09 January 2012

Mou Yuukai nante Shinai [Review]


Real-time (Jan/3)
Keyhole wasn't really nice that day :P. But I managed to watch until the end. I was sick... & I think I almost go to sleep in the middle :D. I didn't think it was that boring if you care to accept this from a biased Ohno fan :P. Honestly, I was expecting it to be a dorama SP that makes your New Year merrier... but I was wrong. It didn't help that this started straight away after VS Arashi ended (without ads between) :P. In my case, I was still a bit nervous/excited watching the final round of Rolling Coin Tower. Anyway... I think this is a dorama you're supposed to watch after all those New Year celebrations.. to like cool down. It has this calming effect on you so if you are one that thought it would be the merry kind, you'll be bored easily in the first 15 minutes. When the dorama reached its climax, I was wide awake...  because the dorama started taking on a quicker pace. I wasn't able to understand much (which means I have to self-study japanese language harder :P) except simple conversations, of course lol.. didn't get what Shotaro's senpai was speaking at all :P. I also like to see Shotaro & Erika's interactions (& sometimes with Komo-senpai).


LQ video (Jan/4-5)
Suffered watching LQ... because I couldn't see Ohno's expressions (which I really like to observe always) clearly. When I watched real-time, I couldn't follow the story properly because of video streaming issues.. anyway.. I just realised Shotaro loves superhero (tokusatsu?) merchandises. Is he counted as an otaku? Though maybe Ohno doesn't see the character that way because I'm not getting that vibe from him... anyway.. Like someone (or maybe most people) said, this dorama is star-studded.. I think I saw Takada Nobuhiko (wasn't listed in the cast list or correlation chart) in one of the scenes. I'm sure I saw more but can't recall anyone now. Kaname Jun didn't look like him at all...is it because of the hair? :P Erika's erm... family looks fun. I like how her father is portrayed as a fierce on the outside yet a fatherly mob leader. He looked sincerely worried when he got the call from Erika's "kidnappers".


Chinese-subbed (Jan/6)
SUBS! lol... Seeing this with subs (with limited chinese vocab :P) enlightened me a bit about the plot. Actually like 75-85% enlightenment :P.. anyway.. About Kaname, I think it was the moustache :P... And I may not be fond of Kanjiya's acting, but she seems comfortable with her role.. And I don't think this is comedy really.. sure there were some funny scenes here and there.. but I still think it's more to the mystery side.

Watching for the 3rd time, I started thinking how interesting it would be to see this as a renzoku dorama. I wish I knew the characters better (for a 2-hr dorama, not much characters development can be done) ... the atmosphere sure feels like I should have known them. But if it will be done as a full-length dorama, I wish it starts from the ending of the SP. Of course the title & plot had to change too lol, I don't think I can watch Shotaro saying "I shouldn't have done this kidnapping stuff" in every episode... I'm thinking of a plot similar to Mukodono..like Shotaro having to work for Hanazono family to get father's approval *oh lol.. Sorry, imagination running wild.. XD* (actually hoping for a more serious role in dorama for him this year *my wish every season*)..

I wish I can say I like Shotaro... but I can't... because I don't know this character well. I think he's likable though.. but I need more than 2hrs to really like him. In my opinion, Ohno's performance here falls in the same category with his character in Uta no Onii-san (characters that are similar to his personality). He played his character well... & that was it. There weren't really scenes that made me go "WOW. This person's acting skill is superb" like the feelings I get watching Maou's eps 7 where Naruse met her sister... or Kaibutsu-kun's eps 4's crying scene at the end.


HQ video + japanese subtitles (Jan/7)
Watching again for the fourth time :D.. Actually not till the end, I just want to check the video's quality. But the more I watch it the more I grow to love it. I also realised that the special appearances by some casts were for "Strawberry Night" (a subtle promo, perhaps?)...



HQ video + english subtitles (Jan/10)
English subs makes a big difference :D...