ラスト·フレンズ

Yes, I’m flunking my HSC. But hey, might as well enjoy it. Again, a break from what I planned to blog about.

So today, I watched Last Friends, a J-drama that came out in 2008.

I wasn’t going to watch the whole thing, so I decided to start midway (because the fist eps weren’t up where I watch) and stop. But.. dang, it grabbed me.

Don’t Wikipedia it! The DramaWiki should do. But I don’t think it really sums it up.

I kind of regret watching it out of order.. but hey, I’ll watch it properly after exams. Basically… it’s about.. hmmm…. Well, a lot. Mainly friendships/relationships.. and domestic violence. There’s more, but I don’t want to ruin it.

The theme song is Utada’s ‘Prisoner of Love’, which pretty much sums it up. I quite liked the opening – all the shattering objects seemed to fit.

I don’t know how accurate its portrayal of DV (as they call it) is – maybe cliché, but I think it worked. I was honestly scared of Sousuke – even when he wasn’t in the scene. The clip below is the only one I could find without major spoilers – the first 50 seconds or so is him ‘teaching Michiru a lesson’ after his freaking out because Michiru was cutting guys’ hair at her hairdresser place and talking to her friends etc. Everything after 0:50 shows snippets of how crazy he gets in just the early eps, without spoiling the drama.

I guess the drama really worked for me because the characters aren’t 2D. Sousuke (Nishikido Ryo) was easily my favourite. Wait, that’s not quite right. Most interesting character, more like it – he freaked me out. I’m not good with breaking cutlery, let along actual violence -_-’

I think the creepiest bit was how everything went between ‘fine’ and creepy. And how Michiru walked back in the next morning and the lamp was all fixed again. The symbolism in the drama rocked.

Psychotic, violent, creepy… but somehow, I couldn’t hate Sousuke at the end. Even when he asked why Michiru was crying (well no sh*t, why wouldn’t she be?)… it was still hard to hate him. He’s described in the opening as ‘contradictory’, and that pretty much sums him up. Watch up to 1:30 (or start at 0:41 if you’re lazy). The whole video doesn’t have any major spoilers, really – pretty good at showing how impossible it is to categorise the characters.

It honestly seems like he loves her the whole time, and it’s impossible to just write him off as the evil son of a b*tch that he is. It’s tempting to just let him be a character ‘with a problem’ or ‘multiple personalities’ or someone who ‘loves someone too much’ (Othello, much?). And I did find myself hoping that he’d somehow change.

But if you really loved someone, you wouldn’t hit them. I guess the drama shows how difficult it is to actually live by that. It’s too easy to see why Michiru believes that ‘it hurts him too’. Gargh.

I’d highly recommend watching it. It’s also pretty awesome to watch Nishikido Ryo in a role that’s completely different to his loveable-angsty-awesome-Asou Haruto; I think the casting was perfect. Definitely deserved his ‘best supporting actor’. Ueno Juri’s acting was also pretty good. Probably better than Ryo’s, but hey, I’m a fangirl. And I loved Takeru (Eita). Someone get me a Takeru <3 Hey, a make-up artist sounds perfect, seeing that formal is coming up. I still haven't worked out how girls learn to put on their own makeup – I can only make myself look like an emo because I fail so badly with eyeliner.

The ending was pretty good. I think Sousuke was a chicken, but hated/loved him in the end anyway. And it kept all the shippers happy – well, if not happy, at least not disappointed.

I think the worst part of the drama is the way it messes with your head. I expected that I'd be thinking 'what the heck. Just leave him already and get an AVO' when Michiru calls him again/goes over/defends him. But I admit that I sat there and thought, 'yeah, I'd definitely go back to him'. Yeah. I think I proved that I'm pretty weak this year. I'd easily be the person who rationalises and justifies it all out.

This probably sounds like a very superficial post. Sorry. It was just a great series. Maybe it felt like there was too much packed in sometimes, but I think it pulled it off. I like dramas that mess with my mind.

Watch the first episode, if you have nothing to do in your post-HSC time. It's subbed up at Veoh, but you'll need to get their player thingy. The first 20mins or so is just introducing each character, but it gets quite creepy towards the end *shudder*

On a related note, White Ribbon Day is coming up – 25th November. Anyone up for volunteering?

EDIT: Wait, this might be the right link for just selling ribbons.