Sorry for the late post, but I’ve recently been totally in love with a Japanese dorama. XD
“Nodame Cantabile” is something you guys have to absolutely check out if you haven’t already. It is way too hilarious! The show aired in 2006 and a sequel came out this year, that’s equally hilarious as the first one.

I’m in love with the characters of Nodame and Chiaki. Nodame is extremely weird, talented, cute and funny. She has a natural talent for playing the piano just listening by ear. Nodame doesn’t read music scores when playing the piano and she takes a bath only every several times a week. She lives in an unbelievably messy, dirty and stinky apartment next to Chiaki. Chiaki was born into a musical family in Europe. He dreams to be a professional music conductor like his teacher, Vierra. Because his parents divorced when he was 6, he flew to Japan with his mom. A plane landing accident has traumatized him. Since then, he’s not able to fly anywhere. Both are piano students in Momogaoka College of Music, although Chiaki also plays violin. One night the silly girl Nodame found Chiaki laying outside her door drunk. She fell in love with him and since then, wouldn’t leave him alone. The two are completely opposite with Chiaki being a perfectionist, while Nodame is a happy go lucky kind of girl. She’s completely comical and “shameless”…always leeching off of him.

What I love about this live action anime based story is how anime elements were included (i.e., fire light coming out of Nodame’s eyes when she’s jealous). The actors, including the characters around Chiaki and Nodame, were also hillarious. Especially Masumi. He’s a skinny homosexual who wears a big afro. He is engaged in a constant “battle” with Nodame over Chiaki’s attention. I learned to appreciate classical music from watching this story too. They introduced different pieces as Chiaki starts to lead a band. Oh, you guys just have to go check it out. I saw it on Veoh free I also found this cool blog that summarized episodes and kept me occupied for days.

If you’ve seen it, tell me what you think. Love it? Hate it?

Fans who loved the comedy of the 2005 Taiwan hit TV show “It Started With a Kiss” (ISWAK) won’t be disappointed with the sequel that started airing two weeks ago. Ariel Lin, Joe Cheng, and Jiro Wang is back in this wholesome drama comedy by CTV station.

Taiwan has a history of producing disappointing plots and script when it comes to sequels, which made me very hesitant to check out ISWAK II (a.k.a. “They Kissed Again”). I didn’t want to have to watch it if it was just going to be butchered like Meteor Garden 2.

Surprisingly, ISWAK II is turning out to be pretty good. The story begins with Xiang Qin’s silly antics during her honeymoon vacation in Guam with Zhi Shou. Her funny in-laws secretly follows them and disguised themselves with outrageous wigs, big hats and sunglasses. Another unexpected scene from the show is the long and passionate kissing scene of Xiang Qin and Zhi Shou. See uncut version below.

The “problem” of the new couple unfolds as Zhi Shou becomes increasingly busy with medical school while Xiang Qin’s lack of self confidence becomes more evident. Of course, her friends Liu Ruo, Bai He and biggest admirer Ah Jie are there as her biggest supporters.

ISWAK II’s teaser reveals new characters joining this funny story. Have you checked out this drama comedy yet? Or are you planning to?

Related links (Chinese): CTV

I Love You

Although this Taiwan television mini-series only airs once a week and story is a bit slow, I’ve been patiently following it. Why? Because it’s interesting to see Vic Zhou’s acting improve and mature since “Meteor Garden” days. Patty Hou’s acting is sometimes good and at times, too unreal. But in general, she is tolerable. I personally don’t care much for the other characters of the story, as they are not as engaging to me. But finally the story is picking up in episode 11 with Patty finally leaving “Little Bear” restaurant to learn from another chef master.

I don’t quite understand why Asian netizens prefer “Romantic Princess”. I find the story and characters boring. Quite disappointing since I liked Wu Chun in “Hana Kimi”, and Angela Chang in “MVP Lover”. “Romantic Princess” is definitely not one of their best works.