Ouran High School Host Club - live action

Hello everyone!
First of all, allow me to apologize for the huge lack of post. Whether anyone cares or not, I feel it is necessary to excuse myself as I had been going through a very important phase in my life  - the whole getting a degree mess. Well, now that all this crazy period is over, I can concentrate more on my blogs and getting some writing done.
Once again, thank you very much for following this blog and for being patient with me. Arigato!

Now, let's get back to business!

As probably most of you know, this summer season's drama list is flooded with much awaited arrivals of new live actions. One of those is Ouran High School Host Club, which is the live action of the very famous manga and anime bearing the same title.

Plot:
The plot of the drama is pretty simple - Haruhi, a very hardworking student gets a scholarship for an elite high school. One day, while searching for a quite place to study, she stumbles upon a music room, unaware of the fact that this was the location of the renowned Ouran host club. Accidentally, she brakes an expensive vase and the boys force her to work off her debt by becoming a host.
The drama is what is known amongst the anime fans as a "reverse harem" which basically means that one main female character is surrounded by many other male characters who usually end up falling in love with her ( if not all, at least most of them).

Acting:

The main roles are played by a very cute actress  - Kawaguchi Haruna, who also starred in Yankee-kun to Megane-chan and Tokyo Dogs-  and nice funny guy - Yamamoto Yusuke, whom we've known from other dramas too (personally, I remember him from Atashinchi no danshi). To be honest, I imagined the real life version of Tamaki as a much more handsome and cuter guy (an Akanishi Jin kind of guy maybe?), but his acting is cute enough to be forgiven. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's ugly, just...not the kind of Tamaki I envisioned.
As for the other actors, honestly, they're all so handsome it's hard to pick a favorite. Daito Shunsuke, who's playing Kyoya, is one such gorgeous example. Not only is he beautiful, but he's also very talented. Of course, it is hard to point that out with only 2 episodes of Ouran, but i remember being very impressed with his acting in LADY. I have no doubt that Ouran won't shed much light on his talent, but at least he's one piece of eyecandy that girls aren't allowed to miss.
The same goes for all the other actors: Nakamura Masaya, playing Mori-senpai is very handsome, though quite a new face in the acting industry and "Honey"-senpai is embodied by the cutest guy I've ever seen (only one year younger then me!? Mommy, I want to move to Japan!!!) by the name of Chiba Yudai, also a new face.
But the cutest thing of this drama is the pair of twins - Kaoru and Hikaru- who, guess what (?), are twins in real life (!) : Takagi Shinpei and Takagi Manpei. How adorable!

Personal opinion:

Honestly, what struck me most about this drama was not the drama itself, but the viewers' comments : "omg, I can't wait for more! I loved it!" kind of comments.
Well, I can wait for more. Actually, I'm not sure I really want more.
Yes, the actors are handsome and I love the anime so much! I could probably watch it my whole life on repeat actually - but I'm afraid I won't go that far, you know, just for the sake of my sanity. BUT, maybe due to the fact that I loved the anime that much, I can't keep feeling that this drama isn't living up to any of the fans' expectations. The episodes are too short. The action is quite slow and boring and too over the top, plus I can't see any chemistry between Haruhi and Tamaki.
As for the special visual effects -  which are indeed awesome visually speaking - they turned out to be quite a turn off for me. I mean, in an anime it's ok, but in the drama they're quite freaky... And I think they use them too much to cover up the... bad vibes ( or something?).
It just... doesn't raise to my expectations and with that I've said it all.
Of course, it's only been two episodes so I'm probably being too picky and subjective and things will probably get better, but, for the time being, until there are a few  more episodes added, I don't really recommend this drama, unless you only wnat to watch it for the guys.

That's it for today (hope no one will curse me for my negativism :P ). I'll be back soon!

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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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Help Japan

Hello everyone.
I was extremely taken aback by the devastating news regarding Japan's situation. For those of you who wish to help, here are some links where you can donate money:
Mercy corps
ABC news article


Lets prey for all Japanese to be safe. Go, go Japan!

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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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We are dating

U-Kiss fans, rejoice! MBC has just released the spin-off of the popular show "We got married". The show is called "We are dating". U-Kiss members Alexander, Eli and Soohyun are paired up with Girl's Day's Min Ah, Ji Hae and Yura for a period of 3 months. After watching 4 episodes I'm already hooked!

Thumbs up for MBC! 

Ps: Thanks everyone who commented on my previous posts and thank you so much for following! Hope you had a great winter holiday!

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Kuragehime - my favourite anime of this season's ongoing series

I realize it's been a long time since I last wrote something. Although I do love my blog, I find it hard to pick things worth writing about since I've always appreciated quality instead of quantity.
This week however, I seem to have found a new reason to write (except for the newly increased number of followers; wow! I have 6 followers!!! those guys with over 200 followers are probably laughing their heads off at me now or will- that is if they ever happen to stumble upon my tiny little blog. Nonetheless, I'm truly tankful to all those willing to follow my blog and maybe even browse a little through the contents. Arigato gozaimasu!). That reason just happens to be a truly unique anime called Kuragehime.
Surprisingly, I've never before wrote about anime, though they do have quite a big part in the birth of this huge mania of mine for everything Asian. However, truthfully speaking, I hardly find any good anime to watch these days.
My first anime was Sailor Moon ( well, maybe it wasn't quite the first, but it was the one series that really got me into the whole anime "business"). Though looking back at it, I find it a bit immature and sometimes way too sappy for my tastes, I still enjoy watching it. All throughout the years, I've desperately tried to get a hold of those nostalgic feelings that this anime brought me, the same excitement, the crazy flutter of the heart, the small butterflies in the stomach that I used to have when I was a little child. Of course I'm passed 20 now, but there were some anime that brught me close to that same excitement I was talking about earlier: Fullmetal Alchemist, Death note, Denno Coil, Special A, Kaichou wa Maid-sama, Darker than Black, Hunter x Hunter... which brings us to the topic of today's post.

Plot:

Kuraghime it's an anime inspired by the josei manga with the same title written by Akiko Higashimura (for those of you wondering, "kuragehime" literally means "jellyfish princess") and its plot is centered around the main character, Tsukimi, who is a jellyfish otaku. Tsukimi shares a house with other otakus, all of them obsessed with different things: Chieko adores kimono and other traditional clothing, Mayaya is obsessed with Records of Three Kingdoms and constantly makes references to them, Banba is a train otaku and Jiji is obsessed with mature men (yes, this one is by far the strangest kind of obsessions if you ask me).
The story starts one fateful night when Tsukimi walks by a pet store and sees two jellyfish in a tank. Being a true "jellyfish connoisseur" she realizes that the two species are incompatible with each other and one of them would soon die if kept in the same tank. Suppressing her fear of talking with men she approaches the shop assistant and desperately tries to convince him to move the jellyfish in separate tanks, but the man takes her for a crazy person and pushes her out of the store. At that point, Tsukimi is saved by a gorgeous lady who convinces the shop assistant into giving the jellyfish to Tsukimi and accompanies Tsukimi back to her house. Tsukimi is tired and she soon falls asleep completely forgetting about the beautiful woman in her room. When she wakes up though, she notices the woman had also fallen asleep in her room, but, surprise-surprise, she is in fact a HE!

Personal opinion:

As you may have already noticed, this anime has a very unique feel to it. First of all, there aren't many anime where the main male character is a cross-dresser. That is something that basically screams "original" in your face!
Sencondly, and probably the most important thing actually, it's the construction of the main character, Tsukimi. Tsukimi is a shy, innocent virgin who dreams of meeting Prince Charming, though she does nothing to help him come along and has a bizarre hobby. She is portrayed in a very realistic way and even though she's a total "looser" in terms of social life, she truly grows to the viewer and you come to like her and root for her. Even more so when she transforms into a breathtaking beauty after a make-over applied by our proffesional cross-dresser.
As for the cross-dresser, whose name is Kuranosuke, he turns out to be a totally normal man.In fact, the main reason to why he likes to wear women's clothes is because he wants to seem like an irresponsible guy so that all of the hard work is passed on to his older brother. The other reason is the fact that he loves make-up. Ah, what a wonderful man, nee!?
To be honest, the secondary characters piss me off. All those otakus are pretty much histerical frustrated women. The only one who I approve of is Banba-san and the only reason of my empathy is because Banba-san never talks.
However, one truly cute and lovable character is Kuranosuke's brother, Shu. Shu appears to be a very serious and strict person, but he blushes like a teenager when he sees Tsukimi (in her "Cinderella" version). As a matter of fact, the two have many things in common: they're both virgins and they're both really shy and , most likely, they're both want to get married. And, somehow, this annoys the hell out of Kuranosuke.

Well, as I'm sure everyone noticed judging by the enthusiasm with which I've written about this anime that, so far, I am truly enjoying it and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone!


EDIT:
So, Kat was kind enough to let me know that Tsukimi is not actually in her 30s. I apologize for the misunderstanding. As for Jiji, I accidentally wrote that she loves mature women, while I meant MEN. Sorry again for the mistakes.
Kat, thank you for pointing out my mistakes. It shows that you really took the time to read it carefully. I really appreciate that.

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