JDorama review: Maou

maou
Title: Maou Broadcast date: 7/4/08 - 9/12/08 Genre: Suspense drama Cast: Ohno Satoshi, Ikuta Toma Plot: Eleven years ago, Naoto (Toma) was involved in a fatal accident. Now someone is murdering those around him as revenge. What is good: Everything pieced together perfectly. What is bad: The supernatural parts felt slightly overused. Letter rating: A+ Overall: I wasn't sure what to expect coming into this. Ohno is known as being the Leader of the boy band Arashi. This was his first starring role in a drama so I semi-expected him to be bad. Surprisingly, he is an extremely talented actor and I never once had to suspend my belief in him. At the same time, Toma, who is commonly known as a comedic actor, held his own in the drama setting. This is a show that I feel everyone should watch.

Free Hotel Nights

I wish I traveled more. Choice Hotels (they're the ones that run Comfort Inn, EconoLodge, Clarion and a few others) has this offer for a free hotel stay. You have to stay in one of their hotels for two separate stays to qualify. I rarely spend one night a year in a hotel so, of course, I don't even come close to qualifying. Blah. I want to travel!

Buy my stuff!

In order to rid my house of some clutter, I'm selling a variety of items. Japanese music

Manga

Anime DVDs

Beanie Babies

and one Sailor Moon book

My contact email is dearcassandra@gmail.com (or you can comment in the posts).

Game review: Mystery Legends: Sleepy Hollow

I took a bit of a break from gaming for awhile. I found myself getting burned out. When I decided it was time to return, I found Mystery Legends: Sleepy Hollow waiting for me. The tale of Sleepy Hollow is one of my favorite stories so I was excited to see how a video game revolving around it would be. Luckily for me, it was pretty darn good. In the story mode, you try to solve the disappearances of a variety of townspeople. Clues that you find by searching through their houses and other areas will help you determine how they died. As I played the game, it wasn't too difficult yet it was challenging enough to keep my interest. Yes, there are some objects hidden in dark areas in the room but I think that will be the norm in these types of games now. Either way, if you like Sleepy Hollow, I think you'll enjoy this.

JDorama review: Densha Otoko (movie)

trainman
Title: Densha Otoko Translation: Train Man Release date: 6/4/05 Genre: Romantic drama Cast: Yamada Takayuki, Nakatani Mika Plot: A relationship between a pretty woman and an anime otaku blossoms after he saves her from a drunk man on a train. What is good: It really is a sweet story. What is bad: The television drama was better. Letter rating: C Overall: I think I might have liked this better if I hadn't watched the TV drama version of the story first. In the film, Yamada pulls off the geeky anime otaku better. However, I think that Ito Misaki was better as Hermes, the pretty woman on the train. This version of the story was very awkward. The main characters were understandably uncomfortable with each other but where the movie really failed was in the secondary 2chan characters. For example, there was a trio that kept comparing Densha's attempts at love with a war. It could have been a really great metaphor for the battle of the sexes. Yet it came off weird and unnecessary. While this wasn't awful, I'd rather watch the television drama any day.

Games: Ringorang

I've been playing Ringorang for a little while now. Ringorang is a trivia game that you can play via a widget on your desktop. (I believe you can also participate on the website.) They ask a question about..well..anything randomly once every hour. Depending on how quickly you answer and whether or not the answer is correct, you get "Dallions." Dallions are basically points. The contest runs from Monday to Friday. The top 10 winners get a t-shirt and the top 3 get other prizes. I think those prizes vary every week. It's a pretty neat game and it's easy to get addicted to!

Coraline 3D

coraline2
Coraline is the fairy tale story of a girl who is so utterly bored with her normal life that she retreats into a secret world where all of her fantastic dreams come true. Coraline, the main character of the story, and her parents move into the Pink Palace Apartments. Both of her parents work from home and, therefore, spend a lot of time ignoring Coraline. Her father's brilliant idea of keeping busy during a particularly rainy day (when her mother wouldn't let her go outside because of mud) was to count the number of windows in the house or count the number of doors. As Coraline goes about the excruciating task of counting thing, she comes upon a very small locked door. With only a few questions, she manages to get her mother to open the door for her. Unfortunately, all that was behind the door was a brick wall. Or was there? After Coraline falls asleep that night, a group of mice lead her back to the door where it opens into a brilliant world.

My husband and I took our daughter to see the 3D version of the movie on Sunday. Let me say that I really enjoy the 'new' 3D technology as compared to the campy 80s 3D that just made random things jump out at you. This technology gives an amazing depth to the visuals. It's somewhat difficult to explain. You just need to experience it.

I found the movie to be very fun. Yes, there are some slightly scary parts that may scare small children but my almost-7-year-old was fine. Other than that, it should be an enjoyable time for the whole family.