Ever Bethany

Today was the first time I skipped forward through parts of "Extravagant Challenge", Skip-Beat T-drama. They've done a bad thing in this latest episode of letting the stupidity certain types of heroines start off with slip into Kyoko's characterization to try and fill out the beats of her getting stuff wrong as Ren's manager.

RAAAARGH.

There is a script-writer who is not taking the liberties they should be, and taking a couple that are wasteful here...

***

Greatest Love
I have one more episode of this to watch, and I'm going to go ahead and do a review. I think I can say in advance that the ending lost some of the show's beautifully wrought momentum, but it's not going to hurt the drama overall.

The joy in this show was a premise well-suited to the style of the scriptwriters. (The Hong Sisters, responsible for You're Beautiful, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, and other legends of K-drama.)



Our heroine is a woman down on her luck, coasting through variety shows as a has-been entertainer to support her family. She was in a girl-group that was at the peak when scandal hit, and this sweet, hard-working gal took the fall for everyone.
She's dogged with the type of scandal-mongering things that she can't deny because she can't reveal just what actually happened...

And then she meets a top-star jerk. :drink:
She doesn't fall for him, but he seems to find himself always antagonizing her...and the show-biz complications and small-world-ness make complete sense. I love the way this show reflects the reality of the Korean TV industry, rather than the usual fiction version. And that's part of the heart of the conflicts, too, because the complicated nature of fame (or infamy) and the way their particular society reacts to different kinds of news is complicating all their choices.


this show at least knew they had the world's cuddliest face, and used the fact

Gong Hyo-Jin got to shine in this role. I've watched a couple of her dramas, and one was earlier in her career, the other a character that was a lovable idiot that only her innate grace could save. I love to see an actress get a role that really showcases both her talent and her charm.

I watched the opening episode of "Extravagant Challenge", the Skip-Beat! drama being broadcast in Taiwan. Despite my many reservations. And while a lot of those reservations are spot on, I think it's going to be a decent rendition. That...I will skim liberally if I watch any more of it at all.



It made me think, though, about why the opening of Skip-Beat the comic didn't really speak to me at first, and yet as it's continued, the follow-up has made this series my favorite.
Because the screenplay is written backward toward the cliche. I can see what Yoshiki Nakamura was doing, in context of knowing more about that cliche now...

In the drama opening Our Heroine, betrayed, cries before she breaks into maniacal laughter. This is NOT what happens in the manga. Though it may seem a small difference, it was very deliberate that she goes straight to that crazed laughter.

Having Kyoko refuse to react as expected isn't just a wink and then proceeding as usual---the whole story revolves around this different reaction she has to a very common shojo element. It's what sets her apart as she pursues acting, and what makes following her and seeing her deal with problems exhilarating.



I spend a lot of time being disappointed in manga and anime and dramas, because I have a knack for picking out the trope-busters to start with. I then end up filling in my knowledge of the original cliches while looking for other things to read...

I got so many people talking about Skip Beat! in my recent posts, I ended up borrowing Vols. 18+19 from my friend who owns manga tonight.

It's fun to read the volumes because I've read so much in the scanned and fan-translated versions, it's much richer when I do...also, they've cleaned up the art so it's almost a different experience.



Thought for those following along: Kyoko's mom. I didn't think she'd come into the story much after Kyoko declares her self-emancipation from her but after rereading a certain interaction with Koo/Kuu, I'm thinking that maybe there needs to be an arc about that relationship to really address all of Kyoko's wounds. The reason she was so pathologically attached to Sho (and so fierce in her turn against him) is because of that mother-rejection.

Which makes it much sadder, really. :(



I'm working on an EPIC K-DRAMA LIST OF DOOM, to include brief intros to my favorites, an overview of the differences from T-Drama and J-Drama, too. There will be a lot of friendly-neighborhood cuts. Don't say I never did anything for you!



MYUNG WOL THE SPY, PLEASE BE SUBBED SOON

lastly, you think these dramas say all the same things, and you say so, and then you watch an episode without subs and have almost no idea what's going on and see the error of your ways.

That is all.

While we're talking K-Dramas

MAD  PROPS

to 1% of Anything for having the girl capable of giving herself a make-over (in a half-hour at most!) when she gets dissed.

This puts her in a very limited company. Most need their future boyfriends to do it for them...
Kyoko of Skip-Beat! is the only other to come to mind.

***

Also, mad props to the scriptwriters for having EVERYONE'S parents be embarrassingly conniving matchmakers!



I'm not at this point yet. They're still fighting all through they're enforced dates. 6_6

Oh Ren Hat.

The longer we're apart, the more I realize I loved you...

(Not this actual hat: Express cleverly hides their images from such misuse.)

I've been distracting myself with the comic Yankee-kun & Megane-chan (soon to be a drama as well), a Japanese boy-band's variety show, and Margaret Mahy's Magician of Hoad.

It's my first time reading anything by her but for sure not my last. This book has the immersive strength of place, vibrance of magic, and color of the hero's personality are so good it's the kind of book I have to keep putting down, it's so rich.

Also, I want them to set me up with the model for this cover:

Ah-yuh, that's a Megane Glomp waiting to happen right there...

You may not know, but the world of Skip-Beat fans has been waiting for the next frame after this one for a whole month.
Today I will be checking for it more than once...
If I have to wait until Monday, Monday will be a big day.

(PS: in most manga the obvious conclusion would be a kiss. Because of the characters involved, and the recent storyline, this is highly unlikely, and yet... and yet...)

I'm glad I've gotten to see some of the manga fandom and such online--being part of a crowd, excited for the next part in a story.
It's mostly a teen phenomenon, of course. Being involved has made me more sympathetic to teenage highs and lows than I ever was as a teen myself.

Oh Kyoko, you only think you don't want to be caught in Ren's acting. *head shaking*
I really hope we get to see you both having at it soon.
/random thought-blogging


Oh, but I am so glad that this comic affirms older-woman/younger-man pairings and disparate ages. Otherwise I'd have to try and not like Ren, who is a 20 y.o. baby... /snarky aside





...later: *actually, most pending issues could be fixed by having Kotonami and Fuwa fall for each other. If not, I would delight in seeing the manga-ka show why this obvious pairing cannot be. Ma~a, dear wagamama chounan boys...*