Last week, I am obsessing over nothing but soul switcheroos and spirits, I just realized.
Tamiou
This cracks me up numerous times in less than an hour. Bravo! I am just done with Fuben na Benriya in a few sittings, could have skipped a few scenes here and there unaware. Watching Benriya gave me flashbacks I shouldn’t, of fixated on a noobie Stephen Chow as a kid show host, absolutely hating his job even to my toddler eyes and made it a mission to screw everyone, the kids, the scriptwriter esp, and ad lib 24/7 running his own mad show about nothing but a weird uncle poking at kids. Benriya has negligible plot, it is almost a peeping show of watching Okada be the sweet simpleton cutiepie he is very good at snowed in for the entire while, trapped with nothing but weird ojisans pinching his cheeks for an entire dorama or sth like that. It is kinda harmless, invisible swirls of human kindness creeps up on me and warming my heart to mush, but at times I was restless like that Are we THERE yet squeaky brat a bit underwhelmed. Point is Okada has normal hair here, kinda, and PRETTY, not weirdly, soothing my poor eyes from the Legal High 2 trauma. This is obviously not masterpiece, but it sticks to your gut like matcha ice cream with a side of good for you and your soul azuki.
I have no interest in a dorama political comedy, safe bet is it would be cringeworthily lame and tedious. Original novel is by same writer of Hanzawa, and that is not a turn on, I find Hanzawa the drama addictive but shallow or pretentious a hustler at being social commentary. Tamiou, is given an ep because 37.5C is sadly, as expected, bleh I saw caps of Kenichi Endo ojisan and can do it ALL Masaki Sudakun looking inside panties of each other because of reasons, obviously. After an episode this is much more slapstick than taking itself seriously at all (phew), yet it was less OTT than I expected, still lots of gif-able brilliant pro face-making to my liking. This is nothing terribly inventive, all the tropes we have seen numerous times before, but the dudes are too good. There is a scene Kenichi sama is crying, like a little girl, face-ful of tears and I am crackling up, rolling on the floor, wanna hug him (so preferably us two will still be rolling on the floor), and pat his head with awwwwwws with my tiny inner pervie self screeching #$%& gosh ojisan is a very cute, weirdly hot cryer. Sudakun is fantastic, but I find my shallow eyes droolzing at Issei Takahashi, seen him here and there a chameleon, seldom this hotness, but as the straight laced hardworking (and perhaps ebil later, if only my wishful thinking ) apathetic stoic face secretary/assistant to the prime minister, with an inner cuddly fussy considerate loyal puppy inside = YUM!
^Of course I ship them.
Stay silly but never terribly, ok?!?
无心法师/ WuXin the Monster Killer
I am not addicted to this gorgeous show. The storytelling can be slow. But for once I liked a C drama romance heroine for being nothing exaggeratedly winning and be squarely normal and sensible ALL THE TIME she is too grounded, and thus not normal a rarest gem of female character:
After a long day of work killing demons, he is still fidgeting how to hold hands 101.
She holds his.
And proclaims her love.
I do not want to hold anything back.
Life is only worthy if the two of us are living happily together.
She hugs him, loosen her grip just to take off his ear muffs for fear he did not hear her loud and clear.
Do you understand?
I love the use of the theme song 贝加尔湖畔/ By the banks of Lake Baikal, its crescent shape is literally name of our heroine 月牙(new moon), and its abundant myths and folklore of rejuvenating magic and monsters in this deepest, clearest body of most ancient fresh water perfectly echoing the drama.
The amusing sidekick is the token comic relief. He is not here just klutzy a plot device, never shies to put himself to be a bravest ‘life *coughwomancough* loving’ wuss, saving hero and heroine a few times already. Let alone I have a very charming hero new hot actor in town, so poised and solid in his first leading role. I watch this in batches when I need a toothache from OTP sweetness or when gifs of ridiculously swoon-mantic scenes tipped this over to must see to believe. The hero and heroine are rumored to be dating in RL, as both of them being under TR management, I am slightly skeptical this is not just their tired promo gimmick, but I don’t care enough about actor’s privacy. I care about maddening sickening sweet lovey dovey get a room (and they did!) skinship in my guilty pleasure shoujo, veryverymuch. If you love this sort of reel to real shipping, this is your dream come true with a worthy drama enjoyment on the side. Evidence:
What is most pleasurable is the cinematography and art direction. There is a minimalistic fancy, a touch manga-ish enhancing the period aesthetics, not exactly authentic but nothing obscenely out of place, instilling drama with a whimsy quite suitable for the supernatural bend. Coloring is in tasteful controlled hues, from a costumer who has worked often with yumehmeh at the fugliest ends of any taste palette, talk about what a production team with heart can come up with collectively. A sunset is romantically glowing the OTP when necessary, never excessively indulgent. I am reminded of how I fell for Pushing Daisies at first sight with its art direction, of over-saturated colors, setting the stage of an almost dreamscape yet always put together with so much thought, all the florals, in tune of earthiness, humming back to the origin of where life organically ends and starts. It is not as meticulously done here in WuXin, but the muted vividness of the general color scheme with pops of bamboo green in tune of a befitting story arc, or bright bloody red screaming the entrance of our demon lil red riding hood serves the scene pleasingly. Obviously the set and props are done with care, a decent budget, and lit to perfection. Action sequence is what it should be, precisely done. A story arc will run a few episodes at a tad lazy predictable pace, tragically romantic variations of well known supernatural folklore with insanely surprising romantic swirls of the OTP worked in, that is the hook. I have a very yummy hero, a heroine character I am fangirling even more madly, stories I know very well but curious enough of how they will twist them up. Oddly I have grown less amused by Girl2 and her OTP, they are unapologetic following the stock amoral poor things we should care, but sick of caring.
The two above are curiously bookend dramas to Oh My Ghostess, show meshing body obsessing AND ghosts. I am amused. It is a fun show, all the cuteness, skinship is where it is supposed to be. But I have a tiny irking rant I need to get out of the system. I like this show lots, bear in mind.
I am craving to let my Kdrama fangirl MADNESS loose. I watched episode 1 sated, banking it for a binge. I get the premise, I get the outline of the characters, but my hunch is I have never fallen completely irrationally in love with a TvN drama. Came close a few times with Reply 1997, 1994, or Misaeng, I liked them, I madly love parts or certain actor in them but it was always on the verge of flailing when my nitpicking needlessly ran havoc, reining me back from taking the fall. What is lacking in TvN dramas are seasoned drama writers who always can work magic through lesser, transitional scenes, using them to effortlessly tighten the storytelling or character development. TvN dramas love their sprinkles of indulging in loose tangents running a lingering too long for style over substance. It is not meaningless drag per se, there are things which must be very amusing for most, like a bunch of manboys playing cheps cooking, thus bickering ensues when the usual kitchen drama arises, an entitled brash loosemouth crashes with an anal perfectionist boss, not the warmest sociable, withdrawn hero, all the predictable time. K romance Hero has always been synonymous with Have Ex Reeling in wOe=me Often, I can so deal with cliched… here as well, I like the actors, the acting, the cute storyline enough, there are fresh little twists and turns I perk up, enough, like what Lim JuHwan is allowed to have fun with his chops here other than be harmlessly ridiculously charming, yet I just tepidly like what I am watching. I catch myself constantly wanting more from drama, scene to scene even at its yummiest. Nothing come across to me as surprisingly spontaneous. For example, the certain Park Bo Young fleshing out what tonnes of fangirls wanna do to a Cho JungSuk was quite entertaining, for 10 seconds, then I get on edge, worried incessantly about Where is BongSun the rest 90% of screentime of scene, which we should, right?! But I am aware, even as a worrywart, is this the right moment to be obsessed about that point the most when there are horizontal nikkid torso to be appreciated?! Probably not per design, but I go on distracting fixations in scene when it ceases to explode emotionally. I feel like this is a drama watching experience adhering to my virgin try at driving stick shift. Car/drama is plodding along fine seemingly, on the verge of stalling numerous time, jolting along the lovely Pacific/plot, gear is shifting sloppily, passably, a stop at an intersection should never be just idling, sth me (and writer) keeps forgetting the many coordinating machinations that need to happen seamlessly, to ideally be on a smooth accelerating ride. I feel the writers have a fresh backbone of a cute, ingenious shoujo, but how to fill in, build up the flesh and soul needs more brute work, as is I feel like I am checking down all the markers necessary on the plot progression, but there is not enough honing, leading on, escalating of emotions, tugging my heart, owning me to abandon my sanity invested in them, but just tagging along, enjoying the fillers and scenery of a trip to somewhere promising.
Above is a load of crap. I do like it, I watched mindlessly 7, 8 eps last weekend. I would be out of my mind if I do not enjoy PBY and SeulGi on my screen. I chuckled at the beyond cute the girls are planning out their winkwink ‘pj party’ discussing outfits and holding hands hopping down the road home. It makes me grinning silly. BUT if I can nitpick, can SoonAe be less awesome much more insecure with the whole s e x losing virginity biz as an owning everything, the world included, SeulGi v1234567? I prefer more squirming and greenness, but I am not enjoying SG being SG less. Would I be nutso I do not want to notice at all, let alone appreciate PBY as BongSun as SG as SoonAe so notably?! That is too much a mouthful of acting to be aware of constantly. <- Not really making much sense, huh?!
Even less is I am not physically attracted to CJS. You can hate/disown me, but no one wishes more than I really am hating myself. Because he is objectively a good looking man, and he can act dependably good, what is WRONG with me. (Dont say) I greedily want more crazyasssexual chemistry btn BongSun and his SunWoo because for mousy squarepants who can’t even carry a normal chitchat, taking the big leap of yeah take my body, lets lose my virginity for your sake and mine because of a crush/admiration of a senbei/boss/uncle over some guitar playing, shouldnt there be more intangible hormonal loose marbles at play?! On average a girl would need a hundred virginities to lose if that is the MO on crushes, no?! I am so good with my math and logic. I am not saying the thought process of BS’s decision making is invalid. I do get what it’s baking, but this is shaping up like scrumptious cake is missing that little pinch of salt. And am I the only me peeved with fabulous Shin EunKyung, in real life a few years older than CJS being mother of SW and looks exactly same age so messing my slowness it takes me a few eps to hammer in she is his mother, not older sis. Mother, not sis. Wtf. I like her superstitious busybody Mom, very akin to the cliched hilariously ditzy loons in shoujo manga, she is wonderful but still.
More bs my end is this could all be due to ERICMUN with an ahjumma perm again and some whatever suit material aagain but who cares all could be messed up and taken off his ‘inner’ beauty intact at LA KCon and was willing a bodyswitch to some warm body those coordinates. I want SunWoo with that disarming vulnerability, uncontrollable fragile manboy smexy with the misanthrophic more clueless to himself… those crazy eyes of EricMun can’t help but ooze. What is happening to SW should rouse more, not this mildly frazzling and steadily a slow burn awakening of simmering affection. Frankly where is the mindblowing struggle of a straight dude with the repeated very literal stimulation? I ponder, My opinion. Might as well let all my unpopular cuckooness out, there is still a loony HBinnie fangirl in me, put in induced vegetative state so my brain would not ever be traumatized by a HJM. If he is in SunWoo’s shoes/bed here. horizontal, top tore off often, a miracle can happen and awake that babbling idiot in my soul. I miss her.
mookie 