Love Shuffle: the end. My arguably favorite jdrama of all time comes to an end.

[dangermousie]

"I will protect you forever. Or something like that."

The rest of this post is brought to you by dangermousie's ghost.

You have no idea how hard it was to find a nonspoilery cap for above the cut.

Comments

[fivil]

Dude I hate love hate love your obsessive screencapping of some scenes. The Ojiro/Kairi birthday one made me tear up, just scrolling through it. That's insane of me! But so touching. I didn't remember that scene was so perfect.

The evolution of Kei's character was really great. From an office worker who didn't know or care for his job (except about having one) to a person inspired to rant about random things to a fledgling politician. :)

The thing with Yukki is the only thing I wish they'd done a little differently in the last episode. But it's not terrible, and I guess Mei's constant undecidedness wouldn't have made sense to suddenly turn out all "No wait, I do like this guy better". And company take-overs are Yukki's specialty. LOL.

So glad you enjoyed it so much. Now I wish I'd not deleted my episodes but had burnt them on a DVD instead to space space on my computer. Boo. :(

[dangermousie]

I didn't remember that scene was so perfect.

This is going to sound sappy but I think it's my favorite drama scene from this year. Just -- it made me think a bit of that scene in Mars where Ling and QiLuo talk on the beach after the reveal, only this is *gasp* even more awesome.

I loved, btw, that she waited almost all day to try to kill herself - she clearly fought against killing herself very hard, to be able to hold out this long. Just ((()))

evolution of Kei's character was really great.

He just ended up being so amazing - I would have never thought after seeing him in ep 1 as a hilarious but useless neurotic. And they did say it was his sense of responsibility - but that's why he was unsuited with Mei - he was stifling himself to be with her, but Airu pushes him to do his best.

not terrible, and I guess Mei's constant undecidedness wouldn't have made sense to suddenly turn out all "No wait, I do like this guy betterYeah, Mei is a human yo-yo so even if at the end she told Yukki she'd date him, I'd assume she'd flake out a

[ambergold]

I am SO watching this(having skipped this entire post:)

[dangermousie]

I hope you like. Some of the OTP stuff (though it only really starts in ep 4 or so) is just...beyond incredible. There is this one scene in ep 10 which just made me melt in my seat like a chocolate on a hot day. Reminded me of Mars, a bit, too (the scene in question).

ETA

[dangermousie]

Plus, it's a romance smorgasbrod. There are 3 (!!!) OTPs. Two I love and one I am insane about.

[valkyriesailor]

As written before:
JAPANDA! XD

[dangermousie]

LOL. Indeed. I literally started laughing at that point.

[valkyriesailor]

Hahaha, I can image that clearly! XD
You know after your post, I just needed to re-watch the end again. You write as such a mood-maker! ^^

[mishane]

I want a panda stuffed animal.

The actress who plays Kairi is really beautiful and she had sizzling chemistry with Shota. Made me wonder how she and Tamaki ended up together.

[dangermousie]

I want a stuffed panda too. How Kairi-ish was it, though, to want the defective one? :)

Made me wonder how she and Tamaki ended up together.

Well, he did win her a panda. Seriously though - they are a couple, for real? Cool.

I have yet to see Shota not have chemistry with any of his costars.

[mishane]

Yep. They admitted it but I think they've broken up now. At least that's what Google told me a few minutes ago.

I was never a huge Shota fan. I'd only seen him in HYD. But after Love Shuffle, mmmm. Sexy hair, sexy sweatpants and actual kisses? My man.

(As much as I loved Kei/Airu, I HATED their kiss. Typical j-drama wet fish kiss.)

I'm glad you liked Love Shuffle. I didn't think it'd be your thing, but it's cool that you liked it.

[dangermousie]

I am so used to dead-fish kisses in jdramas *sigh* I don't even notice them any more (I still remember the behind-the-scenes from BOF kdrama and the director yelling at Lee Min Ho to close his mouth but to just hold it still - the actors seem to be instructed to make the kiss as awful as possible, who knows why).

I've liked Shota in Bara No Nai Hanaya (which is an awesome drama, he's a supporting character in it). He kept me going with Jotei for longer than I should have (which was a total of 2 eps) - now, that was a trainwreck.

[alexandral]

Hmm, I am tempted!!!!!!! Is this one of the dramas where the title doesn't have to do much with the story? This sounds so much like "Sex and the City" Japan to me!!!

[dangermousie]

It's not really SatC (which wasn't my thing).

It's basically about these 8 people who are all rather lost in their own ways (and some really damaged) finding their happiness and a connection with someone.

There is no partner-swap per se - none of the people are in relationships at the start and none of them fall serially in love with various people if it makes sense. They do all try to decide 'dating' each other but it's not real dating, more like trying to figure out how and what they like in other people - I am not explaining it really well, am I?

[alexandral]

Hee! It still does seem like one of these things I don't like in fiction - partner swapping is so NOT my thing but I am going to give it a try. Japanese dramas manage to make some things work that I otherwise HATE, like the main guy constantly hitting the main girl in "Nodame Contabile".

[dangermousie]

It's not swapping though (because that's what put me off this for so long) it's more like a dating/matchmaking service - you know, where you register and you go on dates with various people until you find a compatible one. When I think swapping, I think swingers which this ain't :)