see her. Why?
Because she wants to take revenge on his parents through him. And apparently, one of those ways is to force him to have sex with her. Or at least that's what it seems to be at this point, 'cause I somehow doubt he's doing it willingly.
Yeah. See the squick factor? I think I wouldn't be squicked if it were consentual and you know... not for the sake of revenge.
Onto Shigehisa (Koki's character). Cute, innocent, obviously has a crush on Yoshikuni. No, seriously. He does. And I think that's going to get taken advantage of by another character later.
Kanji (Hina's character) is loud, obnoxious, a busy body, and my favorite character. I think he's a lot more realistic than some of the main characters. We see glimpses of cruelness, but that's believable. But I think he's a bonding force that brings everyone together, like it or not. And he cracks me up.
Osamu (Touma's character) is weird, also loud, and also obnoxious. So far, he's very much like Kanji, except weirder. But in a good way. He's also one of my more favored characters, since he's more realistic too.
Also, whoever wrote the script must really hate women. Or not think well of them, at least.
Because we have the clingy co-dependent girlfriend, the crazy woman who tried to kill a little boy, the stepmother that's taking revenge on a teenage boy through sex, clingy girlfriend's overprotective friend, batshit crazy "witch" dorm supervisor... Yeah. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been real positive portrayal of women so far.
Despite the many negative criticisms I have for this show, I'm probably going to keep watching it a bit longer. After all, it was only the first episode. That, and I love Hina. And Touma. And I really want to see them in the same show.
This scene killed me:
Hina. In a frilly apron. I rest my case.
For those of you who might not know this drama, it stars Imai Tsubasa (T&T), Miyake Ken (V6), Tanaka Kouki (KAT-TUN), Murakami Shingo (K8), and Ikuta Touma.
There's a lot of people wanting to see it, and from that cast, you can see why.
However, I'm not sure if I recommend this show for anyone who is faint of heart or easily squicked. Not to mention the camera work and acting sometimes gives me a headache.
Most likely, this post will include spoilers. In fact, I can tell you right now that it most definitely will 'cause I can't explain why you can't watch it if you're squicky without having some spoilers.
And please don't kill me if I happen to insult the acting skills of someone you're a fan of.
Okay, first off:
Camera work, ow. Ow.
Like, when I began watching it, the first sequence was really hard to watch because it seemed like the camera wasn't stable and the lighting in the forest was weird.
And then it seems like they're really fond of straight forward close-ups. And do you know how creepy it is when it seems like the characters are talking to you although you clearly know they're supposed to be having a conversation with another character? And they ain't happy conversations, either.
The music was... okay, I won't say it's the worst thing I've heard, but it's not great. I mean, I love the theme song, don't get me wrong -- it's just the rest of the music and underscoring for the piece isn't what it could be. I mean, using synthetic sounds for an instrumental version of "Dasenai Tegami" during a scene that's supposed to be painful? Wasn't the best choice.
Okay, now onto the acting.
I'm going to be entirely honest. Most of the main characters so far? Not the best performances. And by main characters so far, I mean Tsubasa, Ken, and the women revolving around them. A lot of the time, it seems that they're just reading lines or something. I don't know, it might just be this particular show, 'cause I've seen Ken in other stuff, and I don't remember him being this "eh".
Hina and Ikuta are pretty okay so far, but that's to be expected. Especially Touma, since he tends to be really involved with acting. Koki is... not good or bad so far. It's just weird seeing him so small and cute. Seriously. It's hard to think this boy and Koki now are the same person.
Now, the plot.
It's angsty. Let's get that out of the way. It's REALLY angsty. And psychologically disturbing. At least the two storylines centering around Tsubasa and Ken's characters are.
Yoshikuni (Tsubasa's character) is actually more or less just angsty so far. Yes, he has a traumatic past, but it's still pretty angsty. Can't get over past trauma, hallucinating that his girlfriend looks like the woman who tried to kill him, breaks up with girlfriend, girlfriend gets depressed and tries to kill herself, etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary in the sense of tragic teenage boy angsting.
Mitsuhiro (Ken's character), on the other hand... Yeah, this squicked me. And I'm not too easily squicked.
He's very much a smart student character who doesn't want anyone meddling in his life (with maybe the exception of Yoshikuni 'cause they're friends). He has the background that his parents committed suicide when he was younger. He has a beautiful (or at least the other boys think so) step mother, but he doesn't want to see her. Why?
Because she wants to take revenge on his parents through him. And apparently, one of those ways is to force him to have sex with her. Or at least that's what it seems to be at this point, 'cause I somehow doubt he's doing it willingly.
Yeah. See the squick factor? I think I wouldn't be squicked if it were consentual and you know... not for the sake of revenge.
Onto Shigehisa (Koki's character). Cute, innocent, obviously has a crush on Yoshikuni. No, seriously. He does. And I think that's going to get taken advantage of by another character later.
Kanji (Hina's character) is loud, obnoxious, a busy body, and my favorite character. I think he's a lot more realistic than some of the main characters. We see glimpses of cruelness, but that's believable. But I think he's a bonding force that brings everyone together, like it or not. And he cracks me up.
Osamu (Touma's character) is weird, also loud, and also obnoxious. So far, he's very much like Kanji, except weirder. But in a good way. He's also one of my more favored characters, since he's more realistic too.
Also, whoever wrote the script must really hate women. Or not think well of them, at least.
Because we have the clingy co-dependent girlfriend, the crazy woman who tried to kill a little boy, the stepmother that's taking revenge on a teenage boy through sex, clingy girlfriend's overprotective friend, batshit crazy "witch" dorm supervisor... Yeah. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been real positive portrayal of women so far.
Despite the many negative criticisms I have for this show, I'm probably going to keep watching it a bit longer. After all, it was only the first episode. That, and I love Hina. And Touma. And I really want to see them in the same show.
This scene killed me:
Hina. In a frilly apron. I rest my case.