More Meteors than Expected

A pleasant surprise to say the least! My favorite JDrama at the moment, Ryuusei no Kizuna, has been extended to 11 episodes. Initially from DramaWiki, a “wiki” site that specializes in Asian cinema summarization and episode updates, there were only suppose to be 6 episodes for Ryuusei no Kizuna. While watching the show I was constantly wondering why that is so when the storyline and the acting are both very good? Having such a short time-line will surely hurt the overall story (and the fact that it’ll end faster which saddens me).

Well, episode 6 just came out a few days ago and was translated shortly after. I was expecting it to end, but it didn’t! I was very happy and can’t wait to see how they’ll end the show. It has been an exciting ride and I really hope that it’ll end well for the characters and the show.

Nana – R

NOTE: I will only review the first Nana movie because I feel it is a lot better than the sequel.

Released in 2005
Based on a manga series by Ai Yazawa (still ongoing)
Overall Rating: A

Main Cast: real name / character name

Mika Nakashima as Nana Osaki
Aoi Miyazaki as Nana Komatsu (Hachi)
Ryuhei Matsuda as Ren Honjo
Tomoki Maruyama as Yasushi Takagi (Yasu)
Hiroki Narimiya as Nobuo Terashima (Nobu)
Ken’ichi Matsuyama as Shinichi Okazaki (Shin)
Yuna Ito as Reira Serizawa

Nana Osaki grew up in a small town near Tokyo. She lives with her grandmother who was very strict and forbade her to wear pink or red so as to not stand out and attract men. Her mother left her at the age of 4 and has not been seen since. Her father’s identity is unknown. Nana grows up to be quite the loner and had little friends. Her first friend is Nobuo who introduced her to rock music and jump-started her love for music. When her grandmother fell ill, Nana buys a red jacket for herself as a present and goes to a local rock concert. There, she meets Ren and the two begins dating. When he asks her to be part of his band, Black Stone (Blast for short), she agrees. In another part of Japan, also near Tokyo, lives Nana Komatsu. In contrast to Nana O., she has a happy and warm family. Despite so, being someone who easily falls in love and gives herself away easily, Nana K. often finds herself in love triangles. Fearing loneliness, she feels uneasy when her boyfriend isn’t with her. When her boyfriend, Shoji, leaves for Tokyo to attend an art school, she too begins saving money to go and meet up with him. And so, on the way to Tokyo, Nana K. and Nana O. becomes seat-mate on the train. From there, a special friendship forms between the Nana who has often embraced loneliness and the Nana who has often feared loneliness.

My First Poll

It’s Thanksgiving Break! Please be patient while I catch up on my sleeping. I’m also writing a few reviews at the same time while waiting for the last episode of Ryuusei no Kizuna – it’s so good! So what I want to know is dramas from which Asian country are the funniest to you? As comedy is one of my favorite genre, I really want to know which countries really has the funniest shows. My answer, at the moment, would be Japan. What about you?

Multiple votes by one person is OK! Why? Because if you’re really passionate about it, it MUST be really funny. Turns out I forgot to allow multiple votes T_T I actually did, but when WordPress updated to a new version, it must’ve been reset. Sorry.

[UPDATE on Dec. 16, 2008]

Thank you to everyone who voted. I just wanted a little more interaction between myself and you guys – my precious readers! I’ll have funnier questions next time and I hope you all and many more will participate. For this poll, Japan is the indisputable WINNER! Indeed, the Japanese have a way with humor that is both cunning and downright funny. It just gets you by surprise sometime.

The poll is now closed (even though you still can post). I can’t find an option to “end” the poll beside deleting it so I’ll just leave it. No more vote is necessary but if you want to, go ahead.

Stand Up! – R

Broadcast in 2003
11 episodes total
Overall Rating: A+

Main Cast: real name / character’s name

Ninomiya Kazunari as Shouhei Asai (Shou-chan)
Tomohisa Yamashita as Kengo Iwasaki (Ken Ken)
Anne Suzuki as Chie Ouwada
Hiroki Narimiya as Udagawa Hayato
Oguri Shun as Kouji Enami

Outstanding Minor Character: Becky (Rebecca Eri Ray Vaughan) as Kaga Ellen

Stand Up! is a smartly and tastefully done teen drama about friendship, love, and sex. The story concentrates on 4 good friends (Shouhei, Kengo, Udagawa, and Kouji) and their quest to finally lose their virginity by the end of the summer. Shouhei is the main protagonist who also narrates the movie. The setting is in a small shopping-district called Togoshi where their parents also work at. The show starts off during the last few weeks of school before summer vacation. A heinous discovery of someone’s bra is found in the library and the whole school and town is shocked. The offender is inevitably kick-out of school. In the process, Shouhei (who found the bra) realizes that he and his 3 friends are the ONLY virgins left at school. Before they could collect their thoughts, an old friend suddenly comes back to town. It’s Chie, the girl Shouhei and everyone fell head-over-heel with when they were kids. Unfortunately, the grown Chie is not as attractive as they once thought. Strangely, no one bothers to ask why she is back as all 4 are too busy fonding dirty thoughts in their minds. Here is a great show about the meaning of sex from two very prominent perspectives: teens and their parents. These two groups seem to have always been at wars with each other. Here, their battles are tackled in many humerus ways. Who shall be the winner? Will Shouhei and his buddies finally become a “man?” And why did Chie come back after so many years being out of touched?