Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #337
Panda: Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Hope everyone is staying safe and doing good. Miss you all. Miss dramas too. I can't believe March is already halfway. Whew. No dramas still, but lots and lots of books! Take care mon amies. Ciao.
Trotwood: (jumping up and down and waving at Panda in excitement) Hugs to you. We miss you here, but I love reading about all the books you are reading. And in honor of those books, I'm posting a picture of one of the most beautiful libraries in Asia--a goal destination of mine just for the architecture alone. Nakajima Library at Akita National University in Japan.
kakashi: PANDA! My love, I miss you. I just bought a Kindle eReader after reading hundreds of trashy romance books on my tiny phone. I'm working on my own book and am waiting for the pandemic to go eff itself soon.
KOREA
Will You Leave/Must You Go?
So you know how we are always saying that just because a person stays by your side for a long time, they shouldn't assume that they have earned your love? We see that all the time in dramas, and this show is no different just that we have a person who has repeatedly reincarnated to look for the man she loves for 600 and now is mad that he has never loved her and isn't grateful when she tells him that he is destined to be the reason for the death (again) of the woman he's loved for 600 years. Sigh. I'm still hoping that we find out what really happened in the past. I'm also curious to know how the world takes the truth about the real CEO of the company. Park Yeon, you may have confidence that the shaman won't kill your true love, but I don't.
How to Be Thirty?/Not Yet Thirty
Many of the posters for this show showcase the romantic pairings, but I'm watching the show really for these three friends. They are the kinds of friends that you wish you had--very different from each other but so good for each other. Honest and supportive and not past knocking crazy exes over the head or calling out the other on her bullshit. I know there are a lot of people swooning over Kang Mi Hyuk as the lead--some of us have been wanting him to be on screen as much as he is behind the drums of CNBlue ever since his gawky Heartstrings days (can you believe it's been 10 years since that drama aired?!?!?!). However, several of us are routing for our own apple butt, Song Jae Rim, not just because he really needs to get the girl more often, but because Mi Hyuk's character seems a bit sketchy to me--overly flirting with the main lead but then disappearing or ignoring her or pretending they aren't in relationship. I really want to trust him, but . . .
Miss Monte Cristo (daily)
I seriously cackle the entire time I'm watching this drama thinking of the ways some people in my real life should be on this show and get taken down by our heroine. So many people are shocked by her appearance because well she's literally back from the dead but in another guise and wealthy to boot. I know she is trying to get back at the people are killed her and her father, but I really want her to go after the man who embezzled all of her father's money and is trying to use her mother's destitute state to get her to choose him as her next husband. He's just gross.
CHINA/TAIWAN
Word of Honor
I'm completely invested in this show after the shows I watched last week (episodes 9-12). We all knew that Ke Xing's light-hearted demeanor was just a cover for his cold desire for revenge, but he clearly didn't foresee the deadly chaos that his trick would cause, and his stricken look on his face when he realizes that he caused the deaths of truly innocent people was telling. It didn't help that he realized that he crossed a line Zi Shu was tired of crossing. I was excited to see them get back with Cheng Ling, who is basically their kid, but was surprised to find out why Cheng Ling was so weak. I do want to ask, is it just me, or is anyone else worried about how much these two drink? I mean if they can fight like they do when we know they are half lit most of the time, how well could they fight if they were completely sober?
Rattan
I really wanted to like this show. The whole idea of an ancient plant-alien who was cursed only to be awakened by accident by a man who has been killed but whom she (accidentally?) brings back to life made me really interested. They are going to work together to unravel the mystery of her death and of his. The whole working together against a common foe by the leads is my favorite (and under utilized) drama trope. She's also lovely, especially when her plant part grow. But I just can't warm to her. Shows need to stop assuming that just because they make someone a victim doesn't mean that we will automatically like them. I might have more patience if I didn't have so many other things to watch.
Ping Pong Life
Hurray! A sports drama. I've been really wanting a sports drama and thought this was going to be it. Unfortunately, I found the opening episode draggy and tropey despite the great ping pong playing shots. If anyone is watching, let me know when the bonding and rehabilitation starts. It might be a ways since the show is 44 episodes long.
Killer and Healer
Yue Lou is a police captain who is bipolar and uses violent means if he has to try to break up the opium trade. He must have lost someone to it for him to hate it so much. He becomes unlikely friends with Dr. Chen Yu Zhi. Unlikely, because he arrests and keeps in the doctor in jail overnight, and while the doctor is gone, his thirteen-year-old sister gets kidnapped. Corruption abounds, and it isn't really clear who they can trust besides the Yue Lou's deputies and a college student who helps them early on. This is a bromance which was originally filmed as a romance apparently, but it has been heavily censored. Lovely Republican Era costumes and fairly addictive. I'm behind. It started airing at the beginning of March. I've only seen six episodes, but sixteen have been subbed on MGTV's official YouTube channel. No spoilers please.
JAPAN
Kimi to Sekai ga Owaru Hi ni/ With You on the Day the World Ends
My nerves can't take it. Call me a wimp, but I'm going to watch the last three episodes all together once. The last episode is supposed to air on March 21, but my post will probably be a bit after that while waiting for subs. The deaths and the alliance are being stretched. I just don't want to wait a week between cliffhangers any more.
Attack on Titan - The Final Season
No episode aired this week because of the earthquake in Japan!
I started watching Seven Deadly Sins with my kid though, a friend showed it to her last weekend. It's funny! Though I'm only half amused by the panty-stealing, boob-touching antics of Meliodas. The world has changed a lot in the last few years, hasn't it? This kind of boundary crossing male fantasy is juvenile at best and rape cultury at worst. My daughter asked why a) all the female characters had such huge boobs and b) why all the female characters always went into a twerk position on the floor. Well, my dear girl. That's what men like to fantasize about! She got that. Then she said: Yes, and all the male characters have to have huge muscles, I feel sorry for the men too. Interesting perspective. Luckily, an almost 12 year old understands stereotypes and what they're worth though.
PS: Makes you grateful for an anime/mange like AOT, which is almost entirely free of annoyingly submissive, large boobed female characters.
Nishiogikubo Mitsuboshi Youshudou
Episode 4 focuses on a comic recovering from the break up of his act and the need to move on to the next chapter of his life. This episode was much more divided between the bar patron story and the decision of our three friends. Satoru is getting his sense of taste back, so the others wonder how long he will stay at the bar. It's clear that Naoki wants to write again, too. The real mystery here is Ryoichiro, the bartender who seems the most sad that they seem to be working towards his idea: keeping the bar open until they run out of canned goods. They are running out of canned goods, and he clearly comes from money. From what or whom is he running?
THAILAND
A Tale of a Thousand Stars
I feel as though this is the final episode that is going to be dominated by happy. It was a good transition to angst. Tian is not going to be able to keep his secret much longer, especially now that he feels that he has put the whole village in danger and the doctor knows who he is and that he has Torfun's heart. the question is whether he will tell them all that he has her heart and that he was also the cause of her death. I'm hoping against hope that it really wasn't him in the end because we already have a plethora of problems for our OTP to get through, but it's a Thai drama, and they believe in pain.
Talay Luang
Speaking of pain, how many times is our going to get hit, run over, etc? He has suffered from amnesia three times already and almost drowned twice! I'm surprised that he's walking around coherent. But you don't watch lakorns and expect anything less. Someone was wondering a couple of weeks ago about the difference between lakorns and other drama, and this is it. Lots of makjang and lots of violence--often at weddings. This show has served some really interesting twists with a heroine who I actually really like and a second lead that turns into the lead for a second pairing, which I was glad to see. I'm hoping for a redemption arc for Talay's ex--losing her baby has really made her want to get out--but I'm afraid she is in too deep now. 