My brain issssss sprained with sparkles

[dangermousie]

Mei-chan no Shitsuju oh my oh my.

I am about ten minutes in and my brain feels broken. Not in a bad way but still - a permanent state of WTF has been entered.

I confess my suspension of disbelief has been strained to its utmost - the only way I am managing and continuing is by literally repeating "it's based on a manga it's based on a manga" every ten seconds. This drama makes the Japanese Hana Kimi seem like an exemplar of realism. It's odd what I can and can't accept - I don't worry for a second about aliens with tentacles but a super-ritzy school for rich women who each have a dedicated butler pings my "no way" buttons. I think mainly because while these butlers are a tweenager's dream (utterly dedicated to their lady as their sole goal and making the hero of Twilight seem a sex-crazed maniac) I haven't been a tween for a very very long time and my common sense keeps interfering and going "why on earth are they doing this?" and wanting to lead some sort of Communist revolution in the school. Heh.

Still, I am enjoying it and continuing it despite this. Why? Well, mainly because I like what I have seen of Mei herself (her common sense, her disbelief at the zaniness around her - she is a proxy for the audience this way, her glasses and bowl cut) and of Rihito, her super-proficient butler (who seems for now, though it might be a wrong impression, perpetually amused in a lovely way).

Anyway - enjoyable. But crack. Crackcrackitycrack. And unlike with jHanaKimi, I haven't read this manga so I don't have to rant about how it butchered the source material.

Comments

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

I feel like the only person on the planet who couldn't get into Mei-chan. And I'm a raving Eikura Nana fangirl!

[boycottbananas.livejournal.com]

You're not you're not you're not! :o No idea why I needed to say that three times, though.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL - my taste in jdramas is decidedly peculiar. While I love some very popular jdramas - Hanadan, Pride etc, a lot of the classics of the genre leave me cold (Long Vacation, Love Generation) and so do a lot of fangirl faves (Hana Kimi, Kimi Wa Petto).

Generally, if it's supposed to be over-the-top or "funny", it won't work for me, I find it too shrill and ridiculous. The only two jdramas which did not meet either 'low-key' or 'kdrama in Japanese' standards that I loved were Hana Yori Dango (but I think except for the bit with the OTT school, it's very much a kdrama) and Gokusen 1/My Boss My Hero, but by Japanese standards of OTT they are fairly "real."

I think there is a reason I normally prefer older jdramas - they are less ridiculously sparkly-silly. Also, people in them look like they occasionally eat.

I think I enjoy McNS so far because it's so ridiculous I am so boggled I keep watching. Plus, while Mazushima Hiro does nothing for me in pics, he is rather fun to watch in action.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I looked at the Mei-chan manga it seemed on a slightly creepy side. Mei is 12 and Rihito is 20+. I think making Mei and Rihito look kind of the same age in drama is a definite improvement.

I loke love love the way this drama is made - all the little sheep and roses just add to the bizarreness of it!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It really looks like an anime. I find it hard to get used to, actually. But I shall persevere because I am watching so much serious stuff this makes a good break.

[boycottbananas.livejournal.com]

It only gets worse.

...well no, for me it went downhill around episode 5/6. Unless you feel a hatred/annoyance towards Kento or you just absolutely love Rihito, you'll be experiencing a case of deja vu again when it comes to the OTP.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL. Deja vu with what?

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I was interested in this but HanaKimi really pushed my tolerance. I'll probably still give it a try but I'll watch an episode before I download the whole thing, now.

a permanent state of WTF has been entered.
lol - that's how I felt during the first episode of Rolling Love. Fortunately it calmed way down.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

This is even weirder than Hana Kimi - I don't know, it's a whole surreal world of its own.

[scanky-chops.livejournal.com]

See, i had the same problem with HK and this. I couldn't really stand the female lead (although Mei seemed to have more of a personality than Ashiya) and i got fed up of the main ship and so my attention wandered off to the other characters.

I kind of had to push myself into finishing them off but if you wanted silly crack you should have tried Atadan which i feel is a much better ensemble cast (That's the other problem with HK/MnS - waaaaaay too many characters to remember) plus it actually has a good storyline hidden under the ikemen lolz. XD

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I feel allergic to Atadan for some reason - the boys all look undernourished and young to me (which is true for Mei-chan also, but it's so ridiculous I can't take anything seriously) and I used to like Maki but after Hana Kimi I am sort of not in her camp (the only way Oguri Shun escaped the trainwreck was by playing a sadistic killer in Smile. That does not require me to find him adorable).

I don't really go for reverse harem either and Mei-chan might keep me amused through sheer insanity while Atadan is not insane enough.

I don't know if I am explaining it well. Most Japanese fluffy dramas annoy me, actually and the only reason I even tried Mei-Chan was because it seemed so, well, insane.

[issy-chan.livejournal.com]

I can't stand Maki, Nebuta wo Produce, was the only drama that i thought she was good in it. i watched Hanakimi just for aguri's sake and tried to ignore maki as much as i could till i found my saver in Hiro's character.
as for MnS, somehow, at first it was embaressing to say that i liked it. because it was simply out of this world. but now, i honestly can say that LOVE the drama. with all cheesy plots and storylines and the whole mistress x butler bit, it is one great drama and very enojoyable to watch.
I love Nana as Mei. she was so real and no fake acting.
i feel like watching MnS again. :-)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's cute so far. I liked Maki in Kurosagi and Nobuta but Hana Kimi is my least fave jdrama eeeeeever.

Smile subs for ep 4 are out btw! (Are you on the stormy comm or out_hour?)

[cranberrysheep.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Mei-chan, the first half more than the second. By the time I got to episode 6 I was ready for it to be done.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

How long is it anyway? One good thing about jdramas is they are short.

[seven-trees.livejournal.com]

My favorite thing about it was the cgi sheep that randomly popped up everywhere.

I still love this show.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

CGI sheep?????????????

[ambergold.livejournal.com]

that's what I thought! when everyone on my flist started raving about it I watched maybe the first half of the first epeisode and I just couldn't seem to take it. I LOVE the crack of both J-Hana Kimi and Tw-Hana Kimi, but this - this isn't grounded in any emotional reality/love story, at least as far as I watched, so it was just tooo much. Plus, there was way too much creepy ust between the girls and their butlers. It felt like someone's drama idea of a slightly twisted sex game. Not that it was terrible however - I've actually been thinking about trying it again since everyone else is still raving about it. I'll wait for your verdict however:)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Odly, it would freak me less if it was a sex game - then there would be a rationale for it.

[your-insomnia.livejournal.com]

Mei-chan didn't change my world or anything but it was really enjoyable. The crack levels in the first episode are high yes, but somehow you get used to it. But the drama hooked me only on ep 4, that's when the shippy things started. I actually love UST in dramas and it was amazing how awkward and cute Rihito and Mei were about it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love ust too!

[syrenstar.livejournal.com]

I found Mei-chan so cracktastic I fell in love but then it became too much. I still haven't watched the last episode.

I have a high tolerance for camp and silly but the characters have to be right to keep me watching.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I actually don't have a high tolerance for camp except in anime - this begs to be made into an anime.

[aliaspiral.livejournal.com]

i love Mei-chan so very very much, and Im seriously afraid im turning into that person who makes others go, 'ANOTHER post about Mei-chan?! *delete*'

which is how ive managed to avoid posting an epically meta post about the show and Rihito and the more subtle emotions going on in the background. because i dont want to scare my ENTIRE flist away.

honestly, the only person ive found who likes it as much as i do is beckerbell, and we will flail happily at each other and destroy comment word limits over it.

i do hope you enjoy it. i find it interesting that someone said that it wasnt grounded in emotions, and compared it to hana kimi in that regard. i actually find Mei-chan more affecting emotionally then I ever found Hana Kimi...with the exception of when Mizuki said goodbye, and i had to pause it to sob into my shirt for a few minutes.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, can you link me to your posts? I don't mind spoilers!

[december-clouds.livejournal.com]

I got through Mei-chan but I hated hana kimi. I tried so hard to like hana kimi but I couldn't. :(

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, HK wasn't my bag.