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Despite of its departure to the canon (although not that much, and I can pretty much understand why; after all they only have 11 episodes), Honey and Clover is undeniably the best tear-jerking, mind-provoking and inspiring drama ever.
One of the reasons why I don’t have a favorite author is because I think that authors tend to reach a “low point” in their career and produce works that aren’t as good as their previous ones.
Reading Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance is a good example. I like Murakami’s works in general because he managed (consciously or unconsciously; whether he denies it or not) to combine Western aspects of literature to Japanese ones. Now that I get more familiar with his characters, I think what attracts me more to his works in general is the idea that he has intellectual, and to some extent, idealist characters/protagonist. It’s not much about the “wasakan ng utak” that walrus from Peyups.Com refers to (I don’t even see his works as “wasakan ng utak”, really, but anyway I digress), but mostly because his characters think too much. These aspects of his characters’ personalities make me draw near to them but at the same time it make me feel detached to them. In that way, I admire Murakami for creating “real” people for I believe that human beings are complex creatures that we cannot be compartmentalized in certain personality categories. More »
Finished watching season two of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo. Of course the cases focus more on murders pero I really liked how the stories were executed. I also like the romance part between Kindaichi and Miyuki here. Kamukha ni Domoto si Sakurai Sho (and considering that pareho silang Johnny’s performers, this is quite amusing). I also like the humor in this show. Medyo creepy nga lang yung stories, although it’s creepier than the third season (with Matsumoto Jun, another Johnny’s). Siguro dahil na rin dun sa quality ng videos, medyo luma kasi.
I like this show! I thought that making a show about the country life is really good, although based from the first episode I already got an idea what to expect from the characters. It’s a bit predictable I guess, but I like the story nonetheless. Also I am happy to see familiar faces (i.e. Nakamura Shido, Toda Erika and Koide Keisuke).
What’s nice about this show I guess is that despite of the reasons that inspired this drama, it really does not pretend to solve everything. I can also relate to the characters, albeit they’re agriculture majors, because they are about my age and are students themselves. So yeah. I like this show.
Onmyouji (陰陽師, 2001)
Director: Takita Yojiro
A fun film to watch mainly because its approach is very straightforward. The movie is a fictional account of Abe no Seimei’s life, and by the way the movie was presented, you’ll get the idea that it’s not pretending to be “real” or something like that.
Abe no Seimei’s life is surrounded by myths already, so making a movie like this is not surprising.
It was just a bit “odd” because the characters spoke in standard Japanese. I was expecting that they will speak an older Japanese (more “lyrical”) but then again, who will even dare watch that? He he. I like Nomura Mansai’s acting; he seemed very “natural.” For a Heian-period movie it was entertaining and the plot was easy to understand.
Onmyouji II (陰陽師 II, 2001)
Director: Takita Yojiro
Ah, sequels. Surprisingly there wasn’t really a direct connection between the first movie and this one, as previous events weren’t even mentioned. However this movie dealt more with Shintoism, as it includes the story of the sun goddess Amaterasu and her bother Susa-no-O, the god of sea. The movie retained its cast, so there’s nothing to worry about acting and portrayal and such.
My only quirk in this movie is the introduction of the antagonists since they just appeared out of nowhere. The way they were introduced didn’t really make sense at first until the history behind Himiko was presented. I think that was the time when the movie’s story flowed smoothly.
Eli Eli Lema Sabachtani? (My Lord, My Lord, Why Have You Forsaken Me?, 2005)
Director: Aoyama Shinji
As far as I can remember I’ve never seen any of Aoyama Shinji’s films, so I decided to check out Eli Eli Lema Sabachtani?. After all, with Miyazaki Aoi and Asano Tadanobu in the cast, I shouldn’t be worried about the film at all.
However, I think Eli Eli is not a movie for everyone. There’s a contrast between the deafening silence (due to limited dialogues) and deafening noise (due to Asano’s and Masaya’s music) that abound the film, and before you even reach the first half of the story, you might start to wonder a.) what the movie is about and b.) is it really worth watching.
The movie’s relatively short. The only thing is that there’s a lot of mundane activities going on in the film that makes it feel really slow and dragging. I guess the director purposely did that, but I have no idea why. What I really enjoyed in this film is the cinematography. The wash-out colors suit the atmosphere of the movie.
TokyoxErotica, Green Minds Metal Bats, Stereo Future, Daiten…, Moonlight Whisperers, All About my Dog, Gomen, Hana-bi, Saiyuki, Calling You, Hotel Hibiscus, Onmyouji, Sway, Tampopo, Maboroshi, The Pornographers, Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me and Sometimes Dad, Shindo, Tony Takitani, Dreams, April Story
Addicting. I guess that’s one way to describe this show. The actual format is quite predictable, as it is a detective / crime / mystery drama, but the way it was presented is a bit different. The main character (played by Fukuyama Masaharu) is actually a physicist and the female protagonist (portrayed by Shibasaki Kou) is a rookie cop. I just like the way how ‘educational’ this show is because the show is brimming with scientific knowledge.
I adored Shibasaki Kou here. I’ve seen her in Maison de Himiko before (didn’t notice her in Battle Royale though lol) and I really like the way she portrayed the role. You can actually see and feel that she internalized the role really well. Her expressions were well-shown but not exaggerated to the point that her character’s being a caricature. And of course, Fukuyama Masaharu had an amazing performance as Prof. Yukawa/Galileo.
This show will make you like physics. Seriously.
Ang saya ng show na ‘to. I really like detective / mystery TV series kaya I tried watching this. This time though the lead characters are teenagers. Despite that, the show emphasized the idea of deductive reasoning and investigation instead of having the kids really rely on gadgets. Even though one of them is the tech genius, he’s usually focused on programming and using the internet to investigate. Nothing fancy, but the show seemed really real.
I think the only part of the show that seemed ‘fake’ is the actual use of hypnosis. Or maybe I’m just skeptical because I really don’t believe in it. 
Ang weird ng show na ‘to, haha. Hindi ako sanay na perky yung character ni Kamenashi Kazuya. Tapos tungkol pa siya sa boxing, eh hindi naman ako talaga fan ng sport na ‘to (aside sa Wii kasi maganda siyang total body workout, hehe). Anyhow, okay naman yung show pero ang dami pa ring loose ends. In general nakakatawa ‘tong show na ‘to kasi may elements ng religion at… it’s like giving the idea that having a conflict between one’s commitment to the Church and to one’s personal feelings is quite easy. In short parang hindi masyado kabigat yung approach ng drama dito. Not really sure if the manga worked that way though (that’s why I’m interested in reading it). Dahil ba sa dominant religion sa Japan kaya iba rin ang approach sa Catholicism? Hrrm.
Nevertheless, ang ganda ni Kuroki Meisa dito. ♥
Angela Solis grew up in the Philippines before moving in to Canada in 2003. She became a Canadian in 2006. Angela is 22 years old and an alumna of University of Manitoba with a degree in Psychology. She has been blogging since 2002. She maintains a photography portfolio and occasionally writes for Tinig, Peyups, and Filipino Journal. Her interest lies in books, humanities, music and photography.
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