Rebound - a unique romantic comedy

Plot :

Nobuko is a successful journalist working for the top women magazine "Eden". However she has a very humiliating secret. In reality, Nobuko has been fat for most of her life and she barely managed to loose weight thanks to an exceptionally good nutritionist. Nobuko has always loved cakes and she was warned by her doctor that if she ever tastes a cake again her will will definitely be broken.
Nobuko's boss sends her to a cake shop to make an article about it and she discovers that it's the same cake shop where she tasted her very first cake. The owner is now the son of the previous owner, but Nobuko isn't impressed by his sweets. She writes a harsh article that practically destroys the shop's reputation. Now, driven by guilt, she lets the owner convince her to test the cakes he makes until he manages to make them delicious enough to rebuilt his reputation. But what happens if Nokubo's weight rebounds?

Cast:

The main characters are superbly portrayed by the same actors who played the main roles in Absolute Boyfriend : Aibu Saki and Hayami Mokomichi. To be honest, I hate Nobuko's way of speaking (she's almost screaming all the time and she's overly excited), however, I cannot deny that Aibu Saki did an extraordinary work in portraying this character. Not only did she have to wear a special costume and make-up in order to look fat, but she also depicted the main character's feelings' perfectly. Hayami Mokomichi is a great partner that complements Aibu-san's acting entirely and I'm sure that, as the drama progresses, we will see his skills more and more clearly.

Personal Opinion:

I've been a fatty for over a year now due to some very troublesome health problems so I can tell you for sure that this drama hit very close to home for me. Maybe this is why, I've had quite mixed feeling about it from the very first episode. Half of me was thinking "God, I don't wanna see that cause I'll surely get depressed!!", while the other half kept pushing me "Come on, it's high time you took your weight a little less seriously..." Well, in the end, I decided I had to see at least one episode.And I didn't make the wrong choice.
Rebound is a fresh and original romantic comedy, approaching a very realistic and sensitive subject : weight. Weight is, after all, the thing we most worry about when dealing with the opposite sex. This drama portrays the pain and effort fat people go through in order to form a relationship, but in a humorous and cute way. The characters' feelings really get to you and make you question what a relationship is all about. Don't they seem to take weight a little bit too seriously? What exactly do we love about the person we're in a relationship with? What really makes our heart skip a beat when we are close to the one we love? This are questions that come naturally to mind whilst watching this drama's plot develop. As a result, this show is, in my opinion, a very good opportunity to  get to know ourselves better and have fun throughout the process.
I truly recommend it!

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How to date an otaku girl

Prompted by a very nice post from Aigoo Aigoo blog - which I take the opportunity to thank for all the great recommendations, I decided to watch this cute romantic comedy. This is my humble "review".

Plot: 

Hinata is in love with his ex-co-worker, Yoriko. He asks her out and she accepts, even though she confesses that she is a fujoshi. Hinata doesn't actually knows what a "fujoshi" is, but he reassures her that he'll love her no matter what. Only later does he find out that fujoshi are girls obsessed with BL (boys love).

Cast:

The main characters are played by two adorable actors: Daito Shunsuke, who has acted in a very large array of tv shows and movies,  and Wakana Matsumoto. Although, I have to admit that I was completely enraptured by the handsome Furukawa Yuta who played the role of Hinata's best friend. Total eyecandy!

Personal opinion:

Here comes the hard part.
Since we've reached this part, I'm gonna be completely honest with you and make a confession: Watashi wa fujoshi desu! Yes, I'm a total yaoi addict! I read at least 5 gay romance novels a week (which is probably why I update this blog so rarely), my pc is full of shounen-ai and yaoi manga and my ideal man is one who'd be willing to ride a ***** for my sake  So, you see, I can't help but being a little biased because I totally found myself targeted by this movie's plot. I truly expected the whole plot to be centered on yaoi and totally drooled at the thought of seeing lots of otakuish scenes. 
It turns out this movie is simply a love story. The main character is a fujoshi and because of that, like all of us fujoshi out there, she's scared that her love interest will consider her a freak. However, it turns out that the guy doesn't give a damn about her weird hobbies. All, in all, this is just a romantic comedy. The main female character just happens to be a fujoshi, but this has no real consequences on the love story itself, expect for a bit of anxiety form her part.

Nonetheless, I did find this film cute. There were a lot of scenes that made me go all "Aww! Kawaii!!! I want a boyfriend like that!" -no, scratch that, I want A BOYFRIEND, no matter how he is- and there were also a lot of scenes that made me laugh out loud like, for example, the scene in which the guy, who was so influenced by his girlfriend's hobbies that he began seeing yaoi scenarios everywhere around, sips calmly from his glass of water while watching two men dressed in Santa Clause and his reindeer and imagines a possible kinky dialogue between them (the best scene in the whole movie! In my humble opinion, the film's worth watching just for that; yoi fangirls will definitely appreciate the humour).
As a result, I couldn't say that I was disappointed. Not at all. But I would have definitely appreciated more otaku scenes. I can say for sure, even though I didn't read it, that the manga is at least 3 times better.
All in all, if you're looking for a cute, sweet and light romantic comedy, I'm sure "How to date an otaku girl" will suite your tastes just fine.

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LADY - Saigo no Hanzai Profile: another amazing police drama

Plot:

The plot focuses around a team of profilers that was recently formed in a Japanese police department. Having to face the prejudice of the investigators and being continuously mocked and offended by the department chief, Shoko, Keisuke, Marie, Takehiko and their team leader Yuki, must also learn how to work as a team in order to bring the best out of their abillities. Despite all the hard work, the five profilers always manage to catch the  murderers.

Cast:

In terms of cast, there is no doubt that this drama is a top notch production. Starting with the main character, who's brought to us by the beautiful Kitagawa Keiko, and ending with the investigators from the police department, this drama is full of many well known and talented actors. My favourites are, of course, the two male protagonists Kaname Jun and Hiraoka Yuta, both of whom I've followed for a very long time, even though they've only recently started to be more successful, which I'm very glad of.

In other words, a superb distribution which is guaranteed to offer you the biggest enjoyment.

Personal Opinion:

Personally, I love all kinds of police dramas, so I suppose my opinion is very subjective. What I really loved about this drama is the fact that the murder cases are very interesting and the use of technology, even though it's quite often featured in the series, isn't the main protagonist. Take, for example, the American TV shows like CSI: New York (which I really love actually) or Ciminal Minds. They use so many laboratory techniques! That in itself shows that the plot isn't really good after all; if we take al the technicalities out of the picture, the cases aren't that interesting any more, are they? In this dorama, on the contrary, the plot is purely focused on the cases and, at the most, you will see  a bit of computer work. The viewer is not overwhelmed with technical information and, yet, the murder cases are still quite interesting.

Usually there aren't many tv series featuring profilers (which reminds me of Criminal Minds again...). Somehow it's really interesting to see how psychological knowledge is put into action. I don't know if real profilers are that accurate, but I must admit I was truly impressed by profilers thanks to this series.

However I must admit that this drama, ever since the beginning, left be with a slight bitter taste. In what way? Well, it reminds me too much of American police TV shows where the policemen are heroes and the murderers target them and they are all geniuses who can catch any delinquent. This is just too unrealistic and cliché. I don't want to see something so Americanized! I want a Japanese drama!

Well, despite all this, I still think it's a show worth watching.

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GOONG MANHWA REVIEW

Synopsis:

The action in this manhwa takes place in a fictional Korea where the country is ruled by the monarchy. The main character is a lively and innocent girl by the name of Shin Chae-Gyung, who lives a normal and careless life as a mediocre student coming form a common family. One day, she hers the handsome prince Lee Shin, who goes to the same school as her, propose to a girl and being coldly rejected.  That same day, Chae-Gyung receives a mind-boggling  news: she is to be married to the crown prince as a result of a promise between her grandfather and the former king, who had been best friends. In order to help her family's financial situation, Chae-Gyung decides to go along with the marriage.

Personal opinion:

        I was extremely excited to start reading this manhwa, especially due to the superb art that drew my attention immediately. the artist has an incredible talent, particularly concerning drawing of individuals and portraits, apparel, but also some very nice backgrounds.

        I was expecting a funny and light story and I wasn't really disappointed at the beginning and kept thinking it will get better the more I read it. 

Indeed, the story doesn't lack cute characters and a very well developed romance plot. Actually, in comparison to the Korean live-action inspired from it, the manhwa concentrates a lot on the developing feelings between the characters. The "change of heart" the main male character has by falling in love with another girl doesn't seem forced like it seemed in the drama. On the contrary, his feeling develop slowly and grow little by little until he realizes he is indeed in love. His confession also takes place much later after he discovers his own feelings making al seem more plausible, more life-like.

       However, while comparing the positive points with the negative ones, I realized that the negative aspects are far more numerous.

       Firstly, the usual cliché: the love triangle. What is it with Koreans and love triangles? I admit, love triangles sometimes  add a "juicy" detail to the whole plot, but sometimes they just make it annoying and I think this is the case here. I really don't understand why in every manhwa there are always two people that want to get between the two main characters - a guy, usually nice and kind-hearted (in this case, his nice personality is mostly just a façade though) who is in love with the main female lead and a girl, who's usually very b****y, that madly and obsessively loves the main male character and does anything to attract his attention and to break him up with the one he loves. The main girl  never ends up with the nice guy, but chooses the cold, cool and tough guy. Always.Whilst the girl who wants the cool guy ends up meeting someone who understands her and woos her continuously until all of a sudden  she realized she has fallen in love with him.     

       Secondly, I really don't understand the humour. I am a huge fan of humour and Asian humour really is one of the best I've ever seen, but this manhwa is really not suited for humour, which is why every time I encounter a funny scene, instead of  making me laugh it just leaves me dumbfounded, because it has no place in the whole plot. Not to mention that most funny scenes are just grossing me out cause they're mostly if not entirely based on the character of a perverted eunuch. So, the humour didn't do it for me either.

        Last but not least, what really put me off was the tragedy. Honestly, I have nothing against realistic plots and this plot was quite realistic; yes, politic schemes are known to exist in every monarchy, and, truthfully, everyone knows nobles and the members of royalty have marriages of convenience, but were so many tearjerker scenes necessary?! If the author truly wanted to be realistic then she could have invented dozens of ways to get the main characters out of lamentable situations. But in truth, those occurrences were actually an excuse to torture the readers and prolong the plot, transforming it into an authentic soap-opera. In truth, this is also something typical for the Korean authors. Most tend to make tearjerker plots that remind me of the Spanish "telenovelas". And sadly, I have to admit that I can't stop reading it because I kept thinking "damn, I got so far! I can't give up now!". I feel so cheated! 

         In conclusion, I'd like to say that I'm a very strict and picky person. Although this review sounded like a total negative advertisement, I'm sure many of you would still like Goong very much. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to insult the author, nor am I trying to offend Goong fans. I'm just being honest and say my truthful opinion. It's a personal opinion, therefore it is also subjective.So, instead of wondering whether you should read it or not, at least try browsing through a few pages. It may turn out to be your type of story. 

       Enjoy your read, everyone!

       

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1/2 Prince Novel - a pleasant surprise

    Lately I've been busy reading manga and I've stumbled upon 1/2 Prince, a manhua (the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese manga) about computer gaming. The synopsis is mainly like this: in the year 2100, the creators of computer games have discovered a way to make gaming even more realistic then it already was. Thus, Second Life was born - a computer game with 99% realism rate. The main character of the story is a girl named Feng Lan who, after having a fight with her brother regarding her gaming methods (meaning, her brother accused her of using male players to level-up), decided to start playing Second Life and use her own power to level-up thus proving to her brother that she is capable of doing so without anyone's help. However, Feng Lan enters the game 5 minutes prior to its official release worldwide and the creators of the game decide to offer her anything she wants as a prize for being the first Second Life player ever. Instead of choosing a rare item or something else, Feng Lan requests to become a male in the game. She is given permission and so the adventure of the worrior elf Prince (Feng Lan's Second Life identity) begins.

     After struggling for quite a few times to read the first chapters of the manhua, I finally got into it and , eventually, I found out about the existence of a novel. The manhua was actually inspired by the novel, but I didn't expect much form it, thinking that the manhua was probably more interesting. No such thing! Just like in the manhua's case, the result was pleasantly surprising. The novel sucked me in from the very first chapter and, even though the manhua is 100% loyal to the novel's plot, I felt that the novel is 10 times better!

       1/2 Prince novel is written by Yu Wo, an author that was unknown to me until now. Yu Wo's style is absolutely breathtakingly humorous and fresh, her characters seem to have a life of their own and the reader slowly starts understanding them and loving them  more and more as the story progresses.
      The best part is that, in comparison to the manhua, the novel is, undoubtedly, more complex, the humour has a unique feeling to it and is far more developed then in the manhua, where you miss many of the hinted funny moments. And, let me add, if you haven't already figured it out, humour is an extremely important part of the series. It may actually be the fundamental part.
      Another plus of this great novel is the way the main character was built. Unlike the majority of female characters we see in manga, Feng Lan is a very strong character with a unique personality. Though not a tomboy, she appears to be very kin on fighting in the virtual life and she is so passionate about it that she even ends up earning the title of Blood Elf. In real life, Feng Lan is a girl like any other and she never resorts to physical violence (the most she can do is threaten her brother with not feeding him) and her love for blood in the gaming world derives form a very simplistic thing: her passion for cooking. Every time Prince sees a game monster he (she) imagines chopping him like she does when cooking dinner. As a result, Prince is never afraid of monsters. All he has to do is chop them, after all. Interesting person, right?
     And last but not least, because I kept the best part for the end, is the romance. Yes, incredible, but true: this story not only has fighting, adventure and virtual reality involved, but also a steamy romance plot. Since Prince is the most handsome player in Second Life, romance would actually be unavoidable, but what is he to do when Wicked, a talented elf warrior, turns out to be Feng Lan childhood friend who has loved her for 8 years and finds out Prince's true identity? Moreover, Prince's greatest admirer, the demon bard Gui, who tricked Prince into thinking he was gay, ends up falling in love with him, but he turns out to be Feng Lan's literature professor. In the end, Prince suffers a "terrible fate" as more and more people who know "him" in real life, find out who he really is and he's forced to beg them all to keep the secret. The question that keeps nagging me though is: will Feng Lan be forced to choose between Wicked and Gui? Well, I think we'll have to keep on reading to find that out, though I have my suspicions...      
      In conclusion, I wholeheartedly recommend this very original and funny novel. You can read the novel online for free, translated with the author's permission by the team Prince Revolution!, who are doing a wonderful job translating this project. Go to their website
     The team also translates the novel "The Legend of Sun Knight" written by the same author, which is an exceptional read as well and I'll probably write about it in the future.
      I look forward to this group's future projects.

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