Ok, everyone has been talking about Nino and Ryo's new drama on october. I wasn't gonna mention it because, well, everyone has been talking about it!! But now, really...

Kudo Kankuro is working the script?? FOR REAL???

I was gonna watch it. I mean, the story sounded appealing enough to check it out. And It's Nino. And Ryo! Together! (And Erika, whom I also like, but that's beside the point and not enough reason for me to like something)

But now Kudo Kankuro is behind it? I'm gonna freaking LOVE IT! All the actors can drop out if they want. I'm gonna watch it anyway!

Does this mean all the other roles are for some of the familiar faces of Kudo's other works? He's doing the script based on a book, so it's gonna be different. And his three main leads are guys he hadn't work before with. Hopefully it pans out. I mean, it's KUDO KANKURO!

So what? I love the guy.

Title: Three Years
Fandom: Gachi Baka!
Pairing: Kouta/Kana
Summary: It takes Kouta three years and some magic to finally go to Africa.
Notes: Even if I don't like Kana that much, I wanted Kouta to get the girl, if only for a little while.

( It took him three years to get to this point. )

Yesterday I had a test and a dissertation right after that. The first one on a text about emission trading systems as way of controlling pollution and the possibility of using that here in Santiago, cus we kind of need it. Even if I really don't know how I did on that test, I kinda liked the subject, so it was time well invested.

The second thing was about something similar, in a sense that treating our natural resources as environmental services and assets and giving them economical value helps controlling its use and abuse, and that was what our presentation was about. I kinda read all of what I had to talk about, cus it was a lot and kind of complicated if I didn't say it exactly like I had wrote it, but I think it was OK. The only problem was the teacher wasn't there, but only his assistant, and he's an ass who thinks very highly of himself and the stuff he knows, so he started talking going around the subject instead of asking us a question, and when he finally did, it was what we *just* said was our conclusion. And he did it again when the next group finished and decided to do a comparison between our works and wouldn't it be a great proposition to do something about it, like including some of it in the law or something, don't you think? Then I got pissed and I had to exclaim: "That's what we just said!" Gah. I'm kind of angry cus I really wanted to have the teacher see us and comment. He's kind of my favorite teacher this semester and I like that he also knows his assistant is an ass and made very clear that it wasn't his decision to keep him there, mostly cus when he told us we were gonna see the guy's face again this semester I snorted and he kind of nodded at me like saying "I know!".

Anyway, after that I went to pay a bill and when I finally went back home, Daniella called me on the bus. Of course, we ended up talking for an hour, both of us going back home on different cities. Kinda cool, I have to say. She finally finished this long, long semester and will come visit me on monday. Yay!

After I had lunch, though, I couldn't stay standing anymore. I put another episode of the kdrama I'm watching and went to bed. I think I managed to stay awake for half of it. It was cold and I was tired and I didn't slept much the night before, so I fell sound sleep for the rest of the day. I actually awoke around nine or ten, but then I thought, what the hell, and went back to sleep. I usually don't like to sleep too much cus it makes my head hurt, but this time it felt awesome.

Today I spend the day making some order of my computer. My fic collection is huge and I don't really know which story is which anymore, so I had to make files. My vid collection is better organized, thankfully, but Iv'e downloaded a lot of stuff lately so I placed everything where it belongs. My music file is still a mess, but I'm just not touching that yet.

I also started writing again. I had forgotten how much I like it and how freaking hard it is when the language you're writing in is not your own. I mean, I write here all the time, but what I write is pretty simple, I don't have to use the "right word" to say anything. Ah, anyway. At least I'm doing it.

I watched the Anego SP. I liked it. It had a story to tell aside of being a resumed version of the drama, and the excuse they use to re-tell the drama made sense cus Anego's co-workers really didn't know a big part of her story so it worked for them to ask about it. It does go in the "dramas I want to write an extra ending of" list. Though, actually marrying Naoko-san and Kurosawa-kun sounds a little too simple after all. I'll have to think about it.

Ah, now I'll go to msn looking for Lupe. I have to give her some links.

I finally watched a Jin drama worth watching!

I loved Anego!!

I loved that it was an office drama. Usually anything romantic in that background tends to annoy me cus you end up wondering when the hell people do their work between so much "romance". Here you can see them actually working, and even if they are way more interested in the personal lives of their co-workers than they probably should, is not over-bearing so.

Jin as Kurosawa-kun is so incredible adorable. I didn't think his character was that relevant to the drama, and episode after episode I became more angsty watching Naoko-san shooting down his attempts to date her and have a care-free relationship together.

I couldn't help but think of the other well done big age difference relationship I've watched before in Sore wa Totsuzen Arashi no you ni, though I actually saw more hope in the high school sick kid played by Yamapi with the 35 years old *married* woman than Jin as a 22 years old newbie at the company with everyone' big sister ten years his senior way too single woman. In my mind, Kozue-san didn't try again with her husband, waited a few years and then showed up at Takuma's house or something (they were so good together, damn it!)

I liked Naoko. Even if myself would have slapped silly both Eriko-san and his mother being so incredible annoying (and then psycho, in Eriko's case), but I could understand her thoughts and dreams and the things she did for others. You easily end up rooting for her in whatever relationship she gets herself involve in. The fact that her main choices were a little kid that didn't yet want commitment and every woman's ideal man... that, just like in Alanis' song, ends up being married, makes you feel for her even more. And her advices were always right. She was never nosy about it, people just came to her and she listened.

What I liked the most, probably, was Naoko's thoughts showing up on the screen in writing. Specially when she is with Kurosawa, because you can read his thoughts too, and the contrast between what they say and what they think, and when their thoughts are all confused and they don't make any sense and when they think the other is cute... ah, is sweet and hilarious at the same time. Loved it.

The only thing to complain about is that the subs for the last episode were complete crap. Good thing, then, that I could understand what's important with my little knowledge in Japanese and the context of everything. Now I found out there's an SP of this drama and I hope it shows Naoko-san going to Mongolia or something... Hope the subs are decent too.

Yes, I recommend this one. Is not the best drama ever, but it's fun and it makes sense in ways a lot of others don't. You don't gag with excessive romance cus there isn't any, and it doesn't leave you crying your eyes out. Is about grown ups and the sad reality of women in the Japanese work force, nice, complicated romances and yes, a lot of beer. It IS a story with a lot of salary men and women in it!

Yesterday was a great day.

NOT because it was Massu's birthday. Or Jin's. Or my own twisted birthday (july 4th was the day my parents had sex without protection and conceived me. I know, very romantic).

Yesterday was great cus it was Isidora's birthday!! Literally! Misa's baby girl was born! She's big an healthy and it only took like an hour or less to take her out. Misa kept smiling all day long afterward. I don't know if I'm going to visit them again today, but if not, definitely tomorrow. I finally was able to give them all the stuff I bought for the baby in the States.


In completely unrelated news, just now I watched the first episode of a Korean drama. Usually I avoid kdrama like the plague cus their soap operas are as bad as latin-american ones, but this one even made fun a little of that kind of plots, and it had two women bitch slapping each other with words about their professions, not a stupid love triangle or something like that, and it was really cool. Wish I could see more of that on tv.

I also watched a drama with Sho from Arashi playing a pre-school teacher, so it was basically him and a huge amount of five years old running around playing with mud. Cute. And some random Arashi scenes with the rest of the band showing up as extras here and there.

My first week back to classes was OK. I have a big presentation next week, a small report and two tests, but if I don't get stuck here doing nothing productive, I'm gonna be fine with it. Is not overly complicated.

Finished Tiger & Dragon.

AWESOME.

Same qualities I loved about Kisarazu Cat's Eye and IWGP, but different enough to be something interesting all by itself. And I got to learn a lot about the ancient art of Japanese story-telling!

Our protagonist here is Toraji (Nagase), a scary looking yakuza that collecting a debt from the owner of a Rakugo theater, falls in love with the art of story-telling. He decides to learn the art and leave his yakuza life, and he's doing it by paying for lessons and then asking the money back to pay the Rakugo master's debt. This master takes our yakuza under his wing and gives him the name Kotora to perform on stage.

Then there's Ryuuji (Okada), the youngest son of the Rakugo master, that has left the art behind him three years before even when he was considered a genius for it. Now he owns a shop where nobody ever goes in and has to deal with Toraji's nagging to teach him more about story-telling.

Each episode features one old Japanese story, and is told by pieces during the episode both by having all the actors of the dorama transform into characters living in ancient Japan, where the stories take place, and then mirroring the lives of the actual characters of the dorama in today's Japan.

I think this dorama is a little more light-hearted than the other two I've watch of Kudou Kankuro. Kisarazu is a lot of fun, but the about-to-happen death of Bussan weights on the story on each turn. And I'm not getting myself into IWGP again, I've already said it plenty of times: too many people dead and the violence is an important plot point. T&D has violence too, but it's a lot more warm and, well, family-friendly. The focus here IS family! For Toraji to learn about it and for Ryuuji to go back to it.

Here you have a vid someone made with the ending song of the dorama, so you can have visual aid to what I just wrote.



Oh, and for those who didn't notice. "Tora" means tiger, while "Ryuu" means dragon. Clever, huh?

Are any of you a little interested? Watch it! Is easy to follow and everything from photography to music to performance is done with care and interest and you can easily tell. Give it a chance!

Ok. Why nobody warned me Yukan Club was the stupidest thing made dorama? Seriously!

I usually don't like stories center around school, specially when the school is wealthy. Mostly because they exaggerate how wealthy schools work, which is something altogether incredible, and because of the amount of fics out there that bring with the the Hana Yori Dango syndrome where there's this struggle between rich people and poor people and whatever.

If am gonna follow a story about high school kids I prefer them the ordinary kind. I also get fed up with the oh, so sad story of the kid with no money but is so very smart... Yes I didn't like Yamada Tarou Monogatari much, mostly because his parents were the biggest idiots in existence.

No, my bad. I think the parents here in Yukan Club are worse. Worse because they have money and are in a position of power. At least the Yamadas only have their family to screw up and no one else's (and considering Tarou raised his brothers and sisters himself, they were somewhat saved).

Gods, really. Everything is this dorama is plain wrong. From camera work to script to the damn ending song that really doesn't fit with anything in relation to the story and no, having two actors being from the group that sings it is not reason enough.

The idea COULD work. Having a group of rich kids bored out of their minds fight crime in their free time is not a bad plan. Not something I would had pay any attention to if other actors were in it (Yeah, I wanted to watch a dorama with Jin, fuck it), but something worth watching if I ever find it on TV or I'm really, really bored. But the creators of this didn't for one second put ANY effort in making this! The script is crappy cus the crimes are stupid and the way of solve them is not witty at all. The characters are not well constructed on their motivations and are frankly so incredible stupid I wonder why the hell the rest of the school loves them so much! (except for the two teachers that want to kick them out, I don't really know why, cus, isn't it a huge pain in the ass to go againt a group of spoiled rich kids?)

The plot on the second episode? (Because I'm a masochist and never leave stuff until further analysis) One of the kids is so bored with her life she lets herself be kidnapped. I cheered when one of the others slaps her when they find out because they were worried, but the kid apologizes to her friends and that was it, they continue to help the kidnappers cus they were good people and needed the money, and fuck it if her family was worried sick and she was scamming THEM for money! And lets not forget they are helping this guys because the mother is sick and needs the money for hospital bills and a transplant, but that doesn't mean THEY are gonna save her! They don't work magic and the story shouldn't have them at the end thinking they actually saved her by giving her family money stolen from their parents! That's just sick!

The only thing amusing in all of the two episodes I watched was the fact that the main character, Jin's, a tough guy, very independent and cool, the moment someone tells him a sad story or is rejected by a girl, the guy starts to cry! When he hear about the sick mother he called his dad to tell him he loved him and dedicated him a song! It is so out of place with the rest to the story is hilarious! Why can't the characters be more quirky like that instead of so unbelievable stupid??

Gah, what a waste of time!

"お前らさ 本当に むかつく"

I've just finished watching Kisarazu Cat's Eye. I've still to watch both movies that came after the dorama, though.

I LOVED the dorama! It is, I think, a grown up version of Stand Up!! (both story and direction-wise) with something other than sex in the mind of the main characters, a lot of baseball and yakuza references thrown in the middle and of course, the impending doomed death of the protagonist.

I know for real now that I love the screenwriter, Kudou Kankuro. He also wrote Ikebukuro West Gate Park, and this is pretty much all of the things I loved about IWGP WITHOUT the violent awful nightmare-inducing deaths that came with it (Shun's dead body inside a locker still hurts, ok?).

I also like Okada better than Nagase as actors. I can understand the attraction to Nagase, I've watched the first two episodes of Tiger & Dragon (another great work of the same writer), but I also watched some of My Boss My Hero, so I can't really say the guy makes great acting choices for me to love him. I was already loving Okada in the already mentioned T&D, but Bussan is just great. I love him. Both character and actor.

I found yesterday the movie GO, of the same writer, with another actor I love (in IWGP and Long Love Letter), Kubozuka Yosuke, who also stars in another movie of the same writer, Ping Pong, that I've still to find. I want to see everything this writer has to offer. I kinda love him just for the fact he likes to work with the same actors, cus they are all actors I'd like to watch again. And again.

I have to thank annnimeee for the recommendations, now that I remember. She was the one to direct me to this writer and this dorama (and the movies), the same way I want to direct you guys now.

For those who'd want to know, Kisarazu is a dorama about an ordinary enough guy that finds out he's only got six months to live. He decides, then, to spend the rest of his days either playing baseball and reading manga or acting as a robin hood-like thieve with his friends for the good of the town... and their own, of course. The cast is awesome, the direction is awesome, the story-telling is awesome. I even loved the Arashi theme song!

I will recommend the rest of the stuff I have mentioned here once I watch them. I'm probably gonna love them too.

How come I didn't know about this??

http://darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com/232387.html

Like, really? seriously? nobody was gonna tell me? Daniela, you didn't know??

I knew Takki was a pervert when it came to Yamapi back in the day. There's enough proof in youtube if you look to know Takki finds Pi really, really, *really* cute! But I didn't think he got away with it enough to pull this off!

Yes, I'm soooo downloading it! But NO, not because Pi dresses like a girl! Takki's the pervert, not me! For real! Why don't you believe me??

You want to know what's a really bad idea? Watch a tv movie about foster parents the night before Mother's day at three in the freaking morning and with Yamapi in it!!

Fuck. Now I have a headache with all the crying and I want to hug my mom or something.

When will I learn I SHOULD NOT watch this kind of crap anymore?? I mean, I did the same freaking thing with 1 Litre of Tears. Though, if I'm honest, I did know pretty well how that one was gonna end... badly! The title said so itself. But with this one, even if I got the tear-jerking warning I thought it was gonna be corny and a little angsty, 'cus obviously the kids in foster care don't have it easy, but...

Ok, so I'm a little fed up with having to face Yamapi dying again in less than a month. Of course, IWGP was a lot worse than here, but it happened again that I could tell he was gonna die *before* the scenes that should star making you un-easy showed up (you know, those that show the character finally happy with his/her life or when he/her remembers the good times of the past?), and that just make me dread more the rest of the story while I'm watching.

It is a good thing I watched Sore wa, totsuzen, Arashi no you ni before all this, because otherwise I would have freak out even more every time Takuma collapsed and ended up in the hospital in that dorama.

There are rumors running around about Yamapi in a medical dorama... I really seriously hope he 'll play a doctor, not a patient. PLEASE.

I'm going to bed, so I can go hug my mom in the morning.

I... I suppose this need an introduction.

It just that... Shit.

So, this is not a real life thing. Real life is going fine. A little boring and full of stuff to do, but fine.

It's virtual fandom life.

FUCKING SHIT.

I haven't been this shocked with a death that I already saw coming in... I don't know. Gods, this is just AWFUL! DAMN IT.

I saw it coming because I sensed something wasn't right. And I opened the episode before the finale without reason and the first image seemed to be a flashback with the character in question asking to not be hated. So, I assumed he was gonna do something awful, or something awful was gonna happen TO him. I really, really thought he was gonna get killed, but at the same time I didn't, and I didn't expect it to be like that, to be so unbelievable horrible. Shit.

Haven't you ever watch or read those deaths? Those that, it doesn't matter you know they're only characters and they are not real and it's just a story, but still, that situation is so real and it feels so close that it grabs you and tears you apart anyway? I had those before, but they usually involve a long term relationship with the character or something in real life to make the connection in my head and make me cry for hours.

Now, I didn't really cry. My eyes got puffy and now I have a ronny nose, but I won't cry for hours on end, though. I won't watch the end of the dorama either. I just... can't. I'm probably gonna dream about this, fuck. I'm shaking. So, no, I don't plan on watching the two episodes this dorama has left to see how they avenge Shun and everything ends in a bloody mess. It's not gonna kill Makoto and I hope it doesn't kill Masa or even Hikaru, or King, of course, but I'm not really worried about them, as much as this story is a cruel one, killing Rika and now... they shouldn't kill more of Makoto's friends.

...

Gods, what a horrible way to die.

I was gonna recommend watching this. Ikebukuro West Gate Park. It is a good story and it has a real, bitter taste about life in Japan. Kudo Kankuro (the screenwriter) did a great job at that. School girls selling their bodies for fun, perverted salary men, police officers doing whatever they want with their suspects, gangs ruling the streets, Yakuzas ruling the city... I was seriously going to recommend it because even if it is a little awful, Makoto and his friends make it bearable. They go through all of that without giving the afternoon special speech to make it all better. They are a part of it, and they CAN have innocent fun in it, until...

I liked Rika. And she died in the first episode. But she drives Makoto through the rest of the story so it was OK. But this... I'm talking freely about all of this because I don't give a shit anymore, I'm piss with Shun's death. You shouldn't watch this. It's hard to get into it anyway, because it's so raw and even when it seems light it really isn't and it ends badly. I mean, they only found the yakuza's daughter after she was raped and beaten to death. Although they saved Ali of the drug dealers, he still got deported. They rescued the kidnapped kid, to see him join the rival gang...

Gods, why didn't they kill HIM? He was annoying! Shun WASN'T! Shun was awesome! He loved drawing and girls found him cute. Kaoru was dating him! Him calmness around Makoto and Masa was a balance to the craziness they got involve in. He was only 15!! 15, damn it!

It sure doesn't help he was played by a really young Yamapi in his first important role as an actor. Right after this he played a dying kid from a disease in a TV movie, I think. I'm really happy he got out of playing characters that end up dead after that. Though, if Takuma had died in Sore wa totsuzen, arashi no you ni, I would have expect it and understand it. I would have cried my eyes out (I did anyway with that dorama), but it would have been OK. He was meant to die, just as Ken in the movie. But Shun WASN'T. He just WASN'T. Not to be found dead in a locker as a message. It was fucking horrible. Horrible!

...

I think I feel a little better now. I'm gonna go and read fluffy fics with Yamapi in it to not keep relating him with Shun and Shun scared and alone and dead. Yes! I'm gonna go read Nobuta fics. Akira will save me! Kon!

A few hours later, I watched the ending.

So... I was hoping for a car crash, I didn't get one. If I'd known the ending I think I wouldn't have enjoy watching this drama. I'm glad then. Not with the ending, that was... well, for a moment there, I had hope, but well, in my head I fixed it! Still...

Ok, in anyone is interested in watching a little bit of this drama, here's a fanvid with the first episodes, with subtitles included!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujk0lw-MZ28


I went to the mall with my mom to buy more clothes. I'm freaking out. Too many stuff to do before saturday!

I'm one episode away to finishing Sore wa, totsuzen, arashi no you ni.

Like I said in my last post. This was like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know it's gonna happen, you know it's gonna be awful, yet you can't help but look at the disaster while it's happening.

On the one side, I'm completely annoyed with this story because it would be so much easier and guilt-free if Hideo-san were a horrible husband and had a torrid affair with Yuriko-san. Or, at least, if he didn't get along with Kozue's family. But, nooooo, he HAS to be a decent human being! So I CAN'T hate him and I CAN'T encourage Kozue to leave him for Takuma and make sure Takuma takes care of himself and doesn't show more suicidal tendencies like not moving from the middle of the street when cars are coming towards him! Damn it!

And damn Yamapi for playing another character that can cry his eyes out! Ken in Proposal Daisakusen was enough for me! Why Takuma has to be so damn angsty-ridden?? My heart is freakin' breaking!

I don't know if I want to watch the end of this thing. I'm gonna do it anyway, but I don't think I'll enjoy it. Why do I insist in not being spoiled when watching drama? If I knew beforehand it wouldn't be so much of a problem!

I had a nostalgic friday, an awesome saturday and a pain in the ass sunday. Long weekend.

My little brother isn't so little anymore. Last friday was his graduation. He played bass in front of a LOT of people and got recognition for his interest in math. I felt proud, old, and envious. My kind of goodbye wasn't that good. Wasn't any good, if I think about it. I'm not in contact with any of my classmates from back then. I didn't leave much of an impression on anyone... And history repeated itself when I was studying Translation. I have to do better this time around.

On that note, I got together with two groups of friends on saturday. First, after, like, two years? I think it was more than that... I went and visit Misa. It was wonderful. Again I felt happy and glad to found out that she and Paula, who was there, are doing good and are now more adult-like still being a little freaky. Misa is getting married in two months. Sadly, I won't be here to celebrate with here, but I'll be back before she has her baby (yes! she's pregnant too!), so I have time to catch up and become a proper aunty.

I found out Paula seems to like the same Japanese dramas that I watch, so I'll stuff her with all of those I've watch so far, so when I come back we will squeal like little girls together (we almost did on saturday, much to the annoyance of Alejandra).

After that, I went to Jose's house to get my goodbye party from them. We didn't do much, just talk about nonsense, but it was nice that they gather to wish me luck and all. Hopefully when I come back we can go to Caleu together again. That place is a bore for me, but with friends you can have fun anywhere, right?

On sunday I had to work on my last paper. We didn't finish it like we were suppose to. It was too much trouble by the end of it. I'm kinda sad I didn't help more, but at least it's done. Now I have a test tomorrow and my semester is finished. Thankfully.

I'm watching two new Japanese dramas. I want to finish them before going away. None of those are really up-lifting and light, and both may end really, really badly, but I can't help it if I enjoy stories about chance and coincidences. Both have Yamapi in it, too.

Sore wa Totsuzen Arashi no You ni (that means "It was sudden, like a storm") it's a story that seems perfect for a soap opera. It's even aimed for a older audience. It's about a woman in her 30' that realizes her life didn't turn out like it was suppose to, and not because things aren't bad it means she didn't wish they were different. And then, she meets a high school kid, who points out to her exactly what is that she feels and what she wants, so she starts feeling... it's like watching a crash waiting to happen. You just know it can't end well. The plot is good enough to distract you from some points any other way you could have picked up (and if I was distracted, that's saying a lot, considering I'm always the one to find out the end of a story by watching only half of it). The relationship between the main characters is surprisingly good too. You don't expect a 35 years old woman to have that much chemistry with a teenager, but I guess Yamapi does make the job of looking attracted to him easy, right?

Long Love Letter has a plot a little different... Though it's a lot about chance too. A math teacher tries to explain to his group of students in recuperation class about the science of "now" and points in space-time telling them of the time he couldn't call a girl that he met years ago because his phone was stolen right after exchanging numbers. I know, it sounds a little silly. But I refuse to explain further, cus I woulda loved being surprised with the twist at the end of the first episode but I already knew it was gonna happen. Just... listen to me on this one. It's better to be surprised.

Today... I went shopping with my mom (I have winter clothes now!). And I have a killer headache after yesterday, I'm gonna go to bed.

So...

The story breaks his heart.

Damn it, it breaks MY heart!

Then it breaks HER heart...

Ok, so it breaks the other guy's heart too, but I don't care about that.

Everyone's hearts are shattered in a million pieces...

And it gives me an inconclusive ending??

Well, it DOES have an ending, just...

OK, OK, I'm not complaining. Broken-hearted or not, it was a beautiful story.

Man, Yamapi can cry his eyes out!


For those who care to find out, Proposal Daisakusen is a love story about destiny, faith, friendship, memories, growing up, growing old, growing apart, two lines intersecting and being straight forward about your own feelings. Oh, and time travel. He.

It all begins with a wedding. Rei's wedding. Ken's best friend since elementary school. His best friend for fourteen years. The love of his life... and she's marring someone else. The thing is, it is not until that very moment, when she says "I do", that he ever really, completely, without a doubt, realizes he's losing her. He lost her. He will never, ever, have the chance to tell her about his feelings, he will never have the chance to show her what she meant to him. He will no longer be by her side, for better or worse, with her... happy. If he could only go back in time...

And then, a fairy shows up. Not like, a fairy-fairy, this is a "weird old man", as Ken described him, that gives him the ability to go back in time so that Ken can no longer live in regret. This is all happening while, at the post-wedding party, they're showing a slide-show of pictures with all of the important moments in Rei's life. Of course, Ken was in almost all of them, though he really couldn't remember some, hehe. In any case, if he really, really, *really* wanted to change something about what happened before those pictures, he should only wish for it, and he would embodied his younger self, and have his chance. Of course, life gets in the way, destiny gets in the way, his former teacher now Rei's fiancee gets in the way... and even themselves get in the way, because sometimes they can be real stubborn! or too kind, really.

So, for eleven episodes Ken travels through this pictures, through his and Rei's lives, through memories and lost opportunities... by the end of each episode he comes back, when the picture is taken again, and you see if anything has changed at all... But is not that easy, of course, or it wouldn't take eleven episodes!

Here, go watch this vid, it's the only one good enough without given away scenes of the last episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t22V316ULwM&feature=related

And this one does have spoilers, but it's really good, for those who don't care. In any case, it doesn't give away HOW things come to an end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiSDm7gKD-Y&feature=related

Well, I took my time with this. I need to work on the geo-social paper now.

I just watched the ending of Nobuta wo Produce.

Damn. I cried for 50 of the 60 minutes this episode lasted.

This one is definitely my favorite Live Action. Yes, even more than First Kiss. Only by a little bit, but it is. And it is also closely followed by Stand Up!!, and then Nodame Cantabile and KO One. Yep.

But this one takes the cake. It's kinda hard to accept an ending with three relationships between three characters when you're pulling for the threesome. And I've seen threesomes before. Those not driven by my lust and imagination, but by actual chemistry that really doesn't work when it's only two people. Isshiki, Hina y Koshiba from Penguin Brothers come to mind. Of couse, Sano, Mizuki and Nakatsu from Hanakimi. Sen, Mai and Yaezou from Atashi wa Bambi are other obvious choice. I could mention some of Digimon, but that one's a big orgy for me, any mix and match works! Same goes for Ayashi no Ceres. In Dear Boys there's actually a fivesome... Oh! And a famous threesome: Harry, Hermione and Ron!

Ah, anyway, what was I saying? Yes, All of those are great trios. But Shuuji, Nobuta and Akira... they together are made of WIN. They share Chilean piggies to prove it! (And yes, you have to watch it to understand that). The relationship between this three... they themselves acknowledge how complicated their feelings are, and how impossible it is to choose between any of them, even though, at the end, one of them does it. Choose, I mean. And it is heartbreaking. The whole damn ending is heartbreaking! And beautiful too. So much.

I know I once saw one or two fanfics out there. I wonder if I'll find them again... and more. This story makes ME want to write some.

Ahhh, going to bed now. Need to go and get blood-tested for a bunch of stuff. Sigh.

I've been having fun watching Live Actions lately. Yes, I have a life, I've been dealing with the paperwork for my trip (I got my visa!) and I have homework pending, and last week a friend had her birthday so it's not like I haven't been social also.

But, about the Japanese "doramas". I love them. Yes, there are not my usual tv shows, those I completely adore, not are they anime or manga, that I still treasure even after so many years and not being up and about with them. But Live Actions are just so much fun! Their music is great, the actors I seem to recognize more and more, and, more importantly, they only have 10 to 12 episodes per story! That makes my life so much easier!

The "doramas" I've watched or I'm watching right now:

1 Litre Of Tears: This was the first one, now that I think about it, and I've talked about it before too. And I hated it. It was too painful. The story of a girl diagnosed with a degenerative disease and how she and her family cope with it trying to demonstrate what's really important in life. Sigh. I cried like a little girl with this one.

Hanakimi: Ok, so the Japanese isn't as good as the Taiwanese version. It's fun to watch anyway, if you not compare it with both the other version and the manga itself. Girl dresses herself as a boy to enter an all-boy school to meet her idol. I got to meet Oguri Shun, who keeps showing up in other shows, and Ikuta Toma, who's just too cute and I can't help but love because I love every incarnation there is of his character Nakatsu.
And if you don't know about this show, the Taiwanese version or the manga... you really are from another world. It's perfect for all of you! I haven't seen this much slash and yaoi-ness anywhere else! And I'm a fan of both Gundam Wing and Weiss Kreuz! I mean, in this case, even the actors go a little overboard... I read somewhere that the silly kissing scene between Shun and Toma had to be re-taken several times (12!) because Shun was fascinated with the *softness* of Toma's lips! Come on!

First Kiss: I completely loved this one. I'm guessing manly because I didn't know how it was gonna end. The story of a girl with a heart illness that decides to spend her summer with her big brother who she hasn't seen in years, and makes his life a living hell! And his brother, in return, promise to find her a guy so she can learn about love before a risky surgery she has to take on. The interaction between the siblings is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time, and I completely fell in love with Inoue Mao and her character. Awesomeness made live action.
Here's a vid that at least shows you all how pretty Mao-san is!

Nodame Cantabile: Another great, great find. I tried watching the anime, but it wasn't as good as the live action, that it's more wacky than one could ever think possible! A story about a group of dysfunctional orchestra players and the wonderful pieces they play together. Conducted by a no-nonsense guy that can't seem to understand what did he do to deserve the group of idiots he works with, painfully afraid of airplanes and boats, can't leave Japan to follow his dream of becoming a conductor abroad, until his messy and silly and incredible cute neighbor, follow piano student, enters into his life and gives him a chance to become as great as he was meant to be.
Incredible presentation of classical pieces and the little stories that go with every one of them. Rhapsody in Blue is probably my favorite example of this, so go and take a look!

Hana Yori Dango: This one I downloaded it because I watched some of the anime way, way back. Back when it was hard as hell to find anime that wasn't already on tv. The characters got in my nerves sometimes, but there was something about it, so because I never got to watch the end in the anime version, nor in the manga, I gave the live action a chance. Inoue Mao is the protagonist, and Oguri Shun shows up again. It got a sequel and there's a movie coming up, so I guess in Japan they really liked it.
The story is about a poor girl in a wealthy world facing the four most popular guys of school and kicking their asses! And of course, falling in love with one (or two) of them and most of those around them being against their relationship, including themselves, because gods, they really are pig and hot-headed!

Yamada Tarou Monogatari: Similar story as before, but a lot more light-hearted. Our main character is a boy with a LOT of little brothers and sisters that depend on him to have food on the table because both their parents are complete idiots. He goes to a wealthy school and is so popular with girls that everyone assume he's rich, including another poor girl like him that's looking for a rich guy to marry and secure her future with. Ninomiya Kazunari (Nino) acts as Tarou and he's simply adorable in his rol, one of the few guys you actually believe has half the population of school crushing on him.

Nobuta Wo Produce: I watched most of this one last weekend. The tracks are taking their time to download so I'm going crazy waiting to watch the few episodes I have left. If there was ever a story about a threesome and it worked completely, this one is it! Seriously! Is about three unlikely friends coming together and changing each others' lives for good. The narrator tell us how his life consist in being friends with everyone, and I mean, *everyone*, without really getting close to any of them... except the one guy he can't stand, and the new girl, so incredibly shy she can't even stand straight. Both guys make it their mission to transform Nobuta and make her, whatever it takes, one of the popular girls in school, never realizing that their alliance will finally take them away from the loneliness they didn't knew they felt. The girl is played by the same actress from Hanakimi, Horikita Maki, with Kamenashi Kazuya (Kame) and Yamashita Tomohisa (YamaPi) to complete the threesome. ~^^~

Stand Up!!: This one... OMG. Amazing. And so simple! That's the best part. The story of four teenagers friends that realize they have close to zero experience when it comes to love... and sex. This guys spend the summer trying to peak up girls, to confess to whom they like, avoid the parental patrol and to come a little closer to losing their virginity... with little luck. It's a story about friendship and enjoying what's left of your innocence and dealing with family where everyone knows everyone else's business. Some of the silly situations the guys got themselves into are incredible hilarius, and gods, they are so easily slash-able sometimes! Come on, there's a scene where they're busting each others' confidence by admiring their attractiveness! So not kidding with that one. And then another when one of them desperately wants to practice the "kissing part" He.
Here we have Nino again, as the narrator, and he plays the dorky awkward kid part incredible well. YamaPi is also here, and Oguri Shun yet again makes an appearance, but this time his character is neither cool nor really that smart. It's pretty amazing that after this story about clueless silly kids any of this guys got a part as something else, they do it so well!
Here's is a vid a just found in youtube. Not the best quality, but the song is catchy (it's from the show) and shows some of the highlights of the first few episodes.

That's it for now. I gotta go do homework now. Long day ahead.

I have a month before I go and do the stupid thing I got myself into.

Before that, I need to download a bunch of stuff, and then my computer is gonna rest for almost four months. Of course, my little bother is gonna use it, and my dad, but it isn't gonna be on all week long downloading stuff.

It's gonna be crazy going back and having to download everything I'll miss by then. I don't think I'll be able to watch much television in Idaho, I'll try to work my ass off and I'll have to, you know, be social. That's OK, though. The only thing I worry about with my TV vices is being spoiled on LOST, and after Charlie's death that doesn't matter much, and because the show doesn't come back until february, I'm not gonna miss much anyway.

However, there are things I need to have downloaded before I go.

Right now, of active television I'm downloading every week: Heroes, Chuck, Aliens In America, Samantha Who?, House, NCIS, Reaper, Carpoolers, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural, Stargate Atlantis, Numb3rs, Dexter and Brothers & Sisters. I have a while range of tastes, haven't I?

On the live action front, most of the stuff I watch are finished, thank Aslan. The only on-going show is KO One, and I haven't download everything of Yamada Tarou and Hana Yori Dango. I'll do that before I go.

Then is my "memory lane" front, I'm two seasons short with Beast Wars and I'm only on season four with the '80s version of the Ninja Turtles, of ten!

Of old TV shows I started downloading Titus, witch thankfully only has three seasons. Of Scrubs I'm downloading seasons two through four, and is going slow. and I'm still missing half a season of Andromeda!

And the anime front... sigh. It's too much. Ouran High School Host Club is almost done. I started downloading Get Backers again. There's some new Tenipuri episodes I need to have soon, too. And then there's a LOT of other stuff I should download but I will not have the time before I go.

Now? Now I don't have space left. I need to burn some dvds and make some. And then, while everything is downloading, I need to do my homework.

Only a month left!

Life has been... slow-paced lately. I haven't study much. I have a hard time concentrating. I'm depressed and I don't really know why. And to make thing worse, my grandma is staying in my room... again. This time, it looks like she'll be staying until I'm gone to work in Idaho. I don't use my room much, but it's been a week and I've missed the comfort my own bed provides me. Sleeping in the living room is so... un-personal.

I need to have a couple of exams because my hormones have been acting up again. This has been a pain in the ass because I have to do them when I'm menstruating and first I was in Peru and then I didn't have any money. My last chance is go and have them done at the end of this month, because I'll be gone in december and I need something to fight the imbalance. Gods, I need to check my thyroids too. Damn it. Why only the women in the family seem to have all the medical problems? Ok, my dad isn't exactly peachy, but my brothers are healthier than a yogurt, is so not fair. Not that I want them sick, but come on, hormone problems they could have dealt with!

In other, better, news, I watched more of the stuff that tsubasa_lupin gave me, mainly Yamada Tarou Monogatari (the main song is way too catchy!) and Ookiku Furikabutte, witch, of course, I completely loved and I plan to download more episodes as soon as possible (And for the record, my new sweetheart is Tajima-kun :3).

Now I need to read that damn text for tomorrow's test. Sigh.

I stayed up until four in the morning watching 1 Litre Of Tears. And by that name, you can imaging the state I was when the damn thing ended.

OMG. SO MUCH SUFFERING. WHY THE HELL I WACH THINGS LIKE THIS???

I really didn't get it when Berni lend me this Japanese drama. She said to me "you're gonna cry like a baby". And damn it, I did! And of course it didn't help that I have a cold so I wasted a good amount ot paper towels watching this thing too! I made a mountain out of it by the end.

I though it was a bad soap opera with all the weird twists. The evil step mother, the amnesia, the mistaken identity... that was what was about the other drama Berni had let me watch a long time ago. With that title, I guessed it was the same thing.

But NOOOOOO!! It had to be about an incurable disease and based in a true story! It had to be actually well acted, directed, edited, photographed, etc, etc, etc... and be all about a girl who saw her world became smaller by the second having a degenerative disease.

No, I don't recommend watching it. It's too much. It's suppose to me make you appreciate life and such, but is too much. I wanted to stop watching when the girl still could walk, though badly, but I don't know, I wanted to find out how her siblings dealt with it and what happened with her er, non-boyfriend? Poor kid. Every time he cracked up crying I couldn't stop myself.

Damn. I have to go look for something better to watch or read, something lighter. Or maybe study. I need to study.