“Gay Power Vol. 4” - A The Love of Siam Review

Originalname:	Rak haeng Siam
Also known as:	Love in Siam
Release Date:	22. November 2007
Director:	Chukiat Sakveerakul
Writer:	Chukiat Sakveerakul
Producer:	Somsak Taecharatanaprasert, Sukanya Vongsthapat

Cast:

Witwisit Hirunwongkul, Mario Maurer, Laila Boonyasak, Sinjai Plengpanit, Songsit Rungnopakunsri, Kanya Rattanapetch,

Plot

So the real story starts after Tongs sister, Tang, disappears and his family decides to move away, leaving his best friend Mew behind. (I’m not reviewing a Pokémon movie…)

After some years they meet again; Mew is the lead singer and songwriter of “August”, a band with his fellow school friends, who just got taken by a label and Tong’s family is a mess with a drinking father and an overly protective mother.

So Mew and Tong start to see each other again and, over time, develop feelings for each other. This resolves with those two kissing after Tangs Welcome Back Party, in which a friend of Mew, June, who looks exactly like Tongs missing sister, pretends to be Tang for the drinking father. The mother sees this and isn’t pleased with it at all (She’s Christian, if you’re wondering)

So she tells Mew to leave Tong for the sake of his happiness and he does.

Tong is of course suffering, but finds a true friend in Ying, who loved Mew before she found out he was gay.

Mew on the other hand can’t find a reason to sing anymore and the group has to get him to give up the rights of his song. His best friend talks to him, and says, that Mew doesn’t have to think he’s alone in this.

After Tongs fathers liver collapses, June decides to leave the family and go somewhere far away.

And it all comes to an end at Christmas Eve: Mew returns to the band and they’re having their first stage performance. Tong has a date with Donut (his girlfriend; she isn’t that important), but dumps her and runs to the concert, where he listens to Augusts performance with Ying. He afterwards tells Mew, that he can’t be his boyfriend but it doesn’t mean he’s not loving him. (ARE. YOU. SERIOUS? Damn it, just because you’re half German, doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole!)

We end with Mew crying in his room afterwards, starring at his now completed toy which he received from Tong when they were children.

Conclusion

(Sorry for the sentence in the title I needed something funny.)

Sooo, where do we want to start? Generally, Demochild and I liked the movie. The different love forms are really good shown. But what we don’t like was the fact that they didn’t end up together. I mean the whole movie was about the two finding out they love each other and then? “I can’t be your boyfriend but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you.” I mean, hello? It’s courageous that you make a movie about gay love but you should go the whole way and not: “Well, we went far enough. Let’s stop it here and we talk about the side story.” Don’t understand me wrong. I don’t want to see how two guys make love to each other (if I want to see that I’ll go and see Brokeback Mountain for the 3^rd time) but it would be enough for them to end up together. It would be a nice reward for them after all they’ve been through. (Why does it feel like this is getting in the same direction as my Tumbling Review?)

But let’s save this for another study…

The cast was good. They played it well. Especially, Kanya Rattanapetch who played Ying. I liked her. She was cute. But I was still frightened by her.

What we also liked about the movie were the sets. It really looked authentically like someone was actually living there. The pictures looked like they were taken by normal non-professionals.

So, I think, that’s it. The story is really cute and if you’re not too homophobic, I would recommend it.

„I want you to become a butterfly“ - A Paradise Kiss Review

Originalname:	パラダイス・キス | Paradaisu Kisu
Also known as:	-
Release Date:	4. June 2011
Director:	Takehiko Shinjo
Writer:	Ai Yazawa (Manga), Kenji Bando
Producer:	Takero Hisamatsu, Toshiaki Muramatsu, Takeshi Onoda, Hiroaki Kitano, Toshiya Nomura

Cast:

Keiko Kitagawa, Osamu Mukai, Yusuke Yamamoto, Shunji Igarashi, Kento Kaku, Aya Omasa

Plot

So we start with a... HOLY SHIT, IS THAT WARNER BROS.?!

Anyway, Yukari is a girl that tried to please her mother her whole life and doesn’t have any self-confidence. She has a love interest, Hiroyuki Takumori, played by Yusuke Yamamoto (He is our new sweetheart get used to him)

Well, destiny strikes as she’s being stalked by a punk called Arashi (No. Not the band.) She faints and wakes up in a room with Arashi, a cute girl, Miwako, and a transvestite, Isabella, who ask if she could be a model for their graduation fashion show. But she doesn’t have any interest since she has to study for the finals. When George, the designer, arrives, she takes her leave.

George shows up in her school the next morning and make her skip class because he wants her to get a new haircut as an “apology”.

Well, at least Hiroyuki likes the new haircut, as he states in the next morning, when Isabella appears and takes her away to take her measurements. Which are not needed because Yukari turns out to be his muse.

Yukari decides to move out because she can’t cope with her mother anymore and moves in with George.

He shows her his “special room” (Why are you laughing? It’s just a room with clothes he sewed himself...)

One day Yukari discovers that this project will be  their last as “Paradise Kiss” as George will go to Paris after that, and so the day of the fashion show arrives.

There are some problems and Yukari decides that she wants to give hundred percent for George on the catwalk which she does and ends up getting a lot applause for it. And George kisses her.

So he leaves for Paris without saying goodbye and some time after he sends a package with a key and an address.

She goes there and finds  all those clothes which were in his precious room and cries.

THE END. I would’ve loved to see the 3 years after, but o well... you shouldn’t force your luck! 

... Yeah okay, it isn’t finished! Well, Yukari is angry and wants to see him and in NY she finds out he has designed clothes for a musical and they end up meeting his apartment and kiss. SCREW THIS!

Conclusion

I love this movie (not like my sister). I think the ending was great and the whole plot was well paced. I mean everything went so smoothly. In other asian movies there were many dialogue scenes and things felt rushed. Not with this one. Okay, some things were cut out like the conflict with the mother. Demochild was really disappointed because in the Manga and the Anime this was very important. But for me, for the fact that it’s a movie, it wasn’t such a waste. And of course there is the thing with the ending. I liked it. I liked it a lot. I thought it was deserved. But Demochild hated it. For her the Anime Ending was the best. No pairing, just pure loneliness and an open ending. Yeah, it would be interesting but it’s such a shoujo/women movie. It’s a must to have a happy ending. Okay, it would be refreshing. But I have to say, that moment which Demochild chose for the ending (it’s the crying in the clothes room) would also have been a great ending.

I loved the cast, too. They played really good. But I was surprised the most about Shunji Igarashi, our Nyah-chan from Rookies. I didn't recognize him xD
Ah, and not to forget Aya Omasa, who play the main role in Perfect Girl Evolution. Here she played a bright, naive, with a high voiced girl.

And one thing, totally out off plot: What’s wrong with the kissing in this movie? After the runway she looks like she is being raped. And then The Aragorn Kiss at the end xD For all who know LOTR Trilogy. Watch the last movie again and focus on how Aragorn prepares to kiss Arwen. It’s really funny. And this last kiss in this movie reminded somehow of it. How George takes a deep breath and... yeah. You know what follows ^^

Finally, I would like to say one of our personal favourites and we totally recommend it. We even recommend to buy it. It’s really worth its money.

„You’re cute! – No, you are!“ A Princess Princess D Review

Originalname:	プリンセス・プリンセスD | Purinsesu purinsesu D
Also known as:	-
Release Date:	28. June – 13. September 2006
Director:
Writer:	Mikiyo Tsuda (Manga)
Cast:	Kenta Kamakari, Rei Fujita, Takeru Sato, Osamu Adachi, Takumi Saito, Yuichi Nakamura

Plot

In an all boys school the three boys Yutaka Mikoto, Shihoudani Yuujirou and Kouno Tooru are chosen to be princesses. They have to dress like girls and cheer on the clubs.

But one day the new student Hanazono Otoya arrives and he wants to ruin this tradition. He wants to destroy the princess system and he wants to be the new schools president.

First, he forms a new princess group called the “Dark Princesses” with the help of Minamoto Kurou and Mori Ranta. Slowly they push the Princesses away and overtake the students.

Then he builds a new students council. The present student’s president Arisada Shuuya accepts this declaration of war but anything he tries it gets worse.

One night, Mikoto gets locked up in the basement with Otoya and they start to talk. At the end Mikoto thinks that he isn’t a bad guy. Afterwards rumours come out that Mikoto dropped to be a princess and after his friends wanted to know if it’s true (he said it’s not but he didn’t want take place against Otoya again) he gets thrown out. Now Mikoto, who always hated to be a princess, is free. But he can’t enjoy his freedom. He misses his friends.

So, the election days come with every day nearer and for the help to win Arisada flies a spy in this school to find a weakness of the “Dark Princesses”. Kujouin Haruka makes his researches and helps Arisada but when it comes to the election day he is on the same side as Otoya.

When Arisada was moving out of his council room Otoya comes in and asks him how he feels and if he can understand him now. (TWIST ALARM!!) It comes out they are siblings. (WHAT?!) When Otoya was nine Arisada left him in the wilderness and since then Otoya wanted to take revenge.

So, Otoya is now president and there are new rules: No princesses and no former school council – traitors will be punished. Yuujirou, Tooru and Sakamoto (class’ head and good friend of them) are hiding in the school’s basement (another room I think). Once Yuujirou and Tooru sneek out and on the roof they hear that Mikoto refuses to be on Otoya’s side. He understood what it means to be a princess and finally he can put his man’s pride aside and embraces his role as a princess. They rescue him and after apologizing they make out a plan how they take the school over again.

The next day the “Dark Princesses” make a live stage and then Yuujirou, Tooru and Mikoto will attack. Don’t panic, they just sing. The “Dark Princesses” want to save the situation but the lost Arisada and his team are back and Otoya has to admit his defeat.

At the end we find out that this was Haruka’s plan from the beginning. It’s a happy end after all. The school is back to the normal system and the siblings, yeah, I think they can talk to each other again in a normal way.

Conclusion

Yeah... the drama was really fun to watch. But if I’m honest it’s not really good. The characters are lame. They aren’t well –thought-out. It’s like they writers picked those characters from the beginning of the Manga story (yeah, it was a Manga story) and didn’t develop them. The actors tried their best to give the characters a little spirit but it doesn’t help.

Another thing that bothers me was the fact that the princesses weren’t the main character if you look closely. I mean the whole war was between Arisada and Otaya. Okay, you can say the princesses were like the soldiers or something like that. But they didn’t really do something. They looked only cute in their dresses and they argued with each other.  But at the end they become more important.

And there is also a point that caught my eye. What was the budget of this thing? Only in the last episode, there were a lot of students. During the drama we only see three regular students. Not more. And sometimes the lighting was just weird. To be honest it looks like someone did this movie in his first year of film school.

The only good thing in this drama were the jokes and the running gags which personified the character like Mikoto is running away or Yuujiro wrestles with Mikoto and wins (the “Give up?- No! [a little bit later] Rooope!!” –scene).

So, if you want to see guys dressed in Lolita-clothes, that’s the right thing for you. But don’t go in with any expectations.

„Bee, you’re super-duper jerk!“ – A New Perfect Two Review

Originalname:	新天生一對
Also known as:	Perfect Two
Release Date:	20. January 2012
Director:	Chu Yen-Ping (Kevin Chu)
Writer:	-
Cast:	Vic Zhou, Ella, Mini Yang, Xiao Xiao Bin

Plot

We begin with a man gluing the poorly drawn face of a woman everywhere (and I mean really EVERYWHERE!”)

This man is Ah Bee a superstar motorcycle racer, who quit after he had an accident and started gambling and drinking now. And the women on the picture, well, that’s his ex-girlfriend Jiawei, who he abandoned.

Of course he’s surprised when she suddenly turns up and tells him to take care of his son Binbin, whom he never knew he existed. She has to do some business stuff.

They live a while together and Binbin gets to meet the people Ah Bee hangs out with: Maniu (who looks a lot like Katie Holmes did in her earlier years) and her younger sister. Maniu looks after Binbin when Ah Bee isn’t around and comforted him when Ah Bee did something mean (and yeah, it’s not only one time).

There is a sub plot with loan sharks (it’s annoying as hell and doesn’t lead anywhere… But there is a funny beating scene with fists and slingshots and fire extinguisher )  But on the same day, after Binbin told his mom that they had a fight, Jiawei wants that Ah Bee brings her son back.

Jiawei tells Ah Bee, when he brought her son back, that she wants to take Binbin to America and Ah Bee should say goodbye to him. He comes and tells Binbin it in the most horrible way (He doesn’t even look him in the eyes. Binbin! Don’t you see that he loves you? Don’t cry!). But because Binbin wanted that he start racing again (yeah they hat a little road trip where Ah Bee got challenged), he starts it but he loses the race.

But it seems that Jiawei made the decision to let Binbin stay for the summer (I think it was because Binbin annoyed his mother to see Ah Bee again ;)). And we have a happy ending with the most awkward dance sequence ever!!

Conclusion

Where do I start? The movie isn’t bad. Actually, it’s cute. But, yeah, it’s predictable after you watched the first few minutes.

I think the actors did a good job. Where the movie had to be funny, it was funny; where the movie had to be serious, it was serious; where the movie had to be heartbreaking, it was heartbreaking. I really fell into this world.

But there was something that confused me. When I searched for a movie to watch, then it was said “New Perfect Two” was Comedy/ Romance. But where was the romance? The focus was really only of the relationship between father and son. Don’t get me wrong. That’s good. But you shouldn’t call a movie romance when there isn’t one. Yeah, at the beginning after the two women appeared, you ask “Who will it be? The hot chick or the tomboy?” (I was for Maniu) But the movie doesn’t develop this story line. Yeah, there was a declaration of love and giving the old clothes from the ex-girlfriend but that’s not enough to call it romance. For me it’s clearly a family genre.

But what I really liked was the cinematography. They were really well done (not to say amazing).

So… I can recommend it. It deserves it to been watched.

New Design

Well, I am the rumored new author (the bff of the founder of this blog) and I am responsible for the new look of this blog. I hope you guys like it!
Feel free to comment and say what you think about it! I'll appreciate and be looking forward to it! ♥

"I am their homeroom teacher" - A Gokusen I Review

Originalname:	ごくせん　（第１期） | Gokusen
Also known as:	-
Release Date:	2. April - 3. July 2002
Director:	Toya Sato, Taro Otani
Writer:	Michiru Egashira, Rie Yokota, Kozueko Morimoto (manga)
Cast:	Yukie Nakama, Yuma Ishigaki, Jun Matsumoto, Hiroki Narimiya, Shun Oguri, Tomohiro Waki

Plot

Kumiko Yamaguchi is the grand- daughter of the Oedo Clan’s boss, a yakuza family. She becomes the new homeroom teacher (get used to this expression, you hear it a lot during this drama) of the class 3-D, also known as the delinquent class in which Sawada the leader is.

After an incident in which the school money disappears, the school head teacher accuses Kumai, one out of her class, that he stole the money. She believes him, when he says he didn’t do it and to prove his innocence she searches for the money. Kumai who feels guilty conscience tells her the truth. The head teacher dropped the money and he took it, but it got taken away from him.

She beats the criminals up and gives back the money. The head teacher apologizes to Kumai and Kumiko makes the promise that everybody of her class will graduate.

Minami starts dating a girl who is already dating someone else and gets beaten up for it. Sawada recognizes the girl and wants Minami to stop dating her but Minami hits Sawada which causes Sawada t have to write an apology letter otherwise he’ll be expelled. The girl breaks up with Minami and that leads to Minami getting called out by her boyfriend. When his classmates said that they didn’t want to help him Kumiko gets really disappointed and decides to take things in her own hands. Arriving at the battle field she sees that only Sawada appeared to help his friend. She finally steps in and saves her students. When the fight is over Kumai, Uchiyama and Noda arrive fully armored. Sawada has written his apology letter and won’t get expelled.

A thief scares the neighbourhood and everyone believes it’s Uchiyama. Kumiko, Sawada and the others want to prove Uchiyama’s innocence so they set a trap for the thief. The trap doesn’t work (mainly because Kumiko looks like a prostitute) but they catch the thief anyway. The students get rewarded from the police and everything seems fine. But Uchiyama beats a guy up (the pride of the school). So he’ll be expelled and searches for a job. Kumiko and the others find out that he hit him because he hit the puppy (awww, how cute, a puppy) and she tries to convince him to apologize. So he does. Anyway, Uchiyama doesn’t get expelled because Kumiko threatened that guy with prison because apparently you get one year when you hit a puppy.

One of the teachers, Miss Fujiyama, has started a part-time job as a hostess to earn more money. However, when she throws Noda’s gift in the garbage he sends a picture of her working as a hostess to the head teacher and Miss Fujiyama gets suspended. But she can return if all of the 3-D score above 30 points which after a lot of tutoring everyone manages. (Yeah, well, at first it seems as if Kumai didn’t get the 30 points but that’s a mistake...).

Kumiko manages to lose her mobile and Sawada finds it and brings it back to her house. So he discovers that she is in fact the granddaughter of a yakuza family. Her grandfather asks him to keep quiet about this.

Kumai gets to fall in love but she already has a boyfriend. In the mean time there is a gang of high school students terrorising the neighbourhood. When the boyfriend gets beaten up Kumai tries to protect the girl and get hit badly. But gladly Kumiko steps in and has a word with them. So they get to know the difference between fighting and violence. And Sawada tells Kumiko that he’s totally into her... I mean that he knows she’s the yakuza familys granddaughter, but he might as well could have!!

Sawadas sister comes to his school because she wanted to talk with him and we find out that he lives alone because he has problems with his parents.

His sister can’t take the pressure of her father any longer and decides to go to a gambling club, of which Sawada rescues her from and gets caught in the process.

The head teacher expels him but the police already know he’s innocent. But since he’s a minor a parent has to go and get him. So Kumiko and the whole class beg Sawadas father and he does go and get him. And Sawada even cries a little (Holy sh--, the robot cries!!)

Shirokin’s volley team gets into the nationals. But an expelled student wants so sabotage it. It’s Kurosaki, an old friend of Sawada and Uchiyama. Their worried and ask Kumiko for help which she does. She tells the PE teacher he should apologize to Kurosaki since he didn’t even try to keep him in. So he does, but gets beaten up for it. Sawada and Uchiyama try to stop him but don’t succeed. Kumiko arrives, kicks ass and lectures him and he tells Sawada that if he’d had Kumiko as a teacher he probably wouldn’t have had to quit.

The next day Kumai bumps into a shop lifter but the shoplifter accuses the gang because the game which was stolen was in Uchiyama’s hands. She believes when they say they didn’t do anything. Thanks to Shinohara (the police man she has a secret crush on) the real criminal comes out. It was a student from a rich high school.

Meanwhile Tetsu tries to convince Kumiko to be the Oeda Clan’s head in 4^th generation. But she refuses. After a talk with Kumiko’s grandfather about god-given jobs he realizes that the teacher job is the god-given job for Kumiko is.

But soon Kumiko gets stalked by a reporter. The boys ran into a criminal and handed him over to the police. He was a searched murderer. The boys get honoured and they should speak on a press conference with Kumiko. Because of that Kumiko gets interesting for the press and one reporter wants to make a 24h close up.

Anyway, In the meantime, Kumai’s father dies and Kumai falls in depression. He runs away. Kumiko suddenly finds him while he was beaten up and rescues him. She brings him back.

The reporter publishes the story - a story about a violent yakuza teacher who beats her students. Kumiko is forced to resign and for the sake of her students she does. When Sawada and the others find out what she did they decide to resign as well. But Kumiko comes, kicks ass and saves the day... sorry she just asks the teacher to take good care of the students.

After the touching speech the head teacher decides that they need Kumiko in this school and rips it apart. That means Kumiko can stay at this school and they all celebrate with the can kicking game, where we learn that Sawada has three other love rivals.

Conclusion

I love the nostalgia! But seriously I couldn’t remember most of it. I don’t know why I just couldn’t. I’m almost certain that I did see it. But when I watched the first season I always thought “What? Did this really happen? Did I really see this a few years ago?” Sometimes I just couldn’t remember. If I honest, the whole drama I nearly forgot. So I forgot that Eiichi Wentz appears in the drama. You know, the American guy. Especially him you shouldn’t forget because he looks non-japanese. But yeah... I forgot him... I’m really asking myself if I watched the drama then. But this has also its good side. I mean so I could dive into it again and so I could cry like a waterfall at the end.

So, what else can I say? I like the drama. It’s about friendship, school and learning something for life. It has a lot of charm and a lot of funny scenes (especially this one where Uchi, Kuma and Noda run fully armoured towards Sawada and Minami). But it has also cute scenes like the episode with Yuta, the little boy of the nurse (all he wanted was to see his mommy *sob sob sob*).

The actors were okay but Jun Matsumoto was a little stiff as Sawada. But it was his third drama and it’s Jun Matsumoto for god’s sake!

Shun Oguri was good at least what we saw of him, he wasn’t in the drama too much. That’s a pity. But Jun makes up for it ;)

Yukie Nakama is great as Kumiko Yamaguchi. You just love to see her in that role.

The only thing I can complain about is the song. It gets so annoying and it never leaves your head. (“I saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,feeeeeeeeeeeeel your breeeeeeeeeeeeze. Anytime, anywhere, in your heaaaaaart!” You know what I mean?)

All in all it's a must see drama if you are a fan of Asian Drama or MatsuJun or Shun Oguri or of course Yukie Nakama. It's like I said: It's fun, it's crazy. You'll enjoy it.