Joined: 29 Jun 2004 Posts: 911 Location: Deus Vult Country:
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:20 pm Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
Fangirl logic from D-Addicts:
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the last three episodes of Last Friends were quite disappointing, but it doesn't make it the WORST j-drama ever....at least for me. i still love it much, and it will always be my BEST jdrama ever..
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Wild guess: the total number of dramas seen by this person: ONE.
Could be more. The rest could have been Takuya Kimura or Shingo Katori dramas.
Joined: 28 Feb 2008 Posts: 1351 Location: Davis, CA
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:37 am Post subject:
meoinkie2 wrote:
found this rather funny pic on the 'net..
I'm guessing that with the way this drama was going, she was thinking she'd rather be in the same drama as Tamaki talking to deer instead to having to fight off cardboard cutouts for screentime.
I'm guessing that with the way this drama was going, she was thinking she'd rather be in the same drama as Tamaki talking to deer instead to having to fight off cardboard cutouts for screentime.
I've always been spiteful toward all the roles Ryo have played, but he really won me over in Last Friends. His expression changes were great, and the conflict inside him was almost tangible.
My reply: Does cardboard have expressions?
Some of the posts over there CONTINUE to amaze me.
Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 3437 Location: Sao Paulo Country:
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:00 am Post subject:
I�Lve just read an article on of the most important newspapers of Brazil ("Folha de Sao Paulo") about "Last Friends" with lots of praises on the dorama and on Ueno Juri�Ls acting. That�Ls amazing, considering the fact that the dorama have never been aired over here. I must confess I�Lm really curious now to watch it ... _________________
Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 11363 Location: �I�[�X�g�����A Country:
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:06 am Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
More comedy from D-Addicts:
Quote:
I've always been spiteful toward all the roles Ryo have played, but he really won me over in Last Friends. His expression changes were great, and the conflict inside him was almost tangible.
My reply: Does cardboard have expressions?
Some of the posts over there CONTINUE to amaze me.
I�Lve just read an article on of the most important newspapers of Brazil ("Folha de Sao Paulo") about "Last Friends" with lots of praises on the dorama and on Ueno Juri�Ls acting. That�Ls amazing, considering the fact that the dorama have never been aired over here. I must confess I�Lm really curious now to watch it ...
Hey Betsy-chan!
There's a lotta buzz about this drama because of the eyebrow-raising subject matter: domestic violence, gender confusion, incest, etc...
The following is something I wrote earlier on at a thread that is not related to 'last friend' only to Juri chan, so I moved it here, wondering what's your take on it: (credit for bmwracer for reminding)
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Report from other internet site indicates that "Last Friend" movie will begin shooting in August 2008. Stay tuned.
The part of that article that's been bothering me now is not the drama itself (train-wreck -- *cough* Judan ja nai! *cough* ), but that they are going to have Ryo back, as Sousuke's twin identical brother. Nothing personal against Ryo, I just don't like this whole notion of making any popular figure died to come back alive.
(This person is a member here, but she hasn't posted since 2006... )
awrittensin wrote:
I know I'm a little late to the party here, but I finally got around to watching Last Friends, so here's my (kind of lengthy) review. It's pretty opinionated and I know some of them aren't the most popular opinions (after reading some other posts on the forum) so I just wanted to throw my two cents in.
There are spoilers which I did not tag since it's been over for over a month now, so if you haven't watched the whole thing, don't keep reading.
I think this drama had great potential but the writer dropped the ball. (Where have I heard that before?) It was an interesting, complex story that kept you wanting to find out what happened. The feelings Ruka had toward Michiru were believable and made you want to root for something to come of them. However, I think it was a mistake for the writer to make her have so-called "Gender Identity Disorder" than to just make her a lesbian. I think they did this for shock value, complete with the hinting of her having a sex change, but never had the balls to follow up with it and in the end that part of the story was just completely abandoned and never resolved. But I think she was an extremely interesting character - they made her seem tough without cold and emotional without being too weak. I especially appreciated that her parents were (somewhat begrudgingly) supportive of her lifestyle.
As for Michiru, what a freaking mess. I feel sorry for Nagasawa Masami for having to play such a one-dimensional, weak character. Michiru was nothing but weak. She could not stand up for herself. She didn't not WANT to stand up for herself. The only reason she got out of the abusive relationship with Sousuke is because her friends dragged her, practically kicking and screaming, out of it. And even then she just did what her friends told her to. She had no brain. No will. She was just a piece of pathetic clay for everyone around her to mold as they pleased. I never really got the feeling that Michiru ACTUALLY felt that what Sousuke did to her was wrong. And we're not talking about a few shoves or a slap here. We're talking throwing her down on the ground and KICKING HER STOMACH REPEATEDLY abuse. WTF?? Michiru acted like she was 12 the whole drama. She had very little growth as a character. She reacted to Ruka's feelings in the same way - by running away. She was so damned stupid she fell for Sousuke's shit every single time, and even after he raped her she was like "Oh, if you promise not to hurt my friends I'll stay here with you." Riiight. What a weak, worthless waste of space.
Now for Takeru. I think they dropped the ball on his character, too. The WHOLE drama they kept hinting about his sister molesting him, but they NEVER had the balls to appropriately address the issue. Why even bring it up if they couldn't talk about it frankly? They made such an issue about it the whole time you kept waiting for the moment when he'd trust his friends enough to confide in them, but it never happened. In the end, the only one he even KIND OF told was Ruka, and even then it turned into some totally lame, vague story about his sister wanting him on her side. That could mean anything. I think they wanted to drop those hints to create controversy and buzz for the show, which is a shame because they really could have addressed something serious and dealt with it in a powerful way but instead they just made it seem like he was too ashamed to be able to open up to anyone fully about it.
Eri's character was a total waste of space. Nothing happened. She contributed nothing. And she was extremely annoying. Next.
I hated Sousuke's character. The reason I hated Sousuke's character is because they tried to give him this pitiful background as an excuse for why he behaved the way he did. Well, I hate to tell the writer, but many people grew up without parents or grew up in a lot shittier circumstances than he did and don't grow up to repeatedly abuse their girlfriends with no remorse. It was a complete cop-out at making his character "complex" or some ridiculous crap, which was completely ineffective for me. You do not have to be a product of your environment. This goes for Michiru, too. She grew up to repeat the mistakes of her mother because she was weak and had no will. The same for Sousuke. He was weak and that's why he did what he did. He was someone who did not deserve to be alive, and while I'm glad he died, I think the way they did it was an utter cop-out. I refuse to believe that after all the horrific beatings he gave Michiru that a few damn pictures of her eating shish-kebabs made him release he'd done wrong. I don't think he would have ever had the courage to kill himself. I think he was a psychopath who would never ever kill himself because doing that would mean setting Michiru free, and I don't think he ever intended to set her free. But the writer wrote herself into a corner by making him so irredeemable and by never getting the police involved. I think the proper ending for his character should have been sitting in a jail somewhere for the rest of his life in a room with no windows so he couldn't stalk his precious Michiru anymore. But the ridiculously over the top suicide with him slitting his wrists with some wedding dress draped over him (that we had never seen previously) soaked in blood was just too much. Total overkill. Pardon the pun.
The writer purposefully tried to "drop" things that would keep the viewers completely guessing. From the first episode, it almost sounds like Ruka was the one who died. Along with the molestation of Takeru, etc. But the thing I had the biggest problem with was the COMPLETELY unnecessary comment Michiru's doctor made about the high blood pressure. It was absolutely pointless and contrived to make you think something would go wrong with the baby, when obviously that did not happen.
And don't even get me started on the overly cheesy Rumi.
In the end, I think the drama had potential but it was the writer's fault that it didn't turn out to be great. I wouldn't waste my time watching it again. I got more frustrated than entertained.
Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 3225 Location: Malaysia
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:39 pm Post subject:
The reason I hated Sousuke's character is because they tried to give him this pitiful background as an excuse for why he behaved the way he did. Well, I hate to tell the writer, but many people grew up without parents or grew up in a lot shittier circumstances than he did and don't grow up to repeatedly abuse their girlfriends with no remorse. It was a complete cop-out at making his character "complex" or some ridiculous crap, which was completely ineffective for me. You do not have to be a product of your environment.
Well-said! Almost like what I commented on my LJ:
That's not right. Michiru doesn't deserve all the things that Sousuke did to her. Whatever cruel, twisted past he once had does not make it right for him to torture Michiru that way. Not even one ounce of remorse, guilt or conscience coming out of that man, and all that's present was that he's just being hypocrite. How did people sympathize with him and not the victim? That's so not right! Just because he's Ryo playing Sousuke, that DOES NOT mean that he's the "oh poor soul who's haunted by a dark past blablabla"! In reality, there are a lot of people who go through (probably) even worse situations than Sousuke in the past, but they make choices to do something positive about it. People like Sousuke are just weak. You just don't sympathize with people like this when they start going around abusing people. _________________
Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!
The reason I hated Sousuke's character is because they tried to give him this pitiful background as an excuse for why he behaved the way he did. Well, I hate to tell the writer, but many people grew up without parents or grew up in a lot shittier circumstances than he did and don't grow up to repeatedly abuse their girlfriends with no remorse. It was a complete cop-out at making his character "complex" or some ridiculous crap, which was completely ineffective for me. You do not have to be a product of your environment.
Well-said! Almost like what I commented on my LJ:
That's not right. Michiru doesn't deserve all the things that Sousuke did to her. Whatever cruel, twisted past he once had does not make it right for him to torture Michiru that way. Not even one ounce of remorse, guilt or conscience coming out of that man, and all that's present was that he's just being hypocrite. How did people sympathize with him and not the victim? That's so not right! Just because he's Ryo playing Sousuke, that DOES NOT mean that he's the "oh poor soul who's haunted by a dark past blablabla"! In reality, there are a lot of people who go through (probably) even worse situations than Sousuke in the past, but they make choices to do something positive about it. People like Sousuke are just weak. You just don't sympathize with people like this when they start going around abusing people.
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), but that they are going to have Ryo back, as Sousuke's twin identical brother. Nothing personal against Ryo, I just don't like this whole notion of making any popular figure died to come back alive.
)
