Orange Days

I watched this dorama after looking at a top 50 list. I knew nothing about it and I was utterly impressed!

Synopsis:
There are 5 friends, two women and three men, in their final year of college. One of the women, Sae, is a talented deaf violinist. She is asked out by Keita but when he finds out that she is deaf, he asks his friend, Kai, who speaks sign language to go on the date in his place. This starts the interaction between the 5. These 3, plus Sae's friend Akane and the third male friend, Shohie, form a friendship group Orange no Kai (orange club) and then write down thoughts to one another in a journal. The majority of the episodes focus on the relationships between the men and the women and how they all navigate the entrance into adulthood in different ways.

Characters: I've watched around 10 doramas many of which have popular main characters. This dorama had two characters that I had seen before. Eita who I saw in Suppli (my first jdorama) and the much more popular Unfair. His character is a lovable but hopeless romantic. He definitely has matured some since the making of this drama. He has much more sex appeal now. I also have seen Shiraishi Miho in Suppli and the Japanese cult hit Densha Otoko. Her role was still small, but cute.

I love that the Japanese actors are becoming familiar to me because of their roles in multiple doramas over time. It is so different from the US when a popular actor has a very difficult time being cast in another show because of type casting.

The real praise goes to Shibasaki Kou who played the main female lead Sae and Tsumabuki Satoshi who played the main male lead Kai. It is no surprise that he won the Best Actor Award for the Spring 2004 television season.
Sae

Kai

Impression: This drama was absolutely amazing! It so aptly portrayed the slow discovery of love between two friends and the difficulties that come along with very passionate loves between people. Neither character is perfect and so they are both very relate-able. The situations that they found themselves in while a bit unlikely at the end, are not completely far-fetched.
If I have any criticism it would be of the minor relationship between Akane and Shohei. It was pretty obvious the direction the relationship would take at the outset. But, just because it was predictable did not mean that it wasn't well acted.
I cried at the end of this dorama. It wasn't sad in the traditional sense, but the love between Kai and Sae was so incredibly powerful that I couldn't help but be moved. I don't think of myself as a sap....but this dorama definitely brought that side out of me.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys romantic-comedies, college/slice of life dramas. This drama gets my first rating of 10

Bleach 117-121: Shinigami and Arrancar Fight!!

Bleach: Is a popular anime based on a popular manga (illustrated book, similar to graphic novel). The hero of the show is: Kurosaki Ichigo (last name/first name as they do in Japan). This review starts after three arcs (a series of episodes that lead up to a conclusion) and so it is impossible for me to recap all that has happened up to this point. Check wikipedia or other anime sites to find out more.

In these episodes we learn more about the Arrancar. Arrancar are hollows who have acquired some of the powers of the shinigami. This makes them stronger than the average hollow and makes for some really good fight scenes!

Episodes 117 - 121
The Arrancar attempt to kill the support characters who have soul energy. Soul Society members and Ichigo run out to protect these potential victims. The fights are varied and fun. We see what many of the Arrancar (top 20) look like and what their zanpukto released form looks like. Exciting!

Matchup 1: Kuchiki Rukia v. #16 D-Roy
This was a relatively quick fight. We learn that despite Rukia's low status, she actually has the ability of someone who would be high ranked in her squad. Her brother, Byakuya, wanted to protect her from dangerous missions and therfore keeps her out of the ranked squad. What a shame for Rukia, but it doesn't stop her from dispensing with 16 post-haste!


Winner: Rukia!



Matchup 2: Madarame Ikkakuu v. #13 Edorad Leones
Ikkakuu looks like his losing badly against 13's released form - Volcanica. But, he busts out his bankai: ?? and we get a bit of backstory telling us why he doesn't want anyone to know that he can do the bankai. When we return to the present both 13 and Ikkakuu fall out of the sky. But, who is the victor???



Winner: Ikkakuu---barely


Match-up 3: Abarai Renji v #15 Ilfort Grantz
Renji, with his weak bankai, is getting his butt kicked and then there's a surprise entrance from Ururu. This little girl when possessed has incredible strength! She turns it around and opens up her own can of whoop ass on 15. Unfortunately, when he releases his zanpakto the tide turns and he spears her with his horn. :-( No sooner than I thought it was done then Renji gets the word that he can use his full power. This makes him 5x stronger than he was before. In the next move he blasts the Ram. An interesting note is that Renji doubts that he would've won if he was at full power the whole time. He thinks the element of surprise is what earned him his victory. But, to me it doesn't matter how it happened b/c....

The Winner is: Renji (in a come from behind victory)


Match-up 3.5: Matsumoto Rangiku v. ??

This isn't a real fight because she lays down on the ground for most of the time (really lame!). When she gets the word that she can use her full power, she knocks the opponent out after his first attack.


Match-up 4: Hitsugaya Toushirou v. #11 Shaolong Qufang
Even a Captain's bankai with limited power has some trouble. Shaolong releases his zanpakto (a scorpion-like creature) and he methodically beats back the Captain. But, as soon as the limit is lifted Shaolong realizes that he's outmatched and attempts to run away. Toushirou quickly overtakes him, Game/Set/Match!


Winner: Toushirou. But I am not happy for too long b/c Shiro-chan took a real beating and he falls right after the win.


Match-up 5 Ichigo v. #6 Grimjow Jaggerjack
Rukia may have won against, but she is quickly knocked out by Grimjow who steps up to fight Ichigo. We learn that anyone with a number 10 or lower is an especially strong Arrancar and a member of the Espada. Ichi gets beat up in slow motion, in fast motion and in black & white. It's almost too much pain to comprehend. Just as the inner hollow is about to take over Ichigo, Tousen (sporting a slightly different hairstyle) comes to drag Grimjow back. He's in trouble for disobeying Aizen and bringing the Arrancar to the living world (and to their deaths).


No winner: This match is a forfeit, although Ichigo was the serious underdog

Another Anime Site???

Yes, I too am jumping on the blog bandwagon. After many years of being a passenger, I will finally lead my own vehicle.

This site will talk not just about anime, but about Japanese Dramas too. I will aim this at the anime/dorama novice because that is the type of site that I wished was available when I started watching anime and dormas.

I hope to update this site with interesting tidbits that I learn about my favorite characters, actors, episodes, etc.. I do not profess to know everything about this topic, but I hope the readers will learn along side me.

I have watched too many anime shows to review them all here (although I will probably do something on my favorites soon). But, I do want to review new anime shows as they come out.

I will try to do a review of my top rated doramas. I will admit my bias for doramas that have main characters in their late twenties to late thirties. But, I will watch (and have liked) some shows with a younger cast (Ganbatte) and those with an older cast (Karei-naru Ichizoku).

So here are some things to note about:
Japanese Dramas

• Japanese Dramas are often called Doramas. I will use these terms interchangeably)
• Most doramas run for 10 or 11 episodes and are aired in a one hour time slot. There will often be a bonus, 'special', episode for popular doramas, these are sometimes aired for longer or are composed of two hour long episodes
• Doramas are aired in seasons. Roughly the seasons are as follows: Summer = July - September, Fall = October - December, Winter = January - March, Spring = April - June

Anime

• Anime tends to run in 1/2 or full seasons. 1/2 season is approximately 13 episodes, a full season usually runs 26 episodes. This is not hard and fast as there are many 11/12 or 24/25 episode series.
• OVA [original video animation] is a video format used to show longer anime episodes (air time of 1 hour) with slightly higher quality in DVD format. As recently mentioned in Genshiken 2 ep 6, the OVA is becoming a slightly outmoded form. But, many past popular shows have used this medium
• Anime is shown on Cartoon Network (usually in Adult Swim) and on cable TV station Animax
• some popular/long running shows you can catch on US TV: Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Inuyasha,
  
• some popular movies in the US: Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke & Spirited Away (all by Hayao Miyazaki)
  

I typically watch anime that has not yet been released in the US or have not made it into mainstream American culture. The list of those popular shows are a bit different. When I mention one, I will try to do a bit of backstory so that everyone is on the same page.

There's nothing better than to start off with a review and so stay tuned for a post about Bleach!