じ――ンಠ_ಠ。。。

I think everyone fell in love with Ruka in this scene.

With summer at its early stages and me already becoming bored, the lack of viewing material drives me back to dramas. It’s been a while since I took a bite out of a juicy, angst-ridden, romantically challenged, tragic drama that serves as one of my guilty pleasures. It’s probably been a year since my last drama series (albeit, one not force watched).

I chose Last Friends to start, without knowing much about the plot or the actors beforehand. Later I remember why many people decided to watch this drama — half of the main character starred in the Nodame Cantabile drama (though, I didn’t really know who). Of course, I did watch an ep or two of Nodame before LF, but somehow veered off from the drama in the midst anime watching. I finally finished Nodame when I was waiting for more LF episodes to air, and am now a total fan of Ueno Juri, but more on that later.

I sure miss the Nodame slur…

I enjoyed restarting Nodame and watching from the beginning again properly. The story was fairly interesting, it didn’t keep me at the edge of my seat like LF for obvious reasons. This drama I definately watched because of the characters. I found it interesting how wacky the directors made the characters to be. It’s not often you see dramas so anime-esque, even if they are adapted from anime/manga series. The comic timing was pretty sharp, too. From the #2 maestro student getting interrupted everytime to Mine’s father’s new recipies to the characters wacky expressions, this probably is one of my favorite comedic dramas yet. However, a bigger reason anyone would watch Nodame would be the music. Sure, most of the musicians were only acting, but they sure made it look convincing. Surely it’s no wonder it won Best Soundtrack for that season

One of more intricate and cool-looking OPs a drama can have.

Back to Last Friends, this drama is probably the first I’ve seen that touches a lot on homosexuality and gender confusion. Granted, the story doesn’t revolve around it so much, but it definately is an interesting topic that many people should be aware of; love knows no boundaries. It’s known that people are not very open about homosexuality on a serious level in Japan, so it really is about time. I feel kind of sorry for Ruka, that she forced herself to struggle alone at the time where love and support is needed most. But I guess that’s part of her character, isn’t it. As for DV (domestic violence), I suppose this is also an important issue as well. The problem is that people are blinded by love; I think it’s sort of a side effect. Taking in consideration how Michiru and Sousuke are sort of victims of neglect, it’s especially hard for Michiru to relate to anyone else — likewise with Sousuke. That’s where his obsessive behavior comes from. Somehow he believes that only he understands Michiru, so he feels entitled to her friendship and only him.

Saxy player~

On a lighter note, the title of this blog post obviously reveals who my favorite characters from both dramas are. I guess Ruka really intrigued me as a profound character, and when I found out her actress also played the zany and cute Nodame, it floored me. Juri shows amazing versitality between these two characters, it was hard to imagine that they were played by the same person. If any J-actress in the business to look out for, it’s definately Jurippe. Unfortunately, I have yet to see Swing Girls, the movie that put her on the map, but I’m will watch it for sure now.