Archives For Japanese

Dr. Koto's Clinic

I began watching Dr. Koto’s Clinic – well, kind of for obvious reasons – Anyhoo~ I decided to begin watching from the very beginning. To tell you the truth, I was about to give up watching the whole show (first season) once or twice… but the little kids and the whole blood donating episode kept me going. Takehiro-kun was sooooo cute. LOL’ (and he was also on Yoshitsune xD)

I was teary, once or twice… I’m a sap, people should know by now. I love crying, but it’s got to be a good cry~~~ my favorite episode was the one with Aki-ojii – even though the episode titles were… well, a little blunt. It was a great episode dealing with death in a pretty realistic way. I was tired of so many successful operations to be frank.

Acting was pretty good, though there were times I couldn’t stand some characters (including Dr. Koto/Goto (Hidetaka Yoshioka) himself, lol), but that’s hardly an acting problem, and more of a character thing – I loved Ayaka (Kou Shibasaki), though. Especially when she begins realizing she’s falling for the doctor. She’s pretty hilarious, and at the same time she can break your heart. Like when Rika (Ayumi Ito) comes back, and Ayaka tells Dr. Koto how the both of them used to make boys cry. LOL’

All characters had their moment though, so I’m looking forward to the Specials… as well as Season 2.

Anyway, why Harmony, you would wonder? It’s because I can’t seem to get away from my first official ship. No matter what the series is, what the movie is… it always gets a Harmony comparison.
I love it and hate it.

Ayaka is a balancing force to Dr. Koto, while Saki knows who Goto is as a doctor, he has to prove himself with Ayaka to show her the real him, and she gets to see this of him. She’s not fuzzing over the Dr. who’s come to the island, but she’s flustered for the caring and kind man he is. Ayaka is always by Goto’s side, even when everyone believed the news article, Ayaka stood by him (alongside Wada-san) – can’t get more Trio than that. LOL

She takes a hit when Saki comes to visit, and all the guys fuzz about this doctor with short hair that looks like a model or an air-hostess… and even a bigger blow when people start saying Dr. Koto might marry Saki because they have a kid together. LOL’ Oh the rumors! xD Poor Ayaka, people think she stands no chance against Saki, she is after all just a plain island nurse, but she hangs in there. And that one scene almost by the end, when Ayaka realizes Goto is in the boat, and then he sees her – UGH, it’s exactly like that walking down the stairs and all I see is you thing. *sighs* but Koto’s totally daft, and she’s just content he’s back.

Did you know? Because I didn’t…

I caught the repeat of Part 1 yesterday night – actually, I almost lost it (so you can imagine how my friend Julz felt when she actually saw Yossy live by chance) – ANYHOO~

Back on topic~

NHK (World Premium) is airing Part 2 this coming week:
Wed. July 1st @ 9am-9.29am (Japan Standard Time. -14hrs)
Fri. Jul 3rd @ 9.30pm-9.59pm (JST -14hrs)

Best Remedy to Fight 4?

June 25, 2009 — 3 Comments

Nothing better than the 8! xD
[reference here]

LivingSocial: Albums - 888 Album Count

I just hit the 888 albums on my LivingSocial Album application on Facebook – and with 8 lists! xD – I listened to 4 albums tonight… Monkey Majik with Sora wa Marude (The Sky is so…) and “thank you”, as well as Regina Spektor and Shiina Ringo’s latest~~~ Far, and Sanmon GOSHIPPU (Superficial Gossip, Sanmon Gossip) – whatever your pick on names is…

We’re almost about to finish up with June – still haven’t reached 20 films listed on 2009 @ IMDb… and I’m still way short on my quota to be legible on my own awards.

I thought it’d be interesting to see how this works, so I grabbed the IMDb Power Search Tool and looked for all films listed on IMDb following this criteria:

  • All films must have over 50 votes on the site (you know, just to make the list shorter)
  • I must have voted it over 6.

So I made my list of the regular categories – All acting categories, best animated feature, best director and best picture – without caring about the language they’re in. Just a reminder~~~ this year’s awards should include all categories except for Documentaries and shorts~~~

Here are the ones of the would’ve beens of films released on 2000 – Oscar 2001 –

Continue Reading…

With the release of Ike-chan to Boku this weekend, there should be articles and reviews on it – if anyone would care to hunt for them and briefly translate them. It would rock.

In the meantime, I found this 5-question interview on CinemaOnline – a proper translation would be appreciated~ – it also comes with a couple of photos…

Yu Aoi - Ike-chan Interview

This is my quick I-don’t-speak-or-understand translation

Continue Reading…

This is my last post for this blogathon, unless I can come up with something on time for tomorrow~

I was reading this post on Japanese Films and Women in Cinema– now, female in cinema is a big BIG subject. I’m not in the position to point out feminists or non-feminists films across the decades or countries. However, I have to admit that looking back at the films I’ve seen the past year, it feels like many (if not most of them) have a female protagonist. In general, I don’t know the reason – if there are more films about women, or if I’m watching them because I’m looking for them. What I do know is that I watched many Japanese films with female leads because I had been on the hunt for Juri Ueno and Yu Aoi projects – so that’s got to be at least 10 films led by a female, right?

So here it is… some~

Japanese Chick-centric Films or with Female Leads~

  • Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
  • Kiki’s Delivery Service
  • Hula Girls
  • Swing Girls
  • Hana to Alice (Hana & Alice)
  • Gaichu (Harmful Insect)
  • Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu (Turtles Swim Faster than Expected)
  • Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)
  • Quiet Room ni Youkoso (Welcome to the Quiet Room)
  • Linda Linda Linda
  • Kamikaze Girls
  • Shinku (The Deep Red)
  • Love Letter
  • Sakuran
  • Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters)
  • Rinne (Reincarnation)
  • Tenshi no Tamago (Angel’s Egg)
  • Wool 100%
  • Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
  • GuGu Datte Neko de Aru (Gu Gu the Cat)
  • Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
  • Nishi no Majo ga Shinda (The Witch of the West is Dead)
  • Blood the Last Vampire
  • Pikunikku (Picnic)

Of course, there’s many animated films asides from the ones I’ve mentioned above like Paprika, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The Milennium Actress or Perfect Blue. And yes, there are films in my list that are not quite remarkable… and we can also point out that there aren’t many female leads of over 30 or 40 (in some way, Matsuko which chronicles her life, The Makioka Sisters, GuGu, and The Witch of the West – who knew Shirley McLaine’s daughter spoke Japanese?), but then again… that’s a problem that seems to be common in Hollywood too. Does it happen much in Europe? Countries like France or Germany? Are there many films with female leads, or are they as hard to find??

In the end,  it was good to see Meryl Streep (Doubt),  Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Laura Linney (The Savages), and to some degree Kate Winslet (The Reader) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) getting recognition these past two years.

— EDIT June 21 —

I thought this was a great post on the subject. =D

Just saw them on J-Melo! My first thought… what are these two white guys doing on NHK? I was pretty impressed, actually. They are fun to listen to… almost like having fun while listening to the Barenaked Ladies, only better. So I did a quick search, and found a list…

Monkey Majik is a group of two Canadians and two Japanese dudes singing in Japan-glish xD
give it a listen~~~ check out the song Fly, and their song Aishiteru (I Love You)
actually… both those videos are pretty good. I liked Aishiteru quite a bit~

I’ve hated #4 this past weeks. That number is an unlucky number…

Anyway, this is my 4th contribution to the Japanese Cinema Blogathon, if you haven’t been reading… which I hope you have had~~~ because that’s the whole point of this blogathon, right? To promote J-Films…

Which brings me to today’s topic.

First, Your Friends~ Then the World!

How to Make People Watch Japanese Cinema

It’s all about compromise. God knows I’ve tried so hard to get my friends interested in it, because sometimes it can get boring talking to people about it just online… *sighs* I’m sure I come off as pushy, etc~ and many of them won’t budge. I even offer them films to watch for free… they only need to come over, and that’s that.

Last year I had a Foreign Film gathering (they chose the foreign theme, anyway), two of the nine films scheduled that day were Tetsuya Nakashima’s Memories of Matsuko – mainly because I’m crazy about that film, and I had just watched it a few weeks prior – and Shunji Iwai’s Hana & Alice, because Iwai-san and Yu Aoi is lurv. Sadly, no one came on time to watch Matsuko (only one friend arrived… halfway through the film), and I highly doubt they made any connection with Hana & Alice.

Needless to say, I’m setting up another film gathering, though I haven’t made them choose themes yet. I have a few lists I’ve made and they contain a couple of Japanese films. Let’s hope one of them stays this year! *crosses fingers*

Anyway… you don’t want to come off as pushy – and like I said above… it’s all about compromise.

  • You have a friend who wants to make you watch something of his own?? Maybe he wants to get you into Lost, Heroes… or Battlestar Gallactica? Give in, tell him you will watch a season (or maybe a few episodes, depending on your willingness to compromise) in exchange he should watch a film or two.

This will make your friend feel like you are not pushing him to watch something, instead you’re just exchanging interests… and who knows, you might end up enjoying both those hobbies.

  • When you blog about it, mix things up a little. We blog about Japanese Cinema, but in the end people who already like Japanese Cinema read your posts.

The point of this blogathon is to promote Japanese Cinema, but we are the ones dealing and discussing. I mentioned this blogathon to a friend, and she had no idea why she should care. *doh!* – combine the idols with your favorite Japanese Directors, and get them at least skimming through your posts. Make a western comparison… got something to write about vampire films? psych ward films? I mean Clive Owen has said that he wants to work with Wong Kar Wai and Ang Lee again… that means some teenage Owen fans would be at least be interested in checking out some more work by both directors.

How about a crazy collaboration between Johnny Depp and Tetsuya Nakashima? Or Juliette Binoche and Shunji Iwai?

  • Make a fuzz about collaborations. No matter how good or bad you may think they are.

I made a fuzz about Tokyo! – I kind of really worship Michel Gondry’s visual style… then there was Ryo Kase, and Yu Aoi. – I’ve also been making a fuzz over New York, I Love You because it’s got Shunji Iwai’s short with Orlando Bloom. Now, I don’t like Orlando Bloom (I’ve only ever liked him as Legolas LOL), but if there are people who enjoy the short… there is a small chance that a teenage Bloom fan might check out Iwai’s past work.

  • Introduced them with what they like.

My dad likes comedies… and action films, but well~ he also happens to like Asian culture, LOL’ so maybe I’m being a little unfair here. Anyway, I’ve made him watch films like Linda Linda Linda, Matsuko, Swing Girls, Tekkon, Kamikaze Girls… then one day he brought me Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams. *laughs* I was surprised myself, but my dad had a newly-found interest in Japanese films (mostly the epic kind though… xD)

and to just not have FOUR bullet points here…

  • … just keep pushing~

Keep bugging people. Someone will need to budge, right? LOL

Thanks to visitor, kitty!!

Leave a message in this post, and thank kitty for her hard work!

Let’s also leave a big shout out to aoinohoho for the information and clips he brings.

So far, kitty has been kind enough to leave translations for the following posts…
Club Keiba Quiz CM – and…
MTV: Yu Aoi + Yoko Takahashi

I love Yoko-san’s personality, LOL – You know some classic Hollywood stars worked really well with certain cinematographers or photographers?? Yu works so well with Yoko-san. Yoko-san and Shunji Iwai.

If you wanna beg and grovel for anything else you think would need translation, grovel in this post too. – I mentioned the Jounetsu interview from 2006, since it seems to be a popular interview for her Asian fanbase. I’m willing to test my luck at timing.

Continuing with this Blogathon (hmm… I’m finding it harder and harder to write) – I read the following post by Ulrik about Japanese subtitle distribution on blu-ray~ sad, sad indeed~

But the question is… would you buy blu-ray/DVDs with English subs?

Many of us, who watch through torrents and P2P, would probably not buy. I know a LOT of people who think they have the right to not buy a film they love – I get a little pissed when they say that. Not because they do not pay for films… but because they don’t WANT to pay for things they supposedly LOVE. I really can’t stand that.

You will always find me with little money on the wallet or my bank account (depending on where I do the buying…) because I literally spend whatever I get to cash in on the films I love (and used to be films I liked, LOL). It’s really depressing, if you think about it economicaly~ but my love for certain films make it worth the while. Really, watching films and talking about films make me forget about my surroundings hahaha.

[so please, ads my clicking. oh yes, i did again~~ LOL]

So I yearn for English (or Spanish… or even French as of lately) subtitles, so why aren’t they getting subbed? And even sadder (but not as sad as others…) – Why do some films take over six months to get fansubbed?? I worship fansubbers, because they provide something so very useful. But it would be nice to get DVDs with subs, right?

So let’s see… Hmm… I dunno if I can make it to 10 films, so we’ll see~~

The Japanese Films I’ve Bought with English Subtitles

Not including Region 1 releases
Hooray for multi-region players! Yes, because I still haven’t made the change to Blu-ray xD

  • Memories of Matsuko 2-disc Special Edition [Hong Kong]
    I bought this one right away after watching the film. I loved the film so much, that I didn’t even cared that the only version I could find online was a Region 3. This also happened to be the first Region 3 disc I ever bought. I ended up really happy with the product because everything came subtitled (including extras), and at a descent price.
  • GUU GUU Datte Neko de Aru 2-disc First Press Limited Edition [Japan]
    I have to admit. It hurt me to pay~ LOL – Specially because the Korean version is half the price, but I also must admit that I was curious to see the difference between Japanese DVDs and the rest… so this became my first ever official Japanese DVD.
  • The first Inuyasha Movie (Toki o Koeru Omoi, Affections through Time)[Japan?]
    hahaha, I know~ – I used to watch Inuyasha when I was in school. It was during those years that my friends had tried to anime-fying me, so I went to this “specialized” in anime shop in town, and bought a copy of the film. Though I’m not entirely sure now if it was a real copy or a bootleg, because to tell you the truth… it doesn’t compared to my copy of GUU GUU.
    And in the end… I bought a Region 1 copy. LOL
  • Love Letter 10th Anniversary Version [Hong Kong]
    I can’t remember right now if the Japanese was available for purchase, when I bought this. I really, really love Shunji Iwai’s work (part of the reason I want to watch New York, I Love You now~), so I just couldn’t help myself from getting a copy of Love Letter… because I’m a sap. I was slightly disappointed on this release due to some issues with the sync of subs, but I can live with that. If I come around some more extra cash, I would consider getting a better copy though~~~
  • Niji no Megami [Hong Kong]
    Truth be told… I wish this film had a better release, but since this is the only version I found with subs – this one it is! LOL’ – Again, it’s got Shunji Iwai on it as a stamp, so I couldn’t help myself. Add to that Yu Aoi and Juri Ueno. I’m lost. Plus, Hayato Ichihara is a cutie. He’s weird here, but he’s so so pretty.

Some other films, I’ve found on Region 1. But I only wish someone would release Hyakuman-en with subs – and I know they aren’t films but I would love someone would release Camouflage (this one doesn’t even have complete fansubs!) and Osen with subs. LOL

Come on WOWOW~ Get on with it! You’ve already licensed Hito no SEKKUSU as a Free Region with Subs in Taiwan! Which I’m so thinking of buying… but really, I’m more interested in getting Camouflage subbed/fansubbed… okay, and maybe Hyakuman-en.