Last Friends
 

 

 

This Japanese drama puts focus on human issues that are rarely addressed or kept secret most of the time. Issues such as domesic violence, gender identity confusion, adultery, and sexual child abuse are tackled in this drama. These issues  make this 11-episode show unique and really enjoyable to watch, especially when it weaves in a unique storyline that makes your emotions go haywire.
 

 

 

Summary: Michiru has been leading a pretty hard life which she thought would end when her boyfriend, Sousuke, invites her to live with him in his apartment. At the same time, Michiru and her junior high school best friend, Ruka, have reunited with her after four years of separation. These occurences have made her extremely happy, however, what she thought would be a happy life turned out to be something dreadful. Unable to cope with her problems, she runs into Ruka and from there, her life interweaves with Ruka and her housemates: Takeru, Ogura, and Eri.
 

 

 

Characters:

Aida Michiru  acted by Nagasawa Masami. Even though she’s pretty and well-dressed, I’m not really her fan since she’s very annoying in this drama. Michiru is a very (extremely) sweet and weak person, sort of a damsel in distress character. Coming from a broken family and a father who beats her, she seeks love in the wrong places. She’s the character who we can relate to our friends who won’t even take our advice and go on their pathetic stupid lives led blindly with love. Bleh. Her character put color in this drama, though.

Kishimoto Ruka acted by Ueno Juri. I’ve liked her since Nodame Cantabile and she’s even better here. Ruka is a lesbian who had hidden feelings for Michiru for a long time. In this series, Ruka is a motocross rider wanting to go professional, so she’s striving hard to win competitions. She seeks respect from certain individuals – not respect that is given to a woman, but to an individual. As Michiru drowns in her problems, Ruka always comes to her rescue and constantly tries to protect her.

Mizushima Takeru acted by Eita. I love this character since it’s so different from his acting in Nodame Cantabile. In this series, he’s a professional hair and make-up stylist and a part-time bartender who is being mistaken as homosexual most of the time by his colleagues. This is because he frequently avoids contact with women and fears to be involved in a relationship with them. He has a troubled past which has affected his view on women and relationship in general.

Oikawa Sousuke acted by Nishikido Ryo. Probably the scariest character I’ve seen on Japanese dramas, despite his good looks and resemblance to Victor Basa. Sousuke is Michiru’s boyfriend who works as a social worker. As Michiru starts to live with Sousuke, he becomes possessive of her, going into obsessive acts such as watching her while at work, controlling her life, and when disobeyed, he beats Michiru to a pulp. Brrrr, scary. 

Takigawa Eri acted by Mizukawa Asami. She is Ruka’s housemate who had issues with relationships for as long as she can remember. She works as a, stewardess, where she met a married man who she becomes involved with. Her character is very hyper and friendly and funny most of the time. 

I think that this series, compared to other light j-dramas, has a slightly mature theme. Domestic violence in itself is scary enough and seeing it on action is even scarier. This drama shows how Sousuke beats Michiru, why he beats her, and what he does when he becomes suspicious of her. Sousuke is really, really scary. What makes it more annoying is that Michiru lets him does this because she knows there’s a reason. Despite this reasoning being so stupid, I think that this is reality for most women who can’t fight back to their partners for committing domestic violence. 

Aside from domestic violence, the drama also gives light on real friendship. When  Sousuke goes mad, Ruka and her friends are ready to protect Michiru from him.

In terms of storyline, I just realized that each episode seem to become repetitive. It deserves to be called j-drama, with all the dramatic speeches and each of the characters’ issues that has no end. I didn’t think that Japan is pretty closed minded with lesbians, too. Ruka had a hard time revealing her true gender identity, which shocked the shell out of most characters. It’s really weird.

Despite the criticisms, this drama is a good watch. We’ve watched this in just one weekend since with the cliffhangers and preview of the next episode, we can’t just stop watching. So, go watch now!

Episode list:

1: The troubles we keep to ourselves: DV, pregnancy, and forbidden love

2: A life-and-death secret

3: A love that eats away life

4: A bond torn apart

5: A night of shock

6: A desperate getaway

7: A harsh reality

8: Last Letter

9: Your life

10: Love and death

11: To the future

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft Windows doesn’t have to rule your life – even when the OS requirement of a certain gadget doesn’t state Linux, don’t believe it.

 

Globe Tattoo, the rebranded version of Globe Visibility, is offered to Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. But netbook users using Linux Xandros won’t have to worry anymore – it’s just a matter of updating your Xandros’ system in order to use Globe Tattoo. No need to install Microsoft Windows.

 

The kit contains a USB extension cord, the USB modem, and the prepaid sim.

 

 

 

 

Globe Tattoo uses Huawei E160. It has been established that Huawei E220 works on Xandros. Huawei E160 needs an updated version of your system for it to work. For those Eee PC 701 users who haven’t updated anything in their netbook, now is a good time to update your system’s BIOS.

 

Eee PC’s creators haven’t provided an update to its software or its BIOS for a long time, so installing it would give support to various gadgets such, as, of course, the USB Modem Huawei E160.

 

Using Easy Mode:

 

Go to the Settings tab, then click on the Add/Remove Software icon.

 

In the window, go to the Settings tab again and look for the Bios entry. Click update. Make sure you are connected to the Internet.

 

If you don’t see the Bios entry, it means that your system is updated to the lated Bios settings.

 

It only takes that for the USB modem to be recognized in your Linux Xandros. However, when you plug the Globe Tattoo in your netbook, don’t expect it to pop out instantly. To ensure that the modem is really connected, go to control panel and go to hardware information, and pick hardware detection. Go to modem and you’ll see two entries:

 

Hua wei E160 1

Hua wei E160 2

 

They’re the same, and you know now that Xandros detects your USB modem.

 

Next step is to create a new connection in your network connections window.

 

Pick GSM/3G (UMTS) / HSDPA

 

Select any of the two Hua wei entries and click next.

 

You’ll then pick your service provider, which you’ll choose, of course, Globe.

 

For the address, if you purchased prepaid, type in http.globe.com.ph instead of the typed entry: internet.globe.com.ph.

 

Pick Globe WEB, not WAP.

 

I normally turn off the wireless detection device when I’m connecting to Globe. As you plug in your Globe Tattoo, wait for a few moments and connect to the network connection you configured.

 

And voila, you’re ready to surf the net!

Sometime early January, I was reading Speed magazine when I read something about an expensive Phiten Rakuwa bracelet which the description claimed that it ‘relieves pain and eases fatigue through its aqua titanium content’. After researching in the Internet, I found out that they also have a line of necklaces. And then I remembered seeing some professional badminton players wearing these accessories like Lu Lan -

And Wang Lin.

Most major league baseball players also wear Phiten Rakuwa accessories. Also include Japan major leaguers. Also professional golfers. It’s really amazing. You can think, the marketing was done so perfectly or the company has so much money they can afford all these unofficial endorsers.

 

I don’t really believe products that say: ‘no approved therapeutic claims’ such as, ermm, liquid chlorophyll. But for once, I wanted to try this product despite the high price tag. I’ve been suffering from fibromyalgia for x number of years and I wanted to relieve it somehow. Before I decided to purchase one of Phiten’s necklaces, I found testimonials where they said that the products really relaxed them, eased pain, and helped them sleep. Below are the links:

 

http://www.philmug.ph/forum/showthread.php?t=34545

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=goodLife3_oct28_2008

http://uncommonmagic.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/phiten-easy-way-to-release-stress/

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44686&highlight=Phiten

 

I don’t really understand the technology behind this, but according to www.phitenphil.com, the materials used in their products went through the phild process or “the method of incorporating nano particles of silver, gold, and titanium”. Through this technology, bio-electricity in the body is stabilized, helping maintain a balanced and relaxed state. I could get the idea, but how it works I wouldn’t even try to understand.

 

These products originated from a Japanese chiropractor. The main aim is to relax the muscles by increasing blood circulation in the body. From seeing badminton players wear these (note: Wang Lin and Lu Lan aren’t sponsored by Phiten) and reading all the testimonials, I really wanted to try it. So two weeks ago, I bought the cheapest version of the necklace:

I admit the necklace looks nice. Of course, the necklace relaxes the back muscles, as well as the neck and head. When braided into a bracelet, it relaxes the muscles of the arm. It sounds too good to be true. Well I need to experience it for myself.

As I wore the necklace right after I bought it, I felt so relaxed I wanted to go to bed and sleep. Hehe, but I think that’s placebo effect. For the next couple of days, I don’t even know if it does have an effect. But for sure, I have been sleeping soundly for some nights (except last night when I slept for 2 hours) and I haven’t been experiencing pricking sensations on the trigger points on my back. I can easily stretch my neck as well as my back. I think also, that it has affected my flexibility. I can stretch better than before – doing hard stretches without much effort. Well, it might just be my imagination.

 

I still don’t really believe these products and I’m not sure I can say it’s worth the money. But as I’ve said to myself before, it won’t hurt if you try these accessories just as long as you have your 13th month pay. Hehe.

If I suddenly see Php2,000 lying around, I’d like to buy this one. It looks cool. Hehe. But I won’t be a fool to buy this with my own money. No, no, no way.

(I am bored and I want to do something different, so I will start to review stuffs related to Japanese culture)

 

After a great badminton night with my family, elbi people, and some IRRI staff, we headed to eat. Originally we planned to eat at the ‘restaurant’ that a co-player owned, but then we saw a brand new establishment at the top of Boston Cafe: Koi Japanese restaurant.

The name is too direct and not too creative. There are, um, by the way, tons of Japanese restaurants in the country? But then there’s the ‘koi’ which I honestly haven’t noticed until later when I began taking photos. 

Going inside, the place was well-lit by too bright flourescent light, destroying the ambience of the place. There were lanterns on the ceiling that held the light, which are pretty enough. And when we got inside Utada Hikaru’s Flavour of Life is playing. Ehm, I smell anime otakus around.

The furniture looks very expensive. It establishes that sit-down restaurant concept well. Although I would love an elevated floor with tatami mats and low table where people can sit down on cushions on indian/japanese seat. I hope they first went to Kultura and observed the store layout. If they did, they would’ve nailed the Japanese dining experience. 

The girl who welcomed us said something like Irra-cheese-masen, which made me go ‘huh?’. Irrashaimase is supposedly easy to pronounce… But the effort is a nice touch to the place.

When they set the table, they put the bamboo sushi mat, a green marble chopsticks holder, and then ta-da! A pair of disposable chopsticks still on its plastic. Disappointment. Hehe. 

There’s also a sushi chef! 

And so we saw the menu and we began to sweat.

Everything was very VERY expensive. California maki past the P200 price, tempura past the same price, donburi meals that are past P150 price. Rice that have insane prices as well. My mum, who will pay the dinner, chose a really cheap (is P75 cheap though?) mixed rice with beef and vegetable (yakimeshi) that is, in Chowking language, would be beef chao fan. 

The container is cute enough, but the yakimeshi is puny. My mum was SO disappointed and I thought she was going to cry. Wahaha, the P75 rice is pretty pathetic. But it looks yummy though, since the rice is authentic Japanese rice.

Then came my order, gyudon. I forgot yet again that gyudon doesn’t have egg on it. 

It came with a vegetable soup that seemed so healthy I went bleaaagggh. So I gave it to my mum. The beef is tender and yummy though and I had no problem eating with my chopsticks since the rice is sticky enough. I had no idea what the yellow thing is and I had no desire to find out what it was. So I left it in the bowl. 

My sister got a basic three-piece ebi tempura with plain rice. My sister said there was something wrong with the taste and she didn’t enjoy it that much. Looking at the shrimp, it wasn’t that big enough too.

My dad’s dish, kitsune soba noodles with beef is a wonder. I was amazed since I saw that particular dish in Japanese shows and there are indeed ingredients (I have no idea what it was) that were moving on top of the dish! Wheeee it was a sight. 

And it looked kinda yummy too. I didn’t get to taste it though.

Although the gyudon tasted nice, I had to improve the spiciness with this Japanese chili powder. The spicier the better.

The food were tasty enough and the presentation were ok, but the service is pretty bad. There was this girl waiter who seemed annoyed with me when I was asking for water. Apparently she thought we haven’t placed our order and we were just sitting waiting for nothing. Then, the food were sloooow to be served. 

I’m guessing it’s their first try.

The place has lots of potential however why exactly did they decide to make a restaurant in a rural place filled with students who probably have no money most of the time? My mom gave the place three more months to live until it will close. 

I would want another try there but it’s unfortunately very expensive. Maybe when my otaku friends and I become rich, we would eat there one more time, but who knows? Would it still be open by then? Hehe.

every single minute he raises his head to think, to glance at the clock ticking in this solitary room washed in white. this place that he is staying in is a place that he could not call his own, but his mind is trapped. the time that has been ticking for so many seconds, minutes, hours. the room was locked outside, a single narrow block of opening gave him the opportunity to glance outside, to watch shadows cross, to watch eyes peeping and fleeing. 

 

he is not waiting for anything. 

 

he has no purpose to wait – no, in this room, only time was relevant –  or was it? his thoughts, his actions, his words wouldn’t prove importance in this solitary room. the ticking of the clock continued – the sound bouncing on the empty walls. there was nothing to wait for but the next tick of the clock and the change of the time. 

 

mornings and evenings were not a factor in this room, even the clock’s presence has not established this phenomenon. 

 

a minute passed and he slowly hang his head down again, waiting for the next minute to come, to let in the irrelevant thoughts, the echoing what-ifs, what could have been, his life, his purpose, his existence.

 

 

 

 

minsan ay naaninag nya ang araw na pawang sumisilip sa kanyang mumunting bintana. 

 

sa lugar na ito, ang mga pader ay malamig, hindi nagbabago anuman ang panahon. ngunit tuwing nasisilip nya ang sinag ng araw, isang hindi pamilyar na init ang kanyang nararamdaman, na mabilis namang nawawala. minsan ay napagisip isip nya kung ito ba ay isang ilusyon, ngunit kung iisipan pa niya ito ay wala namang papatunguhan. 

 

sa lugar na ito, pawang ang oras lamang ang may buhay. 

 

lahat ng kanyang kinikilos ay naihahalintulad nya sa hangin na dumarating na lamang. ngunit ano nga ba ang alam niya sa hangin? lahat ng mga bagay, ang hangin ay isa, ay mga kathang isip lamang. unti-unti nyang isinara ang kanyang mga mata habang pinapakinggan ang paggalaw ng orasan. 

 

paminsan minsan naiisip nya kung siya nga ba ay buhay? hindi nga ba siya isang pawang kaluluwa lamang? o siya ba ay nasa ibang mundo? ang mga ito ay walang importansya. 

 

unti-unti nyang minulat ang kanyang mata at tumitig muli sa orasan na walang humpay na gumagalaw, niloloko ang kanyang pagkatao, ang kanyang pagkabuhay, ang lahat ng ilusyon at kathang-isip sa lugar na ito na tanging ang orasan lamang ang may karapatang mabuhay.

I’m writing this because my cousin recommended that I blog about this.

Lately I feel that the wrinkles between my eyebrows are deepening since I’ve become easily pissed off whenever some jologs treat me like some celebrity. (just typing this made me subconsciously grit my teeth)

Some elaboration – they say hi, they wave, in other words they’re PAMPAM. Nagpapapansin.

And I’m not even celebrity material. The heck, I don’t even dress girly or sexy!

Well too bad they’re trying to get the wrong attention – instead of me taking notice of them and waving back or striking a conversation, I instead want to bash their jaws, break their neck, shoot them with a gun, slice them into half, throw a large rock at them to cause concussion, and even more. I guess they’re good at making me exercise my imagination, but of course, in an entirely negative way.

There’s this jologs tricycle driver guy in the Alabang village where I board who, for some reason, always sing that damned APO song which starts with ‘Nakasimangot ka naman palagi’ - he sings that line everyday when he sees me every morning and EVEN AT NIGHT when I pass by.

And he does it without fail. I really wanted to take the option of picking up a rock and throwing it at him in full force or punching him in the face repeatedly until his teeth falls out. I even imagined shooting him with a gun just to shut him up – SERIOUSLY. I want to seriously kill him.

I even curse everyday from hearing his damned voice and I rarely curse in my whole lifetime. I want to say it again now, TANGINA TALAGA!

But then again if I give him the attention he wants – even the negative attention – he might be even satisfied. Shit, so what do I do now?

He’s not the only jologs creep who I’ve encountered that treated me like some kind of a celebrity – or even an item in the supermarket. Just yesterday in South Supermarket in Bay, Laguna, there was this effin creep who crept past me and said ‘hi’ and I even had a whiff of his nauseating cologne. I looked around since I might know who greeted me but there the fuck he is, waving at me.

WHAT THE HECK??

I know that I shouldn’t really take this seriously, but I’m really offended. What do they see me as, an effin whore who’ll wave back, be flattered at the attention and strike up a conversation, go with them on a date? OF COURSE NOT! Who would even think it’s a great way to meet people when first of all, they act as a creep by just wanting to take my attention? I don’t even know them, and I DON’T want to know them.

In that village as well, there are these people from the squatters area who greet me with ‘Hi, cute’ when I pass by. They’re too close that I want to pack a large rock, get it from the bag, and then bash it on their head til I’m satisfied.

In short, I’m not really flattered when guys do this. No proper guy would even do a creepy thing like that to take my attentiion. If I had a gun, I’d probably in jail right now. I really want to kill those creeps.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Nodame Cantabile

I’ve been liking classical music for some time now especially the piano solos from Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, and Chopin. But for the many times that I encountered this J-drama in drama wiki, I never wanted to watch it because it seemed boring and I thought it might be stiff. But when I finally tried it from downloading one episode, I was proven so wrong. XD

This is my favorite J-drama so far – I know I’ve been saying this with every review I’ve been making, but the combination of my interests, comedy, and a nice story really makes this one a top-notch drama comparable to the ever popular hana kimi. The only thing that separates Nodame Cantabile from the rest is its interpretation of something that is not seen in everyday life – well, classical music.

Main Characters

Ueno Juri as Noda Megumi or Nodame

Nodame is a really uber talented pianist who can play hard pieces by ear. She came to study piano in Momogaoka College of Music so she could attain her dream of becoming a kindergarten teacher. She doesn’t realize her full potential as a performer thus her attitude of being lazy at practicing, not caring about the score, and playing by impulse. Her habits are also terrible, such as not washing her hair for days, not taking a bath for an interval of time, and leaving garbages lying around her room.

Tamaki Hiroshi as Chiaki Shinichi

Chiaki is another talented and hardworking guy who enrolled in Momogaoka College of Music to study piano. He also plays the violin, however his ultimate dream is to become a conductor. He realizes his full potential and he uses it really well. He works hard to attain his dream, which is to conduct.

Summary/Plot

Becoming tired of a school where lousy students came to study, Chiaki is at his limit of appreciating his classmates. One day, he hears someone playing Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata in a lousy but correct manner. Surprised that he
finally discovered someone probably as talented as he, he searched and met Nodame. What he found is a weirdo who instantly fell in love with Chiaki.

Through Nodame, Chiaki finds himself in a tangle of events that made him slowly attain his dreams. Well, of course this is not about Chiaki too. Nodame, the weird girl, has her own story in the drama as well, being the lousy player that Chiaki tries to encourage.

Where it all started XD YUMMY YAOI CHIAKI MAN!!!!!!!!

Chiaki in Nodame’s room. The hell, it’s really covered in garbage!

When I watched the first episode of Nodame Cantabile, I instantly noticed that the main characters really look good! Nodame is really cute and has a sophisticated face. She has a model-like figure and really cute hair. Meanwhile, Chiaki has a really manly face that shows great expressions, AWESOME hair, and YAOI-character like physique. WAHAHHA He’s sexy! Plus what they wear are also awesome. Nodame’s outfits seem to make a fashion statement throughout the show that I thought that wow, I want to wear those too! Hahaha XD

The musical part of the show is what I like best. Students in the school are shown playing mostly the violin and the piano. There are also plenty of episodes which featured orchestra playing – like what you see in orchestra concerts. Whaha, scary right? But the first episode that featured orchestra would really get you into it. When I finished watching it, I was reminded of our high school plays which I had the chance to watch so many times in practices but when I watched the final performance, I was really moved. XD wheeeeee

The classical music are well picked as well. You can really see that the creator really has a good grasp of classical music. Composers featured are Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Schubert, Debussy, and Stravinsky. I might’ve missed some, but those are well featured. It’s really well presented in the drama that I listened for two weeks straight to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto 2. It’s the best.

About the love story, don’t expect this drama to have cheesy scenes. When I watched that certain part, it seemed so perfect since it was still funny but romantic at the same time. The actors/actresses are great in the movie, especially Nodame who’s great in comedy, drama, and err, shouting. Hehe.

If you want a lot of comedy with romance (that actually brings out results XD) and classical music that will get you hooked, watch this. After watching the series, I decided to play more piano and improve my playing. My sister, who had no interest in classical music, is now hooked. Go go watch it! XD

Who knew that growing up would be a pain. Ah, actually we all do, right? Haha. But then again I didn’t anticipate all the physical pain that I’d be going through – I honestly thought it would suddenly sprout out the time I turn the golden age of 50. But no, as young as I am now (am 21 if you don’t know), I find myself worrying about pain management.

The obvious culprit is desk work. What, you thought that sitting and looking at the PC eight hours or more a day wouldn’t take a toll on you? Bullshit, dude. Haha

Again, I’m talking about my back. Friday, May 9, marked the day I had a needle poke my back. Funny thing is that my reaction when the needle hit me was to laugh. The syringe contained steroids to eliminate the  trigger point’s inflammation.

Every now and then when the pain nags at me at certain time of the day, I wonder if I had any worries about these in my past life. I know that once you age, your memories cover the unpleasant events that happened, especially on your early life. Yes, that’s why you thought your childhood is uber happy. Anyway, in my high school years, I remember the depression, the lack of confidence, the anger, the rebellion, the sickness (that even made me absent for a whole week) but I never remember any physical pain. On college, I remember backaches, waking up early in the morning to study, failing exams (HAHA), happiness, but NO PAIN! I could even write a story for couple of hours straight and not feel the urge to stand up and stretch or do anything whatsoever to distract myself.

Haha, I think I want to admit to myself now that stress has something to do with this.

I just wonder sometimes how it feels not to have my muscle spasming every now and then or having a bad stiff neck, stiff shoulders, butt aches… well, sigh. It would be great to have a pain-free day without having to drink Lagaflex, Celebrex, or Lyrica. The doctor advised me to drink these meds if I feel the pain, but I don’t want to be dependent. However, all the med-free remedies that I think of require effort. I think I’ll try to brush my laziness away for some time and put in some effort to relieve the pain.

It’s so nice to look back at how carefree life was when I was younger. I remember being 17 and wishing I wouldn’t step out from that age. I remember telling someone that my ideal age is 17 and I wouldn’t want to age more than that. But then again life interferes. I’m now 21. I’ll really dread the time I turn 30. For me, turning in an age like that requires a lot of courage HAHAHHAHA and pressure of course. (Like, when will you get married????)

As you age, complicated things bug your life. It’s all about you now. How would you make your life better? What would you do to improve your life? You have to work hard. You’re not playing around now. Be serious now, or life will screw you up. Also, what would you eat for dinner, for lunch? HAHA, it’s really tough! You can’t eat noodles for dinner or you’ll suffer the circumstances later in your life. You can’t eat a lot of fats, or, again, you’ll suffer in the future. A lot of responsibilities pile up which makes being an adult a hard thing to experience. There will be happiness, but certainly there would be worries. Worries about money – YES! Shit, what am I talking about? lol

I think it would be great if I step out of this adult shit for a while and experience being carefree again. I wonder when that would be.

Nobuta wo Produce/
Producing Nobuta

From the photo, you might say, ‘what, another school drama again??’ or ‘what, a potential hana kimi sequel?’ or ‘YAMAPIIII’ (hahah). Yes, this is a school drama like any other popular series such as Hana Kimi, Gokusen, GTO, or Hana Yori Dango. I thought of that first when I watched the first episode. I really thought it was crap at first but I continued to watch more and more until I finish. What separates this drama from others is the depth that it shows derived from a simple theme: friendship.

Summary: Kotani Nobuko is a new transfer student in a school where popular Kiritani Shuuji and weirdo Kusano Akira study. Nobuko’s strange personality that depicts certain horror films such as The Ring or The Grudge made her an instant target of kebai bullies who made her life a living hell. From boredom or whatnot, Kusano Akira partnered with Kiritani Shuuji to ‘produce’ Nobuko as Nobuta – the popular girl. Through their efforts of making Nobuta popular, they formed an irreplaceable friendship and in the process, grew up.

Characters:

One of the unique things in this series is its great characterization that integrates great realism that makes the drama draw you in more. Even the other characters has their strong characterization that after only one episode of seeing them, it sticks into your mind.

Kiritani Shuuji acted by Kamenashi Kazuya: Yes, he’s from Kat-tun, the yucky boyband. Anyway, as I’ve mentioned in the summary, he’s the stereotypical popular guy who everybody loves – even the bullies obey since he’s just that cool. He has a girlfriend who is another popular and cute girl. However, his being popular is just a front so that he would have a memorable high school life. Everything that he tells his friends and even his girlfriend are lies that he conveniently made. The series shows his thoughts which contradicts his actions and words.

When he is with Nobuta and Akira, he is more natural and just like a regular guy who likes fooling around. He gets annoyed by Akira; he gets angry with both of them, and laughs with them.

Personally, his acting is impressive. He’s not the usual cool handsome guy posing as a mysterious guy who rarely talks and is always surrounded by fangirls HAHAHA. Nope. He’s a cool guy who has cynical thoughts. His expressions tell a lot – even his poker face. When he laughs, I feel that he meant it. And when he feel so down that he feels like crying, the expression is too genuine that it gets into you.

Kusano Akira acted by Yamashita Tomohisa: Yesh, my favorite character. Most of the comedy in the drama is courtesy of this guy. He’s the guy who likes to mind his own business, a loner, but a weird, crazy guy. He’s an idiot as well, going around school telling expired stories that he thinks is still cool. He laughs with this annoying laugh with matching claps. He goes down the stairs while flapping his hands like a gay guy. He has these weird words and actions. He doesn’t care about the world so he does what he likes to do. What the hell, this character is too outta this world but you could think that yes, there are people like this around. His character is still realistic.

However idiotic he is, he shows his mature personality and level-headedness. His words, when serious, are always rational and intelligent. He understands other people and sees through them. Ironically, he is one of the people in the series that shows real selflessness in friendship.

Kotani Nobuko acted by Horikita Maki: Probably we’ve all seen her act in Hana Kimi as the jolly boy-slash-girl but her character here is the entire opposite. She hangs her head down, slouched, while walking and she has slits for eyes. She has little confidence, low self-esteem, and she is used to being bullied. But then she finds Akira and Shuuji, who slowly transforms her. She is another character who comes out with unexpected tricks that will move and touch you. Her character changed Shuuji and Akira, but more on Shuuji.

I’ve always thought Maki is cute. Her acting in this series is great as well.

There are other characters such as The Truth Man who pesters you to tell him the truth. If you don’t tell him the truth, then something bad will happen. LMAO. There’s the crazy Vice Principal who says great things but she’s crazy at the same time.

Script, filming, soundtrack, and EVERYTHING ELSE

I honestly thought that the scriptwriters are geniuses. Every episode has a theme and every character in the series builds up this theme by the events that happen around them and how they respond to it. The scriptwriters turned around the cliche of friendship and made it into something unique and more meaningful. It seemed to revolve around the cliche ‘friends will always understand youuuuuu’ or ‘friends will always believe youuuu’, which I don’t always see in any school drama. Normally, betrayed friends would ignore their friends for some time, but in this drama, friends will try to understand each other as much as they can. It’s very touching.

The soundtrack is another thing. It’s awesome that even my mum who overheard the background music started humming it. HAHAHAHA!! Yep, Yoshihiro Ike is a great composer. You could download the OST here: http://www.4shared.com/file/43895891/9a135c5b/Nobuta_wo_Produce_Ost.html

In terms of filming, the director of photography is another genius. Like this scene from episode 4:

The series plays with yellow light, sunset, and uses it as natural lighting. There’s another trick that tones down the light in the classroom and focuses the spotlight on certain characters.

Conclusion

Now I feel like I’m writing a Literature report. lol This J-drama is really good hence why I wrote such a long review about it. Please, please watch it. I would gladly burn you a data CD with all 10 episodes so you could just watch it. It’s really worth my time. There are no SAPPY scenes that would make you scream ‘GAAAAHD SO CORNY!!!’, but you could cry from happiness. Compared to other school dramas that made you cry, this one would make you cry from your spirit being lifted. You might find yourself thinking ‘I want friends like that’ after watching some episodes. It would’ve been perfect if they removed the supernatural things that made me scratch my head.

I rate this 10 out of 10. Yeaaaaabaaaa. ^____^ Go watch.

These people who are rich who want to act rich – their auras are simply suffocating. Unfortunately these people crawl in Alabang (like a disease), especially in Alabang Town Center where rich kids and families from Ayala Alabang live.

You’ll know who these arrogant people are just from how they look, act, and speak. Ah, it’s so irritating just to think about it again. >___<

I was in Makati Supermarket nearing 9PM on queue for the cashier. In front of me were these two mothers, I presume, who has a little boy on tow. The little boy was really quiet but the two mums were constantly talking.

First thing I noticed from them is their eyes. They have these sleepy pair of eyes which has an eyeliner and a mascara. It’s like they purposefully put it so they could look down on other people so effectively that they would feel so powerful. It has this ‘Doña’ effect that made them look even more annoying. lol

Well at first I wouldn’t really care about how they looked – at first they looked like normal people to me with a cart filled with a lot of junk foods and food. Annoyance crawled in when they started showing their ‘rich’ personalities.

This one mother was constantly talking to her friend and ignoring her son. The son even pushed the big cart towards me which his mum stopped a while later and then turned her attention again to her friend. She seemed not to care about his son, who was obviously trying to seek attention from her. The boy then continued his attention-seeking by pounding on his chocolates but the mum was saying ’stop that, we’ll pay for it later’ or ’stop it, ____’ or calling his son’s name is a really bland, bored, voice, which seemed like she was just saying it for the heck of it. Her son wasn’t listening, of course. What the hell, is she even a mother?

It reminded me of a dog trainer training his pet how to sit, roll over, and play dead. ‘Doggy, sit. Doggy, roll over. Doggy, play dead’ – like that.

There was no affection whatsoever with the mum. I jumped to the conclusion that this boy has a nanny waiting at home, and this mother only has social parties to care for. Anyway.

The food they bought was another. As they started putting the groceries on the table, I noticed a lot of junk foods, softdrinks, chocolates… Yes, indulgence. Giving their children whatever they wanted. There were not even a trace of healthy food. And this mum was constantly looking at my grocery basket which has three items: Gardenia chocolate bread, kit kat choco bar, and sachets of shampoos. I thought, what, you want to pay for this too?

It was really close to closing time so the cashier told the last person on the queue that he was the last customer to be served. The guy didn’t hear it, and wow, this mum pulled off a really annoying (REALLY REALLY) stint – she repeated what the cashier said in a mataray, loud voice. It had a tone that said ‘that was it, you stupid guy, didn’t you hear it?’

That’s when my annoyance fully kicked in. I mean, what the hell, the guy didn’t even do anything
to you, what’s your right to raise your voice at him like that? It got into my nerves that I started shaking my head at the lady who apparently didn’t notice.

The display of arrogance. What are these rich people’s right to look down at other people and treat them like crap? They have no right whatsoever.

I thought that these rich people who probably were born rich in this world have no care in this world. We are currently in a food crisis which they probably don’t feel a bit. Perhaps if the fuel price hikes up, they wouldn’t be at the least concerned. These rich people annoy me the most. They don’t have a bit of empathy for those who don’t have it all.

They should just go drown themselves in Pasig river. They have no use for this world.

Haha, yes, this is what boredom does to me. And my being solitary. I think about a lot of useless things and observe endlessly.  XD