Seriously, this year is starting off at a pretty great start as far as I am concerned! There I was thinking that the drama version of Saki would be starting next month (it is still officially starting/commencing next month) when BAM!! not only do I find that there are Blurays already on sell, making think that they would be doing the Netflix thing and dump the whole series on Bluray (Bluray people!!!!) but then I found out that four episodes had already aired!!! Three of which had been subbed already (as of yesterday)!!?!
God bless you Japan! Seriously, God bless you!
On top of that, Avex decided to finally make available the Premium Set of TGS’ gey movie and right then I was totally sold! Me believes, dear Readers, that 2017 might just give 2016 a run for its money. Now of course there is no beating the year that gave us ‘Ahgassi/ The Handmaiden’ but really, that is not a fair fight. But when we talk about who is coming close, then I have a feeling that 2017 is looking pretty promising!
I of course already binge watched the Saki subbed episodes but 720p is so five years ago! If a better quality exists you bet ya I’ma gonna be getting it and I did! Not only do I get to enjoy the gayness in super awesome raw quality but I get to enjoy the behind the scenes that come only with the special editions (which I got, duh).
And with that, if you will excuse me, I need to go feed my soul (It feeds off yuri and quality).
Nott only did you give me something I have been craving for a while now in The original Three but you went a whole mile farther and gave me my Nogizaka Top Ship in Ikominami! Or is it that Ikominami gave us them!? Ahhh either way, what an awesome present this is?!
I wonder if this is a sign for the next single going back in formation? If it is not Reika or Kazumin for next Center, then my money is on Ikoma-kun, flanked by her right-hand man and waifu. Or maybe it will be a Minami center? Nah, there hasn’t been any signs in the front and you can usually tell who is going to be. Under Construction is a very spoilerly place actually if you pay attention.
Anyway, I am so happy this early in the year and unlike 2015, there is just nothing I can think of that will happen on the other side (bad karma) to negate my happies! That was the lowest blow I ever got dealt and I survived it so anything else is just cake walk!
What an issue though, this UTB volume! In addition to the Holy Trinity, I got my NGT48 Oshi (That’s Honma Hinata to those who did not know) and my Family 46 Kami Ikoma-kun appeared again, in another trio with none other than Nanasemaru and Kazumin! Talk about having your waifu in one basket! Yes, I am a huge shipper of Ikoma-kun and Nanasemaru! And so do I ship Nanase and Kazumin, especially after these recent episodes where they are just so pushed together. Who am I to resist?
If Girl Tears are my Kryptonite, Yuri is my Yellow Sun! It give me life, while Girl tears take it away!
In addition to those, the back cover was of none other than my Idol Goddess Yukir-I mean Black-sama, in her deadliest appearance yet for Lost in the Supermarket! Seriously, what a way to kick off the year!
Yes, another day another Handmaiden post. Just as the force wills it so who am I to say otherwise?
The point of this post is my disappointment in S.Korea. Sure, I am very grateful to them, they have been so awesome to me in the past few years, hell, my top 10 yuri movies has 4 from them with two of them in the top 3!! I love Korean very much, but that does not mean that I can not get disappointed with them.
And so it is kind of ironic that that disappointment comes with the very movie that has me love them so very much, they have given me my favourite movie of all time in The Handmaiden but strangely, along with it comes the only disappointment I have ever felt for South Korea and that is the fact that they chose any other movie over The Handmaiden for the Oscars!
Okay, get this, most of you are probably already aware if you are a fan of this movie and have been following every little thing about it, but in only six months since it’s debut, in just six months, The Handmaiden has been nominated for over sixty awards, SIXTY!!!! and so far, and I mean so far, they have won 27 of them all! So far they have almost grabbed half of the nominations!!! And we are still in 2016!! Next year there will be awards looking back to the past year (2016 then) and it is bound to be nominated for more awards and even win more of them! The current nominations are still going so they still have a chance of jumping over half of the nominations, that is over 30 awards in total in just six months!
Like, can you even believe this! I mean for crying out loud, this is a primarily lesbian movie and it does not have those clichéd bad endings that are award baits! Nope, we got an honest to God BEST END that went well about even the original source materials’ ending! Seriously, The Handmaiden’s ending just blows my mind! But it is not just that hurdle that the movie had to get past! Homo-sexuality in South Korean is considered a taboo (as per Mr Park’s own words) so the movie to do that well in its home land is a miracle already!
Then there is that thing that happened just a month after the movie came out, the thing that was surely to put a stop to any and all success The Handmaiden had been revving up so far – The scandal! Sadly many of us fans of her and Kim Min-hee herself are still greatly affected by it, in that we miss her terribly and she too wishes to be there with the other beloved cast during the rest of the promotions and accompanying sweet Kim Tae-ri to award ceremonies! But other than herself and us fans, and maybe the cast, the movie itself was not affected at all and I hope the person who pulled that dick of a move regrets their decision till the end of time!
But that did not stop people from recognising the actors’ hard work and giving Kim Min-hee her well deserved Best Actress awards (two of them so far), Kim Tae-ri’s Best New Actress Awards, which are FIVE of them so far, and the Production Designers and Art Director awards they have been taking from left to right! But that is only scratching the surface! To have the full idea of all the awards go to The Handmaiden and Kim Tae-ri wiki pages!
Like, seriously South Korean, what were you even thinking?! And from what I hear, other countries are also ramping up awards for Ahgassi like it’s no body’s business! Why did they even do this?! The success in their home country alone should have been enough of a sign on what to do! Seriously South Korea…
Seriously, remember when we spent years crying out for another danso episode? I most certainly do! And while the target of our cries let us down (I am looking at you AKBINGO!), Nogizaka was there for us and to date, I have even forgotten how many danso episodes we have gotten in between NOGIBINGO, Nogizakatte doko and Under Construction! All I know is that in the current season of NOGIBINGO, in less than 10 episodes we have already gotten two separate Danso episodes!! Like dear Nogizaka, are you after my own heart?! If not for Yukirin, you would definitely have all of it but as things stand, I can’t help but only give you just a portion of it!
Yes, that is how strong my love for Yukirin is. We are all wondering what in the name of all that is Holly AKB is doing currently and I am not blind to that. But I just love Yukirin so much that AKB has to come first, no matter the circumstances! Well, within the Yasusu project that is. If we are including others, well, there is Tokyo Girls’ Style and T-ara across the seas who are well above them.
But it’s not just the shows that has got me loving Nogizaka a lot more these past moments. I have begun to notice a lot of other girls, and okay, so maybe the shows have more to do with it as I have noticed these girls on said shows, but despite being there for a while now, there are some girls that are getting to me recently and I just can’t help but fall for them. Examples 2nd Gen Nogizaka members Miria, Ranze and Kitano and then there are the Keyakizaka girls that I haave already mentioned before; Ozeki, WRika, Imaizumi, Neru, Suzumoto, Uemura, Shiida and Koike.
Now take all that new blossoming love and add in a large dose of Danso and yuri and great music and really, I am proud to have resisted the temptation to fully convert over to the 46 branch family! Oh, how I wish I had the time! My muse is going crazy with all these dreams of fic material I keep having! Mostly they have to do with Ikoma-kun, which is obvious since she is my Nogi Kami and have had quite a few ideas of her and the new crushes since that episode of Under Construction where the girls were pitching ideas for an out-door event and Ikoma-kun suggested Mountain Climbing the Revenge which shockingly got support from all the un-expected members. Most shocking was Minami-chan, who despite having not had a good time the first time when they went to Mount Fuji, she wanted to go again once again showing her support for her husband! (I am an avid shipper in case you could not tell! Ikominami are the Mayuki of Nogizaka). But then Ranze, Miria and even Asuka were also up for some more mountain climbing and I am sitting here wondering when the hell are we going to get that episode!!! Get to it Nogizaka, before the girls start leaving!
But once again I have got and got side-tracked! Getting back to business, we once again got such a lovely Danso episode! And while I was conflicted about Ikoma-kun not participating I kind of didn’t want to do without her reactions as well so…Oh well, the two boys we got were perfect in Waka-sama and Kazumin. And I know that Nogizaka is just playing coy with us and that they are cooking up something for us. Just you wait, one of these days we are going to get another Ikominami, or even Ikomiria, especially now after that episode where Miria kind of showed a bit of her love for Ikoma-kun, who seems to be loved by the 2nd gens quite a bit. Heh, now that I remember, in that episode Miona didn’t waste the opportunity to remind us that she was the first 2nd gen to get the Iko-love! And since Ranze already centred a song, I can see Miria being next, or maybe they want to keep pushing Ranze, or maybe they will remind us that Miona is the Ace of 2nd gen, who knows! Whatever the case maybe, I am waiting!
And I just went and got distracted again, didn’t I!
So, we had three segments, or three ships in our terms. There was the threesome in Manatsu/Waka-sama/Reika, then there was the looked forward to Nanase/Kazumin and finally we had yet another threesome in Waka-sama/Asuka/Kazumin. Not to beat around the bush, this was a competition, as it usually is and the winner was only non-threesome couple which made me feel better about myself in that I truly do not like threesomes in any shape or form! Butt on the other hand, I was kind of disappointed! I mean I am one of those that used to ship Kazumin and Nanase, before I found out they were just friends (no, really) and before I knew Kazumin was in love with Nojo and before I discovered that Ikoma-kun would kiss the ground Nanase walks on. Speaking of, Ikoma-kun was the one that did not vote for Nanase out of the three, surprising me but also making me proud at the same time.
Let’s start with that couple actually! Just as Ikoma-kun said, and probably why she did not vote for Nanase and Kazumin, their story was just too clichéd! You called what was going to happen next a mile away! But then you have to remember that it is that cheesiness that most people love! It is why there are more romance and drama movies than any other medium. Nothing new can happen in those plots anymore and yet people drink them up like some super special chocomochalatteespresccino drink. You knew Kazumin was going to glance towards Nanase before he even did it, you knew he would grab Nanase’s hand to prevent her from leaving before he had even thought it. Now not to say it wasn’t good at that. No, despite knowing that it still hit home, which I guess is why everyone loves these types of movies despite seeing something similar countless times before. It is about what it makes you feel in that moment.
Kazumin and Nanase were really great in it. Nanase especially so. Her acting experience was put to good use when they gave her more body language than actual words and you could really feel this secret history between them two at that high school re-union after years apart. Still, that being said, it is still a cliché and I would not have gone for it out of the three couple. The other that I would not have voted for out of the three is the first ship with Manatsu, Waka-sama and Reika!
Yes, yes, we get it already! You want us to drop the Waka-sama/Reika love story but just like many times before, your efforts are in vain! We shall board that ship until it sinks to the bottom of the emptiness of Space! In other words, never!! Play off it however much you want! Push Waka-sama and Nanase in your PVs, pair Waka-sama with someone else in your Danso episodes, have Waka-sama dump Reika as many times as you want like you did here, we won’t bite!
This is the reason why I would not have gone with this ship. You did not have to step on Reika and Waka-sama’s love for this! And just when we got Reika to actually confess to Waka-sama they go and turn her into a bitch that does not deserve the love! If they had kept her love as one-sided, in that she loved Waka-sama but instead kept it to herself in favour of her best friend Manatsu and only show her broken self as she watches her friend and secret love be happy, it could have been No1 for sure! Add in the fact that Manatsu was actually tolerable in this and we would have had an Oscar nominee on our hands! But alas!
Which brings me to what should have won this tourney, especially given that this is a Danso episode! Not only did we get both Waka-sama and Kazumin for the grand slam, they were fighting over our main girl in all their manliness! Like, what the heck Judges! How could you not vote for this ship?! Maybe it had something to do with Asuka’s choice? Putting aside the fact that she chose Kazumin over Waka-sama, I mean let’s be honest here, Waka-sama is SAMA but then again maybe that twist was the point? But then wouldn’t you have had Kazumin be the under-dog instead of having them be equal?
In which case, I guess the reason they did not win is that Asuka made the wrong choice! Not in choosing Kazumin over Waka-sama but rather in choosing one of them. Seriously I thought she would either not pick one in that she did not have those kinds of feelings for them (which is understandable in that they grew up together and there is a tendency to develop feelings in those situations but they usually get nowhere) or at the very least don’t because you love both of them equally!
I mean they were presented as being equal in all aspects so her choosing just one of them was just so un-nerving! I mean, how are they going to be after this? Even if Waka-sama showed support as he left, don’t forget that (even if I don’t think it was on purpose) we did not see his face. What feelings did he have showing? How hurt was he? Was their love worth the years of friendship in case Waka-sama decides to break away from them? I mean if you were in his shoes, what would you feel seeing them every day knowing that they have that something now between them that is beyond you? How will you have to act now towards them? When will you know where your line stops in order to not over-step? What of your feelings? Will you not feel bitterness towards Kazumin even a little knowing that he has something with Asuka now that you do not and never will?
Okay, now I am not so sure about who should have won. I guess the judges were right in that when weighing the negatives, the Kazumin/Nanase ship was less heavy compared to the other two but since I am not one for that kind of thing (I do not hate pain, okay?) I guess that two Danso are still better than one and let’s not forget about them gakuran and that old-school seifuku Asuka was wearing! Seeing as I just did a marathon of Sukeban Deka Series II (I love that series so much! Saki/Yukino FTW) I still have a strong love for those uniforms. And so Kazumin/Asuka/Waka-sama it is for me (even though I don’t like threesomes but hey, it did not end in one so…)
Ooh but on the other hand Nanase and Kazumin had an atomic bomb of hand-holding going on courtesy of director Marika so…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Okay fine, fine! Kazumin and Nanase win! I give in! Hands are my kryptonite after all! That is so unfair Marika!
Anyway, I can’t wait for more. Hopefully tonight’s episode is a continuation. I need more!
百合 Fever 