Anime: Shoujo I've Watched Recently

Inu X Boku SS
I was kinda "off" anime for a quite awhile before I found myself starting this particular one and getting myself sucked in completely to the entire shoujo rom-com animes. This one in particular is pretty great. One of the main reasons why I enjoyed it as much as I did was that I started with zero expectations while thinking that the main pair in consideration will probably not appeal to me. Boy was I wrong.

The story introduces, slowly but surely, two characters with pretty dramatic complexes that stems from the way they were brought up. The show is observed from Ririchiyo's POV, revealing a dear and awkward character despite the overly harsh manner she portrays herself. We also see, slowly but surely, Soushi's character development through her eyes.

There were many questions I asked myself when watching the show, such as the simplest: "Who decides the role of SS and 'Owner' when all are simply descendants from youkai without any hierarchical distinction?" While that question and a couple others popped up occasionally through the course of the show and not being too pleased with how Soushi's past was so quickly brushed through in the last few episodes despite it being one of the biggest build-up from the start, I still really enjoyed it. I enjoyed seeing Roromiya and Watanuki on the screen, both in their own little world and together with Ririchiyo in school. Kotarou, the little human boy, was a whiff of fresh air and deadpan comic midst the ridiculity of everyone in Maison de Ayakashi. I liked most of the character's developments and how their relationships play out. I also really liked the OVA episode, which hit me with a lot of the romance that I was ultimately very drawn into.

Inu X Boku SS is comical (given the absurdity of Soushi and Ririchiyo's relationship right from the start coupled with the the colorful side characters), romantic and easy to watch. I rate it highly.


Kamisama Hajimemashita
I really enjoy animes with a hint of youkai and deities so I gladly picked this other shoujo rom-com after the above. I don't know what to objectively think of it.. It's a charming, quick and easy watch, but on hindsight it probably wasn't as amazing as how much I enjoyed it.

The characters lend themselves more to the cliche side, with an overly optimistic, doe-eyed, ditsy "plain jane" thrown into a ridiculous, manga-only situation to meet a cool and reserved man with a dark past. Yup, that's that. If you're into that kind of quick watches, you might find yourself enjoying it for its simple plot and ability to draw you into their problems and relationship. It's one where the comical elements outshines the romantic elements.

I initially didn't enjoy the artwork of the characters, with both characters looking a little too 2003 for my taste. There are also many questions left unanswered by the end, with the largest being Tomoe's unsettled past, but that is understandable given the massiveness of the manga series condensed into just 13 episodes. They're probably giving leeway to a 2nd season? Nonetheless I enjoyed their adventures, figuring out their place in each others lives in their own way and how Tomoe still is Tomoe right to the end (no elaborate "love very quickly changed me for the better" plotline). Tomoe's character was probably the biggest draw-in -- I liked his slow and realistic character development that essentially spans a couple centuries, his calm and collected demeanour and how he treats Nanami right to the end. Overall I give it an above average rating, being one I enjoyed but probably not going to heavily recommend.


Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
One of my favourite from the lot. I think one of the biggest hint of how much I enjoy an anime series is how quickly I jump into it's manga predecessor - I downloaded all 12 volumes in a heartbeat. Simple artwork and a simple plot with two very intriguing and strongly developed mains.

Haru and Shizuku had a strong push-pull thing going on which could be annoying but wasn't. I felt that I was able to follow through with how they felt, yet getting enough suspense to want to know what will eventually unfold. The first episode caught me straight and I found myself liking how Shizuku brought along the story with snippets of her thoughts between all the storylines.

The characters are very obviously non-stereotypical which I enjoyed - a deadpan, apathetic, socially awkward and relatively unattractive female who genuinely loves to study (not for any family issues or whatnot, but for the sole pursuit of satisfaction and empowerment which I really appreciated), and a ridiculously maniac, violent, socially awkward and straightforward male. They go through realistic changes through the span of the few episodes and I really found myself investing quite a lot of emotions in their relationship's rise and falls. On the flip side it was unfortunate that some of the characters, initially set out to be interesting, were very quickly brushed through and given way too little character development to even be considered interesting, like Yamaguchi and Mizutani. The only that did, Natsume, aimed to be a different kind of pretty girl character - one who hates getting attention and is alienated by others for her looks - but ends up falling short.

Despite the relative nondevelopment of the side characters, Haru and Shizuku alone are rich and complex enough characters to bring life into the experience. There were also plenty of comedic moments that had me burst out laughing, balancing well the heavier bits. I really enjoyed it, no doubt.


Inari Konkon Koi Iroha
Ahhh.. Well. It's not bad, it's just not what I wanted to watch. The show itself appears to have what I enjoy in a show; a dash of supernatural midst friendship, love and family. But wait - it's only 10 episodes!

Everything moved too quickly for me to even invest any bit of emotion into the show. While the premise was interesting enough, the plot did not exactly hold up for me and I found myself not interested in how the show plays out. I would have much rather they focus on a single aspect, instead of trying to show all aspects of Inari's life while giving the side characters love lines. Characters like Kouji were given zero attention, and Suzimome had not too much character development beyond the "beautiful yet real" mould. I would much rather they speak more for the romance aspect, instead of giving a quarter of each and not fully expounding on its potential.

I do have to say though, the artwork was great. The shrines looked beautiful and I especially love the red stretch of road through the it. While this anime didn't work for me, I think it did for many others so you might consider it. It's only 10 short episodes after all.

Music/Recommendation: Standing Egg ft. Park Seyoung - Lean On Me

One of the more well known "acoustic emotional" indie Korean band, Standing Egg, released this beautiful and subtle song yesterday. As with all their songs, it's one great for listening while staying in under your sheets on a cold day. This is their second collaboration with actress Park Seyoung, whose soft and straight (the kind which does not utilise too much vocal tricks and techniques that, while great, may sometimes tamper with certain styles of music like this) voice adds a lot through her harmonising.

Take a listen at this healing sort of music.

"하루가 힘들 때면 난
너의 웃는 모습 그려
너도 매일 조금 힘들더라도
여율 갖고 나에게 기대"

When I'm having a tough day, I think of your smile.
Should you have a tough day too, relax and lean on me.

TV: The Genius 2 - Rule Breaker (Midway Point)

I'm at episode 6 and I have so much contradicting emotions.

Wow. That's really fucked up.

This was my previous raving shining review on The Genius - Rule Of The Game and I feel that, at the midway point, the sequel appears fell short. I am aware that this I'm not done with the show, and this does not represent my concluding thoughts so here I go.

The games are definitely much simpler with much lesser leeway for mind games. The PD of the show has said beforehand for 2's games to simpler, as in Rule Of The Game people were not able to uncover many of the hidden layers and alternative techniques during the course of the game. What happened instead: there were main games that didn't feel like they were one, either leaving pretty much no room for scheming through over simplification or being too planned, and main games that gave pretty definite outcomes halfway through the game - losing the beauty of excessively unexpected twists-and-turns that was in the first. Even some of the twists were rather expected.

And this definitely bled into how people play.

Perhaps it was that people already knew what to expect and fell more comfortably into how the show works. Perhaps it was the mix of characters, or lack off, where there were seemed to be only two distinct types of characters - the follower and the *smart* leader. I couldn't see the charm of the individual characters - the insufferable ones like loudness, ganging up (poor Jaekyung, and Eun Jiwon had the guts to say that she was at fault) and betrayal (and I'm saying this despite being one to tolerate well-played betrayal and realistic negativity). Also, their individual strengths in their various fields were not given as much a chance to be displayed, which was unfortunate.

There were too many plain annoying characters (too loud, too out of the loop...) than appreciable "bad" characters who are scheming and actually used their brains. Alliances were expected and not interesting, and people were more willing to betray than use their brains.



I'm probably quite emotional due to the departure of one of my favourite members in an obviously underhanded manner that can't be acknowledged as easily.

I still love the show. It's still one of the most unique ones out there, and I probably will go on watching it. For example, episode 3 was probably the best with amazing editing and the unexpected double-crossing by Duhee (the type of betrayal that actually worked) with the viewer being completely out of the loop due to good editing + Oscar-worthy anger acting heh.

I still enjoyed the episodes so far perhaps with the more obvious exclusion of 4 (the Blackout game fell short and had no interest if not for the nonsensical betrayalS; I thought Eungyeol's betrayal made no sense, and the others like that annoying Yooyoung in elimination round making even lesser) and 6 (wtf really? All time low with their lack of moral code + 50% of the show dedicated not to either games but to the discovery of the token + a pretty uninteresting main game with even Hong Jinho not participating in the game ultimately + Duhee getting eliminated even without the chance to use his brain in the episode AT ALL).

I'll conclude by saying that while it fell short, it's still pretty good.

Maybe. I can't tell yet, I'm a little emotional right now. The more I'm writing, the more I'm getting upset.

First with the elimination of the female lawyer who played the smart and strong woman card better than Kyungran, then with all the obvious alliances, then with the horrible betrayal by Eun Jiwon who I used to quite like (he has since swept his image through the rugs), and the cherry on top with the elimination of Duhee.

Sigh.

Update (7): It was a fun episode but wow is there still a reason for me to continue watching..... In such a sheer unfortunate manner as well..... 이럴수가.....

Music: Orange Caramel - Catallena

I was rather ambivalent, for the longest time, about Orange Caramel. Sure, they make great and catchy dance tracks and they're a strong and overwhelming whiff of frilly and nasally fresh air midst all the sexy pop music the industry rolls out. But at the same time they're music tends too much towards gimmicky/J-pop PONPONPON/theatrical for my liking, so I typically don't lend my ears more than a few times to their songs.

But, oh boy, do I like Catallena.

It might be the same off tangent concept with the same quirky and repetitive dance moves, but it got me. I find myself humming oye-hoi-hoi alongside their ridiculously adorable dance.



The music video was really well shot, as usual, capturing their quirkiness with the colors, outfits and obviously-fake-yet-very-well-made sets. The minimalistic backgrounds also gives a sense of surrealism and modernity which I really like. The song itself talks about the typical jealous-yet-still-adore frenemy but I like to hyperanalyse and say that the MV brings it a little, just very very slightly, deeper.

My interpretation after two watchings (with the first being absolutely puzzled) is that they are lower grade sushis who are completely jealous of the octopus (depicted with the polka dot outfits as s/he zooms past). Then they somehow got themselves, in a The Little Mermaid fashion, to become an octopus (when they sported very similar polka dotted outfits) and got a bite of their previous flesh. They realised they were just as good despite the lower pricing and tear about the past they lost. I also wanna talk about how I thought their concept, from just looking at the teaser image, was about how beauty isn't everything when even the elusive and beautiful mermaids gets their prices marked down due to a lack of substance. Maybe not.

I hope I'm just a little coherent.

Either way, it's a cute and addictive pop song with a well-made music video - Orange Caramel style.

Fashion: Ahn Sohee

My fourth instalment in my fashion blogpost line a.k.a eyecandy post will feature another kpop idol whose sense of style is largely acknowledged by many - Ahn Sohee. I do have a penchant towards sleeker street styles that are more understated, so I do find myself liking her style quite a bit. She does seem to experiment quite a bit with her style, revealing many different facets and not solely sticking to one.




It was unfortunate that I didn't manage to source out more of the recent style images of Sohee, with many dating back to 2012 when Wonder Girls was just a tad more active than its current stagnancy. It definitely would have been quite enjoyable. But I definitely was able to find a lot of photoshoot images of her; very well stylised, shot and modelled.





I'm secretly glad that she left Wonder Girls and went ahead to pursue a career in acting. I rather liked her in drama special Happy Rose Day. For a first (or first few) venture she did decently well and I can see her blossoming as an actress with her already solid fan base. I await her next project.

Music/Recommendation: Crucial Star - Three Things I Wish To Give You

At first listen, I knew I loved it.

I love the mellow sound. I love how Sojin, from Girls Day, made her voice much lighter and sweeter (I hear it as emulating the original; Park Hyekyung's version). I love Crucial Star's chill rapping and singing. I love the entire tone of the MV.

Completely right up my alley.

I've always loved Crucial Star's works particularly FALL which was chockfull of beautiful music, as well as his many featurings with other the other hip hop artistes. This song was sweet, mild and easy to digest, and the MV was simple yet exceptionally well executed and suited the sound really well. I also enjoyed the entire cliche (but beautifully done) love-at-first-sight scene of two strangers at an art gallery, and the fact that the artworks actually are reflected throughout the entire MV with the 2D silhouettes, shapes and pastel colour schemes. The combination of the yellow overlay, simple movements and the pastel colours made for a rather nostalgic and heartwarming video - great song once again.

I'm actually quite easy to please when it comes to hiphop. Heh.

P.S. This is the 2nd Girls Day member to make their featuring in a hip hop artist's song. The first was Minah, with Dindin, in another sweet love rap song which I also really liked.

Music: Toheart (Woohyun and Key) - Delicious MV

I don't think I'm going to do a full album review for Toheart because I don't have too much to say about it. Rather, I'll do this post up instead to give props to the rather well done MV and to give my thoughts on their title song which I'm honestly.. You'll read about it. Anyway the MV was revealed two days ago but I only got to watch it today because I was so caught up with uni.

Music wise, it is obviously not totally in my comfort zone. While I appreciate a rather wide range of songs from fluff to hip hop to ballads, overly poppish and in-your-face-happy songs I usually steer away from. Delicious seems quite that kind of track. In my opinion it overdid the funky 60s sound a little too much, didn't do too much justice to Woohyun's vocals (or maybe a little too much with the seemingly forced adlibs, but Key sounds way better than I thought) and the lyrics that were too overtly dialogue coupled with the kind of one dimensional dance I can't help but cringe at.

Though, I do enjoy the beat especially like in the intro song.

Just to say, I'm feeling rather sad as I'm typing this considering how excited I was about it and the fact that I'm a huge fan of Woohyun. On the upside on the album I think that Tell Me Why and 출발 are pretty great tracks at my first listen! (Update: They're good. I like.)



The visuals of the MV very well suited the vibe of the song. I liked the vibrant colours and the styling of the members are done very well. Woohyun looks helluva suave with the dapper hair and suits, while Key had a very funky rugged yet put-together look. One thing I have to give props for is how the members look so distinct yet harmonious; as a unit you can distinguish them very easily at first glance and they didn't have outfits that overtly tell of their relation, yet they still worked together. Styling (especially for Woohyun's very Ryan Gosling-esque hair) receives two thumbs up from me.

Delicious also had a couple of very adorable scenes like their double-decker bed MT-looking scene and the morning after scene. I also felt that the dance scenes were handled rather tastefully, not overwhelming the entire video while providing enough interest with its camera work. However, I also wonder why if the lack of inclusion of an actual lady, considering the song is about their fight over a lady, is wise because it kind of made it look a little yaoi fanfic-ish.

The MV had also quite a couple of obviously hipster elements like the vintage storeroom & its props and the font of the starting credits. Nothing too in your face or jarring, just something interesting because I find interesting in a high-budget kpop MV. I'm gonna throw it out there and say that Woollim probably had a larger part to play in the visuals of the MV (box MVs anyone?).



While I am rather disappointed with the sound of the title track (since Prologue I and Prologue II was so good, both in looks and sound; kinda Nell-ish), I feel that they have a lot of room to explore combining both's sense of musicality into a sound that's more distinct and perhaps less generic kpop. Since I believe they created Toheart with the idea of it not being a one-off project group, I hope future sounds rolled out will appeal to me a bit more!

On the side note, indie hip-hop group Play The Siren completed their showcase in 홍대 successfully a few days back! They're pretty dope so do check them out if that's your thing.