Tumbling

Firstly, I just want to say Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and Happy Holidays to everyone else. My family have gone to the pub for Christmas Eve drinks, (or rather, my sister and her partner have gone out for drinks and my dad tagged along) so while my mum was in the bath and everyone else out, I thought I would watch the final episode of Tumbling.

I remember quite vividly my first impressions of this drama.

Literally, 'Hiro's voice *fangirls* ... wait ... what are those men doing on that mat ...hold on ... I'm watching a drama about MALE GYMNASTICS?'.

 From Google. Dear God, it looks like June of Camp Calendar 2011. Campest pose award goes to Nippori on the far right.

I don't know why I didn't get it from the title, but yes, this drama was all about the world of competitive high school boys gymnastics, and surprisingly, it was far from lame.

The plot focuses on a high school boys gymnastics club who is constantly over looked in favour of their female counterparts. The team is lacking in numbers, with only 4, where there are supposed to be 6, until the leader of the school bad boys, Azuma, is forced to join to make up for his low marks and allow him to graduate. At first, he finds it lame and pointless, as you can imagine, but gradually he gets hooked and it becomes his passion. One by one, Azuma helps the members of the club through their various problems, gaining more members as the series progresses, until they get to a competitive level. Then, they are sabotaged by one of Azuma's old friends, who obviously and understandably finds it hard to comprehend why the most feared and respected boy in not only the school, but the whole region, has given up everything to prance around in a leotard with other boys in skin tight clothes.

I'm not going to lie, I was dubious when I figured out what this drama was about, but the cast soon peaked my interest, a lot of whom were recognisable to me, and then it wasn't long before the plot got me hooked too. As with Buzzer Beat, another sports-centred drama, there were a lot of bath scenes, which were nowhere near as fun with a load of scrawny boys as they were with strong, hot, young men. The theme was strong and consistent; never give up on your friends, no matter what, which was lovely and a nice change from the romantic crap that normally seeps in somewhere or another. Sure, it got a bit repetitive, there was a few too many tears for an almost entirely male cast, and I cant say I thought much of the recaps mid-climax every episode, but it was fun and I enjoyed seeing the characters develop, especially all the yankees (delinquents) into fully fledged gymnasts.

Yuta, the team captain, was Hiro in Koizora and Satoru in Atashinchi no Danshi. Azuma was Tamaki in Ouran High School Host Club, Masaru in Atashinchi no Danshi and Kayashima in Hana Kimi. Ryosuke one of Azuma's followers, was Nozumu in Koizora and Nakatsu in Hana Kimi Remake, and well as being in Gokusen 3. Mizushima, old school tumbler who fell in love with Kiyama, was Kayashima in Hana Kimi Remake, and Samurai High School, as was Nippori, another yankee in a leotard. Kiyama, another bad boy turned gymnast, was in Ouran, Hana Kimi and Nobuta wo Produce, Satoshi, one of the old school tumblers, was in Hana Yori Dango 2, Shoko-sensei was in Zettai Kareshi, and Azuma's mum was in Tokyo Dogs and Kurosagi.

So, basically, it was something a bit different and I enjoyed it, although the one thing that this drama has left me with is a strong desire to try Omelet Rice, as they ate it A LOT.

So that its for Japanese drama's for a while! I'm excited, but I also feel a little sad; I really like picking up on bits of language through watching J-drama, but maybe I'll start to pick up Korean and Chinese. Anyway, back to #1 on dramacrazy.net's most popular list, so next up is You're Beautiful, the Korean version of Ikemen Desu Ne. I'm intrigued to how the two will compare ^^.

Yosh, that's it for tonight. Its now Christmas Day, my family have staggered in and flopped straight to bed, so I best follow suit, big day ahead and all that.

Or I may just watch You're Beautiful ...

<3 x

Kimi Ni Todoke

I feel bad for writing another review post when I only wrote one yesterday, but it was just a film, and obviously films don't take as long as a series to watch, so I'm forgiven, right?

Unless you are talking about High School Musical 3, that took me three days to watch. Too. Much. Cheese. I could only handle 30 mins at a time. But I digress.

Yeah, this film was enjoyable, if not predictable. It was sort of like Nobuta Wo Produce and a lot like countless mangas. It was exactly as I had predicted yesterday; super shy misunderstood girl meets super hot popular guy, she comes out of her shell and makes friends, he falls for her, she falls for him but doesn't understand what that means, they get together and live happily ever after. Sure, it was sweet and the characters were fun and it was very easy to watch, but the fact that I turned it off half way through in favour of sleep proves that it was nothing amazing. Normally, I choose what I'm watching over sleep without even thinking about it, and then watch another couple of episodes afterwards.

Also, I was a little freaked out by how the main guy smiled all the time. Like literally, he walked around smiling, looked out of windows smiling, sat down at his desk smiling, probably even smiled in his sleep. Yes, yes, I know, he was deeply in love and that makes you happy or whatever, but it was freaky. The only thing that made up for it was that I was just so happy that he was alive (this will make sense in the connections).

I have literally nothing else to say. Normally I can get at least three paragraphs out about the plot and my opinions, but I've said everything there is to share. I think this post sounds really negative. Its not, I really enjoyed it, and I'm pretty sure I was smiling the whole way through. I guess these days I am not so easily fooled into thinking a drama or film is awesome just because it is Japanese, as well knowing that it is the same plots being recycled over and over in subtly different ways. Also, this was listed at #47 I think, so obviously I cant expect it to be as good as the ones in the top #20.

The main guy, Kazehaya, was HIRO <3 in Koizora, as well as Kotaro in Samurai High School, and Gokusen 3, which I still haven't seen. The main girl, Kuronuma, is set to be Nao Kazaki in the new Liar Game (why do they recast the same character? Just get a new character). Yano, one of the girls to first befriend Kuronuma, was in Nobuta Wo Produce, but I have no idea as who, even though she seems to be a major character (it was a long time ago now).

Next, and last of Japanese media for a while, is Tumbling. I know nothing about this drama and unlike most others, I havent come across it anywhere else, but its #50, so here goes.

<3x

1 Litre of Tears

I had promised myself that I wasn't going to watch this drama until after I had finished NaNoWriMo and the short, but apparently I can't go for more than a few days without watching something Japanese, so I was about a quarter way through by the time NaNo was over and half way by the time I had finished the short. None the less, I finished NaNo (yay! 7500 words on the last day) and the short (45 hours work, not including the 6 hours it took to get there and back, in 3 days.) and have just watched the last two episodes and a somewhat pointless special today.

My expectations of this drama were that I would literally cry 1 Litre of Tears, as the title suggests. I probably did, although only in the last episode. Sure, the whole thing was super sad, and I did feel my eyes prickle a fair few times, but no tears until the end.

 The real Aya. You can see the determination that kept her strong in every inch of this photo.

Asou and Aya. From Google.

 

1 Litre of Tears is based on the true story of Aya, a young girl who, at 15, suddenly starts falling over for no reason, and discovers that she has a rare condition called spinocerebellar degeneration. Basically, one by one, she will lose the ability to talk and move freely, until she is even unable to eat without choking. Imprisoned in her own body, her mind is still completely her own, and Aya has no choice but to watch as the disease slowly robs her of her freedom. The idea of having to go through something like that is truly horrifying, but the story focuses on Aya's optimism and the strength of her family and friends, how she fought on to stay at school, to keep walking until it was utterly impossible; the whole time documenting her thoughts in a dairy that was published before her death at the age of 25.

Obviously there was a couple of romantic interests that I am not sure actually existed for the real Aya, but it is an Asian drama after all. Asou was Aya's main pillar of strength through out her illness, and even became a doctor to try and cure her (also, he was hot, almost as hot as Aya's doctor).

Yes, it was sad, and yes, I pitied her, especially when you are constantly reminded how this is a true story by photos of the real Aya over the closing credits, but it just didn't make me as heartbroken as I had expected, nor as hooked. I was quite content to only watch an episode every few days, instead spending most of my time watching Shinee's Hello Baby instead. Maybe I have just been in a mood to be cheered up rather than needing the opportunity to cry. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful story, well shot and very touching.

I was very concerned that there wasn't going to be any connections, not even a Gokusen link.
BUT FEAR NOT.
I don't know who any of them are in the other shows, but Kawamoto, the douche that broke Aya's heart because she was ill, was in Gokusen, Asou's friend Kouhei was in Gokusen 2, Nakahara, another of Asou's friends, was in Nodame Cantabile, Hot Doctor Mikuno was in the Hana Yori Dango movie and Nishino-sensei was in Ouran High School Host Club.

Next is the Kimi ni Todoke movie. I know this is a hugely popular manga and anime, but I cant say that I have ever been particularly bothered to read or watch it. I think its just a love story about a shy geeky girl and a super popular hot boy, nothing that hasn't been done a million times before.

<3x

Drama: Kimi ni Todoke
Manga: Same (not reading much, other than keeping up to date with new chapters of ongoing manga)