Carpe Diem

So I was looking for a different type of Japanese drama to watch tonight and stumbled across ザ・クイズショウ -  ‘The Quiz show’ which peaked my interest.

After reading the brief description about it, it sorta seemed liked it might be in the same ilk as one of my all time favourites ‘Liar Game’ which is by far the most intelligent JDrama I have ever seen!

So far It would seem to be a show that uncovers people’s past and mistakes that they have committed and have failed to either come to terms with or have lied, hidden and cheated the truth away and find themselves suffering from these mistakes in some way. In essence the show produces a phoney quiz that they are invited on to win money and a chance to fulfil their “dream” ambition in life should they answer all 7 questions correctly. However I suspect form seeing the first two episodes that they are sure to always get there as they are almost led down the garden path so to speak as the final question is one that reveals the big secret.

The show seems to be as much about bringing the truth to light and redemption as well as punishment for past mistakes. For instance the second episode was quite touching in the story behind the quiz and how one bad decision can shape the lives of not only yourself, but many other people important to that person and the consequences of our action which can be ultimately grave. However, I think this show is trying to portray that we have it all within ourselves to fix our mistakes and rectify the past to make a future as long as you are strong and courageous enough to do something about it. And isn’t that what life is ultimately about? We all make mistakes so learning and fixing them is the only way we can grow as people.

Anyway! Watch this space, I am only a couple of episodes in and there are two series so far, but I shall be ploughing through this one at the speed of JDrama streaming-light! Especially as they are already all uploaded! Woohoo!

Over and out!

Oh and p.s. if anyone does watch this, pay particular attention to the host of the shows dancing, it’s amazing!!! Wish I could dance like that :D

Ha! Well that made me smile :o)

I come out of Sainsbury’s after doing some shopping and this girl starts to talk to me asking my name and how old am I. I thought this was some practical joke or something and tell a bit of a white lie for a joke and said I was 25.

She was like, “What? Really? You barely look 21! You still have a baby face” LOL.

I then say to her actually I am really 31, she doesn’t believe me and after much convincing she says you look barely out of nappies! That made me laugh even more in more ways than one!! xD

That really made my day though :)

R.I.P. Oklahoma tornado disaster victims

Aznvtv.com fiiiinally uploaded the rest of ‘Ataru’, a Japanese police drama where the protagonist (Ataru - also known as ‘Chokozai’ - translates as ‘Mr. Bugger’ hehe) who has a unique and rare cerebral disorder called ‘savant syndrome’ which essentially makes him a genius in memory, picking up of facts and piecing them together logically in a manner few people ever can to solve crimes that would have gone unnoticed and deemed ‘trash heaps’ i.e. accidents or suicides that the police do not bother to investigate as it is outside their mandate.

The drama depicts the thought process of Ataru really intelligently and shows how he pieces seemingly innocuous evidence together as a sort of excestential  ’bubbles’ that burst when the thoughts that these bubbles represent become key parts of the evidence, or if they become irrelevant than they are smudged out. I think I would be right in saying that this was ‘borrowed’ from the Sherlock Holmes t.v. series which uses a very similar process. I would actually go further on and add that the series itself is a sort of Sherlock Holmes-esque series as Ataru is accompanied by Ebina Maiko for first finds Ataru and helps him out and acts as the sort of Dr. Watson type character throughout.

Maiko (in Japan people are often referred as their last name and not their first, especially professionally)  is quite a cool character in my opinion, and quite funny too! Especialy with her love for croquettes which she loves to say “cro-cro-croquettes” whenever she see’s them, hehe, so kawaiiiii!.

In the end Ataru helps Maiko, who as we go through the series, shows that everyone thinks her mother had died 15 years previously by suicide, however she never believes that was true. In many cases we are given the belief that Ebina Mariko (the mother of Maiko) was killed by Sho, the husband because he was a workaholic and because they argued. However, Ebina Mariko  never gave up on the man she loved no matter what and always strived to find away to make him realise their love together as husband and wife and children and to remember what is most important in life is them as one and not work. And in the end (I won’t ruin the ending entirely) they find out the real reason for everything and what everyone meant to one another.

Ataru is a very good drama in my opinion. Some people may not like some of the slap stick comedy of it, but in most cases I think it adds to it. Especially Nakai Masahiro as ‘Ataru’, Kitamura Kazuki as ‘Sawa’ and Kuriyama Chiaki as ‘Maiko’. Some of the other characters did in fairness take some of it a bit too over the top, but personally I liked that :)

So if you like a good detective drama, with a good plot, good acting and many different plot threads - then defo give this a go! 

Phew! Well that was probably the most terrifying and fun 2 hours I have had! Can’t wait for the next one on Monday :3

What a roller-coaster that was, so many downs and so much sadness but an ending that can only make your smile broadly from ear to ear and make you believe that true love does truly exist and can conquer all. * SPOILER ALERT* Do not read on from here if you do not want the final series and ending of the new and last Inuyasha series plot spoiled!

Inuyasha is by far one, if not my all time favourite anime series ever to come out of Japan and literally the only one besides Evangelion that I prefer to watch in the English dub (Viz media dub as the unofficial animax dub is bloody awful!).

So Naraku is up to his old antics of trying to find the last pieces of the Shikon no tama - which is literally a jewel of the four souls - that plays a prominent role in Japanese folklore. The four souls are Aramitama (荒魂, Courage), Nigimitama (和魂, Friendship), Kushimitama (奇魂, Wisdom) and Sakimitama (幸魂, Love) which are part of the Shinto Philosophy When this jewel is complete is allows the user to increase their power, but most importantly to grant their one true wish. Inuyasha and Kagome must battle against Naraku and his various incarnations to stop him gaining the power of the jewel and plunging the world into darkness.

The last series in entangled with sadness with many characters dieing  even before they can express the love they feel for a person, which makes it even more harrowing if you have even been in love but not been able to share that love with the one you love due to the loneliness and sorrow that slowly destroys who you are. A demon called Kagura is one such person who throughout the original few series was seen as evil and nasty (though only forced to do Naraku’s bidding because he literally had her heart and thus could kill her at any time). In the end death sets her free to ride the wind in peace but she dies alone with no one around in a very sad and touching seen. She dies alone looking only to be accepted and not hated, but in the end as with this world - hatred and not love and friendship wins. 

The saddest seen is undoubtedly concerning Kikyo. Kikyo is a priestess who lived 20 years in the past who Inuyasha and she fell in love together - however Naraku could not stand to see them in love and thus devised a plot for them to end up hating and inevitably leading to her death and Inusyaha’s imprisonment by one of Kikyo’s sacred arrows biding Inusyaha to the sacred tree where 20 years later after Kikyo is ushered to the past because of the Shikon jewel to first see inuyasha asleep still with an arrow pierced to his chest where he has always been. When Kikyo died she ordered the shikon jewel which she had and both her and Inuyasha were going to use to make Inuyasha (a half demon) and full fledged human so they could be together but after Naraku’s deception would be burned with her so that no one could use the jewel which was her duty to protect from evil. The jewel reappeared in the first episode inside Kagome who was born with the jewel as part of her fate. After Kagome and Inuysha first start develop feelings for eachother after he saves her a demon would later reincarnate Kikyo back into this world, half alive, half dead. Thus a complicated love triangle is created. However the anger and hatred of the past (as Kikyo still mistakenly believes Inuysha tried to kill her without knowing it was actually Naraku pretending to be him) causes Inuyasha further pain as he stll loves Kikyo too however as hard as he tries to help her and be there for her she only shows Inuyasha hatred back. However not all deceptions can last forever and the truth comes out, however Kikyo knows she is not of this world anymore and although she still loves Inuyasha too she cannot also be with him. 

In the end Kikyo dies in a very very sad and happy scene thanking Kagome for saving her soul and always believing in her and she is finally able to tell Inuyasha how she really feels about him as she is about to die setting both of their hearts and souls free :’( 

However, not all hatred and lies can win and keep love apart, can it (ok in the real world it can and seems always does)? Naraku finally completes the jewel and aims to once and for all destroy Kagome’s and inuysha’s love to make the jewel impure. In an elaborate illusion she is offered the life in modern day Japan had she not be taken back to the past in Feudal Japan. The life she is shown - the one everyone around her tells her is the one she should have - is idyllic, however the whole in her heart from not having inusyaha (with the illusion trying to make Kagome think it was all a dream) and the love and strength to fight for that love causes the illusion to be shattered just before she could be killed and was saved by inuyasha who heard the will of her heart. 

In the end they defeat Naraku and the evil trapped in the Shikon no tama and save everyone wish the jewel to out of existence  however as it was the Shikon jewel that was allowing Kagome to stay in the past she was then transported back to modern day Japan and Inuyasha back to Feudal Japan. 4 years would pass, Kagome would finish University, , have a life everyone though was great, however the whole in her heart could not be filled. Likewise in Feudal Japan Inuyasha would wait everyday near the well which linked both worlds in the vain hope - although being told and it was futile - in the hope that he would see her again. The will of the heart cannot be undone and her tears looking down at the well in modern day Japan would open a door way so that both hearts could be reunited. However she knew it would be a one way trip and could never return, her mom was behind her as the door way into Feudal Japan opened telling her daughter to go to the one she loves as love in the only thing that is important in this world - as it was love that brought her mom and dad together to make Kagome - so how could anyone deny true love, if they did that then they would be letting evil win. Kagome jumps into the well without any doubt in her heart and see’s Inuyasha at the other end where they finally embrace each other in a passionate beautiful kiss which they had never been able to experience before either through shyness etc… however the instant they saw each other after 4 years they both knew it was right and they lived happily ever after together. 

it is just such a beautiful heart warming anime. it makes you think that even in this world of ours which is filled though so much hatred and sorrow that love can exist. It will always hold a special place in my hearth this anime, probably because I see myself as Inuyasha (stupid, an idiot, understand situations easily, always waiting) and my ex-gf as Kagome (pure, full of light, shows everyone kindness not matter who they are). 

If you have not seen it, you really need too, your life will not be the same  after you have seen it :)