Youkai Ningen Bem 妖怪人間べム [series]

best monster boy love but not really but definitely genius awesomeness

I cant believe I never reviewed this when I watched it! It was the gayest monster in the village. I honestly thought I had already reviewed this. Im not sure why its not here. 

well I loved it. All ways round I loved it. I may have to watch a fair bit of it again to write this review properly but Im sure I can remember enough of the plot to get a point across. 

well, maybe. ok, maybe i just remember how gorgeous Anne is and how boy love Kamenashi and Kitamura are. oh and the cute little boy! oh he was great. ok i'll do a cast list seen as i havent done one for the last few reviews due to being spackered at work. yes spackered. 

cast: 

Bemu - Kamenashi Kazuya 

Bela - Watanabe Anne 

Belo - Suzuki Fuku 

Natsume Akinori - Kitamura Kazuki 

Woo that took ages didnt it. Well I know there were more people in it who were important but I cant really remember. 

 I loved this show. so much. It was literally gayer than any boy love movie Ive seen - even more full of longing looks and squealy moments than uselss takumi kun. I just loved it. 

It was not meant to be so ridiculous but Kamenashi and Kitamura adore each other so much in real life that you could not escape the love on screen. so funny. 

Anne made it a joy to watch also. Her arms! gorgeous gorgeous arms! Seriously beautiful woman. 

I always think that but christ I really think this was one of her best characters. 

She had such a different voice and manner - i loved her being so aggressive and ungirlie. I really thought she was poised and perfect. 

So Suzuki Fuku - well what can I say. god that boy can act. I mean really. seriously amazing acting. I think he is the strawberry on this cake. lovely sweet little boy who makes the whole thing complete. perfect casting through and through. 

Kitamura is cast so well against kamenashi, but always great anyway. It is so boy love moody - with all that wanting to confess (his monster self) but not wanting to be disowned. 

It works well as a metaphor, but I like to just joke about it on a surface level. 

I died almost every episode from laughing at the gay. it was such joy. SUCH joy. 

The family of monster people (kamenashi, anne and suzuki) are searching to find out about their past - how they were made and why. most importantly how they can become human. 

Its a desperate hunt to find their secrets and always against time - the time when they will be found out by the village and have to run away again. 

It is a struggle to be accepted, to be loved, to be themselves. yeah ok, its definitely a metaphor. But aside from the gay pride parade costume ideas Im now having, this drama is seriously good! I swear please believe me. 

The cheese is just the best, the super serial faces are so brilliant, and the poncing around in a trench coat being all awesome saving the day and being thoroughly TORTURED by the whole thing is just... 

well thats just Kamenashi for a start. but its just great. really so much fun. 

I like the weird flashes of dog like senses they use to sense where people are - and Kamenashi gets to use is poser cane. I like all his poser moves in this. Its a squeal fest from start to finish.

The imagery is gorgeous. the sets and stuff I mean. you know the kind of fantasy we dont see much of in Japanese dramas, I wish for more. 

The monster costumes were basically out of the rubber suity bad guy wardrobe of Sailor moon or something but Kamenashi's silver hair makes up for absolutely any flaw it may have.

Im really wanting to go watch this again right now. its one you could definitely sit through more than once.

its so stupid that its easy to watch but emotional enough to make you actually care what happens. 

Ive just read a super serial review of this show also comparing it to the LGBT issues and such - but put very much more diplomatically. 

I really dont care im gonna use the word gay in any which way I want, but yes it seems im not the only one who saw the relation.

Mostly mine just came from squealing about the joys between Kamenashi and Kitamura but the whole story really does parallel.

The ending does offer them closure - or a choice thereof. and (not to spoil) I was happy that it panned out more true to themselves. It'll make sense if you watch it. 

The struggles are more important while you are watching, the journey is present and real. 

but after the fact all I can really remember is Anne's fantastic arms and the shiny love between kameMura. 

I really thought I had done this rant before. I feel like Ive said all this. I know I had a massive twitter rant about it with Kali but I thought Id reviewed it! This feels weird to write because of that. 

And it was so long ago when I saw it (as it was airing). 

I was waiting for this one to come out and i know I wasnt disappointed. its hard to review so long after the fact though. 

I hope my screen shots can bring back those memories and keep them imortalised in shiny gay joys of joyfulness forever.

I love this drama.

~

Kasukana kanojo 幽かな彼女 [series]

mata Sato Jiro iru? hahahaaaaaaaaaaa yatta!

Ghosty Anne! I went straight ahead to watch this as soon as I saw the promo poster ^ above. Anne as a ghost in a comedy drama.... after just finishing XXXholic...? Yes please! Surprised (why after all this time) to see Baka Sato Jiro appear as a stupid fast talking crazy ass ghost also. 

Something strange about the new deputy head at a school, twinned with the new arrival of a homeroom teacher who can see ghosts. Anne is cute and sulky and ridiculous, and when Sato Jiro turned up I nearly choked. (^_^)

Putting her head inside the telephone to call Kamiyama (Katori Shingo), getting involved in all the student's problems, disappearing and reappearing in inappropriate moments, wearing ...odd ...clothes ....

So this brings me to the bland as hell Maeda Atsuko. I loved her as a robot in Q10, but she really annoyed me in Yamapi is an undertaker - whatever the hell that drama was really called. I figured out that her emotionless robot was great because she had no expressions, and also in this drama it works because she is a total bitch. It works. Thank god. But seriously walking around in skirts and shorts that are WAY too short for a responsible teacher to wear...

The guy playing opposite her really looks like Shige. He is pretty useless which makes that even more so.... but the real love of mine in this drama is the beautiful Maya Miki (Buzzer beat, Galileo, Shibatora, quiz show 2, zettai kareshi). Kirisawa (Maya) is beautiful, calm and collected. Solves all the problems like the ex-lawyer she is. And there is some secret past.... dun dun dahhhhh!

We mainly follow Akira sensei as he comes to terms with finally realising he should properly face his students and raise and support them well, after becoming cold to them after an unfortunate bullying incident left him scared to intervene in the lives of his students. The ghosts he meets in the new town bring Akira through this journey and they form bizarre cute bonds. As you would expect.

 


I guess its a pretty predictable drama, but it is the cast that keeps it going I guess.Anne in particular is as always a joy to watch. As I wait for each episode to come out I curse watching a drama as it airs. Gah.

Yes. indeed. Maeda agrees.

 

It gets more involved in the students as the drama goes on, obviously - that was stupid to say. 

But with each episode the classmates get closer to each other and form the bonds that help them stand up to adversity and bla bla bla you know the sort. Gokusen stylee.

But don't be blue peter, Its pretty fluffy and lovely dovey in a weird ghost / human way, and slightly less f*cking super weird than XXXholic. Anne wears considerably less colourful clothes... 

I thought I said dont be blue peter! 



Seriously. Bunch of grumps.

Have a picture of Katori Shingo as Monkey instead. He has the best face.

~

Karei naru spy 華麗なるスパイ [series]

If Dorothy was a doll she’d be called shortcake. And I’d still want the strawberry first.

What exactly do I mean by that..?

I watched this drama early last year so I can’t remember all the ins and outs, but the overriding memory I have is Fukada Kyoko as Dorothy. Now, in a drama with Nagase Tomoyagi you would think I would be hung up on him I guess, but my god Fukada Kyoko is so cute I can’t even explain.

I can’t seem to get enough of her at the moment as she keeps cropping up in things I’m watching so it brought me back to this comedy drama, also starring a whole bunch of other familiar faces.

Cast:

Kyosuke - Nagase Tomoya (unubore deka, my boss my hero, mukodono, IWGP)

Dorothy - Fukada Kyoko (dolls, friends, kamikaze girls, strawberry on the shortcake)

Elise - Tomochika (ghost friends, Loss time life)

Kiriyama - Terajima Susumu (trouble man, code blue, ryusei no kizuna, fuurin kazan, unfair, pacchigi, casshern, himitsu no hanazono)  

Hirahara - Anne (samurai high school, youkai ningen bem, JOKER yurusarezaru sosakan, bandage)

Mr Takumi - Emoto Akira (Ryusei no kizuna, starfish hotel)

There are also guest appearances by Inoue Mao (hana yori dango), and Masuda Takahisa (gachibaka), if that list wasn’t already good enough.

ureshii squee for Massu's worried face again (^_^)

So we have Kyosuke who is a swindler jailed for being all swindly and bad,

then Kiriyama’s department of 60’s throw back spies in glorious Technicolor running around trying to protect the president from evil bad taste Hitler Halloween costume bad guy complete with mini-me and stoopid moustache,

the President signs Kyosuke out of prison so he can join the Scooby gang and team up with strawberry shortcake Dorothy doll face.

The secret headquarters and spy offices are accessible through a filing cabinet elevator,

and the weapons are seemingly useless and definitely not free even for company employees.

Making any sense at all?

no. thought not. don't worry Tomoyagi, you don't have to watch it.

It is fun and stupid, we get to see both Fukada and Nagase dress up like many different characters and nothing really ever makes too much sense.

Comparing this to Nagase’s other comedy dramas, you don’t get quite as emotionally attached to the characters as in my boss my hero, and it isn’t as absolutely relentlessly stupid as unubore deka, so it sits sort of in between the two. The setting is more far fetched than either if you take into account the science fiction element of the technology and war game baddie etc,

but there is still the token cosy café that would make even a vampire want to eat gyoza (koishite akuma reference), a nosy reporter, a few unrequited love issues, and of course, a bridge at night to stare out into the darkness to have some existential crisis at the most inappropriate time – as is the want of Japanese TV.

It is never a chore to watch Nagase and I hope he continues to make comedies. I did like this series, although I still find it weird to see him without Tegoshi pulling on his coat tails wherever he goes - even Massu got a look in this time – albeit for one episode. Ikuta Toma got to chase him around like a puppy when he played Nagase’s character in the TV show in Unubore deka which is confusing to explain at best. But I wonder when they will get Tomoyagi and Tegoshilocks together for another show; they could have a gay-off with Kamenashi and Kitamura from Bem. Oh god what a show that would be. Anne could be the referee.

She seems happy with the idea.

Jeez I’m going down a dark path here; I’m turning this car around before we end up in a dilapidated old manor in need of banister loving. Weirdest thing I ever read. Count yourselves lucky you have no idea what I’m talking about.

Moving on, *sigh* I can’t. That’s it. I’ve lost what is going on now. This will have to do for the review. Fan fic broke my poor mind and I fear I will never get it back…

promo poster:

 ~