The Hours of my Life Review

Hey it’s Ms. Lee Min Ho; today I will be reviewing for you the Japanese drama The Hours of My Life. The drama came out on January 8, 2014 and ended on March 19, 2014. It has 11 episodes.

                Takuta Sawada is in  search of a job because he is soon going to finish university. As he searches for a job he meets a girl named Mikako Tabe in a job interview. He gets the job but she doesn’t; they both ended up being friends and then they started dating. Everything seems to be going well for Sawada until one day his hand starts becoming weaker and weaker by each coming day. He then goes to the doctor and finds out that he has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). A disease that will take control of all his body eventually to the point he won’t be able to move at all or even breathe and eat. He will have to live off a machine. As he finds out he decides to tell no one until it starts worsening.

Disclaimer there will be spoilers

                This drama was amazing and emotionally tiring. If you are a normal human with feelings you will be crying by the end of each episode it is impossible not to. Where do I even start with this; first off this drama reminded of the drama 1 Liter of Tears because both protagonist must deal with a disease that  will take away every body movement they have but there stories are both so different and incredible. Haruma Miura who plays Takuto Sawada does best in sad, dramatic dramas he also came out in Sky of Love the movie which was tremendously sad. Sawada’s character is so strong but has a lot of problems, no matter what you always see him with a smile he never wants to cause others problems which is at times good but other times it isn’t. The character that got in my freaking nerves was Shigeyuki Mukai played by Takumi  Saito. I just don’t know whether to hate him or not because at first he seems like a great senpie he worries and cares about Sawada but when Sawada starts dating Megumi Hongo who is played by Mikako Tabe Shigeyuki starts taking interest in her. Then Sawada breaks up with her because he doesn’t want her to deal with him then Saito goes and starts dating her. He knows that his friend has the disease but he doesn’t care I feel like he is a bit selfish and should have known the reason why Sawada broke up with Hongo and should have done the correct thing to back of off Hongo because obviously they both still loved each other. I was actually kind of hoping that Mukai would have told Hongo that Sawada was sick so then Hongo would go back to him but no, he just wanted Megumi for himself.  Also I hated that Takuto broke up with Megumi just because he was sick, I know that he didn’t want her to worry for him and to feel obligated to care for him but if they truly loved each other that wouldn’t matter for her. I also really liked the characters Hina Murayama played by Mizuki Yamamoto and Mamoru played by Mizushima. They were the characters who were there to make the audience laugh when things started getting to serious; there relationship was adorable put perfect. They were well written in and great supporters for their friends.

                If you plan to watch this drama, I strongly suggest that you do. It’s amazing and worth watching. It sad but it great and it teach you something. If you like this one I also recommended you to watch 1 Liter of Tears. Thank you for reading my blog, have a great day.

Check out my previous blog: Marrry Him if You Dare Review

Watch Drama:http: //www.dramafever.com/drama/4373/The_Hours_of_My_Life/

Marrry Him if You Dare Review

                Hey it’s Ms. Lee Min Ho and today I will be reviewing the drama Marry Him if You Dare. The drama came out in October 14 and ended on December 3^rd of 2013. It has 16 episodes.

                Na Mi-Rae has a job she doesn’t really enjoy, lives with her brother, and still has not married. Until one day she meets Kim Shin,  a reporter for a famous broadcasting company; he changes her life and she starts working in that same company as a writer. Before any of this happens she ends up meeting a mysterious woman from the future which she then finds out it’s herself. The woman warns her not to fall in love with Kim Shin. Her future self wants her to marry Park Se-Joo who is the son of the owner of the company.  What is the reason for her future self to come back and warn her and does Na Mi-Rae really listen to her?

                This drama overall has a very weird plot and it is not the greatest drama I have seen but for some reason I was hooked on it. The only really reason I started watching the drama was for Yonghwa who plays the character Park Se-Joo. It started of fine I really liked the relationship Na Mi-Rae who is played by Yoon Eun-Hye had with both male characters but I shipped her with Kim Shin played by Lee Dong-Gun who was the guy who she was supposed to obviously end up with but many things happened. I didn’t really like her future self played by Choi Myoung-Gil. She seemed like a totally different person compared to her present self. The present self just wants to do something she loves and doesn’t really care if she falls in love or not but her future self-ended up turning into a women who only cares about money and seems to care about nothing else only that. I really didn’t like her future self she was just annoy; at the end I kind of understood her motives but I was still a bit confused. I would recommend this drama if you want to see something not amazing, this drama is like a break drama form really good ones. Overall the acting was great, I loved Yonghwa’s character, he was sweat, mature, and would do anything for the one he loves he won’t fall in love over materialistic stuff. I also liked Kim shin because he has a rough side to him but then he could be the sweated person to the one he loves. So if you want a drama break with another drama, go for it and watch this one. But I warn you, don’t expect much from the end it’s very disappointing and a little confusing.

Spoilers:

I just want to rant about the ending. First of all I was so mad she didn’t end up with any of the guys even though she went through so much. I really wanted her to end up with Kim Shin but no, that didn’t happen. I was happy that she ended up having a successful career and she didn’t need a man to have to help her with the path she wanted in life; it shows a lot of women power. But I at least hoped that one relationship would have come out of the drama at least with Park Se-Joo and Seo Yoo-Kyung to, they should have shown that even if you mess with the past, if you are meant to be you are going to end up together. I really thought this drama was going into that direction but it didn’t at all. But the future Na Mi-Rae ended up going back to Park Se-Joo future self, so even though, she wanted to separate her past self from Park Se-Joo she still loved him in the future and went back to him at the end of the day. I just  got really confused for the reasoning of her doing so if she didn’t like her relationship with him why make yourself suffer;  that’s why you are going to the past to change things,  aren’t you. This is my  rant for this drama but I would re-watch it again hahaha.

Check out my previous blog : Boyfriend Alarm Review

Watch the drama: http://www.dramafever.com/drama/4320/Marry_Him_If_You_Dare/

Kagerou Day Update ~ Mekaku City Actors

Konnichiwa~

On April 12th, Mekaku City Actors episode 1 was broadcasted. That night I went to the LA Kpop Festival with Ms. Lee Min Ho, so I didn’t get to watch it that night. But the following day I watched and had to use all my strength not to freak out too badly in front of my family. A new episode comes out every Saturday, the series currently on episode 9. This is supposed to be a 12 episode series, which worries me because I wonder if they’ll be able to effectively end the series with only 3 more episodes. But I’m reassured with how much they’ve been able to do so far. The pace is fast, but it doesn’t feel rushed or messy. The quick, heartbeat-like pacing suites the Kagerou Project well. Everything that has happened so far takes place over of the span of one day, which surprises me each time I remember the fact. I’d find it odder if the manga wasn’t the same. With the flashbacks, it’s easy to forget that the day hasn’t ended yet. And flashbacks are common; there have been a few episodes that have been 90% flashback, which is fine because the history of the character’s is essential. The past has always played an important role in the Kagerou Day series.

Momo's flashback was amazing. It looked beautiful
Once again, the style of the series hasn't been
lost in the anime

The music selection and the animation are perfect for it as well. The only time it got weird was the beginning of episode nine, it become very odd and I really didn't enjoy it. It was only once so far though, the rest of teh time its awesome, it makes it feel like the anime is another one of Jin’s AMVs. And the anime has made use of many of the songs, incorporating them into the episodes seamlessly. I’m a little disappointed that they

won’t be able to use all the songs though. Maybe they will and I’ll be proven wrong, but I’m skeptic about it. I know that Imagination Forest is going to be used next, I hope that Shounen Brave will incorporated somehow as well. And I really want to see Yonbanshi Deceive, but I highly doubt that there will be room, there are only 3 episodes after all. Anyway, the anime has allowed the KagePro fans to learn more about the story. It has especially taught us more about the members of the Mekakushi Dan and their relationships with each other. For example:

1. Momo was given a beautiful episode that allowed us to see her childhood and understand why she developed such a power. 
2. We got see Hibaya and Hiyori’s friendship, not to mention Hiyori’s arrogant personality. 
3. We learned more about Ayano and her relationship with Shintarou. She really is adorable when she gets embarrassed about her crush on him. We also got see her friendship with Ene and Haruka.
4. Ayano’s special relationship with Kano. I knew that he really looked up to her, but seeing how attached he was to her is far more powerful than reading about it

 Anyway, you also learn more about the conflict of the story and how the heat-daze was created.  Azami created a new world, but she ended up there alone. I originally thought she was trapped there because the world was too unstable and caved in while she was there. But this was not the case. One of her snakes had a mind of its own. This snake convinced her that she should leave her family and live in that world alone. That snake left though and possessed Kenijirou Tateyama.

Alright, this might get confusing, I’ll do my best to simplify it. Each episode of the anime presents two stories. The first one is of the Mekakushi Dan and the other is of Azami, Mary’s grandmother. Azami was a lonely monster until she met Tsukihiko, a human. They fell in love and began a family together. But when she realized that their life span was far shorter than her families, she used the power of her snakes to create a world where they could be together forever. But, she ended up in this new reality alone. The members of the Mekakushi Dan all entered this world at some point and were possessed by a snake. What we didn’t understand before was why the snakes were possessing them at all. He isn’t aware of it, the snake has a mind of its own and acts like his second personality. It takes over his mind and plots. What is it plotting? It

The snakes gather around their queen
Shintarou doesn't have his snake yet though

wants all the snakes to leave Azami’s reality, the heat-daze, and come over to the world. The snakes can’t enter this world without using a body though. When Kano, Kido, Seto, Momo, and Hibaya fell into the heat-daze, they were bodies the snakes used to return to the queen snake.

The queen snake is Mary. 

Kuroha called her the queen in Outer Science. I thought he was referring to her power to combine the snakes, but she truly possess the queen snake that all the other snakes wish to return to. Alright, so Kenijirou is possessed by a plotting snake that tore Azami from her husband and child, tricking her into stepping into a world where she would be alone once again. Now this snake wishes to gather all the snakes into the world. That’s why he sacrificed Haruka and Ene, he needed both of them to die and come into contact with the heat-daze to bring over two more snakes into the world. I’m sure he also wanted to do a little experimenting, Konoha and Kuroha are definitely results of it. Through the anime, we learned about another aspect of the heat daze.

 Kido died with her sister

Kano died with his mother 

Seto died with his dog

 Mary died with her mother 

Momo died with her father

 Hibiya died with Hiyori

Shintarou being bold!

 Apparently, the pairs fell into the heat-daze together, but only one of them escaped it. Kido, Kano, and Seto created the Mekakushi Dan as a way to help others who have been possessed by the snake. They also want allies who could help them learn more about the disappearances and who would work hard to help them rescue them. The anime has really cleared up many aspects of the story and has made me fall in love with it even more! I won’t do another Kagerou Day series update until haven’t I’ve finished the series. I don’t know if am going to do one full of spoilers, or one trying my hardest to avoid giving any. 

 Anyway, chapter 23 was scanlated. Well that’s all for today, bye-byeMomo rejected Kano’s offer, which made Kido sad because she was excited about having a new member. Shintarou and Ene really didn’t understand what he was offering Momo though, both of them thought Kano was hitting on her. It was cute seeing Shintarou act like a good older brother and tell him to stop bothering his little sister. I love seeing their brother-sister relationship, they seemed annoyed with each other all the time, but it’s they really do care about each other. Last time I was curious about why Hibiya hated Konoha so much and this chapter explored that a little. It seems Hibiya has hated him and treated him brusquely long before the accident. I guess it is purely jealousy. ~Nadeshiko-chan  

Boyfriend Alarm Review

         

         Hey its Ms. Lee Min Ho, I am finally back it has been months since I last have posted. School has been very busy but we are back this summer!! My review for today is going to be Boyfriends new music video and song Alarm.  I was really disappointed with their new song Obsession the song wasn’t amazing but it was good. I think the music video and their look in it disappointed me, it really wasn’t a new concept it reminded me of BTS which is something already being done. They tried having a bad boy mature thing, I just didn’t like it. It didn’t feel mature and I didn’t like how the bad boy gang feel; they could have done it a little differently something that was actually mature. But Alarm was so different from Obsession I actually really liked it and it was a good way to leave the cute concept and go to the mature concept. It fit them well and there was a manly elegance that wasn’t shown when they were doing their cute concept. I liked the style of the video and how the guys were dressed; they all looked very classy and nice. The emotions they had in the song and video were strong and the audience was able to see it. I also liked the song it was another romantic heartbroken song but it was great. A girl broke up with a guy and he is trying to get over her but he loves her too much. Every day is a  pain to get up because it just the same thing, he can’t live without her. There is one line specifically in the song that I loved which was, “Our memories, amazing coincidence, will all become insignificant” this line relates to all experiences that you go through daily they become memories and one day will not be important at all because good or bad it passes. I love that line a lot.

            I loved the concept they had for “Alarm”; they looked like men and have a very elegant feel to them. The song Obsession wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great but the concept they used for this song was so disappointing and it wasn’t elegant and it wasn’t the bad boy feel that I personally would have liked. I hope they stick to the elegant manly feel if they do more albums. I will miss their cute concept but I know they must move on and grow, hopefully they stay in a path I like and if I don’t well too bad but I will always have respect for them. There album is great and super sweat so I hope you guys go and listen to it.

Check out my previous post Puberty Medley Synopsis and Review

Chocolate Kiss Kiss by Morinaga Milk

Hitomi loves Nana so much!
She's super affectionate

Konbanwa~

As we said, we’ve been very busy lately. After my last final, I felt so relieved, it was wonderful! I got home and read a bunch of romance oneshots, I think it was because I was dangerously manga-deprived. During my oneshort marathon, I decided to read a shoujo-ai oneshot called Chocolate Kiss Kiss by Morinaga Milk.

Now, I’m really not a fan of yuri or yaoi, I think it sexualizes homosexuality, especially yuri. Lesbians are constantly sexualized in the media, treated as a “turn-on”, or something “kinky” or something girls do when they’re drunk and want to act “dirty”.

It’s a disgusting, but sadly common phenomenon in culture. I rarely ever see lesbian couples treated like a normal couple in the media. Anyway, I avoided yuri and yaoi mangas for this reason, until while looking for an interesting oneshot, I saw this one. The story sounded innocent and the cover showed two average girls. I don’t know why, but I decided I’d give it a chance. If there was any sign of perverse, I could always drop it. Then I was amazed: it was a normal romance! A very sad and sweet romance, which I’ll share with you today, let’s begin:

Valentines Day is approaching and the lovebirds, Nana and Hitomi, are excited to spend for their first Valentines Day as an official couple. Nana wants it to be perfect to make up for all the Valentines Days she hurt Hitomi.

When they were middle school, they were close friends. Nana was aware of Hitomi’s feelings for her, but ignored them. She was unable to accept them or acknowledge the love she felt for Hitomi. She finally did though, and they began their secret relationship. Neither of them are prepared to tell their parents, nor their friends at school because they know the love between two girls isn’t easily accepted by society. Despite the secrecy, their relationship is stable and they express their love for each other daily through their actions and words. Despite the pain they’ve felt on other Valentines Days, they are determined to make this one blissful.

The relationship between Hitomi and Nana is beautiful and adorable. Hitomi loves Nana so much and treats her girlfriend so much affectionately, that is impossible to image there was a time she was able to restrain herself. Well, it’s probably because she had to restrain herself for so many years that she wants to hold her precious Nana all the time. Then there’s Nana, who is apologetic and feels she doesn’t deserve Hitomi for hurting her so many times. She works hard to make up for her past mistakes.

The psychological aspect of this oneshot is what impressed me the most. Even though story begins with mutual love, when they talk about their past it’s easy to image their struggles. Hitomi knew she liked girls and

Nana works hard to make up for
all the times she hurt Hitomi.
She seeks redemption.

suffered because she fell in love with her best friend. She spent some much time beside her, but couldn’t flirt with her or attempt to make a move. She was probably constantly afraid of a harsh rejection and losing Nana forever. Then there was Nana, who didn’t know she liked girls. She was in the closet, refusing to acknowledge her feelings for Hitomi and even ignoring the feelings Hitomi felt towards her. She ignored everything, refused to accept reality. They’re very realistic struggles; they suffered and grew from it. There’s also the fact that even though they are in love and are a couple, they still aren’t ready to announce their relationship to others. The oneshot doesn’t end with ‘happily-ever-after’, these two still have to overcome much more in the future as their relationship progresses. But, the mangaka, Morinaga Milk , shows us how much these two love each other throughout the mange, which is comforting. When a couple is truly in love, you really hope that they can overcome anything, you almost believe they can.

A beautiful, slice of life oneshot that changed my perspective on girl-love manga. There are still many of them that sexualize homosexuality, but I’m happy that romance like this also exist. I recommend this to anyone who feels the same way I used to feel about yuris. It will change your mind. Thanks for reading, hope you have a monohorn-filled day.

~Nadeshiko-chan

The Monohorns Return

Sorry we haven't been posting at all for the past few months.

We thought after college applications we'd have more free time, but once we began getting acceptance letters, we realized there was still a lot of work to do. But now we've decided on our universities and have a long summer break before school starts! So we'll be posting daily once again.

Ms. Lee Min Ho will be positing on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 

Nadeshiko-chan will be posting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

Hope you enjoy our blog, we'll work hard to keep up and post daily. 

The monohorns are back! 

Be prepared for the magic of anime, manga, dramas, and music they will bring <3