2011 Viewings
T.V. stuff
Watashi ga Renai Dekinai Riyuu. So appealing, so relatable, wound up feeling so rushed. Wish they could have taken a leeeeetle more time on tying up the storylines, but I'll take what we're given. (...Also, I desperately wanted Karina to end up with the cop...)
Real Clothes. I had abandoned this earlier in the year, claiming it was too vapid to even deal with. But then I wanted more Karina, so went back to it, and I guess it wasn't horrible, but. Meh.
Boku to star no 99 nichi. Mostly watched this because I liked how thuddy Kim Tae Hee's Japanese was. Also, I liked main dude's face.
Protect the Boss. Nothing particularly special, but awfully cute and fun enough to pass the time.
Spec. Just as good as I'd been led to believe.
Ikemen desu ne. I am less hostile about this version than the Korean one. And that is the most favorable thing I can possibly dredge up to say about it.
Ouran HSHC. Far better than I expected, actually. Although I don't know if it'd be accurate to say I liked it...
Zenkai Girl. Hee.
City Hunter. You guys. YOU GUYS. This show was AMAZING. AMAZING. No, really, the more I think about it, the more amazing it gets. Consider how many tropes and cliches it had! Plucky heroine, hot (hothothot) hero with dark past and mommy AND daddy issues! Massive, major OTPness, brought together and torn asunder by that old favorite "I love you, but I can't--it's for your own good!" CANCER--oh my god, it was ALL OVER the place. People getting HIT BY CARS. Questionable family trees! Betrayal and double crossings and long, threatening glares and/or sultry gazes concealing deeper questions of trust. And yet, wholly engaging and tight and original and AMAZING, OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS.
Best Love. I don't know about anyone else, but I will never ever again be able to look at Cha Seung Won without thinking about cows. This was (mostly) really fun and pretty breezy (except when it wasn't) and CSW and Gong Hyo Jin had such zing and chemistry. GHJ is always good watching anyway, but seeing her naturalness amongst the backdrop of the glitz and two-faced entertainment world made her sparkle even more than usual. Similar taste to Secret Garden, except Dokko Jin wasn't as much an abusive asshole as SG's Kim Joo Won--mostly just oblivious and clueless and hopeless mixed up in a shell similar to Joo Won's impenetrable hauteur.
Baby-faced Beauty. THIS. YES. I don't care what anybody says, Jang Nara is anything but a crybaby in this--she is capable and plenty strong--strong enough to be flexible when she knows it's for the best, and to pick her battles. [Warning: Condescending statement approaching:] I think that's something you have to be older to appreciate in a woman. Daniel Choi as Choi Jin Wook was a constant delight to watch--he's capable comedically but it doesn't seem like an unpleasant strain when he's reaching for other emotions and feelings, too. It was nice getting to watch his character evolve and mature throughout. Okay, so I could have done with the interfering parent cliche in the end, but it was thankfully brief and just. YES.
Asuko March. Captured nicely the atmosphere and emotion of being a teenager. Made me want a redo to learn how to do things with my hands. But only if it would mean I'd get to do it in a schoolful of seemingly adorable guys.
9 End 2 Outs. And then I had to rewatch 9 End 2 Outs because I just needed it.
Tenshi no Wakemae. I don't even know. I wanted to kill time between things, and it was short and the description intrigued me enough to rope me in, and I kept hoping something more would happen with the grocer/chef guy.
49 Days. Really surprised by the fact that I found this as watchable as I did, given it was pretty melodramatic, with the death and betrayal and grief and sickness and the great love meant to be or not? But the characters made it, and the actors sold it, and yeah. I bought it.
Love Marriage. WHY HAVE I ONLY JUST NOW WATCHED THIS SHOW. I think maybe it borders on perfect, as far as a romance story can be. Sure, Kang Hyun annoyed me, but that was completely made up for in this show's treatment of her budding relationship with Hyun Soo. Slow-building. Sweet. Romantic. Mature. Reasonable. Physical. Open and honest! AUGH, MORE LIKE THIS, DRAMAS.
Slow Dance. A nice enough way to pass the time between new episodes of BFB and BL to come out and CH to start. But pretty forgettable, on the whole.
Secrets for Sale. Sucked me in. Liked the comedic timing and rapport felt between the two leads, even if it felt to be more on his part than hers.
Medaka. Teacher dramas a theme for me, I guess? It was cute, and Mimura was sweet and fun. (Also, her face when she woke up in Shiina-sensei's bed? Comedy gold.)
Hello My Teacher. Ohh why did I do that. This was so not great, and yet it so got me, hook, line and sinker. Also, Gong Yoo's face. It's a good face.
Queen of Reversals. Park Shi Hoo, it was all for you. And it was so worth it. There were so many little great things about this one, they added up to completely make up for the frequently tired and cliche story overall. (Namely: secretary Kang Woo! his crush on Yoo Kyung! getting to see Hwang Tae Hee's evolving rivalry with Baek Yeo Jin, who turned out to be a thoroughly amusing character! how I really didn't think I'd like Ki Ppeum, but she wound up being really cute and fun! dead guy and the toothbrush, awww! police guy and his hotness and with the English! Yeah. This had a lot of winsomeness to it.)
It's Okay, Daddy's Girl. There was something so winning about this show. It's a little remarkable that it somehow managed to not be completely ruined by the uneven pacing (dreadfully slow through the first eight or nine episodes, followed by equally dreadful rushing through the last half of the series). It was irksome to see so much wasted potential for this story, and yet nice also--if it was going to get ruined in the telling, oh well, at least that potential remained for the viewers to imagine to greater lengths.
Prosecutor Princess. I think I liked this more than I should have. But I really enjoyed Ma Hye Ri as a character... and I liked Seo In Woo, much as it pains me, because his actions and choices were so wrong, wrong, wrong.
Mixed-up Investigative Agency. 100% fun and addictive.
Secret Garden. Not perfect, but damn, was there chemistry.
Mary Stayed Out All Night. Started cute. Soon enough, each episode was accompanied by a big bang--the sound of my head hitting the desk in abject disappointment. So much potential, and it all fell so very flat.
Yaoh. Still convinced this was truly meant to end with a great love confession from Shu for Ryosuke.
Yasuko to Kenji. I don't know if maybe I caught bits of this before I left Japan? Or...what. But I felt like I'd already seen about half of this series--the funny half.
Freeter, Ie wo Kau. Captivating. Damn you, Neen.
Movies
Cyrano Agency. Better and more tightly written than a great many Korean rom-coms, but still not particularly great.
Daddy Long Legs. Sometimes I wonder why I even try.
Who Are You. Like the Korean You've Got Mail, but better, in a way, in that it's not so focused on its own cutesiness.
Parade. DELICIOUS. Nothing as tasty as pretty, messed up people, especially when they all live together and intersect in one tiny apartment, and especially especially when huge revelations come in the pouring rain. LOVE IT.
My Lovely Week.
Permanent Residence.
Broken Trail.
Zombieland.
2012. Oh free Starz preview. How I loathe you.
When In Rome.
What Happened Last Night.
Playboy Cops.
The Houseguest and My Mother.
The Hax Life.
I Am Legend.
Sophie's Revenge. Cuuuuute.
Surprise Party. Also ugh, so cuuuuute.
Astro Boy.
Alice in Wonderland. I kind of can't stop watching this movie. Especially the very end, when she leaves to pursue her own big adventures, on her terms. Kick ass, Alice.
Ponyo. I suspect I would have been completely enchanted by this 10-15 years ago. As it is, eh.
The Duelist. Aw yeah. Yeah.
Paco and the Magical Picture Book. Disturbing, cute enough, but I don't like my movies so obviously set up like stage plays. Also, I prefer The Fall.
Gangster Lover. D'awwwww.
Finding Mr. Destiny. Way cute and actually really nicely directed.
Cheap Romance. Tons of sex, nudity and violence. Oh, and also SUPER CUTE.
Hello Ghost. I will always kind of resent this movie for making me bawl like a baby in the last 20 minutes, for all that I chortled and laughed for everything leading up to that.
Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Had its moments... including a squashed frog, lol.
Kimi ni Todoke. Actually much better than I was anticipating--very cute and heartwarming, a nice companion to the manga.
Saranghanda. Pretentious bullshit.
Beck. Pretty much exactly what it said on the tin.
Easy A. SO VERY AWESOME. I kind of want to marry this movie.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, pt. 2. End of an era, y'all.
Gantz and Gantz 2: Perfect Answer. Not perfect, but Gantz.
Paradise Kiss. So, so empty inside.
Monte Carlo. This movie is the last one on the list I was keeping... I have absolutely no memory of it whatsoever. NO. No, wait. Oh, okay, it was on the plane. Yeah, it's coming back to me. Yeah, no. I shouldn't have done that.
Abandoned
I Need Romance
Love Keeps Going (for real, it did just keep going and going and going...)