amrita828

My dearest, in the end I managed to watch and finish Itazura Na kiss Love in Tokyo. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. And now I need to beg for your forgiveness in advance, because I'm goinng to write a review you won't like - well, not many will, I'll be submerged in thumbs down. But I have a thick skin. :P

What can I say then? I'm in! :D

Ah, tough question. My favourite coupling will always remain him and Tsurara from Kurosagi. If you haven't watched the drama, I can't tell you why. ;)
He had a great chemistry with all the actrees I saw him acting with, even those who never became romantically involved with him - in fictional terms, of course. :D

I see you're watching Summer Nude, but without subtitles? I am waiting for more episodes to be subbed before I watch; until then, I'll bask in the pleasure of watching his half naked self... ;)

All 3 seem interesting to me. The first because it stars Nishiuchi Mariya, whom I truly love. She puts me in a good mood only by watching her very mobile face. :) The idea of switching when kissing is great: it means we can have a lot of kissing, lol. I'm not a die hard fan of Yamamoto Yosuke, but he can act, so I think he will play the part well. :)

The one with MatsuJun interests me on more levels: 1. the province setting; 2. the fact that there are children; 3. the piano. Bought. :D

The third? Hiroshi could read the shopping list and I'd love him anyway. ;)

Thanks for these news, Cheer! :)

A huge hug my dear for setting a positive mood. I would hate the whole world if they killed off one of those adorable characters. Like you say, I'm not in the mood for tears either: let's have a lovely, romantic story that ends well and we can smile about!

I don't know of this Green Scalpel. Is it about doctors? Wait... perhaps I've read about it, there's a supernatural element too, isn't there? If so, I am going to watch it. Joo Won isn't my favourite man in terms of looks, but I don't hate him - actually, I haven't seen him in anything other than 1 episode of the bridal mask, so I know nothing about him. If he pulls off the part, I'm more than ready to watch him. :) When does it start?

So I watched episodes 15 and 16. I love this drama, but I'm almost scared of watching. I fear the writer may decide to kill off someone else and I'm not sure I could bear it. Mostly, I'm scared for Soo Ha. Hye Sung will survive, this drama is about her, after all. Her growth as a lawyer but most of all as a person. I'm so fond of her because I see so much of me reflected in her - except the fact that she's an asian beauty and I am not, lol. Now am I a lawyer, but that's marginal. ;)
Do you still think Soo Ha is a green horn and shouldn't end up with her? I look at them and think they are the sweetest couple I've seen in a long while, but everyone I talk with tells me they are not meant for each other. I truly don't care about the age difference, I feel they have a lot more in common than any age similarity could ever make up for.

I understand what you mean when you talk about the love that grows slowly instead of exploding at first sight. This last often runs the risk of dragging and becoming a cutie cute thing - I don't really like cutie cute, you know those love stories when they go to the amusement park, hold hands, eat icecream and buy stuffed animals... :P
I don't really know what kind of romance I favour. It all depends on how much I can identify, so that when it comes to love stories I need to love the female heroine, so that while watching I can identify with her and fall in love with her.

Luckily I had warned you: I realize I've rambled. Hope you cane give some sense to the whole, lol.

For now, I hug you tight and wish you a lovely evening! :D

Cruel city sounds mighty interesting. I love thrillers and I love noir, so it's definitely going to be added to my list. Unlike you, I can't watch too many dramas at a time, I lose contact with one or the other, if not all. But I'm definitely going to come back to you as soon as I start it. :)
I may even get my husband watch it with me, since he's slowly becoming an addict but always prefers Korean dramas. He says he relates better with the language. To each their own, I guess. :)

My friend, I've also decided to give the next Hong Sisters' drama a try. The previews seem promising and I don't want to become one of those watchers who are full of prejudices.

Lovers was ok, but not my kind of drama. It's well acted and has an adult, steamy sort of romance, but the "drama" in it made me often cringe and the music is almost unbearable.

Soratobu has been the lovliest experience of this year, up to now. I fell in love with all those characters and didn't want to see them go. They felt so real and so near. Seeing them face the issue of their recent tragedy with so much dignity and composure made me cry, something I very rarely do.

Japanese have this ability, have they not? They are capable of telling believable stories in an over-the-top fashion, and tell improbable ones in the simplest of ways. They know how to effectively mingle style with content. It's something I'll never cease to admire, and the reason why I started watching doramas so many years ago.

Not that Koreans can't. They are just different. Because they play so much on emotions, now and then they... drain me, and I need to stay away for a while.

I wish I could reply appropriately to all the points you raise, but you know how it is when you read something and you form a reply in your mind, then something else adds to it and the stream of thoughts becomes a huge nebula?
So bear with me 'cause this is going to be totally random.
I tried the Eita's drama you mention and let it on hold by episode 1. I felt it was a sort of "essay" drama, one of those I have to face when I'm in the right mood. This mood thing is a limit of mine, but since I became aware of it, it also became a resource. I'm slowly learning how to face things when I'm emotionally ready for them. Like this, I hope to avoid being disappointed to the point of distaste.
My criteria for liking a drama haven't changed that much with time, but by adding my moody taste to the equation I can finally explain why the same genre satisfy me today and annoys me tomorrow.

P.S. I truly love the way you explain in detail about your preferences and dramas. We love the things we love for very desparate reasons, don't we? :D

My preferences are going to change again: it's not that I only like japanese dramas, is that I needed to give due room to things I loved but never put in the preference slot. 5 aren't enough. :)

Bara No Nai Hanaya is a surprising drama. It's wonderfully acted by all, has a couple of twists one would never imagine, an intelligent script and some unforgettable characters. I too believe you would love it. Try it out. :)

I'm also back to watching a Korean airing drama: I Hear Your Voice. I love it. The heroine reminds me a lot of myself, that's why I suppose I'm a little partial.

I see you're watching dramas I've never heard about. Are you enjoying any of them? Have you come out of your slump? (If I remember well, your was sort of self imposed too).

Twinnie! I had written a long message and when I clicked on send it, my connection broke down and it all went lost. :P
I'm glad you approve of my profile page subject: I pass by it every time I need a refill of hormones. lol
After a couple of korean melodramas I watched in winter - you know of them - I fell into a sort of voluntary slump. I had no desire to approach any drama, really, as if I'd had an overdose. The solution to this problem came when I felt the need to re-watch something with Yamapi in it. One drama turned into a Yamapi-marathon and in no time I re-watched everything he acted in. It's been a lovely period, which reminded me a lot of the beginning of my addiction, when everything was so new, and simple and shiny. This is how I came out of the slump and back to a reasonable addiction and the drama world in general.

So, am I really the only one who couldn't care less?
Mind you, I love the article, it's well written and provides us all with some very interesting food for debate. What I don't notice nor do I care for is the age diffeence in itself. If 2 actors have chemistry, they can be 20 years apart for all I care. The chemistry is something created on screen by a good script and of course by the acting, similar age is certainly not enough to have 2 elements produce any kind of spark.
I actually have a bigger problem accepting Lee Min Ho as a high-school student, even in 2009.

My computer is still at large. Last night, since my hurband was fretting to watch episodes 15 & 16 of IHYV, we watched them on the laptop on streaming. I usually download torrents from Drama Addicts, or directly from Dorama x264, but with Japanese dramas is often harder, which pisses me off royally.
I will wait for Summer Nude too because there are still no subs for episode 2!

I want to watch the ghost story by the Hong Sisters too, I could be proved wrong in my bad opinion of them. The cast is good and the previews are very interesting. I too hope nobody's going to die, but I'm quite sure it won't happen since the thing is labelled as a horror rom-com - and rom-coms don't contemplate deadly ending, no matter how many deads we will encounter DURING the journey, lol. ;)

Right now I'm more scared about IHYV. I too want a puppy like Soo Ha! :D

My dear friend, in real life as well as on the net, there are some "spiritual connections" that are not affected by long periods of silence. To me, this is what happens with you, Akai, Shika and a few other people here. We live our different lives, each at her own pace, even watch different things and love them or hate them, but when we finally "meet" again and share our thoughts it's always a pleasure and there's no need to fill any void. :)
This said, I'm so sorry I bashed your beloved drama. Unfotunately, there's no solution to the empasse, since you loved it and I hated it with equal passion. I actually found more pleasure in writing that review than watching the drama. I suppose we'll just have to leave it at that and jump to the next topic. Perhaps you can forget, if not forgive, lol. ;)

I wasn't offended, and I hope you weren't either, daisy. Of course we are all expressing our opinions. :)

Once this is established, I agree with addicted and the author of this article that the ending they gave us equals cheating. I have nothing against sad endings (although I don't love them), if they are consistent with the message a drama has been trying to send for the duration of 19 episodes. They can't give me the fantasy element and then end up saying: sorry people, in real life the 3 teardrops chance does not exist! Really? Well, thanks for pointing it out, and here I thought I was a ninja turtle.
If they really wanted to give us the supernatural, they should have remained cohesive with the genre and not suddenly turn into Koizora Korean way with a touch of makjang element with birth secrets popped out of the deeper blue. Sorry, to me that drama was a mess.

Actually, I am trying to watch Summer Nude. The subs are so slow it's frustrating, I think I'll just wait a little and start when there's a decent number of subbed episodes available. I've watched the first 2 and likeed it. I wouldn't say this is a shallow drama: the first impression it gave me is a mixture of Buzzer Beat and Proposal Daisakusen without the basket and the supernatural element, lol. A romantic comedy with characters one can relate to, very summer like and enjoyable. :)

If it's already written and can't be changed, then why bother? In such a case, not even the concept of free will can atone for the irrationality of it, since having an accident and falling into a coma can't possibly be attributed to free will.
So, once again, why bother giving the viewer the 3 teardrops fairy tale and then wipe them away as if they had never been collected? The ending was illogical (and totally useless imo) both on a philosophical AND a narrative level.

I have never been there, but I know where Bangladesh is, of course. :) It must be a beautiful country. Are you having terrible monsoons too?

And I'm very pleased to meet you too, Farah. Thanks for accepting my friend request. :D