Movie: ウォーターボーイズ
English: Waterboys
Staring: Tsumabuki Satoshi, Tamaki Hiroshi, Miura Akifumi, Kondo Koen, Kaneko Takatoshi
Released: 2001
Carlie’s Rating:
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Waterboys tells the story of a high school swim team at an all boys school that is only one member. However, with the introduction of a female teacher to coach the team, lots of boys sign up. Then it is discovered that she intends it to be a synchronised swimming team. The swim team is back down to three members who have all summer to make the team work…

(poster to the left there, I can only assume it’s the Chinese DVD cover… )

I really enjoyed this movie. It’s meant to be a silly, light flick, but it works. There is lots of silly laugh-out-loud moments. I was very satisfied with this movie!

It also has a lot of men in small swimming suits. Who could say no to that?

This is supposedly the movie that shot Tsumabuki Satoshi to stardom, I believe. To be honest, I can only think this was his big break because a) it as a good movie, and b) he was the star. I don’t think this movie really showed his talents, and all he could do. It felt like he was sort of in the background, that he wasn’t really a catalyst for much… I don’t know… Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Satoshi and would gladly have his babies.

Another thing to pick at was the “romance” in this movie. It felt like it was added in as an afterthought because “good movies have romance” or something like that. I thought it didn’t add anything to the plot (except some panties? except leading the main character to an aquarium?) and felt rather unsatisfying. As an audience member, I didn’t care about the girl/romance at all. The romance was on the back-burner the whole movie.

Boys in DT’s, lots of laughs

Tsumabuki Satoshi’s character was a bit meh

But this was an awesomly funny movie. Sit back, expect it to be silly, and you shall enjoy

Scene from Waterboys:

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Assimil is different from other texts in that the bulk of it is dialogues which you listen along to with the provided CDs. While it does have explanations, called “まとめ　－　Revision and Notes”, a grammar enthusiast will be wanting more. The idea is to learn through assimilation. While it doesn’t really provide a totally authentic immersion environment, I am impressed at how much is covered in this beginner’s text.

Assimil has a pretty lengthy introduction which is quite good at introducing Japanese to someone who has only just come to the Japanese language. From pronunciation, how verbs and adjectives work, the writing systems… Then it says:

Ugh! Don’t panic. You don’t have to worry about about all of this right away.

Assimil works in two stages, passive and active. I only have the first book, so can only really comment on the passive stage. This is where you don’t really worry about trying to learn kana, kanji, What you do is just go through the lessons, reading along to the tapes. The idea is learning through assimilation. With enough exposure it will all sink in.

Every lesson is a dialogue. On the left page is the Japanese, the right in English. The Japanese has kanji with furigana, a phonetic guide and romaji. The first thing I did was get a black texta and got rid of all that romaji and pronunciation.

It is important, I guess, to note that I came to this book as something to reinforce what I had already learnt. So I already knew how to read hiragana/katakana. When you are just starting out romaji is good for a guide. But after a couple of lessons I still think you should black out all that information. It gets confusing, and you shouldn’t rely on it. Hell, this book makes it easy, you don’t even have to learn how to write if you follow this method to a t, but rather only recognise them. Any fool can do that!!

The English page is also great. It has an English translation and also a word by word translation so you can work out how sentences are put together. Down the bottom are little notes that help you understand the dialogue better. And every seventh lesson isn’t a dialogue but rather a “revision” lesson which explains all the major things that are happening in the dialogues you just studied.

The audio is good but not great. It provides almost 2 hours worth of audio in Japanese. Each dialogues are fairly short, most are around 2 -3 mins worth. The bad thing is that for the first few dialogues the pace is painfully slow. Perhaps this is good for absolute beginners, but I was not an absolute beginner when I started this. Also, the dialogues never reach a native pace. To a certain extent, this is good for a beginner if you realise it isn’t full speed. It is a good intermediate step. Even myself, sometimes, I find the pace just right when I am trying to read aloud and my tongue gets twisted. I imagine as my reading speeds up, I could modify the audio to also speed it up slightly.

At the end of the dialogues are some exercises which are essentially useless. It consists of reading along with short phrases, and fill in the blanks that are entirely in romaji. I looked over these but largely ignored them. One feature I liked is that it has the page numbers written out in Japanese. Would have preferred them to be in kana, as they are in romaji, but it is still a neat feature for those learning their numbers.

I am quite impressed how far this book actually goes. For just over 300 pages, it covers a lot. I was impressed that the last dialogue starts off with a poem which was a bit tricky to get my head around at first. I haven’t encountered that in any other beginners text and so it was a nice surprise.

I am not sure if I personally would be satisfied to learn from this book, as you may know I like to learn by having things broken apart for me, and then some how I put the pieces back together. In this book you have to work out things for yourself, or perhaps not even work things out, you just go along with the flow and have faith that things will come together in the end.

However, as a revision tool I am quite impressed. In the second book you start the active phase, and I am keen to pick it up and see if it lives up to the first.

Purchase Japanese With Ease: Assimil

I went about learning Japanese by myself all wrong. I was excited about it, but didn’t really persue it as fully as I could of. I did not research how to learn languages, and when I got stuck on page 58, titled “Verb Conjugation” and didn’t understand, I didn’t go searching for an explanation elsewhere that would help me understand. And so I stopped learning Japanese. I didn’t exactly “give up”, it’s just that learning Japanese sort of fizzled out into the back ground and I didn’t pick up Genki again until the end of 2006 when I had decided I wanted to study Japanese at university.

Genki is a good text book, it is popular for a reason.
It weeds out romaji very quickly and never uses only romaji. By lesson 3 you better know your hiragana and katakana!
It has long, clear explanations of grammar points.
The text book is set out clearly. The font is large, which is great for beginners trying to look at all the strokes in kanji characters.
Lots of focus on exercises.
Great focus on reading and writing, as well as grammar points.

However, there are some points that I didn’t like about Genki, in particular for those self studying.
I felt like it did not give me enough examples.
There is no answer key, you have to buy it separately! I think this is a huge minus. Sure, a language doesn’t exactly follow “rules” but learning from one’s mistakes is a huge part of learning something, and that opportunity is missed.
I feel like you don’t get much bang for your buck with Genki. Even though I said the layout was great and offered lots of space, the compromise is that there isn’t as much substance in there as other text books.
Most of the exercises are best for class room/group participation or you need to purchase the audio. It is a well rounded text with the audio, but that plus the answer key – well, it ain’t cheap!

So those are the pros and cons of Genki from my perspective. Over all I think Genki is, while not perfect for me, a great text book.

Buy Genki

• Purchase from TheJapanShop.com
• Purchase from Amazon.com

Proposal Daisakusen
プロポーズ大作戦
Special
Carlie’s Rating:
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In this special of Proposal Daisakusen, it is Eri and Tsuru’s wedding. However, Eri isn’t prepared to go through with it because she isn’t sure if Tsuru is serious about her. Once again, Ken wishes there was something he could do, and thus he is transported back to the past to change the future…

It starts immediately after where the series left off. Many complained about the ending of the series, how they wanted more. I thought the ending was great. I thought that an ending of hugs, kisses and gooey stuff wouldn’t have worked. Here, in the special, I think they have presented “what happened next” more realistically than that, which is great. We get the next scene without too much cliche.

Tsuru and Eri’s wedding takes place in Hawaii… It makes me want to go there soooo bad!! The special has all the comedic parts that I loved in the show… Socrates and the teacher/pottery guy being stupid (with some drag which is always welcome in any show!). Also loved the appearance of the marathon runner in the hostess club!

The show plays on past themes, such as the intro of the wedding (Ken being late and running, always running). It also ties things up nicely with an appearance from all the major and minor players. This time Ken is much wiser with his time spent in the past. There doesn’t seem to be too many, if any at all, moments where I want to hit Ken into action!

I think this special has everything you could want from a special. What makes this not as good as the show, in my opinion, is that the focus is on Eri/Tsuru’s relationship as the main story arch rather than Ken/Rei. However, I do think, like I mentioned in my review of the last episode, I do think that if it had been about them, it would have felt like the “same old”. Conclusion: There was no way to win this one, the special was never going to be as good as the series.

However, not to say this was bad. Far from it! I enjoyed it a lot and think this is better than some shows I’ve seen! Highly recommended.

Tsuru is so funny. Mainly because of his height.

Masami-san needs to learn how to laugh better! And the fake kiss. I mean, yay for kiss, it was more intense (because of length) than others, but we need some kind of movement people!!

A fitting conclusion to this awesome series.

• Proposal Daisakusen Review Index
• Purchase Special DVD from YesAsia

Last Friends
ラスト・フレンズ
Episode Four
First Aired: 1st May 2008
Carlie’s Rating:
Rate This Episode: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Michiru stays at the share house while Sousuke stalks Ruka to find out where Michiru is. Meanwhile, Orugin and Eri go pair cup shopping.

They cut the opening sequence! Poo! I really enjoy the opening, I just feel it is so powerful, and they cut it! I don’t mind so much, it means an extra 30 seconds or so of action. But Poo!

It is refreshing to see Nishihara Aki acting like such a bitch after only seeing her in “good girl” roles such as Hana Yori Dango’s Yuki. I can’t help wonder if there is something going on with her bullying though…

I also feel sorry for Ruka. Why can’t we all be treated as equals? It’s stuff like that that pisses me off.

Ogurin is cute in a wall-paper kind of way. Yeah, his character is very bland. I like Eri, but her voice is so irritating! I can see her staring in a Japanese version of The Nanny.

In this episode we learn more about Sousuke from Michiru’s point of view. I feel so bad for Ruka that Michiru doesn’t even see her pain or how she worries for her. Michiru is blind to it all.

Is waiting all night in the rain for someone sweet or sinister (or stupid!). I can understand what they were trying to do at the end of this episode. Someone standing in the rain, waiting for me… that is a stupid yet sweet action. We see this kind of thing in Hana Yori Dango. However, because we know Sousuke’s history, we see it as a sinister action. I can see how Michiru could interpret it as an action of someone who cares for her very much.

BillyWest alerted me to this Mainichi news article (not currently accessible) where the author can’t understand why Michiru went back to Sousuke at this point. I think that the author of this article doesn’t fully understand what women can go through when they are in this situation. In fact, I can’t either, but I do know someone who has gone through this situation. In this show I see all the “classic” or “cliche” things that people in a domestic violent situation go through. I have seen someone go back to a violent man two times, something that I only understand on the surface. This news article thinks that this show isn’t an accurate portrayal of DV, but in my limited experience I think it is.

Another episode that I really enjoyed.

Um… Perhaps the whole Sousuke drama is getting a bit too melodramatic. A bit repetitive?

I am still enjoying this show a lot.

Densha Otoko is the story of a nerd who saves a girl on the train from a drunk man. He then undergoes a transformation with help from his internet friends to woo the girl. It’s the classic story but this movie goes to show that the old stories still are the best.

The drama series was the first drama that I watched. It was OK, and I really enjoyed the first special.

It was back in the days before I paid attention to Oguri Shun and Horikita Maki. It was back in the days when it took me a moment to realise that “otoko” and “otaku” aren’t the same words. It was the beginning of something fantastic that would take over my life. Who knows how much spare time I would have now if I had never watched that show.

But it wasn’t until recently that I finally got around to watching the movie. I should say now, I know this movie, as well as the TV series is very popular. As I watched it, I couldn’t help compare it to the series.

In the series Densha Otoko was much more nerdy than Yamada could ever be. As for Hermes, well… I thought she didn’t display/command the awe that the Hermes in the series did. Ito Misaki, while very emotionless in her portrayal, does win over the movie Hermes, played by Miki Nakatani. However, Nakatani’s Hermes felt much more human, something that I quite liked.

Eita’s hair, always a character in itself, is two very enthusiastic thumbs up from me. Slick and sexy. Ooooh yeah.

Overall, this is such a sweet tale that has been told many times before. Looser boy falls for dream girl – I think this is the basis for a lot of shounen manga. This movie is a nice modern spin on it. Plus the “true story” tag, I can really understand why this movie has mass appeal. And it appeals to me as well.

I liked the ASCII art. I like that they explained what it is that Hermes likes about Densha Otoko.

I laughed during their “sweet” kiss. It was just awkward, and like in the series, he cries too much. Some bits dragged on for a bit.

What’s up with Orange Range? They have to be the kings of theme songs.

I like how the movie and the tv series are somewhat connected. A nice touch.

Overall, I give this

Buy Densha Otoko

• Densha Otoko – US Version
• Densha Otoko – Japanese Version – Standard
• Densha Otoko – Japanese Version – Special Edition

Trailer

Zettai Kareshi
絶対彼氏
Episode 4
Aired: 6th May 2008
Carlie’s Rating:
Rate This Episode: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Knight is now mika’s boyfriend because she reset him when they kissed. Soushi is still obsessed with cream puffs. Riko is still pouting.

You know, it feels like the only reason Riko cares about Knight is because something of hers has been taken away from her, like a child who only wants a toy because another child has it. It sucks, I’m thinking “what the hell is the point??” Abu Saki’s acting is also just irritating me at the moment. I think the biggest thing is I’m just dissapointed because this show could have gone so well… I don’t have much to say, but I’m going to give this . It’s on the edge of going down a heart though…

Comment on review…

Sugar x Life by Hazuki Yuui

This is my first video review, so be kind! I have much to improve on, I promise they will only get better.

As for Sugar x Life, watch the video for the review, but overall I did enjoy it. It was a bit of fun, and it was exciting the amount I was able to understand. It was a pleasant experience.

You can get Sugar x Life from Yes Asia

Ruka and Takeru see Sousuke about to abuse Michiru – so her secret is out. Takeru gets an unwanted phone call, and becomes the newest member of the share house. And the cups become a pair…

During the first scene, where Ruka and Takeru see the Sousuke and Michiru incident no.34, the music felt really upbeat somehow. It was a bit distracting in some parts. Music should compliment, not be distracting! How ever, it was good to see some of the same moments of last week’s episode from a different perspective.

A bit more is revealed about Takeru’s past – not much, but enough to wet our lips.

Ruka and Michiru have a girl talk, where Michiru reveals that she has never felt loved before by anyone, until now with Sousuke. Which explains a lot of her behaviour, how ever she completely disregards everything Ruka has felt and done for her. It must have also been painful for Ruka to hear her defending him.

Takeru joins the house and he and Ruka have “pair cupts”. Very cute. We know that the cups are important, as they are featured in the opening sequence, they are a what everyone was shopping for in the first episode when the three main characters “came together” – even if they didn’t know it themselves at the time – and well, Michiru and Sousuke also have pair cups. I could go on and on. In fact, we have at the d-addicts forum.

Michiru asks for help from Ruka which is a fantastic step. She calls Ruka and says she wants to see her. Having to sneak behind your boyfriend’s back should be a warning sign, but nothing is ever clear when you are living it.

Michiru realises that she needs both Sousuke and Ruka in her life. And so she stands up for herself when Sousuke tries to forbid her to see Ruka. Yay! This was, in my opinion, a very powerful scene. It crossed between the verbal fight between Michiru and Sousuke, and a card game between the share house. Watch carefully from when Ruka gets a good card or a bad one.

In the end, you could say, Ruka wins both fights. It felt like a very powerful ending for the episode. I cried. I don’t know how anyone could not be affected by this episode. It felt like Michiru made some “progress”, some how.

Very powerful episode.

Pass…

OK, you already know I liked this one.