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)

Yankee-kun to Megane-chan

I know, I know. You're thinking, yet again, how has she had time to watch another whole series when she should be super busy with NaNoWriMo? Well, I'm going to do exactly what I did last time with Ikemen Desu Ne, and just ignore the issue. ^^

I'll be honest, this series didn't keep me particularly hooked. I more watched it as light relief between writing and or avoiding doing actual work than I did because I was desperate to see the next episode. This is not to say I didn't enjoy it though. It was amusing and the characters were fun, as well as having enough action to keep it entertaining.

The story focused mainly on high school student Shinagawa, who was constantly targeted and coerced into fights by delinquents, who are known as Yankees, because he cannot be beaten, even though he actually wants to study hard in school to become a doctor. On the first day of school, he meets Hana, a girl with plaits and glasses who acts like a stereotype school girl, but is in fact trying to turn over a new leaf from her Yankee days in middle school, when she was the famed Hurricane Ada. The plot of the series is mostly about Hana trying to make Shinagawa join in with their class mates to enjoy their school lives together, with a little bit of random fighting thrown in here and there to add a bit on tension.

It was a good series, and having just watched the last episode, I was nearly in tears and laughing out loud throughout, so that's always a good sign. I particularly enjoyed the 'this development ...' moments, when Shinagawa was expecting Hana to confess to him when she wasn't. To be honest, Hana was to stupid to realise whether she liked him or not, and Shinagawa was majorly hung up over a girl who had lent him a pen at the entrance exams without even realising it was Hana all along. Basically, they are both stupid. I have to admit though, that whenever Hana went into a fight, I always half expected her to pull out her plaits and take off her glasses Gokusen style, not that she ever did. Also, I constantly got distracted by how Shinagawa actually had the mouth of a cat.

From Google. Hana being Hana, resorting to childish means to get Shinagawa to do what she wants. I wish you could see his cat mouth, but I couldn't find any decent pictures of it.

Shinagawa was in Gokusen and Tokyo Dogs, not that I can recall him in the latter, but that he was in Gokusen means he must be like late 20's and still playing high school students, so that's a little concerning. Hana's best friend and somwhat less reformed Yankee, Rinka, was also in Tokyo Dogs, again I have no idea as who, but was Haruhi in Ouran High School Host Club. Shinagawa's hot best friend was in Tokyo Dogs, Mei-chan no Shitsuji and original Hana Kimi.

Next on my list is 1 Litre of Tears, which is a a drama I have been hearing about for a long time as one that will make the title come true. I think I'm going to have to wait to start this one until NaNo is over and I have finished my short, because if its anything like Koizora, its best if I'm not around people for a while. 

Also, if I remember correctly, along with Nobuta wo Produce, it is SuJu's Heechul's favourite drama ^^ ....oh Heenim, I miss you.

ANYWAY, after this drama I only have one film and one drama until I have made my way through all the japanese dramas on dramacrazy.net's top 50. Then to go back and watch the other Asian ones, including different language versions of most of what I've already watched ... XD

<3 x

Drama: 1 Litre of Tears 1

Manga: Same

NaNoWriMo backlog: 6305 words (catching up! Wrote 5.5k today, hence finishing YankeeMegane treat ^^)

Ikemen Desu Ne

Right, I know what you're thinking.

'How could Heather possibly be doing her review post of this new show she only started last week when it is NaNoWriMo? Surely she is far too busy WRITING 50 000 WORDS IN A MONTH to be spending all her time watching J dramas?'

ahem... so anyway ....

This show didn't make me nearly so ranty as I was afraid it would, and I managed to contain all afore mentioned rantyness to the edits of one post. That it not to say I wasn't practically screaming in annoyance to Mio's lack of recognition of Shu throughout the whole thing. I also nearly cried when she turned down lovable Yuki, even though it was super funny how he was all conflicted thinking he was in love with a boy, while Shu and Ren knew she was a girl pretty much straight away. But for the most part, it was really good fun and I even found myself cheering for Mio and Ren by the end.

I just love the comedy of these dramas. Obviously there were loads of things that could go wrong with a former nun taking her brothers place in a top idol pop group while he recovered in hospital, although literally everyone falling in love with her just because she is the only girl in the vicinity, no matter whether they realised it or not, is a little annoyingly unrealistic.

The manager of the group always came out with odd phrases in English, normally just bits like 'hurry up' or 'wonderful', but in the first episode, a minor problem had cropped up. Everyone else was like 'oh bother' while he stood up and screamed out 'HOLY SHIT', which amused me greatly. Obviously there was the whole falling on to the guy's lips, which was conversely followed up with vomiting into his mouth, which was new. Lots of dramatic hugging and barbie kisses too, which always amuses me.

Haven't had a picture for a while ...

From Google. Look how jealous they all are! Ren sitting on the left, Shu standing up at the back, Yuki standing up on the right, and Mio looking idiotic in the middle. The guy with his arm around her was in the Korean version, I think, playing Ren's character.

The only thing that really bothered me, other than the whole Shu thing, which I'm not going to go into it, I'm not going to say how lovely he was and how he took her on a telephone date and brought her loads but she didnt even know he was there, or how when he was telling her about the girl she liked, she was so heartbreakingly clueless that he was talking about her, and how he cried when she turned him down... where was I? Oh yeah, the thing that bothered me was the lack of relationship between Miko 'Mio' and the real Mio, her brother. Mio was supposed to get into showbiz for his sister, so they could meet their mother, who ended up long dead, and while we saw the conflict this gave Miko 'Mio', as far as we are aware, real Mio never saw his sister to hear the story. Obviously, they were the same actor so that was probably why, although it was impressive how much more manly they made real Mio, but it just didn't make sense to me that they were 'so close' and yet never bothered to see each other. Also, for a show with Ikemen in the title, basically meaning handsome guys, I didn't really notice that many hot men. Sure, Shu and Yuki were cute after you got over the fact that they were a little too pretty, and Ren looked much better when his hair was natural, but there was a distinct lack of hot manly guys. Throw in a Yamapi and it would have been much more agreeable.*

Connections. Ren was in the Gokusen movie, so there's the Gokusen link even though I haven't seen it yet. Jealous Nana who constantly threatened to reveal Mio's identity was also in Mei-chan no Shitsugi and Gokusen 3. Ren's Mum was in the original Hana Kimi special, although I have no idea as who. Wow, not very many connections here, although I didn't really recognise anyone, so that makes sense.

Now I'm back on my list after that little backtrack and next up is Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, something along the line of bad girl goes good and good guy goes bad, so that should be fun.

<3x

Drama: Yankee-kun to Megane-chan 1
Manga: Hana Kimi 57 / Love so Life 7
NaNoWriMo backlog: 10 128 words (damn it, and I was catching up!)



*I was wikipedia-ing Yamapi (Yamashita Tomohisa of Nobuta wo Produce, Kurosagi, and Buzzer Beat who happens to be rather hot) when I found some photos not leaving much to the imagination. I think I nearly got a nose bleed.

P.S. In other news, I downloaded Super Junior's Super Show 3 album last night, and on the track names, the solo's were in hangul, which obviously I cannot read.. I correctly identified everyone by just the sound of their voice ^^. I'm so cool.

Gokusen II & Ouran High School Host Club

Woah. I haven't done a review post since July. That means its taken me just over three months to watch Gokusen II. The series I watched before Gokusen II, Buzzer Beat, took me a week to complete.

Its not that I didn't enjoy it, it just didn't keep me hooked. To be honest, it was all a bit same-y. Not just within the series, but to the previous series too. Class gets in to trouble, Yankumi saves them and in the process teaches them to be better human beings. They all graduate together even though every single one of them has been expelled and reinstated numerous times.

I still really enjoy the subtleties of the series though. Its so hard to explain unless you see it for yourself, but some things make you laugh out loud even though they are only hinted at or sometimes even totally ignored, and it is this that makes the repetitiveness worth it. Such as the Yakuza henchmen suddenly flaring up in anger at something that has been said against Yankumi, acting all tough and scary, and then retreating passively just as suddenly after a single look. Like I said, you need to see it really to understand. Its just constantly amusing. Another point about Gokusen is that in comparison to the other series I have watched, its just so old. It was aired in 2005 or something like that, so everything just looks a little dated now, especially the 'rebel' look of class 3D.

Obviously, some of the cast were in the first series, so there's your Gokusen link. One of the main guys, Ryu was in Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge and Nobuta wo Produce. His friend, Tsuchiya, was Night the human robot who broke my heart in Zettai Kareshi. Apparently Shiratori-sensei was in Kimi wa Petto, but I can't place her, neither can I remember Baba-sensei in Tokyo Dogs, although it explains why he looked so familiar.

I also had been watching Ouran High School Host Club and Hana Kimi Remake on a weekly basis, and both have now finished, although the last two episodes of Hana Kimi are still being subbed, so I'll review that when I have actually seen all of it. Although, just as a taster, my impressions of it improved greatly after the first episode. But as for Ouran, loved it. So similar to the anime, and just as over the top, but it didn't ruin it. I just really enjoyed it. Similar to so many of the other J-drama's, it was easy to watch and enjoyable, but didn't stick with me enough to make me watch it again, probably.

It's about a poor scholarship student, Haruhi, who accidentally knocks over a vase and is forced to pay off her debt by working in the school's host club, even though she is a girl. The plot mostly focus' on her relationship with the rest of the club, especially Tamaki, the club's Prince that is clearly in love with her but refuses to admit it, instead pretending to be a father figure.

Yeah, I agree, that's a bit weird. Especially when he also refers to his best friend as 'Mother' and the rest of the Club as Haruhi's brothers. He did have family issues though. Everyone in J-drama's have family issues.

Haruhi was apparently in Tokyo Dogs. Tamaki was in Hana Kimi and Atashinchi no Danshi. 'Mother' Kyoya was apparently also in Hana Kimi and Nobuta. Mori was apparently in Zettai Kareshi, and Hikaru and Karou were in Mei-chan. I can't be bothered to look anyone else up right now.


Next is Ikemen Desu Ne. I'm skipping back the list a bit, because this one came in and jumped the charts even though its only just finished airing. Its a remake of a Korean drama, and I know Ikemen basically means hot men in Japanese, so I'm very hopeful that I'll enjoy this.

I have just realised the time. Its taken me an hour and a half to write this, and its not even like I don't have to get up. I just missed blogging, and having finished Gokusen yesterday, this seemed like a good excuse. I know no one gives a crap, but I like documenting what I've been watching, so suck it.

<3 x

Drama: Ikemen Desu Ne ep 1
Manga: Hana Kimi ch 57 / Love so Life ch 7