[Movie] Ooku

2010

If gender roles were reversed and women ruled the world, what would become of the concubines?

While this movie focuses on more than the 'manly' squabbles of the shogunate concubines, I would very much rather focus on the small picture. It is rather intriguing. We will slowly back out to focus on the big picture, but right now, just right now, we will talk about pretty boy squabbles for position and power.

Many times have we watched a movie, a drama serial about the concubines of Imperial China. The Emperor would be the cock in charge (forgive the uncouth language, for the lack of a better word...) and the women will fight each other in an endless (and often deadly) competition for the man's attention. 

Women, their nature is conniving and possessive. It is only natural that they would fight each other for a man's attention. As reality dictates, a woman would fight another woman for a lesser man, much more can be said if it were the Emperor of China. 

Now, imagine if the concubine grew penises. Imagine the concubines' places taken up by a bunch of pretty boys. There you go. What a wonderful idea, no?

Say, an epidemic stormed the land, infecting the men - and only the men. What is left is a surplus of women and suddenly, the roles reversed. The shogun is a woman and hundreds of men are lining up, pining to be in the good graces of the shogun. 

Such is the world in which our central character, Mizuno lives. Forced to abandon his first name when he entered the inner chambers a.k.a. Ooku when prospects were growing thin for a descendent of a samurai, Mizuno found himself in a bizarre world. Male servants of the shogun were ranked by hierarchy of those who were the favourites of the shogun slowly down to the ones whom are not worthy to be seen by her. 

The good thing about a reverse harem of pretty boys is that they can bed a higher ranking pretty boy to leap up. Handy, no? Not necessarily more peaceful than a harem of psychotic women, this offers a different look into an alternate world where for once, women had to pay for sex and they had to do the chasing. Interesting, no?

A wonderfully entertaining watch! Makes me want to get my hands on the manga.

[PV] The Shigotonin - Kyoukasuigetsu

My mom would like this song. xD This song is so 80s and I ROTFL at the intro of the PV where they tried to look sophisticated and all mature, adult sexy, which didn't work. xD Mabo was sexy, but in a less sophisticated, more dirrrty way. xD And Higashiyama... I don't know about his past glories and his high rank in Johnny's Jimusho, but he just appears to be like a sellout trying to make a comeback by pretending that he is doing favours for his juniors. I'm probably wrong. But, hey, whatever. I'm never right anyways.

And... I think people past the age of 40 should just stop... dancing like that. Frankly, I am not sure how old Higashiyama is, but... you know, it is disturbing. Actually, at age 35, being in a boyband is a bit... ugh. But since they're Japanese and all, it's okay. But 40? xD If Arashi still exists when Ohno is 40, I'll just stick to old videos of them, really. That is, if I still give a rat's ass about them at that time.

Back to this PV... WTF, seriously. I know Higashiyama is supposed to be good at dancing and all, but seriously. It is a lame excuse and a failed PR tactic or something. I usually like these inter-group collaboration things, but they're trying too hard to make it all sophisticated and mature sexy. The dark lighting, the dance steps, the spinning, the jazzy music. I get the water and the moon thingie, very good. I mean, considering the title of the song is "Mirror-Flower-Water-Moon". So, that's why we have the moon and the water. I don't get the hat thing. I don't get the tone. xD Besides, Ohkura was trying to make expressions at the camera, I said 'trying' because obviously, his expression is as dramatic as a block of stationary tofu. He wore a frown throughout the video, I wonder if he was trying to convey some sort of feeling OR he might be constipated. Goodness, let him shit! It is inhumane to make people work while they're constipated.

I like the song, mostly the chorus, the verses are boring. The chorus reminds me of some song from Hong Kong back in the 1980s or... to stretch it out a bit, perhaps the mid 1990s. I know a lot of songs back then were Japanese rip-offs. So... I'd have to date it back to the 80s. But then this song has Higashiyama doing it, so... I guess it would it natural to have a bit of Shounentai in it. xD Mabo looked so stiff though. xD His eyes were creepy. xDDD He just looked very out of place in the PV.

Well, it is not THAT bad, not very entertaining either. Just mediocre and, tried too hard o appear as somethign but then didn't quite work. The overall atmosphere of the PV worked, but it is the people doing it that kinda failed. Mabo is not suited for it. Ohkura... is... like... ugh. If it was Higashiyama and perhaps... Sakamoto/Nagano/Tsubasa/DoKo, it might work. They have that... flair for... this kinda PV. I dunno, it may just be me.

[Drama] Yasuko to Kenji

Summer 2008

Episodes:

Starring: Matsuoka Masahiro, Hirosue Ryoko, Tabe Mikako, Ohkura Tadayoshi...

Yasuko and Kenji lost their parents. Since then, Kenji, who was in a bikers' gang worked as a mangaka to support Yasuko and himself. Yasuko grew up and started to hate her brother's rough and controlling ways.

One fine day, Tsubaki Jun and Erika moved to town. Jun is a handsome young man and Erika is his pretty elder sister who is a florist. Yasuko quickly developed a crush on Jun who entered her high school.

Yasuko's blooming affections for Jun faced objections from Kenji. Actually, Kenji practically controls her love life and forbids her to date. On the other hand, Erika and Kenji seems to have a past together~

How will the two pair of siblings and their relationships with each other progress? Yeah. I HAD to ask the question to make it seem more... um... synopsis-ish. I don't know. Really, ever read the back of a DVD jacket? They always have questions, sorta like to increase the interest or whatever.

*****

Episode 1:

I could smell the comedy upon the first few minutes of watching it. xD And Mabo is sexay! Sexay I tell you. And really, Yasuko is just a really spoiled and ungrateful bitch. I mean, his brother doesn't really have to carry the responsibility of taking care of her. But he did. So all she could do is suck it up and be grateful.

But ah... Hirosue Ryoko's character is totally love! OMFG hilarity! OMFG I love it already! See? Comedy! Comedy pwns the asses of doctor dramas, seriously. What we want from doctor dramas, we got from E.R., Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy, House and... many more. We want biker gangs, funny Japanese humour and pretty boysies WITH facial expressions. A wet sponge has more facial expressions than Yamapi.

Hirosue Ryoko was at one time the IT girl of Japan. I think. Well I wouldn't know for sure since I live a gazillion miles away. Ohkura Tadayoshi... has as many facial expressions as a konnyaku. xD What? Seriously! Its stiff, stiff stiff! Pi, Hongo Kanata, Takaki Yuya... they need to learn to project~ But it doesn't matter in the Japanese world of entertainment. If you're hot enough, you can stand in front of the camera like a talking stick and still hit it big. No kidding.

Episode 2 & 3:

I love this drama a lot. Mabo and Hirosue Ryoko! xD Its very funny but it seems to follow the same pattern for every episode. Something new comes up, Yasuko gets pissed at Kenji. Yasuko realizes that Kenji sacrificed for her. Yasuko gets kidnapped. Erika, Jun and Kenji + his sidekicks rush to the scene. Yasuko gets saved.

You wonder how they all know that Yasuko was kidnapped. You wonder how they always know when to show up.

xD Funny though, the drama.

Its repetitive enough to predict yet funny enough to make you want to watch it despite the repetitiveness.

Upon finishing: TBA

Ratings: 3.5/5

[Drama] Utahime

2007

Episodes: 11

Starring: Nagase Tomoya, Aibu Saki, Sato Ryuta, Ohkura Tadayoshi, Koike Eiko...

A young man named Akira traveled to a rural countryside on behalf of her mother to watch a movie when a really old, broken cinema was to put up its last showing. Akira's mother, a songstress who decided that she would retire after her father, Akira's grandfather's death. She expressed that it would be a meaningful, life-changing movie that Akira will be watching, called "Utahime". As Akira arrived at the cinema, he found out that the cinema was closing because the owner's mother passed away the month before and it was written in her will that this movie - written by James Taro, about a man who lost his memory and the women who loved him - be the last movie the cinema will show. As Akira was looking at the pamphlet of the movie, the scene switches to a 1950s Japan and a man who looks exactly like Akira was riding on a bicycle, delivering reels of films.

Taro, Akira's grandfather, turned out to be a live-in worker at the local theater - Orion za(the one Akira was to visit half a century later.) The owner of the restaurant gladly took him in to live with the owner's wife and his young daughter - Suzu. It was later revealed that Taro was in the army before he arrived in this small town, he was found by Suzu and her father, drifting in the river and was saved by them. He woke up remembering nothing of his past and the war, not knowing where he was from. His only hint was a broken pocket watch without a chain. The family took Taro in and the four of them lived happily together but was often interrupted by the local Yakuza gang.

The drama follows Taro and Suzu's life in the small town, how they overcome the problems of everyday life and how Suzu loved Taro, how Taro avoided her love for fear of complication if and when he remembers his past... and then there is a little but expected twist. This is the negative point of flashbacks. You can tell what will happen because the fragments of the future often contain hints. And I am a master at flashbacks as I realized, back in high school, I wrote a lot of essays and about 90% of the stories I wrote are flashbacks. Oh how I loved the hint dropping incorporated at the beginning. ^^

*****

O_O I actually thought Nagase Tomoya and Aibu Saki look cute together. To think I was always on Team Ayumi. Tsk tsk tsk. The love between their characters is apparent very early on. The ending I can also pretty much predict.

Nagase Tomoya seems to be playing a character with a wee bit more depth than his previous characters that I have seen such as that "Mukodono" dude and the "My Boss My Hero" dude. Dual personality. Savvy.

Ohkura Tadayoshi's James prances around with a lovely hairstyle. I like! His character's obsession with James Dean is absolutely hilarious. xD Am starting to remember him already! Yes, I had a period of time where I forgot Ohkura. xD He is always rebelling without a cause in the drama. xD

The theme song "SEISYuN" by none other than TOKIO has a nice retro feel to it. Though I have to say... in episode 2, when Nagase was trying to sing "Jailhouse Rock"... what the hell?! Its... T_T horrible. The pronunciation, I mean. He could have spent a few more days learning it, really. It turned out to be a complete joke. And I know I am being hard on him, but still...

The viewership rating is a stunningly LOW 7.9% on average in the Kanto region. WOW. xD That's something... Anyways, I do not start something I don't finish. (Well, not really. Just thought it sounded cool to say that.) So I finished it.

Sato Ryuta playing a bad guy... I was pessimistic from the beginning. A person with that face cannot play a bad guy. Turns out, I was right. His character is the perfect idiot.

[Spoilers from episode 7] Taro's wife, played by Koike Eiko appeared, I think that its really selfish that the family kept it from him. Sure, James and his determination to fix the ideal couple up is admirable, sure, of course you would want the person you are closer to to be happy instead of some unknown stranger. BUT, BUT, BUT, its just unfair. Let Taro make the choice! Taro should have the right to make his own choices. No one would be happy if they have to keep the secret from Taro, definitely not Suzu. She might have to live in fear of Taro remembering the past suddenly and blaming them for not telling. Suzu is too selfish and stupid for keeping Taro like that, praying at the temple for Taro to stay. Even if he stays, she won't be happy knowing that he might remember anytime. Its so annoying that people are no farsighted enough to see that secrets are crap!

[Spoilers from episode 10] Miwako is so great that she could have been wrapping up her husband and giving it to Suzu graciously and Suzu is so selfish that she did not tell Taro that he has a daughter. Bitch. Miwako~~ thou art great. She understands, you see, that if she forces Taro to go back, neither of them would be happy. She could even admit that he fell for another girl and accepted the fact that he doesn't love her anymore. Hows that for being mature? T_T Poor thing.

[Spoilers from episode 11 - finale] Its so unfair that they portray Taro to be someone who just go back to his life pre-war for his daughter and his daughter is the sole reason for him to go back. Its unfair. Does Miwako mean nothing to him? Yeah, yeah the main characters have eternal love. Whatever. I think I will gag. Taro wrote a script based on their love story which was to be the film that Akira traveled so far to watch. James added the finishing touch, thus the James Taro~ double first names. xD I kinda had a feeling that Akira and Ruriko were to resume the story that their respective grandparents failed to complete earlier on. I was right! And I knew Suzu was going to marry Croissant. Croissant is such a great guy inside, despite being a crybaby. Sabako outlived all of the others. Sabako is great.

Now what does this drama tells you, kids? You don't always marry Mr. Right. Life is about compromise... even if it means that you will marry a crybaby named Croissant. T_T

Rating: 3/5

Was a bit slow for my taste.