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dangermousieI watched ep 3 of Kurosagi. It continues to own me.
Oh wow. Guuuuh. How does this suck me in more and more?
The swindle this ep was fun and clever and (on a hugely plus side) didn’t take a huge chunk of Kurosaki’s soul with him, like last week’s but what I really want to blab about is the Kurosaki/Tsurara progress and related stuff.
First off, I find Yukari (???) a bit annoying. She is cheerful and ditzy and I suppose there is nothing wrong with her chasing after a hottie she met but:
a. The guy is clearly not interested. He just as well might be waving a flag saying ‘go away.’
b. She is only interested in him because he is hot. And I can’t see her ever being able to cope (or wanting to) with the mess he really is. She’s latched onto this imaginary Robin Hood figure she’s made in her mind and that’s just silly (this tendency is what the real swindler seized on in ep 2). She’s neglected at home so she’s looking for love. Understandable. But really silly.
c. OK, I love him and all, but what sane girl thinks ‘OMG. My crush is a professional swindler. So cool. Yayness.’ Talk about boyfriend material from hell. If that fact gave her any pause, I’d like her more. Yes, I ship Kurosaki/Tsurara, but if and when they ever hook up, it’s with her eyes open to everything and her liking him for himself, not for some nebulous coolness, and she will try to set his head straight.
OK, moving on.
The Old Man definitely scares me. People are pawns to him and he is getting bored of Kurosaki and then…shiny new toy: Tsurara. How creepy is it that he gets a whole dossier on her because he finds out she is Kurosaki’s tenant and he has this crazy talent for scoping out weaknesses: he can tell she is interested by Kurosaki and he could tell that something might have gotten under Kurosaki’s skin (that bit where he asks K whether he has someone he cares for now? Creepy as hell).
So he is delighted. He has a new toy to play with. And hey, by playing with her, maybe he can make Kurosaki do new things: pull this string, watch him move this way. Push this button and watch him move that way. Brrrrr. Seriously. CREEPY.
And the thing is, Kurosaki knows how the Old Man is. And he wants to protect Tsurara though he’d never admit it out loud. He tells Old Man he will keep her from coming to Old Man’s again (though I wonder why Old Man replies that another way out of it is for him to never come again. Does he want K to give up the swindling? Why? Or is it another push to see which way he jumps?).
Because Tsurara got under his skin. She seems to unconsciously penetrate into his life and just look at the look on his face when she asks about Old Man’s restaurant. He looks devastated.
In part, it’s because he is so shatteringly lonely, of course. But in part it’s because it’s Tsurara who is seriously like a less hyper version of a mix between Kaoru and Misao in Kenshin. She is just forthright and open and caring and incredibly sane. It must be like manna in the desert for someone like Kurosaki. It’s only with her that he isn’t either a perfect, inhuman swindler, or a closed-off wall of ice, or someone who is much too old for his years. With her around, he actually acts like the young guy he is: there is bickering, and sarcasm and cuteness (OMG. The little bit in the grocery store with the cat food and his accusing her of stalking him as she points out she has to walk that way home too? ROFL).
And he can’t help but feel around her. Which of course makes him increasingly panicky. In ep 3, he’s moved on to offering to PAY for her move, if only she’d move out.
But of course, Tsurara is changing too. She finally did what I’ve been chanting at the screen for her to do and googled the guy. And she found out about his family (But of course she only did that because she is getting more and more intrigued by him). It’s interesting. She went from someone who called to cops to someone who didn’t even when the Inspector gave her his number and she knew about the jewelry swindle. I think with finding things out, everything fell into place for her (I love the little flashback montage where she remembers him saying how the law is powerless or yelling at her Uncle that if he wants to kill himself, he has no business being a father).
I love that she does not know how to interact with him once she finds that out (she has her hand on the door when she hears him come in but doesn’t go out) and I love even more that she does confront him about it head on later. She tells him she knows about his family. And she is sorry.
And that is my favorite scene in the whole ep. Yamapi and Horikita Maki really know how to do the intense stare thing. I mean, a few small forests combusted when they stared at each other in that scene (I kept chanting ‘kiss, kiss, kiss’ but to no avail. Most frustrating). And how to do the eyes bright with tears thing.
And I love that she is crying, for him, and is not afraid to show it. Because even though he tells her he doesn’t need her ‘cheap sympathy,’ it’s pretty clear he needs it desperately. He needs someone to care and this is the first time in years, someone’s cared and he mattered (and cared for him with the mask off, not a la Yukari because he’s hot and wears a black coat). Tsurara is quite fearless, in her way. I’d be embarrassed to be this emotionally open, but she doesn’t break eye contact, even.
And he has tears in his eyes as well, and she asks him if he is happy living this way and OMG, now he is crying too, and they just look at each other and his defenses are totally down and OMG OMG OMG.
Yes. Kurosagi. Crakc for the dorama addict's soul. And yes, I am aware this is mixed metaphor.
And speaking of angsty Japanese hotties, I’ve finished ep 1 of Tattou Hitotsu No Koi and it is crazy mad love. I already dled 2 and I think I will chew my fingernails to my elbow because this is only once a week.
Seriously. OMG. They pulled out all the stops to make me fall in love with Hiroto and Nao and with Hiroto/Nao and guess what? It’s working.
I just love love LOVE the scene of them falling slo-mo into that pool: she falls in because of that firework (??) racing towards her and he *gulp drool scream* jumps in with her. It’s as if it’s instinctive for him to protect her. And the gorgeously filmed bit of them both underwater. And then they come up gloriously wet. And stare at each other. Whoa.
And she tells him she lost her contact so he *gulp drool scream* dives down to look for it for her. She really brings out protectiveness in his nature. He has quite a reserve of it: just watch him be sweet to his little brother and unfailingly patient with him (OMG. His brother is in a WHEELCHAIR, people. Can it get any better? I don’t think so) even when he snaps at his mother (who doesn’t appear to be a stellar citizen and is slovenly. I hope we get more back-story on the family).
But he can’t find the contact and she says it’s OK, it’s disposable and he tells her she should have told him before he dove in and it’s so adorable I think I have melted and am lying on the floor in a heap.
But when they are drying off (with their friends) he hears other girls at the party discuss how they only want guys of their own class blah blah so this meet-up is good because it’s only guys from the Uni and imagine sometimes these random lower-class guys ask them out, as if.
And his bubble bursts. And he leaves, even though his clothes aren’t dry yet. It’s a preemptive measure, to leave before he can get kicked out. Detach before he gets hurt. It’s rather sad he feels he has to do this. I don’t think he has much self-worth (I wonder what happened) and he is sensitive to being ‘beneath her’ and actually the coolest thing Nao does for him is being so totally vulnerable and emotionally open and it’s really good for his ego that she so clearly likes him and wants him.
Because OMG, she runs after him. RUNS. To thank him for jumping in. And he asks her out. OMG. And that whole little scene is filled with so much shyness and uncertainty on both their parts. And it’s his character in a nutshell: he tells his friends ‘Look, I’ll get her to go out with me in ten minutes blah blah’ which is all macho posturing to hide his very real inadequacy feelings and his real attraction to her. But the mask drops so easily and so quickly when he asks her out and he is actually hurt when she suggests a bunch of them get together (and how indicative that he goes from ‘tomorrow, or next week, or later’ when asking if she’d like to go out sometime. As if guarding himself against inevitable disappointment).
But my favorite scene is not that one. It’s the meeting on Halloween in the rain. Because that’s what they arranged for, but her friend couldn’t go so she went by herself and she waited for him 20+ minutes in the rain (well, she was in a booth but whatever). And then you see him running and he showed up. And it’s so important for him that she waited. And he admits to her that it took courage for him to come because he didn’t think she’d be there (I can just imagine him being at home and cleaning up after dinner, and the clock hitting 6 and going past and being torn between wanting to go and not wanting to subject himself to disappointment because better to protect yourself by staying away then risking going and seeing for sure she isn’t there and then not being able to help himself and deciding to go, heart in his throat. AWWWW).
I love how she is emotionally fearless and basically tells him she wanted to see him. And gets him to actually admit that he wanted to see her. EEEE!
And the bit where he gives her his coat? If I wasn’t a puddle of goo before, I’d be one now.
Of course, this dorama is not the biggest proponent of subtlety sometimes. We get a voice-over about how a start of love is wonderful even though it ends in tragedy and a flash to the graveyard. LOL. (My money is on Nao dying. This whole dorama feels very Korean).
And then. OMG. The ep ends on a cliff-hanger, evil TPTB! Because she found out he wasn’t a Uni student but is instead a repair guy at the ship repair store.
And OMG. The scene where she walks into the shop and meets him (he was told he had a visitor) and looks at him, a good long look and spits out ‘Liar!’ is GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH.
Kame is a good actor. You actually see something in him die at that.
That’s why Hiroto didn’t want to get involved of course, but he couldn’t help it. Ohhhh. Angst.
Oh wow. Guuuuh. How does this suck me in more and more?
The swindle this ep was fun and clever and (on a hugely plus side) didn’t take a huge chunk of Kurosaki’s soul with him, like last week’s but what I really want to blab about is the Kurosaki/Tsurara progress and related stuff.
First off, I find Yukari (???) a bit annoying. She is cheerful and ditzy and I suppose there is nothing wrong with her chasing after a hottie she met but:
a. The guy is clearly not interested. He just as well might be waving a flag saying ‘go away.’
b. She is only interested in him because he is hot. And I can’t see her ever being able to cope (or wanting to) with the mess he really is. She’s latched onto this imaginary Robin Hood figure she’s made in her mind and that’s just silly (this tendency is what the real swindler seized on in ep 2). She’s neglected at home so she’s looking for love. Understandable. But really silly.
c. OK, I love him and all, but what sane girl thinks ‘OMG. My crush is a professional swindler. So cool. Yayness.’ Talk about boyfriend material from hell. If that fact gave her any pause, I’d like her more. Yes, I ship Kurosaki/Tsurara, but if and when they ever hook up, it’s with her eyes open to everything and her liking him for himself, not for some nebulous coolness, and she will try to set his head straight.
OK, moving on.
The Old Man definitely scares me. People are pawns to him and he is getting bored of Kurosaki and then…shiny new toy: Tsurara. How creepy is it that he gets a whole dossier on her because he finds out she is Kurosaki’s tenant and he has this crazy talent for scoping out weaknesses: he can tell she is interested by Kurosaki and he could tell that something might have gotten under Kurosaki’s skin (that bit where he asks K whether he has someone he cares for now? Creepy as hell).
So he is delighted. He has a new toy to play with. And hey, by playing with her, maybe he can make Kurosaki do new things: pull this string, watch him move this way. Push this button and watch him move that way. Brrrrr. Seriously. CREEPY.
And the thing is, Kurosaki knows how the Old Man is. And he wants to protect Tsurara though he’d never admit it out loud. He tells Old Man he will keep her from coming to Old Man’s again (though I wonder why Old Man replies that another way out of it is for him to never come again. Does he want K to give up the swindling? Why? Or is it another push to see which way he jumps?).
Because Tsurara got under his skin. She seems to unconsciously penetrate into his life and just look at the look on his face when she asks about Old Man’s restaurant. He looks devastated.
In part, it’s because he is so shatteringly lonely, of course. But in part it’s because it’s Tsurara who is seriously like a less hyper version of a mix between Kaoru and Misao in Kenshin. She is just forthright and open and caring and incredibly sane. It must be like manna in the desert for someone like Kurosaki. It’s only with her that he isn’t either a perfect, inhuman swindler, or a closed-off wall of ice, or someone who is much too old for his years. With her around, he actually acts like the young guy he is: there is bickering, and sarcasm and cuteness (OMG. The little bit in the grocery store with the cat food and his accusing her of stalking him as she points out she has to walk that way home too? ROFL).
And he can’t help but feel around her. Which of course makes him increasingly panicky. In ep 3, he’s moved on to offering to PAY for her move, if only she’d move out.
But of course, Tsurara is changing too. She finally did what I’ve been chanting at the screen for her to do and googled the guy. And she found out about his family (But of course she only did that because she is getting more and more intrigued by him). It’s interesting. She went from someone who called to cops to someone who didn’t even when the Inspector gave her his number and she knew about the jewelry swindle. I think with finding things out, everything fell into place for her (I love the little flashback montage where she remembers him saying how the law is powerless or yelling at her Uncle that if he wants to kill himself, he has no business being a father).
I love that she does not know how to interact with him once she finds that out (she has her hand on the door when she hears him come in but doesn’t go out) and I love even more that she does confront him about it head on later. She tells him she knows about his family. And she is sorry.
And that is my favorite scene in the whole ep. Yamapi and Horikita Maki really know how to do the intense stare thing. I mean, a few small forests combusted when they stared at each other in that scene (I kept chanting ‘kiss, kiss, kiss’ but to no avail. Most frustrating). And how to do the eyes bright with tears thing.
And I love that she is crying, for him, and is not afraid to show it. Because even though he tells her he doesn’t need her ‘cheap sympathy,’ it’s pretty clear he needs it desperately. He needs someone to care and this is the first time in years, someone’s cared and he mattered (and cared for him with the mask off, not a la Yukari because he’s hot and wears a black coat). Tsurara is quite fearless, in her way. I’d be embarrassed to be this emotionally open, but she doesn’t break eye contact, even.
And he has tears in his eyes as well, and she asks him if he is happy living this way and OMG, now he is crying too, and they just look at each other and his defenses are totally down and OMG OMG OMG.
Yes. Kurosagi. Crakc for the dorama addict's soul. And yes, I am aware this is mixed metaphor.
And speaking of angsty Japanese hotties, I’ve finished ep 1 of Tattou Hitotsu No Koi and it is crazy mad love. I already dled 2 and I think I will chew my fingernails to my elbow because this is only once a week.
Seriously. OMG. They pulled out all the stops to make me fall in love with Hiroto and Nao and with Hiroto/Nao and guess what? It’s working.
I just love love LOVE the scene of them falling slo-mo into that pool: she falls in because of that firework (??) racing towards her and he *gulp drool scream* jumps in with her. It’s as if it’s instinctive for him to protect her. And the gorgeously filmed bit of them both underwater. And then they come up gloriously wet. And stare at each other. Whoa.
And she tells him she lost her contact so he *gulp drool scream* dives down to look for it for her. She really brings out protectiveness in his nature. He has quite a reserve of it: just watch him be sweet to his little brother and unfailingly patient with him (OMG. His brother is in a WHEELCHAIR, people. Can it get any better? I don’t think so) even when he snaps at his mother (who doesn’t appear to be a stellar citizen and is slovenly. I hope we get more back-story on the family).
But he can’t find the contact and she says it’s OK, it’s disposable and he tells her she should have told him before he dove in and it’s so adorable I think I have melted and am lying on the floor in a heap.
But when they are drying off (with their friends) he hears other girls at the party discuss how they only want guys of their own class blah blah so this meet-up is good because it’s only guys from the Uni and imagine sometimes these random lower-class guys ask them out, as if.
And his bubble bursts. And he leaves, even though his clothes aren’t dry yet. It’s a preemptive measure, to leave before he can get kicked out. Detach before he gets hurt. It’s rather sad he feels he has to do this. I don’t think he has much self-worth (I wonder what happened) and he is sensitive to being ‘beneath her’ and actually the coolest thing Nao does for him is being so totally vulnerable and emotionally open and it’s really good for his ego that she so clearly likes him and wants him.
Because OMG, she runs after him. RUNS. To thank him for jumping in. And he asks her out. OMG. And that whole little scene is filled with so much shyness and uncertainty on both their parts. And it’s his character in a nutshell: he tells his friends ‘Look, I’ll get her to go out with me in ten minutes blah blah’ which is all macho posturing to hide his very real inadequacy feelings and his real attraction to her. But the mask drops so easily and so quickly when he asks her out and he is actually hurt when she suggests a bunch of them get together (and how indicative that he goes from ‘tomorrow, or next week, or later’ when asking if she’d like to go out sometime. As if guarding himself against inevitable disappointment).
But my favorite scene is not that one. It’s the meeting on Halloween in the rain. Because that’s what they arranged for, but her friend couldn’t go so she went by herself and she waited for him 20+ minutes in the rain (well, she was in a booth but whatever). And then you see him running and he showed up. And it’s so important for him that she waited. And he admits to her that it took courage for him to come because he didn’t think she’d be there (I can just imagine him being at home and cleaning up after dinner, and the clock hitting 6 and going past and being torn between wanting to go and not wanting to subject himself to disappointment because better to protect yourself by staying away then risking going and seeing for sure she isn’t there and then not being able to help himself and deciding to go, heart in his throat. AWWWW).
I love how she is emotionally fearless and basically tells him she wanted to see him. And gets him to actually admit that he wanted to see her. EEEE!
And the bit where he gives her his coat? If I wasn’t a puddle of goo before, I’d be one now.
Of course, this dorama is not the biggest proponent of subtlety sometimes. We get a voice-over about how a start of love is wonderful even though it ends in tragedy and a flash to the graveyard. LOL. (My money is on Nao dying. This whole dorama feels very Korean).
And then. OMG. The ep ends on a cliff-hanger, evil TPTB! Because she found out he wasn’t a Uni student but is instead a repair guy at the ship repair store.
And OMG. The scene where she walks into the shop and meets him (he was told he had a visitor) and looks at him, a good long look and spits out ‘Liar!’ is GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH.
Kame is a good actor. You actually see something in him die at that.
That’s why Hiroto didn’t want to get involved of course, but he couldn’t help it. Ohhhh. Angst.
