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elwenSo I gave in and started watching the Gokusen live action drama. I'd tried watching Densha Otoko a few weeks ago and basically concluded that dramas were not my thing. Obviously, my motivation for watching Gokusen is stronger, but I already had to console myself by deciding that I have no reason for watching the second season since there's no Shin, and by all reports it's just the plot of the first one rehashed. A lot of the online fandom I've found so far centers around the drama rather than the anime, though, so I figured I should see what it's all about. I watched the first two episodes last night around the CDS110a midterm, and I've already become unhappy with most of the changes.
The biggest thing is that I don't like the drama version of Shin. I find his personality significantly different from the anime, and it really changes his dynamic with Yankumi. Drama!Shin is really . . . prickly. He's bitter, and stubbornly indifferent to everything. The standoffish attitude he has towards Yankumi gets them off to a completely different start than the sort of reserved curiosity anime!Shin displays at first. The drama version just feels really cliché. And anime!Shin simply doesn't scowl that much. As hot as Matsumoto Jun is when he scowls, it ruins my image of the aloof, occasionally amused, and very not bitter Shin in the anime and the manga. So yeah. I guess I started watching the drama partly because I wanted more ShinKumi, but whatever comes out of it won't be the same, and I'll probably need to rewatch the anime to detox from it. I already had to after the first two episodes. I mean, I already mentioned that one of the things I like about ShinKumi is that they make a team in trying to take care of the other students and keep them out of trouble. Thus far in the drama, it's more like Kuma and Yankumi are the ones in league. (I do like how Kuma and Yankumi get along, though. In the anime he's really gentlemanly towards Yankumi, like during the run-in with Kudou, and then when he thinks she's poor, and after she helps his mom, and it just makes him seem really sweet.)
Another change that jumped out at me is how Yankumi doesn't want to take over the Ooedo Group. It feels really out of character, especially since the drama likes to include more moments when she slips back into yakuza dialect. Kind of related was their decision to make Shinohara a detective. That kind of surprised me because the manga actually goes into Shinohara's backstory and why he's working for Ryuuichirou, in contrast to the anime where he's just a side character that's kind of there. So yeah. Shinohara being a detective seems like a gimmick to squeeze more humor out of Yankumi's yakuza lapses, which is already overused, so it's kind of annoying. Of course, it kind of makes ShinKumi more viable, so maybe I shouldn't complain. Then again, if Yankumi doesn't want to succeed the family, then she might want to follow her mother's footsteps in marrying a straight-shooter, which would make Shinohara the perfect choice. Bah.
Going back to the not-succeeding the Ooedo Group thing, it just makes me sad, because then you have all these scenes of Ryuuichirou being all wistful about yakuza values becoming useless. I really like Ryuuichirou, and I love that he gets more screen time in the drama, but it's just so depressing! I want to combine the confident, bad-ass Ryuuichirou from the anime with the more fatherly drama version, and then make him not sad. In a lot of ways, the drama is more "realistic" and shoots holes in the idealism that makes me all warm and fuzzy about the anime. Things like how the students really are all good, honorable people at heart, and the bad guys always get their due, and the good people will always support their own, even when things are against the rules or fly in the face of tradition. For example, I was really disappointed when they revealed that Kuma had actually stolen the money and then lied about it. If they had actually had a situation like that in the anime, Kuma would totally have been telling the truth, and then everyone (or at least Kuma and Shin) would decide to help Yankumi look for the bag, and they'd end up finding it in the end. Yeah, I'm a romantic at heart, and the anime spoonfeeds it to me. :P I do like how the portrayal of the yakuza is more realistic, though. Like mentioning them going out on night watches and such, and not just having them sobbing in response to Kyo's melodrama.
So yeah, must ignore all alter-ego ShinKumi-ness, but the drama still makes me cry several times an episode, so it's not a total loss. I like Yankumi's speeches, even though I prefer her anime personality, which is less goody-goody. Oh, and the school nurse is cool.
...um, yeah. Somehow that all seemed more coherent when I was composing it in my head. Ah well.
Closing thought: I really should cosplay as Yankumi or at least make the costume. It'd be really simple, and also really hard to tell that I was cosplaying, but it's just so perfect. She doesn't even have bangs! I'm always worried that if I cosplay I'll look weird if I don't have bangs, but Yankumi really does have pretty much the same hair as I do, so it's not a problem.
The biggest thing is that I don't like the drama version of Shin. I find his personality significantly different from the anime, and it really changes his dynamic with Yankumi. Drama!Shin is really . . . prickly. He's bitter, and stubbornly indifferent to everything. The standoffish attitude he has towards Yankumi gets them off to a completely different start than the sort of reserved curiosity anime!Shin displays at first. The drama version just feels really cliché. And anime!Shin simply doesn't scowl that much. As hot as Matsumoto Jun is when he scowls, it ruins my image of the aloof, occasionally amused, and very not bitter Shin in the anime and the manga. So yeah. I guess I started watching the drama partly because I wanted more ShinKumi, but whatever comes out of it won't be the same, and I'll probably need to rewatch the anime to detox from it. I already had to after the first two episodes. I mean, I already mentioned that one of the things I like about ShinKumi is that they make a team in trying to take care of the other students and keep them out of trouble. Thus far in the drama, it's more like Kuma and Yankumi are the ones in league. (I do like how Kuma and Yankumi get along, though. In the anime he's really gentlemanly towards Yankumi, like during the run-in with Kudou, and then when he thinks she's poor, and after she helps his mom, and it just makes him seem really sweet.)
Another change that jumped out at me is how Yankumi doesn't want to take over the Ooedo Group. It feels really out of character, especially since the drama likes to include more moments when she slips back into yakuza dialect. Kind of related was their decision to make Shinohara a detective. That kind of surprised me because the manga actually goes into Shinohara's backstory and why he's working for Ryuuichirou, in contrast to the anime where he's just a side character that's kind of there. So yeah. Shinohara being a detective seems like a gimmick to squeeze more humor out of Yankumi's yakuza lapses, which is already overused, so it's kind of annoying. Of course, it kind of makes ShinKumi more viable, so maybe I shouldn't complain. Then again, if Yankumi doesn't want to succeed the family, then she might want to follow her mother's footsteps in marrying a straight-shooter, which would make Shinohara the perfect choice. Bah.
Going back to the not-succeeding the Ooedo Group thing, it just makes me sad, because then you have all these scenes of Ryuuichirou being all wistful about yakuza values becoming useless. I really like Ryuuichirou, and I love that he gets more screen time in the drama, but it's just so depressing! I want to combine the confident, bad-ass Ryuuichirou from the anime with the more fatherly drama version, and then make him not sad. In a lot of ways, the drama is more "realistic" and shoots holes in the idealism that makes me all warm and fuzzy about the anime. Things like how the students really are all good, honorable people at heart, and the bad guys always get their due, and the good people will always support their own, even when things are against the rules or fly in the face of tradition. For example, I was really disappointed when they revealed that Kuma had actually stolen the money and then lied about it. If they had actually had a situation like that in the anime, Kuma would totally have been telling the truth, and then everyone (or at least Kuma and Shin) would decide to help Yankumi look for the bag, and they'd end up finding it in the end. Yeah, I'm a romantic at heart, and the anime spoonfeeds it to me. :P I do like how the portrayal of the yakuza is more realistic, though. Like mentioning them going out on night watches and such, and not just having them sobbing in response to Kyo's melodrama.
So yeah, must ignore all alter-ego ShinKumi-ness, but the drama still makes me cry several times an episode, so it's not a total loss. I like Yankumi's speeches, even though I prefer her anime personality, which is less goody-goody. Oh, and the school nurse is cool.
...um, yeah. Somehow that all seemed more coherent when I was composing it in my head. Ah well.
Closing thought: I really should cosplay as Yankumi or at least make the costume. It'd be really simple, and also really hard to tell that I was cosplaying, but it's just so perfect. She doesn't even have bangs! I'm always worried that if I cosplay I'll look weird if I don't have bangs, but Yankumi really does have pretty much the same hair as I do, so it's not a problem.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-01 05:37 am (UTC)The drama does develop into this dynamic after a while, more so than just Kuma and Yankumi. And Shin warms up later on, so if you keep at it I think it's worth it.
I really should cosplay as Yankumi or at least make the costume. It'd be really simple, and also really hard to tell that I was cosplaying, but it's just so perfect. She doesn't even have bangs!
I was just thinking Yankumi would make a great cosplay. Simple clothes and fringeless hair: perfect!