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ファイト／ステイナイト 
January 30, 2008 | 
22 Comments
At this point, I am really disappointed with this drama. It's not terribly bad but that's the reason why it hurts more just as Mayama's kind words hurt Yamada more. By looking at the show, one can see there are some potential for this adaptation to be better. However, it's ruined by messy screenplay, miscast actors, and changed characterization. There are times when this adaptation feels similar to the original story but most of the time, it feels pale in comparison to the anime adaptation, for example. There is actually a Taiwanese version of the series being made at the moment. Unfortunately I don't have any kind of proficiency in the language so even if I watch it, I probably can't understand the story. Judging from the pictures that have been released, however, that adaptation looks more faithful to the original story. Unfortunately, the casting is not as spot-on as the Japanese drama. I really think Ikuta Toma was a good choice for Takemoto while the actors who play Mayama and Yamada are not that bad either.
January 26, 2008 | 16 Comments
Well, this marks the end of Kotomi's arc. Overall, it's been a rather pleasant arc in comparison to Fuuko's one. It helps that Kotomi gets a better background story and characterization than Fuuko. I am also glad that she doesn't actually leave the series like I thought she would. It'd be strange to see her phasing into the background but that is to be expected if the story wants to develop the other characters. Anyway, with only 11 episodes left, I wonder if the series will be able to cover every single plot left. I originally thought episode 15 will focus on Kyou or Tomoyo but that doesn't seem to be the case here. If anything, it's Sunohara who actually gets some kind of development.
Hirai Ken - Fake Star (30MB, for PSP/Quicktime) | YouTube version
For a Japanese person, Hirai Ken sure doesn't look like one. I remember being surprised the first time I saw him singing in Japanese because here's a caucasian-looking guy singing perfect Japanese. Anyway, after Canvas, I tried to go through some of Hirai Ken's past discography and some of them turned out to be pretty good. Fake Star is basically the latest single that he came up with prior to Canvas. It's a pretty good song although I'm not sure if you'd like it if you don't like jazz/r&b style song. I just find it amazing that he can sing this kind of song and then switch into a ballad-style song like Canvas. The PV itself is your standard pseudo soft-core music video featuring the singer engaging in intimate poses with the pretty model. I kind of like the ending which shows him going through the backdoor in an attempt to avoid the paparazzi.
January 22, 2008 | 24 Comments
Well, I'm back. MacWorld 2008 was quite exciting and I had a good time in San Francisco. I haven't gotten over the jetlag though and that's probably why I didn't enjoy this episode. But then again, this episode also takes way too much liberty with the original material. I get the impression that the story flows really fast here, which I don't get. Are they really going to show Takemoto going on his journey for a good number of the episodes? Will they really show the second half of the story as well? Even if that's the case, the pace is still too fast. As a result, they're missing the little moments in the series which make the story great, like Shuuji telling everyone about the tragic story of Rika and Harada. And how about that beautiful moment of the group riding a Ferris Wheel while the first snow starts to fall? Instead, we have a bunch of meaningless scenes like Morita trying to scam the shop owners from the Hamadayama shopping district.
January 16, 2008 | 10 Comments
In case you're wondering if I'd cover the second episode of Honey and Clover live action, the answer is I would. However, as I've said before, I can't do it until I come back home on the 21st of January. The same can be said about Clannad episode 14. I am currently on a conference and I am stuck with a really lame wireless connection. Speaking of Honey and Clover, apparently the series' ratings is quite low. If you think last week's 12.6 was low, this week's ratings is even lower: 10.0. In contrast, the live-action episodes of Nodame Cantabile generally scored around 18.79 in Kantou region. In that regard and just to play devil's advocate, what would you do if you're responsible for improving the live-action drama? If it were me, I'd replace all the actors except Ikuta Toma (Takemoto) and Mukai Osamu (Mayama), make the story and characterisation a lot closer to the original manga, and improve the sceneries.
I was debating whether to blog this now or next week, along with episode 14. But then I remember that I'm going to be away on a conference for one week starting on Monday and won't have access to brodband internet. That means I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I come back the week after and the idea forced me to just blog this now. Anyway, there aren't that many things happening in this episode. The majority of Kotomi's backstory turns out to be similar to what I had in mind. I was actually kind of hoping that it'd be a bit more supernatural because at least it'd be different. I have heard that next week is supposed to be her last episode, which is fair enough. That means the other 3 girls (Nagisa, Kyou, and Tomoyo) will get around 4 episodes to complete their story. I think Fukou got way too much screen time earlier in the series and now the writers have no choice but to haste the story of the other characters.
「ハチミツとクローバー」
Honey and Clover - AVI format (5.4MB) | PSP format (3.1MB)
This is a bit better than the movie even though it's still not a faithful adaptation. Why is it so hard for the writers to just follow the manga's storyline instead of inventing new situations? I think the reason that Nodame Cantabile drama was a big success was because it pretty much follows the manga except for some minor changes. The changes shown here are quite drastic. The writers seem keen to introduce all of the cast at once, which is fair enough, but the way the storyline is structured makes the whole thing feels rushed. How many episodes is this drama supposed to get anyway? If it's 12, surely it's enough to cover the first half of the series, including Takemoto's journey. Anyway, this is not a total lost especially if you like Takemoto's character because the producer actually hit a jackpot with the casting of Ikuta Toma.
I apologize for being late but I made a mistake thinking that I can do full summary in just under 5 hours. How wrong that turned out to be. Even after 5 hours, I haven't covered half of the episode so I decided to re-write everything and just summarize the important parts of the story. Even then it still ends up being rather long. At any rate, I don't think I have the patience to write long-winded sentences like I used to. But then again two hours show is also a bit too much to be given a blow-by-blow treatment. I remember spending at least a few hours just to write those episodic review of the live-action series. Anyway, this one is actually a little bit all over the place but it still has that feel-good feel of the other episodes. The ending is a bit abrupt but it can't be helped since the manga is not completed yet. I'm actually surprised that the writers decided to squeeze in so many parts from the manga into a two 2 hours episode.
Okay, that was brutal. I don't mean the actual show itself because that's actually pretty good. But what I had to go through just to watch/blog the episode was rough. First, it took 5 hours just to get the 2GB episode. After obtaining it, I realised that the first episode itself goes for 2 hours. That means spending an additional 6 hours just to watch, screencap, choose, and optimized the images. Thankfully the episode is worth the trouble. It's cheesy as usual but at least the series is very aware of how ridiculous the situation in the story can be. I'm also surprised at how the writers manage to squeeze in every single characters from the original series into this special. Even characters who are not supposed to be in the European arc of the story actually appear in this drama. Their roles are minimal though and it does not disrupt or change the story in any way.
It looks like the dates for the special episodes are finally set. The first episode will run on the 4th of January while the 2nd episode will run on the 5th of January. I'm actually excited. It's been awhile since I watch any anime or Japanese drama. And since Winter anime selection turns out to be duds again, at least for me, it looks like it'll just be watching Japanese drama this season. As for the Nodame special, it is now has an official title: Nodame Cantabile in Europe. Looking at the cast list, I'm amused that they cast Japanese actors to play Frank and Tanya. Admittedly, Eiji Wentz (yes, one half of WaT), who'll play Frank, is half American but the guy can barely speak English. I've never heard of Becky before so I can't comment on her abilities, both acting and Russian-speaking skill. Speaking of casting, did you know that Mukai Osamu who plays Kikuchi Tooru in Nodame live-action will play Mayama in Honey and Clover live-action? I'm pretty glad with this casting since the guy was pretty funny in Nodame. Hopefully he can bring out Mayama's twisted sense of humour into the live-action.
