kittyflumpin

This movie was incredibly boring. The only interesting part, in the last third or so of this 2 hour movie (!), involved the side characters played by Kora Kengo & Hatori Miki. I desperately wish their story had been the focus, with the tourism crap as the backdrop. Not only would it have made for an infinitely more interesting movie but it would've made all the scenery-wanking more subtle if they'd worked it in more organically (instead of, "oh here's a gorgeous scenery shot for you to enjoy if you're not actually asleep by now").

Wow, it's like "Annoyed and Disappointed" read my mind. It's why I'm totally burned out on K-dramas lately. I found myself rolling my eyes way too much and had to take a break, retreating back to my J-drama home turf where things seem a little less predictable.

On the matter of how one rates a drama, I tend to rate them highly when I end up really getting into (read: borderline-or-outright obsessing over) them, so even though a show may have obvious flaws, if it's highly successful at what it set out to do (i.e. make me feel a certain emotion), I'll rate it more highly. I think this is why my 8-9-10 range is such a mixed bag of genres and themes.

Ayaka also ended up marrying Zettai Kareshi co-star Mizushima Hiro the next year (2009). Lucky!

kawaiimomo: "Plus I honestly find Japanese songs more memorable than the songs from Korean dramas." -- I feel the same, and I wonder if it's because J-dramas tend to feature just an OP/ED pop song (and maybe one insert song) with mostly instrumental variations and a separately composed BGM score, whereas K-dramas tend to load up with ballads and such...

Nice! I gotta catch up by watching s2 first though...

This is exactly how I pick my 10s too (all 2 of 'em so far): Not that they were utterly perfectly written/scripted/etc. (because nothing is) but that they did a fantastic job at evoking the emotions they were trying for, and I was completely and totally enthralled while watching them. There's invariably a level of obsession involved and usually some sort of interaction with fellow fans that enhances the experience beyond just watching the show in a vacuum.

Well I finally finished it this week. I could've blown through it weeks ago but I was trying to pace myself, to make it last, because it gets so damn good (not to mention, when you get near the end it's a very emotional rollercoaster ride and I was terrified of how it might end). I'm so happy I gave this show a shot because it's become one of my new favorites. Fantastic.

Amen.

Oh, I'm aware of that, I just think this is particularly lacking.

Very excited about this film-- loved the TV series so much!

I feel pretty meh about Ayase Haruka but I like both male leads so I'm hoping to just get past my bias and enjoy the show.

Ah, I did a little digging (mostly on LJ) and I see it available. Did you watch it? Is it worth jumping through the extra hoops? (edit: I forgot that I can actually look at your list and see that, yes, you watched it. Was the score there intentional? Maybe I won't bother with the DDLs after all...)

I hope this is the case because I'm getting really sick of chaebol leads in K-dramas.

Okay, I know the big Asian drama torrent download sites and seriously, no one captured this and made it available? I'm actually doubting the air dates listed here now.

This is probably my number one J-drama of all time. I love it so much.

This, this, a thousand times this (and I haven't even seen the original yet). There's a reason we prefer Asian dramas (of course fans of the original are probably not the target audience anyway).

3-Iron is fantastic!

3 eps. in now and it's kind of like a creeper version of Ground Hog Day or something. Seriously, this isn't actually supposed to be a romance, right?

THIS. I haven't watched this particular drama (yet) but one of the reasons I enjoy Asian dramas is that they're written with a specific end in mind, the story moves towards that end, and you get a conclusion. It doesn't just go on indefinitely until no one cares anymore and it gets unceremoniously cancelled.

Whatever one thinks of the concept/execution, I think we can all agree the name change was a very good idea at least.