astromantic

毎日grind, 毎日rhymes

Author: astromantic

  • KINGOFDRAMAS

    KINGOFDRAMAS

    THOUGHTS. Unfiltered!!!

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  • five things

    Five little things I’ve been digging lately!

    SHINee, “Dream Girl”
    Talk about a cute and dreamy music video! I like everything about their concept. Nice hair? Check. Fun choreo? If getting fancy with the mic stand counts, check. Suits on suits on suits? Check, check, check!

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  • First Impressions (Winter 2013).

    winter2013

    It’s been a struggle to keep up this season, but it’s more from my laziness than anything. That said, I still managed to start two Korean dramas (which I will be discussing soon because whoooooaaaaa). Priorities? Anyway, check out what I’m watching this season after the jump!

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  • You can actually pinpoint the second when my heart rips in half.

    13-2

    It was specifically at 13:37, but anyway…

    There are a lot of unfinished games on my backlog, but for the past two weeks I have been spending my time getting emotional over games that I’ve never even played. Allow me to elaborate:

    One night I made the fatal mistake of going on a Wikipedia Adventure™ for Final Fantasy XIII/XIII-2 because I heard that they were making yet another game in the series. It’s like, what went wrong in this game that they couldn’t resolve in the sequel, right? The story itself is very convoluted and irritating, and the most I got out of it was that Etro deserves one of those “you tried but please stop” gold star stickers. Still, XIII-2 was a complete mystery to me. I didn’t know how to pronounce l’Cie (apparently it’s [lə’siː] and not [ɛl’si]), and I was tired of reading about these games online, so I thought it would be best if quit this late-night madness and watch the ending on YouTube. Did I expect to get taken to a dreamworld of tragic? NOPE

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  • A year in dramas (2012).

    A year in dramas (2012).

    This was suuuuuuuuuch a weak year for dramas! Last year had a lot of powerful new dramas (“Soredemo, Ikite Yuku”) and compelling sequels (“JIN 2”), but I knew it was Big Trouble when the winter season rolled around and I just didn’t care for much of anything. Didn’t watch a lot of between spring and summer, but (as usual) I went HAM towards the end of the year. Here’s what I watched:

    Winter
    Shokuzai
    Strawberry Night

    Summer
    Higashino Keigo Mysteries
    Boys on the Run

    Spring
    Kagi no Kakatta Heya
    Kaeru no Ojousama
    Keizoku 2 ~Sho~

    Autumn
    PRICELESS
    Double Face
    Osozaki no Himawari
    Going My Home
    Kekkon Shinai
    Yuusha Yoshihiko to Akuryou no Kagi

    I tried putting everything into superlative categories like “best romance”, “best thriller” and the like, but I don’t actually think I watched enough! Maybe I should change my strategy…

  • PRICELESS (fin.)

    PRICELESS (fin.)

    Finished! So underwhelming. PRICELESS lost momentum before it could even get started, and Oyashiki was more compelling a character than Kindaichi was, even though he became pretty one dimensional (foiling his half-brother at every turn, blah blah blah daddy issues, ok). Kindaichi literally had no faults, and that’s just not interesting to me.

    Now I’m going to watch something where Fujiki Naohito isn’t playing a complete jerk (hurts my heart every time you do, bb).

    Speaking of endings… RIP Karina’s career (but seriously, where’d she go?!)

  • First Impressions (Autumn 2012).

    Yes, now we’re getting into the meat and bones! There are a couple of factors I keep in mind when choosing the dramas that I’ll watch: do I like the cast/who am I watching this for? Do I like the sound of the plot? Is it a sequel? Would I subject myself to a crappy story just for the lead? Who’s the screenwriter? Is it just a Johnny vehicle drama? And then, after I’ve watched the first or second episode, do I like it enough to keep going? Things like that.

    I picked a couple quite a few dramas to watch (a grand total of six, which is more than I usually ever keep up with). You can read my pre-watch jitters here, and my first impressions on the first episode(s) after the jump!

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  • I am thou, thou art I, blah blah arcanas

    I’ve been playing Persona 4 (ペルソナ4) for the better half of the year, and it is an amazing RPG. A rural murder mystery — equal parts occultism and human psychology, with a generous helping of Japanese/Greek mythology, greeaaaaat dialogue (seriously, the localization is fantastic), and high school shenanigans. I love a lot of things about P4, but the most exciting about it is the almighty social link, which is an additional way for the player to strengthen personas. Oh my heck. Who knew establishing bonds and fostering friendships in a video game could be so stressful?

    Going through and trying to max out social links is most fun when you have the input of your friends. Things finally came to a head when I maxed out Ozawa Yumi’s social link (of the sun arcana), and the results are* hilarious.

    * Guess which one we went with! HAH.

  • Strawberry Night I

    Strawberry Night I

    Before I get into it, there’s an SP that precedes this drama, and it would have helped some if I watched it beforehand but whateva whateva. I wasn’t planning on watching Strawberry Night at all (it’s no Gonzo, or SPEC) but there’s no harm in watching another cop drama! It’s kind of like a grittier and glossier version of BOSS… kinda. Anyway–

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  • Soredemo, Ikite Yuku (Episodes 7-8)

    soredemo-01

    Now Playing: Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18: Adagio Sostenuto

    This is a show that I can’t recommend enough.

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