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dangermousieYou might remember my going crazy for the Japanese drama Tatta Hitotsu No Koi (Just One Love) with Kamenashi Kazuya and Ayase Haruka a month or so back.
And then you remember my stopping after a few eps. Not because I stopped loving it, but because I decided that watching an ep a week was simply killing me, and I needed to wait until it was all out so I could binge. And also because Nao and Hiroto moved me so incredibly much, I couldn't bear to watch it without knowing how THNK ended (the day the last ep came out, I haunted internet like a ghost to see if I could find out the ending).
Well, now I have all the episodes, and the binging has began. Expect a Tattakoi heavy zone in the next few days, because I've just finished ep 6 and oh my God, this keeps breaking my heart and making me swoon and be one of the most understated, delicate, romantic dramas I've ever seen. I've never tried to really comprise a Top 10 dramas list, but if I ever did, Tattakoi would be on it.
For those who missed my gushing, Tattakoi is a 10-episode drama centering about quiet yet star-crossed love story between Hiroto, a quiet, overburdened young man, who is trying to keep his family's business from going under and take care of his fragile younger brother (their mother is useless) and Nao, a direct, sheltered daughter of a very rich family. Nao is an adorable darling who is somewhat unworldly because she never interacted with other people much as she had leukemia when younger. Nao and Hiroto are somehow 'outside' but connect. And make me grin and cry and swoon.
Hiroto is someone who consistently had to give up his dreams for others (he didn't get to go to college for one) and he has huge problems believing his own self-worth or in anything good possible happening to him. He is one of my all time favorite dorama protagonists and you just want to take the burden away from his thin shoulders (Kame, eat something!) and make it all better. And his dreams are so ordinary, so small, if you think about it. I keep thinking of that scene on the boat with Nao (more about it below) when he tells her his dreams are to get his shop into a better shape, and have lots of kids (he'd make an awesome Dad) and play baseball. I am afraid I squealed when he asked Nao to participate in his future.
And that brings me to that scene on the boat. It's an amazing, amazing scene. It's romantic, it's beautiful, but you know what else? It feels real. They are quiet, they are talking, and they have that desperate earnestness of youth that I remember so well from very recent past. And the way they are sitting, with her in the crook of his arm, and his continually stroking her hair? It's so full of tenderness and comfort and guuuuuhhhh...Hiroto is 'womanishly tender' as a Victorian author would put it (I don't remember from which Victorian novel this is from, but the phrase stuck with me). And I love her asking him if he likes her and he nods, and she tells him she wants to hear it. And you see him pause and feel a bit nervous and then he almost whispers "I like you." And she smiles, content, and tells him she is happy.
You know, it kills me that Hiroto is so reticent. It's been beaten into him (not literally, of course), this lack of care, of self-worth (OMG, the scene in ep 2? 3? where he has to kneel to that guy, in public, to keep his business? Awful). And Nao's directness, Nao's uncomplicated happiness in being loved, his ability to make her happy, his importance to her, is something he really really needs. Just think of the scene at the end of ep 5, were Nao runs after him, after he heard her brother tell him he is unworthy, should leave etc etc. I love that it. The way they look at each other is gorgeous. He needs this so badly.
It breaks my heart, that earlier scene in ep 5, where he is walking to meet her father (and he was so nervous, picking the right clothes) and then she gets taken by the Blond Bad Guy whose name I am blanking on, and OMG, he sees it and he runs and he fights them, and yells for her to run and there is the fight and then her brother sees (it's right near their place) and he asks Hiroto if he knows the guys and then tells him to leave because it's not a place for such people as him, and Hiroto does not object, doesn't get angry. (I must say Kame looks gorgeous in that shot of him on the ground, slightly bloodied, hair messed up). His self-worth has been beaten out of him. But not his steady resilience. I love the scene near the end of ep 6 where Nao's brother comes to his place and offers him money to leave Nao alone (die!!!) and Ayuta, Hiroto's friend, gets angry, but Hiroto doesn't, because he says that if he got angry, brother would leave and Hiroto wants brother to accept him. And he is so earnest. Hiroto is incredibly mature, isn't he? And a bit desperate, the way he looks at the brother when he walks in. Nao is the only untarnished thin in his life. But of course the brother just tells him to stop seeing Nao.
Oh, I was talking about the boat scene, right? Before I really went off-track. I love the conversation about sex. It's so young and adorable and shy and gorgeous, and I love that Nao isn't shy about it and Hiroto is, a bit. Awesomeness.
I am also thinking about the scene with the knife. Yikes. I kept peering through my fingers. When Hiroto just grabs that knife from Blond Bad Guy and even though he is unarmed, he is utterly steady, and he just grabs the blade and tells him, while holding the blade with his bare hand, as the blood is seeping that if he hurt Nao again, he, Hiroto, would kill him. And the bad guy is actually so freaked out (he lets go of the handle but Hiroto is still holding the knife by the blade) by this scary power of conviction, he runs off. And then Hiroto collapses in a heap, in horrible pain, and I realize how much of it was the sheer willpower and whoa. And his friends get there and want to take him to a doctor but he won't and he keeps repeating it was nothing, a little thing because otherwise, if it wasn't for this, he wouldn't be able to see Nao, and Oh. My. God. I started misting up a bit, because Oh. My. God. I am in a heap from the sheer proof of her enormous importance to him.
And we get that final scene with her father. Where we find out why Nao was so taken aback by Hiroto's desire for children (she can't have any) but what I am really struck by, is sheer terror in Hiroto's eyes on meeting the Dad (he knows the family disapproves and he doesn't want Nao to lie about it. Coming from a broken family makes him really realize the importance of family). And the really deep bow. His heart rate might be shooting through the roof.
Oh my. Poor wooooobies!
And then you remember my stopping after a few eps. Not because I stopped loving it, but because I decided that watching an ep a week was simply killing me, and I needed to wait until it was all out so I could binge. And also because Nao and Hiroto moved me so incredibly much, I couldn't bear to watch it without knowing how THNK ended (the day the last ep came out, I haunted internet like a ghost to see if I could find out the ending).
Well, now I have all the episodes, and the binging has began. Expect a Tattakoi heavy zone in the next few days, because I've just finished ep 6 and oh my God, this keeps breaking my heart and making me swoon and be one of the most understated, delicate, romantic dramas I've ever seen. I've never tried to really comprise a Top 10 dramas list, but if I ever did, Tattakoi would be on it.
For those who missed my gushing, Tattakoi is a 10-episode drama centering about quiet yet star-crossed love story between Hiroto, a quiet, overburdened young man, who is trying to keep his family's business from going under and take care of his fragile younger brother (their mother is useless) and Nao, a direct, sheltered daughter of a very rich family. Nao is an adorable darling who is somewhat unworldly because she never interacted with other people much as she had leukemia when younger. Nao and Hiroto are somehow 'outside' but connect. And make me grin and cry and swoon.
Hiroto is someone who consistently had to give up his dreams for others (he didn't get to go to college for one) and he has huge problems believing his own self-worth or in anything good possible happening to him. He is one of my all time favorite dorama protagonists and you just want to take the burden away from his thin shoulders (Kame, eat something!) and make it all better. And his dreams are so ordinary, so small, if you think about it. I keep thinking of that scene on the boat with Nao (more about it below) when he tells her his dreams are to get his shop into a better shape, and have lots of kids (he'd make an awesome Dad) and play baseball. I am afraid I squealed when he asked Nao to participate in his future.
And that brings me to that scene on the boat. It's an amazing, amazing scene. It's romantic, it's beautiful, but you know what else? It feels real. They are quiet, they are talking, and they have that desperate earnestness of youth that I remember so well from very recent past. And the way they are sitting, with her in the crook of his arm, and his continually stroking her hair? It's so full of tenderness and comfort and guuuuuhhhh...Hiroto is 'womanishly tender' as a Victorian author would put it (I don't remember from which Victorian novel this is from, but the phrase stuck with me). And I love her asking him if he likes her and he nods, and she tells him she wants to hear it. And you see him pause and feel a bit nervous and then he almost whispers "I like you." And she smiles, content, and tells him she is happy.
You know, it kills me that Hiroto is so reticent. It's been beaten into him (not literally, of course), this lack of care, of self-worth (OMG, the scene in ep 2? 3? where he has to kneel to that guy, in public, to keep his business? Awful). And Nao's directness, Nao's uncomplicated happiness in being loved, his ability to make her happy, his importance to her, is something he really really needs. Just think of the scene at the end of ep 5, were Nao runs after him, after he heard her brother tell him he is unworthy, should leave etc etc. I love that it. The way they look at each other is gorgeous. He needs this so badly.
It breaks my heart, that earlier scene in ep 5, where he is walking to meet her father (and he was so nervous, picking the right clothes) and then she gets taken by the Blond Bad Guy whose name I am blanking on, and OMG, he sees it and he runs and he fights them, and yells for her to run and there is the fight and then her brother sees (it's right near their place) and he asks Hiroto if he knows the guys and then tells him to leave because it's not a place for such people as him, and Hiroto does not object, doesn't get angry. (I must say Kame looks gorgeous in that shot of him on the ground, slightly bloodied, hair messed up). His self-worth has been beaten out of him. But not his steady resilience. I love the scene near the end of ep 6 where Nao's brother comes to his place and offers him money to leave Nao alone (die!!!) and Ayuta, Hiroto's friend, gets angry, but Hiroto doesn't, because he says that if he got angry, brother would leave and Hiroto wants brother to accept him. And he is so earnest. Hiroto is incredibly mature, isn't he? And a bit desperate, the way he looks at the brother when he walks in. Nao is the only untarnished thin in his life. But of course the brother just tells him to stop seeing Nao.
Oh, I was talking about the boat scene, right? Before I really went off-track. I love the conversation about sex. It's so young and adorable and shy and gorgeous, and I love that Nao isn't shy about it and Hiroto is, a bit. Awesomeness.
I am also thinking about the scene with the knife. Yikes. I kept peering through my fingers. When Hiroto just grabs that knife from Blond Bad Guy and even though he is unarmed, he is utterly steady, and he just grabs the blade and tells him, while holding the blade with his bare hand, as the blood is seeping that if he hurt Nao again, he, Hiroto, would kill him. And the bad guy is actually so freaked out (he lets go of the handle but Hiroto is still holding the knife by the blade) by this scary power of conviction, he runs off. And then Hiroto collapses in a heap, in horrible pain, and I realize how much of it was the sheer willpower and whoa. And his friends get there and want to take him to a doctor but he won't and he keeps repeating it was nothing, a little thing because otherwise, if it wasn't for this, he wouldn't be able to see Nao, and Oh. My. God. I started misting up a bit, because Oh. My. God. I am in a heap from the sheer proof of her enormous importance to him.
And we get that final scene with her father. Where we find out why Nao was so taken aback by Hiroto's desire for children (she can't have any) but what I am really struck by, is sheer terror in Hiroto's eyes on meeting the Dad (he knows the family disapproves and he doesn't want Nao to lie about it. Coming from a broken family makes him really realize the importance of family). And the really deep bow. His heart rate might be shooting through the roof.
Oh my. Poor wooooobies!
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Date: 2007-01-08 03:10 am (UTC)I LOVE HALU, DAMNIT!
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Date: 2007-01-08 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 03:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 03:24 am (UTC)Hee, Kimutaku <3 Wataru's a little emotionally high-maintenance, isn't he? But the sharing of man!pain is always a plus. Ooh, and the actress who plays Aki is also refreshingly pretty without being cutesy or overly fussy like so many dorama actresses are.
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Date: 2007-01-08 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 03:43 am (UTC)The boat scene is one of my faves in the entire series... :D
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Date: 2007-01-08 03:46 am (UTC)And what really stays with me are the conversations: they ring true. Somehow, the situation, even if rife with melodrama potential, doesn't feel melodramatic. I love that.
But what really strikes me is the immediacy of emotions Nao an Hiroto get across. It's interesting because I am also watching Nobuta Wo Produce, which I like, and Kame is very good in it, but for me, Tattakoi for Kame is the same as Kurosagi for Yamapi. A whole 'Oh my God, how come I didn't see it before? He is gorgeous and really really good in the role!' I like Kame in NwP. But as Hiroto, he kills me. A whole other level.
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Date: 2007-01-08 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 04:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 04:18 am (UTC)*braces self for your reaction*
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Date: 2007-01-08 04:38 am (UTC)If you're new to the Asian drama genre, I actually put together a list of my favorite dramas a few months ago here that you might find helpful.
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Date: 2007-01-08 04:45 am (UTC)Ah, the power of Eriko Kitagawa. Seriously, she just gets real-life emo. It's not forced, it's not over the top, it's ridiculously open and honest, and it's that honesty that usually gets me.
but for me, Tattakoi for Kame is the same as Kurosagi for Yamapi
EXACTLY. I saw "Nobuta wo Produce" and I loved them both in it, but never as much as I did after both "Kurosagi" and "TattaKoi". After seeing all of these dramas, I've got so much of an appreciation for both Yamapi and Kame as actors, because dude, they've got range now. The role of Hiroto seems tailor-made for Kame, but I'm not surprised, because Kitagawa writes only after casting, so she writes to the form (i.e., Hiroto being a baseball player was totally a shoutout to the Kame fans, as Kame is well-known for his love of the game).
How far along are you into TattaKoi?
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Date: 2007-01-08 04:47 am (UTC)Scary levels of amazing.
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Date: 2007-01-08 04:50 am (UTC)After seeing all of these dramas, I've got so much of an appreciation for both Yamapi and Kame as actors, because dude, they've got range now
exactly. I wonder if Kame has an upcoming drama? Because now I get
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:00 am (UTC)MOMMY ISSUES COME TO SURFACE. SCARF STROKING. CRYING. ANGST. SEX, WITH SPILT COFFEE GROUNDS. SEXXXX. CUDDLING AFTERWARDS.
OMGGGG.
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:02 am (UTC)It's all going to hell now, isnt it? I can't watch anymore tonight, but I can sense the bf's coming back, and I don't like him already. Wheeeeeeee!
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:02 am (UTC)I die.
*uses icon*
They are beyond perfect together. There is a reason Pride is, hands down, my favorite jdrama.
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:05 am (UTC)Once you are done with Pride, if you want more jdramas, have you watched either Kurosagi (my second fave jdrama) or Tatta Hitotsu No Koi (in my top 5). Or the oldie but goodie Majo No Jouken (Forbidden Love)? I am generally more into kdrama, but these are total exceptions.
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:15 am (UTC)I just checked your list and I've seen almost everything you wrote about except for the japanese ones, heh. I think I'll watch Mars next, since you and
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:17 am (UTC)I'm so excited now, oh god. HOW AM I GOING TO GO TO BED NOW *shakes fist*
I've heard about Kurosagi, and since you love Tatta Hitotsu No Koi so much I will put them both on my list.
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:22 am (UTC)I think I cried a little too when he chased after his mother and saw her with the new husband and just... picked up the end of the scarf and waved. And then when it flashed back to the scarf tied to the rail when he tells Aki he was finally able to say "Goodbye". AHHHHHHH.
I think he's my favourite male lead ever right now. For Serious.
Ok I am going to bed, but I will probably watch the rest of the eps tomorrow, mwahahaha :D
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 05:37 am (UTC)And everything is so well-lit and pretty and GOD. KIMUTAKU IS SO HOT.
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:52 am (UTC)Oh my god, if you thought episode seven made you cry? Keep watching. This is why it took me so long to post a write-up, because my glasses would keep getting blurry as I was watching it FROM ALL THE CRYING. I cry easily at TV too, so I totally understand. As for Nao's family--I totally wanted to hate them in the manner of crazy kdrama parents, but...they were being not horribly unreasonable given the circumstances. And just...GAH. Oh, it's so good. Really.
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Date: 2007-01-08 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 05:18 pm (UTC)Mine too. I love how Aki tried so hard to keep the true nature of his mother from him, but he found out and...his face.
Guuuuh, I am still melting over the hug by the counter, and her holding him as he cries and then the kissing which is a little desperate and he is so utterly open and...*dies*
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:19 pm (UTC)And agreed on her parents. I dislike their stance but if I were them, I'd possibly do the same.
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Date: 2007-01-09 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-15 03:19 pm (UTC)and the boat scene is also one of my favorites! i love the part where he's kissing (?) her hair and playing with her ear. *_______* and when he said, "In my future, do you want to join?" after telling her all his dreams and everything.. I died. LOL. i can't wait to finish this drama!
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Date: 2007-12-16 06:17 am (UTC)