tunix_2008 wrote:Although Hana Kimi is an ensemble drama, it isn’t a stretch to assume that her role is pivotal. The introduction of her character, so to say, started the ball rolling.
Oh, I totally agree that Ashiya's character is the catalyst for the whole drama. Not disputing that. Which is probably why I expected more from Maki, because this was such a potentially meaty role.
And thanks for the background info on the Sano-Nakatsu friendship. In the drama it was mentioned in passing (Ep. 1 I think) that the two used to be BFFs (before Sano quit the team and went all hermitty on everyone, lol), but I never really felt that their pre-rift bromance was something real, or that their falling-out affected both boys at all. But yeah, the writing didn't allow for this to happen by giving precedence to the
Ashiya!saves!Sano! subplot.
tunix_2008 wrote:There are other outrageous high school-themed comedies out there that are far worse like the Hana Kimi imitation that is Mei-chan no Shitsuji.
Uh-oh.
Mei-chan no Shitsuji = Rat's Nest Hiro + that useless girlie from
ProDai + Sato Takeru? Thanks, but... I'll pass. (When Sato Takeru played that Piano Boy on
Mr. Brain, the director apparently forgot to inform him that "short-term memory loss" is NOT the same as "severe autism," yesss?
)
tunix_2008 wrote:About the SPs being nothing but money-making fanservice waste of film and airtime – not all of the time. Nodame Cantabile’s special was, for lack of a better term, special. It adds to the development of the entire series but it can also stand alone.
Yep, I was actually thinking of the
Nodame Cantabile SP when I said that there were a "few exceptions" to the
SPs! are! sucky! generality.
tunix_2008 wrote:Also there are SPs that lead to full series like Tiger and Dragon and Yume Wo Kanaeru Zou which are both very good. Incidentally, Shun starred in Yume Wo’s SP and he spoke English in the first five minutes of the special. It’s a straight up role – no silliness or heavy drama scenes. Shun played the straight man well against Furuta Arata’s irreverent Ganesh.
I think Shun chooses his roles very carefully and really well. It seems that he doesn’t want to be typecast into any of the characters he made famous. He reminds me of di Caprio whom people want to box into the traditional romantic leading man but he keeps on taking roles that carry him to a totally different spectrum.
Really? Shun speaking English? Interesting...
I hope it sounded nothing like the time YamaPi was on the phone with some white guy (in order to impress/bamboozle Takenaka Naoto) in
Kurosagi the Movie. Because I
didn't know YamaPi could speak... Klingon!
Well, Leo diCaprio paid his (romantic lead) dues with
Titanic, but yeah, even early on he was already choosing such eclectic film roles. (He's done more hits than misses, but his most memorable film for me was
William Shakespeare's Romeo+Juliet. I-CON-IC.) So, good for Shun. As an actor he's the real deal and I hope his future projects keep on diversifying. (I just dunno how much leeway J-actors have in choosing their work, though. Don't the agencies have the last say?) Great if he wants to challenge himself and push the envelope and all that, but I hope he doesn't eschew the more "mainstream," commercially viable projects. (I hate it when actors take themselves too seriously and feel that they need to keep their roles as high-brow, impenetrable, and art-housey as possible as a validation of their craft.
)
tunix_2008 wrote:I know bullying is a fact of life and I agree that teenagers are all that you say but beating up girls (even by girls) is not part of our cinematic culture. It wasn't part of our high school experience either (we just froze each other out). Nevertheless, I did see Coffee Prince and loved the story. I'm still a bit put out by Gong Yoo's raising his hand on Eun-Hye but all in all I enjoyed this particular kdrama.
Well, the bishounen fascination/fetish seems to be endemic to J-culture (and J-ent), but that doesn't stop non-Japanese viewers from watching these gender-bending high school comedies, does it? It doesn't have to be native to your cinematic culture to be watchable. When I first got into K-dramas, the casual portrayal of violence--all that shouting! and cuffing and clouting each other with nary a second thought!
--horrified peaceable little me, who was raised to turn the other cheek and all that stuff.
But I got desensitized quickly enough to the physicality of East Asian cultures (or at least, the celluloid depictions thereof). Besides, it's all part of the escapism I derive from watching K- and J-drama, anyway. What happens on-screen stays on-screen, regardless of my personal take on the matter.