G@me

Day Forty Three.

Wow! After usually writing one post per week, I’m now posting everyday again! I hope I could keep this up! I just felt a need to write in this blog now and I don’t know why. Anyway, it’s 3 in the morning now and I just had my lunch of Pocky sticks and coffee cream soda. I know, I know, that’s not actually real food and it’s not actually lunchtime but I can’t help it. Anyway, it’s raining again and I’m sick…again. Big shocker there! For someone who loves the rainy season, I sure do get sick a lot when it’s raining. I have a fever now and I’ve even lost my voice. Not that I need it, anyway. The only ones I talk to are my cats and dogs. This is nothing new though, I always lose my voice when I’m sick. One time, I even had to talk through my laptop while I was at the office. You know, I type the words and my laptop would say it in a weird robotic voice. It was hard but also kinda fun!

Okay, so where do I start? To Love Dokkyun, thanks for your interpretation of my dream. My interpretation of it was similar to yours but somehow, I have a feeling there’s more to it than meets  the eye. Oh and I forgot to mention that the lady in purple was a foreigner. (I mean, she’s not Asian like me). She also faintly said something. I wasn’t able to hear it properly but her accent sounded British. I don’t know if that makes a difference or anything but I just thought I should mention it. By the way, Love Dokkyun, (I wish I know your name because Love Dokkyun is too long to type ) it’s the second time you apologized on your comment. The first time was in my post about “The Clown…”. You really have nothing to apologize for. I’m really happy reading your comments so feel free to say anything you want. Don’t ever think you’re over-stepping any boundaries or anything like that. I really appreciate everything you guys say in this blog. By the way, I’m sorry if I reply to your comments here instead of emailing you guys. I don’t really check my email that often because there are some mails that I don’t want to see there. I know it’s stupid but I’m even scared of emails. I guess, any form of human communication is pretty scary for me. I’m such an idiot! Wait! Now I’m also apologizing! LOL! It’s contagious!

Anyway, I’m so excited now because I just finished watching the movie, “G@me” and it was brilliant! I’ve been meaning to watch this movie since it was released in the theaters but somehow, I never got to watch it. That’s the problem with having so many hobbies and interests, you end up losing track of all the things you want to do and all the stuff you want to watch. I got so wrapped-up in all sort of stuff that I forgot all about this movie. Until the other day, someone from the streaming-site “Crunchyroll” invited me to join the Fujiki Naohito group. Since I love Nao-san, I joined and when I entered the homepage of the group I saw the poster of this movie. And I was like, “Waaaaah! How could I have forgotten this!?”

Anyway, if you haven’t heard about this movie, it’s the 2003 Thriller/Romance film starring two of my favorite actors: “Nakama Yukie” (Gokusen, Trick) and Fujiki Naohito (1 Litre of Tears, Proposal Daisakusen). It’s a movie a about a big-shot Advertising executive named Shunsuke (Nao) who lost a big project and was publicly humiliated  because of one  man, Katsuragi Katsutoshi, the VP of one of their biggest clients. Angry for his great loss and humiliation, Shunsuke went to Katsuragi’s mansion to say what’s on his mind.  But when he got there, he saw Katsuragi’s spoiled and sassy illegitimate daughter, Juri (Yukie), sneaking out of the manor. He followed Juri out of curiosity and ended-up letting her stay for the night in his apartment. Rebelling against her tyrannical father, Juri suggested a brilliant plan for Shunsuke to get his revenge. And that is to kidnap her. And so the devious and clever game of deception and intrigue began as Shunsuke and Juri planned the perfect kidnapping scheme.

At first this movie seemed like a feel-good romantic comedy about a spoiled rich brat who fell in-love with her “pretend” kidnapper. It’s actually a lot like that American movie, “Excess Baggage” with Alicia Silverstone and Benicio Del Torro. Nakama Yukie’s character was exactly like Alicia’s character in that movie: spoiled, immature and a royal pain-in-the-ass.  Fujiki Naohito’s character, however, was more like Orlando Bloom’s character in the movie “Elizabethtown”. He’s cool, sleek and successful. He was at the top of his game. He lives in a classy apartment, wears designer suits and has a car that’s to die for. But one mistake, made him fall rock-bottom! So that means Katsuragi’s the Alec Baldwin of his story. Sorry, here I go again with the silly comparisons.  It’s like a part of my brain is built to show flashbacks of previous movies I’ve seen whenever I’m watching a movie.

Back to the movie. It started out pretty entertaining but quite typical. Nao’s character is a little colder and more mischievous than the usual nice and gentle characters he plays in dramas. But all in all, he didn’t change much. He still looked like that doctor in 1 Litre of Tears and that teacher in Kou Kou Kyoushi. Nakama Yukie, on the other hand, totally surprised me. I just finished watching Gokusen 3 last week so the image of Yankumi is still fresh in my mind. But the Yukie in G@me is like a completely different person! She’s the exact opposite of Yankumi, from her voice, to her mannerisms, to her clothes and the way she walks, she completely transformed into this materialistic rich brat!  I kinda felt a little bit uneasy watching her play such a bold and seductive character since I had just seen her less than a week ago, as the simple and naive Yankumi. Oh and I was really uncomfortable seeing her love scene and passionate kisses with Nao. I guess I should have erased the image of Yankumi before I watched this. I was half-expecting her students to suddenly pop-out while she and Nao were making-out!  And it didn’t help that Namase Katsuhisa (Sawatari Goro of Gokusen) was also here in a cameo role!

Speaking of cameo roles, there were a couple of other actors who had cameo roles in this movie. First was Shiina Kippei as the “imaginary” detective. “Imaginary” because his character was only in the imagination of Juri and Shunsuke. You see, when they were planning the kidnapping scheme, Juri imagined that the police officer who would be in charge of her kidnapping case would be fat and ugly man who looks like a bulldog. Then Shunsuke said, “No, for a case like this they would send an elite cop.” Then Juri asked, “What would he look like?” Shunsuke said, “Like Shiina, the actor.” So ever since then, they’ve been imagining that the cop who’s investigating the case is Shiina Kippei. It was hilarious! But what’s weird is that, I saw Shiina on T.V. for the first time in years, a few minutes before I watched this movie. What a strange coincidence!

Another weird coincidence is the extremely short cameo role of Kohinata Fumio in this movie. It’s strange because I was watching the drama, Ashita no Kita Yoshio, right before I watched this movie.  And Kohinata is the lead actor in that drama! I’ve decided to finish watching that drama after putting it on-hold for weeks and then this happens! Pretty weird.

Anyway, I’m getting side-tracked again. Back to the movie. What seemed to be a typical romantic comedy turned out to be so much more. The plot slowly transformed into that of an intelligent crime drama because of Shunsuke’s clever tactics to avoid getting caught by the cops. It didn’t have the “wow” factor but it was still pretty clever. But eventhough the plot was quite clever, it was just a typical thriller/romance movie for me, that is until  the shocking twist was revealed. And man, that was one hell of a twist! It totally blew my socks off! I was speechless and utterly confused.  And the characters I thought I knew so well, suddenly changed right before my eyes. Nothing is what it seemed to be. And from a feel good, romance, it slowly became a dark movie about deception and also a tragic love story.  I burst into tears when Juri found that red shovel inside her suitcase. (You’ll get what I mean when you watch this). Unfortunately, there’s more. It would have been great if they ended it in a tragic and dramatic way but they decided to steer back into the feel-good romance direction again. And so after numerous twists and clever games of deception, the movie ended in a bitter-sweet way. It was a nice ending but they should have stopped with the red shovel. That would have been a more fitting ending to this story. But with all it’s minute flaws, this is still an awesome movie! Brilliant acting, clever plot, complex characters, strange cameos, and a smoldering hot Nao, how could I not love this?

By the way, I mentioned earlier that I’ve continued watching the dramas and anime that I’ve put on-hold before. Last season I started watching Gokusen 3, Binbo Danshi, Ashita no Kita Yoshio and Katekyo Hitman Reborn but I was never able to finish them. I lost interest in Gokusen because, as much as I love Yankumi, Gokusen 3 is simply a disgrace to the Gokusen series! Gokusen 1 was sheer brilliance! Gokusen 2, although not as great as the first one, was utterly hilarious and had a really great cast. But the third one, I don’t even know how to begin explaining how disappointed I am with it. So I stopped watching it. Binbo Danshi was really fun and I love anything with Oguri Shun in it but I couldn’t relate much to the story since I’ve never had a debt in my life. (Binbo Danshi is about having debts) I hate owing people anything whether it’s money or favors. I’d rather starve than borrow money. I know it’s a stupid way of thinking but I always felt that I couldn’t face my friends or anyone properly if I owe them money. Another thing I didn’t like about BD was that Shun’s character was too good to be true! He’s just TOO kind and giving! There couldn’t possibly be a person like that! Plus, I like characters who are morally flawed so that they could grow throughout the series and Shun’s character was already morally perfect. So I stopped watching it.  As for Ashita no Kita Yoshio, I don’t know why I stopped watching it. I just did. But after Tantei Gakuen Q, I wanna see Kaname Jun again so I decided to watch it again. Now, I already managed to finish Gokusen 3 (although I had to grit my teeth to do so) but I still have a lot of catching-up to do. “Galileo” and “Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, would have to wait for now.

End of Day Forty Three.