...what are you watching...

Sakamichi no Apollon 12! the end. Almost a love story between a priest and doctor with very odd Sound of Music vibes. This was a sweet friendship story which ended in a separation and warm reunion. I think it was pretty faithful to the manga though squeezing 9 volumes into 12 episodes did leave a few scenes on the cutting room floor. Yoko Kanno's music was fun to listen to as usual. ~8/10 rating~ I did expect more jazz bgm, but did like what was included. The late 1960's feel to the anime was unique and well-presented. (Reminds me to write a blurb on From Up on Poppy Hill...coincidentally, also set in the 60's)


Tsuritama 12! the end. With its lessons in fishing and aliens and duck worship, this was the most original anime this season. Haru, Yuki, Natsuki and Akira are able to catch Haru's co-alien. All is well. ~7/10 rating~Though ridiculously happy and colorful, the absurdity got tedious at times.

Big 5-6! These episodes spend plenty of time on parental misunderstanding and meddling. Plus, the evil third wheel woman...ugh, kdramas; the side characters hardly ever vary from the norm.The 1-year time jump was a decent way to get the 18 year old to a mature 19 (who isn't wearing weird teen shirts and pants anymore). It would be nice if the teen body woke up, but I suppose there are still many episodes left. Ma-ri the stalker continues to be a nice twist. Unbelievable that a house that expensive doesn't have a security system and has cheap glass doors.

Big 3-4! Aw, the cute romanance factor increased in these episodes. Ma-Ri (played by Suzy) comes in as Gyung-joon's stalker from LA. Her bossy character is fun. And the flashback with Yoon-jae has me hoping that the teacher doesn't end up with the student. I keep noticing the characters' phones which must be some new LG phone model. They look a little large when the actresses hold them up to their ear. In these episodes, Da-ran finds out the Yoon-jae has a key to his coworker's place.

Kimi to Boku S2 12! is about Kaname's crush on the older girl next door.

Jormungand 11! Valmet goes off on her own, Jonah follows, and then assassins target Koko's group. The series succeeds when it focuses on the crazy people and their guns. When the dialogue leans towards the serious and business, the show is incredibly boring. This final arc has promise, but I don't think I'll be sticking around for season 2.

Zetman 12! Jin turns into the red Zetman, Kouga goes a little crazy, and Jin's girlfriend turns into the sand monster. zzz...

Sakamichi no Apollon 11! an accident and Sentaro leaves. Ritsuko singing 'My Favorite Things' was sweet. The rooftop scene was so sweet. Everything was sweet. Lovely episode. *weep, weep*

Tsuritama 11! I enjoy the duck driving the boat. Yuki fails at fishing.

Big 1-2! kdrama. Thankfully, this isn't outright based on the US movie since the boy is 16 here (almost legal), and it's a body swap, not abnormal growth. A young woman, Da-ran, is delivering a bridal bouquet when she falls down a flight of stairs. A doctor almost catches her, but doesn't, and ends up treating her. Somehow his guilt leads them to being engaged. The woman becomes a substitute teacher and while riding the bus one day meets a troublesome transfer student. The doctor seems to be avoiding her while the student seems to have taken a liking to her. The doctor, Yoon-jae, and student, Kyung-joon, become involved in a car accident. Kyung-joon wakes up in the morgue in Yoon-jae's body. Looks like Kyung-joon is still unconscious. The only drama I've seen Gong-Yoo in was Coffee Prince. This looks to be a cute role for him...plus, he has smokin' abs from the whole army experience. Japan should consider mandatory army for their boys for that reason alone; male Japanese actors are way too scrawny. Anyway, while I don't really relish the thought of the student eventually ending up with the teacher when the body-swap thing gets resolved, this had a few great funny scenes and again, ab-fanservice. And while most of the character set-up is typical kdrama, Da-ran does find out that her fiance's body had her student inside in the first episode.

Other body swap kdramas in recent memory: Secret Garden and Who Are You.

The new season of Torchwood is really good. <3


You've Fallen For Me (or overseas title, Heartstrings) 1-2! kdrama. started a few weeks ago. Arrogant boy and wimpy-like girl run across each other. Boy plays rock. Girl play traditional Korean music....tsundere, tsundere.... Pretty standard kdrama setup is established in the first couple episodes; love quadrangle, mysterious parentage, minor character romances. The selling point to the drama is the union of Jung Yong-hwa and Park Shin-hye from the drama, You're Beautiful...And the music from CN Blue of which Yong-hwa is the lead vocalist. His drama band is called 'The Stupid'. Although I am sorta fond of the main actors, and I like music-oriented dramas, the episodes kinda bored me. Maybe I am kdrama-ed out for now.

Another new anime show I was slightly interested in was...
Dantalion no Shoka 1! A boy inherits his grandfather's library of mysterious books and random girl with mysterious powers. I fell asleep, but did notice the nice haunty setting. As others have noted, this is similar to GOSICK.

Natsume Yuujinchou San 2! Natsume and Tanuma try to be better friends. I find it amusing that in the opening song, Nyanko-sensei tries to push Natsume off the roof.

BLOOD-C 2! Rehash of episode 1, day in the life of Saya, Saya fights plant monster this time.

Usagi Drop 2! Daikichi survives the first few days with Rin.

City Hunter 2-3! Lee Min-ho's character, Yoon-Seong, and the main female character become employeed at the Blue House where the president lives. In episodes 2-3, Yoon-Seong finds that one of his targets is stealing from the government's children's welfare program. He sends evidence to the prosecutor (cutie no. 2)'s office, but since the evidence came from unknown/illegal sources, the prosecutor can't use it. Yoon-Seuong then finds crueler means to expose the corrupt gov't official. There's a lot of filler where Yoon-Seong is being a cute, arrogant hottie. :) I also like that the show is fast-paced with quality production. Just viewed the anime opening...gotta love the old school anime style.

..wanted to wrap this up before all the reverse harem jdramas started...


The Greatest Love 9-16! the end. Dokko-jin's heart monitor gets messed up, so he thinks he doesn't love Ae-jung anymore, but then he does. I enjoy the scenes with the Ding-Dong nephew. Dokko-jin's heart problems arise again, and they head towards the climax. The last few episodes were less humorous, but there's decent drama and some smooching. It was a little disappointing that the writers didn't take advantage of the reality tv plot. Because of Dokko-jin's pretty strong personality, I think the writers decided to focus on trying to make him fill the screen with his rather, amusing dialogue; how many times has this show used the word for butthole?. The nice-guy doctor got bumped off to the side 7/10 rating~ the end reeeeaaally went on forevvvver, but decent series, especially in the beginning.

Anohana 9! While the others accept the fact that Menma is a ghost, Jintan realizes that he does not want her to disappear. I think they all need to see child psychologists.


Greatest Love 7-8! The doctor decides to go against the reality show's wishes and gives all his roses to Ae-jung. Dokko-jin is not amuse. We also learn what happened in the past that turned the public against Ae-jung. The sluggish downhill part of the story, but still entertaining.

Will be visiting bumpybear over on the other side of the country outside of SF.

Anohana 7! Jintan and Anaru get part-time jobs to buy fireworks for one of Menma's wishes.


City Hunter 1! kdrama based on the Japanese manga...of course, this being a kdrama interpretation, it is very loosely based on the manga. The first half of the episode builds up a dramatic background for the main character. His father and his father's friend are a part of a special ops team for Korea who infiltrate North Korea intending to kill off top officials. The South Korean gov't chickens out while the team is actually carrying out the mission, and then attempts to kill their men to hide the evidence. The father dies saving the friend. The friend naturally hates the gov't, kidnaps the father's newly born son, and decides to raise him away from Korea. Yes, I thought it was a tad convoluted, too. Well, the friend strictly raises the boy at some sort of drug-dealing guerilla camp in SE Asia. One day the friend loses a leg saving the son from death, and tells him the half-truth about his real father. He essentially raised him to take his and his father's revenge against the five people responsible for that fateful decision. 7 years later, Yoon-sung (played by the Korean Doumyouji) gets himself a Gucci suitcase and some hot pink pants and returns to Seoul. He also has a mother complex, so I'm betting he'll be looking for his mother. He's hot and the show starts off with a lot of action. Not totally sold right now, but may marathon the whole show later on.

The Greatest Love 3-6! This is turning out to be a really fun parody of Korean pop culture. Dokko-jin's over-the-top arrogance and kindness are actually quite original. Cha Seung Won plays this character so well. He's similar to Abe Hiroshi; an older, weird guy, but totally attractive in an insane way. The reality tv show in which Ae-jung participates in is more like 'The Bachelor' than WGM. The hot doctor is cast as the bachelor who has to choose from a panel of female idols to date. So far, the show hasn't really focused on that aspect, but rather the outside drama. Some highlights include Dokko-jin's 'panty' scene, Star Wars chicken fight, and the pen scene. This drama's has consistently fun banter between Dokko-jin and Ae-jung, and so far, hasn't brought in too many boring kdrama-filler subplots. They just took care of Dokko-jin's facial hair. Hope his hair is next.

Here's a different remake direction; a Japanese remake of a Kdrama. Japan will remake You're Beautiful this July. It will be titled, Ikemen Desu ne, and star Miori Takimoto and Yuta Tamamori as the main characters. I have no idea who those two are. While I'm not against a remake, wouldn't this directly compete with the other cross-dressing female, 'ikemen' show..the new Hana Kimi - Ikeman Paradise remake?