More movies

I forgot to write up the two Hong Kong movies I watched on the last KLM flight I took a couple of months ago. They were “Double Tap” starring Leslie Cheung and Alex Fong, and “I Love Hong Kong”, with Sandra Ng and Tony Leung (Big Tony). They were both kinda bad, though Double Tap was watchable, especially in hindsight, seeing as it stars Leslie as a seriously depressed maniac. He plays Rick, a gun expert who develops a penchant for killing after shooting a crazed cop, while Alex Fong plays the policeman who has to track him down and stop him.

The movie was going well until the end, which was too simplistic. Basically the men shot each other, but Alex’s wife had taught him breathing techniques to prolong his life when shot, so he lived and Leslie died. See, that’s too simplistic right? Bit of a disappointment there.

“I Love Hong Kong” was just bad. The idea was good, about a man who moves back into a housing project with his family after losing everything. The movie is supposed to show how they adjust to life in a poor area and how they transform it eventually but 1. It takes them very little time to adjust completely, so there’s no tension there. 2. All the real transformation is carried out by the man’s shady friend, played by Eric Tsang. The family might as well not have moved back. 3. All problems are quickly and easily resolved, making you wonder if they were really problems at all. 4. The ending features a spectacularly cheesy singing sequence that made me cringe in my seat and change the channel. Way to go.

Watching Cantonese movies on flights really helps the time pass quickly, while letting me learn a bit in the process. Every time I watch a movie after studying for a while, I find I understand more and more of what’s being said without relying on the subs. I’m still not entirely ready to go sub-free, but I’m getting there.

Ten yori mo Hoshi yori mo manga review

A classic shoujo romance manga by Akaishi Michiyo. Ten yori mo Hoshi yori mo is at least 35 years old at this point, but a good romance is a good romance. About the only thing “off” is the lack of mobile phones, which made me go “Why don’t you just call him! Oh wait…” many times.

The story is about three high school kids who find themselves with superpowers, the love triangle that develops between them and their quest to find out who they truly are and where those powers came from.

Since it’s that old, I don’t mind spoiling: The girl Mio, and her beloved Sou/Rei turn out to have been Shizuka Gozen and Minamoto Yoshitsune from ancient Japan, finally reunited in the present. The bad guy Tadaomi is Oda Nobunaga reincarnated, meaning he has nothing to do with those two lovers and is just an interloper. He most likely mistook Mio for someone else, but this is never gone into.

The series ends with all three getting shot by policemen who mistake them for monsters. Tadaomi jumps into a fire, and that’s the end of him. Mio and Sou walk into the ocean, where presumably they are finally together in death. It’s possible that Mio used her powers to shield them from the water until they got further away, but not only has she exhausted her powers stopping a tsunami right before, but they have also both been, you know, shot, so it’s unlikely. So yeah, it’s not a very happy ending.

As far as romances go it was good, though. There’s no waffling between lovers, no silly misunderstandings, no petty squabbles between the lovers and lots of love and mutual respect. Mio and Sou find each other early and stay true to each other in the face of adversity. The cast is also kept reasonably small, allowing the story to be focused and fast-paced. I like that. If all shoujo romance series were like Ten Yori Mo, Hoshi Yori Mo, I wouldn’t have a problem with them at all. Except for, you know, the whole miserable ending thing. I still recommend it as a very enjoyable read with memorable characters.

Japanese Banking Crisis

According to inside contacts, the Japanese banking crisis shows no signs of ameliorating. If anything, it’s getting worse.
Following last week’s news that Origami Bank had folded, we are hearing that Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank plans to cut back some of its branches.
Karaoke Bank is up for sale and is (you guessed it!) going for a song.
Meanwhile, shares in Kamikaze Bank have nose-dived and 500 back-office staff at Karate Bank got the chop.
Analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank and staff there fear they may get a raw deal.

Cherry manga review

Cherry is a short romantic comedy series by Eisaku Kubonouchi. I quit after one volume, then skipped to the end to find out it was all a dream… or was it? The story is about two young adults from the boonies who meet, fall in love “at first sight” and run away together to Tokyo to avoid a forced marriage.

At first Cherry seemed like it would be an interesting look at the difficulties of city life for a pair of outsiders with no money. Can they overcome the barriers, or will they be forced to go home in despair? Will Fuuko’s rich family come looking for her? Will the police? Where will they live? What will they do for money? What— stop worrying. Kubonouchi took the easy way out.

The couple almost immediately run into helpful people who give them a place to live, both Fuuko and her boyfriend find part-time jobs almost immediately, everybody loves the innocent, cheerful Fuuko, and Sakurabou’s only worry becomes “When can I have sex with Fuuko?” Every time he shows up, that’s all he can think about. I felt filthy just reading it, so I quit.

*spoilers for how it ends*
I skipped to the last chapter and it turns out everything was a dream. The house Fuuko supposedly lived in is ruined and empty, the people he “met” are probably people he imagined from reading about them in a magazine, and his ex-girlfriend is the one who runs from her wedding to be with him, not Fuuko. Fuuko never existed in the first place…or did she? There are a couple of problems with this:

1. This setup would have worked for a 1 volume series. After 4 volumes, however, the readers have grown to know and love the cast. Fuuko in particular has been shoved heavily down our throats, and now you say she never existed?
2. Several months must have passed in Sakurabou’s dream. In that time he must have fallen head over heels for Fuuko and forgotten all about his old GF (Meguppe who?). You can’t send him back to the beginning and tell him to re-fall for Meguppe, it’s not so simple.
3. Meguppe leaves her wedding to come see Sakurabou. But he still has no job, no prospects, no place of his own and no proper education. As long as he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, he can’t take care of anyone else. They have no future.
4. In the original timeline Meguppe turned into a skank who insulted and dumped Sakurabou very cruelly after leaving for Tokyo. Having seen this side of her, he’ll probably never be able to see her in the same light again. At the very least he’ll never trust her, so this relationship is not going to work.

In other words, “It was all just a dream” doesn’t solve anything at all! Thanks for that slap in the face, Kubonouchi. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Off-topic rambling

The ATV stream is back! Woo-hoo! You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and all that.

Just in time, cos I was going astray, visiting all kinds of English websites and reading about Japanese celebrities. They’re all so coy. They won’t even admit to the plastic surgery and dental work many of them (Namie, Gackt, Amuro, etc) have obviously had. Come on, don’t be so shy. We know you did it! Actually I believe stars are entitled to their privacy just like the rest of us, and that their obligation to the fans stops right at entertaining us. But as a fan, I can’t help it. I loooove celeb gossip!

Just now I dug up some dirt about B’z vocals Koshi Inaba. He’s one of the most intensely private Japanese stars out there, and the only thing he’ll cop to is having parents, a brother and some dogs. Now I can finally put the doubts to rest: he’s married and has at least one kid as of 2002! Bob Marley had these lyrics: “Only your friend / Know your secret / So only he / Can reveal it”! Yup, it was someone on one of his tours who spilled the beans: American bassist Billy Sheehan, via his official website. Source: http://www.billysheehan.com/photos/photos_bz06.html

More of these, Billy. Go on more tours and reveal more information oh so casually on your site! Next up, Tak Matsumoto. He’s 50 and apparently…single? Not that there’s anything wrong with that…