Doctor Who, The Outsiders, and Hana Kimi. Just your average random post

[dangermousie]

I adore the new (to me) Tenth Doctor. Watched not only ‘The Christmas Invasion’ but the ep following last night, because couldn’t have just one.

OMG. How come I waited so long! There is nothing as awesome as watching Dr. Who with Mr. Mousie, both of us loving it to the bottom of our geeky hearts. I am sure I have mentioned before that I adore Rose Tyler and Billie Piper. But in case I haven’t? I do. When I grow up, I want to be like Rose Tyler. Only I am already grown up, so I guess it’s a missed opportunity after all.

And David Tennant? Oh my. I loved Christopher Eccleston in the role. And the pics I’ve seen of David Tennant weren’t particularly preposessing, you know? But I guess he is one of those people who is telegenic and not photogentic, because from his entrance on, he blew me away. (Oh, and yeah, he is devastatingly attractive, in a rumpled intellectual kinda way). Ten and Rose share crackling good chemistry, too. It’s different than the one with Nine and Rose. More flirty, less desperate?

But then this is a different Doctor, too, isn’t he? Nine was hard, but it came across as shell-shock. Ten? Is much harder. In his off-kilter, charming way, he is infinitely scarier, edgier than Nine. I would not cross him for anything.



I loved both eps entirely too much. Sure, there were plenty of plotholes, but the ideas, and the cohesion was there.

I feel quite sorry for Mickey. Rose doesn’t love him, does she? She is willing to leave him to go traipsing all over the place with a man she has a platonic love relationship with. Must sting.

And that’s the thing. Rose loves the Doctor (her reaction to his changing from Nine to Ten is almost that of as to a loved one’s abandonment). I don’t know if it’s romantic love (though it’s made repeatedly clear she finds him attractive) but she loves being with him, and places she can go, and companionship she has. It’s basically friends with attractiveness thrown in.

And it’s nice to see that this Doctor also finds Rose crucial (his fixation on getting her body-swap reversed are pretty clear. Or the fact that he wakes up out of his coma, when she asks for help). In a very different way, he needs her to keep his ‘humanity’ as much as Nine ever did.

I loved the ending with the Prime Minister. Bleak, isn’t it? I actually don’t blame Harriet Jones for doing what she did, but the Doctor has the fury of a disappointed idealist. I love the confrontation between them.

In the Cassandra ep, I am struck by his genuine joy when he can actually save, as opposed to destroy. And by the flirty, relaxed feel between him and Rose.

Can’t wait to watch more tonight.

In other, drama news:

The Outsiders really is a story about your good qualities being your weekenesses, isn’t it? Because Ah Hao’s sense of honor, his loyalty to those he considers close, is normally a wonderful thing. But in the cutthroat world he is in, it’s a huge detriment.



I am thinking of the scene where Danzi comes and finds him and tells him he will bring Yu Yen back to him only on the condition that Ah Hao gives up the gang. And I love that Ah Hao doesn’t hesitate for a second (just as Yu Yen’s nightmare cleared her priorities for her. On it below), Yu Yen’s almost loss cleared Ah Hao’s priorities. He immediately agrees. (And you know if he gives his word he will do his utmost to keep it). I love when he says, in effect, ‘when she comes back, whatever she says, goes.’ But (and leaving aside the fact that it’s not so easy to leave the mob. Danzi was a low-level who went to jail, and had the powerful Ah Hao to protect him when he withdrew), he adds, anxiously, whether he can have until the end of the month because Beo Ge challenged the gang and he needs to keep it together for Xiong Ge. And Danzi agrees. Oh man. It makes me want to weep, to think of all that energy and honor and purpose so misdirected and wasted.

Did I mention that I adore Danzi? He just might be my favorite ‘other guy’ in any drama. And I love the point the story makes (though never overtly) that your heart doesn’t necessarily lead you into more compatible places. Danzi and Yu Yen are incredibly compatible, generally, aren’t they (even Hong Do points it out)? Much more so then the refined, quiet, bookish and delicate Yu Yen is with the extraverted, rough-around-the-edges firebrand Ah Hao. But yet Yu Yen loves Ah Hao, not Danzi and it makes complete sense. I keep thinking of the scene where Yu Yen has the nightmare of Ah Hao being killed in front of her eyes, and wakes up screaming, and Danzi rushes in, and comforts her, and he basically confesses his feelings and tells her if she wants, he will take her away from this place and this life. And Yu Yen’s quiet, devastated (at hurting him) response is that after everything, these are words she longs to hear. But from Ah Hao. Still from Ah Hao. And she tells her nightmare to Danzi and says it made her confront her priorities and her feelings.

The secondary OTP is adorable, btw. With the strong Hong Do falling apart when she thinks Yu Yen might die, and Ah Qi comforting her. EEEE! And she proposes to him and he deflects. Heh.

Oh, and Mainland Girl? Go away. I understand that loving someone who doesn’t love you back is sucky. But he has never ever given you any indication that he sees you in any way romantic. He doesn’t see you as anything other than someone who needed help which he gave, and someone who reminded him a little of a younger version of the woman he loves. How about you repay his repeated saving of your life but stopping trying to wreck his? Thanks.

And I am thinking about first ep of Japanese version of Hana Kimi. I’ve enjoyed it, and will continue to liveblog, but I do prefer the Taiwanese version. And that brought something home to me: I generally prefer Taiwanese adaptation of manga to Japanese ones. My favorite drama is, after all, the former: Mars (yeah, I decided The Outsiders is second after all. It’s a little too bleak to win over hard-won hopefulness of Mars).

Part of it is simply that Taiwanese dramas seem to be more faithful adaptations of the manga (Mars, Meteor Garden, Devil Beside You, Hana Kimi etc) versus the rather free-wheeling approach of jdrama adaptations (Hanadan was very loose inside the same structure and Hana Kimi looks similar).

But generally, I just like the Taiwanese adaptations better. I adored Hanadan, but not half so much as I loved Meteor Garden. Taiwanese ‘It Started with a Kiss’ is one of the delights of the drama world, but Itazura No Kiss is not very good. This new Hana Kimi is fun, but it (to be fair, at least so far) doesn’t have the pure sugar-spun cracky goodness of the Taiwanese version. Odd.

And I close with bringing you caps.

Of The Outsiders eps 16-17.



Confronting Ah Hao about Mainland Girl and thinking she will believe any explanation:





And here we get to the point:







Yu Yen is packing to leave:





After meeting Mainland Girl:



Danzi in the hospital:



Oh Man:







Woobie!



Pissed off woobie:



At her bedside:











Secondary OTP:









Yum:



Danzi confessing:



Ah Hao saying he’ll give up the mob:



Yum:



Btw, subs for these eps are courtesy of lainemma

Also, I had a couple of Why Why Love caps so here they are.





Cast:

Comments

[bittersweet-bun.livejournal.com]

Hi! Not exactly related to the post, but I'll be unadding you, ok? :D~ It's nothing against you personally. It's actually because I kind of dislike Taiwanese dramas (from disappointment after disappointment), but that's mostly what you post about so it's all... "^^??" to me. You can unadd me as well. :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's fine. I understand. If you want me to unfriend you, I will, but otherwise, can I keep you on my flist?

mostly what you post about so it's all

LOL. Sorry. I go in stages. Actually I just got hooked on Hana Kimi :P