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dangermousieOK, apparently there is a live action Honey and Clover movie that came out earlier in the year. How come no one on my flist alerted me to it? You have failed me, flist :D I want to watch it, though not for 50+ bucks as that is what the super-duper shiny version on ebay with twenty-eight kinds of subtitles and spiffy cover costs. I’ll wait a bit.
The hugely popular manga and anime series Honey and Clover (a.k.a. Hachimitsu to Kuroubaa) has been adapted into a full-length live action feature film! Starring Sakurai Sho (Kisarazu Cats Eye), Iseya Yusuke (Casshern), Aoi Yu (Hana and Alice), and other rising young stars, Honey and Clover follows a group of wistful students through the ups and downs of college life and young love.
Yuuta (Sakurai Sho), Takumi (Kase Ryo), and Shinobu (Iseya Yusuke) live together whilst studying at art college. Money is tight but they find ways to amuse themselves, especially after they are introduced to new first-year student Hagumi (Aoi Yu). The quiet Yuuta and the forward Shinobu both immediately take a liking to her. Meanwhile, Mayama is off chasing an older woman, blind to the affections of the popular Ayumi (Seki Megumi) who is secretly in love with him.
YES!
*dies*
In j-movie vein, are Love Complex and Tokyo Tower worth watching? Keeping in mind I have not read the manga for the former and the novel (?) for the latter.
I have finally watched all the subbed eps of Wallflower. I liked them tremendously, but am very upset they left out my favorite storyline from the manga: the one where Sunako gets posessed by the serial-killer s&m (but ladylike) ghost. And chains all the boys up in the dungeon and Kyouhei manages to escape and in order to exorcise the ghost, kisses Sunako because he knows that would freak her out so much from the contact with the ‘creatures of light’ (in the manga, that’s their first kiss). And then ends up carrying the now-unconscious Sunako up the weirdo stairs. It’s shippy and awesome and fun. Hmmm, I wonder if they left it out because the anime is somewhat more family-friendly? Though they seem to be moving storylines around a lot, order-wise, for some reason, so I guess there’s still hope :D
But anyway, the bulk of this post is going to be about ep. 8 of Nobuta Wo Produce. Which I ended up loving. The meta is going to be largely Shuji centric *gasp* because finally, 8 eps in, I’ve fallen for him (I didn’t dislike him before, just wasn’t particularly interested).
This is the ep where Shuji hits rock bottom, and you know? It hurts. It really does. I didn’t realize how attached I became to the character until bad things happened (and I love that they were realistic, manageable bad things a 17 year old might have, not the ‘your girlfriend is your half sister actually, and she is going blind and dying from brain tumor and your priceless violin has just been smashed by your jealous ex’).
But oh, Shuji. I find Kame a lot more interesting and ‘better’ in general when he does quiet and depressed. See Tattakoi. It’s not a thing I have in general (hello, I adore the loud, loose Akira), but somehow with him, it draws me in. This episode really rams something home: Shuji is a really good person. His ‘making himself over’ for everyone, his being the most popular guy in class isn’t about popularity for him. It’s not about being the big man on campus, or enjoying the ‘power’ or what not. Shuji has an almost pathological desire to want to be liked. Or more importantly, he can’t bear to be hated. And it’s not pure ‘I am selfish’ approach: it’s that he genuinely doesn’t want to make people unhappy, he doesn’t want to be a bother (see him wanting to go after Nobuta in ep 7 to tell her he is fine even though he isn’t. Because of course, otherwise he’d worry her. The fact that he doesn’t, shows his change). I wonder if it’s tied up with the fact that he is the responsible older brother with the working father and an almost always absent mother. So he sort of wanted to be ‘helpful’ by being the least fuss he could be (especially when there was a younger sibling who needed/demanded attention by virtue of being a baby). And he’s externalized and taken it to the rest of his life.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kitsune714 and I were discussing, in replies to one of her Hanadan posts, that Domyouji and Shin from Goong are both the outcome of the same upbringing, only Shin internalized it all by trying to be the best kid he can be. I actually see some of that Shin-like behavior in Shuji (doing what you are supposed to, difficulties with expression/comprehension of warm emotion, loss of sense of self). Nowhere near that extreme or regulated, because Shuji has had a fairly normal childhood as far as we can tell, as opposed to Shin’s parents from hell, but it’s an interesting connection for me.
I thought Shuji’s reaction to seeing the beating was understandable and natural. He’s just a 17 year old kid, and he just got in huge trouble for helping someone, and yeah, he panicked.
My heart breaks for him throughout the episode: all hunched up, alone (it’s his worst nightmare) but he still comes to school and his quiet ‘good morning’ to everyone, as contrasted to the hyper way he used to greet everyone, is rather sad. But I love that he keeps doing it, and keeps coming to school, every day.
But you know what really gets me? That he actually is a good person, a selfless one. Because even in the middle of it all, he is concerned for Nobuta and Akira. He tells them not to associate with him, because now he’s the outcast so he doesn’t want to drag them down with him, especially since Nobuta is becoming popular.
And then there are the scenes with Aoi. Aoi freaks me the hell out. She has the creepy immovability of a sociopath. How do you reason with someone like that? How do you convince them? The fact that Shuji thinks he can, that he cannot comprehend the fact that someone doesn’t have a rational reason, they just like hurting for the pleasure of hurting. The fact that he is primarily concerned with Nobuta, not with the fact that she is wrecking his life, too, is just…guuuuh.
When he begs Aoi to not betray Nobuta, to stop tormenting her, to distance herself from her (as Aoi has been pretending to be a friend, and getting closer and closer, all the while doing awful things), because this is the first friend Nobuta made and it would be horrible for her to find out this and it would wreck her? He is opening himself up to someone as horrible as Aoi and when he loses it after Aoi replies that she won’t betray herself to Nobuta yet, she’ll wait until she is a lot closer, so Nobuta will want to kill herself when she finds out? And he loses it and grabs her? I just wish he’d punched her in the face.
But of course Aoi shrieks and is believed. But what I love is that while a confused Nobuta leads Aoi away, Akira stays with Shuji. And he isn’t upset or anything because OMG, he is such a good friend, and he knows Shuji well enough he wouldn’t do this for no reason, and I love how Shuji, floundering in his new loneliness and isolation, asks him if he’d believe him (because no one does) and I love how Akira promises and does that awesome hug thing I’ve seen in icons and just is OK with waiting for an explanation until Shuji can sort it all out in his head.
And yet despite it all, he tells Nobuta that Aoi is OK (Aoi said that Shuji accused her of ruining the haunted house, which she did and confused Nobuta asks Shuji about it). Because he doesn’t want to wreck Nobuta’s experiences with friendship. When he tells her that Aoi would never do that, she is a friend and quietly walks away…*wait, is there something in my eye? Must be*
And I love that Nobuta might not really understand what’s going on but she knows and trusts Shuji enough to be on his side (and I think her beginning to realize the cracks in Aoi’s story stem from Shuji’s behavior when she asks Shuji about Aoi. If he was the type of guy who’d accuse Aoi, wouldn’t he badmouth Aoi to Nobuta?)
Of course, then there is the issue of the photograph of Nobuta hugging Shuji and Aoi saying (much earlier, in the park) that she is going to give it to Akira (it makes me sick, btw, to know that she knows of Akira’s feelings for Nobuta. It’s like she sullies everything). And poor Shuji, you can feel his horror and despair, because he doesn’t want to lose the only friends he has. He is a very lonely person, isn’t he?
But oh my God. How much do I love Akira. Because he gets the photo near the end of the ep and it floors him (I love how he literally sits down in the middle of the sidewalk. He has no filters, doesn’t he?) And he is totally upset and in pain, but his friendship and love (of whatever nature, platonic or romantic) for Nobuta and Shuji trumps his jealousy and his hurt and so he ‘buries’ the photograph (the scene of him saying that he saw something he wishes he didn’t and he wants to forget it, is heart-breaking).
And then next morning! Eeeee! Shuji comes to class, looking like a ghost, a ghost with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Akira and Nobuta coming up to him, in the middle of class, in front of everyone, and doing that scene with the string, and refusing his idea of not hanging out with him, and being these totally awesome awesome friends (and I love that Aoi got flouted simply because she can’t comprehend goodness, basic goodness. She might try to destroy it, but she can’t really fight against it). And Shuji, happy at the end, learning that it’s OK not to care if some people dislike you, as long as his true friends believe in him.
AWESOME.
But only two eps left! Booo.
The hugely popular manga and anime series Honey and Clover (a.k.a. Hachimitsu to Kuroubaa) has been adapted into a full-length live action feature film! Starring Sakurai Sho (Kisarazu Cats Eye), Iseya Yusuke (Casshern), Aoi Yu (Hana and Alice), and other rising young stars, Honey and Clover follows a group of wistful students through the ups and downs of college life and young love.
Yuuta (Sakurai Sho), Takumi (Kase Ryo), and Shinobu (Iseya Yusuke) live together whilst studying at art college. Money is tight but they find ways to amuse themselves, especially after they are introduced to new first-year student Hagumi (Aoi Yu). The quiet Yuuta and the forward Shinobu both immediately take a liking to her. Meanwhile, Mayama is off chasing an older woman, blind to the affections of the popular Ayumi (Seki Megumi) who is secretly in love with him.
YES!
*dies*
In j-movie vein, are Love Complex and Tokyo Tower worth watching? Keeping in mind I have not read the manga for the former and the novel (?) for the latter.
I have finally watched all the subbed eps of Wallflower. I liked them tremendously, but am very upset they left out my favorite storyline from the manga: the one where Sunako gets posessed by the serial-killer s&m (but ladylike) ghost. And chains all the boys up in the dungeon and Kyouhei manages to escape and in order to exorcise the ghost, kisses Sunako because he knows that would freak her out so much from the contact with the ‘creatures of light’ (in the manga, that’s their first kiss). And then ends up carrying the now-unconscious Sunako up the weirdo stairs. It’s shippy and awesome and fun. Hmmm, I wonder if they left it out because the anime is somewhat more family-friendly? Though they seem to be moving storylines around a lot, order-wise, for some reason, so I guess there’s still hope :D
But anyway, the bulk of this post is going to be about ep. 8 of Nobuta Wo Produce. Which I ended up loving. The meta is going to be largely Shuji centric *gasp* because finally, 8 eps in, I’ve fallen for him (I didn’t dislike him before, just wasn’t particularly interested).
This is the ep where Shuji hits rock bottom, and you know? It hurts. It really does. I didn’t realize how attached I became to the character until bad things happened (and I love that they were realistic, manageable bad things a 17 year old might have, not the ‘your girlfriend is your half sister actually, and she is going blind and dying from brain tumor and your priceless violin has just been smashed by your jealous ex’).
But oh, Shuji. I find Kame a lot more interesting and ‘better’ in general when he does quiet and depressed. See Tattakoi. It’s not a thing I have in general (hello, I adore the loud, loose Akira), but somehow with him, it draws me in. This episode really rams something home: Shuji is a really good person. His ‘making himself over’ for everyone, his being the most popular guy in class isn’t about popularity for him. It’s not about being the big man on campus, or enjoying the ‘power’ or what not. Shuji has an almost pathological desire to want to be liked. Or more importantly, he can’t bear to be hated. And it’s not pure ‘I am selfish’ approach: it’s that he genuinely doesn’t want to make people unhappy, he doesn’t want to be a bother (see him wanting to go after Nobuta in ep 7 to tell her he is fine even though he isn’t. Because of course, otherwise he’d worry her. The fact that he doesn’t, shows his change). I wonder if it’s tied up with the fact that he is the responsible older brother with the working father and an almost always absent mother. So he sort of wanted to be ‘helpful’ by being the least fuss he could be (especially when there was a younger sibling who needed/demanded attention by virtue of being a baby). And he’s externalized and taken it to the rest of his life.
kitsune714 and I were discussing, in replies to one of her Hanadan posts, that Domyouji and Shin from Goong are both the outcome of the same upbringing, only Shin internalized it all by trying to be the best kid he can be. I actually see some of that Shin-like behavior in Shuji (doing what you are supposed to, difficulties with expression/comprehension of warm emotion, loss of sense of self). Nowhere near that extreme or regulated, because Shuji has had a fairly normal childhood as far as we can tell, as opposed to Shin’s parents from hell, but it’s an interesting connection for me. I thought Shuji’s reaction to seeing the beating was understandable and natural. He’s just a 17 year old kid, and he just got in huge trouble for helping someone, and yeah, he panicked.
My heart breaks for him throughout the episode: all hunched up, alone (it’s his worst nightmare) but he still comes to school and his quiet ‘good morning’ to everyone, as contrasted to the hyper way he used to greet everyone, is rather sad. But I love that he keeps doing it, and keeps coming to school, every day.
But you know what really gets me? That he actually is a good person, a selfless one. Because even in the middle of it all, he is concerned for Nobuta and Akira. He tells them not to associate with him, because now he’s the outcast so he doesn’t want to drag them down with him, especially since Nobuta is becoming popular.
And then there are the scenes with Aoi. Aoi freaks me the hell out. She has the creepy immovability of a sociopath. How do you reason with someone like that? How do you convince them? The fact that Shuji thinks he can, that he cannot comprehend the fact that someone doesn’t have a rational reason, they just like hurting for the pleasure of hurting. The fact that he is primarily concerned with Nobuta, not with the fact that she is wrecking his life, too, is just…guuuuh.
When he begs Aoi to not betray Nobuta, to stop tormenting her, to distance herself from her (as Aoi has been pretending to be a friend, and getting closer and closer, all the while doing awful things), because this is the first friend Nobuta made and it would be horrible for her to find out this and it would wreck her? He is opening himself up to someone as horrible as Aoi and when he loses it after Aoi replies that she won’t betray herself to Nobuta yet, she’ll wait until she is a lot closer, so Nobuta will want to kill herself when she finds out? And he loses it and grabs her? I just wish he’d punched her in the face.
But of course Aoi shrieks and is believed. But what I love is that while a confused Nobuta leads Aoi away, Akira stays with Shuji. And he isn’t upset or anything because OMG, he is such a good friend, and he knows Shuji well enough he wouldn’t do this for no reason, and I love how Shuji, floundering in his new loneliness and isolation, asks him if he’d believe him (because no one does) and I love how Akira promises and does that awesome hug thing I’ve seen in icons and just is OK with waiting for an explanation until Shuji can sort it all out in his head.
And yet despite it all, he tells Nobuta that Aoi is OK (Aoi said that Shuji accused her of ruining the haunted house, which she did and confused Nobuta asks Shuji about it). Because he doesn’t want to wreck Nobuta’s experiences with friendship. When he tells her that Aoi would never do that, she is a friend and quietly walks away…*wait, is there something in my eye? Must be*
And I love that Nobuta might not really understand what’s going on but she knows and trusts Shuji enough to be on his side (and I think her beginning to realize the cracks in Aoi’s story stem from Shuji’s behavior when she asks Shuji about Aoi. If he was the type of guy who’d accuse Aoi, wouldn’t he badmouth Aoi to Nobuta?)
Of course, then there is the issue of the photograph of Nobuta hugging Shuji and Aoi saying (much earlier, in the park) that she is going to give it to Akira (it makes me sick, btw, to know that she knows of Akira’s feelings for Nobuta. It’s like she sullies everything). And poor Shuji, you can feel his horror and despair, because he doesn’t want to lose the only friends he has. He is a very lonely person, isn’t he?
But oh my God. How much do I love Akira. Because he gets the photo near the end of the ep and it floors him (I love how he literally sits down in the middle of the sidewalk. He has no filters, doesn’t he?) And he is totally upset and in pain, but his friendship and love (of whatever nature, platonic or romantic) for Nobuta and Shuji trumps his jealousy and his hurt and so he ‘buries’ the photograph (the scene of him saying that he saw something he wishes he didn’t and he wants to forget it, is heart-breaking).
And then next morning! Eeeee! Shuji comes to class, looking like a ghost, a ghost with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Akira and Nobuta coming up to him, in the middle of class, in front of everyone, and doing that scene with the string, and refusing his idea of not hanging out with him, and being these totally awesome awesome friends (and I love that Aoi got flouted simply because she can’t comprehend goodness, basic goodness. She might try to destroy it, but she can’t really fight against it). And Shuji, happy at the end, learning that it’s OK not to care if some people dislike you, as long as his true friends believe in him.
AWESOME.
But only two eps left! Booo.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 07:42 pm (UTC)And thanks on your comments re: NwP. It really grabbed me, all of a sudden.
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Date: 2007-01-18 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 04:36 pm (UTC)Also, I saw Tokyo Tower with another friend and I liked it a lot. MatsuJun is naked, what did you say? *grin* There is that, but the performances from Okada Junichi and MatsuJun are both gorgeous. Actually, I thought MatsuJun trumped Okada acting-wise even though his plotline was the b-plot of sorts. The movie is very art house, with beautiful visuals and symbolism and stuffs. You have to analyze this one and think about it after you watch it a little to really savor it and enjoy it, so I think you'll like it if all your meta says anything. *grin*
And your meta on Nobuta o Produce totally says why I love it. It is complex and thoughtful when you don't really expect it to be. :D
no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 07:45 pm (UTC)Re: Tokyo Tower.
is naked, what did you say? *grin*
Whaaaaa? *eyes bug out of head, starts feverishly looking for a copy*
Seriously though, the story on it did sound interesting and I am glad that the movie is apparently quite good. I'll definitely check it out.
Re: Nobuta. It's interesting, how it creeps on you slowly, and then bam...you are utterly emotionally involved.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 04:44 pm (UTC)And Wallflower...sigh...yeah...I understand that they tend to make a lot of animes more family friendly(they did the same with Love Hina and Samurai Deeper Kyo, off the top of my head) but that entire storyline has a lot of importance to later stories, but maybe it'll still show up in some form later on.
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Date: 2007-01-18 07:41 pm (UTC)A pity, but oh well.
Also, I actually like the manga style better than the anime, which is all a bit too angular. Still fun though...
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Date: 2007-01-18 08:37 pm (UTC)And yeah, I like the manga art better(even though the anime made Sunako insanely cute) but I think they did a pretty good job of making them go well together, and it's a hard art style to try to animate.
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Date: 2007-01-18 09:07 pm (UTC)P.S. Have unlocked my fic post, because I have finally screwed up the courage to do so and also because I am weak in the face of peer pressure. Thank you so much for your comments!
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Date: 2007-01-18 10:43 pm (UTC)He is. He has a certain fragility he projects very well when he wants to. Though seriously, in that scarf and long coat, I keep thinking that if there was crossdressing, he'd make a prettier girl than Nobuta :)
I have recced your fic. Because it should be read by as many people as possible!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 12:29 am (UTC)I tried watching Tokyo Tower and I didn't get very far into it. From what else I have heard its not that great. But yeah, I just kinda stopped watching it and found something better.
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Date: 2007-01-19 12:32 am (UTC)I'll watch Tokyo Tower and see if it appeals. it does apparently have a very unclad MatsuJun, so it has its benefits.
And icon!!!
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Date: 2007-01-19 07:35 am (UTC)OMG OMG (the caps are well deserved) - Tokyo Tower ---> it definitely made me press the pause button so many times.
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Date: 2007-01-19 01:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 10:38 pm (UTC)The live action Honey and Clover was just uploaded to the
Wait. You'd crossposted this to
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Date: 2007-01-20 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 11:53 pm (UTC)Yay, want to see the movie!