Musings of the Obsessive Kind

I caved in and started watching ep 11 of Arang and the Magistrate with partial subs and OMFG, did A&tM just go Hanadan?! With Eun Oh as Domyouji?! My favorite scene from Hanadan, no less?!

OMFG there might have been screaming in my house.

If you read/watched Hanadan (or Meteor Garden), I believe you might know which scene I mean...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick people should be agitated like this, drama!!!!! Though I think my awful cold just magically got better all from that one scene.

I caved in and started watching ep 11 of Arang and the Magistrate with partial subs and OMFG, did A&tM just go Hanadan?! With Eun Oh as Domyouji?! My favorite scene from Hanadan, no less?!

OMFG there might have been screaming in my house.

If you read/watched Hanadan (or Meteor Garden), I believe you might know which scene I mean...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick people should be agitated like this, drama!!!!! Though I think my awful cold just magically got better all from that one scene.

Yes, my Hana Yori Dango fever is back in full swing - it happens periodically like a recurring disease :) I feel like doing a series of posts dedicated to my favorite scenes. And this task has just been made easier by some lovely person on youtube who combined the best scenes from the 3 versions into one vid, a vid per scene.

So I am going to start with what is arguably my favorite drama scene ever (at least in the manga/anime/Taiwanese drama - I love the way they do it in the Japanese and Korean versions but I prefer other scenes in those dramas).

Yes. The Domyouji beatdown. Short version is that Makino is kidnapped by this guy she believed was her friend but who is out for revenge on her quasi-boyfriend Domyouji. When the latter shows up, the goon offers our violent, impulse-control-phobic hero a choice - he can fight back (and probably win over) goon's little army of helpers but then Makino who is tied up will get her face cut into ribbons. Or he can just stand there and not fight back at all and submit to a beating - there is no guarantee he won't die. The moment he even raises a finger to fight back, his girl gets it.

The reason I love this scene so much is because it's such a perfect scene on every level - on a very basic level it's incredibly romantic - it has been established so conclusively that Domyouji is really good at fighting but also is prone to mad rages and has no self-control at all and a ridiculous amount of pride. So the fact that he is willing and able to just stand there and take a brutal beating which may well escalate into his basically being beaten to death - that is huge. But it's also a big deal because it shows his character growth - could you imagine Domyouji of the beginning not only willing but also be able to do this for someone? And what also makes it perfect is that Makino is not his girlfriend - at this point she is not interested in him, in fact they are on the out (their last interaction before this was very hurtful) but he still came no matter what, even when Makino herself was not expecting it at all. (I love her reaction to seeing him - "are you stupid?" or similar she yells, freaked out of her mind).

But the other thing I love about this scene is that it's symmetrical and actually full of rough justice. Domyouji has inflicted a world of hurt on other people both through direct fights and the infamous red cards (in which cases his school does his dirty work for him but the responsibility is his). So the near-death beating is a sort of a payback for that and the fact that he cannot fight back is also significant - now he can feel the helplessness his past victims felt. And on a more specific level, Junpei-the-kidnapper has a sort of right on his side. He has no right to involve Makino, who was nothing but good to him, but his grudge against Domyouji is legit - the guy had beaten his bro into a near-handicapped state a few years prior to the start of the main story. Significantly this is the worst thing we ever hear about Domyouji doing but the slate ends up being karmically wiped clean because he pays for it. And I love that Makino learns of this action too - she basically sees Domyouji both at his worst and his best at the same time during this scene.

And ah, yes, Makino. How I love her lack of flinching during this whole scene. (Love Domyouji telling her to close her eyes before the beating starts. And I love that she keeps them unflinchingly open anyway). If a gang of kidnappers think they can intimidate her, they have another thing coming and when she jumps to shield near-unconscious Domyouji with her own body? EEEEEEEE! Another thing I love is that even after all of this, she still doesn't fall magically in love with him and he has to work further to win her over. I love that the story realizes she does not owe him her love for that.

So below are the three takes on it. No surprise, the Taiwanese one is my favorite because it's the closest to the manga, basically panel for panel (in this vid they cut Shancai's earier fierce lack of interest in kidnapper's justifications but in the drama the scene is there- love). I love the Japanese and Korean versions too though they change some things - in Japanese version they compress Junpei and Sakurako, another character, into one, which loses the balance of Domyouji paying back for his prior misdeeds - Sakurako has no reason in any way justifiable for such a freak show and in the Korean version, they are dating already which changes the meaning of the scene somewhat (though the fact that the goon was in part working for Jun Pyo's mom in addition to his own agenda, will always amuse me - that woman is seriously sick). But they are still all good.

[Poll #1556982]

[Poll #1556982]

I just watched 3 (the ep I finished ends with the Ebisu date) of Hana Yori Dango in a row.

Gosh, I always forget what effortless, soul-sucking fun this is!

The best part? Mr. Mousie told me I should watch it on the big screen TV in the living room and we had way too much fun commenting on the outfits. Also, I saw him be drawn in and get more and more amused by Domyouji. Yay!

Anyways, quick thoughts on this umpteenth rewatch:

* It's weird to rewatch it now after Inoue Mao and most of the F4 went on to different things (and are what, 4 years older?). It's sort of amusing to juxtpose Makino and sheltered rich girl from First Kiss, Rui and the serious cop from Tokyo Dogs, or Sojiro and the screwed-up photographer in Love Shuffle or Domyouji and the abused Japanese-Philippino from Smile. Hanadan was my first drama for all the actors involved (it was my first jdrama, period) and it's really fun to see how my perceptions of characters and actors have changed and stayed the same.

* Makino is such an amazing darling - the drama really works because in all the craziness of Hanadan world, she is real - her reactions are real and her warmth is real and her stubborn toughness is real.

* I always forget (because by the end I adore him beyond words, even if I still would never date him) how much I loathe Domyouji in the beginning. I spent the first ep and half of the second wanting someone to stab him in the face with rusty scissors. By the end of the third? I am amused and rather fond. It's funny, I still stand by my original assessment (one which put me off from watching the jdrama for months, actually, back way when) that Matsumoto Jun is in another universe from good-looking (especially with that hair) and physically he is nothing like Domyouji of the manga. But the funny thing is, as always, I end up sucked in and not caring because he nails the role and somehow he becomes so magnetic that even though objectively I know he is hideous, subjectively, I am in a permanent swoon. (I think Matsumoto Jun is actually the best of all the younger jdrama actors I've seen - there is nothing in common between Domyouji and Shin from Gokusen or Momo from KwP or poor mistreated Bito from Smile. The latter is my favorite role of his, actually).

* Makino seems to girl-crush a lot. She pauses in her leaving the House of Evil to comment on how pretty Tsubaki is. And she totally worships Shizuka. Makino Tsukushi, closet lesbian?

* I actually love that they changed the manga and introduce Kaede early on. It explains so much about everything - the scene when she fires the chef during dinner explains everything about why Domyouji is the way he is, really. Also, I continue to believe a lot of it is his acting out to get attention, any attention, to prove he matters.

* Love love love love Rui! But still do not ship him with Makino. He'd be an awesome BFF though.

* It also occurs to me that if Kaede could think outside preconceived notions, she'd be buying Makino presents and writing her thank-you cards. Because those first episodes bring out most forcefully that if Domyouji didn't come across Makino and glom onto her like a limpet and thus was forced to grow up and live for someone else, he'd just eventually end up in jail or dead or under some heavy medication, with no amount of money being able to fix it. Forget managing a company, I don't think he'd be functional, even. (One of the things I hated in the kdrama was how they took that one defining characteristic of his - him being totally screwed-up and off the rails and got rid of it. Oh wait, he had one other driving characteristic - really really strong will and Makino monomania. They got rid of that too! No, I am not bitter, why do you ask?)

In preparation for my epic 'awesome kdrama women' post, I present to you "My Favorite All-Time Drama Heroine".

Who is it?



It's Shan Cai from Meteor Garden/Makino Tsukushi from Hana Yori Dango. (Taiwanese and Japanese adaptations of the same manga, respectively).

Shan Cai/Makino does not have special fighting skills, a police uniform, or a private army to back herself up. She is nothing more or less than your average college/high-school girl.

Or is she?

The only poor student in a school for spoiled, useless, sociopathic rich kids, Shancai/Makino stands up for an acquaintance (that's right - she isn't even a friend yet!) against Dao Ming Si/Domyouji, the richest, most violent guy in school - the one who not only rules the school and who, as she knows before she gets involved, is not only capable of making her life hell (and I do mean hell - hazing, taunts, beatings, anything else that goes) but would certainly delight in doing so if thwarted.

And all of that happens - she gets hazed in a manner that would bring on lawsuits in the States and only comes back for more - she simply won't back down. In fact, in the midst of all it, she declares war back on him. And you know how she does it? In public she tells him everything she thinks of his uselessness (as he is only living on his parents' money) and punches him in the face, knocking him down. He is a violent nutter with fighting for a hobby and she does not even pause.

And that is only the beginning! She continues to be pure awesome. She refuses to have anything to do with the guy (who, being pretty unhinged and with a completely screwed-up background, falls in love with her after this incident). He may offer her money and she throws it back in his face. He may threaten to get her expelled and she still won't say she likes him. He may get himself close to killed protecting her (the best drama shipping scene ever!) and she won't fall in love with him just for that - she can be grateful, but she is sane enough to know gratitude is not equal to love. She is clear-headed enough to refuse to take him on any terms until he (slowly, painfully, and by bootstraps) actually learns to become a human being.

When in the Taiwanese version, she is at one point punched out by a gang of men, all way heftier than her, she doesn't do anything but get up after every hit and tries to fight them back until she literally passes out. And even borderline unconscious, when Dao Ming Si carries her out of there, she demands to be put down, because dammit, she can walk! In both versions, when kidnapped as bait for him, tied up and helpless, as soon as her gag is removed she tells the leader (who is trying to get her sympathy by dwelling on his wrongs) exactly what she thinks of that sort of thing, unflinching even when slapped, even when a knife is to her throat.

Nor is she subject to social humiliation - in the Taiwanese version, rich bitches fake being friends and invite her to a party intending to humiliate her by giving her the wrong dress-code and implying she's a whore? Oh, she gets back plenty at them, without a shred of embarassment. While not demonstrating quite this degree of sangfroid in the Japanese version, she's still pretty disdainful of social slurs and also generally relationship-smart, deciding that she may love someone but if it can't happen, being able to move on.

She stands up to Dao Ming Si's/Domyouji's terrifying mother without a shred of fear - invited to perform on the piano at a fancy party by Momster as a means to humiliate her, Shan Cai/Makino has no problems just dicordantly banging on the keys in cacaphony of sound without any embarassment or pause.

Oh, did I mention a minor but awesome point that she is capable of lasting friendships with both men and women and both loves her shiftless family and sees them clearly for who they are? That she works half-a-dozen jobs to support herself on her own?

That is why I see red when I see people post things like this manga is anti-feminist or whatever - you have GOT to be kidding me! But not as much red as I see when people comment that Shan Cai/Makino is 'scary' and how could any guy love her?

She is my hero.

Have a shippy, S2 of Hanadan vid to conclude this post:



I think the violent dork and practical commoner are my favorite drama OTP ever.

I feel a rewatch coming on...

Oh, and for the record? Makino punches out a freaking BEAR! Beat that, ladies and gents!

In preparation for my epic 'awesome kdrama women' post, I present to you "My Favorite All-Time Drama Heroine".

Who is it?



It's Shan Cai from Meteor Garden/Makino Tsukushi from Hana Yori Dango. (Taiwanese and Japanese adaptations of the same manga, respectively).

Shan Cai/Makino does not have special fighting skills, a police uniform, or a private army to back herself up. She is nothing more or less than your average college/high-school girl.

Or is she?

The only poor student in a school for spoiled, useless, sociopathic rich kids, Shancai/Makino stands up for an acquaintance (that's right - she isn't even a friend yet!) against Dao Ming Si/Domyouji, the richest, most violent guy in school - the one who not only rules the school and who, as she knows before she gets involved, is not only capable of making her life hell (and I do mean hell - hazing, taunts, beatings, anything else that goes) but would certainly delight in doing so if thwarted.

And all of that happens - she gets hazed in a manner that would bring on lawsuits in the States and only comes back for more - she simply won't back down. In fact, in the midst of all it, she declares war back on him. And you know how she does it? In public she tells him everything she thinks of his uselessness (as he is only living on his parents' money) and punches him in the face, knocking him down. He is a violent nutter with fighting for a hobby and she does not even pause.

And that is only the beginning! She continues to be pure awesome. She refuses to have anything to do with the guy (who, being pretty unhinged and with a completely screwed-up background, falls in love with her after this incident). He may offer her money and she throws it back in his face. He may threaten to get her expelled and she still won't say she likes him. He may get himself close to killed protecting her (the best drama shipping scene ever!) and she won't fall in love with him just for that - she can be grateful, but she is sane enough to know gratitude is not equal to love. She is clear-headed enough to refuse to take him on any terms until he (slowly, painfully, and by bootstraps) actually learns to become a human being.

When in the Taiwanese version, she is at one point punched out by a gang of men, all way heftier than her, she doesn't do anything but get up after every hit and tries to fight them back until she literally passes out. And even borderline unconscious, when Dao Ming Si carries her out of there, she demands to be put down, because dammit, she can walk! In both versions, when kidnapped as bait for him, tied up and helpless, as soon as her gag is removed she tells the leader (who is trying to get her sympathy by dwelling on his wrongs) exactly what she thinks of that sort of thing, unflinching even when slapped, even when a knife is to her throat.

Nor is she subject to social humiliation - in the Taiwanese version, rich bitches fake being friends and invite her to a party intending to humiliate her by giving her the wrong dress-code and implying she's a whore? Oh, she gets back plenty at them, without a shred of embarassment. While not demonstrating quite this degree of sangfroid in the Japanese version, she's still pretty disdainful of social slurs and also generally relationship-smart, deciding that she may love someone but if it can't happen, being able to move on.

She stands up to Dao Ming Si's/Domyouji's terrifying mother without a shred of fear - invited to perform on the piano at a fancy party by Momster as a means to humiliate her, Shan Cai/Makino has no problems just dicordantly banging on the keys in cacaphony of sound without any embarassment or pause.

Oh, did I mention a minor but awesome point that she is capable of lasting friendships with both men and women and both loves her shiftless family and sees them clearly for who they are? That she works half-a-dozen jobs to support herself on her own?

That is why I see red when I see people post things like this manga is anti-feminist or whatever - you have GOT to be kidding me! But not as much red as I see when people comment that Shan Cai/Makino is 'scary' and how could any guy love her?

She is my hero.

Have a shippy, S2 of Hanadan vid to conclude this post:



I think the violent dork and practical commoner are my favorite drama OTP ever.

I feel a rewatch coming on...

Oh, and for the record? Makino punches out a freaking BEAR! Beat that, ladies and gents!

I have watched all the parts of ep 1 of Next Stop Happiness that are subbed and most of the unsubbed parts.

I am in love.

I am so in love that if the rest don't get subbed soon, I am watching raw - last time I watched twdrama raws was Silence (!!!!!).

So far, I am in love with Ady An's heroine, ridiculously so. Ady is my favorite Taiwanese actress except for Barbie Hsu (it will take an earthquake to dislodge Barbie from number one spot seeing that my first two dramas ever starred her) and she is so good in this - my heart breaks for her - she is someone who lost her family, her privileged lifestyle, and her dream of piano-playing at the same time, as a child. But she is not weepy or weak - she is strong and sunny (without being Pollyannaish about it). She is just so functional.

I can tell it will be one of those dramas which will, for me, be all about the heroine and seeing through her prism. When Vanness' character was being difficult with her my rage was irrational - I haven't felt such burning hate since beginning of Brilliant Legacy and Hwan. Not because he was being particularly horrible (he was being difficult and acting out and a brat, but it wasn't anything in the same universe as Hwan) but because I saw everything through Ady's eyes.

As to Vanness, he is gorgeous and sexy (but when wasn't he?) and (while I can't say I love his character in the sense of wanting to date him) as a character and a drama hero he makes me weak in the knees - he is so angry at the world, and acting out, and not adjusted at all - I bet what will draw him to Ady is her sanity, and her refusing to be either impressed or irrationally angry at him. And her genuineness - he is clearly looking for a connection with someone, anyone, and not finding it (see his fake-natured ex). That boy needs a keeper. And I am finding it so hot, it's disturbing. I am old enough to know that in real life trying to be someone's connection to functioning is unhealthy and acting-out-badboy-with-a-heart-of-gold is a dangerous fantasy, but in dramaland nothing gets me faster, faster, faster.

It's funny, when I look at my favorite twdramas, they all have an acting-out, messed-up underneath his outgoingness, heroes. Hmmm. And strong-willed heroines.

kitkat_cat told me that she saw the shades of both Domyouji/Makino and Mars in this and I can totally see what she meant - the acting-out messed up rich boy and a common-sense poor girl who won't buckle down; the horrible family (including a creep of a stepfather) for the heroine, the hero that seems fine and 'fun' but is anything but, and is looking for limits.

I can't say whether it will be anywhere near as good as Hanadan/Meteor Garden/Mars, because that is a ridiculously high bar to set, but it looks very promising.

Oh, and for those on my flist who are reluctant to check it out because they think it's a terminal illness drama or a miserable end drama, it's not. At least, I would be shocked to find out it is - the whole premise of it is Vanness forgetting Ady (and not knowing about his son) and them meeting years later after she left him and broke his heart for his own good. Much more The Kid from Heaven or My Lucky Star vibe - and neither one of them ended badly. Plus, with a title like that, I think it will end up well. Otherwise, they'd just call it 'Next Stop Graveyeard'. :P

Preview for ep 2:

This is my OTP for Take Care of the Lady:



Cheeky hardworking butler (r) and a human rights lawyer who's given up his rich family to pursue his cause (l).

OK, I am kidding. Sort of.

The thing is, I am not big on our heroine, Hae Na, at all. I have no patience for poor little rich girl or boy who treats people like dirt while thinking that they are owed everything because of their unearned money and wallowing in undeserved emo while being waited on hand and foot. I start thinking longingly of French Revolution and guillotines.

Now, a hardworking rich person, like Lee Byung Hun's character in Beautiful Days, I am fine with. Otherwise, the spoiled rich brat better have some genuine cause for lashing out like Jae Min from Bali - I would not want to be a member of his horrific family for any money and Bali never shies away from the fact that despite being angsty and magnetic, Jae-Min is not a loveable cuddly thing only needing a love of a good woman to fix him, but a total mess.

Hae Na reminds me of Domyouji in all his incarnations and I loathed early Domyouji with every fibre of my being. To be honest, she is even worse - Domyouji was younger and was around one of the worst mother figures ever. Hae Na is close to a decade older than Domyouji and seems to be a product of a nice enough family. She has no excuse! Her grandfather is warm and loving and treats her well, her staff jumps to her every whim, she is healthy - wtf is her problem! Boo-hoo, some relationship 6 years ago did not work out. Since when is that a legitimate excuse to treat people like dirt? (There is no hint that her ex was abusive or similar and she has some sort of PTSD).

I adored Sung Yuri's heroine in Snow Queen even when she was a horrifying bitch because there was good reason for her behavior - a deeply dysfunctional family, suicide of a loved older brother, and knowledge that she is bound to die in her 20s due to a health condition. Yeah, that makes for some lashing out. Someone like Shin from Goong might have been no picnic as a significant other but he performed all his myriad duties in a proper manner while Hae Na does absolutely nothing, spounging off her grandfather, refusing to work. Charming! Contrast her her with Anna from Fantasy Couple - Anna was a nightmare but competent and at least her being awful to the hero had some rational basis at the start.

She is not utterly self-absorbed and is capable of gratitude (the way she behaved with Dong Chan when she countermanded his dismissal after he covered for her as she asked) - she is capable of improvement. But she has a long way to go before she becomes worthy of being anyone's girlfriend.

I think her being in tears after realizing Tae Yoon wasn't her first love but someone who looked a bit like him was supposed to humanize her but I was left rolling my eyes at the fact that her wealth insulated her from anything - she caused such a scene chasing after him and then was free to sit and emote while someone else, in this case Dong Chan, was left cleaning up her mess - pacifying the owner of the horse she took, getting her car etc etc. What a contrast with something like Worlds Within where heartbreak or not, Song Hye Kyo's character still had to go to work and do her best, without even time to finish her conversation with the man who was dumping her. Or something like Thank You where, whatever else went on in her life, Gong Hyo Jin had to work in the fields, take care of her daughter and her senile grandfather, and deal with it all. Awww, Hae Na, poor little rich girl, see me weep! Whatever other flaws I am easy on in my characters (iciness, jerkiness, dysfunction, whatever), I cannot stand people who are simply spoiled.

The reason I am enjoying this drama and do not hate Hae Na is, in part, because she does have potential as a character to develop, and in part because Yoon Eun Hye is, as always, gorgeous, charismatic and a good actress, making Hae Na a real person with hidden little-girl warmth, as opposed to a nasty rich witch she could easily come across in someone else's hands.

In other news, I am very very eager about upcoming Angel's Temptation. The plot? The heroine's family is killed and her family is ruined so she decides to punish those responsible. (Now, see, Hae Na? That's a woman with a legitimate reason to be pissed!) However, instead of doing the sensible thing and hiring a hitman or maybe using a pipe bomb on their house, she...that's right...seduces and marries the son of her enemy. The logic? Is brilliant.

I adore revenge plots and this sounds so deliciously OTT ridiculous, I cannot wait. All the more so as the male lead is the scrumptious Bae Soo Bin, who you all might remember as the gorgeous Jun Se oppa from Brilliant Legacy. Mmmmmmmm. MMMMMM.