Owari da na, Yamada Tarou Monogatari...
Sep. 30th, 2007 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elennielI'm not entirely sure why I watched Yamada Tarou Monogatari until the end...
I'm not even sure why I continued watching past episode 4 or so.
Oh. Probably because of Sho. :P
But that's about the only reason.
Just saw the last two episodes of YTM.
Honestly, the part I liked the best was when Ohno popped up with his cameo. His voice was kinda odd (on purpose, I guess), but when he said "okama taishou" before correcting himself (should have been "omatsuri") I couldn't help laughing. XD
And for some reason, I have a feeling that if Ohno really applied himself to it, he could be a better actor than Nino. Yea, Nino's good at the Average Joe roles with lots of emo-ness going on (and he seems good at crying, although in real life he'd probably be the last in Arashi to really tear up, if at all). But looking at how Ohno acts - like in this cameo, the bits of the Pikanchi movie that I've seen so far, and in that Sammi segment in his solo concert - I get the feeling he'd be better than Nino, and more versatile too.
I'm not even sure why I continued watching past episode 4 or so.
Oh. Probably because of Sho. :P
But that's about the only reason.
Just saw the last two episodes of YTM.
Honestly, the part I liked the best was when Ohno popped up with his cameo. His voice was kinda odd (on purpose, I guess), but when he said "okama taishou" before correcting himself (should have been "omatsuri") I couldn't help laughing. XD
And for some reason, I have a feeling that if Ohno really applied himself to it, he could be a better actor than Nino. Yea, Nino's good at the Average Joe roles with lots of emo-ness going on (and he seems good at crying, although in real life he'd probably be the last in Arashi to really tear up, if at all). But looking at how Ohno acts - like in this cameo, the bits of the Pikanchi movie that I've seen so far, and in that Sammi segment in his solo concert - I get the feeling he'd be better than Nino, and more versatile too.
Back to YTM.
I'll just note down stuff as I remember them.
- I constantly felt like shaking Tarou's siblings. They were SO annoying at some parts. They're meant to be adorable and cute, I know. Appearance-wise, they are. But their behaviour drives me nuts. In one earlier episode, because Tarou wasn't around, ALL of them burst into tears during a thunderstorm - even the older boys (who look about 10-12) and I was like, "Are they all 4 years old or something??" Six bawling kids is not entertaining at all...
- For all the concern Tarou shows for his family, I'm amazed that he thought it would be better to return to that too-small shack of theirs than stay in a house offered them by a patron of his father. They had all their basic needs taken care of too! Food, clothes... If they had stayed there, at least he could have gone to America. Makes me wonder if Tarou is really as unselfish as he's supposed to be, even if he did take a long time to think that over.
- Tarou's parents are more or less useless.
- Takako... I disliked her a lot at first, but after she got over the tama no koshi stuff, she was more bearable. But then when Tarou's luck seemed to change, she went back to it. ARGH.
- Mimura Takuya. I'm not really sure I understand why he was so upset that Tarou got to move into a big mansion. Because his fun had disappeared with Tarou really being "rich" now? Hrm. Not a very nice reason... But at least this character showed a little bit of development - not much, but more than Yamada Tarou anyway. Which brings me to my next point...
- There was practically zero character development for Tarou. From episode 1 to 10 he remains exactly the same person. He gets neither better nor worse. His motivations are always the same, his reactions are always the same.
Lack of character development is a pretty serious problem I think, from a critical angle. The best movies/series/books always have some sort of development for the main character. It might be a large reason for YTM's ratings, which I've heard are rather lower than HanaKimi's. When the main character lacks development, the story tends to fall flat. The same applies to Haken no Hinkaku. In Haken, the main character was also exactly the same from start to end of the series. She was always strong, cool, efficient and all-capable. There was not much story to it in the end.
This was also where Gokusen failed rather, in my opinion. Yamaguchi-sensei was also always the same throughout the series. The only ones who changed were her students. That's why I didn't watch season 2. It would have been a flat repetition of season 1 - without Matsumoto Jun and co.
- The students in Ichinomiya's "special honours class" are first-class IDIOTS. How is it possible that they all assume Tarou is a rich kid, heir to a huge business empire or something? He doesn't look rich at all. The one who looks rich is Mimura. Not Tarou. Gah.
- Screaming fangirls in schools seem to be common in J-dramas. HanaDan had it, HanaKimi had it, and YTM has it. The girls just stand around shrieking and fainting at the sight of the guys. Maybe it's largely my background (my friends from school are mostly the very strong-minded, independent, responsible, sensible, smart girls) Makino in HanaDan comes off as a really wonderful female protagonist because of all these screaming fangirl images...
- The air guitar thing in YTM's final episode was a bit silly.
- Sho looks good in dark suits <3 (but oh, I miss the Mimura hair...)
- It was funny when their class rep accidentally deleted all his "memories" (photos) of Tarou from his camera. LOL.
- I must've watched the Ohno cameo like 5 times... I kept replaying that bit, even though it was a really baka reaction to Tarou's smile. Okama taishou!! XD
I'll just note down stuff as I remember them.
- I constantly felt like shaking Tarou's siblings. They were SO annoying at some parts. They're meant to be adorable and cute, I know. Appearance-wise, they are. But their behaviour drives me nuts. In one earlier episode, because Tarou wasn't around, ALL of them burst into tears during a thunderstorm - even the older boys (who look about 10-12) and I was like, "Are they all 4 years old or something??" Six bawling kids is not entertaining at all...
- For all the concern Tarou shows for his family, I'm amazed that he thought it would be better to return to that too-small shack of theirs than stay in a house offered them by a patron of his father. They had all their basic needs taken care of too! Food, clothes... If they had stayed there, at least he could have gone to America. Makes me wonder if Tarou is really as unselfish as he's supposed to be, even if he did take a long time to think that over.
- Tarou's parents are more or less useless.
- Takako... I disliked her a lot at first, but after she got over the tama no koshi stuff, she was more bearable. But then when Tarou's luck seemed to change, she went back to it. ARGH.
- Mimura Takuya. I'm not really sure I understand why he was so upset that Tarou got to move into a big mansion. Because his fun had disappeared with Tarou really being "rich" now? Hrm. Not a very nice reason... But at least this character showed a little bit of development - not much, but more than Yamada Tarou anyway. Which brings me to my next point...
- There was practically zero character development for Tarou. From episode 1 to 10 he remains exactly the same person. He gets neither better nor worse. His motivations are always the same, his reactions are always the same.
Lack of character development is a pretty serious problem I think, from a critical angle. The best movies/series/books always have some sort of development for the main character. It might be a large reason for YTM's ratings, which I've heard are rather lower than HanaKimi's. When the main character lacks development, the story tends to fall flat. The same applies to Haken no Hinkaku. In Haken, the main character was also exactly the same from start to end of the series. She was always strong, cool, efficient and all-capable. There was not much story to it in the end.
This was also where Gokusen failed rather, in my opinion. Yamaguchi-sensei was also always the same throughout the series. The only ones who changed were her students. That's why I didn't watch season 2. It would have been a flat repetition of season 1 - without Matsumoto Jun and co.
- The students in Ichinomiya's "special honours class" are first-class IDIOTS. How is it possible that they all assume Tarou is a rich kid, heir to a huge business empire or something? He doesn't look rich at all. The one who looks rich is Mimura. Not Tarou. Gah.
- Screaming fangirls in schools seem to be common in J-dramas. HanaDan had it, HanaKimi had it, and YTM has it. The girls just stand around shrieking and fainting at the sight of the guys. Maybe it's largely my background (my friends from school are mostly the very strong-minded, independent, responsible, sensible, smart girls) Makino in HanaDan comes off as a really wonderful female protagonist because of all these screaming fangirl images...
- The air guitar thing in YTM's final episode was a bit silly.
- Sho looks good in dark suits <3 (but oh, I miss the Mimura hair...)
- It was funny when their class rep accidentally deleted all his "memories" (photos) of Tarou from his camera. LOL.
- I must've watched the Ohno cameo like 5 times... I kept replaying that bit, even though it was a really baka reaction to Tarou's smile. Okama taishou!! XD
Finally a YTM review ^_^
Date: 2007-12-15 07:15 pm (UTC)Ohno has really something in his acting, I loved him in Yellow Tears he impressed me the most out of the five in that movie.
Haha yeah I kept wondering the same thing about the moving in to the big house, why Mimura so upset? perhaps 'cause he was afraid that Tarou would change and get all stuck up or something? well I don't know. And yeah every time I watched YTM I kept reminding myself that this was fictional 'cause really fantastic things happened to Tarou and he was like nothing ever happened lol. I don't know about the other dramas you mention, but I agree with the character development. Lol, the air guitar, what's really useful about it? especially the little performing they do at the end X_X. I also think the director's appearance in the contest was a bit odd XD.
And yes!! the Mimura hair is the best, Sho looks so gorgeous but skinny I admit =P.
Re: Finally a YTM review ^_^
Date: 2007-12-16 05:27 pm (UTC)I don't think Mimura would have to worry about Tarou becoming all stuck up. Tarou showed no inclination whatsoever to change his character (more's the pity). hahah
Sho's not looking quite so skinny these days though, apparently. Guess he's eating more. :P
(Hey, I'm gonna add you to my f-list, yea? ^^ )