I have found some pics from the movie and more O_O at his image in the movie. I wonder...is that really him in face paint? He looks unrecognisable!

Detroit Metal City for a Hollywood re-make

Speaking of films and festivals, this summer's surprise hit at the Japanese box office, the movie "Detroit Metal City" may be already headed for a Hollywood re-make. Based on a six-volume manga by Wakasugi Kiminori that sold over 2 million copies, the wacky comedy stars popular young actor Matsuyama Kenichi (23), who made his name in the "Death Note" series. He plays a mild-mannered street musician with a taste for Swedish pop, but whose alter ego is the intense death metal vocalist Johannes Klauser II. In the three weeks since it opened, it's been seen by over a million cinema-goers and has grossed over ¥2 billion. Several studios in Hollywood and Hong Kong have expressed an interest in doing a re-make. Distribution of the original has already been agreed for Hong Kong and South Korea and discussions are underway for two dozen more countries worldwide, including the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. Matsuyama and director Lee Toshio were in Canada over the weekend, where the movie was shown in the "Midnight Madness" category of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Source: Japan Zone

Note: Please do not hotlink pictures, click for actual version

^ LOL at this picture - the only audience that he has - a cute white dog!

^ Ken in face paint ? O_O

Related:

• Movie CM and Spotlight
• Official Movie Trailer

Jeg har sett to filmer på kino i det siste; en ene er Ponyo(nyeste Ghibli-film) og den andre er DMC - Detroit Metal City(med Matsuyama Kenichi fra Death Note-filmene). Ponyo var rett og slett bare søt, og sangen fra filmen kommer man garantert å få sittende fast i hodet en god stund, selvfølgelig - det er jo Ghibli. DMC er for sprø til å forklares på en god måte - gå og les på Wikipedia ;D

Dere hjemme i Norge har mest sannsynlig begynt på skole og jobb igjen for høsten nå, men her i Japan er det varmt mye lenger, så sommerferien varer vanligvis til 1. september. Det vil si at jeg begynner på skolen neste uke, og jeg både gleder og gruer meg litt. Jeg kommer til å få mye mindre fritid nå som jeg har begynt med badminton, men det skal bli gøy å treffe de i klassen som jeg ikke har sett så mye i det siste. I tillegg kommer det enda en utvekslingselev til skolen min som skal være i Japan til januar, vi kommer altså til å dra hjem nogenlunde samtidig. Hun skal visst være fra Frankrike, og japansken hennes er visstnok minst like god som min - da slipper vi å snakke fransk sammen i hvertfall, for jeg har glemt mye av det lille av fransk jeg kunne da jeg kom hit!

Jeg har bestemt meg for å gjøre ferdig nivå H av Kumon innen skolen begynner. Jeg har igjen rundt 40 sider, men jeg tror det skal gå bra. På de siste to ukene har jeg nesten gjort 200 sider tilsammen, og vanligvis greier/gidder jeg ikke å gjøre mer enn ca 25 sider på en uke! Chou ganbatteta xD Jeg har regnet med fram til at hvis jeg gjør rundt 5 sider hver dag fra neste uke, kommer jeg til å bli ferdig med HELE Kumon innen jeg drar hjem. Da vil jeg ha gjort fra nivå C til L - det er mange sider, det!

Så til noe helt annet; i det siste har jeg tatt opp å spille en del spill på DSen igjen. Siden jeg kom til Japan, har jeg blitt ferdig med Gyakuten Saiban(Phoenix Wright) 3 og 4, og snart den første. Nummer 3 er absolutt min favoritt, og den siste saken var helt genial. Jeg tror Gyakuten Saiban-spillene må være blandt mine favoritter av spill noensinne. Jeg var veldig imot nummer 4 i starten og mente Apollo og Trucy bare var noen bleke skygger av Phoenix og Maya, men den siste saken var så bra at jeg venter så og si i spenning til nummer 5 blir sluppet. Hva med dere, er det noen som leser dette her som i det hele tatt vet hva Gyakuten Saiban er? Hvis ikke, gå og spill det nå.

Jeg har kjøpt et nytt spill til DSen for litt siden, og det heter Rhythm Tengoku Gold. Det er et av de søteste og morsomste spillene jeg har spilt på lenge, det er dreier seg om å løse massevis av småspill som baserer seg på rytme. Jeg vet ikke om det er sluppet i andre land enn Japan enda, men det anbefales virkelig.

Men nok om det xD Nå har tropevarmen her endelig begynt å ta av litt, og det har til og med vært dager da det har vært under 30 grader! Det har også regnet en del og vært noe torden i det siste, og det er jo bare gøy ;D

Det var alt jeg kom på for denne gangen, og jeg har heller ikke tatt noe særlig bilder i det siste, så følg med til neste gang! :3

***I  wrote this the other day but again, I kept getting disconnected.***

Just as promised, I'm writing everyday now. To kinki and Christine thanks for what you said on my last last entry! To kinki, I'm glad you find this blog interesting. I'm really sorry for not being able to post the continuation of Saeko's story. I just couldn't find the time to finish it. And I don't want to post the next chapter yet because it might leave you guys hanging. By the way, I probably said some strange things in my last entry. I hope I didn't sound conceited or anything, I was just stating some of my past experiences.

It's been a wonderful couple of days for me. I've started going out more. You know, I should have started this whole blogging thing long ago. It really helped me a lot. I get to say what's on my mind, even my deepest darkest secrets. I even get to have regular readers which I never thought was possible. I didn't even think anyone would read this when I started it. So thank you guys!

So I went out again and watched a movie...as always. It was just a great day. It didn't rain but it wasn't too bright and sunny. I spent the whole day drinking coffee and eating crepes! Yay! Crepes! I missed eating those but I couldn't find a good crepe shop here (if only Angel Crepe exists :-P) Luckily, a new one just opened at the nearby mall recently and I finally get to eat crepes! I ate tuna wasabi and banana butterscotch crepe. They were absolutely scrumptious especially the tuna wasabi! Yum! It's seriously the best crepe I've ever tasted! And I couldn't help but think of "L" while eating it! And yeah, my new obsession with crepes is the reason behind the lame title of this post!

Oh and about the movie I watched, it's called "Bank Job" with Jason Statham. Well, I told you I watch every sort of movie there is. Bank Job is a bank heist film similar to the movie "The Italian Job". But as for the characters and story, it's more like a British Ocean's 11...except there were only 6 people involved and the robbery is a bit smaller in scale. It's not the clever, perfectly-planned bank heist where the players are all professionals with varying areas of expertise that we often see in movies like this. In fact, the thieves are just a bunch of amateurs and they were sloppy, careless and left a lot of room for mistakes. In fact, the only reason they pulled the job off was because of pure dumb luck! But robbing the bank was the easy part, the hard part was getting hunted by the people who owns the stuff they stole. That's their big mistake, they didn't rob a vault full of money, they robbed  a bunch of safety deposit boxes which are filled with items that are highly important to a bunch of powerful but very nasty people. It was a pretty interesting movie but it didn't offers anything new. The performances were pretty solid but some parts were a bit of a mess. Oh well, at least I got to watch something new. I actually thought I would have to watch The Dark Knight again since I've already seen every single movie in the theater.

Speaking of movies, Matsuyama Ken'ichi's latest movie, "Detroit Metal City" has just been released in Japan last August 8 (I think). This makes me regret no much that I'm not back home. I want to watch it so bad! I just saw some Behind the scenes clips on youtube with Ken'ichi rocking on-stage with the legendary Gene Simmons! They were awesome! Oh and I love Ken'ichi's black nail polish! I have a thing for guys with black nail polish since I have black nails as well. Anyway, I can't believe I missed another movie release that I've been waiting for for a long time! First L:Change the World, then Hana Yori Dango Movie and now this! This sucks big time! Now I have to wait for months before I could watch it online! By the way, for my fellow Fujiki Naohito fans, just in case you haven't heard, Nao is on the Hana Yori Dango Movie. It's kinda poetic actually. He played the role of Hanazawa Rui in the old HYD movie and now his in the new version too! I bet he and Shun compared notes about playing the same role! :-P Oh since we're talking about the cast of HYD, I was just looking around on youtube and I found this clip from the press conference for the 24hr TV event in Japan last June 17. And Nakama Yukie and Arashi were there! Waaaah! It's been 6 years since Gokusen 1 and seeing Nakama Yukie and Matsumoto Jun together in one show again just makes me so nostalgic! When Jun said to Yukie, "Long time no see, Yamaguchi sensei", I couldn't stop giggling! I am, after all, one of the biggest Shinkumi shippers there ever was! I wish they were sitting next to each other though. They were like sitting on the opposite sides of the room, with the other members of Arashi between them.

As for the drama department, I only got to watch two dramas these past few days because I kept getting disconnected.  I watched episode 5 of Code Blue and  the very first episode of Galileo!  I tried loading Ashita no Kita Yoshio and Binbo Danshi but they took too long to load and always got cut-off half-way.

Code Blue was still pretty awesome. Episode 5, for me, wasn't as intense as the 2nd episode but it was still pretty good. In this episode, three of the interns had to fly to an old factory were a terrible accident just occurred. 30 people were seriously injured so they had their hands full. It reminded me of the ferry accident in Grey's Anatomy but with less intensity and grandeur. It had so much potential to be a great episode but somehow it felt quite lacking. It was quite touching but I felt like I've seen it all before. But I'm still looking forward to the next episode! I really want to know more about Yamapi's character because he's been this cold emotionless guy since day one. He's like a closed book that doesn't reveal much about himself. I wish, by the next episode, we get to see more depth to his character.

Now for the main course: "Galileo!" First of all, I would like to thank Eve for recommending this to me. I was actually having second-thoughts about watching this drama before. I'm just not a fan of Fukuyama Masaharu and I thought this would be boring and overly serious. I was such an idiot! I've only seen one episode but I already fell in love with it! It was just so much fun to watch! Fukuyama Masaharu and Shibasaki Kou had such amazing chemistry. They just light-up the screen with their presence. It's a perfect team-up and both of their characters were simply adorable.  It would be impossible not to like them! Galileo was just a funny guy. I love his silly laugh, strange mannerisms and weird way of dealing with people. Utsumi, on the other hand,  reminds me so much of Ayaki Kurumi of the drama "Remote". In fact, Galileo is like a more modern version of "Remote". The whole Galileo/Utsumi team-up reminds me so much of the Himuro/Ayaki team-up. Putting together a socially retarded genius and a pretty and idealistic cop is always a winning formula. Come to think of it, Utsumi could be Kurumi's future-self. Utsumi was a former traffic cop who became a detective by doing a lot of undercover jobs to bag molesters. She even dressed-up as a highschool student once. Well, Kurumi did the same thing in "Remote" and she was also a traffic cop who started investigating cases.

Anyway, I am soooo glad I started watching this! It just made my day! The first case wasn't that challenging but the way Galileo solved the case was so much fun to watch. I can't wait to see the next episode!

In the anime department, I'm still watching the same stuff. But I started to watch Katekyo Hitman Reborn again. I didn't like it that much before because I found the fact that Tsuna have to always get stripped into his underwear whenever he has to use his super powers is quite ridiculous. I just thought it would be way cooler if he didn't have to get naked when he's hit by the dying will bullet. But now, I'm on the second arc and Tsuna is fully clothed when fighting now! He even have another weapon at his disposal. The story's also starting to get interesting. So I think I might start liking this anime. But I still have to wait and see. I've still got a lot of episodes to go before I reach the latest episode.

Hmmm, It's almost time for lunch. I'm still on a Pocky and coffee cream soda diet since there's nothing else on the fridge but it's okay. Well, that's it for now, I have to load lots of anime and drama while I still have internet connection. I might get disconnected any moment so I have to make the most out of my limited  internet access!
End of Day Forty Five.

This is the dream I dreamed. I was walking on a long dark hallway. Everything was black and white. There were people with the same faces all around me. They had the face of a hideous man that I've never seen before and they were all walking backwards, seemingly oblivious of my presence. I walked past them and headed towards the light at the end of the hallway. There was a man there, waiting for me. He had the same face as everyone else yet he was smiling at me. He was holding a black and blue poster as if he wanted me to look at it. I looked at the poster and saw pictures of people singing on-stage, all with the same faces as everyone else. I shook my head and stepped away. Then something caught my attention. A staircase. The light was coming from above that staircase. I went closer to it only to realize that it's only a painting on the wall. The surface was completely flat but it was painted in a way that gives an illusion that it was three dimensional. But it looked so real. I knew it was real. I closed my eyes and took one step forward. And when I opened them, I realized, I was walking up the staircase. When I reached the next landing, I saw a bright light coming from a slightly opened door. I walked towards the door and cautiously opened it. It was a public restroom. There were white tiled walls and floors, white flourescent lights, white cubicles and sinks, and a large bathroom mirror. It looked completely ordinary except from the fact that every inch of it was covered with books of all shapes, colors and sizes. There were books everywhere! Scattered all over the floor, stacked above the sinks, hanging on the ceiling. I walked inside, careful not to step on any of the books. I headed towards the last cubicle as if I was being drawn to it. I slowly opened the door and peered inside. There was a mountain of books stacked on top of the toilet and at the tip of that mountain was a tiny window, as big as cat's door. I climbed up the mountain of books until I reached the window. It was too small for me to fit in, yet I tried to squeeze into it. And I managed to get in! Once I reached the other side, my eyes were blinded for a second by an extremely bright light and I had to close them for a while. When I opened my eyes again, I was lying face down in the middle of a forest. It was autumn and the ground was covered by orange and golden brown leaves. The trees were also of the same colors. The sun was shining brightly and everything was so bright they looked like they were ablaze. Suddenly, a beautiful woman wearing a purple velvet 18th century dress, a matching purple hat with white feathers and holding a purple parasol, came out from behind one of the trees. She smiled at me and tipped her head to one side as if she was asking me to follow her. As I was about to stand up, the alarm clock sounded and I woke up.

Pretty strange huh? But that's how dreams are. Strange, incomprehensible and confusing. This dream is the only one I could remember in detail. It was a dream I had when I was in highschool. I dreamt about it over and over for days, always waking up at the exact same moment when I'm about to follow the purple lady. And then, one day, I suddenly stopped dreaming about it but I was never able to forget it.

You must be wondering why I'm suddenly talking about dreams. It actually has something to do with my latest obsession: "Yume Juya" (10 Nights of Dreams). This is an anthology that was released last year by Nikkatsu. It features ten short films based on the book of the same name by famed 19th/20th century author Soseki Natsume. The film gathers together some of the best Japanese directors around, including several names who will be familiar to J-horror fans. The cast also includes some of Japan's biggest names like Toda Erika, Kashii Yu, Koizumi Kyoko, Sadao Abe, Yamamoto Koji, Honjo Manami and our very own "L", Matsuyama Ken'ichi. This movie was shown in the Vancouver Film Festival last year and will be released by Cinema Epoch in the USA on October 2008.

This films reminds me a lot of the animated movie "Paprika" and the graphic novel: "Sandman: The Dream Hunters" by the macabre master Neil Gaiman and the genius behind the Final Fantasy characters, AmanoYoshitaka . Neil Gaiman's short stories are the type of stories that doesn't seem to make sense yet they're incredibly clever. They bring a chill down your spine and leaves you with a funny feeling in the pit of your stomach. I don't know how to explain it but his stories always leaves me in some sort of dream-like trance. They're unnerving, insane and sometimes seriously disturbing but they always manage to make you feel emotions you've never felt before.

Natsume's Soseki's "10 Nights of Dreams" made me feel the exact same way. When I watched it, I didn't feel like I was watching a movie, I felt like I was entering someone else's dreams and nightmares. Everything just seemed so surreal and strange. Each short story's very beautiful in an eerie and eccentric way. Some will leave you with your mouth wide-open and with one giant question mark floating above your head. Others would make you wonder if you should laugh or cry or just sit in a state of disbelief. I asked my sister to watch this while we were chatting online. And after she did, she was totally speechless. She didn't know how to react. She didn't know if it was brilliant or stupid, if it was scary or silly, if she should applaud or run away. It was just plain weird and leaves you with mixed emotions. And that's why, I think this is a really brilliant movie and novel (I've read the novel after watching the movie) Watching this was just like dreaming. Nothing makes sense, everything's bizarre yet somehow you understand it and you feel strange things because of it. It has a certain quality that is rarely seen in movies and I absolutely love it!

10 Nights of Dreams is a compilation of 10 short stories or "Dreams" as the author calls them. Each dream has a different theme and had titles like: Love, Anguish, Son, Nostalgia, Fear, Passion, Loneliness, Imagine, Family Love and Egoism. It's a madhouse of unique creativity and talent of very different directors and actors from various genres. It has everything from horror to action, drama to comedy and any other genre that comes in between.

My favorites are the 7th and 10th dreams. The 7th Dream, "Loneliness", was directed by Kawahara Masaaki and the brilliant Amano Yoshitaka (Yes, the same Amano Yoshitaka I talked about earlier). It's the only animated film in this anthology and it is visually stunning. The animation is superb, you could clearly see its similarities with the Final Fantasy series. I'm a Final Fantasy geek so it's no surprise that I fell in love with the surreal and very dream-like world in this short film. The lead male character even reminded me of Squall's emo-ness and the ship here greatly resembles the one in Final Fantasy IX. There isn't much of a story in this vignette though, but people like me could easily relate to the main character. The main character, who strangely resembles "D" of "Vampire Hunter D" (Another Amano Yoshitaka creation), was a lonely traveler who questions his own existence. He asks the same questions that I often asked in this blog: "Can one be truly called "alive" when you're living such a mediocre existence?" "Why is it that even though you're surrounded by people, no one seemed to really care?". The title suited this dream very well. Even though the colors were vibrant and there were wonderful and magical creatures floating all around the screen, you could feel the sorrow of the dark and gloomy traveler. The only thing I didn't like about this vignette is the terrible English voice dubbing. The voice actors did a horrible job and was not able to convey the proper emotions with their voices. It's like they were simply reading the lines. It was so bad it even made me cringe. I wish they just dubbed it in Japanese or they should have at least cast American voice actors like in the Advent Children movie.

Anyway, my most favorite short film in this anthology, and probably everyone's favorite is the 10th dream, "Egoism". It was directed by Yamaguchi Yudai of Battlefield Baseball and Meatball Machine and stars non-other than my beloved "L", Matsuyama Ken'ichi and Honjo Manami. Ken'ichi once again proves how fearless he is when it comes to portraying eccentric characters. This is without a doubt, his weirdest role yet. In this short film, Ken'ichi plays the role of Shotaro, an extremely handsome young man who gets the attention of all the women. But unknown to them, he is also a serial killer who mercilessly kill people he considers to be ugly. One day, a beautiful woman came to town and Shotaro immediately fell in love with her. But the woman have secrets of her own and she's about to teach Shotaro a lesson he will never forget.

This short film was both stupid and clever at the same time! It would drive you insane! It's funny, disgusting and makes no sense at all but you will end up having a huge smile on your face after watching it. This is by far, the most entertaining short film in this whole anthology and it made me want to watch it over and over again. It made my brain turn to goo with its silly antics and out-of-this-world ideas. The Willy Wonka parody was seriously bizarre! And the fact that Ken'ichi looked adorable in this film is also a huge plus!

But seriously, I could talk all day about how amazing this film is. It's the only live-action film that made me feel the same way I felt when I watched "Spirited Away" and "Paprika". It has the weirdness of Mirrormask without having the need to use over-the-top special effects. It's brilliant and cheesy and just plain confusing! I love it! I'm a weird girl after all!

On a totally unrelated note, I finally finished Tantei Gakuen Q the other day. It is by far one my favorite dramas now! It's completely flawed and predictable as a mystery drama but I absolutely love its story and characters. The ending was so sweet and left a huge smile on my face. I think that's why I loved this drama so much. It just has that innocence and youthfulness that I rarely see in dramas. It's such a great and completely idealistic story about friendship and I just couldn't help but smile while watching the characters interact with each other. I'm surely gonna miss it!

After watching the drama, I watched the "Tantei Gakuen Q Special". It's a prequel to the drama so it was aired one year before the series. Everyone looked so young and tiny in this special. They really looked like little kids! I couldn't believe how much they've grown in one year. The special took place before they've entered the Detective Academy. Kyuu, Ryuu, Megu, Kazuma and Kinta were living separate and ordinary lives and by some twist of fate, they met during the entrance examination for the Morihiko Dan Detective Academy. There were tons of other people (mostly adults) who took the entrance exams but little by little, they all got eliminated until there were only six people left. Then one of those 6 people got murdered and it's up to our five heroes to solve the mystery. This was their first murder case as a team and we get to see how their friendship really started. It was really fun seeing them work together for the first time. But it was kinda weird since they all looked so different. Kyuu was so skinny and his voice was so much smaller. Ryuu was too cute and tiny unlike the cool and mysterious Ryuu in the drama. He looked so so young in this Special especially because of his childish voice. Megu still looked a little boyish and was still just a little girl in this Special unlike the pretty young lady she has become in the drama. Kazuma was played by a completely different actor so I was a little annoyed by his character here. Kinta was the only one who didn't change much except from his outfit. Speaking of outfits, it's weird not seeing them in their signature outfits. Oh and, Megu and Ryuu's hair looked so strange. Were they wearing wigs in this Special? Anyway, it was a really fun and feel-good Special and the mystery to be solved here was so much more unpredictable than the ones in the series. I wasn't able to figure-out the mystery behind the giant concrete block and I was so glad! It was the first time in Tantei Gakuen Q that the mystery was difficult to solve! Although it was still quite easy to figure out who the culprit was. But all in all, it was a great Special and I was grinning till the end!

Since I finished Tantei Gakuen Q, I'm moving on to the next mystery drama on my list: "Galileo". I was actually torn between Galileo and Kuitan (both are detective dramas) but Galileo's ratings were higher so I picked it over Kuitan. Along with Galileo, I've also decided to watch Nagasawa Masami's yakuza drama, "Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu" (Sailor Suit and Machine Gun). It's about a highschool girl who suddenly finds herself as the boss of a Yakuza family. It looks really interesting and it only has 7 episodes so I should be able to finish it in no time.

Well, that's it for now. Anway, if you wanna see the kick-ass trailer of Yume Juya, you can find it on youtube or on my multiply site "http://yankumi7.multiply.com". The 10th short film: "Egoism" is also there. Enjoy!

End of Day Forty Two.

***This post was written the other day. I just posted it now because I got disconnected before.***

It's strange. Eventhough I feel sick because of my insomnia, I somehow feel like I don't want to get rid of it. For a few months now, I've been asleep during the day and awake at night. (Unless I have to go out during the day to buy food or watch a movie.) At first, I thought, I sleep during the day because I have no choice. I couldn't sleep at night so my body is too tired to stay awake during the day. But now I realized that I sleep during the day, because I hate the light. Whenever I go out of the apartment, my eyes hurt because of the sun. The world is also too noisy and full of movement. At night, it's cool, quiet and the whole world stays still. Everyone in the building where I live are fast asleep. I felt like I'm the only person who exists. The sky is dark and the wind is cold. I love it that way. I also love the idea that my day is about to begin when other people's day is about to end. My fascination for darkness, is probably the reason why I love going to the movie theater so much!

Ever since, I was young, I've always felt right at home inside the movie theater. I never knew the reason why, but whenever I enter the theater I whisper to myself, "tadaima!" (I'm home!) I love the the fact that eventhough there are other people around me, I couldn't see their faces and they couldn't see mine. I'm not alone yet I'm not pressured to fit in. It's also cold, dark and spacious and whenever I'm there I feel like I'm in a different world. Whether it's bright and sunny, or dark and stormy outside, inside the theater, it's always the same. Nothing changes. It's like time stands still while you're in there and that comforts me in a way! I guess, that's why I always made sure that I watch a movie whenever I go out of the apartment. The theater is my home! The only home I have in this world. I never felt at home in the house I grew up in. I don't feel at home in this apartment I'm living in or at the sharehouse I used to live in. But the movie theater, no matter what country I'm in, it always feels the same to me. It always feels like home.

You must be wondering why I'm saying these weird things. I guess that's the effect of watching Sexy Voice and Robo. I'll explain why later.

Anyway, it's one in the morning. I just ate "lunch" of cup noodles and chocolate cookies. By the way, I woke up at 8 pm last night and I felt great. I'm not so dizzy anymore and I had a sudden urge to make a bento. It's quite silly, really. When I used to work at an IT company, I wake up early everyday to make the bento that I would take with me to work. Then I would eat it with my office mates during lunch-break. I always had the ugliest-looking bento. Well, cooking is not my strong point, after all. But I sure miss making it. So today, I made a bento, covered it and wrapped it with a cloth. Then I took it up to my bedroom and I ate while watching "Sexy Voice and Robo." I know, I'm such an idiot. I guess, a part of me misses going to work after all.

Oh well, so on to the important stuff. I watched a movie the other day, the musical, Mamma Mia! I love watching musicals! I've only seen a few but I just love them! I like listening to rock music the most, but the songs from musicals, for me, are just utterly timeless! Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Grease, Hairspray, Chicago, Sweeney Todd etc. Their songs are simply "magical" and could never be forgotten by those who hear them. I've never really seen any of those plays, only their movie versions but I've been listening to their songs since I was kid. My dad, even though he's a racist, loves American and European music. He had a huge collection of American albums, with songs from Beatles, Chicago, Abba, and also from various Broadway Musicals. I grew up listening to them, so I was really excited to see Mamma Mia.

Well, it's not much of movie though. The plot is really simple and the story is quite ordinary. A young girl named Sophie, wants to find herself so she decided to find her real father before she gets married. She invited her three potential fathers to her wedding, making things complicated for her mother, Donna. Truth is, I didn't feel like I was watching a movie while I watched this. I felt like I was watching a Broadway musical instead. The acting and the movements are a bit exaggerated and the dance routines are really silly. It would have worked for a play but not for a movie. There are just some things that you could do on stage that you should never attempt to do on screen. Seeing Meryl Streep doing silly dance moves and wearing that ridiculous outfit just felt strange to me. The characters also didn't feel real and are almost too cartoony. But it's okay, it's a musical after all! I just pretended that I'm watching a stage play and not a movie. Anyway, no matter how awkward the performances and some of the dance moves are, it's easy to overlook them because of the beautiful music. I had goosebumps from the moment Amanda Seyfried sang "I have a dream" in the beginning. It's just one of the most beautiful and uplifting songs that ever existed and she sang it amazingly well. When Donna and her friends sang "Dancing Queen", it reminded me of the times I sang at the karaoke bar with my college friends. There are also a lot of really touching moments in this movie. Like the scene when Sophie was hanging-out with her three potential dads for the first time. I don't know why, but there's something about that scene that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Plus Amanda Seyfried did an amazing job playing the role of Sophie. I couldn't believe she could portray that role so well and she looked gorgeous in this movie. Another part I love, is that scene when Sophie's mom was helping her get ready for her wedding. That was such a heart-warming scene. Meryl and Amanda looked like a real mother and daughter. I was actually teary-eyed after watching that scene. All in all, Mamma Mia is a fun and very entertaining movie but if you're not a fan of Broadway musicals and Abba, then you might not enjoy it that much.

As for the drama department, I finished two dramas already: "Unfair" and "Sexy Voice and Robo". Unfair is a mystery and suspense drama about a tough and unconventional female detective with questionable methods of solving crimes. The story goes like this: 5 years ago, the smart and gorgeous detective, Yukihara Natsumi, killed a 17 year-old boy to save a man's life. Since then, human-rights activists held protests against her for mercilessly killing criminals and the people around her also began to drift away from her, including her husband and daughter. But instead of changing her attitude and her extreme methods, she continued being the same seemingly-heartless cop.

Unfair reminds me of the American series "24". Like 24, the pace of this drama is really fast and there are rarely any dull moments. The plot is quite gripping and would keep you at the edge of your seat. Truth is, I finished this drama in one day. I just couldn't stop watching because the ending of each episode keeps the audience hanging so you have no choice but to immediately watch the next episode. Unlike Kindaichi and Conan, there were only 3 cases that must be solved in this drama: the detective novel murders, the kidnapping of Mio and the X-mark murders. And they're not random cases either. They are all interconnected and has a single mastermind. This is the exact opposite of Kindaichi because unlike in Kindaichi, figuring out the identity of the mastermind is the hardest part in Unfair. The murders are not as clever and twisted as the ones in Kindaichi but they would still keep your mind working. The puzzle to be solved here is not how the murders were done, but who did them and why? In this drama, everyone's a suspect, even Yukihira. Hell, some people even suspected the little girl, Mio. LOL! This drama probably has the most number of twists that I've ever seen. Just when you thought you know who the killer is, that person suddenly turns up dead. So you're once again, back to square one. If it weren't for that idiot who posted a comment in crunchyroll containing a spoiler for this drama, I would have probably kept guessing until the end. And I definitely would have fallen-off my seat when the mastermind was revealed in the end! Damn, spoilers!

As for the characters, this drama has a lot of quirky, scary and lovable ones. My favorite, of course, is Ando, played by the brilliant Eita! Eita is simply born to play gentle and lovable characters. Ando, is Yukihira's newbie partner. He's weak and somewhat useless but his heart is definitely in the right place. No matter how many times Yukihira insults him and calls him dumbass, he remained by her side. He drinks with her when she has problems with her family and at work, he takes care of her when she's drunk, he defends her when the other cops insults her and he does everything she asks him to do, even baby-sitting her daughter. And if it weren't for him, Yukihira's life would still be a mess. It's really hard not to love him. He's like the detective version of Takeru of Last Friends. Now, I know why Eita rocked in that role! He's had lots of practice here in Unfair. Like Takeru towards Ruka, Ando is also in-love with the strong and intimidating Yukihira. (Come to think of it Ruka is like that too!) I really felt sorry for him especially when he sits in that bar moping while eating a huge pile of cabbages! (LOL! Actually, that was really funny!)

Another character I love is Kaoru-chan, played by Kato Masaya. Kaoru is probably the smartest guy in the whole drama! He's the one who figures things out right away, he can analyze sounds and find out the location of culprits through it, and he can see the most minute details in the crime scenes. But since, he's just a lowly cop, no one listens to him and they all make fun of him. I couldn't help but giggle whenever they drag him out of the room whenever he says "In my opinion..." Poor guy, they never allowed him to voice out his opinions. He reminds me of Maxwell Smart from the American series, "Get Smart". Although instead of a shoe-phone, Kaoru is always holding a microphone. But it's alright, just like Max Smart, the cocky detectives realized Kaoru's worth in the end, and now they are the ones asking him for his opinion. Also, aside from Ando and Yukihira's father-figure Yasumoto, Kaoru-chan is the one who's always on Yukihira's side. He even admitted once to Ando that he also loves Yukihira, but as a cop and not as a woman. Awww....

But of course, the star of this drama is Yukihira played by the extremely talented Shinohara Ryoko. Shinohara Ryoko is one of most favorite female actresses ever and she did another stellar job here in "Unfair". I really love her character's personality! She's the embodiment of girl-power! In a world dominated by arrogant and annoying male detectives, Yukihira reigned supreme! She's the number one detective with a 100% success rate in solving crimes! All of the men in their department are officially whooped! That's why they all hate her especially that annoying walrus-faced Kokubo! Grrrr! That guy pisses me off! All he ever thought about is the reputation of their department. He didn't care about the victims at all! Anyway, Yukihira, may be harsh and violent but she still has a soft side. She's not only a cop but also a mother and wife. During the first case, we see Yukihira wearing an iron mask, rarely showing any emotions. But during the second case, when her extremely cute daughter, Mio, was kidnapped, we see the human-side of Yukihira. No matter how tough she is, she still has a heart of a mother. It's great how they showed the many sides of her! They showed the tough and heartless detective, the silly drunkard and slob, the loving mother, the naive friend, the sensual lover and the caring wife. I just wish they showed the brilliant detective she's supposed to be. I admit, her method of lying on the spot where the victim died to see the last thing the victim saw, is really cool. But she never really did anything amazing and extremely clever in this series. She's always late in figuring out who the culprit is, she's not that good in analyzing things and she's way too rash and emotional sometimes. Hell, Kaoru's way smarter than her! If it weren't for her strong personality, Yukihira would have been a lame main character. Even her husband, who's not a cop, was better than her! He figured out a way to lure the mastermind on his own and Yukihira just followed his instructions! Yukihira would have never figured out who the mastermind is if it weren't for her husband! I also couldn't understand why she always had to shoot the hearts of the criminals. She could easily shoot their leg or their arm if she's as great as they say she is. Killing the culprits to save the innocent just makes her look like some merciless vigilante! I agree with the protesters, what she's doing is just not right! Not all criminals are completely evil! Just like that boy she killed! That boy only murdered those people to save the person he loves. But Yukihira didn't care about that! Just because her dad was murdered, she treats all criminals like soul-less vermins who don't deserve to live! I kinda hate her for that!

Anyway, aside from the not-so-brilliant main character, the occasional long and draggy conversations and some rather predictable twists, Unfair is still a must-see for all detective-drama fanatics! It has the perfect blend of suspense, comedy, romance and heart-wrenching drama! I thought this drama wouldn't make me cry but I cried like a baby in the end. The last episode is just full of very sad and touching scenes that even the most cold-hearted person would probably burst into tears! But let me just warn you, once you start watching this, there's no turning back. Make sure you've had plenty of sleep before-hand because you wouldn't be able go to bed unless you've finished this! Believe me, I know!

After the intense and dramatic, Unfair, I decided to watch something fun and light-hearted but still within the mystery department. So I watched "Sexy Voice and Robo". I also chose this because I'm still in a Matsuyama Ken'ichi fan-girl mode! It's a lasting after-effect of watching "L Change the WorLd". I practically worship him now and I'm planning on starting my own religion devoted to him! I know, I need serious help.
If you go to my website you'll see a gazillion pictures of him! I even bought my own Death Note the other day!

Anyway, back to the drama! I was expecting to see a silly, feel-good drama but "Sexy Voice and Robo" was so much more than that! I was actually taken-aback by how deep this drama is! At first the plot seemed really simple. A fourteen year-old girl (Ohgo Suzuka) who has unbelievably sharp sense of hearing and the ability to mimic voices, crossed paths with a childish 24 year-old robot otaku (Matsuyama Ken'ichi) who has a penchant for creating gadgets. Together, they started solving various cases given to them by Makyona Maki (Asaoka Ruriko), a former spy and owner of an Antique store. Also aiding them in their adventures is Makyona Maki's clumsy and silly assitant, Yo-chan (Nanashi Hideyoshi).

My initial impression of this series turned out to be true. This drama is really funny! Matsuyama Ken'ichi and Ohgo Suzuka make a great team despite the difference in their age. They are absolutely fun to watch and they have undeniable chemistry. I guess you don't have to be the same age to have great chemistry! (They remind me of the first time I saw Peter and Claire together in "Heroes") Individually, they are both amazing. Ohgo Suzuka perfectly portrayed the mature but innocent Niko, while Matsuyama Ken'ichi is a god for being able to portray the dorky, immature and silly Robo! (Sorry, fan-girl mode!) I was amazed at how different he is in this drama! I've seen his other works, but this is the first time I saw him play this type of role. He's like a completely different person! Anyway, both characters are extremely likable but neither of them is perfect! Which is what I like! Perfect characters are boring! Niko is smart, mature, brave, determined and caring but there are lots of things that she finds hard to understand like the existence of love, the importance of family, the dark side of people, being herself even if that means she would be different from everyone else and the effect of a death to people. Robo on the other hand, is immature, irresponsible and somewhat useless at times but his heart is pure and with him everything seems so simple. While other people grow old worrying about their problems, Robo stays the same. As long as he has his robots, he's perfectly contented. For him the existence of his robots is some sort of miracle. People may not understand him but his robots are his reasons for living! (Hmmmm, sounds like someone I know....substitute the robots with anime and dramas though.) Plus he's damn proud to be an otaku even though that means zero love-life for him!

Anyway, although this drama is really funny, what I didn't expect was the important life lessons that are taught in each episode. Who would have thought that deep and life-changing lessons are hidden within a drama filled with silly scenes and quirky characters. It's like Nobuta wo Produce. It has a simple setting, larger-than-life characters and somewhat fantastical situations; yet it tells meaningful messages. I can't fully express it in general so I'll dissect it per episode.

The first episode, "Three Day Long Memory", talks about the importance of memories. Sometimes people try to forget the hurtful things in their past for them to be able to move on with their lives. But this drama teaches us that even if we forget the past, it doesn't mean it didn't happen. The good and the bad things that happened in our lives, they are all our memories and we must cherish them all, because they are all a part of who we are. They are proof that we have lived. It kinda made me re-think my life and you know what, they're right. Trying to forget the past, has done nothing but cause me pain. This episode also explained why people collect stuff. Receipts, clothes tags, stamps, milk-lids, toys, perfume bottles...everyone has some sort of collection. No matter how insignificant and seemingly stupid, at some point in our life, we collected something. I for one, collected stationeries when I was a kid, then I collected trading cards, anime figures and posters, then manga and books, even phone cards. I even found a bunch of old receipts and clothes tags tucked inside my old notebooks. I never really thought of the reason why I collected those things but the truth is, those mundane items are proof that I am alive. All the books on my shelf represents various points in my life, every phone card, represents a certain day in my life. They are all proof that I have lived in this world and that I am still alive. I never thought of this before but because of this drama, I somehow felt enlightened. How about you, what's your proof that you have lived?

The second episode, Gobokura, talks about love. A man, neglected the woman he loves when she was alive and when she died, he was not able to ask her for forgiveness. So he went through a whole lot of trouble to be able to do so. This is a really touching episode about love and how to move-on once you're beloved has left you behind.

The third episode, "Black-teethed woman", is about wanting to be remembered. About feeling that you are a part of this world. It tells the story of a young woman (Kashii Yu) who wanted to end her life just because her life is too ordinary and insignificant. But before she dies, she wanted people to remember her, even if it's a bad memory. She dressed up in scary clothes and started attacking people in dark places until rumors about her began to spread throughout the city. This episode explains that life is not about being remembered by others. Even if you are forgotten by the people around you, as long as you've made your mark in their lives, then your life is not insignificant. How do you know that you've made your mark? It's when you hear these two simple words: "Thank you". Let's say, you picked up a stranger's handkerchief and gave it back to her. She smiles at you and says "Thank You." After that incident she probably won't remember you, but you have made your mark on her life. The two of you are connected now. That's why hearing those two words feel so gratifying. They have more significance in your life than you thought. Truth is, although I have a habit of thanking people for the most mundane things, I rarely hear those two words spoken to me. The last time I heard them was one when I taught an old lady how to use her ATM card, also when I made a video for Zettai Kareshi and posted in on youtube, people left comments thanking me for creating that video! It felt great, hearing those two words even from total strangers because I can't even remember the last time I heard them from the people I love. I don't remember hearing my parents say that to me, or my sisters, or my friends, even Kazu. I guess, that's why I feel somewhat disconnected from this word. Who would have thought that those two simple words, could mean that much!

The next episode is "A Store of Patience". It's weird but I can't remember what's in this episode so I'll move on to the next one. The fifth episode is entitled, "Ushimitsu-sama". It's about believing something just because most people believe in it. This episode is almost exactly like the one in Nobuta wo Produce. If you watched that drama then you'd probably remember the time when Nobuta and the gang started a little business. They made these cute little piggy keychains and told everyone that these keychains could grant any wish. To make people believe in their keychain, they started granting the wishes of their classmates. Like when a girl wished for her crush to talk to her, they told that guy to talk to that girl so she thought the keychain granted her wish. So, just because a few simple wishes were granted, everyone believed that the keychains are really magical. Well, that's exactly what happened in this episode. A group of devious girls pulled a trick that made everyone believe that the small wooden-dolls that they made can bring good fortune. It became really popular and started selling like pancakes! This teaches us not to easily believe in what the majority believes in. You must stand-up for what you believe in, because just because there's more of them, doesn't mean they're the ones who are right.

The next episode, "ZI", is an action-packed episode about a ruthless assassin who ended up being a wife and mother to two complete strangers. This is one of my favorite episodes because it teaches important lessons about family plus I love anything that has assassins in it. You see, the skilled assassin, ZI, was ordered to kill a certain guy. But just as she was about to kill the man, they heard a baby crying. And she and her target did find a baby, inside a box in a playground. The man, instantly loved the baby and felt responsible for it. ZI couldn't kill a man holding a baby, so she ended up helping him take care of it. As days go by, she kept saying that she'll kill him tomorrow but somehow that day they never came. The baby brought them together and without realizing it, they have become a real family. This episode teaches us that you don't have to be related by blood to be a family. Sometimes, strangers who just happen to meet can become a family. This is a really touching episode and I cried buckets of tears. You know, I never felt like my parents and siblings are my family. I just feel no connection with them. I felt more at home with my friends before. So I completely understand what this episode is trying to say. I even have this strange feeling sometimes that I'm somehow adopted (which of course is impossible since I resemble my parents). But you know, the other day, an old man approached me while I was at a coffee shop. He's also Japanese and has very pleasant and cheery face. He told me that he's been staring at me for quite some time because my face looks exactly like a woman he knew 40 years ago. He said that woman looked exactly like me when she was my age. He even asked me if she is my mother which is impossible since my mom is only 45. Besides my mom didn't look exactly like me when she was my age, she looked more like my sister. That's really weird but it got me thinking. Plus the old man was so happy while telling me this, as if seeing my face brought back a lot of good memories to him. Maybe, that woman he was talking about was his first love or something. She could even be my real mother. :-P (I can hope right?)

Anyway, back to the drama...Another thing I love about this episode is that they spoofed the Korean drama, "Winter Sonata"! It was utterly hilarious! Robo's mom is a Korean drama fanatic and"Kang-sama", the lead-character in her favorite drama, looks exactly like Robo! I couldn't stop giggling! Robo and his mom even bid each other farewell in Korean! But you know what, I really envy Robo for having an otaku mom. Robo is a robot otaku and his mom is a drama otaku so she completely understands what's going through Robo's head. She even said to him, "It's hard to live in reality. That's why you play with those toys, right? You want to be left alone too, right? You want a world of your own, right?" I wish someone would say those words to me too.

Episode 7, "Mr. Hamburg", is a story about love. It's about a dull old man who started exchanging emails with a complete stranger. Although he's never seen the woman he sends emails to, he fell in love with her because of her encouraging words. Then one day, he asked her to meet him in a nearby family restaurant. He waited for 7 hours but she never came. Desperate and agitated, he accidentally started a hostage situation. He held the customers and staff of the restaurant hostage. He said he would only let them go when the woman he loves shows up. This episode teaches us that when you love someone, eventhough you are not sure if they could love you back, the only thing that matters is what you feel. They said that eventhough that woman didn't really love or even care about Mr. Hamburg, the important thing is that Mr. Hamburg's love for her is real. Just the fact that he was able to fall deeply in-love with someone is reason enough to be thankful. Those who have felt what it's like to love someone are blessed even if the person they love did not love them back.

Episode 8 and 9, entitled "Puccini" are the only two-part episode in this drama and for the first time Robo and Niko's relationship was put to the test. Robo fell in-love. He fell so madly deeply in-love that he's willing to give up everything for that woman: his robots, his beliefs and even his friendship with Niko. He's changed so much that Niko couldn't even recognized him. The silly robot otaku who comes to Niko's aid whenever she calls him is gone and Niko was all alone! And what's worse is that the woman he fell in-love with is one of the Puccini. The Puccini are three women, who grant the final wish of those who are about to die, regardless of what they wish for. If the dying person wishes for the death of another person, then the Puccini would kill that other person just to grant the wish. And a dying man, wished for the death of none other than, Makyona Maki, Niko and Robo's boss. Niko wanted to protect Maki but without Robo by her side, she felt helpless.

This episode is probably the one closest to my heart. In this episode, Robo shows how an otaku like me falls in love. When Niko asked Robo if he's happy with that woman, Robo said, "No. It's actually painful. Reality is painful but I can't help it. I love her." Those were the exact words I used to describe how I felt for Kazu. I even wrote it down in one of my earlier posts in this blog. I actually had goosebumps when I heard the exact words I said being said in this drama. "Reality is painful. Tasukete!" those were the words I used and I guess, there are others who feel the same way too. Also, when I fell in love with Kazu, I stopped caring about anime and dramas. I stopped watching anime, I deleted all my anime wallpapers and I hid all of my anime collectibles in a box. Just like what Robo said, "I've had enough of fiction". I had someone who's real by my side so why rely on fiction, right?

I could also relate to Niko in this episode. Niko always thought that no matter what happens things won't change that easily. When one of her relatives was dying, their lives went on as usual. She didn't cry and she wasn't even bothered by it. That's because her switch was turned off. My switch was turned off too. No matter what horrible things happen around me, I was never bothered by them. I cried when my grandmother died but I was back to normal the following day. Everyone in my family went on with their lives as if nothing happened. Also, as I've said before I didn't use to think about my problems, I just watched anime and dramas and I completely forget about them. Well, that is until someone turned on my switch.

"In this world, I thought nothing changes but someone turned on my switch. I don't remember how to turn off the switch. Reality is painful for me too..."

Those were Niko's exact words when Robo abandoned her. Before she met Robo, her life was really simple. She goes to school, hangs out with her friends and comes home to her wacky family. But when he came into her life, she learned a lot of new things and felt emotions she never thought she could feel. So when he suddenly abandoned her, her switch was suddenly turned on and now she felt the pain that comes with reality. And she couldn't turn it off.

When I saw Niko and heard her say those words, I saw myself reflected on-screen. I tried to explain countless times in this blog what I felt when I met Kazu and lost him. But this drama explained that far better than I ever could. All of the things I felt, all of the things I wanted to say...Niko and Robo felt them...Niko and Robo said them. Niko's tears were my tears, her sorrow was my sorrow. After watching this, I felt like I met a new friend who has experienced the same things that I have gone through...a friend that could understand me completely. Someone who would say, "I know how you feel because I've gone through the same thing too."

The second part of the "Puccini" episode talks about death. I hate the fact that this drama talks so much about wanting to live. I guess, it's because I don't really have any reason to live and they kept saying stuff that would make life worth living but I still feel the same. In this part, the Puccini explained why they do what they do. One of them said, "I don't like a world where a person can die and nothing changes. There are plenty of replacements for me. So if I die nothing will change." I kinda understand them. I may be alive but I did sort of disappear from the face of the earth. (...I mean Japan). I left my job, my apartment, my friends, my family and everyone I've ever known. Yet nothing changed there. They found someone to replace me at the company I used to work in, my family still lives the same way they did when I was there and Kazu and my old friends still do the same things they used to do. It's as if, me not being there, doesn't make much of a difference. I was usually quiet, I was not not a mood-maker like my friend Reiko and I don't really stand-out that much so I'm quite easy to forget.

Then in the drama, Niko said this: "It may seem like nothing's changed but that's no longer the world I know. Death is like throwing a stone into a pond. The ripples continue spreading. Never subsiding."

Yeah, it would be a little different if a person like me dies. My old room is going to be bare, my anime stuff would belong to someone else, no one would update this blog, no one would post new videos on my multiply site, and no one would post comments on threads using my account name. But those stuff would affect no one. It's not like anyone's life would somehow change. Nothing would change if I die. I'm as good as dead now anyway, since I don't see any of my old friends and relatives anymore. So I still don't quite agree with Niko. The line she used is for people who have someone in their lives. People who have someone by their side not for people like me. Even that line in "Black-teethed woman" is not good enough for me. Yes, hearing Thank you is quite gratifying but it does not make life worth living for me. I guess, the only thing that would make me regret dying is that I would never see Kazu's face again. I would also regret not being able to watch new movies, anime and dramas anymore. If I die now, then I wouldn't be able to finish the new dramas I started watching like Maou, Code Blue and Shibatora. If I die now, I wouldn't be able to see Matsuyama Ken'ichi's new movie "Detroit Metal City" or the other upcoming movies and specials that I've been waiting for like, "The Dark Knight", "The Avengers", "Ironman 2" and the Hanazakari no Kimitachi e Special in L.A. "Vampire Knight's" new season is on October so I wouldn't see that anymore if I die. Cross Marian finally showed up in the new episode of "D.Gray-Man" and I would regret not seeing more of him in the upcoming episodes. The Bleach fillers are still not over and I want to be here to watch the arc after that! You must think I'm pathetic...wanting to live because of anime, dramas and movies. I guess, I really am like Robo. My hobbies are my only reasons for living now. But they're still not reason enough though...

The tenth episode, Sachiko, is about a wealthy mangaka (manga artist) who made Niko his sole heir to his fortune, just because a fortune-teller told him that he would be re-born someday and Niko would be his mother. Unknown, to him, his wife was really saddened by all his talk about his next life. If he's that excited about his next life then that would mean that he's not happy with his current one. This episode talks about what makes people happy. Robo said, making new gadgets makes him happy. Niko said, finding things that most people neglect makes her happy. Their boss, Maki, said counting money makes her happy. The mangaka, Sachiko, said seeing things in boxes makes him happy (which is why he became a mangaka because they draw inside boxes). Niko's parents thought money makes them happy. When there was a blackout, they held onto a bag full of money to protect it from robbers. For them it's their most important possession. But when the lights came back they realized that they were actually holding a bag full of family albums. So the thing that's really important for them is not the money but their family. This made me think of what makes me happy. Then Robo said these words: "Am I the only one that feels lonely in the light? Because it feels like it's over. In the theater, after it's over it becomes lit-up." So I realized, being inside the movie theater makes me happy. Sitting in my dark room while eating delicious food and watching a new drama or anime makes me happy. Running in the rain also makes me happy. When it's raining, everyone's too busy trying not to get wet so they don't bother looking around. So they wouldn't look at me when it's raining. I love that feeling. Like in the theater, eventhough I'm surrounded by people, no one can see me, so I feel free and happy! Looking at my little kitten, Momo, sleep while she's curled-up on my lap also makes me happy. Being praised by people for my work makes me happy. Writing scripts for plays, or writing novels and even just writing on this blog makes me happy. How about you? What makes you happy?

The last episode entitled, "Robo", is about standing-up for what you believe in. Niko started seeing the ghost of her dad's old pet bird. No one else could see it aside from her and Robo. Because they could see ghosts, their boss gave them a mission to get rid of a ghost that lurks in a hotel. The ghost turned out to be "3 days", the guy who died in episode one. It's great that the first and last episode are somehow linked. It's like, this drama will end with the same case where it began. Anyway, since Niko's the only one in her family who could see ghosts, she pretended not to see them. And because of that, she suddenly stopped seeing them. Without her noticing it, she changed. Because she was afraid to stand-up for what she believed in, she stopped seeing ghosts. Truth is, she rarely stands-up for what she believes in. She always goes with the flow at school. When her classmates says something is cute, she immediately agrees even if she didn't think so. I was once like that. I agree with everyone so that I would fit in. I wear clothes that my friends wear even though I felt uncomfortable in them, I watched shows that are popular even if I didn't like them and I only talked about the stuff that other people like. I was so desperate to fit-in that I began to lose myself. My sisters are also like that and I kinda hate them for that sometimes. Like when I was watching a new drama and told them about it. They're not interested at all but when that drama became popular in their school, they started asking me all about it. Trying to fit in, is really hard! But now that I'm alone, I'm not pressured to fit-in anymore. I can be myself. I can watch all the anime and dramas I want. I can wear any clothes I want and I could eat anything I want! I guess that's why I love darkness. I hate being judged by people and I can't ignore them either. When people laugh at what I'm wearing or when they raise their eyebrows when I come to work with messy hair, I couldn't just ignore them. I ended up feeling bad. I ended up changing my clothes and fixing my hair. Then I began to hate myself for doing that. When I lived with Reiko in a sharehouse, I ended up changing so many things about myself just so that we would get along. In the end I felt horrible so I started showing her the real me, and we ended up drifting apart because of that. So I love dark places, no one could see me there so no one could judge me. To live my life as myself, I only have two choices: live alone or live in the darkness. I can't be alone outside, so I just hide in the darkness of the theater. Makes sense right?

But all I do is hide and run away. I may not be the Orihime-type of girl that I hate, but I'm pretty much as useless as them. I kept saying in this blog the words: "Help me!" but Niko is right with what she said at the end of Sexy Voice and Robo: "The only one who can save me in the universe is me."

End of Day Thirty Nine.

It's been a while since my last entry. I know my last post was quite different from my usual posts. Some people feel uncomfortable reading stuff like that and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them stop reading my blog because of it, but I have no regrets. I felt so much better after letting it all out and I would like to thank the three people who posted comments, for what they said. Honestly, I don't know the right thing to say to make people feel better either, but just the fact that those three people wanted to make me feel better and was able to understand me was more than enough for me. So, thank you. I guess, I'm really not alone in the world.

I was afraid to tell others my problems because I grew up surrounded by superficial people. People who are only there during happy times but when I start talking about my problems, they feel uneasy and backs away. Almost all of my friends since childhood were like that, even my own mother is like that. My mom wants to look like a good mother in front of her friends. She's always nice, cheerful and caring. She's a wonderful cook and makes the best cakes and pastries. She takes care of us when we're sick and goes out shopping with us during her free time. But her idea of being a good mother is a bit shallow. She always tells me that she'll always listen to my problems. That I should not hesitate to tell her anything. She said she wants to be my friend and not just my mother. But whenever I start talking about serious stuff, she feels awkward and starts changing the topic and sometimes even finds excuses to end the conversation. She was never really interested in my problems or even my ideas. She just wants to talk about boys, shoes, clothes and arranging furniture. She's a teenage girl trapped in a middle-aged woman's body. So I was a disappointment to her. Whenever I come home from school with a new award or good news about my studies, she was never interested to hear what I had to say. Whenever I got top grades in class or won a contest, she would say unenthusiastically, "Good Job!" then she'll go back to what she's doing. I thought she's just naturally like that, but when my younger sister got a boyfriend and started talking about him, my mom started to get all excited and wanted to hear more. She loves hearing her describe her boyfriend and their dates and stuff. I've never seen my mom so excited and enthusiastic before. I guess, she wanted a normal, cheerful and perky daughter and I was none of that. Even though my sister had bad grades and never won anything, my mom seemed to be happier to have her as a daughter.

So I guess, she's the main reason why I never talk about my problems in front of others. My mom started avoiding me when I told her my problems and I don't want others to avoid me too.

But enough of that. After two weeks of staying shut inside my apartment, I decided to go out. I wore my brand-new black dress, got all dolled-up and went outside. The outside world didn't seem real anymore. I could see the people around me but they seem distant and fake. I felt that if I reach out and try to touch them, I'd feel nothing but air in my hands. It's a strange feeling. I went to a really crowded place and although I was surrounded by lots of people, I felt like I was the only one there. Until an old lady approached me and asked me to help her use her ATM card. I was startled at first. It's like I was suddenly waking-up from a trance. She was the first person who actually talked to me. And not just the simple "Welcome to Starbucks" or "Where to, miss?" or "Let me repeat your order..." etc.

The old lady said she was given an ATM card but she didn't know how to use it and she's afraid it would get stuck in the machine. There were lots of other people around, friendlier-looking people, but she chose to approach me. I taught her how to use her card and she was able to successfully check her Balance. Afterwards, she thanked me and said goodbye. It was my first real conversation with another person since I got here. And it made me realize that I'm still a part of the real world. That people could actually see me as a person and approach me. Not as a customer but an actual person. I know it's pathetic, but I've been alone for too long so everything felt strange to me. After that I went to the salon to get a haircut. I know, I've said before that I hate going to salons because the salon people are too chatty, but I wanted to change my appearance. My hair was really long and was covering my face so I had it cut up to the shoulders and I felt ten tons lighter. Plus the stylist who cut my hair was Korean so she wasn't chatty at all since she doesn't speak English. At first she thought I was Korean and started talking to me in Korean and I replied to her in my own language. It was quite funny but somehow she knew what to do with my hair even though we didn't understand each other.

After that I watched a movie while eating creampuffs. I know movies, anime and dramas couldn't bury my problems anymore but since I already talked about them in this blog, I don't need to bury them anymore. Instead of using my hobbies to escape reality, I can now just enjoy them for what they are. Just these couple of weeks, I watched seven movies: "Prince Caspian", "Get Smart", "The Happening", "The Incredible Hulk", "Wanted", "Hancock" and "Made of Honor". The first six were just fun, big-budgeted Hollywood movies. (I didn't like Hancock though.) The last one was absolute torture because it's like a preview of what my life would have been if I stayed by Kazu's side and remained his bestfriend. I might get to be his Best Man when he ties the knot someday, just as Patrick Dempsey became Maid of Honor. Waaaah, that would be a nightmare!

Wanted was really fun though! It has the wildest, sickest, most absurd action scenes I have ever seen! Sure it's not perfect and it won't win an Oscar any time soon but who cares?! It was one wild ride! Plus James McAvoy rocked! I liked him before when he was playing serious and family-friendly roles but now I adore him! He practically carried the whole film on his back! Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman were pretty much just bait to attract the audience but McAvoy is the real star of this movie! Plus it's like making any dull and boring person's fantasy come to life! I used to be that drone, sitting in a cubicle for 8 to 13 hours everyday with my insecure boss berating me constantly. I used to live the same repetitive life (actually I still do) and I used to imagine something spectacular and out of this world suddenly happening to me that would turn my world upside down. Believe it or not, I even imagined myself being an assassin, secret agent or some sort of secret weapon. I know it's silly but when you do the same things everyday, you can't help but use your wild imagination to get out of the monotony of real life.

As for the drama department, I finished three dramas already: Last Friends, Zettai Kareshi and the old drama that I started watching, "Remote". Remote is a really funny mystery drama about a brilliant detective who became a shut-in because of a tragic incident. But since he's too smart and valuable to the police force they allowed him to keep working on cases. So he hires an assistant to help him solve cases without him leaving the basement of his home. The assistant must follow all his instructions through her mobile phone and must face all sorts of danger by herself. It's a really interesting drama and I can't believe I haven't seen it before! I love mystery dramas and the shut-in detective, Himuro, reminds me so much of "L" from Death Note. He's cold and serious though and doesn't seem to have emotions. He hasn't left his basement for one whole year but he was still able to solve cases. His assistant, Kurumi, is an Orihime type of girl: whiny, silly, helpless and stupid. At first she really pissed me off with her attitude but she slowly started to change as the series progressed. Actually she and detective Himuro both changed a lot. This reminds me of Nodame Cantabile because all of the main characters are flawed in the beginning. None of them are morally perfect like Yankumi but they evolved as the series progressed. The cases were really fun to solve too, especially the one about the suicide of the highschool girl. The scenes from that episode reminds me of the movie "Battle Royale" because the students must play a brutal survival game. Oh and Eita guest-starred in that episode too! I also love the episode about the group of robbers with codenames: Lupin, Jigen and Fujiko. I kept imagining their anime versions while watching that episode! Tamaki Hiroshi (Chiaki-senpai) was also really funny in this drama. He moved and talked just like Nakatsu of Hana Kimi! The ending was kinda lame but I'm glad I watched this! It was a fun drama and it didn't make me emotional or anything. Plus there are no characters that I could relate to so I could just enjoy the dramas as it is, without comparing it to my life. I guess the only thing i didn't like about it was the performance of some of the lead actors. Domoto Koichi looked a little too young for the role of Himuro and his eyes are a bit blank. Plus his reactions seemed forced and unnatural sometimes. Fukada Kyoko was really funny and was thoroughly convincing in playing the role of the pretty but dumb parking attendant, Kurumi. But she's not very good during dramatic scenes. When she hugged Himuro in one episode, her facial expression was a bit off. But all in all, it was still a good drama.

As for Last Friends, my most favorite drama of all time, the ending was really unexpected but unbelievably wonderful. Since it's a very intense and somewhat tragic drama, everyone was expecting a tragic ending as well. There were lots of speculations that one of the main characters (not including Sousuke) would die in the end. And the writers seemed to know about these speculations so they kept giving hints that someone would die. Like when Ruka and Takeru had an accident while riding a motorcycle. They made the audience think that one of them would die but they ended up being fine. Then Michiru's doctor said that Michiru's pregnancy was really delicate and she and the baby might die during labor. And then when Michiru gave birth, the doctor went out with a sad look on his face. Again the audience would think that Michiru died but in the end she and the baby were fine. I guess, the biggest twist of this drama is that it actually has a happy ending. The villain died, Eri and Ogurin got married and Ruka, Takeru, and Michiru lived happily ever after in the sharehouse with Michiru's baby, Rumi.

It was a very beautiful ending and shows a new and higher form of love that could exist between friends. None of them are lovers but the three of them forms one complete and happy family. Takeru and Ruka are both fathers to Michiru's baby but then they are also its mother. There are no definite roles in their family because gender is irrelevant. The only thing that's important is that they all love each other and would raise the baby with all the love and support a baby could ever need. What a wonderful ending! That baby sure is lucky!

Now as for the title of this post. You're probably wondering what the title means. Well, sad to say, two very important people died recently. Their names are Night and L! Okay, okay so they're not really people! :-P But those are two of my most favorite fictional characters and I'm just so attached to them! So when they died, I felt like I lost someone important to me. I know it's silly but that's how I felt.

FIRST DEATH:

As I've said earlier, I finished the drama Zettai Kareshi. I always knew how it would end since I have already read the manga before. But I still cried buckets of tears when the drama ended. Night has become an important part of my life. Every week I eagerly wait for the new episode so that I could see Night's silly antics and adorable facial expressions. He's just one of the most memorable and lovable characters that I've seen in a drama and I have Hayami Mokomichi to thank for that. Most people overlooked his performance as Night but I think it is his best performance yet. It's not just because he looks convincing as a robot but it's because of his eyes. They have such innocence in them that looks so real. And when he's sad you could clearly see the sorrow in his eyes. It's hard to explain but he's really amazing! From the moment this drama started, Hayami Mokomichi ceased to exist. In my eyes, he's Tenjo Night! It's almost the same as the way I feel when watching Johnny Depp movies. Whenever he's a portraying a new and eccentric character, the actor ceases to exist and Johnny transforms completely into the character he's playing. So when Night died at the end of the drama, I couldn't stop crying. His character was so real to me and I somehow couldn't believe he's gone. Actually, I started crying when he was doing sweet things for Riiko eventhough he knew that he doesn't have much time left to live. Seeing him smiling and laughing eventhough he knew he'd be gone soon was really painful to watch. Even after the drama ended, I was still crying and I didn't know why. I know crying over a fictional character is stupid but I can't help it. These characters are the only ones with me now so I got really attached to them. Anyway, the ending was extremely sad but it's also very sweet, especially when they showed Night sleeping peaceful inside his box. When Namikiri said "Sweet dreams" to him, Night seemed like some sort of Sleeping Beauty waiting for the day that his Princess would come and wake him up with a kiss. I hope that day would come because I really want Night to have a happy ending. He deserves it.

SECOND DEATH:

The second death is the death of "L". Okay, so he died at end of the last Death Note movie but it wasn't that sad. "L" had no one before. He had no friends and the only important person in his life, Watari, already died. So he had no reason to live anymore. In fact, he didn't seem to care whether he lives or dies. But after watching the movie "L:Change the World" things changed, "L" changed.

"L" is probably my most favorite fictional character ever. He's strange, he's brilliant, he's one of a kind. I love eccentric characters and with L, "eccentricity" is his middle name! I love everything about him. He's also an insomniac like me, he likes eating sweets like me, he's always bent over in front of his computer like me, he doesn't know how to interact with people like me and he rarely leaves the house like me. He's like the male version of me although, of course, he's a genius detective and I'm not. When I first saw the anime Death Note, "L" became my instant favorite. But it's not until I watched the live-action movie that I completely fell in love with his character. Matsuyama Ken'ichi made the character even more interesting and lovable than it was in the anime and manga. All the stuff I said about Hayami Mokomichi playing Night, also applies to Matsuyama Ken'ichi playing "L". He was born to play this role and I don't think anyone else could fill his shoes. He's just a brilliant actor. I said before that Oguri Shun is the Johnny Depp of Japan in terms of versatility but in terms of having eccentric roles, Ken'ichi is most definitely our Johnny Depp!

"L" even reminds of me of Edward Scissorhand. His pale face, his dark messy hair, his strange facial expressions...they're almost exactly the same. Although of course, "L" is way cooler since he's a genius. He could speak several languages, he could solve difficult cases from all around the world without leaving the room and he's always one step ahead of the culprits. He's way cool! So how can I not love him?! But in this movie they showed a side of "L" that I've never seen before. When Watari was alive, he was the one who dealt with the people outside while "L" remained in his room giving orders through his laptop. (Just like Himuro in "Remote"). That's why "L" is a bit socially retarded because he's not used to dealing with people. (Which I could totally relate to) But after Watari's death, "L" became more hands-on. And not only did he have to personally face the culprits, he also had to personally protect the good guys which happened to be two little kids. I've pictured "L" doing all sorts of weird things but babysitting is not one of them. "L" is so much like a child so I could never see him taking care of children. But in this movie he did. It was really fun seeing him interact with children. The cool, emotionless "L" finally showed his vulnerable side. For the first time we see him act surprised, anxious and concerned. Plus, he's not the guy in front of the computer anymore. In this movie, we see "L" running around, knocking the bad guys unconscious, jumping into a moving plane, and riding a bike. LOL! Seeing "L" in a bike was so funny and unexpected. "L" is also not just the mastermind anymore, he's now an action star! :-P It was really strange seeing "L" in the outside world. Seeing "L" shopping, riding a train and sitting by the stream looked surreal but somewhat refreshing. But nothing is weirder than seeing "L" trying to straighten his back! LOL! But seriously, this made me love his character even more because he finally seem more human. He finally found real friends and he finally learned how to really care about others. When the girl was crying in the beginning, he didn't know how to react but in the end he was able to hug her just like a normal person would. I wish I could do that too.

But seeing L's humanity made his death so much sadder than it was before. At the end of the movie he said "I want to live a little bit more in this world" with a smile on his face. It was the first time he really smiled. For the first time in his life, he had a reason to live but it was too late. I felt bad for him. Truth is, I'm like the old "L". I don't have a reason to live. If someone tells me that I'd die tomorrow, I'd be totally fine with it. So I feel bad for those that has to die even though they want to live so bad. I'm really gonna miss L. But I guess it's time to pass the torch to his successor, Near (Who was also in this movie). Whenever I think of L's first and last smiling face and Night's peaceful face as he slept in his box, I couldn't stop the tears from falling from my eyes.

Night and L may you rest in peace. I will never forget you.

End of Day Thirty Seven.

Chanced upon this in a random surf. The title only makes sense if you've read the two posts below (click on the screen captures to navigate your way back to the relevant MFGB posts)

Guess who's back!! Watched Koizora (all the rage in Japan now) on the plane back to sg last night, and it was ooookay lah. However, Miura Haruma in action really reminded me of Singapore-based China-born actor, Qi Yu Wu!! (above right). BUT THEN, Miura Haruma i realised, has many faces. He looks quite different picture to picture, and I remember watching Gokusen 3 on TV last week, and I thought there was a guy who resembled Akanishi Jin a bit. It was only later I connected the Kanji names together and realised it was the same person!

But then he looks a bit different in action. In Gokusen 3 I seriously thought this guy looks more like Jin's brother than Akanishi Reiho (or Fuuta) does. haha

Miura looks seriously different here. A bit more W-inds Keita-ish.

These two photos give me a Matsuyama Kenichi feel. DUNCHA THINK SO?!

Love him best with white hair, like Tidus from FFX!!!! HAHA.

Anyway ill update more later, tonight. Stay tuuuned.^_^

The 1st Eigakan Taisho (Movie Theater Award) was announced on Saturday. More than 6,000 movie fans voted for their number one actor or actress, and in the end, Kenichi Matsuyama earned the Grand Prize with 1,167 of the votes.

Matsuyama was one of 15 popular stars nominated for the prize, who were chosen for appearing in the most films between 2006 and 2007. Other nominees included Yu Aoi, Joe Odagiri, Shun Oguri, and Ryo Kase.

As part of the award project, the Polepole Higashinakano theater will run a special screening of some of Matsuyama's works, scheduled from June 28 to July 4. The films include "YAMATO," "Hito no Sex wo Warau na," "Tsubaki Sanjuro," "NANA," and "Linda Linda Linda."

It was also probably a bit sensationalist to phrase the title the way I did, but seriously, yea man! finally a prize that Shun doesn't take home (though I can only think of the Rookie award and the Golden Arrow one at the moment). I wonder if the Yamada Yu revelation had anything to wobble many a fan's heart and alter the results of the vote. But then again Matsuyama would have appeal to both sexes, keeping the popularity of Death Note itself in mind. HMM. Whatever. I <3 Matsuyama.

Macross is alive and kicking! Yep, I didn't know before but was happy to find out that there was a new Macross series being released! It's being shown on TV right now but unfortunately I'm normally too busy to remember to actually watch it, and besides my TV is kinda crappy, most of the time the channels don't come on properly :s

More Hokuto no Ken awesomeness coming our way! Yeah, I'm a big fan of Hokuto no Ken, so it was good to see some coverage at the show. There wasn't really much to see but I saw the newly released Toki Den DVD which is an OVA based around Toki. There is also a new anime about Raoh in the works, it looks like a movie to me, I should have asked one of the people at the stand for more info about it.

Detroit Metal City - looking good I don't actually know much about Detroit Metal City but the anime is coming out soon and oh boy does it look good! There's also a live action movie in the works and at the booth there were some promotional photos from the film. This definitely looks good, can't wait to see both the movie and the anime! By the way, the lead character is being played by Ken'ichi Matsuyama in the movie, if you're a Japanese film fan you will recognise him from Nana, L: Change the World and the Death Note movies, he's become one of my favourite actors.

Speaking of Death Note... Well, there obviously had to be a Death Note stand at the show! An awesome lifesize Ryuk model was there but not much to report really, I think the stand was there mainly just for the promotion of the newly released Death Note anime DVD, I believe it's the special feature length edition which features a different ending to the original series.

And the favourite product of the show award goes to.... the incredibly cool Death Note figurines which I found at one of the stalls, they look pretty neat... ya just gotta love L!

Here are the pictures, hope they're not too small for ya!

松山ケンイチはハソサム!! :D

わたしはすきかれのみ (^_^)

I watched this two days after the movie came out over here. Big cinema, but not that many people... also, since the majority of this post was written ages after I watched it, forgive me if I'm losing interest here.

Hm. Well, the movie was, in my opinion, more than I expected (especially after all the bad ratings) but at the same time less than what I'd hoped :c I guess it's mostly because of the change in director damnit (he directed less well-known horror movies, for goodness' sake), and spin offish scriptwriting. No Death Note, Misa and Raito and Watari are obviously dead since the end of the second movie, etcetera etcetera.

It's pretty sad, but it's the truth. Either way, I enjoyed the acting (including L's babysitting), and aside from the plot and a few (fine, make that quite a few) overdramatised yet meaningless scenes, plus the (pretty obvious to me at least) rip-off of the Ebola movie Outbreak, it was pretty bearable. Even the littered Engrish all around and the Spanish, and Naomi and her weird acting o_o. Just make sure you get a discount on your movie tickets. It would appear, though, that the makeup artists got lots of jobs for the entire movie - quite surprisingly, lots of gorey scenes, a la Outbreak, I guess. Bleeding eyes, severe cases of acne (bleeding, swollen pimples, that is) I'm Kidding, GAIZ, bad guy with a greyish eye and queer veins like Lal Mirch's except his is on the other side of his face, etcetera.

spoilers maybe.

In any case, the movie describes the sequence of events that transpire within the 23 days after Raito was killed, and before L's approaching death. Just watch Outbreak and you'll get to know like half the plot, ie. bioweapon (cross between ebola and the common flu, in this case) is made, released upon some rural village hence lots of dying people yet antidote not completed. And so L has to babysit this kid who wasn't affected by the disease (REALLY IRRITATING ENGRISH ALERT) and this girl (read: emokid acted by Fukuda Mayuko) as well. The rest, is, well, to me, disappointing. Oh oh but I recognised another actress too~ more later on.

Fukuda Mayuko is, by the way, a loli. As in, one year younge born in 1994. Do the math. It is quite irritating how she looks quite a lot like a certain actress by the name of Jeannette Aw, especially when she smiles. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing : Anyway, picspam ahead:

Now, compare this (emo) picture with this:

And then this:

As you can see, she happens to look better (less geeky?) with long hair. Of course, you should be counting the photoshooping, lighting, the actual period of time during which she did those shoots (ie. how many years ago) etc, but that doesn't happen to be an easy task. NOTIEM I just find it sad that she had to don that hairstyle for the L Movie. I mean, even if she needs to become Mello later on (okay, not confirmed, but just my prediction since er look geeky, doesn't mean it has to be ugly OTL THIS IS CHILD ABUSE. I'm using the strikeout tool too often today. Other than looks, though, I think that for her age she acted as emo and revengeful and hateful as her role would have required of her. I kept cheering 'Cheer Up Emo Kid' silently throughout the whole movie, I must admit.

Hey hey! Remember this *points up* actress who played a side-role in Hana Yori Dango? Yes, it's Satou Megumi. Well this time she's starring a character in L: change the WorLd, and with more hate and violence. Imagine her, with a chopper, and those trademark Imma-gonna-kill-you-if-you-get-in-my-way eyes (this wouldn't be the first time for those who watched the Jdrama). Yes, that's exactly how her character is like. Murderous minion/underling of people committed to save the world by population control (overly large pimples that burst and swell and you die of blood loss). 'Everyone's gonna die anyway." was one of her (few?) lines which I remember.

On to the real star of the show: Matsuyama Ken'ichi (click on the picture for full size ;_;). Of course, he plays L, our favourite eccentric detective/whatchumacallit of the Death Note series! I don't know about you, but I didn't really like Fujiwara Tatsuya as Raito quite as much as I liked Matsuyama Ken'ichi as L. Not as in by character, but by how much they fitted the role. And you gotta admit, L pretty much kept the movie series going. I mean, I just spent $6 (I got a discount, but still) on a movie just for his quirky antics. Aand, even a certain somebody-I-know mentioned how Fujiwara Tatsuya looks like a chipmunk (further worsened by the ridiculous hair and teeth). Despite his acting in Battle Royale (which I have only watched up to halfway OTL), really, reducing Raito by casting an actor alike to a chipmunk is kind of too much...!!

Hm... Apparently, he seems quite well-known in Japan. Especially for quirky roles, from what I see. Maybe think of him as a Johnny Depp, except somewhat younger and (maybe) less talented. The first time I saw him in any series I was watching, would be his minor role in 1 Litre of Tears, working with the likes of pouty Sawajiri Erika. It's amazing how much 5 years, hair, facial hair, and hair styling, and a change in wardrobe can do for a person, I must say. Acting-wise, I think he's not bad. Especially for this role. As for his role in 1LoT, I remember I didn't really like the character. So much so that, when I was watching the first of the Death Note movies, I didn't really know where I'd seen that face. Until a long time later.

As you can see, he has lots of different looks. In that sense, I guess, he's quite versatile... and I think at the same time his face is also very recognisable (especially the lips, which distinctly reminded me of his role back in 1LoT). Um and back to his acting (I digress all the time, it seems): L straightened his back (or tried to) before he died! :D and his typing's terribly funny. And he takes the temperature of lolis in such an awkwards way, it's funny too. Everything about his role as L seems pretty amusing, to me. Oh, oh and He Could Speak Spanish and English and He Can Actually Do a Really Broad Jump! It's kind of hard to explain, but yeah ahhaha. I'm telling you, all that sugar does the trick.

What I think was most disappointing, though, was the plot and with especial regards to how L was so useless and had to leave it to the Professor and the mathwhiz kid *(SPOILERALERT; nTOb)* to do all the work during one part of the movie. He mostly just babysitted and acted as the ex deux machina during the last part of the movie. Sigh. The extra after the credit didn't do much help, either.

Speaking of the other actors and characters besides the ones I've already mentioned: there was this really random guy from the FBI who popped by, and though he provided some comic relief, he wasn't very helpful either. The Lal Mirch-ish guy was irritating. The self-righteous asshole villain this time was some idiotic newsreporter-like woman. Not very want : nTOb mathwhiz kid was irritating with his rubbishy attempts at the English language. Person with weird codename F was, however, not quite as bad as I'd expected a Japanese adult to be at English.

/end rant, as usual/

ps. I shouldn't rant so much. orz

I also found an online review of this movie....err...not very favorable but I will still watch it if I have the chance.

Ten dwudziestotrzyletni aktor wybił się do grona najpopularniejszych w Japonii dzięki - między innymi - roli w filmie Nana. Zrezygnował jednak z udziały w drugiej części filmu, żeby wystąpić w innej ekranizacji popularnej mangi - Death Note - gdzie wcielił się w postać charyzmatycznego L. Już niedługo wiele innych filmów z jego udziałem.

The interview was in Japanese therefore I also do not know what it's about -- errr...too long for me to try and decipher it. The only things I can re-post here is the pics :P . I'm posting the link so anyone who can read Japanese can read about it.

"L Change the World" movie will be opening in Japan  on 9th Feb.

Read about the interview at Yahoo Movies JP site

From the Movie

• LQ clip of L movie promotion in Seoul featuring Nakata Hideo, Matsuyama Kenichi, Fukuda Mayuko and guest Lee Jun Ki. It's a 4+ min.
• KIDS trailer starring Koike Teppei and Tamaki Hiroshi that I downloaded over at Yahoo Movies JP. 1+ min clip.

They are all in Japanese (except Lee Jun Ki's part which was in Korean :) ). Enjoy!

L clip

Credit: Innolive TV / re-uploaded by fangorn @ reikanorakuen.wordpress.com

KIDS trailer

Credit: Yahoo Movies JP / KIDS movie / re-uploaded by fangorn @ reikanorakuen.wordpress.com

I also realised that the director is Nakata Hideo!! That's the director of Ringu films...O_O I never realised it until now!

Translated News

Matsuyama Kenichi, who will be in Taiwan soon to promote his "L: Change the World" movie, went to S.Korea for promotion on 1st Feb. Lee Jun Ki also attended the event. When Matsuyama saw Jun Ki, his statement that Jun Ki is too beautiful and he's felt uneasy standing besides him drew laughter from the fans.

Besides Matsuyama, there's also the director, Nakata Hideo, and the lead actress, Fukuda Mayuko. There were over 300 fans that attended the event. The trio cut a cake and received various gifts from the fans. They were all smiles during the event. Lee Jun Ki said that he's actually a dedicated fans of the Death Notes series and Matsuyama is one of the Japanese actor that he admired.

Matsuyama had worked together with 2 Korean actresses: Bae Doo Na and Go Ara. He was with Bae Doo Na in the film "Linda Linda Linda". At that time, he was still a newbie in films and he said Bae Doo Na helped him a lot. He and Go Ara was in the film "Aoki Ookami" (English title is The Blue Wolf: To The Ends of the Earth and Sea) but they never had any onscreen time together. This made him wish he can work with her again. On the 3rd Feb, he is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan to continue his promotional activities for "L".
Source: Yahoo Taiwan
English translation by fangorn @ reikanorakuen.wordpress.com
Full credits when posting elsewhere, without adding additional credits

I have no idea what sort of film premiere this is but I am guessing it's L, the movie. I recognised that girl in L movie trailer! Matsuyama Kenichi looks real different here, with longer hair!! I still like his looks as L, though... the straight hair look.

Jun Ki's hair a bit "messy" here... I think it's still the "Iljimae" look for him :)

Source: mydaily / SINA / re-uploaded by fangorn @ reikanorakuen.wordpress.com

Out of the 4, I selected Shindo to watch first. I never heard of this movie before. The first thing that attracted me was the cover. It shown the piano with 2 pairs of hands. Immediately, I was drawn to it. Read the plot and "think" I would like it so I chose it. I recognised the lead girl (Narumi Riko) as I've seen her before in 1 Litre of Tears (drama) which she was quite good in it.