Jdrama: Hanazakari no Kimitachi e

I just realized I've not yet reviewed Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (Hana Kimi).  This is one of my favorite jdramas.  It is just so cute!  Unlike most dramas the steady stream of side characters makes the show rather than detracting from it.

Class picture!

The story is simple.  Nice young girl (Ashiya Mizuki) pretends to be a nice young boy to inspire her childhood love (Sano Izumi) to return to high jump.  Yeah, I know that sounds thin, but it works.  The plot does not really get old.  I must say that the main story is not my favorite part.  Rather the interaction of all the characters as a whole and Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu Shuichi in particular.

Isn't he cute!

The characters are what make this drama really worth seeing.  The plot is cute too and it really is quite funny.  This is from the cross dressing and just the story in general.  Sano is a bit sour and angsty for me and I like the actor better in other things I've seen him in, but I got over it.  I would definitely recommend this one.

JDrama: GTO

I had watched the GTO movie and that led me to watch the GTO drama.  Its an older drama so you have to give it some leeway for that . . . 1998 is different then now. Really.

Anyway its the story of a man with no qualifications that wanted to become a teacher despite having a shady past.  This drama shows how his unusual ways help his students to become better people and achieve their dreams.  This can be a bit repetitive, but is better then some about story originality.

Onizuka is a great character, though I often did worry he would do the wrong thing . . . which actually speaks to how well the drama is written and to what a great actor Sorimachi Takashi is.  He really makes the show and is the main reason I suggest you watch this movie.  Later dramas dealing with shady teachers really draw off of this one, so if you've like things like Gokusen then you really need to watch this. 

I would highly recommend this drama for people who love high school dramas.

Karaoke . . .

For my friends 30s birthday we went out for karaoke.  I've never been the biggest fan, but I thought I'd give it a try . . . plus we went to a place where you can rent your own room!  I'd only ever seen that in jdramas, so I was super super excited.  We went to 99 St Karaoke in Edmonton (I would definitely recommend it). 

We had a disco ball . . .

And lots of Linsday Lohan (what?) . . .

And interesting background images and control of our own sound . . .

And damaged awesome 90s furniture . . .

I love the big screen lyrics that let you know when to take a break . . .

We also had a sink and some weird cupboards . . .

with Christmas decorations . . .

And fake flowers (those could come in handy . . .)

I had an awesome time and the 2 hours we planed on turned in to 3.  It was nice being able to just keep on singing and being stupid without having to wade through idiots you don't know.  The song selection was kind of weird, but we managed to find stuff we liked.  Overall, it was a very positive experience and I don't know why we do Karaoke any other way.