Nodame Cantabile: it’s otaku power that rules the world!

This year, sadly, saw the end of one of my favourite series. After almost 10 years of bewitchment, Ninomiya-sensei finally drew the curtain on her window into the lives of Nodame, Chiaki and friends. If I were to pick out exactly what it was that wove its spell around me, I’d have to say it was Tamaki Hiroshi’s Chiaki conducting that final concert at the end of the Japan arc. Rousing and majestic, I’ll never again forget Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7. But going deeper, I would say that it was the rich feelings of love that this story is steeped in, a demonstration of how ardent love is key to so much in life. Whilst it is sad to say goodbye, I will never forgot the important lessons that I learned from this wonderful story of life, love and music.

Antique: do you like what you do?

If you don’t like cake, if you don’t live it, how can you sell it?

That line, of course, isn’t actually from the film…well, not that I remember. But that’s essentially what patissier Seon Woo (Kim Jae Wook) asks his employer – who also happens to be his first crush – Jin Hyeok (Joo Ji Hoon), once he realises that the latter actually can’t stand eating sweets…

So why does Jin Hyeok run a cake shop, despite the fact that he despises sweets? The answer lies in a traumatic experience he had as a child. Kidnapped and held for two months, the only thing he remembers is that his kidnapper fed him cake everyday. Opening a bakery to assure his mother and grandmother that he’s recovered from the ordeal, Jin Hyeok’s ulterior motive is to try and draw out his kidnapper.

However, despite this overreaching storyline, the predominant attraction of Antique are its characters. A prim owner who can turn on the charm when he needs to; a master patissier, also known as the “Gay of Demonic Charm” because no man, gay or otherwise, can help falling for him; an eager ex-boxer whose other great love is of cake; and a simple but loyal follower. Hiring a gay man, especially one of that reputation, to work in a cafe staffed entirely by men can only be insanely stupid, right? But it made for great comedy and mouth-watering cakes! I particularly enjoyed the sequences of Jin Hyeok’s crash course in baking and the hectic preparations for his Christmas delivery…and did I just want to have a taste of those desserts myself! However, the little scenes here and there, which demonstrated how much this group of four men grew to care for each other (with or without the homoerotic subtext), were the highlights. If there was one thing I didn’t like, it was Jean and how he was so easily forgiven – violence is unforgivable, no matter who it is! But I guess you could say the story was realistic in that sense.

     

And the eye-candy was quite nice anyway…pardon the tangent. (^_^)

However, what remains with me is still the question I started with: if you don’t like cake, how can you sell it? It expresses a very pertinent point about life in general. Do you like what you are doing? If you do, well, you’re one of the lucky ones whose managed to combine your passion and your career. But if you don’t…do you leave to find something you like? Or should you try to find something within that career that you like? Not that Antique proposes any answers to these questions, but is that not something each person is meant to find out for themselves?

Year Review 2009, part 2

Favourite Character

Takizawa Akira. I was actually going to choose Hitagi (who’s apparently more popular with women than with men…at least according to the seiyuu…), but the romantic in me won out. Tak-kun may be unpredictable and hard to grasp, but if I ever found a guy like him, I’d probably take Saki’s lead and never let go of him. Last minute change (sorry, Tak-kun! Eden not ending on time really isn’t doing it for me!). Can’t help it, I find Leopard absolutely hilarious!

Review: Coffee Prince

After the craziness that was Gung, I took a very long break from Korean dramas. I’m sure that if I really checked them out, I’d add way too many things to my watch list, so I just ignored them until a friend really really strongly recommended Coffee Prince. It probably helped that we’d just been to Seoul then (though I must say – I didn’t go looking for the shop featured in the show).

Go Eun Chan’s life is not easy: as the main breadwinner in her family, she works at several different part time jobs, the demands of which have forced her to give up her dreams and even her femininity. She runs into Choi Han Gul who, mistaking her for a man, hires her to play his gay lover so that his grandmother would stop arranging dates for him. His grandmother has also put a decrepit coffee shop under his control in a last-ditch effort to make him grow up and take some responsibility. Shortly after, two of Eun Chan’s part-time jobs fall through, and she ends up begging to work in that coffee shop…around which they and several others start to weave a complicated web of feelings.

Review: Ketsuekigata betsu onna ga kekkon suru houhou

血液型別オンナが結婚する方法, or “How to get your fairytale marriage as a woman of blood-type (~)”

Over the past couple of years, Japan has gone crazy over a set of books by Jamais Jamais, which have become somewhat of a bible for the understanding people by their bloodtypes. The books have been on hold at the library every since I first spotted them, so I chose simply to buy my own set…though now I have no time in which to read them.

Well…I do, if I make the time, but that’s besides the point.

Anyway, I recently learned of this 4-part drama special from April of this year. Each episode depicts a woman representing one bloodtype, who is trying to attract (or find) the guy of her dreams. The four women are all named Sachie (幸恵) (which means “happy/fortunate blessings”), and their best friends are all played by Kondo Haruna. The stories are otherwise unconnected in any way. The stories were sometimes cheesy, and will probably rankle feminists, but Ketsuekigata betsu onna was, for me, a somewhat entertaining four nights.

Little things that can make a world of difference, part 1

I never really thought about this until I ran across someone who mentioned that the Cross Game characters are now into their second year of high school (anime obviously, not manga). The truth? They’re only about 5 months into their first year!

Why the misconception? Well, the answer lies in a difference between the schools in Japan and those of certain other countries. Schools in the U.S., Britain and Australia all begin the school year after the long summer vacation. Students typically do not have any summer homework (because their teachers are changing anyway!), and they happily while away 2-3 months at the beach, shopping centres and movie theaters, or perhaps in a darkened home at room etc etc. Wonderful childhood, really, and of course it makes sense to have arrange the school year such that kids get a nice long rest after all their hard work, right?

Perhaps surprisingly, Japan doesn’t subscribe to that particular philosophy. Instead, the school (and working) year is designed around the seasons. Spring (April) marks the new beginning of the year for all layers of society, from kindergartens to companies. For the Japanese mind (and heart), it is fitting that this bright season, floating in sakura petals, marks the new beginning of just about every stage in a person’s life.

Quick summary: the Japanese school year is divided into three terms, with the corresponding “holidays”: Spring-Summer term – summer vacation (about 6 weeks from late July-early September) – Autumn term – Christmas/New Year break (about 2 weeks) – Winter-Spring term – Spring vacation (about 2 weeks in late March/early April). The exact timing of the breaks differs from region to region. In Okinawa, summer vac is unusually long, whilst the winter break is obviously longer in Hokkaido. edit: and in case there are people who don’t know – lots of subbers change the year level into the respective American grade, after all – the Japanese education system sends children through 6 years of elementary school (小学校), 3 of junior high (中学校) and 3 of senior high school (高校), with normal graduation at the age of 18. I might make another note on this at a later date.

The other thing that might confuse foreigners, especially those from Australia, is the fact that the 3rd year students stopped playing just 3 months into the year, when the preliminary tournaments are over. That’s because the rest of their year will be devoted to studying in order to get into their desired colleges or universities. Of course, those who win the prefectural/regional tournament will be representing their prefecture or region in the national tournament, which is held over the summer. The younger students will either be enjoying their one and only summer vacation (Haruhi and co.) or busting their asses to get to the respective national tournaments in their last two years. There should be another regional tournament towards the end of the Autumn term, where the teams will show the fruits of their summer labours, but the summer prelims around May will always take precedence.

Well, this particular difference probably wouldn’t affect your understanding of any show or manga with a school setting, but it might be interesting to know.

Random thoughts: Osen

The impression left on young Ezaki Yoshio by an elegant Okami awakens in him a yearning to be part of “real cuisine”. As a young man, Ezaki comes to a restaurant called Isshou-an to work under that okami, only to find that she has retired and left Isho-an in the hands of her daughter, Handa Sen. But Ezaki’s first impression of Osen, as she is known, leaves a lot to be desired. How does a young woman who has beer breath in the morning, drinks beer whilst having a bath, and otherwise gives the impression of an air-head, run a restaurant so steeped in culture?

Review: Ryuusei no Kizuna

The dramas that have come out since Last Friends ended haven’t really enticed me. Even after watching the 笑ってもいいとも！ Autumn special, nothing beckoned, although the セレブと貧乏たろう episode that I caught on TV was kinda interesting, if only to see a certain actor (whose name I don’t know actually) up the sleazeball ante from his character in ハチクロ. I ended up watching Ryuusei no Kizuna (流星の絆) on a whim, and the humour in the first episode kept me watching what turned out to be a pretty interesting series about three siblings who decide to take justice into their own hands as the deadline of the statute of limitations on their parents’ murder approaches, complicated of course, by growing romantic feelings and certain inconsistencies that lead to a dark secret…

Review: CHANGE

CHANGE. A Kimura Takuya drama about politics, recommended to me by a friend around the time we were watching Last Friends, CHANGE brings a glimpse of what Japanese politics is like, fast-tracked somewhat unbelievably and spiced up by a hint of romance of course. (Summary) Elementary school teacher Asakura Keita – better known to his fifth-graders as Mojakura for his…er…cauliflower hair style – is forced into politics when his father and brother are killed in a plane crash. His surprising win against veterans brings him into the scheming world of Japanese politics, where his naivete make him the perfect pawn in the manuveurings of the party’s senior politician and mentor figure, Kanbayashi. However, Keita’s ideals and earnestness gradually win him allies both in his team and in the parliament, whilst also endearing him to a public that has for too long felt separated from and deceived by their government.

Review: Last Friends

Last Friends (ラスト・フレンズ) is probably the most gripping Japanese drama of last year. It deals with the stories of 5 people who interact around a shared house in Tokyo: an air stewardess losing her faith in love (Eri), a woman with a troubled self-identity (Ruka), another (Michiru) with an abusive boyfriend (Sousuke), and a stylist with a traumatic past (Takeru). Each of these fire represents a different problem faced by the current generation: Love – Michiru; Liberation – Ruka; Agony – Takeru; Solitue – Eri; and Contradiction – Sousuke. These are the kinds of stories where, especially in Japan, the people experiencing them might just bury their problems and bear them as well as they can. However, the these issues are slowly drawn out into the open through Sousuke’s altercations with the rest.