lesbiassparrow | Entries tagged with hana yori dango

I've been slowly catching up on the Korean version. Hmmmn. I'm not sure: some things I quite like about it - they've certainly got the best Domyouji incarnation (and he can do intimidating plus besotted plus quite bonkers which is a hard combo) but... I really find the more I watch the less I like the girl playing Jandi. Admittedly, she is struggling against the world's most unflattering bowl hair cut, a hair cut no human being should be forced to wear, but, still, that can't be what's impeding her acting. The Japanese version's Makino had a spark that appealed as much as how very cute the actress was, Barbie Hsu as Shan Cai in Meteor Garden was both charismatic and had a will of iron that never wavered, but Jandi is just okay. She's better when they're not making the actress mug for the camera but she still comes across as flat a lot of the time.

Umi, evil, evil Umi and your smiles! Are you related to hideous manipulative mum? I bet you are and that's why she's letting you stay in the house. I love the way everyone is always saying at first how nice she is but Rui's only comment is "I hate that girl." He's got good taste and excellent perception! Yes.

ETA: Hurrah for the punishment of evil Umi! Justice prevails and Rui still refuses to forgive her even though she is all weepy. Right on Rui and your perceptive self.

ETA 2: yay for happy endings and romance and couples who bicker their way through happily ever after. Also yay for Yuuki and her chances of finally getting to ride on the back seat of the fabled bike. Hurrah for kindness (hopefully) rewarded. Though I must say Sara and Nishikado are awfully attractive as a couple too.

Um. I am ashamed but though I know they are doomed, doomed, etc. I still think Rui and Makino are cute together, even if madly mismatched in height. All that violin playing angst needs to be comforted! Plus, less shouting than Doumuyouji. Which is probably not what Makino would want as she does rather like shouting back, but still! Yummy quiet, very wealthy angst is not to be sniffed at. Also he has no evil mother. Though I guess there might be one in the offing who is just better hidden than D's hideous parent.

I stay constantly astonished at the annoyingness of Shigeru. I guess the thing is that she probably ought to work with Doumyouji because they are somewhat alike what with the shouting and the fits that a five year old would throw, presumably because they were socialized by wolves or something of that ilk. But they don't work because presumably they need to be with normal people to maintain some semblance of sanity. She should pair up with Makino's brother when he is a bit older.

One of the things I like about this show is the friendships, though. Especially Makino, Yuuki and their boss. I do miss her stories about her past loves from series one, but I also like the way she poses dramatically and delivers pithy pronouncements in profile. I would like to have this talent as I feel it would make people listen to me more.

The other thing I shamefully admit to liking is mad suicide of Ken. While I do not like the angst it brings and the waste of a life I do rather approve of rubbing the people who are responsible for your layoff noses' in it. If that were the only option I had I think I'd probably aim for the guilt inducing moment as well. And if Doumyouji corporation is so weak that a 20 year old's pronouncement could bring it to its knees then there is something terribly wrong with it. What on earth could he have said? That he was planning on burning all their offices down and replacing them with bouncy castles? And then declaring war on America? The mind boggles.

But evil mum quite clearly just loves controlling people - it's not even about the corporation, it's about getting her son to do what she wants. Because clearly Doumyouji is a better functioning person with Makino than without and will be a better and more responsible person if he's with her...but evil mum cannot deal with him having an existence that is separate from her will. Ahhhh...evil mum, no wonder your son is barely functional as a civilized person.

ETA: Ken, you bastard. Oh evil mum you go further and further. I suspect she was Caligula in a previous life.

( And for tonights Heroes )

And in totally unrelated news: I hate a) 18th century Irish and b) gothic script. Why do you need to mark lenition with a dot which I can barely see on my photocopy?

And god, moving is expensive. The quotes I am getting are extraordinary - maybe I should just move the books and make furniture out of them?

Um, I am in a bit of a bind here. I have my traditions from seeing the lovely melodrama of Meteor Garden and reading the manga, but still Rui and Makino are a strangely attractive couple. And he has that whole 'I say little but I stand on sidelines being enigmatic'* thing going for him. And that is a very powerful thing.

I'm up to the horrid engagement dinner of Shiguri and Doumyouji, where I feel her parents should be thanking the heavens that they found a man who would want to be in the same room as her for more than five minutes. Look: you've got the most appalling daughter in the world and you can't afford to be picky. You should just thank the lord that you don't have to marry her off to the idiot son with no chin and 3 legs.

ETA: The only downside to Rui is his rather horrible taste in footwear. White patent shoes and dark trousers? Abomination!

*And helpful. Key to his appeal is that he is very helpful in a silent and probably rather emotionally scarred sort of way. But still, he would make you cups of tea and sort out taxes even as he dealt with emotional fall out in a possibly dangerous silence.

Oh, how I have missed you and your pretty boys and your angst and everything about you. And the evil mum. God, I love evil mum and her forties hair style which somehow makes her look even more evil. Admittedly I will be glad to see her get her come-uppance, but she makes an excellent villain. When your son's kindest words for you are 'old hag' you know something was awry with your parenting style.

Shigeru, the loud and unexpected fiancee, is especially annoying and that voice of hers would cut you like a knife. But clearly that is the daughter of very rich people, because anyone else would have worked out that you can't behave like that through bitter, bitter experience. But she presumably buys her friends at Dior.

But Rui! Even with the mad dyed hair ne is strangely alluring. There is something about disappointed in love men who come to your rescue in perilous situations and then don't say very much....

And I haven't even seen it. But I am now the pround owner of all 13 episodes.

Listen to this description: "in the year 400 AD, only one man, Prince Conor, can unite the long-suffering Celtic clans against the seductively lethal Roman Queen Diana and her evil wizard, Longinus. As Conor attempts to harness the magical power of the land called "The Roar," he is assisted by a ragtag group of fighters."

And this wonder, starring Heath Ledger, was cancelled after only 8 episodes. What sort of bastards would do such a thing?

The only issue is that I also received Hana Yori Dango 2 in the post and now I have to choose between Conor fighting the evil Queen Diana and gorgeous Japanese boys angsting. What is a girl to do?

Meanwhile since coming back from holidays I have been catching up on Lost. I'm up to the Juliet episode (the one which aired 2 weeks ago, I think) and thorougly loathing her and her moronic stupidity. ( Cut for spoilers )

Good lord, god knows I don't need another obsession, but this manga has managed to eat me alive. I'm on issue 30 and just lapping it up. So far I have seen: 2 live action versions of this manga, read most of the manga itself and am now planning on getting the anime. EVEN THOUGH I REALLY DON'T LIKE ANIME. What is wrong with me?

(For those of you who know not the wonders of HYD it's a story about a girl who is bullied at school, turns the tables on her bullies, ends up in a sequence of relationships and...actually, I can't explain its mysterious hold over me.)

Anyone on my flist who reads manga - where do you get them online? Because I think I would like to get the Mars one and it's not in my local Borders. I guess I could try Little Toyko, though, as they would surely have it, but in case they didn't or something it might be good to have a back up plan.

ETA: You know how mad I am about this manga and its incarnations? (Or just mad, period.) I am planning on making icons of it and I BARELY KNOW HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP.

ETA: Can I just say that I am distinctly not fond of the amnesia plot in volume 32. It's just annoying.

Okay, so well the lead male is a complete bastard at the begining of the series. And yes there is no excuse for how he behaves, because I would back my car over him. But then there is a scene where he begins to regret all of his actions and is horrifically beaten up for the girl he loves and the evil false friend of girl he loves is asking why he doesn't fight back and it's all so dark and guh and it is all so trying and deeply moving.

Right, then. If you like screwed up love, you'll love this, because everyone loves the wrong person. At least they do at the moment.

ETA: Also the school uniform is a bit like mine, Except we had a better tie. And I may be misremembering the quality of talent around in my my youth, but the boys' boarding school which was near ours also had very hot boys. In uniform.

ETA 2: Evil mum goes and tries to bribe heroine's family. But her mum tells her to piss off and pours food over her head and fakes a fit where she insists that the heroine marry the rich guy but then makes fun of it and it is a great scene, and you realise how the heroine's family is all about hanging together no matter what and it is great. Really, I am sucker for family mockery of outsiders scenes.

ETA 3: And heroine works in sushi shop with completely mad boss lady who is great and has endless stories of men she was in love with. I love boss lady.

So I've just watched the first episode of the Japanese live action version of this, and it's love, love, love. It's the story of middle-class girl* in an elite school which is run by a gang of bullies called the F4 who torment her for various reasons (mainly because she has a spine). There's a Taiwanese version called Meteor Gardens, which is also excellent, but this is totally wonderful too.

I love the look on the heroine's face when she punches one of the F4 in the school cafeteria; she's been taking the bullying and trying to just survive and then one of them messes with her lunch box and then she just explodes and whales on him. And he just lies there on the ground with this dawning expression of respect and interest on his face, and she declares eternal war against him and his cronies right in front of the entire school. Yay! And there's a bit where she is stumbling around one of the F4's mansions in the second episode and she comes across their banqueting hall and she says 'Harry Potter?'

So good.

* Actually I am not sure what class she is, because I know nothing about Japanese culture. But she is an awful lot poorer than the people she goes to school with and her parents are skimping on the food. So maybe lower middle class?