long love letter ロング・ラブレター[series]

not the usual premise for a japanese series

it has been a while since i saw this so forgive any vagueness i might have. the wiki description doesn't really tell you anything or do it justice so i will try to explain what it is about without giving too much away.

looking like an adorable poodle, kubozuka yosuke plays Asami a teacher at a high school, Tokiwa takako plays Misaki a girl who works in her father's flower shop. The two had met a year before and taken a liking to each other but when Asami's phone was stolen after they had met he could no longer contact her.

The pair meet up again at the school when Misaki has to deliver some flowers and as they start to have a bit of an argument the ground opens up and the school disappears into a crater formed by a huge earthquake. If the earth moves even when you argue i guess it is ment to be (^_^)

The people left behind can only see the massive hole, but inside the school the pupils, Asami, and Misaki are still alive but thrown into a different time. The school materialsed on an endless sea of black sand and as they struggle to survive they begin to realise where they are. Finding wreckages of their old city they understand that they have been thrown into a bleak future where the world appeared to be dessimated by human destruction.

A few people left behind hear the echoes of the lost school and are determined to believe that they are still alive somewhere but are helpless to do anything about it. Back at the school the group are concerned with keeping themselves alive with no water or food, and trying to understand their situation. 

It is a really hectic, sad series, lots of people die, it is a hopeless situation after all. it ends with as much unexplained confusion as it begins which is just glorious fun - leaving you totally lost as to how to feel about the whole thing. I love it when japanese tv steps into sci-fi. they really should do it more. it does not end how you think it will, it spirals off into madness but then does offer a unexpected resolution. im not sure that it is really all that happy of an ending - but more of a mixed bag of feelings. like when you wake up from a bad dream, you a relieved to know it was only a dream but the feelings are still there all the same. it was that kind of sense. (and no it wasnt all just a dream)

Yamapi plays one of the class (who i really liked actually) and he is still at his fluffy gold hair stage - always hillarious. Yamada Takoyaki (i should stop calling him that - i forget his name is atcually takayuki sometimes) and Mizukawa Asami are also good. The class stuck in the school is quite large so there are a nice amount of students we get to know thoughout the hardships. And of course, we watch a good fair few of them die. It is not the happiest of dramas. I was actually shocked at some of the characters they picked off. So sad.

Interesting drama though. really quite different to anything else i have seen. Love kubozuka yosuke and will happily watch him in anything. He will always be The King to me. I would totally be in his gang. When i eventually review IWGP im sure it will just be countless pictures of that man's crazy hair. Seaking of which, he totally looks like a poodle in LLL, it is so cute. Between his poodle-boof and Yamapi's gold fluff there is more fuwa fuwa than a boy love film.

 the king

 

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Proposal Daisakusen プロポーズ大作戦 [series]

banging their heads together doesn't even come close...

How can I accurately describe the overwhelming excruciatingly painful frustration to be endured when watching proposal…? I don’t know, I will try but it will be hard work to really get this across.

This drama stars my favourite pair MasaPi. And I love them both in this series even though they are both utterly useless Takumi-kun excuses for human beings all the way through.

Ok, basically Ken (Yamapi) and Rei (Nagasawa Masami) have been friends since forever and when Rei finally gets married Ken realises what an utter d*ck he’s been his entire life having not made a proper move on her – or even at least been nice to her a little bit.

On Rei’s wedding day Ken feels pretty low watching his only love get taken away by someone else and pafu! A church fairy comes along and persuades him to go back in time to confess as he should have done all those years ago.

Through the photos in the slide show at her wedding dinner, Ken travels back to those points in time to see Rei and right his wrongs – only to realise he is just as much of a useless Takumi-kun now as he ever was, and can’t seem to stop being an utter nightmare even with his second chances.

There are some fabulous moments throughout, and it is one of my absolute favourite dramas BUT be warned you will be banging your head on the wall in frustration summertime machine blues style at his stupidity screaming KEN YOU F*CK-TARD JUST SORT IT OUT!!!! He often says things like "what the hell was i doing back then?!" well yes Ken-zou, you get to cringe at your younger self but we get to see that and then watch you still act like an idiot even though you can see full well what you need to do - for god sake boy you need a slap in the face! There are many moments when you really think it may work out ok… but alas this drama is Japanese not Korean so they save the happies for the very end if they give them to you at all.

Yamapi is goooooorgeous in this – I really don’t know why (and i never use that word for boys), - I mean aside from the obvious that he always is, but really actually though. I like that it gives him a chance to be funny and a little slapstick here and there as his character is an idiot. And Nagasawa is adorable as she always is. She is fluffier than mousse and I just adore her. Infact, i think this series is due another watch. it has to be at least a year and a half since i saw this last.

The supporting cast is great.

Fujiki Naohito (hotaru ni hikari, shibatora),

Eikura Nana, (mei-chan no shitsuji)

Hiraoka Yuta, (godhand teru those naked operations in space, tatta hitotsu no koi)

Hamada Gaku, (loss time life, taiyou to umi no kyoshitsu)

Mikami Hiroshi. (Pandora, chance)
All playing likable and suitably quirky characters in their own ways.

It is one for the girls, all about the romance and fate and stuff. It is really very funny, epically stupid and expectedly sweet. There are 11 episodes and a special (just as stupid as the rest of the series) and there is no watching this drama slowly, I dare anyone to leave it for a while and not be desperate to see what happens… or desperate to get it over with… however you see it. I could NOT have watched this as it was airing.

Watch this and think about how you let things slip through your fingers. Don’t end up like this complete moron. There really is no day but today, even if you could do it all again, you’d probably still mess it up, if it wasn’t meant to be that way you would have done it right the first time.

Ureshii squeeeeeeee ken-zou, aish I love that stupid boy (^_^)

i seriously never get tired of Yamapi with a towel round his head.

...why though?!

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ashita no joe 明日のジョー [movie]

restraining myself with the screenshots here might be asking the impossible

For some reason I always sort of forget just how stunningly beautiful Yamapi is. Until I come to my senses after losing consciousness following a random picture of bit of TV footage escaping out from the depths onto my screen and punching me in the face with a great big *this guy cant be human* realisation (this happens time and time again)

I am aware that, as he is the most sort after idol in Japan right now, it is becoming almost uncool to like him – now come on, what the f*ck? Don’t get all anti-fan on me now people. That is just stupid. No amount of that is really going to counter the immense insurmountable greatness that is that crazy little cracker we call Yamapigeon. *ahem* I mean Yamapi. No, actually I so mean Yamapigeon.

 

 Ok, so I’m not going to spend this whole thing ranting about Yamapi’s godlike genius because if you have more than half a brain cell it should be f*cking obvious. I will rant about the movie though, as that it what I am supposedly here to do.

Well, maybe I’m going to rant a bit more about Yamapigeon – I just never know how much of a fan girl mood I’m in until I get going. Usually the screen shots set me off. I’ll try to restrain.

Ashita no Joe has been awaited with much hope, expectation, and excitement. A really popular manga, this movie was talked about constantly all over the internet while it was being filmed due to the anticipation of fans of the manga, the film makers, and the main stars alike.

 

These guys worked f*cking hard on this film. It paid off in buckets of brilliance and a resulted in a beautiful movie.

 

 

Joe (Yamapi) lives in a poor town with little to his name but his character and ability to fight. He is a bit of a street rat and winds up in jail after a brawl. In a haphazard way he begins to learn to box and while in prison he meets Rikishi (Iseya Yuseke), a pro boxer, who becomes his rival and motivation. For Rikishi also, the influence of his new challenger is a destined important meeting which begins and ultimately ends a chapter of life for the both of them.

It’s pretty sad, I warn you that. But it is as moving and purposeful as it was intended to be. It is also a quietly funny, pretty film, and although it looks to be bleak and hard it is actually easier on the eyes and heart than you might think.

Yes, it definitely helps that Yamapi has so much charisma that it is hard to fit it all on screen – sometimes when he plays more subdued roles like this I half expect him to just explode with some random oddness, just to get it out of his system, that would usually be too precious to cut out if it weren’t for the more sombre nature of the movie. He is, as ever, his natural self; easy to watch, easy to believe.

 

 

Ashita no Joe is over two hours long but it doesn’t feel like a drag – the only reason we kept checking the time on the video was that we couldn’t work out what was going to happen as there was so much time left for things to go wrong. Well, yeah, they do kinda go wrong and we should just not ask. But never mind. The tears are very much there but not constant.

I’m glad we like Rikishi’s character, and I’m also glad of the choice of actor. Actually, no-one bugged me in this whole movie. Lots of familiar faces and not a moment of ----- umm, I just have to stop and tangent for a moment. Someone totally drove passed my window blaring whitney houston’s version of I will always love you, like, fully loud and it completely threw me off course.

God, where the hell was I? Oh yeah, Ashita no Joe. Worth watching. Don’t listen to people being tw*ts about it. If you want I can lay it all out fan girl style: Yamapi covered in blood a lot, getting pummelled, beating the sh*t out of other people, running about all over the show with that brilliant little arrogant smirk of his, cropped trousers (^_^) and that f*cking adorable train driver hat – god, has it got it’s own name in the credits? Cos it should.


Yamapi trained like a mental for this role so give him the damn time to see this film. There is a reason he is so popular. He wasn’t even born – he just popped out into existence made out of pure genius so don’t bugger about umming and ahhing whether or not you like Ashita no Joe, you do. It is just a f*cking movie. And a good one. So get over it.

I don’t really want to do a long review of this one as I feel it is turning into crazy ranting time, it deserves to be watched so go do that. And look at all these lovely pictures. Yamapigeon, prettiest bird in the whole coup.

a quick note to yamapigeon, i heard this movie was so hard that it has kinda put you off acting. if you stop acting i will track you down and beat you with a big fat stick. ...made of really bad stuff. ...that smells. ...and stains your clothes. ...and makes a really annoying sound when it hits you.    you have been warned.

damn it i wish i ruled the world.

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