Jun and Sho

I was planning to post this long, long thing about how I feel like fandom misunderstands, or... at least has to move away from the labels they put on Jun, and how Sho is way too over-exposed and fandom needs to stop worshipping the perfect, fail, ground he walks on. Instead i'm just going to summarize the whopping 1500 word essay I wrote. 

For Jun. All this "princess", "diva", "kakkoii-ikemen", and to that certain Lj community "lesbian" stuff is really getting to me. I don't know if it's cause Jun is my favourite or what but he seems to be the member that has the most negative stuff said about him. He can't sing, can't dance, can't act like Nino can, he's not dorky, or fail, or funny, or cute. All he is is a "pretty face". It frustrates me, the amount of times I've seen "Jun used to be my favourite cause of HanaDan but then I then I realized Member-x was more funny/talented/good-looking/etc than him". Or how many times I've seen people say they think he's arrogant, or a drama-queen, or.. just... all that. I know some of these are said as endearments, like how Aiba is stupid, but they seem to be used just as much as negatives. A lot of people are saying "omgosh Jun is changing"... but I don't think Jun is changing. I think Jun is just being himself but no one ever took the time to notice anything past his Do-S persona. You really wanna say Jun wasn't dorky in the past? Remember that DnA where he shoved a clock down his pants?

Actually I used to be really nervous when admitting Jun was my favourite (yes Nino is also, it's complicated) because ... well... no one ever agreed with me.  I would go on about how "nice" he is and his work-ethic and how I admire Jun because he tries so hard, really, really tries even if he's not that great and it's a trait that should be respected. And I feel like a lot of fandom doesn't see this part of Jun, or they don't acknowledge it enough. I don't mean that Jun should be everyones ichiban (because all the other members have equally admirable traits) but I wish people would just realize, more, that despite Jun not having any spotlight skills, behind the stage he deserves a lot of recognition that he doesn't seem to recieve.

and as for Sho. I hope I don't offend anyone but for the past year or so... how much I like Sho is rapidly falling. It's not like I don't like him. It's impossible for me to dislike a member of Arashi. But he is definitely lagging behind all the other members. Why? Two words. Sho Fail. You're probably confused. How can I dislike the one thing that everyone in fandom is absolutely crazy for? ... easy. Because it's so over-exposed it's ridiculous. I'll laugh at a joke once, twice, three times.. but when I see at least one Sho!Fail reference every other day - be it from fans, or through TV, or what.. to be honest? I'm getting sick and tired of it.

I don't want to blame Sho, it's not his fault, it's probably the directors telling him to do it but you know what? Could he stop being so obvious with his fail? Like if you're going to fail, do it the Aiba-way and be 'Tennen" about it. Don't do it so obviously with that face that is pretty much like "I know I'm failing, aren't I so funny?". Maybe it's just me who thinks it but when I watch Sho fail these days, there are the moments I laugh. Then there are the moments I kind of just want to be like "......no". I don't want to admit it but.. lately there have been fans complaining that Sho is looking arrogant and snobby these days........... I can see where they are coming from. I can, I really can. -_-;; I'm sorry. Sho!Fail - in Shukudai-kun it was funny because it was actually quite rare. Now? ...yeaaaah.. no. It's not cutting it for me anymore. For the rest of fandom, sure, obviously fans are still loving watching Sho fail, to me? It's just painful.

So yeah. there you have it. The summarized version of my rant. I hope I didn't offend anyone (especially with the whole Sho thing). If people wanna come running at me with pitch-forks or if you just wanna plain disagree go ahead, please don't try to change my mind though. I've had these thoughts for a while. I actually just didn't say them because.. to be honest... Arashi fandom kind of scares me. Sometime it feels like if I say anything remotely negative people will rip my head off. *shudders*

Actually lately it feels like I never have anything to say about fandom except for complaints and it makes me feel terrible, but then I realize that complaining about fandom is different than complaining about Arashi. I still love the boys, but somehow I feel like I can't fit in with the rest of the fangirls who seem to treat them like Gods who can do no wrong.

Himitsu no Arashi [2011.01.20]

I'm crying. I have tears coming out of my eyes. I haven't laughed so hard in so long. Oh. My. God.

A quick rundown of today's Himitsu no Arashi-chan. The guest was Nakama Yukie, the teacher in Gokusen. The members spent their time "presenting" to her something that she would... eh.. become interested in. Because as she says, she never feels like she's really "interested" in anything because there are probably others who are more obsessed than she is. :P

so yeah. It was pretty interesting actually. Points to look our for
- Nino magic (and it's a pretty easy trick to figure out ;D)
- Ohno fishing xD
- Nakama Yukie changing a girls 10,000yen (roughly $100+ CAD) to a 1,000yen bill (roughly $10+ CAD). :P And then Jun promises to pay the girl 9000yen.
- Jun threatening the camera person? (if you're Jun biased like me).

and then the 2nd section is a special segment where they try to teach Sho some fashion sense... but really it's more just a crack segement to further embarass Sho more. It's kind of painful to watch because omgod some of the things they made Sho wear.. *shudders* - BUT - BUT.. highlights?

THE VERY END.

If you do not have time to watch the full episode - watch the last 2-3 minutes. It's ALL worth it. That last 2-3 minutes made the ENTIRE show. Just remember...

Arashi loves Sho a lot. Arashi loves torturing Sho a lot more though apparently.
And Jun gives the best 'dude wtf" faces ever. (again, bias showing, haha).

anyway - WATCH THE LAST 2-3 MINUTES IS A MUST. This is honestly going down on my list of "EPIC ARASHI MOMENTS". And I can't wait for next weeks Himitsu. ;) You'll know why.

Mother episode 1

See. I heard about Mother before, and it seemed like an interesting storyline, but I didn't really think about watching it until the girl appeared in Himitsu no Arashi-chan, VIP ROOM. And then I decided to watch it.

If I were to sum up episode 1 in one word... I think all I can think is I'm absolutely horrified.

But horrified is not the impression that the drama gives me. This is a legit, sad drama. And I'm not talking One Litre of Tears medical drama sad, I mean sad. It's just utterly sad. I was tearing up at the part where... (omgosh I still don't remember any of their names, I apologize!!!) the women was like "I'll be your mom". The acting, the music, just everything in this drama is just brilliant. My god.

Things I'd like to address. Would you like to know why horrified is the word I chose to sum up episode 1? Because of what Rena's mother does to Rena after she catches her boyfriend about to (probably) sexually abuse her. SHE BEATS HER. SHE BEATS HER OWN FRICKEN DAUGHTER WHO WAS ABOUT TO BE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED BY HER BOYFRIEND. WHAT THE @#$!. Honestly I am utterly sickened, and horrified and sickened and I felt so bad for the girl. That entire montage of him calling her, telling her to dress up, with flashes to the women flipping through her book of "things she likes" was just utterly... horrifying to me. Not in the scary movie sense but in a moral sense. I could feel my heart cracking, yet speeding up and I was honestly terrified because I knew something would happen to her. And something did. And I was utterly, utterly disgusted.

with that being said. The two leads. The girl and the women, so great. So fantastic. I will reccomend this drama and I won't because it's not your typical type of drama. I don't know if it gets lighter (somehow I doubt it) but just judging from episode 1, seems like a sob story. I'm personally not a fan of medical sob stories, but I think I will continue with this one because it seems brilliant.

New Years etc.

Hello. It's been a while hasn't it? I'm still amazed that I actually get page views despite the fact that I never update, and when I do it's nothing really important either. But whoever does decide to come look at my blog, thank you? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding how the whole "page view" thing works? ^^;; Oh well. I'm just happy seeing such a large number.

ANYWAY - way off topic.

So. New Years was a while back yeah? Two weeks ago? Yes I did watch Kouhaku and it was entertaining but truthfully I didn't watch all of it. In short, considering it was the first time and Kouhaku is a MAJOR show and they must have been HELLA nervous, I think they did a marvelous job and I'm very proud of them. If there were any flaws, I felt that there should have been more Matsushita Nao x Arashi discussion because sometimes it felt like she was left out - but I understand why that happened. Writing a script and giving each person an equal number of lines would obviously mean that she would get less lines, but still. Sometimes it was just awkward. But of course this isn't Arashi's fault, so oh well.

In the end my most favourite year end music show was MSSL2010. I nearly cried watching that. Have I mentioned that already? Well anyway, it's the show that reminded me of my time in Japan the most. And I really love that, the nostalgic feeling, the fact that I recognize all the songs and what not. Makes me sad too, but I love it anyway.

Next - Arashi promoting the 3Ds is terrible for me because I want it so bad. I mean the actual commercials wih Arashi are kind of lame (if I didn't know Arashi and i saw that on TV in Canada I'd be like 'wtf?') but the actual DS is SO COOL. And seeing Arashi with one just makes me think "WANT". Such fail. I"m not gonna get it though, not until it a) comes out in Canada and b) has been out for long enough that there are more games and it's more reliable.

Onto Movies - excited for Nino going to Hollywood again. That's my boy ;) Too bad i don't live in America, why does Japan always forget Canada? Sigh. We're such a forgotten country. I'd kill to go see the movie, dubbed or not, but maybe it'll come out in DVD here instead? Or something? Come on... please...? And then of course the latest news about Kaibutsu-kun! That is seriously awesome. I don't really care about 3D movies but Ohno just being in a movie. Kaibutsu-kun or not is awesome. I'm happy for him, hope he doesn't tire himself to much.

Onto Dramas. I kind of admit.. I don't think I'm going to watch Bartender. It just doesn't look like my kind of drama to watch. Love Arashi and all but ^^;; I'm still picky about my dramas okay? So instead I will watch Mother (which a lot of people have been talking about) and Keizoku 2: SPEC. Both apparently very underrated dramas? They seem interesting though, so I'm looking forward to watching them. I just finished watching Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo which was interesting to watch while doing homework (cause I didn't really need to pay attention). It was amusing and I admittingly did learn some interesting facts, all in all it's just amusing. Brainless humor. Not the best drama, not the worst. *shrug* You know.

eh.. what else? I guess that is it?

oh... I may or may not start translating random Arashi songs. I'm not sure if I'm gonna post them here. I started posting them up at my tumblr. The thing is my tumblr has morphed into some random blog that I just throw all my.... random "garbage thoughts" in. I like putting my song translations there though, but... hmm.. I dunno. Should I move them here too *contemplating*

all I've done is Arashi's Futari no Kinenbi and V6's Only Dreaming and a snippet of Snowflake though. ^^;; Maybe when I've done more?