Arashi no Shukudai-kun!: Episode 37

Aired On: June 18th, 2007
 

Continuing my re-watch! At the gathering I was transferring some of my Mago Mago files to Fatin's pendrive, and I thought of how there are a lot of episodes I've yet to watch, which made me think, I should start on a Mago Mago watching project!, which reminded me that I have yet to continue my Shukudai-kun re-watch. ^^; So, continuing, after so long.

 

The guest this episode is ManaKana, or Mikura Mana and Kana, twin singer/actresses. Their homework to the guests was to investigate rare and delicious cuisine from Okinawa. The first item introduced was "gouya (bitter gourd) burger", which they thought was delicious but didn't really have much of a bitter gourd flavour. Aiba said it tasted like shisa (the lion/dog decoration, I think from Okinawan mythology?), and ended up eating half of the burger meant for all of Arashi, before Jun reminded him not to finish it. He gave Jun his half-finished burger in response, lol.

 

Mikura twins

From the Skip Beat! OST: 華麗的獨秀 by Super Junior M

Here's the song that appears at the beginning, in Tumblr. I thought I wouldn't like it at first, as with everything Skip Beat! - but it grew on me.

Enjoy.

Arashi ni Shiyagare!: Episode 42

Aired On: April 30th, 2011

When guessing who the guest might be, Aiba reminded the rest of Arashi that they had talked about it before, and had decided that it was about time for Matsu-nii (Matsuoka Masahiro, TOKIO) to appear. Sho agreed, saying that it's because Matsu-nii's drama (High School Restaurant) has started, so he would probably appear to do promotions. Nino commented that if he didn't come (that day), he probably wouldn't come at all.  Jun said that he thought that Matsu-nii really was coming that day. They all turned out to be right - both the audience and Arashi were really excited, and Sho and Nino claimed, "finally!" Since all of them kept expecting Matsu-nii to appear on their show sooner or later, and Matsu-nii haven't - until then.

Arashi no Shukudai-kun!: Episode 33

Aired On: May 21st, 2007

The guest this time is TOKIO's Kokubun Taichi! To tell the truth, the first thing I thought when watching this again is, "wow, he looked so young...", haha. ^^;; I always love it when any of the JE senpais or kouhais appear on Arashi's shows, despite not really being a JE fan in general (I only really like Arashi). This is because their interactions with other Johnnys are always amusing to watch, I suppose.

Anyway, Kokubun Taichi's request for the audience is to find different kinds of salads from all over the world. I was so relieved with this request, really - vegetables should be safe, right. Right? Not that it's not interesting to see them eat weird food, but as an animal lover, some of the episodes were just painful to watch. (I'm still a bit traumatised from the sparrow.) These salads were introduced by women from the respective countries - the first being from Belarus, a salad made of beets. Next is a Bulgarian salad served with Sirene, a cheese that was marinated in saltwater. I'd like to try this someday! Then, Paumid salad from Costa Rica, made from the core of palm trees. I didn't even know that they could be eaten. I love Kokubun's reaction - "kore wa zenzen oishii desu ne!" I suppose the usage of zenzen+something positive wasn't so all over the place back then since it still jarred to Jun and was highlighted in the tv text. Although I seem to remember everyone speaking that way back then. I know this is completely off-topic, but this really brings back memories.

Skip Beat! Episode 1

Title: 華麗的挑戰 (Skip Beat!/ Hua Li De Tiao Zhan)
Aired: December 18th, 2011 - April 1st, 2012 (FTV, GTV)

Reason for watching this drama: Okay, it was accidental. I avoided this drama everytime I saw it in the shop. Because I just don't relish the fact that they had to dub the guys' voices. Of course, this happens all the time for Mainland China dramas, which is why I watch so little of those. But I was so taken by the characters when I watched part of the first episode on TV, that I though I'd just take the dubbing as one of the necessary evils.


Reason for continuing to watch this drama: Did I just say I love the characters? Ivy Chen really nailed Kyoko for me, for now. I've never watched any of her other dramas, at least I can't remember having done so. And really, after the first few episodes, you tend to forget that Lien is Siwon and Shang is Donghae. And it is a Doze Niu production. 

Mou Yuukai Nante Shinai

Title: もう誘拐なんてしない

Aired On: January 3rd, 2012

I really wasn't planning to watch Oh-chan's drama, because I prefer to wait and download rather than stream. But I just happened to check freshverse and it was on, and I ended up watching it until the end. It's really funny, and I haven't been checking on the news relating the drama (I only knew about Ohno and Aragaki Yui, and ShoJun cameo-ing), so I was pleasantly surprised by the casting.

Papadoru!: Episode 1

Title: パパドル!  (Papadoru! / My Daddy is an Idol!)
Aired: April 19th, 2012 - June 28th, 2012 (TBS)

Reason for watching this drama: The premise. I liked that it's about an idol who has to struggle with keeping his personal life secret, and am hoping for it to be Mukodono!-like, except maybe better because Nishikido Ryo actually plays himself, and therefore we get to see into the whole JE life, just a little bit. The promise of Kanjani8 cameos definitely does not hurt.
Reason for continuing to watch this drama: It's funny! One of the dramas to watch for pure enjoyment. I love that Kana-chan's an Arashi fan and then whenever something Arashi-related is mentioned or shown, their song (A-RA-SHI) starts playing in the background.

VS嵐!: Episode 129

Aired On: March 3rd, 2011

This is the "Taisetsu na koto wa subete kimi ga oshiete kureta" Team episode, but I really think of this as the "Haruma Miura episode." ^^ apparently Haruma Miura is a big fan of VsA and was excited about being on the show. as a result, he got to choose his favourite games for the show. Arashi's "Plus One" guest is the comedy duo Football Hour.

The first game is Pinball Runner, where Miura-kun runs with Erika Toda leading the support team. He got both the pink balls and finished with 180 points. Oh-chan's the runner for Team Arashi. Since Miura-kun announced that he wanted to get 300 points earlier, Ohno said that he's aiming for 700 points. He managed to get... 80 points. He blamed Iwao-san for yelling out the wrong numbers.

Next favourite game of Miura-kun's is Rolling Coin Tower. It's Sakumiya vs. Miura-kun and Erika Toda. In order to catch up on their 100-point gap, all Team arashi had to do was to make sure the tower doesn't fall in their turn. Nino then claimed that they would attack with only 10-point coins, and Erika said that her team would do the same. Of course, when Nino started the game, he did so with three unbalanced 3-point coins, which made the foundation of the tower shaky. Nino is sneaky. :p Unfortunately, his strategy backfired and the tower fell on his turn. Now the gap between the teams is even larger.

The third game chosen by Miura-kun is Dual Curling, with Ohba and Iwao-san playing for Team Arashi. The drama team's players were all in their teens, which really made me think, huh, Arashi have really grown up. (As if I haven't realised this before!) There was a minor conflict in Team Arashi over who would be the starter - Ohno said Iwao-san, and Iwao-san said Ohno, and Aiba said never mind, he would do it, but they asked Takei Emi (one of the other team players) who said she wanted Iwao-san to do it, so he did. Aiba managed to get one of his markers in the 50 point area, but it got knocked out by Iwao-san's marker. Aiba was aiming his x2 marker for the 50 points after that, but it didn't even reach the 10-point area, and when asked to give his excuse, he tried to, but couldn't quite explain and said he'd fax it later (lol). The one-on-one showdown was between Jun and Miura-kun. Jun totally failed, getting 30 points in comparison to Miura-kun's 130 points. It was cute when Jun was trying to find an excuse for his fail - he blamed the stick, so the rest of them asked him to apologise to it, which he refused to do.

Dual Curling was followed by Cliff Climb, with Miura-kun and Suda-kun climbing for the drama team. Jun, already in a kind of a sulk over his earlier fail, continued to be bullied by the rest of Team Arashi. Arashi's climbers should be Goto-san and aiba, but because Goto-san was afraid of heights (and everyone else wanted to continue bullying Jun), MatsuJun took over his place. Jun did well, but fell off after hitting the 50-point button and didn't get the perfect score he was aiming for. The rest of the team stood up before him and asked if he was going to blame the grip this time. He apologised again for his Dual Curling excuse.

Haruma Miura's favourite game is the last for this episode - Bound Hockey. Arashi was behind by 280 points, and needed to get 300 points in order to win. Jun was feeling a lot of pressure (especially since if they lost, he probably knew he was going to be the MDa) and Ohno stood by him, saying that Jun doesn't have to worry, because he would be Jun's guardian angel. *ah, be still, my Juntoshi-loving heart* In the end, Arashi did very well, but they only managed to get 200 points, so the drama team won.

When the MDA started, Jun already knew it was going to be him, and was really fidgety. He chose himself too, together with the rest of them. I love this guy. <3

[vid credit: Neon Lines]

VS嵐!: Episode 138

Aired on: May 26th, 2011

Usually I don't watch the newer episodes as much, but I couldn't resist this episode. Not only the guest team were the Paradise Kiss film cast, the Plus One was Haruna Ai ♥. Even before the guests appeared, though, one of the best moments in this episodes appeared - Nino was wearing a simple looking jacket, which Aiba commented on, saying that it was too normal for Nino (who, admittedly, has been given a lot of embarrassingly garish outfits throughout this show) and said that they ought to exchange their jackets. Nino protested lightly at first, but gave in in the end. That's not all - Aiba's tee read the words "carnival", causing Sho to call him Carnival throughout the episode. ^^

Aimiya exchanging their jackets | Haruna Ai getting excited to see Osamu Mukai.

The first game was Cliff Climb, with Sakumoto representing Team Arashi. I really liked how Sho quoted my favourite (and everyone else's, haha) line from ParaKiss, and the exchange he had with aiba before they started. aiba asked him to take his shoes off, which he did, but then he was told that he had to put them back on before climbing XD. Both Sho and Jun failed completely in this game. Next is Dual Curling, with Nino, Haruna Ai, and Ohno representing arashi. They lost in this game, too, although it was an impressive match. Nino had a showdown with Osamu Mukai, and before they started Haruna danced to "Shoujo Jidai" for them, which was really cute.

Sho quoting ParaKiss | "Please wait while Sakurai-kun puts on his shoes..." XD

The third game was Kicking Sniper, where Nino mentioned that they were losing and that neither Jun nor Ohno seemed motivated. Aiba joined him and the two of them said that if they didn't do well, they'd have to do the Shoujo Jidai dance. This certainly brought out their motivation, as they managed to catch up to their gap in points in this game. Jun even got a perfect score (he really didn't want to do the Shoujo Jidai dance), but then Aimiya decided that he had to do it because he got a perfect. I love it when Aimiya bullies Jun XD. Jun decided that they should janken for it, and in the end it was Ohno and Nino that had to do the Shoujo Jidai dance with Haruna. Since he was safe, Jun went back to his DoS mode and enjoyed their embarrassment. Unfortunately, when the ParaKiss Team played, they immediately went back in the lead. Osamu Mukai was really good!

Jun forgot to press a button | Sakumoto being scolded

Jun being bullied by Aimiya | Ohmiya + Haruna Shoujo Jidai Dance

Because of all the Shoujo Jidai performances, there weren't enough time, and one of the games had to be cancelled. They skipped Pinball Runner and went to Bound Hockey as the last game. The ParaKiss didn't seem to be able to play this well at first, but they got the hang of it soon enough. Team Arashi had to get 400 points to catch up and win. They played well, but ended up with 50 points behind their goal, and lost. 

Thankfully for the Arashi members, they agreed on the MDA early on - it ended up being Haruna Ai, who did the Shoujo Jidai dance one last time before falling.

[vid credit: yuizaki-libra@LJ]

耳をすませば (1995)

Title: 耳をすませば (Mimi wo Sumaseba / Whisper of the Heart)
Year: 1995

Choosing my favorite Studio Ghibli work is hard. On one hand, there's Totoro and Majou no Takkyubin. On the other hand, there's Neko no Ongaeshi and this. I just watched Mimi wo Sumaseba for the first time yesterday, and it has completely charmed me (despite my first reaction when "Take Me Home, Country Roads" played at the opening sequence).

Things that hooked me: (1) the scenery. God, I miss that scenery. I've never been to Tama New Town, where the story is set, but it's still a very familiar sight.

(2) The romance. This has got to be my favorite romance next to You've Got Mail. Shizuku, the heroine, is a voracious reader who keeps borrowing books from the library. They still had library cards, so she could see the names of the people who borrowed the books before her. One day she notices that someone by the name of Amasawa Seiji has read most of the books she borrowed. Obviously a kindred spirit, right. *sighs* As if this could ever happen in real life. Of course, when she finally meets Seiji, he isn't the person she imagined him to be, either.

(3) This is a wonderful coming-of-age story. While this is also a love story, it is at its heart a story about a young girl who is unsure of who she wants to be. Shizuku lives without direction, but meeting Seiji, who is passionate about violin making, makes her wonder about her direction in life, and who she is as a person. Since she loves books and has a talent for poetry, she tests herself by writing a fantasy novel. I think that it is fitting that her greatest dilemma towards the end was whether or not she has the talent to pursue writing, rather than whether a long distance relationship between her and Seiji would work. Because if there is one thing I can't stand, it's girls who discard parts of who they are just to be with a guy. Shizuku realizes that Seiji has a great goal to pursue, and instead of clinging to him or mindlessly pursuing him, she realizes that she needs to have an ambition as strong so that they would be on equal footing.

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p/s: This movie was based on a manga (also titled Mimi wo Sumaseba) by Hiiragi Aoi.