Demi-Otakuism.

Love Song Productions and SARS-Fansubs are working on the HachiKuro (short for Hachimitsu and Clover or Honey and Clover) JDrama at the moment, and I decided I would give it a try, despite a bad impression of the movie (then again I think I was in a bad mood while watching it, so.. Well.). Partially because I watched the whole two seasons of anime, and liked it despite it being in my not-so-pet genres of Romance and Slice-of-Life (it is part of the Romantic Comedy genre, though), and also because Ikuta Toma and Narumi Riko (not-bad actors by my standard) are acting in it (pictures later, I promise), I was pretty much looking forward to it even before it came out :3 Also for the Nodame JDrama fans out there, Mukai Osamu, who played the side-role of Kikuchi Tooru (the cello guy, if I’m not wrong) also appears in H&C as Mayama :D More on Nodame (esp the SP, no pun intended) later, if I bother to =w=.

Honey and Clover, as I mentioned, was adapted from a shoujo manga to two seasons of anime, and the story mostly revolves around several art college students and a Koropokkur, as well as their love lives and er. How they live their lives, especially with such a random person as Morita-senpai. Don’t worry, despite how vague it is it mainly becomes a love story later on. So romance lovers (lol), this is for you.

Some interesting trivia got off Wikipedia before you have to click ‘Continue Reading..’ : The title of the series, Hachimitsu to Kurōbā, stems from Chika Umino (the mangaka)’s two favorite albums: Hachimitsu by SPITZ and Clover by Suga Shikao, due to which Spitz and Suga Shikao’s songs are featured prominently in the anime. I’m quite a fan of SPITZ and Suga Shikao’s music, I must say. Smooth, unique voice and soothing/interesting/whatever music = songs pleasant to the ear *w* (Oh, and as you can see I do not know my music terms at all, even after watching Nodame. Not that it’s a failure, absolutely not, but it’s probably just me and my loserness.)

Caution before you go on: very very long, luosuo post.

Continue reading ‘Honey and Clover JDrama Not-So-First Impressions’

After about a week (or two) of strife, I’ve finally beaten Paper Mario! (N64)

I shoulda taken some screenshots, but it kinda screwed up, and the actual game cover’s kinda bland. So there. I’ve beaten a game, I’m somehow not as idiotic as I thought I was, anymore! If I beat Portal, ever, it’s got to be a miracle.

Oh, and somehow it’s more interesting imagining all the speech in Japanese. Less… restricted, I guess? It’s the same with manga too, actually. The raws just seem more juicy. Or something. Gosh, are those the words of a sekrit cannibal?!

Also, as reminded on Danny Choo’s site, a certain Honey & Clover Live JDrama is coming up right about next Tuesday.

Narumi Riko, who acted in How to Become Myself, as well as Ikuta Toma from Akihabara@Deep, Hana Kimi (JDrama d’oh), Hana Yori Dango 2 (as the CHOU-KAKKOI moderu), and apparently (as almost all the talents under Johnny’s Entertainment Inc.) he can also dance and sing.

I’m more assured of the success of this drama, as opposed to the 2006 movie of the same name, which starred Aoi Yuu as Hagu and Yuusuke Iseya as Morita… it just somehow ruined my whole image of the show from the anime ;___; or maybe it’s just me…

I was really looking forward to this movie, without really knowing much about exactly what it was about. I think it was all the good recommendations, and the fact that Narumi Riko (born in 1992, by the way), the girl who played the little sister in 1 Litre of Tears, was also acting in it. What I found quite interesting, though, was that her face (quite visually-pleasing onscreen, I might add) and acting actually allows her to look both adult-like and child-like as long as she wears the right clothes and does the right hair, and acts the right way. In fact, she starts to look a wee bit like my brother’s girlfriend… You see, there was a transition from Middle School to Junior High School in the movie, and she pulled it off perfectly, or so I believe. Thinking back, there was quite a bit of the passing of time in 1 Litre of Tears too, so I guess she’d shown that kind of versatility before already..

I also believe that the issue(s) addressed in the play were meaningful for many; bullying is a common sight especially when most of the people who can actually read this most likely went to school at some point of their lives, and halfway through I would think myself right to say that we all have some kind of identity crisis, feeling as if we play different ‘roles’ throughout our lives, as well as the fact that all of us have lied at one point in time or another, for no matter what reason it was or to who, or at the very least felt that we have lied (Escapism was also somewhat introduced in the story..), and many have also experienced family problems and many more yet felt like wanting to escape from reality (me being one of them, seeing as to how anime is my form of escapism..) Ashita no Watashi no Tsukurikata, the international title being How to Become Myself, adds in a little bit of drama into the story of two teenage girls on a quest for their true identity. The movie is, by the way, based on a novel by Mado Kaori.

The movie is mostly emotional and more slice-of-life than anything else, I would imagine. Though the start of the movie left me a bit skeptical, I felt that the ending was really encouraging, with a slight bit of a twist..

Continue reading ‘Ashita no Watashi no Tsukurikata; How to Become Myself (2007 JMovie)’