Gokusen and Veronica Mars

[meganbmoore]

Gaah.  I finished Gokusen...10 1/2 hour long episodes of subtitles.  Most of you know how I feel about subtitles, but for those who don't:  I hateloatherespiserevile having to read the show or movie I'm watching.  I flat out will not watch subtitles if dubs are available.  The only exception to this was when I watched the "Grave of the Fireflies" anime, and that was only because it was requested by the person who gave methe movie as a gift.  Beyond that, though, I have yet to encounter a dub that was so wretched I'd rather watch subtitles(and I've encountered some bad dubs.  So, for me to watch about 8+ hrs of dubs in the space of 14 hours(minus a chat and not being home for 2 hours) says quite a bit.  Forwhy, go clickyclicky

The set up for Gokusen is actually kinda silly.  Basically, a 4th generation Yakuza heir who's meant to take over the family business wants to be a high school teacher.  She ends up in an all boys school where the only students there are the ones who couldn't get into better schools because of their grades or their behavior(usually both) and getts the worst class of degenerates in the school...the ones who are about to drop out volunatarily or get expelled.  This is the kind of school where the dress code for female teachers is something you can run in...just in case.  Naturally Yankumi(as she's quickly labeled by her students...her full name is Yamaguchi Kumiko) immediately decides that they're misunderstood and when she realizes that they've earned MOST of their rep, she sets out to make them decent human beings.  The students, deny it as much as they can and as much as they're (pretty much rightly) convinced that she's nuts, adopt her too.

The class centers around 5 students(out of 26) and the chief one is Shin, who has the highest grades in the school, but hates all teachers and was expelled from his junior high for punching out a teacher.  He and Yankumi have a relationshoip that's somewhere between dingy older sister/uber serious and somber younger brother and future love interests(she sees the first, he sees the second)  Currently, though, she has a rather cute crush on a cop, Shinohara(yes, a cop...a great object of admiration for a yakuza heir to have...) who seems to pretty much reciprocate her feelings(similarly, his partner and a guy/enforcer Yankumi grew up with also have a thing for her, but she's completely oblivious to both of them in that context)

It absolutely should not be legal for a show to be this funny(though Kumai's father was a sad ep and the episode with the school nurse's son made me a bit sniffly, even though I had the ending as well as why he wasn't living with her figured out well in advance)

Also, as a side thought, I swear Kurosaki in episode 9 is a deadringer for Cloud in 'Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children"  And I mean hair, expression, demeanor, body language, clothes...even the way he puts on and takes off his glasses...seriously, if they did that one as live action, they'd cast this guy...

Also, Yankumi has a sweatshirt that she wears around the house that has "FAIRIES" in huge block letters...you know that made me love her...

Anyway, excellent introduction for me to doramas(despite the problems w/ ep 2 getting a bit distorted at times.)  Next up is "Musashi" and "Nobuta Wo Produce"(I decided I'm not QUITE up to the pure angstfest that I know "Mars" will be just yet...)

Also, I have finally started season 2 of "Veronica Mars"(the "watch one episode of Gokusen to check out the subs, the then on to VM with maybe a movie inbetween" plan didn't work so well...)

(warning, season 1 spoilers inside)

Ok, not really, but...

First of all:  Duncan, please remove your complete lack of personality from Veronica.  Seriously, I think she starts losing personality when he's around.  I rather liked Duncan is season 1(even, but it seems though he ranked last for me among the main characters-Veronica, Keith,Logan, Wallace, Weevil-and I liked several recurring characters more-Mac, Sheriff Lamb(yes, I like him even though I shouldn't...he's not a bad guy, but the smartaleck daughter of the screwup he replaced-in his mind-keeps poking her nose in his business.  and yeah, he's something of a jerk) and Lilly, but I was pretty ok with him.  It seems, however, that most of what I thought was a quietly twisted personality was really just not knowing whether or not he was nuts.  Mind you, this has nothing to do with my being a LoVe shipper.  Once everything was known in season 1, I knew Duncan and Veronica would hook up again,for closure if nothing else.  I just wasn't counting on Veronica being reduced to a giggly blonde when he's around.  Also, shouldn't Veronica be a little more leery of him?  I find it extremely hard to believe that she really thinks he had no idea she was drugged...I mean, everyone else could tell pretty easily, why couldn't he?  Then there's what he thought at the time...really just gives support to my theory that Lilly and duncan may have done some "experimenting.  But then, I half think Lilly would have experimented with Veronica if she thought Veronica would agree.  Now, this is not remotely a slam against Lilly.  For one thing, I don't think Veronica would be half as strong as she is without Lilly. I adore Lilly, but we have to remember that this is a girl who was sleeping with her boyfriend AND his father at the same time, and seems to have broken up with said boyfriend at random intervals so she could hook up with random guys.  I love her, though...he makes me think of if Faith from Buffy had been a rich, pampered valley girl.

Speaking of Lilly...thank you Lilly's ghost for leading Veronica away from the Buss of Death and towards Weevil.  While I'm a LoVe shipper, I think Veronica/Weevil  had my favorite scenes last season...I love their tit-for-tat relationship and the whole "pet biker gang" thing was a lot of fun(how can you not love the scene in "Girl Next Door"?)  I absolutely DO NOT want Veronica and Weevil to "break up"...they need to remain accomplices and co-snarkers.conspirators foreverandever...15 years from now when she has a successful detective agency, he needs to be her chief flunky...  Though, I was quite prepared to think extremely mean things about him when it looked like he was going to leave her at the gas station...but there was a little "YAY!" in the apt when he came back for her...he was just trying to scare her a bit...and then her smile and his "you didn't REALLY think I'd leave you look"...they must be allies foreverandever.  I know I'll never get o have LoVe on a regular basis, so I should at least get to have them...

And then there's Logan...I'm actually kind of relieved he and Veronica aren't together right now.  I don't want her caught up in his spiralling out of control.  Her breaking up with him didn't make it happen or make it worse, it just gave him an extra excuse, and maybe got him there a little bit more quickly.  The guy was forced to admit that his mother committed suicide(I haven't completely discarded my "Lynn threw something mansized off the bridge" theory, though) and to deal with the fact that not only was his girlfriend sleeping with his father, but his father also murdered said girlfriend...then there's the whole getting beat up by his new girlfriend's friend's gang(because said gangleader once hooked up with said dead girlfriend...) and framed for murder...yeah, he has issues.  He has to hit rock bottom before I want him to be around Veronica, though he can keep up the "mooning/obsessing over her and hating that she's with my former best friend but trying not to care" thing he has going.

Hmm...it occurs to me that between Logan, Keith and Weevil, if the full details of the date rape drug are ever revealed, a couple of people will be...well...dead, if they're lucky...

Moving a little past all the "squee!" type stuff...

There isn't quite enough of this season's mystery yet for me to have much of an opinion about it, but the dialogue and characters are more than enough, though it would have been nice if the mystery had hit the ground running like it did in season 1.  Keith is still the world's best TV dad and I love how he describes his relationship with Wallace's mom(incidentally, you KNOW that at least once a week, Veronica and Wallace discuss how the chores will be divided...those two can also never "break up"...Veronica must always and forever keep her underlings) I also rather like Wallace's girl...she reminds me a lot of Cordelia from Buffy and Angel, in the early days.

Going back to Gokusen a bit...for those of you on my f-list who have seen it..is the special any good?  It sounds like it's probably graduation stuff, after the series ends.  I don't mean the second series...I've been warned off from that, and I can see why, as they pretty much ditched most of the cast(what made it great) and told the same story again. this is a 100 minute thing, that definately involves Shin, at least.

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen the special but if it has Shin, it has to be at least watchable /fangirl.

And yes, Gokusen is very addictive.

P.S.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

you don't like Duncan! I knew there was a reason why I liked you :)

[gloryquest.livejournal.com]

I flat out will not watch subtitles if dubs are available.

So you're still not a true anime fan yet...

I remember when I said the very same thing about not wanting to "read" anime, but there are some I won't watch dubbed.

The few Inu Yasha I saw on TV, they just didn't have the voices right. Was it awful, no; but it was annoying enough to me.

And I couldn't stand watching Kenshin dubs either; nor was I thrilled with the official subtitles.

Grave of the Fireflies, IMO, shouldn't even be available dubbed. Unlike most anime, it does specifically feature Japanese characters. (Still, I'm surprised you watched it subtitled.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

People claim you aren't a real anime fan if you actually pay for it, as opposed to DL it, so I'll take that in that vein.

And...you bought it, you said watch it subbed, so I watched it subbed.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

The way I see it, I'm "not a real anime fan" because I can't see myself ever watching something just because it's anime. For me something is also going to have to look interesting and at least offer a chance at having a decent story behind it.

Would love to see someone start up a site which explains about the more popular anime / manga series around, written in a style to suit people who aren't deep into the genre and who are just poking about various different places in search of a good story...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Are you hinting again?

And yeah, that would be nice.

While I've got things because they're by the same person as something else, I don't think I've ever bought or watched anything just because it was anime, manga, a marvel comic, etc.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

"Are you hinting again?"

Probably not if what you think I might be hinting is what I think you think I might be hinting. (Please excuse if I've mucked up the logic of that statement. I am still full of the leftovers of this virus and my thought processes are not working yet). While I do plan on making a short list of things you've talked about that actually sound interesting (either by description or by title), and asking for thoughts on them, currently it's just an idea. The one title running around my head is "Blade of the Immortal", of which I currently know next to nothing (if you've commented on it, then it hasn't caught my attention while browsing) but the title for some completely unknown reason makes me think of "Highlander". But there's a couple of other interesting things I vaguely remember from watching the promos in the disks I've been watching recently (have now finished all the "Rurouni Kenshin" disks I've managed to acquire - and which peter out in the middle of a story, grumble grumble gripe gripe) I'll have to watch again and scribble down a couple of names. It won't be in the next few days though!

Although if you do know of such a site already in existence... SPILL.

I've often bought things because they're by creators with a proven track record, and occasionally taken a chance on things because a creator or character tipped my judgement into "favourable", but that's about it.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, BotI does have swords and a guy who can't die, but that's where the resemblance ends. And it's considerably less similarity than it sounds like.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

"Are you hinting again?"

Now I am. Just watched a whole load of trailers and said generally snarky* things about them in my latest entry.

* You Have Been Warned, in other words.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

The first anime series I actually paid attention to was a not quite legitimate copy of "Trigun" where I didn't have a choice: as downloaded it was subtitled only. That probably got me into the habit of expecting to see subtitles. The first anime series I actually bought was "Inuyasha"; after watching the first episode subtitled I then tried watching it again, dubbed. I watched the rest of the disks subtitled only. The dubbed version was painful to listen to. (Particularly the old lady who for some unknown reason started talking in faux Shakespearean - even though her OLDER SISTER'S EX-BOYFRIEND spoke perfectly modern English.)

Since then I've seen a couple of dubbed episodes just to see if they were any good - "Wolf's Rain" was the best of them (none of the voices jarred at all). I haven't listened to any dubbed episodes of "Rurouni Kenshin", but have heard the "blooper reels" they include in the DVDs, and... they're a bit variable. Most "huh?" was one character whose voice actor sounds like he just stepped out of "The Dukes of Hazzard".

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Kaede's speach patterns do inspire a bit of eye rolling, but in general I like the InuYasha dubs. I've still only seen the first 5 eps of Kenshin, but all that jumped out at me was the 19th century Japanese waitress sounding like a southern belle.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

You might be just a tad more used to "Southern Belle" accents than me, though. Imagine how jarring it would be if (for example) Miroku's voice was dubbed by the Crocodile Hunter.

Or better still, just wait the interminable wait until "Hercules Returns" comes out on DVD. Possibly the funniest dubbed-foreign-language film ever. Unarguably the rudest. And probably the most Australian.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

"The set up for Gokusen is actually kinda silly."

Which makes it different from most other TV how?

In any case reading your description is making me think of "Welcome Back Kotter"...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

True, but I think Gokusen is supposed to be silly...but it's a good silly. And since it's entertainment from Japan(or, from what I can tell, Asia in general), they make sure they cram angst and melodrama in there somewhere.

I've never heard of this Kotter thing you speak of...

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

"I've never heard of this Kotter thing you speak of..."

This time I must accuse you of being younger than me, as you don't have geography as an excuse because "Welcome Back Kotter" (I THINK that was the name) was an American sitcom that got played over here along with a handful of other American and Canadian shows, and lots and lots of British stuff. Late 1970s I think with vague chances of it being from early 1970s to about 1980. (Never sure how long it took some things to percolate this far south).

Basically it was a schoolteacher comedy show about someone who'd been a teenage delinquent made good (and got his education degree) coming back to teach the same class he'd been lumped in with (A few years removed I presume). They were self-titled "The Sweathogs" and basically a bunch of losers and it was up to this bloke to kick them into shape. Mainly what you would expect from an American sitcom of the time (and back then it must have been forbidden for any American sitcom to have any serious dramatic content unless it was set during the Korean War) but at least I still remember the title and basic premise of the show. Which leads on to my other thought...

"And since it's entertainment from Japan(or, from what I can tell, Asia in general), they make sure they cram angst and melodrama in there somewhere."

... the British have been known to do that sort of thing too. Enough that, for example, "Doctor Who" can have straight-out slapstick among the science fiction / horror / costume drama settings and "Rumpole of the Bailey" can have moments of tragedy in between the character comedy and dry wit.