[DISCUSSION] A Million Stars Fall From The Sky

Link to the review: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9477

Spoiler note: Please clearly indicate any possible spoilers, and place them in the quote tag with a white font color to prevent accidental viewing.

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 3:36 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Maybe I should see it before opening my mouth, but really want to see it after reading the review. In the mood for some dark dramas... *to be back after I watch this*

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 3:44 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I voted "life altering". I feel this is a must-see and it's one that will never be forgotten. But....it's not for everyone. Unsure

I loved it though Mr. Green

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 3:49 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

hmms...the storyline seems sooo interesting...but i haven't watched it yet....so when i do, i'll rate it then. Laugh

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 8:08 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Great acting and story. Just don't watch this together with sleeping forest. (which I did). Ep 1 is quite slow but it really picks up from there. One of KimuTaku's best acting performances.

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:52 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I couldn't disagree more. This drama was so horrible I literally cussed at my tv while I finished watching the last few eps.
Nonsensical plots, half-witted characters, and incoherent storytelling would be my review. The drama keeps telling you that Kimura's character is very charismatic and manipulative, however, there isn't any plot that shows how charming he is and how he manipulates those women. In fact, Kimura just acts cool and speaks very little, then all the women just fall in love with him, for reasons I don't know (in the drama AND reality). C'mom...
The acting of Sanma Akashiya and Eri Fukatsu is quite good, but that can't make up for the hollowness of this drama.

Just my opinion. It seems many of you do like it. But I definitely would not recommend it to anyone.

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:39 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Ok, first thing I did after finals was watch this. All 11 episodes in one sitting.. here are my comments:

Technical elements (esp. editing) excellent; the style is kind of like the techniques thrillers and horror movies use.
Acting excellent (with exception of Miwa--didn't even notice when she was gone)
Pace good
Story... I agree with laylow & think it's a bit illogical; I felt like the writer was throwing in extremes for the heck of shocking you and some of it didn't make sense.
Character development not bad, but somehow felt really detached to the entire cast; my eyes brimmed only during the last scene with Kanzo.

They did a good job entraping you in the story, but it's not strong enough of a script. Perhaps it is the missing those dialogue of inner self-awareness/exterior criticism, which goes with the complex personality shifts, esp. of Ryo. Maybe they were aiming for the artistic side of it, because there are possible symbolism with a lot of what I consider drop-in scenes. *shrug*

The drama definitely breaks down many "normal" conceptions. For one, the character Ryo is not what you would expect to be a leading role; kind of reminds me of those characters whom are usually secondary antagonists playing against the hero--in this case you can argue that this hero is Kanzo, but Ryo is like a fusion of the 2, which I found intriguing.

Overall, very original & would recommend.
===
Oh, and shouldn't the proper translation be one hundred stars? Not a big deal, just curious, because the characters are similar to Chinese & I think this would be one hundred.

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 1:41 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I only watched parts of this while living in Japan, but must admit I was at a loss for any message it might have had. That being said, I was glued to the TV watching out for any scenes with Fukatsu Eri, who's one of the cutest creatures I've ever seen. Making sense of the plot was kind of a secondary objective. It's too bad she's a total tomboy and hardly lets her hair grow long. She was the most delightful sight in the movie "ハル" (haru).

Getting back to the drama, some notes on the acting. Akashiya Sanma does a good job as a host on the MANY comedy shows he's on. I really liked "Koi no Karasawagi", especially when the supporting girls had character. The specials he does every year with Tokoro Jouji are also hilarious. His acting, though, was unnatural and overdone, which isn't surprising given that comedy in Japan features lots of exaggerated gestures. I was actually laughing seeing Sanma doing his serious, sad look, which he might have been over-doing on purpose.

Fukatsu Eri also has a tendancy to overdo gestures, and this was the most obvious in another drama called kabachitare. This is probably because she also acts on-stage.
Miwa: Well, Igawa Haruka was pretty new to acting at the time of this drama, and was more eye candy than anything else.

BTW, the correct translation of "一億" (ichi oku) is actually 100 Million.

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:36 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

one of the best drama I have seen (right in the same area as Sleeping Forrest). The plot might be too extreme, but I am sure everyone is impressed by the superb writing and the acting..go watch the show.

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:53 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I think that if you're a Takuya Kimura fan then you should watch it! Which really applies to me in that case Wub

He does a really grate job! And the storyline is prertty interesting. You won't DIE if you won't see it. But I'd still really recommend it!!!! Big Smile

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 7:07 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I finally finished watching this series....about 15 minutes ago...
First I wanna praise antoK's review, which I thought was the most exciting review i've ever read here...it makes you wanna watch right after when he said he wanna re-play the last episode...

Although, when I did watch it, I just cant find the urgency I felt when reading the review...the crash wasn't really a crash for me, the last episode isnt that climatic for me...why? I think my heart is turning into a stone, coz I hardly cry anymore, well I did managed a 1-minute outburst when Kan-chan(?) cried "Yuukoooo" close to the end...Maybe, I perfected the technique of detaching myself on those kind of scenes...

Also the big twist, isnt that much a surprise to me, bcoz I kinda guessed it(started as a personal joke) from ep01 or is it ep02, and the flashbacks in the middle confirmed my suspicion...but it is a masterpiece...
The acting and the way it is shot is so well done...IMO, this is Kimutaku's best performance. You really have to pick out the clues that were strewn around. The first few episodes, when the murder case was the center of the story, Ryou baffled me so much. I started to try figuring out his every move, his plans and reasons behind that girl, Mihane, and watver the heck is going on in his mind. He hardly shows any emotion at all, the only time I saw him shocked was when he found out about the big "BANG" in the plot. But I never did find him evil nor harbor any ill or sickly feelings on either his character or the story itself.

For me, there are two scenes that literally made my lips go "O" and those were:

Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:12 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

This series was a disappointment to me. I've heard so much about it but sadly it didn't live up to the hype. As someone already pointed out: the story is illogical and it is hard to feel any sympathy for the characters (except Kan-chan) =). I think that Nemureru Mori is 10 times better than this series.
Akashiya Sanma as "Kan-chan" is great, though.

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:36 pm Post subject: Hmm. Post Rating: 0

I thought it was good.

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 1:22 pm Post subject: million stars Post Rating: 0

I really enjoyed this drama. It had the same kind of feel as Sleeping Forest.

Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:20 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

This was definitely a very interesting drama. I first downloaded this because I enjoy KimuTaku's acting but, like aNToK, it just ended up sitting in my hard drive for a long time. However, when I read aNToK's review, I decided to watch it for myself.

At first I was really disappointed especially since the story moved so slowly. To me, the vast majority of the drama moved slowly but the twists are definitely worth sitting through the whole thing.

However, I strongly recommend anyone planning on watching this series to NOT watch the one available here on D-Addicts. This is in no way a slight to D-Addicts, but the version available here is a very poor capture. Apparently it circulated around newsgroups for awhile and then someone put it up here. But the translation is terrible and some files, especially the last episode, are very corrupted.

What I would love is for a fansub group to pick up this series and sub a DVD version. I think the series deserves a good quality version and it would also make the series that much more enjoyable, not to mention coherent.