japanese overdose: the beginning

[elyse]

Warning: fangirl mode on xD

I shall tell you the start of my jdramas addiction.

My world hadn't been contaminated with the Japanese beauties... until 4 months ago. Actually I've heard of Japanese dorama from a number of friends, who tried to make me download and watch them, but I wasn't interested for the longest time. The first dorama that I downloaded was 1 Litre of Tears (Ichi Rittoru no Namida), because while browsing, I happened to read Aya Kito's diary translation (unfinished, & I got curious) and found out that there's a drama & movie of it. But I didn't watch it right away, it was just lying there in my hard disk for half a year.

When I went to the US last winter vacation, my friends (whose house I stayed at during my Irvine visit) watched dorama every night. I didn't join them, but I got more curious. I decided to give it a try (I asked my friend for recommendations) & more than a month later I started downloading Nodame Cantabile (because I have the manga, I'm very familiar with the story, and I heard it's really good. Plus, it has lots of classical music & orchestra, which I love). That was 3 months ago. Big mistake. My first try of dorama was the best dorama ever! Nothing, until now, can compete with Nodame Cantabile. It has made such a big impact and carved such a deep impression on me. And I'm not exaggerating even a bit. The music, the characters, the storyline (which I criticized at first, if it's -slightly- different than the manga) all grew on me. That was the start of me liking Hiroshi Tamaki, and made me search & download all of his dramas & movies.

In search of more jdramas info, I stumbled upon many interesting sites. While browsing at JDorama, I happened to view Naohito Fujiki's profile picture there & fell instantly for him. Then I finally watched Ichi Rittoru no Namida, which has Nao in it, and although I was crying most of the time (the story's really sad ;_;), I was like "Whaaat? This is Nao?" whenever I saw him on screen (because he's really thin, his cheek is sunken, and he has goatie! O_O). But my first impression was right, because I fell for him again while watching Hotaru no Hikari. So I started liking Naohito Fujiki all over again, and craved for more of him.

From then, I lost track of what drama/movie I watched next. But what I know is this: I never watch dramas fully since Nodame. Meaning, after Nodame, I skip a lot of the scenes (fast forwarding most of the time) to see the more interesting scenes & reach the ending. Sometimes I also watch the dramas backwards (from the final episode to the first). Same goes for movies. My curiosity & impatience always control me. But I know what's to blame: watching Nodame Cantabile as the first dorama! Such a huge mistake, since it's truly the best. Oh well...

One day I watched Shukumei (faithfully from start to finish without skipping at all) because of Nao, but I ended up liking Takashi Kashiwabara (Kassy) instead. So there goes the start of me liking 3 Japanese beauties (I call them 'beauties', because... well, Japanese men are not really 'manly'. They're either 'pretty' or 'beautiful', so different from mostly handsome Korean actors, like Dennis O'Neil, for instance). Nowadays I focus mostly on Kassy & Nao, trying to complete my collection of their videos.

Japanese Overdose: The Beginning is done.
I shall continue the story next time. Ja ne ~~

PS: That's Nao on the userpic ^^

Comments

[foxleaps.livejournal.com]

Yes! The Nodame Cantabile drama is really fantastic. I understand your love of Tamaki Hiroshi -- even though I'm not typically the type of person to fawn over actors, I really was taken by his Chiaki. It definitely has something to do with the role, in my case -- I've seen him in other roles since, and it's just not the same. I think it's primarily the dynamic between him & Nodame -- especially his "haa?" moments.

I've seen far less JDramas than I have Korean ones ... how do you feel about those?

[lisette.livejournal.com]

After "the beginning", I'm gonna write more about the actors/actresses, the dramas I've watched & some recommendations, and why I prefer jdrama over kdrama ^^

I'm not typically the type of person to fawn over actors as well since young. Even until so many jdramas & jmovies, I only like Nao & Kassy for several reasons I'm gonna write later (and Hiroshi is out of the picture by now).

As for Hiroshi, actually I don't love him. I was only smitten by his performance in Nodame (and yes, Juri-chan did make a big difference! She's an awesome actress!) that Hiroshi served as a guideline to what dramas/movies to download (because I didn't really know many dramas by then). So I downloaded lots of dramas with him in it.

And yes, none of his other roles could compete with his Chiaki role. He performed the best being Chiaki, and his Chiaki look is also the best I've seen on him so far. The others just fail to satisfy (he looks thinner & uglier on other roles). But there's two things that I like about him: he can definitely act (not just a pretty face) -- his facial expression is really good when acting, you can tell what he's feeling/thinking/etc. The other thing is: his laugh. He's the most handsome when he laughs. His smile is good, but his laugh is priceless :D

[foxleaps.livejournal.com]

Let me take a guess as to why you prefer JDrama over KDrama? I'll bet that one of the reasons is the LONGWINDEDNESS. Japanese ones can drag, but Korean ones really drag. I would say that a typical, short (16 episodes) KDrama goes ridiculously downhill after around 8 episodes. The first five are a lot of fun (if you're lucky), but then it all just collapses.

It's lucky that, from the get-go, Japanese series tend to be shorter ... unless they last several seasons, which is usually a bad idea. Hana Yori Dango? I don't even know how I finished that show, considering that I don't care for "idol actors" and the back-and-forth between Tsukushi & Domyouji was incredibly frustrating.
And Matsumoto Jun? What a terrible choice for that role! He's so puny! I didn't buy him as a haughty heir. He was good in Kimi wa Petto, though. I liked that series as a whole, actually.

A few further thoughts:

[foxleaps.livejournal.com]

1. I'm amused by how seriously you seem to be approaching these posts! "No, don't ask me that question now, it will all be answered in the upcoming parts of my series of entries on this topic!"

2. It also amuses me that, not having spoken to each other properly in years, we are now somehow discussing TELEVISION DRAMA. We never even went through the whole "hey! Long time no see! How are you!!!" thing! Well, actually, I suppose you did attempt to do that by writing on my facebook, however I somehow didn't respond. But here I am, talking about Asian dramas. Oh my.

3. Hi, Elyse!

Re: A few further thoughts:

[lisette.livejournal.com]

1. *LOL* Well, now that my passion for writing has decreased (you must've realized since a few years ago, that I don't write as much as I did when I was still in the US), I tend to put my heart & soul into writing something (or doing anything at all in my life, in that case). It could be a trait of me growing older, I don't know. But yes, I've gotten more serious in everything that I do (or not serious if I don't like doing it :P). That goes for this topic as well :D Uh, I'm not sure you get what I mean.... but oh well..

2. I'm just glad that whichever topic it is, I can engage you to having conversations again, because honestly I missed talking to you. I'm not sure whether you realized / remembered or not, but in the past few years, I've actually attempted to approach you via so many media (email, LJ comments, MSN chat, etc. The last was facebook wall, yes), but somehow you didn't respond... so I thought I'd just wait until the day you feel like talking again :) Asian dramas or not, I always enjoy talking to you ^^

3. Hello, Alexa! :D

[lisette.livejournal.com]

Yeees, that's true! Well, one of the main reasons, yes. Now that my interest in jdramas has decreased, I find 10+ episodes too long for my patience & liking. I simply hate dragging stories, I usually stop in the middle & jump to the ending. My first try of kdrama was Witch Amusement (Witch Yoo Hee) & I only watched episode 1 & 16 :P --> that's because I wanna see the ultimately handsome Dennis Oh that my friend so loves ^_~

I don't even wanna watch HYD, Hanakimi, etc, because of the dragging stories (I'm already fed up with the manga & I don't even finish the manga!). Kimi wa Petto sounds tempting because of Koyuki, but the guy... I don't really wanna see "idol actors" on screen unless the story is really really good or entertaining (like Yukan Club --> because I read the manga & I like it, although there are too many idol actors in the drama).

[hemisofia.livejournal.com]

Well, Nodame is one of the best Jdoramas ...
If you can find it, it's rather old, but Takuya Kimura's Hero is one of those rare good ones with excellent cast ensemble.

[lisette.livejournal.com]

I have Hero...
Yup, good cast ensemble.

However, for me, Nodame is still the best! Nothing can par, but that's largely due to my love for classical music & orchestra.
My life has been very much influenced by music since very early childhood (I learned classical piano since 5 years old) & now my line of work is also music :P

I find Nodame very enjoyable, I could watch it again & again.
And so far that's the only drama that I can watch so many times without getting bored. And that's also the only 10+ episodes of drama that I can watch faithfully without skipping the scenes at all.

By now, I have 300gb of dramas & movies already :P
Probably around 50+ titles... I lost count honestly.