#soru posting

[soruya]

Guy who buys outfits for characters they don’t have yet.

(This is about Arknights)

[soruya]

Caught up on 25 Ji Akasaka de season 2 and I’m seeing Ame to Zange as a metaphor for Shirasaki’s insecurities and his upcoming development.

At first, Shirasaki’s admiration for and desire to stand as an equal to Hayama were earnest and positive motivators driving him forward. He’s always respected Hayama and really saw him in a way no one else did.

Once rehearsals for Ame to Zange started and Shirasaki struggled with embodying the role of Muroga Jun, Shirasaki became anxious and insecure. He’s comparing himself to Hayama in a way that highlights his own inadequacies (especially after losing the opportunity to be the face of the cosmetics brand Hayama previously was the face of) and wishes he could be more like him. This is amplified by his getting Hayama’s dream role after Hayama dropped out.

Then when Aoyama (the play director) asks Kuroki to try playing Muroga Jun during rehearsals after finding Shirasaki’s performance lacking, Shirasaki’s feelings of inadequacy worsen. And it does not help that Aoyama was rumored to recast roles if he found an actor’s performance unsatisfactory.

Shirasaki is being overcome by envy, in the same way Muroga Jun (Nakamura Yusaku) was envious of the real Muroga Jun. Envy for Hayama, envy for Kuroki. He wants to live up to the expectations that others have of Hayama and now, Kuroki. He wants to be seen.

As he seemingly comes close to losing the lead role, Shirasaki may ironically become closer to his character and relate to him better.

[soruya]

I’ve been watching 25ji Akasaka de season 2 and I love that they didn’t go with the break up plot for drama and instead had Hayama and Shirasaki decide to stay together and navigate maintaining their public personas together

And I love that Akeno was supportive after she understood that Hayama knew the possible ramifications of what maintaining a relationship with Shirasaki would mean as an actor

I don’t think I’ve often seen plots where celebrities are dating and have to navigate being public figures while keeping their relationship private, so I am looking forward to seeing how 25ji Akasaka de will execute it

All in all, it’s really refreshing to see Hayama and Shirasaki properly think things through and communicate and make difficult decisions together

[soruya]

25 Ji Akasaka de season 2 episode 3 gave me pure domestic bliss with Shirasaki and Hayama living together and promising plot development with the stage play auditions.

I love how much more confident Shirasaki is as an actor and a person, eagerly taking on auditioning for a stage role with a prestigious director and being more proactively flirtatious with Hayama when he was making gyoza ^^

And for the upcoming tension and conflict of the two of them auditioning for the same role in the same stage play (that means a lot to both of them for different reasons), this is such a great plot to go with. I was even wondering in the middle of the episode how Hayama and Shirasaki would navigate competition and tension from auditioning for roles in the same works while in a relationship.

They may be a happy couple, but they also work in the same industry, so I am very interested in seeing how the two of them handle this audition process and how it will affect their personal relationship.

[soruya]

Random Thoughts About the Takumi-kun Series

With the Takumi-kun TV drama airing right now, thought I’d ramble about the series in general. These are thoughts and feelings I’ve had about the Takumi-kun series over the years ever since I watched the original films over a decade ago (it’s been that long wow).

The films were the kind of calming media that I could consume and relax to on a rainy day, even with some of the tragic storylines like everything to do with Takumi’s trauma and Suzuki Takeshi’s terminal illness that claims his life in the 2nd film Niji-iro no Glass. I just enjoyed watching the characters going about their boarding school lives while figuring out their relationships. This ended up extending to the manga adaptation and novel translations I could find. Thinking back, a large part of it too was the calm natural setting of the mountains that Shidou Academy was nestled in and how homey the dorms, library, and other buildings looked. And the melancholy soundtrack.

The plots mainly consisted of relationship drama, with some elements that have not aged well (I’m specifically thinking of Gii forcing himself on Takumi to cure his human contact phobia after Takumi receives the letter from his mom to visit his brother’s grave). But even with the series’ many flaws, there was some underlying tenderness about the series that always kept it lingering in my mind, even long after the original films ended.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the reboot film was announced for the 30th anniversary and I was excited that it seemed to be adapting the series in chronological order this time around. I wasn’t sure if there would be any continuation after that, but I also became curious about if they would change certain elements that involved dated tropes.

I’ve been enjoying the new TV drama and I’ve liked the changes they’ve made so far in terms of character intentions and the execution of conflicts.

The main examples that stood out the most to me were:

• The reason Gii made the bet with Nozaki in episode 3 over Takumi. In the original source and prior adaptations, they were treating Takumi as a prize to be won and disregarding his agency whereas in the TV drama, Gii rejects Nozaki’s bet immediately and asserts that Takumi is free to be with whom he wants. But Nozaki threatened to continue pursuing Takumi without any intervention, regardless of his feelings and boundaries, so Gii accepts the bet to protect Takumi and get Nozaki away from him. I still don’t really like the bet as a plot device to get Takumi to assert his feelings for Gii for the first time, but at least the road to get there isn’t as objectifying of Takumi as it was in previous iterations.

• The conversation that Gii and Takumi have in the middle of the night when Gii notices that Takumi can’t sleep because of the rain. In previous iterations, Gii tells Takumi that he loves him but then expresses frustration over not being able to be with Takumi in a more physically intimate way. It just made Gii in those versions come off as selfish and even manipulative. In the TV drama, Gii expresses concern for Takumi and tells him that he wants to help Takumi carry whatever burden was weighing him down, offering for Takumi to tell him if anything was wrong. Gii’s attentiveness in the TV drama helps make his love for Takumi more convincing and sincere. And he doesn’t force Takumi to tell him anything either, he just lets him know that he’s there for him if he needs him. It’s more “I see that you’re troubled by something and I’m worried and want to help you, so please tell me if there is anything wrong so I can help you” and less “I will die if you don’t let me touch you because that’s what lovers should be doing.” Some of this is undercut somewhat by Gii pushing Takumi’s boundaries when it came to expressing love earlier in the drama, but I do have hope, based on the opening video with Gii lightly holding Takumi close to him on one of their beds, that the scene of Takumi telling Gii about his brother and his traumatic past will be handled differently and tactfully in this adaptation.

For another relationship, I admit that I was never really that invested in the Misu/Shingyoji relationship back when I saw them in the old films, but the way they are portrayed in the TV drama has me finally interested in their dynamic. I love that TV drama Shingyoji is very much a lively and energetic puppy and Misu is aloof but quietly fascinated by Shingyoji. It’s subtle but it feels more mutual already (and it’s giving me big Hira/Kiyoi vibes from Utsukushii Kare lol).

I noticed that the drama updated the setting to the 21st century through seeing characters using a Mac laptop and smartphones, but I like that they had Shidou’s mountain location be so isolated that smartphones are obsolete while the students are at school. I just cannot imagine the characters in Takumi-kun going through the plot while using smartphones (it would make them feel disconnected from each other). Having them be able to use smartphones and reliable Wi-Fi at school would also progress plots too quickly or make several conflicts and social fallouts even worse if everyone knew what was happening via social media and online circles.

However, the drama is NOT newcomer-friendly and does require some prior Takumi-kun exposure to at least know the characters and some background information from their 1st year at Shidou. It also really needs more than 6 episodes to flesh out all the relationships that it wants to and to let the nostalgic and relaxing atmosphere I always felt from the previous iterations properly set in. Since I’ve consumed Takumi-kun across multiple mediums for several years, the TV drama feels familiar to me, but for someone who’s new… not so much. It would be best to watch the recent Takumi-kun movie Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa first at the very least, but that one is not as easy to find or internationally available, as far as I know.

Also, if this drama gets any continuation or expansion, I really want them to flesh out how Gii fell in love with Takumi since he mentions having loved him for a long time in the novels, manga, and films, with the 1st film outright showing a photo of them together as kids at a violin recital. He even tells Takumi in the novels that he went to a recital Takumi performed at since he was previously well-acquainted with Takumi’s music teacher. Among other things, it would make the shared gaze they held in the Nagai Nagai Monogatari Hajimari no Asa film at the entrance exams be more meaningful than just being handwaved as love at first sight. It would be recognition and catharsis from Gii’s side at meeting Takumi again, which would add more emotional weight to that moment in my opinion.

On a humorous note, it really wouldn’t be a Takumi-kun screen adaptation continuation if they didn’t change the actors from the previous installment lol (at least Kato Daigo stayed as Gii). And it wouldn’t be a Takumi-kun screen adaptation continuation if they didn’t reshoot Gii’s confession to Takumi in the music hall with the new actors and have a flashback scene to it lol.

[soruya]

As a long time horror fan, I thought I was immune to what a lot of horror could throw at me.

I watched Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (곤지암) for the first time last night before bed and that movie got me good. The fact it was mostly framed like the viewer was watching an actual livestream and the characters’ reactions being so raw was so viscerally unsettling.

And I thought it was effective that we didn’t see most of the ghosts clearly at all.

I was so shaken after finishing the movie that I just lay in bed too scared to move.

[soruya]

Phone browser borked probably because of a full cache, so haven't been able to post here as much orz

[soruya]

Jekyll & Hyde musical: We have our leading actor playing the two titular characters for most of the musical.

Frankenstein musical (Korea): Hold my beer. *contains multiple major actors playing two different characters*

I say this with utmost affection because I love both musicals with all of my heart. I also thought it was interesting seeing the Jekyll & Hyde influence on Frankenstein, especially in the music. It makes sense since Jekyll & Hyde is immensely popular in Korea.