sugarloaf ♥ express

I decided to finish off watching Maou in one night morning yesterday.

Actually, after reading hemisofia's entry here and here, I downloaded the torrents right away (on Sep 2008). But since it's such a dark drama (and because I didn't care for Ohno; although I like Toma -- but not enough to make me watch this immediately), it lied sitting in my external harddisk all this time. Until Angie told me that Maou's really good (after I gave her the copy of the drama last week), and that made me watch it, finally.

My random thoughts and feelings about the drama, in no particular order:

1. Beautiful ending, although I think the last scene is really unnecessary (just a marketing ploy so people buy the DVD!) and it managed to steal the lights away from the best moment of the ending! By 'best moment', I meant this (WARNING: major spoiler of the ending! Don't click if you haven't watched Maou).
Instead of the -insert an indescribable touchy angsty yet warm & content mood here- feeling I had for a few minutes from watching the 'best moment', my feeling immediately shifted to wanting to know what exactly Shiori saw in the last scene! Such a mood ruiner ~_~
Thank God I watched Maou now and not last year! Now that the DVD is out, I didn't have to wait oh so long just to satisfy my curiosity of Shiori's last vision.

2. What is wrong with Toma RUNNING everywhere!? And what's up with people in this drama constantly refusing to use other modes of faster transportation, such as cars? O_O Like when, in the last episode, Shiori runned to catch up to Naoto & Tomoo... she could've caught up to them IF she hopped on a taxi or something!

3. Too much suspense walking away footsteps & evil staring from Naruse, it gets to my nerves after quite a while（｀ー´）

4. I'm not biased about this one, since I didn't know and didn't care for Ohno Satoshi before watching Maou. This is the first time I've seen him in anything. So I was neutral and didn't have any expectation to begin with.
Anyway, I think he portrayed his character, Naruse Ryo, very well. During the first few episodes, I really despised him. I wanted to kill him there and then for being so cold-blooded & expressionless! That actually just shows how well he acted, for I really hated Naruse at first. Then from the 4th episode onwards, I grew on sympathy for him, and was drawn deeper into his character and felt his pain. So in the end, this is my current impression of Ohno: honestly I still don't really care for him (he's not my type after all :P), but I admit that he can act well. It's not easy to portray a cold character with no heart (who eventually shows his heart little by little). Especially after reading that the real Ohno is a goofy guy; the comedian in Arashi. Thumbs up for him! ^^

5. I have liked Ikuta Toma's acting since HachiKuro (Honey & Clover). He's one of the few young idols who can REALLY act, and not just a pretty face. I like him even more after watching Maou. His acting improved nicely in such a young age (although he still has rooms for improvement to be a great actor), I'd like to see more of him in the future! ^^
He portrayed Naoto well with his passionate expressions and rich emotions, although I did get tired of him screaming all the time and running all over the place! o_O Never once did I see Toma laughing in Maou. This cool side of him is sugoi, too! His handsome face feature is more visible than when he's on his usual happy-go-lucky self ^^v
Toma is actually one of the very few persons who can really touch my heart when he's crying (on screen, obviously). Even Ohno can't, although I sympathize with his character. And no, I'm not biased about this particular topic, because I'm a really tough woman who isn't easily touched by sad scenes :P

6. The shaky camera is a bit too much during the last conclusion scenes of Tomoo & Naoto. I couldn't concentrate on their expressions during the most important scenes! If the shaky effect was made to heighten the suspense, it failed; for a good cinematography should add good effects to the scene and not become annoying as a result! @_@

7. I love the storyline, the plot, and the acting. Although I found several questionable goofs and forced make-believes here and there that don't fit in the storyline, I managed to ignore all of them and just enjoy the main story. I really miss Maou when it ended.

I hope I didn't spoil anything for those who haven't watched it.

Overall, I love Maou, and I wish it didn't end so fast (11 episodes are not enough!). I'm still craving for more, so... any idea of what to watch next to ease the longing & shift my mind from the craving? xD