I was right, Kou Kou Kyoushi is my type of drama.
I just finished Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003.
(BTW, if I say Takano, I mean Fujiki Naohito... And PLEASE refer to darkeyedwolf's pimp post, because it's what got me watching in the first place)
The tragedy, the angst, the taboos, the psychos, the redemption... It was perfect.
I was ridiculously sympathetic to ALL of the characters (I even felt bad for Yuji and Mami at the end), and really enjoyed the interactions between them.
Hina was lovely. A sweet, genuine girl. She seemed like the simplest character of all, but I beg to differ. She's the girl who always did the right thing. A girl who wanted one thing for herself, to live. To have one moment of rebellion, of breathing before she entered into a 'normal' life that would strangle her slowly. I can relate.
I also really like Beniko, the girl who used to be bullied, and who turned that sadness into bravado. But she was lonely, and tortured. She just wanted to be loved.
Koga was amazing. What he did was horrible, but in some ways I can understand why he did it. He was also intensely lonely. I have a feeling that when you're dying like that, moral boundaries become blurred. I'm sure I wouldn't love Koga nearly as much if anyone but Takano-san played him.
At first Fujimura creeped me out (as he should have, really), but as the show went one I started to really like him for the person he was trying to be. At the end, when he spoke about his dead fiancee, I couldn't hate him. At all. Despite all the horrible things he did. Because he repented.
Hina and Koga's relationship was amazing. It didn't matter that they were teacher and student. The age different didn't matter. All that mattered was that they needed each other, and that they loved each other. I always get melty when in jdramas, characters say "aishiteru", since I know how rare it is for the Japanese to use that phrase. I think I've heard it used twice in all the dramas I've watched.
Beniko and Fujimura's relationship was a surprise. I never expected it; a total pure love. So pure Fujimura gave up his life for her, yet knew he was too dirty to touch her. It was beautiful.
It was actually a lot less tragic that what I was expecting. And I like to think the drama ended happily. That Koga lived, happily, with Hina. Forever.
Also, the math was insanely sexy.
I watched about 1/3rd of this drama on my ipod (facilitated easy watching!), so I didn't bother to take a lot of screencaps. I did take a few, including the ones below.
Hiroki was awesome (really, AWESOME) as the totally insane Yuji. Yes, it was over the top, but do I care?
Hina and Koga. They were so perfect together. The flame, and Koga lighting it and blowing it out... so symbolic. Yes, it was extinguished, but it always came back.
There were an ungodly amount of mirrors in this drama. Obvious symbolism, of how Koga thought of Hina as his mirror image. There's more symbolism there, but my brain is tired right now.
When I saw this shot I laughed. Is that Tina Turner?! And I'm PRETTY sure that's Michael Jackson (80's style!) in the lower right.
So sweet I nearly died. Koga's clear board reminded me a lot of how in ISWAK, Zhi Shu used to write stuff on his windows. I want to do that. I want to be cool like Zhi Shu and Koga (except without all the emotional baggage, of course)!
Favorite shot. SO PRETTY.
Oh jdrama, break my heart why don't you?
You know, this means I'm going to have to watch the 1993 version. I already have the megaupload links...
And I AM going to get back to everyone eventually. I've read all the comments, but I'm not the best person at returning them. It'll happen tomorrow at the latest.
(BTW, if I say Takano, I mean Fujiki Naohito... And PLEASE refer to darkeyedwolf's pimp post, because it's what got me watching in the first place)
The tragedy, the angst, the taboos, the psychos, the redemption... It was perfect.
I was ridiculously sympathetic to ALL of the characters (I even felt bad for Yuji and Mami at the end), and really enjoyed the interactions between them.
Hina was lovely. A sweet, genuine girl. She seemed like the simplest character of all, but I beg to differ. She's the girl who always did the right thing. A girl who wanted one thing for herself, to live. To have one moment of rebellion, of breathing before she entered into a 'normal' life that would strangle her slowly. I can relate.
I also really like Beniko, the girl who used to be bullied, and who turned that sadness into bravado. But she was lonely, and tortured. She just wanted to be loved.
Koga was amazing. What he did was horrible, but in some ways I can understand why he did it. He was also intensely lonely. I have a feeling that when you're dying like that, moral boundaries become blurred. I'm sure I wouldn't love Koga nearly as much if anyone but Takano-san played him.
At first Fujimura creeped me out (as he should have, really), but as the show went one I started to really like him for the person he was trying to be. At the end, when he spoke about his dead fiancee, I couldn't hate him. At all. Despite all the horrible things he did. Because he repented.
Hina and Koga's relationship was amazing. It didn't matter that they were teacher and student. The age different didn't matter. All that mattered was that they needed each other, and that they loved each other. I always get melty when in jdramas, characters say "aishiteru", since I know how rare it is for the Japanese to use that phrase. I think I've heard it used twice in all the dramas I've watched.
Beniko and Fujimura's relationship was a surprise. I never expected it; a total pure love. So pure Fujimura gave up his life for her, yet knew he was too dirty to touch her. It was beautiful.
It was actually a lot less tragic that what I was expecting. And I like to think the drama ended happily. That Koga lived, happily, with Hina. Forever.
Also, the math was insanely sexy.
I watched about 1/3rd of this drama on my ipod (facilitated easy watching!), so I didn't bother to take a lot of screencaps. I did take a few, including the ones below.
Hiroki was awesome (really, AWESOME) as the totally insane Yuji. Yes, it was over the top, but do I care?
Hina and Koga. They were so perfect together. The flame, and Koga lighting it and blowing it out... so symbolic. Yes, it was extinguished, but it always came back.
There were an ungodly amount of mirrors in this drama. Obvious symbolism, of how Koga thought of Hina as his mirror image. There's more symbolism there, but my brain is tired right now.
When I saw this shot I laughed. Is that Tina Turner?! And I'm PRETTY sure that's Michael Jackson (80's style!) in the lower right.
So sweet I nearly died. Koga's clear board reminded me a lot of how in ISWAK, Zhi Shu used to write stuff on his windows. I want to do that. I want to be cool like Zhi Shu and Koga (except without all the emotional baggage, of course)!
Favorite shot. SO PRETTY.
Oh jdrama, break my heart why don't you?
You know, this means I'm going to have to watch the 1993 version. I already have the megaupload links...
And I AM going to get back to everyone eventually. I've read all the comments, but I'm not the best person at returning them. It'll happen tomorrow at the latest.