Japan

Flash Review: This Guy Is The Biggest Mistake In My Life [Japan]

| kfangurl

Do you guys remember when I dropped Graceful Family because I felt like it wasn’t quite hammy or makjang enough to be truly glorious to watch?

I’d wanted it to achieve heightened pinnacles of blithe makjang-ness, trucking out trope after trope of juicy makjang nonsense, kinda like The Last Empress, and because it didn’t, that show kinda fell flat, for me.

Well, this is almost sorta the same thing, except what I’m wishing for, from this show, is more weirdness.

I know that sounds, well.. weird, but hear me out.

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Flash Review: A Sharply Graceful Girl [Japan]

| kfangurl

When you need a bit of a drama lift and somewhere to escape to, but don’t have the mental bandwidth to commit to a full-length drama, it’s short little dramas like this one, that tend to hit the spot best.

At just 4 short half-hour episodes, A Sharply Graceful Girl provides just enough continuity to give you a sense of commitment, without feeling overwhelming, because of its bite-sized servings.

Also, Show is constructed mostly to be a pretty and informative travelogue of Kyoto, Japan, with a bit of a romance sown in, for good measure.

Given the current global situation where almost everyone’s under lockdown and country borders are closed and you basically can’t travel anywhere, this show just might provide a bit of relief for any pent-up wanderlust.

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Flash Review: Nemureru Mori no Jukujo [Sleeping Jukujo] [Japan]

| kfangurl

It’s been a hot minute and a half, since I last watched a Japanese drama, not because I dislike them or anything, but because my drama plate’s been overflowing, just with Korean and Chinese dramas alone.

When my dear friend Timescout mentioned this one to me, though, my interest was immediately piqued – enough to entice me to check it out quite quickly even, which is a Rather Big Deal, since my watch list is neverending, and my good intentions towards dramas often remain just that.

The topic of a mature woman restarting her life and finding her lost mojo is one that is near and dear to me, and I have a big ol’ soft spot for dramas that shine the spotlight on this particular female experience.

I loved both C-drama The First Half Of My Life and kdrama Romance Is A Bonus Book, and I was immediately intrigued to acquaint myself with a Japanese take on a similar story.

In short, the J-treatment is unique in its own way, and.. I rather liked it.

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Flash Review: Rich Man, Poor Woman [Japan]

| kfangurl

I conclude that I might be one of maybe 3 people in the entire dramaverse who doesn’t love this drama to bits.

I really wanted to like this one, especially after long-time drama pal DDee told me that she loved this so much that she felt like going right back to the beginning of this show, once she got to the end.

In my experience, that’s serious high praise for any drama, and not to be taken lightly. So I promptly moved Rich Man, Poor Woman to the top of my watch list and dived right in.

Sadly, I never felt the same kind of love for this show that just about everyone else seems to have. I do concede that Oguri Shun can be very sexy, though.

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Flash Review: My Little Lover [Japan]

| kfangurl

Thanks to my recent kdrama rut, I’ve been poking around more actively to explore new and different drama pastures, and I’m happy to report that my adventures have turned out some very positive viewing experiences.

I promise that I’ll be back soon with more kdrama reviews (I’m still watching ’em, just in fewer numbers), but in the meantime, here’s a quick little review on a quiet little charmer of a Jdrama that I probably would’ve never stumbled upon, if not for my kdrama rut.

(Silver linings to the rescue once again, heh.)

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Flash Review: We Married As A Job [Japan]

| kfangurl

I was told that this drama is cute, but honestly, I really didn’t get why my Jdrama-watching friends were eagerly recommending this show to me.

I mean, yeah, I could tell from the title that this show was going to be about some kind of contract marriage, and I figured there’d be associated hijinks.. blah blah blah.

I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be anything too different from all the other contract relationship shows I’d seen before. (Heh. Can you tell that this happened in the thick of my drama rut?)

But y’know, it wasn’t until I finally got around to watching episode 1 that I finally saw the light.

Somehow, this show manages to be cute & quirky, and down-to-earth yet whimsical – and even thoughtful, all at the same time. Just, how remarkable is that? I was instantly smitten. So THIS was why my friends were so enthusiastic about recommending this show!

The very minute I was done watching episode 1, I was all, “Ahh! Cute~! And, sobs. Why are there only 11 episodes of this cuteness?? WHYYY??”

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Flash Review: My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday [Japanese Movie]

| kfangurl

It looks like my in-flight entertainment adventures are becoming a bit of a series. (Does 2 posts in a row – written on 2 flights in a row – count as a series?)

Today, once again, I picked a movie on a whim (the food was a teensy bit better this flight than the last – emphasis on teensy), and liked it enough to write it a review right away while still in the air.

Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an understatement.

It’s more like I innocently signed up for what I thought would be a sweet, slice-of-life romance with a possible time-traveling twist, and ended up feeling like I was sucker-punched into serving up my heart to these characters on a plate. In a good way.

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Flash Review: Your Name [Japanese Movie]

| kfangurl

When I read about the passionate response this movie was getting from its audiences and how it was basically breaking the Japanese box office, so much so that it spooked its writer-director Makoto Shinkai and caused him to come out and say he wasn’t satisfied with his movie and he hoped no more people would go see it because it wasn’t worth the furore it was creating, I knew I had to watch it, if only to see what the fuss was about.

Now that I have seen it, I just have to say: this is So, So Good, you guys. <3

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I Was There: Gong Yoo Premium Night 2013

| kfangurl

I can hardly believe it, you guys.

Gong Yoo, the man who occupies a very special place in my k-loving heart, held his first fan-meeting in 2 years. In TOKYO. And I WAS THERE.

I saw him IN THE FLESH, y’all.

Eeeee!!!

UN. REAL.

It was a surreal, dream-like, exciting day, in so many senses of the word. I’m still reeling from the surreality of it all, as I type this.

I wish you guys could’ve been there with me, seriously. It’s too bad pesky little things like, y’know, geography, had to get in the way of us attending this fanmeet together.

But! Lookin’ on the bright side, here’s the next best thing: a blow-by-blow(-by-blow!) account of my big Gong Yoo adventure, in the heart of Tokyo.

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