jdrama: Nodame Cantabile

I watched all of the jdrama Nodame Cantabile today and yesterday and it...I have no words.  Well, not enough for a proper writeup at least.  When people complain about doramas based on manga not being enough like a manga, it's because they haven't seen this.  I don't know if it's a direct translation of the manga itself (which I now plan to check out) but it watches almost like a direct translation of a manga.  That actually takes a little while to get used to, but it works well.

The drama (which is amazingly wonderful) is about Chiaki Shinichi, a near obsessive-compulsive musician who wants to study in Europe, but thanks to a plane crash when he was young, he can't fly.  He's well on his way to becoming a great "could have been" when he meets Noda Megumi(Nodame) a young pianist who wants to be a kindergarten teacher.  Soon, Chiaki's well ordered, tightly structured life is coming apart at the seams as Nodame wriggles her way further and further into it.  The series is billed as a romantic comedy, but for most of the series it feels like a straight comedy with a wonderful OTP, then suddenly it clicks that it IS a romance.

This is one I actually had absolutely no interest in, manga or drama, as it sounded boring, but so many people have praised it, and for once, none of the praise seemed to be about any cute guys(though there are cute guys...and not that there's really any problem with people talking about dramas because of the lead guy...) so it caught my attention.  So very, very glad it did.

As I mentioned, I don't have any sort of proper writeup, but I have ruthlessly and shamelessly pillaged the posts of others on my flist for pics (because my computer hasn't been joining files properly lately and my cheap computer doesn't read DVD format, for some reason...my victims were miss_dian fivil scottishlass and aoimidori) and here they are, with commentary.

( plenty )

jdrama: Nodame Cantabile

I watched all of the jdrama Nodame Cantabile today and yesterday and it...I have no words.  Well, not enough for a proper writeup at least.  When people complain about doramas based on manga not being enough like a manga, it's because they haven't seen this.  I don't know if it's a direct translation of the manga itself (which I now plan to check out) but it watches almost like a direct translation of a manga.  That actually takes a little while to get used to, but it works well.

The drama (which is amazingly wonderful) is about Chiaki Shinichi, a near obsessive-compulsive musician who wants to study in Europe, but thanks to a plane crash when he was young, he can't fly.  He's well on his way to becoming a great "could have been" when he meets Noda Megumi(Nodame) a young pianist who wants to be a kindergarten teacher.  Soon, Chiaki's well ordered, tightly structured life is coming apart at the seams as Nodame wriggles her way further and further into it.  The series is billed as a romantic comedy, but for most of the series it feels like a straight comedy with a wonderful OTP, then suddenly it clicks that it IS a romance.

This is one I actually had absolutely no interest in, manga or drama, as it sounded boring, but so many people have praised it, and for once, none of the praise seemed to be about any cute guys(though there are cute guys...and not that there's really any problem with people talking about dramas because of the lead guy...) so it caught my attention.  So very, very glad it did.

As I mentioned, I don't have any sort of proper writeup, but I have ruthlessly and shamelessly pillaged the posts of others on my flist for pics (because my computer hasn't been joining files properly lately and my cheap computer doesn't read DVD format, for some reason...my victims were miss_dian fivil scottishlass and aoimidori) and here they are, with commentary.

( plenty )

(no subject)

Work just got insanely slow.  Slow enough I may actually go home early today.  Hopefully it'll kick back up bythe end of the week or early next week.  Not sure how much time I'll have on my puter, so possibly fewer updates.  We shall see.

(no subject)

Work just got insanely slow.  Slow enough I may actually go home early today.  Hopefully it'll kick back up bythe end of the week or early next week.  Not sure how much time I'll have on my puter, so possibly fewer updates.  We shall see.

2 books, rather quickly

The Chocolate Jewel Case by JoAnna Carl-The only modern mystery series I still read, largely because there hasn't been an invasion of technology or a random switching out of love interests or insertion of a triangle, which are what have chased me away from every other modern mystery series I've read(not including completed or hiatused-is that a word?-series.) JoAnna Carl, Lee, Joe and friends have yet to even moderately disappoint me, and this book was just as fun as the rest.

The Village Spinster by Laura Matthews- My first regency romance in about a year I think, this one is about a village spinster(rather obviously) who makes a living teaching dances and painting to the local gentry.  One local whose younger siblings go to her for lessons grows suspicious of both the visits of a male cousin and the fact that her chaperone is somehow never to be found (because she doesn't exist.)  When she learns her brother may cease the lessons, his sister feigns an illness that forces her to stay at the spinster's house hoping it will bring them closer together.  The book had a LOT of opportunities to turn the hero into a jerk or make the heroine too modern, but it miraculously managed to avoid them (it did come out at a time when editors were stricter about quality for regencies, after all...) and was light and charming from beginning to end.

2 books, rather quickly

The Chocolate Jewel Case by JoAnna Carl-The only modern mystery series I still read, largely because there hasn't been an invasion of technology or a random switching out of love interests or insertion of a triangle, which are what have chased me away from every other modern mystery series I've read(not including completed or hiatused-is that a word?-series.) JoAnna Carl, Lee, Joe and friends have yet to even moderately disappoint me, and this book was just as fun as the rest.

The Village Spinster by Laura Matthews- My first regency romance in about a year I think, this one is about a village spinster(rather obviously) who makes a living teaching dances and painting to the local gentry.  One local whose younger siblings go to her for lessons grows suspicious of both the visits of a male cousin and the fact that her chaperone is somehow never to be found (because she doesn't exist.)  When she learns her brother may cease the lessons, his sister feigns an illness that forces her to stay at the spinster's house hoping it will bring them closer together.  The book had a LOT of opportunities to turn the hero into a jerk or make the heroine too modern, but it miraculously managed to avoid them (it did come out at a time when editors were stricter about quality for regencies, after all...) and was light and charming from beginning to end.

hmm...I think this is my first ever ship-war...

I seem to have gotten myself involved in the Qing Qing/Chengzhi/Ah Jie shipping war over at SPCnet...odd, as I try to avoid shipwars in general.  I think normally I just like the canon pairing and don't really care about the 3rd party as much in contect to whoever they're being shipped with, but in this case, in addition to loving Chengzhi and Qing Qing, the actual relationship between Chengzhi and Ah Jie is beautiful and I find myself protective of it and thinking that simplifying it by saying "oh, they were in love but he didn't state with her" cheapens it.  It's a worlderful example of lost opportunity and "could have been" that doesn't undermine what is and what came along (Qing Qing and the fact that he already loves her by the time he meets Ah Jie and never wavers in his commitment to her.)

hmm...I think this is my first ever ship-war...

I seem to have gotten myself involved in the Qing Qing/Chengzhi/Ah Jie shipping war over at SPCnet...odd, as I try to avoid shipwars in general.  I think normally I just like the canon pairing and don't really care about the 3rd party as much in contect to whoever they're being shipped with, but in this case, in addition to loving Chengzhi and Qing Qing, the actual relationship between Chengzhi and Ah Jie is beautiful and I find myself protective of it and thinking that simplifying it by saying "oh, they were in love but he didn't state with her" cheapens it.  It's a worlderful example of lost opportunity and "could have been" that doesn't undermine what is and what came along (Qing Qing and the fact that he already loves her by the time he meets Ah Jie and never wavers in his commitment to her.)