Tsuki No Koibito shipping wars rant

[dangermousie]

Ugh. I really should know better than read fan threads with a drama where ultimate shipping is uncertain - it's insanity. Unlike people on my flist who, whichever their shipper preferences, always come across as reasonable and making sense, insanity reigns on the boards.

I've been reading threads related to Tsuki No Koibito and am so irritated.

It is full of people bashing Striker Girl because they adore the famous actress who plays the Best Friend and so any threat to potential OTP of her and Kimura muuuuust beeee eliiiiminated.

This is giving me really bad flashbacks to East of Eden thread where people kept bashing poor Lee Yeon Hee and her character Grace and the potential for an OTP with her and EoE's hero because she was love rivals with Lee Da Hae who is a much more popular star. People kept insisting Hero and LDH were the OTP to end all OTPs even though they had barely any scenes and Grace had romantic scenes galore with the hero, and were very short and superior with those (like me, even though I was a lurker) who were going "but text! In canon he doesn't care about LDH, he loves Grace! He is willing to die for her! Repeatedly!" No, apparently the fact that LDH was the bigger star trumped all and I still remember the horrible bashing of Lee Yeon Hee's acting, her character's behavior, and the horribleness of the OTP (and its very existence despite the drama doing everything but tattooing 'soulmates' on Grace's and Hero's foreheads) simply because Lee Da Hae's fans could not comprehend that a drama would not have her as mostest desirable thing ever.

I am getting a very familiar bad vibe from TnK threads - Chinese actress cannot act, her character is horrible, the chemistry is nonexistent, only thing worth watching is Best Friend etc. I don't mind people genuinely thinking Chinese Girl sucks at acting or whatever but when it's a litany of complaints all rooted in the fact that Kimura isn't worshipping at Best Friend's feet? Ugh. So far there is more evidence of his being attracted to Chinese Girl than Best Friend (it's not as clear-cut as EoE) but I am fine with either - except now her crazy fangirls are driving me insane and I sort of wish he ends up with Chinese girl just to spite the nutty people.

In a way, for me this is worse than EoE. I am a big Lee Da Hae fan (just wasn't rooting for her character in EoE) but I am completely unfamiliar with the actress who plays Best Friend, so the ranting of her fangirls prejudices me even more. And at least the disappointed LDH fans had grounds for crying 'bait and switch' because prior to premiere EoE was advertised as a love triangle involving Lee Da Hae. But with TnK the love stuff is really really muddled to start with.

Of course, it doesn't help that here, as in EoE, the shipping that the 'big name actress' fans are pushing interests me not at all. All the ranting is making me contrary and ship Chinese girl even more.

Comments

[prdarkstar.livejournal.com]

Oh lord. Thanks for the warning, i'm staying away from the fandom.
I remember something similar happened with Powerful Opponents. There wasn't a clear cut OTP and people argued over it till the cows came home. And in the end, nobody got shit (God, I hope that's not the case here).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ugh, Powerful Opponents. I loved it so much (Team Gwan Pil btw) and then the bizarre end happened. I don't remember a single person who was happy with that ending no matter their shipping preferences.

[linfer.livejournal.com]

It is full of people bashing Striker Girl because they adore the famous actress who plays the Best Friend and so any threat to potential OTP of her and Kimura muuuuust beeee eliiiiminated.

This makes...no sense at all. I mean, I've been always very canon about shipping, so shipping someone with someone else simply because I like the actor/actress could never happen. It's someting I'd wish and if there are hints, it's a yeah, but otherwise...just no.

Bashing someone because the other actress is more famous...oh boy, fandom is indeed a very strange place.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am very canon too. Even if I don't like the canon ship, I will sort of stay on-board because that's what's happening on-screen.

I don't think shipper wars happen often in dramaland (ships are so clearly predestined) but when ultimate ship is in doubt, as rarely happens, it gets insane (Chuno thread was better about it than most but even that got a little heated for a while).

[boginje.livejournal.com]

OK, now the actress has antis in Japan and all over the world , as well?(I`ve already told you why she has a HUGE number of antis in Taiwan-I don`t have to repeat myself again,right?) And all that happened because Shinohara Ryoko is seriously popular!!! ROFL

People are saying that "Chinese actress cannot act, her character is horrible, the chemistry is nonexistent, only thing worth watching is Best Friend etc."

Well she is not a good actress(but she is a complete rookie- give her a break- she is a lot better than Kim Hyun Joong and many people still think he deserves another chance), but the rest of this type of comments is simply UNTRUE !!!!

BTW it seems to me that people her don`t actually understand how Japanese entertainment industry works. Most of the people here obviously does not have a habit of watching Japanese movies and thinks JE boys are real actors (Except for Kimitaku,Okada and Nino have you ever seen a JE boybander in a serious movie?)
Listen carefully: if and actor/actress doesn`t have at least 5 really good (critically acclaimed and/or award winning) movies and/or dramas in his/her resume and always plays a similar type of characters -you have no right to label him/her as a great actor/actress).

Shinohara Ryoko is really lovable and she is not a bad actress at all, but she is not THAT great!!! and hating the Taiwanese girl cuz you prefer Shinohara Ryoko is plain ridiculous !!!

BTW, I am not shipping Kimitaku`s character with anyone until he stops irritating me.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think for her first role she's doing OK - agreed, so is not at KHJ or Jung Yunho level of 'special.'

I am not shipping Kimutaki in the sense of thinking he will ride into sunset and be happy (because he's a bastard and am not sure is capable of love) but shipping in a sense which relationship I enjoy watching more.

[boginje.livejournal.com]

P.S. Why isn`t anyone mentioning Abe Tsuyoshi`s cross-dressing striker character?
And I LOVE the fact that he can finally use his perfect Chinese-speaking ability!!!

[itshelene.livejournal.com]

OMG - I really did not realize it was him until you mentioned it. I thought he was a Chinese actor. Awesome!!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

OMG THAT WAS HIM?????????????

[boginje.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was Abe. I was watching it and 5 minutes after I saw the cross-dressing character I was like : EEEEEEEEH, Wait a minute!!!! Was That Abe? MUST REWIND!!! OOOOOH, it really IS Abe!!!! AWSOME!!!

[amandioka.livejournal.com]

Just stay with us and forget the threads! :P

I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but I think I remember you saying you don't like OL-dramas, like Anego... right? Best friend is the actress who played Anego... hehe.

It's weird because I don't think BF is a good actress (why does she keep touching her hair?), I like Chinese girl better... but I still prefer best friend lovers stories. However, I won't set this in stone, since I do like XiuMei, maybe she can sell her romance to me ^^

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, with the exception of Sapuri (there's an exception for everything :P) office dramas are very much not my thing and if what I read about Anego is true, then Anego is doubly so.

I prefer angsty messed up 'hate-you' love stories :)

[scanky-chops.livejournal.com]

I'm curious now as to which threads it is that you're reading to get all these comments. I mean, at DA i know a lot of people weren't really looking forward to Chi Ling's character due to her being a 'bad' actress, etc. And yeah, there were people who as Shinohara fans wanted her/Kimura endgame and kind of automatically didn't like the other ship.

If you were to ask me honestly what i'd want as endgame i'd say Ren (Kimura) and Maemi (Shinohara). The reason i say this is because when i read the profiles for the characters i immediately found myself interested in HER character and because i knew she'd play the part well. Plus it has to take a REALLY good poor girl-rich guy storyline and vibe for me to ship and unfortunately i just can't see it. Yet. There's also the fact that i adore best friends unrequited love type stories and i do think Kimura and Shinohara have chemistry - though it's much more comfortable and in tuneness. And finally, i've seen them in GIFT together and they were adorable together. XD

But having mulled over the episode i can honestly say if you asked me should Ren and Maemi be together i'd say no. Why? Because, to me, she's way too good for him. Shu Mei (Chi Ling) shouldn't be with him either for that matter. I don't trust him enough and I honestly didn't like the way he played both of them (Shu Mei into to do the modelling as he essentially blackmailed her with her mother, desire-filled 'I want you' regardless, and Maemi into designing the chair esp. given he'd completely forgotten she's the one who originally asked the question about the water strider).

At this present moment in time i'm actually curious to see how things pan out between Ren and Shu Mei but i have a horrible feeling about it. I think the long pause Maemi gave when answering Shu Mei's question on trusting Ren was really telling - she's known him forever and doesn't think people should trust him. It's the feeling that he's going to chew her up and then spit her back out.

Likewise, i want to see Maemi see this and move on - possibly into seeing what happens with Shota's character Kazami. Now him, i think is genuinely interested. Then again, he seemed to be from the same mould as Ren - cool, cold and hard.

Lol, i've written like a whole mini essay about this but i thought you might want to see another pov esp. regards the ranting there seems to be going on.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

d-addicts and soompi.

I agree. If I were picking a ship on basis who I think should be together with Kimura, I say - neither. He's a manipulative bastard who may well be utterly heartless - neither of the cool women should be with him for their own sake.

Going on what I as a viewer want to see in all its dyfunctional, can't end well glory, it's Kimura's relationship with Shu Mei. It just interests me, and the one with Maemi does not.

[timescout.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why I hardly ever check fan boards of a particular drama (especialy if it's a high profile one with major namee actors), unless it's a sageuk as you can sometimes find all sorts of interesting things about the real history buried in the threads.

As a non-shipper the viral insanity that quite often goes on with the various 'Mega Ships' is a serious turn off. God, I don't want my enjoyment of a drama get destroyed by a bunch of batshit crazy fans of the actors/actresses involved.

Lordy, they started early with TnK, didn't they. I mean, it's barely started! Who the hell knows how it's going to end. It's a Asano Taeko drama so just about ANYTHING is possible.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Sageuk boards are usually lovely and very sane. Yay. East of Eden thread, as I remember, got so insane that if soompi was on f_w's radar, it would have ended up there.

I honestly don't see a happily ever after ship for anyone here anyway.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I've only seen the MV and read articles, mind you, but my initial thought was that Shinohara (BF) and Kimutaku had better chemistry than he did with Lin Chi Ling, and since I LOVE it when my hero suffers for a bit (or a LOT) before he gets the girl, I'd like to see Maemi whip his ass into shape and make him beg. He is such an asshole right now that he needs it, and Chinese Girl is too broken already.

The bestfriends-turned-lovers thing is a shippy favourite of mine, anyway, and it's so lamentably underused. I'll wait til I've actually watched some eps before I make a real choice, but right now I'd absolutely love it if he has angsty, unhappy love with Chinese Girl and then moves on to Maemi, who had gotten over him by then and totally doesn't care, which'll make his little heart break. Woot!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't find Maemi interesting but I don't mind them hooking up at the end. I don't mind anything as long as he gets to suffer a lot first.

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Just saw this, but Shinorhara (BF) seems to be very popular in Japan. I know a lot of fans of Soompi and D-addicts have been wanting a Shinorhara/Kimutaku drama for a long long time. I can understand that - wanting two favs to be the OTP in a well written drama. But, I still don't understand the hate. Nothing can be sure about this drama. And, Chinese Girl made her debt a year or two ago in the Red Cliff films. This is her first time just speaking Japanese and acting in a drama - she's doing fine.