Angsty Lovers, Evil Fathers, and...Campy High Fashion? Tokyo Juliet brings on the wangst

First off, apologies to the 90% of my flist who've friended me not for anything in Chinese, Korean or Japanese. In my defense, it is summer and all the shows I normally watch are on hiatus.

Last night (4am!) I finished Mars ( Mars thoughts )

But this is not what this post is about. This post is about Tokyo Juliet. It's a Taiwanese dorama and the first few eps are available on youtube with subs (it's currently running and is being actively subbed). Unlike 'Mars' or 'Silence' which I think have good, understated angst, TJ delights me with its cheesy, delicious angst. It's Bollywoodish, and the very concept of it makes me squee in glee and laugh at the same time. The plot? Our Heroine, Lai Sui, is in the Design College. She has sworn revenge against a famous designer who stole her design. Problem? She crosses paths and falls in love with his son. If you want to watch a deliciously cheesetastic, angsty melodrama, with plenty of dreadful high fashion, cute boys, angst, true love, childhood sweethearts and similar? TJ is a good, good choice. I've only started and I am already giddy :) There is an official webpage for it here, though for those who, like me, don't read Chinese, it's of limited utility. And I bring pics. Lots of them.



( More pics. Pretty girls, handsome boys, and odd odd clothes )

And if you think this is mixing too many genres, wait until you get hold of Smiling Pasta (which is yet unsubbed) which mixes brotherly rivalry, famous musicians having to maintain a fake relationship for publicity (which blossoms into real love of course), college love hijinks, jilted fiancees, lost dramatic loves, and every other thing you can think of.

Angsty Lovers, Evil Fathers, and...Campy High Fashion? Tokyo Juliet brings on the wangst

First off, apologies to the 90% of my flist who've friended me not for anything in Chinese, Korean or Japanese. In my defense, it is summer and all the shows I normally watch are on hiatus.

Last night (4am!) I finished Mars ( Mars thoughts )

But this is not what this post is about. This post is about Tokyo Juliet. It's a Taiwanese dorama and the first few eps are available on youtube with subs (it's currently running and is being actively subbed). Unlike 'Mars' or 'Silence' which I think have good, understated angst, TJ delights me with its cheesy, delicious angst. It's Bollywoodish, and the very concept of it makes me squee in glee and laugh at the same time. The plot? Our Heroine, Lai Sui, is in the Design College. She has sworn revenge against a famous designer who stole her design. Problem? She crosses paths and falls in love with his son. If you want to watch a deliciously cheesetastic, angsty melodrama, with plenty of dreadful high fashion, cute boys, angst, true love, childhood sweethearts and similar? TJ is a good, good choice. I've only started and I am already giddy :) There is an official webpage for it here, though for those who, like me, don't read Chinese, it's of limited utility. And I bring pics. Lots of them.



( More pics. Pretty girls, handsome boys, and odd odd clothes )

And if you think this is mixing too many genres, wait until you get hold of Smiling Pasta (which is yet unsubbed) which mixes brotherly rivalry, famous musicians having to maintain a fake relationship for publicity (which blossoms into real love of course), college love hijinks, jilted fiancees, lost dramatic loves, and every other thing you can think of.

Angsty Lovers, Evil Fathers, and...Campy High Fashion? Tokyo Juliet brings on the wangst

First off, apologies to the 90% of my flist who've friended me not for anything in Chinese, Korean or Japanese. In my defense, it is summer and all the shows I normally watch are on hiatus.

Last night (4am!) I finished Mars ( Mars thoughts )

But this is not what this post is about. This post is about Tokyo Juliet. It's a Taiwanese dorama and the first few eps are available on youtube with subs (it's currently running and is being actively subbed). Unlike 'Mars' or 'Silence' which I think have good, understated angst, TJ delights me with its cheesy, delicious angst. It's Bollywoodish, and the very concept of it makes me squee in glee and laugh at the same time. The plot? Our Heroine, Lai Sui, is in the Design College. She has sworn revenge against a famous designer who stole her design. Problem? She crosses paths and falls in love with his son. If you want to watch a deliciously cheesetastic, angsty melodrama, with plenty of dreadful high fashion, cute boys, angst, true love, childhood sweethearts and similar? TJ is a good, good choice. I've only started and I am already giddy :) There is an official webpage for it here, though for those who, like me, don't read Chinese, it's of limited utility. And I bring pics. Lots of them.



( More pics. Pretty girls, handsome boys, and odd odd clothes )

And if you think this is mixing too many genres, wait until you get hold of Smiling Pasta (which is yet unsubbed) which mixes brotherly rivalry, famous musicians having to maintain a fake relationship for publicity (which blossoms into real love of course), college love hijinks, jilted fiancees, lost dramatic loves, and every other thing you can think of.

Butterflies. I got butterflies in my stomach.

Goong makes the world better. Seriously. If you don't believe me, watch this MV of it (to a French song, of all things), and see if you don't agree. And btw, lesbiassparrow, there is angst :)

Oh, and in much more personal news which have been making me incredibly nervous (which is why the MV above was something I went looking for, to take my mind off the thing), we put an offer on a house.

Let's see how it works out.

And btw, dorama fans on my list. is "It started with a kiss" worth watching? I know it was a huge hit but I know not that much about it.

Butterflies. I got butterflies in my stomach.

Goong makes the world better. Seriously. If you don't believe me, watch this MV of it (to a French song, of all things), and see if you don't agree. And btw, lesbiassparrow, there is angst :)

Oh, and in much more personal news which have been making me incredibly nervous (which is why the MV above was something I went looking for, to take my mind off the thing), we put an offer on a house.

Let's see how it works out.

And btw, dorama fans on my list. is "It started with a kiss" worth watching? I know it was a huge hit but I know not that much about it.

Butterflies. I got butterflies in my stomach.

Goong makes the world better. Seriously. If you don't believe me, watch this MV of it (to a French song, of all things), and see if you don't agree. And btw, lesbiassparrow, there is angst :)

Oh, and in much more personal news which have been making me incredibly nervous (which is why the MV above was something I went looking for, to take my mind off the thing), we put an offer on a house.

Let's see how it works out.

And btw, dorama fans on my list. is "It started with a kiss" worth watching? I know it was a huge hit but I know not that much about it.

The frustrations of being not an intended audience member

Grrrrrrr. Trying to watch something (Silence) in Mandarin, no subs, is making me mega-cranky. It's not like Hindi where I can understand the basic gist, even if not the nuances. Here, unless someone says sorry or ILY, I am utterly in the dark. This thing is 30 eps long, and is now up to ep 11, but subs are out only for the first two (in comparison, Tokyo Juliet which is roughly the same vintage has subs for 9 eps out). If this subbing will never get finished, I will watch the entire thing anyway (figures that the one with least subs is my new obsession. Why did I have to get hooked on this one, of all things?) but I am going to be completely mystified about what's going on (well, actually since 2 out of 30 are subbed, I guess only 93% mystified). Reading the thread on d-addicts forum to find more info this morning did not make me feel much better as it's full of upset people. I think someone else subbed ep two from ep one, but I am kinda confused on who is doing what and when. I knew I should have stuck to English or Russian entertainment. When I take over the world, I'll make everyone learn Esperanto. Or something.

In less head-deskery matters, behind the cut is a scene that is currently making me swoon in a girly fashion from one of the later episodes of Silence. Watching without subs, I have no idea what they are saying in this scene (for all I know he could be telling her about his plans to open a raccoon hat factory in New Zealand), but I turned to mush anyway. I do get such a Bollywood vibe with t-doramas. Seriously, if you just changed the music to something written by Javed Akhtar and put Rani and Shahrukh in instead, this could be a scene straight out of Bollywood.

( Mushiness )

The frustrations of being not an intended audience member

Grrrrrrr. Trying to watch something (Silence) in Mandarin, no subs, is making me mega-cranky. It's not like Hindi where I can understand the basic gist, even if not the nuances. Here, unless someone says sorry or ILY, I am utterly in the dark. This thing is 30 eps long, and is now up to ep 11, but subs are out only for the first two (in comparison, Tokyo Juliet which is roughly the same vintage has subs for 9 eps out). If this subbing will never get finished, I will watch the entire thing anyway (figures that the one with least subs is my new obsession. Why did I have to get hooked on this one, of all things?) but I am going to be completely mystified about what's going on (well, actually since 2 out of 30 are subbed, I guess only 93% mystified). Reading the thread on d-addicts forum to find more info this morning did not make me feel much better as it's full of upset people. I think someone else subbed ep two from ep one, but I am kinda confused on who is doing what and when. I knew I should have stuck to English or Russian entertainment. When I take over the world, I'll make everyone learn Esperanto. Or something.

In less head-deskery matters, behind the cut is a scene that is currently making me swoon in a girly fashion from one of the later episodes of Silence. Watching without subs, I have no idea what they are saying in this scene (for all I know he could be telling her about his plans to open a raccoon hat factory in New Zealand), but I turned to mush anyway. I do get such a Bollywood vibe with t-doramas. Seriously, if you just changed the music to something written by Javed Akhtar and put Rani and Shahrukh in instead, this could be a scene straight out of Bollywood.

( Mushiness )

The frustrations of being not an intended audience member

Grrrrrrr. Trying to watch something (Silence) in Mandarin, no subs, is making me mega-cranky. It's not like Hindi where I can understand the basic gist, even if not the nuances. Here, unless someone says sorry or ILY, I am utterly in the dark. This thing is 30 eps long, and is now up to ep 11, but subs are out only for the first two (in comparison, Tokyo Juliet which is roughly the same vintage has subs for 9 eps out). If this subbing will never get finished, I will watch the entire thing anyway (figures that the one with least subs is my new obsession. Why did I have to get hooked on this one, of all things?) but I am going to be completely mystified about what's going on (well, actually since 2 out of 30 are subbed, I guess only 93% mystified). Reading the thread on d-addicts forum to find more info this morning did not make me feel much better as it's full of upset people. I think someone else subbed ep two from ep one, but I am kinda confused on who is doing what and when. I knew I should have stuck to English or Russian entertainment. When I take over the world, I'll make everyone learn Esperanto. Or something.

In less head-deskery matters, behind the cut is a scene that is currently making me swoon in a girly fashion from one of the later episodes of Silence. Watching without subs, I have no idea what they are saying in this scene (for all I know he could be telling her about his plans to open a raccoon hat factory in New Zealand), but I turned to mush anyway. I do get such a Bollywood vibe with t-doramas. Seriously, if you just changed the music to something written by Javed Akhtar and put Rani and Shahrukh in instead, this could be a scene straight out of Bollywood.

( Mushiness )

Gokusen: so I really am going to that Special Hell

I've finally finished the first ep of Gokusen (I got sidetracked with other doramas) and OMG. Not only is it indeed a new favorite, but I am so going to Special Hell because of it.

Gokusen, in case you don't know, is a wonderful jdorama about a young teacher assigned, as her first job, to teach a class of unrepentant hellions. Of course since she is, unbeknownst to them, a Yakuza heir, she is not easily deterred. It's funny, and clever, and well-acted and with some cool dramatic moments. And I have developed a huge thing for Sawada Shin, the class leader: he is alpha and obviously with some angsty issues, and some violent stuff. And he has the prettiest, most expressive eyes (good thing my taste in real men is nothing like my taste in fictional ones, or else I'd only be with some combo of arrogant, icy, violent, angsty and hot). I saw Jun in HYD but this one is where I am actually shocked, shocked to discover just how hot he is. I am having thoughts that aren't family-friendly.

But none of this would land me in Special Hell, so what am I talking about? After one episode, I am a huge Yankumi/Shin shipper. Yup. The age difference is 6 years (she is 23 and he is 17) which isn't bad (I have a friend who is married to a guy 6 years her junior). But regardless of what the age of consent is in Japan (whether it's 14 like in Maryland, 16 or 18 or 72 for all I know), she is his teacher and he is her student. Which is totally wrong wrong wrong wrong. But I don't care. Even though she has a potential, age-appropriate love interest (who isn't a slacker in the looks department himself). But Shin and her totally have chemistry and they keep looking at each other and I SQUEE and OMG. Special Hell, here I come.

Gokusen: so I really am going to that Special Hell

I've finally finished the first ep of Gokusen (I got sidetracked with other doramas) and OMG. Not only is it indeed a new favorite, but I am so going to Special Hell because of it.

Gokusen, in case you don't know, is a wonderful jdorama about a young teacher assigned, as her first job, to teach a class of unrepentant hellions. Of course since she is, unbeknownst to them, a Yakuza heir, she is not easily deterred. It's funny, and clever, and well-acted and with some cool dramatic moments. And I have developed a huge thing for Sawada Shin, the class leader: he is alpha and obviously with some angsty issues, and some violent stuff. And he has the prettiest, most expressive eyes (good thing my taste in real men is nothing like my taste in fictional ones, or else I'd only be with some combo of arrogant, icy, violent, angsty and hot). I saw Jun in HYD but this one is where I am actually shocked, shocked to discover just how hot he is. I am having thoughts that aren't family-friendly.

But none of this would land me in Special Hell, so what am I talking about? After one episode, I am a huge Yankumi/Shin shipper. Yup. The age difference is 6 years (she is 23 and he is 17) which isn't bad (I have a friend who is married to a guy 6 years her junior). But regardless of what the age of consent is in Japan (whether it's 14 like in Maryland, 16 or 18 or 72 for all I know), she is his teacher and he is her student. Which is totally wrong wrong wrong wrong. But I don't care. Even though she has a potential, age-appropriate love interest (who isn't a slacker in the looks department himself). But Shin and her totally have chemistry and they keep looking at each other and I SQUEE and OMG. Special Hell, here I come.

Gokusen: so I really am going to that Special Hell

I've finally finished the first ep of Gokusen (I got sidetracked with other doramas) and OMG. Not only is it indeed a new favorite, but I am so going to Special Hell because of it.

Gokusen, in case you don't know, is a wonderful jdorama about a young teacher assigned, as her first job, to teach a class of unrepentant hellions. Of course since she is, unbeknownst to them, a Yakuza heir, she is not easily deterred. It's funny, and clever, and well-acted and with some cool dramatic moments. And I have developed a huge thing for Sawada Shin, the class leader: he is alpha and obviously with some angsty issues, and some violent stuff. And he has the prettiest, most expressive eyes (good thing my taste in real men is nothing like my taste in fictional ones, or else I'd only be with some combo of arrogant, icy, violent, angsty and hot). I saw Jun in HYD but this one is where I am actually shocked, shocked to discover just how hot he is. I am having thoughts that aren't family-friendly.

But none of this would land me in Special Hell, so what am I talking about? After one episode, I am a huge Yankumi/Shin shipper. Yup. The age difference is 6 years (she is 23 and he is 17) which isn't bad (I have a friend who is married to a guy 6 years her junior). But regardless of what the age of consent is in Japan (whether it's 14 like in Maryland, 16 or 18 or 72 for all I know), she is his teacher and he is her student. Which is totally wrong wrong wrong wrong. But I don't care. Even though she has a potential, age-appropriate love interest (who isn't a slacker in the looks department himself). But Shin and her totally have chemistry and they keep looking at each other and I SQUEE and OMG. Special Hell, here I come.