Zíza

Kind of that hospital classic where we have a genius doctor who doesn't really get along with the Japanese way of running a hospital and the overall Japanese hospital philosophy. And here we get KimuTaku playing him, so there's something to watch, that guy is just interesting and has his own charm. However, his character seemed awfully flat to me, especially when compared to his childhood friend Danjo, played by Asano Tadanobu. His character went through so many changes and shifts that he was the most interesting thing about the entire series, even though in many cases he seemed almost repulsive from a human standpoint, in the end he actually wasn't. It might even make sense to write a longer treatise on him. I also appreciated Kimura Fumino, she was fine as the smart little sister, unlike Takeuchi Yuko, who I didn't find much to my liking this time around. It's not a bad series, it's average. If you're in the mood for a hospital setting with a genius in the lead, this is definitely not a bad choice.

At the very least, you learn a few things here about how it is in Japan with preschool education. In my opinion, the cast was chosen very well, it was interesting to watch them play together as I know them from other series/movies where they played quite different characters (well, except for Tomosaka Rie, I've seen her in a similar role before). But it was a bit too whiny for my taste, and some episodes had too many scenes that bored and I didn't want to watch them. On the other hand, there were moments that I truly enjoyed. The series has a way of cracking you up as well as moving you – and it's nothing violent. In fact, it's a family affair, where you gather around the table and eat dinner while watching the fortunes of Avarenbow Mama unfold. A better 3 stars.

It took me quite a long time to make it through the first three episodes... maybe a month. Because I wasn't enjoying it, I was bored of it. But finally I had some time and I don't know, somehow I didn't want to leave it unfinished, so I sat down and watched it until the end. I started to like it a bit more than before, yet I was bored at times and hoping for the next episode. The best episode would be the one where we get to Hollywood, I enjoyed naming the movies that were mentioned here... :oD But it's definitely a shame that it didn't stay with the conviction: "That’s just how reality is, it can't be changed, it can't be hidden behind imagination and dreams, so accept it." Which is a great pity for the rating, because if it had stayed that way, I would have given it one star more. Btw: the most beautiful ending I've had the pleasure of encountering. Let's see if there's one that surpasses it :-)

Even though we do a nice study of Afro-ken – find out what he's like, what his genealogy is – and even though he was definitely made by a guy who was on something (though it may not seem like it from the interviews in the piece, I'm firmly convinced of it, and I'm also firmly convinced that if I took just half a shot of the same shit the author did, I'd be high for life), I have to admit that the best part of the whole anime was the song. Catchy, catchy, just a hit. :-D Plus the English was understandable (but who knows, maybe an English native worked on it...). It's just that, despite the psychedelia, the softness, and the color, it's really a boring story about a strange Afro-ken and his ilk. And when I say boring, I mean really boring. It was boring even though I watched it after studying vocabulary and grammar. In other words, extremely boring. But the song is really good, just enough for that one star. It's at the beginning, so turn it on and then you can turn it off with no regrets.

Basically the same as every Cinderella story, even the division of people into good and bad was like a fairytale. In the end the good guys were pleased and the bad guys were punished. The only plus of this movie is Kate dressing up as Nate, the voice and gesticulations were perfect. But other than that, the performances... no one's working too hard here. I put it in the category of those Disney-type movies like Cinderella again. It was really lacking sparkle; if it had been paced nicely, I'd add a star. If you want something to fall sleep to, this is perfect because you won't have a compulsive need to know what's going to happen next, nor will you get any wake-up calls.

Maybe it was supposed to be funny, but the voice of the child, voiced by an older man, struck me as rather repulsive. And somehow, overall, I wasn't really into it. It went through exactly the phases that movies like this have to go through by default, nothing surprising, nothing above average that would make me say "yes, you have to check it out because it had XY!". I kind of sat down for it, watched it, wasn't impressed, then turned it off, and in a few minutes I won't even know I saw it. A highly overrated movie.

I'm stunned. This is one of the best Taiwanese doramas I've seen lately. Because Taiwanese work can't be original – or so I thought. Then I put on ToGetHer and it proved me wrong. Sure, there's the same kind of stuff here you see everywhere else; and yet this dorama somehow feels more adult, not melodramatic, even authentic. The relationship between Momo and Mars was very nice, they had the start they did, but it only got better and better as they finished. Even Tony Ge wasn't that typical bad mother who strictly forbids relationships. Rainie outdoes the acting that she showed me in Devil Beside You and Why Why Love?. I was finally able to like Jiro (I really hated him in It Started With a Kiss, I didn't even think he was attractive, but things got better here; like I say, I like him a lot more with black hair). I knew the opening song from before, so I was surprised to hear it here :-D I liked it. Another plus. The songs throughout the series are fine, listenable – some more, some less. But I did keep skipping ahead; I wasn't loving the scenes with Momo and her best friend. Then some of the other scenes, it was some here, some there, basically I just kept skipping ahead. So for me, it was really a perfect dorama if only it had been cut down to like six episodes :-) But I can definitely recommend it, because I really don't know if I'll see something so "normal" from Taiwan again. A weaker 4 stars.

Even though it's so long, it grabbed me from the beginning all the way to the sweet ending. Even though it intertwines all sorts of genres, it lands so beautifully, it's crazy, wacky, upbeat, sad, unbelievable, raw and tender. If I were at the cinema, it's possible I'd give it a full 5 stars. Maybe. Anyway, I'm glad I saw it. The main character is likable, his counterpart is also fine (you never get the feeling that it's time to shove her under a passing truck). The others were insane. But that was fine too. ^^ Got a long afternoon free? Go for it. I've been thinking about this for a few days now, and I'm kind of telling myself: "Why the hell not give it 5 stars? It was perfect!" So I'm changing the rating from 4 stars to 5. ^^

And I'll say up front that these are very, very good and a better 3 stars; I debated for a long time how much I'd give, but in the end it ended up how it ended up. And why? Okay, let's start with the flaws – I think the film crew didn't get the audio noises right at times, some of the shots were too long for a series like this, some scenes I would have skipped completely, and even though I was excited at the beginning, there are so many characters and you don’t realize how superficial they are until by the end I was just annoyed at what was going on with them, because after all, the main characters are the main characters, and they were the ones that interested me the most (the same thing happened in pale blue with Goong), and by the end it took on too much gravitas, and I mean a lot of it. I guess that covers the flaws. In the beginning I was fascinated by the dirtiness and the shabbiness of the sets/places where they filmed, I was totally caught off guard by it since I am used to the clean and tidy environments in a lot of similar series, the kind you just don't normally see much of, here it was really "common". Another thing I was excited about was the character of Mike – such a beautifully ordinary boy, with no superfluous airs, money, fame, or looks, who won't give any rest to a single student at his school alone with all the wet dreams he causes her... He was just so beautifully ordinary and normal that it almost made me cry :-D That alone makes it worth watching. And the rest of my comments got deleted, I felt light-headed, almost fainted because it was long and I didn't like it at all... Damn :-D well, maybe I'll finish the rest of it sometime... Now I remember I wrote something to the effect that this series is like a cruise. You're sailing your boat, only encountering waves along the way, now and then a bigger one, but nothing that could threaten your life, nothing that would rock your stomach to the heights of heaven. But then, just when you think you've seen the light of the lighthouse, the wind picks up, a storm comes up out of nowhere and hits – full force. And you just have to hope that you can make it go away. If I had the screenwriter on hand, I'd probably want to rip something off him (ideally his head) for those last two episodes. And then I'm sure I wrote something else, but what was it? ^^

So I watched it again and, as before, I enjoyed it. It's basically a well-worn romantic comedy, with all the typical elements; on the other hand it's also atypical in its own way and I enjoy that. Ivy Chen and Bo-lin Chen are both great actors for me (Ivy is better, no kidding, but Bo-lin is good looking – even though here in particular...). I enjoyed all three phases of the story, I wasn't bored and just enjoyed the unpretentious stuff because it didn't make me look like an idiot. Awesome movie. If you're in the mood for an enjoyable college flick about a geek "trying" to win the heart of the prettiest girl, definitely don't miss this movie.