This is like a tsunami that led to the whole family watching a lot of Japanese stuff and learning the language. Suddenly, we feel like visiting Japan, especially Tokyo and Hokkaido next year!!!
I remembered liking J-pop was I when I was rather young. Those cute boy groups and Ayumi. Also BoA and every now and then I would catch a teary movie in the local cinemas. Turns out most of the time japanese movies had sad endings.
Thank God for Nodame Cantabile, Love Shuffle and Waterboys (2001) movie, I need to laugh as well!!!
I'm now into another Tamaki-kun drama "Guilty Akuma to Keiyakushita Onna". The first thing I was wondering was the long title which also means " The Woman who made a Pact with the Devil??" This is on-going at the moment in Japan every Tuesday night and most of the time by Wednesday its available on youtube, tudou raw, meaning in japanese (though sometimes with Chinese subtitles- thank god most singaporean chinese read and understand mandarin). If you need English subtitles, wait a day or so more and visit my websites :dramacrazy.net or dramafans.org or mysoju.com.
In fact, I'm so into all these japanese dramas that increasingly I could watch them without the subs. This is the best way for me to learn a language on top of studying. When i was in my teens or late teens I picked up cantonese watching TVB dramas and also listening to Canto-pop. It was a breeze when I visited Hong Kong because I could converse fairly well as a tourist.
So, now about "Guilty". It is classified as suspense/romance. I am not particularly interested in detective drama but I will watch anything with Tamaki Hiroshi in it. I mean he's such a great actor. I watched him in Waterboys (2001) movie and he shone. It was almost like his movie!!! Hilarious and natural. Then Tada kimi wo Ashiteru caught me by surprise, very good acting from the shy introverted student with a passion for photography to the broken guy in the photo exhibition reconciling his past. Honestly, I cried too!!! How not to??? When it was so convincing.Those tears just rolled off his awesome cheekbones continuously.
Ya...I noticed, both in Nodame Cantabile dramas/ movies and Love Shuffle, that this actor is really good with crying scenes. Whether its "tears welled up in the eyes" or "sudden huge tear drop" or "waterfall" type, they seemed so natural on screen, whereas for some other actors, one could sense their "effort" in the tear production department. LOL
Anyway, this drama turns out to be rather interesting. The complexity of Meiko's character. Sometimes you feel compassion for her like Mashima (Tamaki Hiroshi) the police detective do. She had spent some 15 years in jail for murders that she did not commit. The scene where she was with Mashima at the sea was particularly heart wrenching. Imagine she had not seen the sea for more than a decade. She was "not used" to people treating her kindly and with respect.Contrast that with her sheer determination and evil smile that often accompanied each "assisted suicide". She could be so cold-blooded as well as the innocent looking proficient dog groomer.
Tamaki Hiroshi looks different in every drama. He was really skinny in the Shikaotoko ----- (The Fantastic Deerman) and also the Last Battle under the Orion. In Love Shuffle he was still very slim but very funny as Usatan. I like Takeo in KIDS with Teppei Koike, the big brotherly gangster on the outside but rather kind and sensitive on the inside. Of course, as Chiaki Shinichi he's PERFECT!!!!!!!! Though arrogant and prone to "domestic violence" on Nodame-chan. LOL
Now in Guilty, his character with all the messy wavy long hair and moustache, Mashima seem to be in his late 30s??? lives a lone (er??? can I move in to pack the mess???? LOL) and where I am now Episode 6, he's walking on tight rope, investigating Meiko who is presumed to be connected to the sudden deaths of the witnesses to the Poisoned Chocolate Cake incident 15 years ago that landed Meiko in jail. At the same time, his compassion and feelings for Meiko are growing. The only thing they have in common are scarred pasts and sheer loneliness and also the Miwa-san's cute dog. Oh the ending theme by JUJU, is so beautiful.
PS: If ever I could spend a day with Tamaki san, i would like to record a duet with him in Japanese. (The lyrics need to be in romaji for my beginner level.) I love his sonorous voice, he sings from his heart, and our voices are definitely compatible. Dream on!!!!
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