Archive for the Live Action Category


Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou -Revolution-, Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-)

September 10th, 2023

Two girls in fanciful school uniforms with red jackets, frilly white blouses and black skirts smile, arms linked.This week inori.-sensei announced a brand new fantasy series and it seemed like a fitting place to squeeze in one more review of the series that was her breakout hit. So today I am reviewing the third  – and so far, final – print volume of Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou -Revolution-, Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-).  Quick recap: WataOshi was originally serialized as a web novel, then picked up for digital release from GL Bunko. Then the novels were licensed here in English by Seven Seas as I’m In Love With The Villainess and other countries, and then licensed as a print series in Japan. This is the print volume of the third volume of the light novel in Japanese, from Ichijinsha. 

This third novel covers the entirety of the Revolution arc, as Rae seeks to remake the plotline of the otome game “Revolution ” and save Claire’s life…and how she fails. Rae and Claire uncover the evil forces behind the de-stabilization of the Bauer Kingdom and pull the forces for equality together to save it.

The final third of the book is post-revolution, as Rae and Claire become accustomed to their new lives as commoners and as partners. We meet their adopted daughters Aleah and Mei. One of the most poignant stories in the final third of the book is how those two children come in to their lives. Other shorts catch us up on former-Cardinal Lily’s travels as she seeks to expiate her crimes, even though she was literally not in her right mind when she committed them. And we see the power of the ritual known as “a wedding ceremony.” Despite Bauer’s new government’s refusal to acknowledge same-sex partnerships, Rae and Claire declare their love for one another in front of friends and family. 

There is no question that Hanagata’s art has improved since the first few illustrations. The art in this volume has more motion and depth and is far more relevant to the scene than earlier static portraits, which is visible when one does comparisons between newer and older images in this volume.

The manga for this series is ongoing, and the anime is premiering at the end of this month with a special ticketed event in Ikebukuro, so we’re not saying goodbye just yet. However, I see no hint that a Volume 4 is coming out in print, so we may be saying farewell and thank you – at least for the moment –  to this original novel series that has brought us so many hours of joy.

Art – 7
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
LGBTQ –10
Service –  Let’s still say 2

Overall – 9

I still  hope for an epilogue some day in which Claire and Rae are allowed to legalize their marriage as my wife and I were able. It was a pretty damn powerful moment to have a certificate that just read “marriage” without any conditions. One day we can hope that there will be marriage for all in Japan.





Thai Yuri Dramas Show Me Love and Be Mine, Guest Review by Frank H

August 9th, 2023

After creating hundreds of live-action BL series, TV producers in Thailand have turned their attention to live-action yuri, spurred by the breakout success of GAP: The Series, which racked up millions of views on YouTube due to the chemistry between its two leads, Sarocha Chankimha (“Freen”) and Rebecca Patricia Armstrong (“Becky”).

Two new series, one already released and the other still in production, illustrate different approaches to satisfying this newfound demand.

Show Me Love: The Series was one of the first out of the gate, but was hobbled by being originally released on a for-pay streaming service. After complaints from fans, its production company, GrandTV, is now re-editing and re-releasing it for YouTube, beginning with “Part 1 of episode 1” at the time of writing the first six episodes (out of nine) are available for viewing. (At time of pot, the first 7 episodes are available!)

Show Me Love was created by a company that puts on beauty pageants, stars two former beauty pageant contestants (with a host of other contestants in supporting roles) and has a plot about competing in a beauty pageant. It even includes scenes that feature fans shipping the contestants and criticizing ships that appear fake.

This last is an inadvertent self-own, as Show Me Love’s fatal flaw is the weakness of the relationship between the two leads: Engfa Waraha as Meena, a country girl come to the big city, gives a much more expressive and appealing performance than Charlotte Austin as Cherine, a former contestant returning to try for a first victory. As a result, their interactions often come across as flat and even forced, especially in the earlier episodes. The show’s relative paucity of views compared to GAP reflects that weakness.

Yet to be filmed is Be Mine: The Series from IS Entertainment, a new production company, although an Official Prologue was released to YouTube a few months ago. (It has over 1.5 million views thus far.) Be Mine is based on four linked novels, Be My Baby, More & More, Be My Sugar, and Be My Boo by Khun Phuying (คุณผู้หญิง) and is planned to be adapted into a 16-episode series, four episodes per couple.

IS Entertainment is attempting to replicate the winning playbook followed by IdolFactory, the producers of GAP: release a pilot to get feedback and adjust accordingly, keep fans interested and involved by releasing a flood of show-related content (including behind-the-scenes YouTube videos, Instagram photos, and TikTok snippets showing interactions between the young women portraying the couples), and monetize through product sponsorships and fan meets.

IS Entertainment is going even further than IdolFactory in explicitly seeking to promote LGBTQ-related issues via the show and its fandom. As part of their celebration of Pride Month they even brought in a professor to hold a “gender seminar” to present “Queer 101“ facts and concepts to the cast and selected fans.

The company has also cast Montana Chuthatus (“Gene”), a trans woman, in a supporting role in the show; she’ll appear in flashbacks as the former partner of Peak (played by IS Entertainment CEO Namhom Atchareeya), the proprietor of a café that the four couples frequent. Thai TV shows have a reputation for having trans actors give exaggerated performances, often for comic relief. (GAP is guilty of this, as is Show Me Love to a certain extent.) Given IS Entertainment’s track record thus far, I’m confident that this won’t be the case with Be Mine.

But in the end the success of Be Mine, like that of GAP and Show Me Love, will be determined primarily by the on-screen romantic chemistry of its leads. Such chemistry can be discovered, as it was when Freen and Becky appeared in small roles in an earlier IdolFactory production; it remains to be seen whether it can be workshopped.

Ratings for Show Me Love:

Production quality – 7
Story – 2  Do you enjoy watching reality shows about beauty pageants? Me neither
Characters – 4  Heidi Amanda Jensen plays a delightfully bitchy contestant
Service – 3  Revealing but SFW pageant gowns
Yuri – 4  Through episode 6, longing gazes, two almost kisses, and a wedding dress dream sequence

Overall – 3  If I hadn’t been reviewing this I would have stopped after the second episode

It’s premature to rate Be Mine: the Series, especially since one of the roles has been recast since the pilot.

 





Tsukurita Onna to Tabetai Onna Live-Action Drama (作りたい女と食べたい女)

December 18th, 2022

Pictured: Two women sit at a wooden table in a small one-room Japanese apartment, with plates and bowls in front of them. One women is in a sweater over a blue and white checked dress. The other woman wear loose-fitting grey sweats. Words on the image read 作りたい女と食べたい女 Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna. Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (作りたい女と食べたい女), the NHK live-action drama, may well be the very best adaptation from a manga I have ever seen in any media.

Nomoto is an office worker who cooks as an outlet for stress. Many things stress her out, including the men in her office assuming that her cooking skill is meant to make some man happy. One day, she encounters a neighbor entering the apartment complex at the same time as her, carrying quite a lot of KFC. Upon asking if it was a party, the woman says, “It’s for me.”

Next time she’s super stressed, Nomoto introduces herself to the neighbor, offers some of the too-much food she’s made and a friendship is born. Kasuga is a woman of little affect, and is clearly not in the habit of making friends. She and Nomoto become closer as they spend time together, cooking and eating. Slowly, Nomoto starts to realize that her feelings for Kasuga are more than friendship..

Of course, going into a story like this, with a fandom who undoubtedly has feelings TM for the story and the characters, is challenging. This is a story that openly addresses Nomoto’s feelings for Kasuga. The word “lesbian” spoken out loud. As I sat down to watch on NHK Plus, (a system for which I am appreciative but have a deep loathing for it’s cumbersome process), I had all my digits crossed that they would come close to the feel of the original.

They nailed it.

Higa Manami is absolutely brilliant as Nomoto. She wears her every emotion openly, so we can burn with repressed rage, or tear up in amazed relief, or joy. Equally, Nishino Emi does a fantastic job of the sincere, eager, yet reserved, Kasuga. I was thrilled with the supporting cast, Nomoto’s co-workers felt utterly real, and my sympathies to Nakano Shuhei, whose role exists largely to be cheerfully clueless, annoying and occasionally despised. Poor guy. He did a great job.

So yes, the cast is terrific, and – at least, in my opinion- they handle the material well. We get all the key moments of the first manga volume and a half or so. There are way too many excellent moments to claim one as a favorite, but perhaps my vote goes to the conversation Kasuga and Nomoto have about their periods when Nomoto is struck down by hers, and Kasuga comes over with pads and a cooling patch, energy drink, etc, and makes Nomoto food. This scene – in which two non-related adult women care about and take care of one another in a way that I have seen in the real world a million times, but rarely in media – brought tears to my eyes. But really, this is one of a dozen wonderful moments. Nomoto squealing her way around the farmer’s market had both my wife and I grinning because…yes, been there, done that. ^_^ Like the triumphant moment when Kasuga and Nomoto return to the karaage restaurant where Kasuga had previously been given a small rice portion because she is a woman, when the proprietress was now asking whether people wanted a small, regular or large rice order – moments like this trumped even the moment when Nomoto recognizes that her feelings for Kasuga are more than friendship.

All that said, my absolute most favorite thing about the series is…their apartments. Whoever did the set design for Nomoto and Kasuga deserves an award. They live in studio apartments. Nomoto’s bed is under the window, her furniture and kitchen are all wood. It gives the room a warm, homey feel. I love the dresser they found for Nomoto. It’s behind Nomoto in this image below. Look at how wonderful it is.

Pictured: Two women sit at a wooden table in a small one-room Japanese apartment, with plates and bowls in front of them. One women is in a white cricket sweater with blue striped collar, the other in loose fitting dark sweat pants and shirt. Behind the woman in the sweater is a wooden dresser,each drawer stained a different shade of wood. The effect is very stylish.

Kasuga’s room is mostly white and unadorned, with a soft, blue comfy sofa chair and large TV. It really nails the “feeling” of these women’s lives… .

OH!…and the way they film Kasuga eating. Can I just tell you a story quickly? When I was a kid there was a Bill Cosby Show long before the Bill Cosby Show you all remember, back in 1969. And in one episode he was hired to film a commercial about a breakfast cereal. They do a gazillion takes and he gets sick to his stomach from eating so much cereal. The child actor with him tells him to never really eat the food. That scene has lived rent-free in my head for 50+ years. So…watching Kasuga eat is a big part of this story. How are they going to handle that? Well…they film a take from 7 different angles, then keep using it, so it looks like she’s eating, but Nishino-san doesn’t have to get sick. I thought it quite clever. ^_^

I sincerely hope NHK will bring this over to NHK World so more folks can enjoy this series (not that NHK World is any less annoying and cumbersome than NHK Plus, mind you, but if you have cable you can just get it added. Still grrrr, let people watch your shows!) In the meantime, if you can manage the byzantine labyrinths of NHK Plus, sign up and definitely give this a watch!

Ratings:

Cinematography, staging – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10
LGBTQ – 6 Solid opening
Food – 7 Easy to cook stuff that looks yummy. We were dying for karaage….

Overall – 10 I can’t think of anything they could have done better.

In the meantime, Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3 and Volume 4 of Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (作りたい女と食べたい女) are out from Kadokawa in Japan, and Volume 1,  Volume 2 and Volume 3 of She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat are out in English from Yen Press to keep us happy and emotionally fed until Season 2!

Get yourself someone who looks at you the way Nomoto watches Kasuga eat.

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Pink Theory GAP The Series (ทฤษฎีสีชมพู GAP The series)

November 27th, 2022

Mon is excited, she’s starting her new job at the company run by Sam, on whom she has had a crush since she was a child. But the kind Sam she remembers from when they were young, has turned into a bitter and mean-spirited woman, a person who apparently delights in making the people around her miserable.

Caught in a passive-aggressive relationship with her crush, Mon is trying to figure out how to be what she wants to be to Sam, while Sam doesn’t seem to know what she wants, at all. What we, the viewers can see, is that Sam is living in a emotionally abusive environment, with a sadistic and unyielding grandmother who has given her a deadline on her dreams.

Pink Theory GAP The Series (ทฤษฎีสีชมพู GAP The series), is a live-action Yuri series based on the novel of the same name by Chaoplanoy. This series is streaming on the Idol Factory official channel on YouTube, with English subtitles, with a new episode every Saturday night Thai time. This series had pretty solid marketing and a positive response to the trailers, so I was expecting something pretty good. Now that I’ve watched the first two episodes, I think I can safely say that we’re getting something that is, in fact, pretty good. ^_^

Becky Armstrong plays Mon and Freen plays Sam. Both are doing a decent job with their characters, and there is pretty good tension between them, even aside from the slow, belabored, lingering still moments when they come within 6 inches of each other. Also good is the supporting cast, especially Mon’s coworkers, who live in fear of Sam’s whimsy.  Several of the actors are known to me from the previous Idol Factory series I watched. It’s kind of nice to see “familiar” faces in different roles. I quite like Yha in this story, she’s definitely our greek chorus and rather dry. I’m also pleased that Sam has some friends, and we – rather unusually for live action – are introduced to a butch lesbian as well as the usual crop of very femme lesbians.

The negative side is pretty small. It’s a rom-com, so the comedic elements are excruciating as they almost always are. Drunk, screaming coworkers is not actually funny, in any format. My idea of things that make me cringe are different from yours, so I’m always not-okay with obsessions as a form of normalized character building…that said, Mon’s obsession with Sam is the basis for her taking the job and her overall character, but not the focus of the story. Furthermore, Mon isn’t a morose or weepy character and it’s very easy to like and support her, which I think works to the story’s advantage. I describe the story as Devil Wears Prada with social consciousness.

On the positive side, the characters have some depth; there are reasons that Sam is an abusive jerk and that Mon won’t put up with it, even though it breaks her heart to have Sam look her the eye and have no idea who she is. There is also clearly a side plot or two, I’m pretty sure Sam’s fiance Kirk is setting her up for failure. But going in to this knowing they will get together and it’s going to become socially conscious, gives me hope that there will be even more depth.  I’m looking forward to the final boss confrontation and if they will defeat Evil Grandma,. (They clearly will, I’m just pretending there’s some doubt.)

As the first fully Yuri Thai Live-Action, I’ve got to give props to Pink Theory GAP The Series…they’ve set a pretty high benchmark.

Ratings:

Cinematography – 7 Tropey, but decent
Characters – 7 Same, with Mon being so likeable that it all works
Story – 7 Same. It’s a rom-com, until it becomes a drama.
Yuri – 8 It’s pretty strong off the mark, but I’ll give it somewhere to go when they become lovers
Service – 4 A little here and there. Not grotesque, just “sexy” in a very thin definition of what makes a thing sexy,

Overall  – A strong 7 with room to go up.

At some point, I have going to have to read the novel, aren’t I? ^_^





Batwoman, Season 3 on CW

March 6th, 2022

Wow.

Blah blah blah, I’m not a DC gal, Batman is boring, blah blah. We’ve been through that before. But. This season has convinced me otherwise.

I thought Kate Kane was a fine Batwoman in Season 1. I was glad she had her story told and the points were made. And I was super glad to get past the Alice arc, with its so many handwaves. It was good stuff. Season 2 capitalized on the strengths of the cast and weaknesses of the story. It was better stuff.  In my review  of Season 2 I said, “What had been an ensemble flapping around Kate, waiting for her to listen to any of them, has now coalesced into a solid team looking for Kate (whatevs) and fighting new and different baddies, something I can get behind, finally.” Which is pretty much what happens. And now we reach Season 3 of Batwoman and I have not stopped thinking about it since I began to watch. It was one of the best live-action shows I’ve watched in a long while. Mostly because the cast is killing it.

Javicia Leslie’s Ryan Wilder is likable, smart, strong and vulnerable. The story uses those vulnerabilities without hesitation, but the story is not about torturing Ryan. Nope, instead Season 3 is 1000000% about Mary Hamilton and Beth Kane. Not as a couple, but as a pair of mismatched, deeply broken and needy people. 

Nicole Kang’s Mary Hamilton is…amazing. She’s broken, and breaking, and healing, and permanently effed up and likable and redeemable. Even when she is at her lowest, you have to love her. Early on the season, she and Lucas have a little energy. I would not object, except I believe you should not fall for your coworkers. (More on that later.) 

Beth, nee Alice. Holy Shit. Rachel Skarsen is doing a lifetime’s worth of acting with this role. She takes up a lot of space on the screen and again, love her and hate her, you always love her. Mary and Beth trying to patch a family together between the two of them had me tied up in knots.

Where Kate and Sophie made my skin crawl, Ryan and Sophie as the main love affair of the series works just fine. See above about coworkers for a caveat. But it, too, is a side story. The main plot uses relics of the Bat-universe, but with new plotting and characters. Did we need a new Joker? Maybe? But what we got with a new Poison Ivy was an outstanding arc, that will have repercussions into next season. It gave us a brief moment with Renee Montoya and Pamela Isley, but it left us with Poison Mary…and Alice as a sidekick. That was a hell of a ride.

Lucas’ battle with his long-dead father added unpredictability to his story, and Ryan’s own journey into her own family’s past drives the larger arcs in a way that succeeds.

These character arcs -and others – are overlapped so that they have consequences. It’s not “character development of the week,” and kudos to the writers for that.

Season 3 is about family. For Batwoman and her team, that means a lot of everything: Good, bad, extremely bad, and pathologically apocalyptic. It means love and hate and despair and hope. And, for the first time in my watching experience, it means a majority non-white, majority female cast, full of queerness, which I absolutely love. 

This was a fantastic season. you should watch it.

Ratings:

Cinematography – 8
Characters – 10
Story – 9
Queer – 10
Service – 7 Kissing, sex implied

Overall – 9

This team convinced me to love Batwoman.