A Million Stars: eps 6-8

[dangermousie]

Too tired for long meta...

1. Kimura Takuya is beautiful.

2. I wonder what his backstory trauma is. Seeing the burn, the memory loss, and the nightmares, it must be quite a doozy.

3. I think we were supposed to feel sorry for Rich Girl, but nope...what a complete psychotic idiot. Anybody who'd kill someone else with so little provocation or reason (I am sorry, this is hardly Mawang manipulation) and then do herself in for not much reason either, is clearly too stupid to live, literally.

4. Yuko=Awesome. I love best the fact that she is her own person. She might love Ryo, but she is not needy. And she also doesn't see him as either an unrealistic, stupid ideal, or a thing that's good for sex.

5. I love love LOVE all the Ryo/Yuko scenes with total adoration. He is afraid, and happy, and irritated with her: he feels. I love the best the scene where he kneels at her feet and clutches her and she strokes his hair. It's both romantic and comforting-maternal. It's like all the emotions he normally can't experience got poured into her. (I love that at Rich Girl's suicide, you see what bothers him is not the death but that he can't feel anything). Or the scene where he spins her around on the roof. Or he hears sirens and he is terrified something happened to her. But yes, he clutches her, literally clutches her, so often. It's like the one steady, real, human thing in his life (and I love that she sees him at his weakest, when he has his nightmares, and she soothes it). I mean, he even turns down meaningless sex with Rich Bitch (whatever her name) which, this being Ryo, is...huge.

6. I don't care for the Detective Brother. He is boring. Seriously, he is not very competent, and his constant need to give Creepy Stalker GF breaks (she is an unbalanced psycho, she tried to stab Yuko, she killed someone etc) is ridiculous. Beyond ridiculous. What kind of policing is that.

7. And speaking of ridiculous. Good going, Detective. Stabbing a person on the street. Yeah, that will make your little sister give him up. How about you sit with her and explain things in detail? Maaaaybe?

Million Stars has some (very few) similariries with Mawang, but I adore the detective in Mawang a lot, and here...I just use it as opportunity to ff a bit while reading subs.

ETA: I am very impressed with Kimura for doing this. Admittedly, I haven't watched every jdrama ever made, but this is the darkest jdrama main character I've ever seen or know of. Quite against any idol image.

Comments

[timescout.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're already in ep 8. That was fast.

I totally agree with you about nbr 1. Kimura is just stunning. He's overall wonderful as Ryo, so nuanced. And the acting is so controlled, every aspect just right. Sigh.

Yup, the backsory is pretty grim.

What I find rather funny is that my favourite character is actually the cop brother. I see him from a totally different angle than you. He's not boring to me at all, lot of levels there but they are so subtle you'll easily miss them. On the surface he does seem like he's not very competent but he's actually very good at what he does. He just does not want to stand out and there's a reason for it. He and Ryo are connected, it's obvious from the beginning and if you look closely you see that Ryo does quite a lot just because of him. It's not only the fact that Det. Dojima is a cop or that he's Yuko's brother, more like he want's to impress.

The stabbing was really idiotic but I understand Dojima's motives much better than those of Ryo's.

As much as I love Ryo as a character I don't have much sympathy for him. Not even after I learned why he turned out the way he is.

Yuko is awesome, she's fragile but somehow very strong at the same time. And I think that a lot of this is thanks to our boring detective. ;)

As for nbr 5 - yes!

[marspeach.livejournal.com]

I've seen this series twice. The first time, in 2006, I hated it. The second time, in 2007, I thought it was decent. Let me just say you probably won't be happy at the end.

[marspeach.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot! Have you seen Byakuyakou? The characters are pretty twisted in that one. Also I've heard Kono Yo no hate is a very dark show.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I plan to see Byakuyakou....

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL. I know the ending and I am going to love it! (Sometimes I just like something unabashedly dark).

[marspeach.livejournal.com]

Haha, that's good. I was upset about it the first time but I think that was the best way to end things now.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ryo's motives? I don't know, it just struck me as his not feeling much for most people in his life so when they are inconvenient he gets rid of them and since he doesn't really value them, it doesn't matter if he gets rid of them drastically. It makes sense to me for the damaged individual he is, someone who tried to compensate his weakness and loneliness by convincing himself he is special and powerful and it's OK others don't notice him/love him/he doesn't love them back, because they don't matter...

I don't think he is a praiseworthy character, or one I'd take home, but I find him fascinating. I will forgive anything to a character I find interesting and I find him riveting. Detective might be an OK person (though I don't think so: he is letting a confessed murderer go, WTF! And stabbing people on the street!) but I find him very very boring, sorry. MMV and all that.

[timescout.livejournal.com]

I guess in Ryo's case 'motive' may have been a bit too strong word to use. As it's all a game for him. He does it because he can and it amuses him in a certain level. I never got the feeling that he killed (even by proxy) anyone before the student girl, just used them. But yes, he does not have any feelings for anyone, until Yuko comes along.

I find Ryo endlessly fascinating as well. He really is an interesting character. But I don't feel anything for him beyond that. Even his end left me totally cold. Which is interesting in itself as my feelings for Seung Ha in Mawang were so very different. Boggles the mind. As for the Detective, in that we just have to agree to disagree. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think the difference between Seung Ha and Ryo is huge, though: Seung Ha does care for people in his life, a lot of people: his adopted family, his manager, Librarian Girl, etc etc etc. He is a good person who is damaged/so bent on revenge he is disregarding his very real feelings for others he'd normally have. And he'd never kill someone who is 'inconvenient', he is targeting specific people against whom he believes he has a grudge. One of the things that hits him the hardest is when he realizes his manipulations led to innocent people (whom he manipulated to kill these people) being hurt.

He is a messed up person, but he is not a psychopath or a sociopath. Ryo is a lot further along this path: he feels no guilt or emotion, except towards Yuko. Whatever happened in his past (or inherent in him) has twisted him so much, that it led him not able to appreciate others or care for them, except for Yuko.

I do feel for him but while I think Seung Ha is (was) redeemable, Ryo is not really...

[timescout.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's exactly it! Seung Ha is still able to feel and see past the revenge when jolted back into reality. Ryo is damaged beyond repair. Which makes me think that he was mentally more fragile to beging with. Actually that makes sense, Ryo didn't have several years of secure homelife and love the way Seung Ha did.

[cocori.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to ask you--how are the subtitles on this drama? The version that I watched was very Engrishy and laughable at times instead of dramatic because of it. I remember the subs saying "Do?" instead of "Are we gonna have sex?" or something in that sense. :/

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

My subs aren't bad actually, though not perfect.

[marspeach.livejournal.com]

Do they call Miwa "Mihane"? If so then I think we have the same ones (I got mine from cori).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think so...

I don't think they are that bad because I've been inured to some really awful subs for some kdrama sets. This is understandable which is all I need :)

[catdecember.livejournal.com]

hi! where did you get your copy? i couldn't find that jdrama. well, its much harder to find jdramas subtitled anyway, unless one donwloads (which i do sometimes, but not all the time, not patient enough).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

One of these sellers.

http://dangermousie.livejournal.com/1023245.html

[joonni.livejournal.com]

ETA: I am very impressed with Kimura for doing this. Admittedly, I haven't watched every jdrama ever made, but this is the darkest jdrama main character I've ever seen or know of. Quite against any idol image.

Even more than Yamada Takayuki's character in Byakuyako?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I know very little about Byakuyako, so no idea :)