Asian Addicts Anonymous

I was excited when I heard season 2 of Hana Kimi was coming. That excitement was tempered when I learned that it was NOT second season, but rather a reboot of the original series with an entirely new cast. Having watched many remakes in my lifetime, I can honestly say that most remakes can never live up to the muster of the original with only a few exceptions (Dune being one of them. To me, the Sci-Fi channel mini series was a helluva a lot better than the movie made in the 70s or 80s). When it comes to a remake, there are a lot of pitfalls and Hana Kimi 2011 is full of them.

And just so you know, I am NOT recapping this series.A fellow blogger has already claimed this series and I am trying not to do series that someone else is going to recap.

Some plot spoilers below!!

So where to start?

How about with the acting and cast? Now, the cast is a relatively good staple of up-and-coming young actors. Maeda Atsuko isn’t too bad, though her acting can get a little on the stiff, wooden side at times. I don’t have too many complaints towards her. It isn’t like she is emulating Horikita Maki and she is trying to make the role her own. My main complaint is that in trying to walk like a “boy,” Maeda ends up looking like she has something shoved up her bum. Not to insult her, but it’s true. It’s an open-legged, kind of butt-clenching walk that doesn’t look comfortable or natural whatsoever. Her looks, when she is cross-dressing, really makes her seem like a prettier boy. Her voice is a little girly and you can tell when she is forcing it deeper to pass off as a boy as it is so fake. How any of the guys around can’t notice the little tells, is amusing, but it is a drama after all. Oh – I do have to say that Mizuki seems to be a bit of an idiot in this series, though. Or should I say a lot of an idiot…just watch the baseball game to see. I found that scene particularly annoying!!!!!

Nakamura Aoi who plays Sano…I am not sold on him yet. He’s a fairly decent actor – I loved him in Beck at least which is the only thing I can actually recall seeing him in – however, I am not really liking his version of Sano. Oguri Shun is really great at the reclusive, stand-offish roles of Sano and of Rui from HYD. He exuded a presence and just seemed to own the roles even without having very many speaking parts. Nakamura’s Sano is a little…off. I don’t know exactly why, but it just doesn’t quite seem right. He doesn’t exude the presence that Oguri did and…and…yeah. His reactions and everything don’t really seem to scream Sano to me. Maybe that will change as the series goes on. Hopefully the character won’t keep feeling flat to me as Sano is integral to making the show good.

I was actually really worried about Miura Shohei trying to do Ikuta Toma’s role of Nakatsu. Toma did such a wonderful job and it’s hard to forget how he played the role when he did such a remarkable job. Now Miura-kun’s approach is to stay as close to the original as possible. And, to me at least, even though he is basically emulating Toma, he does a pretty good job. In fact, with his dyed hair and actions, it’s almost like seeing Ikuta Toma again as Nakatsu. I thought that if Miura concentrated on being just like Toma, the character could fall flat and epically fail, but he has, delightfully, proved me wrong. Of course, you can’t really change how Toma played Nakatsu because that was how Nakatsu was in the manga as well. But kudos for Miura for undergoing the role and actually doing a great job.

As for the supporting cast…I’m a fan of some, but no so much of others.

We’ll start with one of my favorite roles originated by Mizushima Hiro – Nanba Minami. I actually don’t mind Kiriyama Renn’s potrayal of Nanba. That could be because I really, really like Kiriyama Renn – not that you get to see him in much of anything. I loved him in Tokyo Ghost Trip [one of the only leading roles I’ve seen him in his few dramas], looked for him in the theatrical edition of Boys Love [blink and you’ll miss him], and I really want to see Beat Rock Love – not just because he’s in it, but he’s part of the reason. So yeah, I am a fan of his. I think his acting has gotten much better. It seems like he is making the character of Nanba his own instead of trying to be a Mizushima carbon copy. Thus we get a different Nanba who is very playful and yet shows a very serious side a little more often then maybe we saw Mizushima do at first.

And you can’t mention Nanba without the underclassman who is obsessed with him. I don’t really have too much to say about him, except that his portrayal seems even more feminine than Kimura Ryo’s. So I will have to wait and see if I like Nishii Yukito’s portrayal of Senri or not. But I can really say that I LOVE the interplay between Kiriyama and Nishii thus far. Senri does his best to come on to Nanba who is really good at physically rebuffing the younger boy. It’s something you never really saw Mizushima do in Hana Kimi. I mean his Nanba was a little annoyed with Senri’s constant attention and he tried to avoid him, but not like Kiriyama’s Nanaba does in this series. I kind of like that and definitely look for more of these little scenes sprinkled in this series.

I will say straight off the bat that I do NOT like Mitsushima Shinnosuke’s Tennoji. Overall, I don’t really like his acting and I don’t know if he’s intentionally making his voice deep and booming or if it is naturally like that, but it kind of grates on me. I loved Ishigakai Yuma as Tennoji and just can’t bring myself to like the new one. Maybe as the show goes on, this guy will grow on me, but it seems a little unlikely. For some reason I just really loved Ishigaki’s portrayal. I have to say his acting did not seem as forced as Mitsushima’s. Plus, I don’t remember Tennoji being completely as kiddish and enamored with the St. Blossom girls as he is in this series. Why should he be when his fiancée was a student there? Or are they changing that plotline, too?

I do have to admit, though, that I actually like the new Himejima Masao. Kyo Nobuo’s Masao wasn’t bad. Kyo is a good actor, but I wasn’t a huge fan of Himejima’s over-the-top-ness as displayed by Kyo. Yes, he was true to the manga character, but it was just a tad on the annoying side. This Himejima, portrayed by Tokuyama Hidenori, I like much better. You get all of the spectacle with less of the irritation. I love Tokuyama’s regal, aristocratic portrayal. I am glad that he chose to go a different route than the originating role. While this is the typical Japanese comedy…which means a lot of over-acting and exaggeration, I like how this Oscar actually isn’t as over the top as he could be. He is more refined. The over-the-topness always seemed to work out well when it comes to Nakatsu’s character, but not so much in certain other characters.

Let’s see…who else to mention? I will ignore the girls from St. Blossom’s at this time. I have to say that overall, I am not sure I like the reinvention of the crazed fangirls as refined women who can become crazed fangirls. Anywho, only a few more to go. One would be the new Kayashima Taiki. At times Yanagishita Tomo seems trying to hard to live up to Yamamoto Yusuke’s portrayal of Kayashima. Even his hairstyle is a bit similar. His dressing and mannerisms are a little different, but I am not too sure how I fell about this Kayashima vs. Yamamoto’s. Kayashima  took a little while in the first series before his role became a little larger and he got involved in things. I mean he was always there and all, but he had a more important role as the series went on. In this series, Kayashima is playing a bigger role to start in being more mature and actually helping out Mizuki. There is potential, but like I said earlier, I am just not sure where to stand with his version.

I don’t know the name of the actor playing Kagurazaka Makota in this series as of yet, but I am not too sure how I feel about him. I liked Shirota Yu’s portrayal. He was both tough on Sano and then he had that little girlish crush on him and he did both parts well. This Kagurazaka seems…a bit too much. I can’t exactly put my finger on why, but I can’t stand him which is weird because I liked the character in the manga and the first series…

Does anyone know that actor’s name? He isn’t a bad actor and I know Kagurazaka’s character is supposed to start out as more abrasive which helps fuel Sano to go back to high jumping (that and Ashiya, of course), but he seems a little much right now.

Ah…now I know why Kamikawa Takaya seemed familiar to me when I was watching Quartet! He originated the role of the homosexual doctor in the first Hana Kimi series! No offense to him, but I think I am favoring this Umeda Hokuto more. Simply because I love Saito Takumi. Now, I have to say I can’t honestly critique his portrayal as of yet, but I think it will be fun from what few glimpses we’ve already seen of him. They have been too brief, but since Mizuki is supposed to come to rely on Umeda, we will hopefully get to see much more of Saito in the future. I do wonder if this series will bring in the photographer or not. And if they do, will they make the photographer a girl again or actually keep the photographer as a male who really liked Umeda? If your school doctor looked like Saito, wouldn’t you be in the clinic instead of class?

Okay! Enough blathering about characters.

On to the plot…which is the same and yet quite different. I am not sure how I feel about such a divergence from the original story. And by original, I do not mean the first series, but rather the manga.

Okay, so Ashiya Mizuki who is a fan of Sano Izumi’s goes to Ohsaka Gakuen to be able to see her idol high jump in person. That hasn’t changed. They have now thrown in a new twist. Whereas in the first series stayed mostly true to the manga with a few differences, this series is going in a completely different way. Instead of starting off with the fierce rivalry from the three dorms, we have a fierce rivalry between schools. Apparently Tokyo Academy and Ohsaka Gakuen has quite the fierce rivalry. Oh, and not to mention that in this series the school is supposed to close in three months! So instead of the beautiful, elegant school in the first series, we have a dump in dire need of paint and repairs.

This, of course, means that the student attitudes are quite different as well. They don’t want to participate or do anything extra in school since it is closing in three months anyways. Very different from the students who were fierce competitors and always looking forward to events and rewards from the first series and the manga.

Talk about different.

I know that the first series had a lot of action and hijinks and rambunctiousness, but this series almost makes the first one pale in comparison at times. It’s like the originally Hana Kimi on crack. Every scene was almost complete and utter chaos with the boys being a wild and all. It seems a little too much. Sigh.

So far I have to say I prefer the original. We shall see by the end of this series how it will measure up. Did Hana Kimi really need the reboot? Even if the plot is altered so it doesn’t completely match the original, it is still kind of stale when you think about it? Does this cast of actors have what it takes? Do the script writers and producers? We shall see.

Things I wasn’t too keen on:

• The new way the St. Blossom girls are portrayed
• The new plot twist of the school closing in 3 months
• Mizuki’s complete stupidity during the baseball game – seriously running bases all the time when she didn’t need to and then not running when she was supposed to…oy
• A bet for Sano to go over to Tokyo Academy in the first episode
• The bitter rivalry between the two schools
• The attitudes of the Ohsaka Gaken students about the school closing