Ma Boy (2012)

Country: South-Korea
Format: drama in 3 episodes
Genre: gender-bender, school, romance
Cast: Kim So Hyun, Sun Woong, Min Hoo, Kim Ha Yun, Kang Hyun Joong, Park Hee Gon, Kim Hye Ji, Lee Jong Min,
Synopsis: Jang Geu Rim gets transferred into "idol's high school" in order to become an idol. She is full of happiness and optimism to find out that she is in the same class with her idol-crush Tae Joon, but things do not go so well for her when she has share her dorm-room with Female CF star Irene. Even though all Korea loves Irene,  Jang Geu Rim's first impression of her is an impolite, spoiled girl who does not talk to anyone. But first impressions might be very wrong, especially when one night you find out that your roommate, Korea's little mysterious sister, turns out to be 100% guy... 
Rating: 4/5
We are used to gender-bender dramas, but "Ma Boy" turns the usual fundamentals of gender-bender up-side-down with turning a guy into a girl in order to help his uncle/boss.

The main character is Jang Geu Rim, played by Kim So Hyun. It is her first time to play in youth drama and for the first time she got the lead-role. Most of people are used to see her in historical dramas or in more serious roles, but her character in "Ma boy" is really comical. You can see that there is plenty of room for her to develop her comical-acting, but I give her thumb up for pretty good performance here. I really hope she gets more roles in comedies. but back to Jang Geu Rim. I like the fact that she is not that usual naive, desperately in-love type. She is more independent and now to think of it.. she a bit reminds me Lee Kyu Won from "Heartstrings/You've fallen for me", but Jang Geu Rim did not have these hopelessness-moments (maybe it was because of there was no time to be crybaby). She was one character who did not have any development with time going by, which makes her a bit left aside and not so noticeable.

The star of the drama is definitely Sun Woong (from TOUCH, his band mates played the part of Hyun Woo's dance crew) who was Irene and Hyun Woo. Even though he does not seem much in first episode, he starts to show his abilities from the second episode where both sides are clearly presented. It is difficult to believe that these characters are played by one guy, because even their way of walking and eye look are different.

As Hyun Woo he is manly, usual teenage-boy who likes to impress girls and is into guys stuff, but when he is Irene, he is all sweet and adorable, his/her walking is light as a butterfly and he/she has that certain aura of loveliness. Only two things are that will give him away as Irene - Sun Woong has very manly hands and they were unable to change Hyun Woo's voice, which is the reason of Irene being silent all the time (she did all her school-work only in written-way)  But as thoughts run in my mind usually, I started to think that his legs were REALLY smooth and I wonder what underwear he wore under his skirt, because we can all see really impressive scene of Calvin Klein boxers in first episode when he is still Irene.. :P

Hyun Woo's personal growth is one of the high lights of the drama. He is not just pretending to be and trying to hide being Irene as it is common in every other gender-bender, but he also has identity-crises due to it. As Hyun Woo he has failed every single audition, but as Irene he debuted with one single photo-shoot, which leads to thinking "what would I be without Irene?". I have not seen in any other gender-bender that character starts to think of her/his other life. What also is a bit weird, is that they never put Sun Woong to sing. he dances a lot, but not even once sings...

Third really important character is Tae Joon, the one everyone has a crush on. The funny thing is that he resembles Tatewaki Kuno from "Ranma 1/2"(manga by Rumiko Takahashi). He thinks that is worth more than he actually is. Compared to other Korean dramas, he is not some kind of bastard - he is goofy and nerdy around Irene and there is no logical explaining for his actions when he tries to appeal to someone. I like this unusual love-triangle, because it just does not fall under the most common standards. Tae Joon's part is acted by Min Hoo (please do not confuse him to Lee Min Hoo!!)  from band called EXCITE. I really like his voice and he is the hot-face of the drama.

It is the first drama produced by Tooniverse. I hope they made it so short in order to test if they will have viewers, because I really liked it and I hope there will be more that great dramas by Tooniverse. At the same time, it did not annoy me that it had only 3 episodes. Compared to usual 16- or more episode long dramas, it had all the things needed and it had been cut down on long pointless just-music-scenes and "beauty shots". I think there was a bit less drama and not even once I thought "Oh! Gyoza, move faster~!". As I said, everything was tip-top-okey :P But as usually I cannot say just great words about changes.

The fact that it is much shorter also makes many things unexplained - why boss had dept, why that paparazzi was so furious to ruin Irene's career and etc? but then again, these are just small things that we can make up ourselves! Doesn't it make it even cooler if each of us thinks their "OWN" story lines to it? Maybe boss had dept because of gambling or wrongly made investments? WOAH, there is a lot of room for fanfics! The reason why I am telling you this is because I am tired of hearing that people want more and more. I know, I want them to do more episodes too, but I am just saying that actually the less might be a good option too.
That should be it.. sooo if you want to have a change into casual Korean dramas and want see something short but sweet, then this might be for you :D

SPOILER-review: If you are interested in her illness, then she had leukemia. Maybe a lot of watchers were hoping for a real kiss-scene, but I must remind you with 8 year age gap, Kim So Hyun 13 and Sun Woong 22 (at time of filming he was 21), it would have been too inappropriate, that I totally understand why they went with just forehead kiss. 

Seigi no Mikata (2008)

Country: Japan
Format: drama in 10 episodes
Genre: comedy, family, romance
Cast: Shida Mirai, Yamada Yu, Mukai Osamu, Hongo Kanata, Takizawa Saori, Nishiuchi Mariya, Irie Jingi, Yamaguchi Izumi, Hiraizumi Sei, Tajima Yusei,
Synopsis: Yoko is a young girl who thinks that she has lived her whole life in a pure hell where the devil is her older sister Makiko. Of course for everyone else Makiko is the best, the most beautiful and smartest woman in the world. People go even as far as calling her "the ally of justice" (it's the meaning of "Seigi no mikata") and do not see how self-centered and egoistic she is nor how she takes advantage of her little sister. With new guy in Makiko's offing, Yoko finally figures it out - if Makiko marries and moves out, she can be free to do whatever she wants. 
Rating: 4/5
To tell you the truth, I watched it with one night - I made a marathon with friends. If only all dramas/movies would go so fast. But watching that so fast also means that my first impression was much better and later I started to take stars down and down.

Yoko is a really cute character, but she easy to manipulate with. It is funny and sad at the same time to see how much she is used by her sister. I know they try to give the reasons why she is doing it, but I have grown up with 3 sisters and like Yoko says in one episode "it took time to understand that their relationship is not usual" (you don't say?). I could say that it is only Yoko's fault that Makiko bosses her around, but actually the whole society around them compares the two sisters, which makes me just angry. I liked how Shida Mirai acted her in a cute comical way, but also you can see her own thoughts and feelings too.

My favorite character was Okamoto Riku. I cannot say if he really was Yoko's love-interest, because at first that girl was to busy with sister's affairs to even recognize that dude as one of the hottest things in school. I actually liked Riku for personality, the fact that Hongo Kanata played him was just a bonus. Riku is sweet, helpful and rather shy as he only had two girls to talk to. From the middle of the drama I only rooted for their storyline, because it was so sweet young fresh first love (rather was that first crush, not love).
Makiko's character reminded me "Hanawake no yon shimai's" Fujiko and Takemi, because Makiko

was exactly the mix of those too (actually it should be vice-verse, because "Seigi no mikata" was written before "Hanawake"). She was very egoistic, glutton and total career-woman. It is sad that in drama she is shown more self-centered than she actually was in manga. In drama there must always be some advantages for her to make a move, which is sad, because I really did not get her actual feelings. But I was really impressed by her actions towards Naoki, even though she always gave diverse emotions, I wondered how far is one woman willing to go? especially when that woman is known for small and frequent crushes? Her character was also interesting to watch, because I was eager to know when her lies fall apart and Naoki sees her real character. Even though she was that half-good-half-bad character, I was only bothered by only little thing... whenever she made that silly "cute" fake voice. I do not understand why Japanese girls think it is cute, when actually it is so damn annoying.   

Naoki - another god in the drama. To put it simple, Naoki was everything that Makiko was not and definitely way too good for any woman on the Earth, but hei! they say that opposites draw. I felt sorry for him, but then.. read from SPOILER-review.. I enjoyed watching Mukai Osamu in this role, because it was my first time seeing him in a calculative, blind, naive and also a bit plain role. It was so sweet to see his lovey-dovey love face of total amazement.
Last character that I should mention are parents.

You can clearly see that Yoko takes after father and Makiko after mother. More than that, mom is the character who impressed me the most. At first she seems like a silly naive woman, but you can see that this woman has more layers than an onion and she has about the same amount secrets. When it comes to Naoki's parents, then gyoza how annoying one mother can be. I'd be as bitch as Makiko was with her if my mother in law would end up being like that. Get to the point, man was already getting 30 - there is no need for mother to go and clean/cook/do laundry for him. Every child grows up and sooner or later you must let go, and I'd say better sooner than later. She was the most annoying and being stuck to traditions like gum under the show will never be good.  

It is made after Hijiri Chiaki's same-named manga. I do not understand why they changed so many things and characters. Basically they had taken the first volume from the manga and changed-mixed things up and made into live-action, only some points were taken from second volume (and that how far I have read it..). I think I will just let it pass, because I am afraid that "Seigi no mikata" manga is rather unpopular and maybe most of the people do not even know that it is made after a manga..
Well, it is another good-to-laugh drama, which might make you think that you are lucky with your siblings or with the fact that you are only child, depends on your situation.

SPOILER-review: I did not like the ending. I hate when everything stays the same or goes even worse for the lead character. Yoko became total maid for Makiko's family and not even Naoki was able to see it -.- Of course I liked how Yoko's and Riku's story ended, especially because that leaves a place for fanfics, but I hate when people sacrifice themselves for someone else.  I was so surprised to find out that the baby was real and Naoki actually dug Makiko's devil side. Made me think that he might be into masochism..  

Matataki (2010)

Also known as: Piecing me back together
Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: life&death, love
Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Okada Masaki, Otsuka Nene, Shiro, Nagashima Eiko, Fukami Motoki, Chisaki Wakana, Shimizu Saki, Yoshinaga Johnny,
Synopsis: Sonoda Izumi is a young woman, who got into a traffic accident with her boyfriend Junichi. For unknown reasons she was able to come out of it with only small physical wounds while Junichi and other truck driver had lost their lives. Due to the shock she is unable to remember anything about how or why the accident happened, but constant nightmares and fragments of memories are haunting her to find out the truth about Junichi's last minutes.
Rating: 2/5
 I expected it to be another cute sad love story that will stay in my heart forever, but I expected too much as it turned out to be slow healing from trauma and nothing more.

There is nothing bad to say about Izumi, but she was a bit too nosy about Makiko's matters and she did not understand that her brother was just worried about her. I totally understand brother's actions, because he hoped that maybe so Izumi can finally move on and continue her normal life (as normal as it can be after this kind of accident). What I liked about Izumi, was that she decided to know the truth so badly, that she did not care anymore if the truth would turn out to be bad or good. Also, I bet one reason why she was unable to move on, was that she did not attend the funeral - from personal experience I know that it is really difficult to make yourself believe that this person is not with you anymore when you cannot say goodbye at funeral.

Kitagawa Keiko's acting was great, but at first her limping leg was a bit fake, but it is difficult to pretend to walk with a limp when your leg is totally fine. She is one of the reasons why many people even consider watching it. I find her great actress too and in this movie, she was able to show the character as she was. I would like to comment more about Junichi too, but I tell you that Okada Masaki had too less screen time! Only thing I can say about Junichi is that he had real artist soul - everything based on moment feelings and inspiration, he basically did what he wanted at the moment. I would have loved to see more about two of them, but what to do if the movie is already ready and out.

The other lead woman was Makiko, a lawyer who helps Izumi with her investigation. I actually think that most of what she did was not her job, but who cares about these things.. and I wonder if in reality it would be possible to get close to all those reports about the accident as they got? but these are things I know nothing about, so I will leave it there. Makiko was with her own problems too. Of course those problems were totally made up and worsen by herself, because I hoped that she has some juicy reason to go to psychologist, but it was nothing that important. She knew investigating well, because she knew many little details about her sister, even though she said that she has not been in contact with her for long time..

In whole the movie was rather depressing, but the interest to get to know the truth grew. I did not like that it was so slow and they tended to repeat one sentence like 3-4 times in a row, so in the end  it felt

like they are teaching me language and I must repeat after them to get the pronunciation right -.-. Technically was it really cool to watch because all the memories, dreams and present were mixed up and then you had to think which is reality.

Story itself got really great in the end, when the things started to become more clear or there were some movements in investigation, but then again the technical part of the movie could have been better there. It was like first part= (bad story+technically great) and second part= (great story+technically weaker). No matter what, the end result will make you cry your eyes out. Maybe it would be really great movie if they would add more scenes showing Izumi's and Jun's relationship and cut down on repeating and slowness.

Maybe you now think that the movie really sucked, but I must say that actually when it first came out it was on top of charts and just watch the trailer - it is much promising, ne? Watch the movie itself and let me know what you thought of it, because I have heard that for some people it is already favorite movie...
I will end my review with a comment by my sister: "It is more like a movie about two women solving each other problems.."

SPOILER-review: The English headline is sooo well chosen, because in the end she was literally piecing him back together.I actually loved this scene, because it shows so well person's behavior in shock situation. Izumi knew that for an artist fingers are really important and then how she desperately tried to put his fingers back on to hand was so sad and cute and I could not help myself than just cry. But as much as I know about first aid, she should not have put him to sitting position - he had broken his spine in several places. Actually I wonder how it was even possible that he did not die instantly?  But of course the English title is actually about getting back the memories and moving on with the life.