During my last week in Japan, I finally got around to getting my butt to a movie theater in order to watch the final chapter in the Hana Yori Dango TV drama---Hana Yori Dango Final the movie. While I'm not sure what movie ticket prices are like in other countries, tickets in Japan (1,800 yen) are noticeably higher than I'm what I'm used to back at home. With that said, the level of Japanese used in the dialogue was well within my abilities, so at least I got to enjoy my first Japanese movie theater experience to the fullest. I've included spoiler-free impressions below, plus a lengthy, fully detailed summary (written as accurately as possible from memory), for those of you who just can't wait to find out what happened. Any additional pictures were scanned from the photobook that I bought.
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Sent to you by kevn57 via Google Reader: "Hana Yori Dango" special to air night before movie opens via Tokyograph on 6/23/08 A special press conference for the "Hana Yori Dango Final" movie was held at the Nippon Budokan on Monday. With anticipation running high for the film's opening this coming Saturday, it was announced that TBS is going to air a one-hour special on Friday night at 10:00pm.The special will include a mini-episode that takes place just before the storyline of the movie. It was quickly filmed on Monday morning before the press conference. The show will also be partly broadcast live, with Arashi performing a theme song medley. Members of the group will even make an appearance as themselves in the mini-drama."Hana Yori Dango" has had two successful seasons as a drama series, and this movie will finally bring the story to a close. Things you can do from here: Subscribe to Tokyograph using Google Reader Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
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The episode opens with a man chanting looking up into the night sky, a bright light appears in the sky and then spotlights the man. A pair of creatures are backlit as they approach the man. The scene shift, Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) asks her editor if she believes in aliens. Then explains that a man approached her asking that question at the train station, when she agreed he grabbed her and started chanting, what the man at the opening scene was chanting “Bentora, Bentora, Space People”, saying that it’s a chant to summons UFOs. The two of them swing around and chant but are interrupted by the return of the editor’s coworkers. Then the editor throws her current manuscript in the trash advising her to draw some attention to the manuscript next time. The scene shift to an amusement park where a monument to Alien Friendship is to be dedicated, Udagawa played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) stands and watches a TV explaining the purpose of the park. Sakura dressed as an alien approaches and takes one of his lollipops. She’s selling space dolls that grant wishes.I love this goofy comedy mystery show and this one takes a few turns from the regular formula, but the mystery isn’t focus of the show it’s always more about the laughs this episode is no exception. The scene with the editor is usually good but I loved it as the co-workers caught the pair swinging around and chanting.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here.
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I've been listening to the Macross Frontier soundtrack, and it's every bit as wonderful as I hoped it'd be. I'm loving the tracks What 'bout my star (both versions), Big Boys (reminds me a lot of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme), and Innocent green. Oh and the Nyan Nyan song is as cute as ever. It's going to be hard at the end of the year deciding whether this OST is better or the true tears one is - probably this because of all the vocal music (which isn't to say that Yoko Kanno's instrumentals aren't great too). And that's assuming the next Macross Frontier OST won't be better. I also managed to scrape together some time this weekend to watch a few episodes of the currently-running drama Zettai Kareshi. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's about a girl who gets a robot as her ideal boyfriend, and the love triangle and troubles that this leads to. That might sound silly, but it's actually really entertaining. I was curious about this adaptation because I read the manga a long time ago, and though a lot of things have changed in the story, it's still very very good. It has that same spark that I found in the Hana Yori Dango and Yamada Tarou Monogatari dramas - the perfect mix of comedy and romance drama. It can be very funny at times (especially the actor who plays Namikiri), and the romance and drama elements are slightly over the top - just the way I like it. I wish I were blogging it, but sadly I just can't make the time commitment for a drama series right now (though I may try to next season or the season after that). On a side note, I had the theme song of this series, Okaeri by ayaka in my head all the way until today...when I started listening to the Macross Frontier soundtrack. Also in the news, the official Mai-HiME/Otome website announced a new project. No details about it other than the name and character design of the new heroine, Mao (see the link). While I do wish Sunrise would develop more new original properties, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious what this one will be like, especially since S.ifr's first episode was better than expected. Speaking of which, the second volume of S.ifr is due out July 25th.
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Udagawa played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) is at a play where an actress stabs another actor then turns to the audience and delivers a monologue. This is when Udagawa falls in love and has to be restrained by an audience member after launching into a standing ovation in the middle of the play. The scene shifts to Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) editor’s office for a change the editor is quite impressed with a story idea that Sakura has come up with. The mystery revolves a round a Ferris wheel where the criminal suddenly disappears from the top. But the editor wants to know the trick to how he disappears. Sakura said she’s leaving that up to the imaginations of the readers or they could offer a reward and then publish the best submittal. The disappointed editor wants Sakura to disappear before tossing the manuscript into the trash. Udagawa is waiting at a department store rooftop amusement park for the actress who he’s fallen in love with. When Sakura in a mouse costume tries to sell them a balloon, then Udagawa and his new girlfriend witness the murder of the play’s director.This episode doesn’t follow the normal pattern of the crime, then Udagawa falling in love with the murderer this time he falls in love first, so the question becomes did he fall in love with the murderer this time and we don’t find out until they witness the crime together. Of course it takes Sakura’s skills to solve the case.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here. Kimi Hannin Janai yo ne? キミ犯人じゃないよね? Ep4 Screen Shots
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Udagawa played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) starts off the episode with a monologue introducing himself and Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) but most of what he says is self delusion. Then the scene switches to a school at night the security guard patrolling the hallway finds the body of a teacher in the teacher’s room. The scene shifts to Sakura’s editor’s office, where Sakura tells her it took a whole week for her to come up with the dying message she used in the story, a corny pun on Clint Eastwood. The editor tells her to write a book that teases and teases the reader and holds them captive before she tosses the manuscript in the trash for a hole in one. Udagawa arrives at the school crime scene trips down the stairs and winds up looking like a seal in front of the school girls with his arms at his side and his head up.I love this show it’s funny and it follows the same pattern in each episode, a crime is committed, Udagawa shows up at the scene and needs to enlist the aid of Sakura to solve the case. But like Columbo where the crime is revealed immediately and it’s the mystery lover’s puzzle to figure out how he catches the murderer, in this show as soon as Udagawa falls in love we have the perpetrator we need to figure out how they did it and how Sakura will figure it out.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here.
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Amazon.com Widgets Title: Boys over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) Vol 30 Author:  Yoko Kamio Publisher:  VIZ ISBN:  9781421517179 May Contain Spoilers Oh, darn that Tsukasa and his oni of a mother!  After Tsukushi travels all the way to New York, spending almost all of her meager savings, her boyfriend coldly [...]
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While hearing about my vacation plans is probably not the most exciting thing, my blogging will be affected; therefore, this can be considered as a somewhat official notice of that. For the first time ever, I'll be going overseas and on a real (paid) vacation. Evidently, this will also be my first time in Japan, but I'll be there for a month, staying at an apartment I rented in Ikebukuro, so hopefully that'll be enough time for the Japanese lifestyle to soak in. I'll have Internet access at the apartment, but I'll only have my relatively old and underpowered 10.6" Fujitsu ultra-portable notebook along with me. While this little thing has served me well in university, blogging will be somewhat difficult due to its inability to playback HD videos smoothly (...in addition to the time commitment of course). Regardless, I don't want to put all seven shows I'm covering on a complete hiatus, as the backlog when I return would be somewhat daunting. My tentative plan right now is to continue covering the shows that I currently am, but in a fairly trimmed down manner. These "lite" posts will probably be restricted to screenshots and impressions alone, so my apologies to those of you who come here for the summaries. (Writing detailed summaries is always the most time-consuming task for me.) At the very least, I want to have a "placeholder entry" with just screenshots for completeness sake (indicating that I have watched the episode), which would also allow for any discussion amongst you, the readers. The regularity that my posts appear will probably be affected as well, given how I'll be on Tokyo time and out and about most of the time. Again, this is merely a tentative plan, but I'll try to adhere to it the best I can. I'm leaving in the middle of next week, but some of my posts this week may also be affected while I prepare for my trip. As mentioned above, I won't be back until a month later (~July 6th), but hopefully by then, I'll have some interesting stories that I can use for Random Musings.
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Yakuza screw-up Ken Katagiri played by Kyosuke Yabe is executed and shoved from a dock, his dying thoughts are about a boy he’d recently met Genji Takaya played by Shun Oguri (Hana Yori Dango, Hana Kimi). The scene shifts to Suzuran Boys High School, A sign reads King of Suzuran, Tamao Serizawa. Genji climbs up to the sign, erases Tamao Serizawa and then adds his own name in its place. Inside the school the opening ceremony has begun and the teacher hands the mike over to the freshman class rep, when another student comes up on stage, kicks the class rep grabs the mike and gives his own speech about Suzuran and the rule of fists. Then a riot breaks out amidst the assembled students as the teachers comment on the spirit of the incoming freshman class. When another teacher rushes into the gym declaring big trouble, the yakuza have arrived on campus. The students stop fighting long enough to see what brings the yakuza to the school, they’re there to find a student Tamao Serizawa played Takayuki Yamada (Long Love Letter, Densha Otoko).This is the opening movie in a manga adaptation being directed by directed by Takashi Miike, but it completely stands on its own. It’s very obvious that it’s source is from a manga by it’s over the top action and the close to indestructible bodies of the cast members. The punches by the key fighters are delivered with thundering blows that’d level a lesser man but these guys just keep standing there and taking it. A scene that I particularly enjoyed was the human rooftop bowling, with the strike delivered like something straight from the comics. I’m not a big fan of yakuza movies I usually find them boring and the characters less then interesting but this movie surprised me, not only did I enjoy the characters, it was a whole lot of fun. I’d recommend this to fans of delinquent dramas like Gokusen or Rookies.This was announced yesterday.Crows Zero" sequel confirmedLast year's hit manga-to-film adaptation "Crows ZERO" has been confirmed to be getting a sequel, it was learned on Monday. Director Takashi Miike is again taking the helm, and popular actor Shun Oguri is reprising his role as the protagonist Genji Takaya.Oguri has already begun training for the movie, which starts filming in July. The story is set about 8 months after the first movie. Genji is close to graduation at Suzuran High School, but one last matter must be settled with a rival school.According to producer Mataichiro Yamamoto, there was never any intention to end the story after only one film. However, this sequel is reportedly the story's conclusion. Kyosuke Yabe is also returning, though other cast members from the first movie (such as Takayuki Yamada) have not yet been mentioned."Crows ZERO 2" will open in 2009. from Tokyograph
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Aren't You a Criminal?Morita Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) begins the episode telling the viewer a little about herself, a neophyte novelist and job hopper she goes on to relate her encounter with the rookie detective Udagawa Kyosei played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) in the previous episode and her involvement in the case. Then this week’s case is revealed as a restaurant owner is stabbed in the kitchen, the killer carefully spreading pasta over the body. Then the scene shifts to Shihori’s editor’s office. Her editor isn’t happy with the latest manuscript, Shihori’s written a mystery and nobody dies, she tells her she wanted to write a mystery where no one dies. But the editor tells her if you don’t kill at least three people there is no way the story will be sold, then holds the story over the waste basket asking Shihori what to do. At the murder scene a cop holds back spectators as Udagawa jumps a chain but winds up tripping and lands on his back. The school girls, and housewives who’d thought he was so cool, begin laughing, while the beat cop comes over and salutes and thanks him for the hard work. Inside the senior detectives observe the scene and think that it might have occurred after a fight and possibly a robbery.I’ve been watching Kaname Jun recently in Kamen Rider Agito, where he also plays a cop and he has the same friendly, clumsy nature that’s just is made for comedy. There’s some cheap physical comedy like him tripping and the crowd laughing but there’s also stuff like when he slides into the crime scene strikes a pose and declares he’d arrived and they way he falls in love in each episode. Shihori is another great source of laughs and while she not shown working as many jobs as the last episode, she still manages to hit the jobs crucial to the case. I just loved her expression when her editor turned her back her when discussing her latest story. I’d recommended this to fans of comedic mysteries like Kuitan or Mop Girl.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here.
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