L: Change the World

I'm sure almost anyone would have heard of L from Death Note. Now death note was quite a good show, but L the movie was completely filmed just to ride on the popularity and the huge hit of the amazing guy, L. The storyline was absolutely disappointing, why, because besides the story not coming from the manga, the whole movie was utterly boring.

Yea, like I mentioned how Singapore always have rubbish movies in the theatres, this is another perfect example. WHY would they want people to pay to watch this trash instead of other good shows? Which is one of the reason why I seldom watch asian films in the theatres.

I know I sound harsh, but I'm sure any death note manga fans would be mad at the storyline. 1 episode of Bloody Monday is 10 times more exciting than this 1 hr + movie. However, I can't blame Kennichi Matsuyama because he was still excellent and brillant as L.

Ratings: 3/10. Media's too hyped up over this rubbish movie.

Handsome Suit

This movie was in the theatres in Singapore but I missed it. Heard several reviews that the movie was hillarious. Sometimes I wonder why aren't the good shows shown in the theatres. Handsome suit wasn't THAT nice and THAT funny as many people think just because it was promoted in Singapore.

The story line was once again VERY predictable and it wasn't even funny enough to be a comedy. Ugly guy puts on a 'special' suit and transforms to be a very handsome man. The 'handsome' dude was the homo weird doctor in Love Shuffle, maybe that was one of the reason why I did not enjoy it.

There was nothing special in the cast except Yusuke had a minor role but he wasn't impressive.

Ratings: 6/10. forgettable and very predictable.

Buzzer Beat

Just finished Buzzer Beat a few minutes ago. Finally I'm over and done with it! Not that it's a bad drama, it's just that I shouldn't have started watching it before it finishes airing in Japan. A drama is best watched when I could go on for more than 5 episodes in one go.

Back to Buzzer Beat, because it's a Yamapi drama, it's a predictable, weak story-lined idol drama. His acting skills did not shine here, i loved him best when he was akira in Nobuta wo Produce and hope he would act crazy instead of trying to be cool in ALL his recent works.

Coach-sama is HOT! Another plus point is the romance in the drama got me tingly, which I haven't felt so in a long time. Good kissing scenes was another major plus point since we RARELY get romantic kisses in jap dramas. sigh, even rare in kdramas too.

But please don't make yamapi wear purple ever again. I know it's the colour of his bball team but the PD really overdid it.

Ratings: I'm going to give a high one for the romance. 7/10. typical and pi wears TOO MUCH PURPLE IS ANNOYING!

Speedy Scandal

Any show by Cha Tae Hyun is excellent. Speedy Scandal is another example. The cast is un-known but with the appearance of Cha Tae Hyun, it became a well known show. The reason why I watched this was because I chanced upon this show in HMV and I knew I couldn't miss this because of Cha Tae Hyun. Almost anyone would have watched his shows before- yes, the main lead in my sassy girl.

Sypnosis
Former teen idol Nam Hyeon-soo (Cha Tae-hyun) is now in his thirties and working as a radio DJ.A young woman named Hwang Jeong-nam (Park Bo-yeong) sent a story to the radio station Hyeon-soo worked at, telling him she is going to meet her father. He finds out that he is the father of Jeong-Nam. Not believing it, he goes through a DNA blood test,and the results say that they're related. Later on he tries not to create a scandal with what's happening to Jeong- Nam and himself.

P.S (Cha Tae Hyun's going to appear in Family Outing as a guest for a second time! He's one of the funniest guest ever and gosh, i can't wait!)

A comedy but I teared alittle = a great show. It's seldom to see me crying these days. But I've got to mention this little boy.
Child actor Hwang Seok-hyeon, face expressions!
http://asiacue.com/persons/Hwang_Seok-Hyeon.html
http://www.hancinema.net/korean_Hwang_Seok-hyeon.php?nopage[8]=1
http://www.hancinema.net/chanmi-s-movie-news-child-actor-hwang-seok-hyeon-face-expressions--17131.html

He is an amazing child actor! by pure coincidence, I was watching My fair lady until ep 5 and this kid had a role as a rich kid, his facial expressions were so hillarious that if he wasn't in the show I would have gave up on My fair Lady. Then in the evening, I caught this movie, where he portrayed a completely different role. Aigoo, he's almost excelling baby moon in my 'adorable kid actor' list.

And, a couple of youtube videos of this kid. You definately do not want to miss this!

on star king with nickkun- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcVU5WhYHiI&fmt=18
cut on speedy scandal- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krkmY6GJP2k&fmt=18
him singing:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtilM4G8jvc&fmt=18

Ratings: 8/10 could be draggy in few parts.

Love shuffle

The only reason which I watched this was because of 'chiaki senpai' from Nodame cantabile. Pretty disapponted again because I love to see him cool and smart, not silly and stupid. The storyline of love shuffle is pretty refreshing, but not very entertaining and disappointing for a Japanese drama with a pretty well-known cast.

Sypnosis from wiki
Usami Kei is a salaryman who has risen in status due to his engagement with Mei, the wealthy daughter of his company's president. Shortly after she breaks off the engagement, a power failure leaves him stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Trapped with him are three others living on the same floor - Airu, a trilingual interpreter, Ojiro, a model photographer, and Masato, a psychiatrist. While waiting, their conversation hits upon their love lives and the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to try "shuffling" their relationships with each other.

To summarise it, it's about 4 neighbours who came up with the idea of exchanging partners in their relationships. A pretty stupid idea to be the main basis for a drama because I soon got tired of it.

The only person who caught my eye in this drama was Matsuda Shota, a.k.a. Sojiro in Hana yori dango. Though I didn't quite like him in HYD, he was perfect in Love Shuffle. The badboy with a soft side- totally my kind! Plus, his hair in Love shuffle was much better than his weird hair in HYD.


Ratings: 6/10.

I've been hitting the rough patch of terrible dramas this week. aish.

Koizora [movie] +[drama]

Somehow, before I started out on this show, I've seen the posters and was under the impression that this was quite a 'not-bad' show. Throughly disppointed for both drama and movie. The movie fared fairly better than the drama because I think I caught the movie before the drama. The storyline is exactly the same. Which is why I wonder why they made a drama and a movie with different cast plus it wasn't all that nice to begin with.

Koizora means sky of love, and it's a high school teenage love drama. Two teenagers falls in love, got pregnanted, lost the kid, the guy discovered he's down with a terminal disease, blah blah. The story is very typically korean, but it was so predictable, and the romance portion was lacking.

Here you go, a better summary from wiki
Tahara Mika is an ordinary high school girl. One day, out of the blue, one of her classmates kisses her. His name is Sakurai Hiroki also known as Hiro. Hiro stands out because of his bleached hair and piercing. Apparently he is also dating someone. Mika is shocked and hurt that her first kiss had to happen this way. She desperately tries to forget about it. Then, her friend tells her that she should find somebody else and suggests Tatsuya, another boy in their class. However, before she even realizes it, Mika is already in love..Tahara Mika is an ordinary high school girl. One day, out of the blue, one of her classmates kisses her. His name is Sakurai Hiroki also known as Hiro. Hiro stands out because of his bleached hair and piercing. Apparently he is also dating someone. Mika is shocked and hurt that her first kiss had to happen this way. She desperately tries to forget about it. Then, her friend tells her that she should find somebody else and suggests Tatsuya, another boy in their class. However, before she even realizes it, Mika is already in love..

Anyway, the male lead in the movie was Haruma Miura, the amazing kid from bloody monday.

Ratings: 5/10

Bloody Monday

My luck had been running really well. The past few dramas which I've caught were excellent! Nodame and now Bloody Monday. It's one of the best, if not the best Japanese drama ever. Think along MR BRAIN, but now the police seemed so darn stupid.

The cast seemed rather boring, but now I understand why they did not require a star-studded cast. It is because the storyline is terrific! For 11 episodes, it felt like every episode was an action-packed movie filled with intense suspense and drama. There was absolutely not a single dull moment but really good enough not to give me serious heartattack for each episode.

Bloody monday is damn bloody nice that I'm even downloading the manga now.

To think I was still rather reluctant to start because of the cast, sigh. I did not know what I missed out for that year, deprived of such a good drama.

Sypnosis:
After a biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town; Japan's Public Safety Special Third unit, code name THIRD-i, believes that the terrorist organization responsible plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody X into Tokyo. Subsequently, THIRD-i recruits the help of genius hacker Takagi Fujimaru to find out what happened in the Russia. However, as Fujimaru becomes involved, he soon finds out that he is in over his head and that the terrorist groups influence reaches not only his school but even the police. Fujimaru must now rely on his skill as a hacker to unravel the organizations sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday."


Here's the sypnosis, I'm not a fan of these kind of storyline, but the first minute the show started, i was HOOKED.


Ratings: 100/10. YOU JUST ABSOLUTELY CANNOT MISS THIS.

p.s the evil guy is Narimiya Hiroki, who looked so hot that i absolutely could not bring myself to hate him a single ounce.

Nodame Cantabile + Europe special

Just right after I watched Last friends, I watched Nodame Cantabile. Wrong move though, because I would have appreciated Last friends more since majority of the cast appeared in both dramas.

Nodame Cantabile is an excellent, classic show. I'm surprised I did not catch it sooner. I've always known the title of this show, always seen the soundtrack in almost all major music stores. I didn't know it was THAT GOOD. IT'S A BIG SHOW. Like one of the few good Japanese shows to make it to the theatres (SOON!), the SP episode did not disappoint unlike MOST of the SP of other shows.

The lead actress, Ueno Juri is amazingly cute and hillarious. You just could not believe she is the same person in Last Friend where she acted as a Tomboy about to under sexual change. She is the same person in Rainbow song! She's currently on top of my list of favourite actresses. As Nodame, she's so much like me.... in the mess department. My room would probably end up like hers if I don't have a neat-freak sister, still my territory is very very much like Nodame's. Even though I bathe every single day, I hate washing my hair, -so very Nodame. =).... so where's my Chiaki Senpai?


The storyline is very much like Beethoven virus (korean), but obviously Beethoven virus tried to copy Nodame Cantabile but they failed. I couldn't even finish Beethoven virus. I've always thought orchestra music and conducting is extremely boring, but in Nodame Cantabile, the orchestra gave me goosebumps. It is no wonder that why the OST is in major stores.


Ratings: 9.5/10 Hillarious, romantic, extremely exciting.

My School ET

Ever since Family outing, I've always wanted to catch a Kim Sooro film. He's a character whom grew in me so much. He was actually my least favourite family member at the start, but now, without him, the show would seem stale.



Anyway, back to the film. Reasons for catching this: Lee Minho (yes, Goo Jun Pyo) and Kim Sooro.



Lee Minho looked really good. Sometimes I wonder if he did not happen to be Goo Jun Pyo, what would happen to the korean entertainment world. So, this show was several years before Boys over flowers and his acting skills were already polished back then, his role was similar to TOP's role in I AM SAM (which he coincidentally appeared in too)





Not an excellent korean movie, but passable and watchable if you really want to watch Lee Min Ho.



Ratings: 6/10. I almost gave up and fell asleep halfway.

Last Friends

Managed to finish this drama within 2 days. Not because it was a really nice one, but because I was fastforwarding it so much that I finished it in such a short time. A total of 11 episodes, I was actually wishing for more twist and excitement.

Main reason of watching: RYO-chan

Sypnosis for Last Friends from wiki
Last Friends tackles issues that afflict the current generation. Michiru's mother has brought a man back to their home and she is bullied at her workplace where she works as a beauty parlour assistant. She starts cohabiting with her boyfriend, a good young man who works at the Child Welfare Division and the only person who can give her emotional support, but ends up the victim of domestic violence and becomes fearful of love. The boyishly charming Ruka was a classmate of Michiru's in junior high school. She has performed brilliantly as a motocross racer and aims to win the national championship, but as the story progresses, a deep worry that she can neither confide in her parents or close friends grows evident. Takeru is a hair and makeup artist acquainted with Ruka. He is a good confidant to females due to his kindness and perceptiveness, and finds himself attracted to Ruka but has a phobia of sex as a result of a past trauma. The three of them become house mates and through their associations with others, gain the capacity to be positive about life.

Yup, it all revolves about domestic violence. I'm currently in the midst of waiting for Orthros no Inu to finish airing and Ryo looked so good in there! Ryo looked good in Last friends, but i ended up hating his character and that is so unhealthy! It totally spoilt his image (for me that is).

Overall, this drama is weird. I think its from the same production as Innocent Love which is why I didn't quite like this.

edit:
I just realised that one of the female lead, Ueno Juri (the boyish girl) is actually the girl from Rainbow song with Hayato Ichihara and I totally loved her in that movie!

Rating: 4/10. no romance. boring plot. violent ryo =(

Detroit Metal City

I enjoyed Detroit Metal City more than I thought I would. The promoting poster looked weird and a little lame but after reading the sypnosis, it seemed interesting.

Sypnosis from wiki
Soichi Negishi is a shy and gentle young man who dreams of a career as a pop musician. Dreams don't pay the bills, so he's ended up as the lead singer and lead guitarist of a death metal band called “Detroit Metal City.” In stage costume he is Johannes Krauser II, rumored to be a terrorist demon from hell. Negishi despises DMC and all that it stands for, but so help him, he's a terrific performer and can't walk away from that. As DMC's star rises Negishi tries to satisfy both worlds, but can't.

Now the main character is L. While watching it, it would be hard to believe that it's actually the same person. Kennichi Matsuyama, ok his name is really long, is actually a really good actor. I was really surprised by him being able to act 2 opposing roles that well.

Just watch this, its hella funny as well.

Ratings: 8/10

NANA 1 & 2

NANA 1

Loved everything about this movie, from the clothes Mika Nakashima wore, the music they played, the cast was pretty awesome too. The guy from L was actually a bassist and he looked really good. Back then, I guess he was still a nobody which was why I think few years after he got popular, he was not in NANA 2. And of course Narmiya Hiroki, the guitarist had a total different image from the one in Innocent Love.

Ratings: 9/10


NANA 2

The change of cast was a total put-off. There weren't much development in the storyline, they managed to get their fame but since there were too much changes in the cast, I kind of hated this.


Ratings: 5/10