Once Upon a Time

So... this is what has been taking up most of my time (and reading The Digitalian concert reports - and yes, I've seen FNS and Best Artist) - but this is what has been taking up most of my time.

I don't normally watch American shows, but it's a modern fairytale AU, how could I not watch? So I did, and I am enjoying it a lot. I mean, some times it gets a bit draggy, especially with the extended story of Charming and Snow's romance together and their adventures and what-not and it's just like "eh, I could do without" and in general I tend to skip through a lot of the past stuff. Let's be real here - I'm in it for the modern. I love seeing the characters in the modern world.

Also, this show is so sassy. It has some of the best lines between the characters - especially between Regina and Snow. Like, they have the best dialogue and just work so well off each other.

So where am I at so far? I haven't caught up, still mid-way through season 3 (Neal just died - I CANNOT BELIEVE HE DIED WHAT ABOUT TRUE LOVE?!). This season feels really long for some reason. Maybe it's because the whole first part was the Peter Pan thing and now they did the 1 year restart so it feels like I'm starting a new season, when I'm not? I'm not sure.

So, why do I love this show so much? It's really just the take on the characters. How they've made some tales darker, how they've merged certain tales together - how the characters have turned out in modern day. I love it all. And the sass. So much sass. And sure the show has its corny moments but it's based off of fairy tales. What should we expect? Normally I am not one for corny romance "true love" stuff, but in the context of fairytales it works and I'm just drinking this stuff up.

Random thoughts?

In season 2 I really gravitated between thinking Regina was a total bitch and feeling sorry for her. In season 3... well since she's not technically the bad guy anymore, I am beginning to like her more. I mean, I liked her as the bad guy too but like I said, this is all fairytales and happiness and I was just like "OMG WHY ARE YOU BEING SO UNREASONABLE". Although honestly - Emma and Regina need to stop fighting. When Emma didn't believe Regina at first about re-casting the curse, I was like are you serious Emma? Are you two really going to go through all this shit over again?

Rumple and Belle is cute but at the same time kind of weirds me out - not sure why yet.

Henry has the most fucked up family ever. His grandfather is Rumple, great grandpa was Peter Pan, father is Neal. Hook also took care of Neal (and potentially sees him as a son?) yet this same guy is now interested in Emma who is Henry's father. Regina is Henry's adopted mother but also his step-grandmother and thus Cora would be his step great-grandmother. And then you have Snow White and Charming. This kid. That line Charming made about Thanksgiving dinners honestly killed me, because I would love to see that. Like, with the fairytale context but without the drama. As in if the characters really were just a regular family and came together... can you imagine  how fucked up that would be? (Hook included).

What else? NEAL DIED. WHAT. Still kind of miffed because I liked Neal and Emma. At first I kind of liked Emma and Hook too, but once we got Emma's backstory and Neal came back... they just look so much better and happier together. Hook and Emma are all hot and steamy, but Emma and Neal are love. Love.

Also Regina and Robin Hood - she needs to get one that ASAP (although I hear this falls apart later - WHY?).

And do I have more to say? Not really.  Just wanted to get some thoughts of the show out of my head and in general just talk about how much I am enjoying it. 

嵐にしやがれ [2014.11.01] - Hawaii SP 1

This is going to be a super long post since I'm doing a review, but adding in a couple translations of some parts I found the most interesting. And there are also photos I'm putting in this time, so... enough talk - let's get started.

LOVE Concert - quick thoughts/review

The DVD came out when I was too busy to write a review and despite not being a huge fan of the LOVE album, I actually really like this concert and what they did with a lot of the songs. In fact this concert really helped me come to like the LOVE album a lot more. Since it's been so long since the DVD came out though - and because I've rewatched the concert multiple times already so I'm not going to just sit do a live review, but I will sort of speed through the concert and give my general thoughts of what I thought throughout it - and then I'll end off with specific thoughts on each of the solos cause that's always one of the big things about Arashi concerts.

So without further ado - the LOVE concert

Arashi - Zero G PV + Making

Alright, so I guess you could say this is the "second part" to my The Digitalian review. You can find the review of the actual album [here], and now I'm going to talk about all the extra stuff and boy do I have a lot to say.

So. Let's get started.

Arashi - The Digitalian Review

I guess before I start this review I should say I'm not a huge fan of like.. digitalized sounding music? Things like autotune, dubstep, techno etc. so even when I first heard the title of the album I guess I wasn't all that excited. It's not like I dislike it - it's just not my preferred genre. Although - as with the usual case I may grow to eventually really love the album like what happened with LOVE - or it could just fade in to the background and be "alright" like Beautiful World. We'll only be able to see that within the next half year. 

For this review though, tis is going to be more like a live review - I'm literally just gonna be typing as I listen, and then when I'm done I'll add some concluding thoughts at the end of each song, and then obviously a sum up of the whole album.

So - without further ado… Arashi's 13th Album: The Digitalian - let's go

Let's Talk Merlin S1 (BBC)

Hello, it's been a while and as predicted, I haven't actually posted any of the posts I said I would talk about. Like my huge rant on Shitsuren Chocolatier. Which I will probably write up because the DVD was released... yesterday? Two days ago? And well - that huge mess of a drama was just so ridiculous there is no way I can't NOT talk about it. But first of all, let's talk about another show I've started to watch.

Merlin.

And this show is also a huge mess.

I started this show thinking it'd be very interesting. I love Arthurian Legend and seeing it played out in a full length BBC drama seemed awesome to me. I saw .gifs all over tumblr and the cast seemed awesome and amazing. Freakin GILES is King Uther Pendragon. I was excited. And I'll be honest, I am enjoying this show so much. But, I'm not going to say that it's totally awesome. This show is a mess. And I only just finished season 1.

This post isn't going to be long, I just want to point a few things out about season 1,

Starting from episode 1 the show seemed a bit cliche, but it had promise. I found the interaction between Merlin and Arthur amusing. Also King Giles - come on. And the voice of the dragon! One thing I noticed right away though was..... super bad CGI, but this show is from 2008 so all is forgiven. Another thing that I can't forgive is why the hell does Arthur (and everyone else) constantly swing their sword around in such a dramatic fashion whenever they're fighting? Like, really - I would've just stabbed the guy if I was fighting them and they kept swinging their sword around. Honestly.

Also Merlin x Gwen is so cute. But I realize that Gwen is going to end up with Arthur, but still - Gwen and Merlin are so cute. And up until the second last episode I loved Morgana too, but then she did this weird face-heel-turn thing (TV Tropes) and like... what. I mean, I get it, because let's be real - Uther Pendragon is an asshole. I would gladly kill him. He's so irrational and such a tyrant. Like, by the time it hit the second last episode and he killed Thom I was just... yeah - go kill Uther, Please. BUT Morgana's sudden like.. "YO I WANT UTHER DEAD" and then her sudden "Oh nvm, he apologized, aw, love you!" was just... it was just so sudden. All of it. Where is the build up?

And now I'm on to the last episode (still watching it) and it doesn't feel like a season finale at all. It's also just.. ridiculously overly dramatic? Like Arthur's "death" in which Uther carries him and collapses in the courtyard. Merlin yelling at the dragon. It's just.. like, all the episodes before this had been relatively light in comparison and there's honestly been no... real continuation of story? And then we get this. I don't even know what to call this episode because it's hardly emotional. It's just... dramatic. But not in a way in which I really feel anything. I mean, I guess maybe because I know there are 4 other seasons and thus everyone lives, and everything "turns out okay".

Actually - yeah, the thing that probably bugs me the most is the lack of continuation in this series. I wouldn't say each episode is... entirely episodic, because you can slowly see character growth and I would argue that is the story of Merlin. Growth. Arthur and Merlin's growth. BUT at the same time, there doesn't seem to be a real central storyline throughout the season. So it's just.. like yay, enjoyable, light-hearted, amusing drama that is a retake on the Arthurian legends, but at the same time it's like "you have go to be kidding me".

I guess I just need to continue taking this show with a grain of salt and not invest myself too deeply in hoping it will eventually make sense. I've heard that Morgana's "storyline" into evil kind of.. just happens, which will disappoint me so much. I cannot wait until Uther dies though - although he is Giles so that's going to make me sad anyway. Giles :( Annnndddddd.... what else? I can't really think of anything. The last two episodes have just made me think about how much Uther should die, how silly Merlin is and how he honestly makes terrible decisions (and how has NO ONE FIGURED OUT HE HAS MAGIC YET LIKE REALLY?!).

But anyway, enough of that. I just really wanted to talk about this show because... honestly, what a mess. *snort*

Onto season 2!

誰も知らない Review [single + performance]

You know, people actually visit my blog apparently. Or they click on it - somehow, and it surprises me because I don't advertise this blog, I don't get comments... like, where do these views come from? Where have these 3000 page views come from - and most people seem to have clicked on my review/semi-translation of Aiba's guesting on kuwazugirai (maybe I should keep doing stuff like that?). Actually I just re-read that post and I said I would also do the same thing for Jun's guesting on kuwazugirai which never happened.

ANYWAY - I'm getting off topic because for this post I wanted to talk about Arashi's latest single Daremo Shiranai. So, on with the review then yes?