[Discussion] Last Friends - Nagasawa Masami/Ueno Juri/Eita

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:58 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

kawaiiii ! I loving Its ha ha

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:56 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

the writer sure as hell got it right when it she/he(?) said, "oh so theres THIS kind of ending too". -___-

damn, i feel like Hikki's song got jipped too!

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:18 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

am I the only one who actually like the ending??

this is a japanese drama, so I guess because I wasn't expecting anything earth-shattering/controversial I wasn't disappointed.... scratch

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:09 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

i don't know why, but i kinda disappointed with the ending.
the ending is too 'safe'.
i feel like it's not fair for ruka.
being close together to someone that who can not love her back....
mmmm... maybe i am thinking about this too much.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:39 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Ruka is only 22 or something, she can like, you know, find love in the rest of the 80something odd years she has left on this earth >_>

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:32 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:58 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:22 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:45 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:05 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

[quote="kuo87] i was really expecting a tie in with hikki's song though, it was based almost entirely on the song until the tenth episode, then it derailed i think.

for my first japanese drama, i sure picked one hell of a drama to start off with pinch

[/quote]

say.. do u want to tell which part of the song relate to the episode/events in the drama? Smile

and for the first J-drama u first start with... > > there won't be any worth while like this one for long.... Roll Eyes

aww.. I hope Juri start with the next drama soon. But i think she ned a break from last friends lol [/quote]

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 5:46 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I think the ending was just trying to please all the shippers. Michiru got with Takeru, indirectly, and Takeru got closer to Ruka and Ruka was able to keep Michiru.

Basically an EVERYONE WINS! ending.

Cept Sousuke.

But it's alright, he has Ohkura Tongue

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:23 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Just out of curiosity... I've noticed hardly anyone likes Michiru and many have said Nagasawa Masami didn't do a good job of acting her out...

What sort of portrayal/acting would make you like Michiru (given that her character stays the same), or think that a good job has been done in acting her out?

In fact, does anyone here like Michiru at all??

I guess most people dislike her primarily for one of two reasons:

1. She keeps on going back to the guy who DVs her
2. She does not feel Ruka's love for her, and when she did, she refused her

But I personally think that in any case, she is a decent girl, though weak
If she wasn't good at heart, she wouldn't have given a crap about a mother who treats her like trash.

She was the first to notice Takeru's discomfort when they were at the amusement park. Some may say that it's because she had a crush on Takeru (partly due to Ruka's push as well), but honestly, I think it's also because she wants to be nice back because Takeru has been looking after her. She cares very much about people who care for her.

In Ruka's case, they've been friends for so long, even after she learns about Ruka's feelings, even though she feels she can't accept that sort of love, she still chose to confront Sousuke when he insulted Ruka, she still chose to slap him, because Ruka is her best friend and she would not allow anyone to hurt her.

In ep 10, after geting raped, she said to Sousuke, if you promise that you won't hurt my friends ever again, you can do this to me as many times as you like. That may sound laughable... but that is her attempt at protecting her friends, doing something for the people who have looked after her.

Michiru may be weak, she may seem ignorant, but she really is someone good at heart.

Unfortunately, I don't think her character was carved out very well in this drama. Seems like the scriptwriter herself doesn't even give a crap about Michiru, based on what I understand from her interviews.

Ideally, Michiru would've undergone some sort of change and become stronger at heart by the end of ep 11. We saw her change at one stage when she was able to escape her colleague's high-heel attack after a few episodes; we see her standing up for her friend, Ruka when confronting Sousuke in ep 10...
Yet at the end of the day, all those little hints at Michiru's change for the better ended in nothing. She is now forever haunted by the memories of her dead DV boyfriend. Even though she said she wanted to try and be independent, she still goes back to live with the others.

I can't help wondering what would all the people suffering from DV in reality think after watching LF... honestly... both Masami and Ryo have said that DV is bad, and should not be tolerated, yet in this drama, Sousuke even in his death, DVs Michiru. Even though in reality a DV guy like Sousuke wouldn't even think about commiting suicide (the scriptwriter herself even admitted)... I think a lot of DV victims were probably hoping to find some sort of refuge in seeing a Michiru that becomes stronger by the day, but I guess they were disappointed to the very end...

Much discussion has been focused on Ruka (whom I like very much) and Juri (of whom I have become a fan), but I thought we should also give some thoughts to the other actors. And since I am also a Masami fan, my comment mainly focuses on Michiru.

I'm very sympathetic towards Masami, because of the role she had... before the show started, she said in a magazine interview that she doesn't want viewers to feel sorry for Michiru. And from the interview, I had the impression that she wanted to portray Michiru as a character who changes for the better. Though of course, that didn't happen, because the script never ended up going that way...

Nagasawa Masami still has a long way to go in terms of her acting skills, but I don't think it is fair to say that she did a terrible job in LF. It's not her fault that Michiru turned out to be such a character, she did what she can... Watch Proposal Daisakusen and Butterfly Strokes in Ganges River (filmed in India and she actually did swim butterfly strokes in Ganges River), and then watch LF, you will see the differences in characters and acting.

There has been much discussion on the Drama Awards. I just want to clear up by saying that:

1. Last Friends' leading role was Nagasawa Masami from the very beginning (starting from when news of this drama first came out in Japanese newspapers).

2. There is no leading male actor in this drama.

3. For this season's drama awards, Masami is nominee for best actress, Juri and Asami will be nominees for best supporting actress, Eita and Ryo will be nominees for best supporting actor.

4. Now that Ruka is the most popular character of the show, all sorts of ambiguity has popped up in the media regarding who IS actually the leading actress of the show. The company responsible for the release of the LF DVD-Box even listed both Nagasawa and Ueno as the leading actresses, contrary to media reports when the news that LF will be on-air first came out. They corrected this "mistake" later. I think they did it intentionally to use Ruka (Juri) to increase DVD-Box sales... though I think it's a bit dodgy. For one, a leading actor/actress in Japan not only have to act, she/he also has the responsibility of uniting and leading the team onsite and on promotional shows. If ratings crap it's the leading actor/actress's fault and so on. Nagasawa Masami had taken on all these responsibilities from the start because she was listed as the leading actress. On the other hand, personally, I think Ueno Juri deserved to be the leading actress too, but that was not the case. So to use her name merely for increasing DVD-Box sales, I find that very unrespectful.

Juri has been absolutely amazing in this drama. But we must not forget, that any drama is the product of an entire team of people, including both the cast and producers/staff. The character, Ruka, certainly has outshone all other characters in this drama, and there is no doubt that this is largely because of Juri's awesome acting skills. But she is not the only one who worked hard and thought hard about how to act out her given character in the past 4 months or so.

All the main casts had problems with the script, as there were parts they couldn't comprehend. Some of them became sick or injured during the filming period.

Masami caught a really bad cold after sitting in the rain for so long when filming for that scene in Ep 1where Michiru sat in the park and Ruka came to find her in the rain (I remember listening to her radio that weekend, wondering how come she sounded like she was having a cold... LOL). Juri fell from the motorbike during one practice session, injured her leg, and had to get 5 stitches done. In the last DV scene in ep 10, Ryo accidentally hit Masami right on (all the bashing scenes are all supposed to be done in a way that no real damage is carried out).

Eita didn't understand why Takeru just had to express his affection for Ruka before taking the time to listen to what Ruka was going to say first in that park scene at night. Juri's interpretation of Ruka is a girl who thinks of herself as a guy and thus could not understand why Ruka would want to be affectionate with Takeru in the last episode. Masami found it very difficult to understand Michiru's feelings (probably because she couldn't agree with Michiru). Ryo had to act out a DV guy even though he would probably never do this ever to a girl in reality...

Amidst all these... the casts did what they can based on what I consider a dodgy script (of which the later half was written in a way that appealed to higher ratings during on-air period, everything going all over the place), and I think all of them deserve applause for their hard work.

Anyway, perhaps it would've been better if Masami and Juri were both named as leading actresses in this drama from the very start, but as that wasn't the case because of one reason or another (things us audiences would probably never learn about). But that was something agreed to by casts, management and producers, so that should be respected.

And I shall refrain from comparing Juri and Masami's acting skills... as I think they both have different styles. I can't imagine Masami playing Ryoko in Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshitachi or Aoi in Rainbow Song or Nodame in Nodame Cantabile or Ruka in Last Friends, nor can I imagine Juri playing Aki in Crying out love in the Centre of the World, Kaoru in Nada Sousou, Rei in Proposal Daisakusen, Michiru in LF.

(so the choice of cast in LF is actually quite good I must say)

But just a few words on their different styles...

I think what Ueno Juri does in her acting is finding similarity between herself and the characters she play and then amplifies that particular aspect during filming. In other words, once she's grasped that similarity, she herself sinks in and becomes that character. If she doesn't find much similarity between herself and the character, it becomes a problem for her. As in Joudan Janai, she said the protagonist is very very different from herself. And I don't think Joudan Janai struck most Juri fans as much as her other more impacting works. I actually think that this is something that she needs to overcome, else it will limit the range of roles she can play (not in the sense that she can't play them, but a matter of how well she can play them). In terms of appearance, Ueno Juri is starting to look better and better ever since her major hit movie "Swing Girls ('04)"... I quite like her short hairstyle now after seeing her Chibi Maruchan hairstyle for so long, though always looking forward to see new changes. Apparently she dyed her hair black just recently, after coming back from a short break in Okinawa. Her latest movie "Gou-Gou Datte Neko Dearu" will be out in September I think.

On the other hand, Nagasawa Masami chooses to stay close to the original script. Her forte is in playing very innocent sort of characters, like Aki, Kaoru and Rei as mentioned before. In fact, she rose to fame because of her role as Aki in Crying out love in the centre of the world. However, she has also attempted a range of other types of roles, a high school girl as part of a team in a Robot Contest (Robokon '03), assistant to a fugitive (Runaway '04, in which her hair is very very short, same length as Ueno Juri's hairdo now), a high school girl turned leader of a gangster (Sailor Fuku to Kikanju '06), a naive girl who goes to explore India by herself (Swim Butterfly Strokes in Ganges River '07) and a princess dressed up as a guy in a period movie (The Last Fortress, '08). I personally think she is not very strong at using her eyes to convey feelings, but she is generally very good and flexible with facial expressions (though at times she overdoe it a bit...yes). She may not be very well suited to play roles which embody a lot of internal thoughts and feelings. Her very girly voice is also another obstacle to the range of roles she may be suited for, bu t I think she's starting to overcome that as she did an excellent job in "The Last Fortress". In terms of her appearance, I think long periods of work with no break is making her looking older than she actually is... but given enough rest, the right hairdo and makeup, she's ready to go -> re: Michiru in LF OP. Right now Nagasawa Masami is in Okinawa filming for a movie called "Gun Jo" due to be released next year... this girl doesn't get any rest... ever... ah, and for all those Nodame fans out there, the guy who plays her lover in this movie is Kuroki (played by Fukushi Seiji) from Nodame Cantabile Big Smile

Ah... lastly just some info from radio...

Nagasawa Masami and Mizukawa Asami have become very good friends and Masami recently invited Asami to go on her radio program, they had a short mimicking session in which Masami mimicked Rei from Evangelion and Asami mimicked Asuka Laugh

Apparently on the day when the casts first met, Masami sat next to Eita who sat next to Asami.

Masami heard this interesting conversation between Eita and Asami:

E to A: ah, you permed your hair!
A to E: yeah, suits me doesn't it!
E to A: looks like yakisoba (fried noodles)!
hahaha.... it was quite funny actually.

Anyway, I think I've written a lot more than what I originally planned to write OTZ
thoughts kept on pouring out... LOL

Better stop before the page overflows!

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:40 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

masap, brilliant post. Wub

I had to skim some parts (it's past 8am, and I've been up all night, so pretty tired) Unfortunately, I can't reply with a similar huge post, but just so you know I agree with you on just about everything and it's about time someone came to Michiru/Masami's defense if I say so myself. I don't think it's that everyone hates her (be it Masami or Michiru) just, this thread is suffocated by the Ruka/Juri fans, so I guess it's pretty hard to pick out the Masami/Michiru fans when it comes to it.

I've liked Michiru from the start, and I hated Masami before LF - she really changed my mind during this drama; that's mostly down to her actually playing a character I liked for once. And as you said, it's no good to compare Juri and Masami in acting: both have their own styles, and I think Masami - like the rest of the cast - did a fantastic job with her character.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:52 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

[Rori], glad someone likes Michiru here Big Smile

>> this thread is suffocated by the Ruka/Juri fans

haha... I am a Ruka/Juri fan too, but I really feel that Michiru and Masami deserve more than what's been thrown at them... They have been ignored by just about everyone Sad

In my rush I made so many spelling/grammar mistakes... slowly fixing them up Smile

I've never written such a long post before... and probably repeated myself somewhere along the line
But I'm really glad that you agree with many of the points I made Smile