[single] Gackt – No ni Saku Hana no Yo Ni
i recently listened to the new Gackt single, 野に咲く花のように ‘No ni Saku Hana no Yo Ni’.
it’s a ballad not particularly catchy in lyrics or melody, but it grows on you.
five versions of the song is included within the single, which is slightly unusual, since he usually releases a B-side track in singles rather than different versions of the same song.
if you listen to the piano version of the song (track #3), Gackt includes elements and a whole fragment of Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D in there.
but my favorite version of the song should be the ‘minna no uta’ version (track #2).
and i love the CD covers (both the regular and limited editions)! ♥!
can’t imagine how glad i am that Gackt’s releasing music again; not only acting in some NHK drama. o_O
guess he’ll always be a part of my personal history somewhere.
quoted below (credit: heygingersnap from bww2 / CDJapan) is the story behind the single:
Maiko High School in Hyogo Prefecture became the site of surprising story. Gackt had been a regular on the Nippon Hoso late night broadcast program when he received a letter from a distraught young man. The young man was a student in the only environmental distaster prevention program in all of Japan, however the program itself was at risk due to lack of participants, and the boy asked the program for advice. Both having experienced the Kobe earthquake firsthand, and agreeing with the need for preparedness and the curriculum of Maiko High, Gackt sent them the response, “First, become that great person that people can look to learn about the appeal of disaster pervention class.” Later the boy wrote Gackt that the class had managed to add enough people to the class… And that he would very much like to have Gackt come to the school’s graduation ceremony.
One year later, on February 28, 2006, Gackt decided to surprise his listener with a completely secret appearance at school graduation ceremony where he performed his own songs live and spoke to them words of encouragement. Due to overwhelming response from Gackt’s fans, the unreleased track that Gackt performed at the school is coming to CD! With lyrics reminiscing of Gackt’s time in school, and a message that overcomes the borders of countries, Gackt’s new song is a moving new track full of emotion.
[movie] Death Note: The Last Name
i finally went to catch Death Note: The Last Name this afternoon.
i kind of waited until today in order to find a common time to watch it with Aur and Mint.
eventually, i went alone anyway.
not that i mind terribly, i enjoy watching movies alone.
but as i told Aur, no one to enjoy the manga parts to me.
i only read up till around 50-odd chapters when i was still following the English scanlations awhile back.
so i wouldn’t really know what’s going on in the second movie.
indeed, there were points when i was rather confused by how Raito carried out his dark plans, and how the death note can be manipulated.
still, i enjoyed it.
the scene where L requested for space and privacy when his time was almost up.
before he dies.
i especially liked how the emotion is very contained.
there’s no overdramatic music running in the background, and he leaves quietly, dignified.
think it runs in well with the characterization of L.
no one really knows who he is in the end, his secrets gone, along with Watari and his own sacrifice.
the bits of humor were wispy, but well-managed.
omg, the mask is love. xD
i also liked how Ken’ichi Matsuyama was given some room to portray L in an even more endearing way.
simple but significant idea that L likes Misa’s music, is a fan as he claims to be.
much like everyone else; he’s not that different in some ways.
i reckon it’s probably important that L is seen beyond his genius, the lonely figure he is.
i wonder if candy and chocolates (the obsession lives on, man) are really worthy substitutes for the human affection and closeness he sorely lacks.
… there were many fans of L in the audience though, i observe.
i kept hearing fangirl squeals when he does something adorable.
Ryuk’s betrayal of Raito is tragic, but inevitable.
personally, i’ve never agreed with Raito’s sense of justice.
(note: this is not related to my liking Ken’ichi Matsuyama)
i can’t help but side with L to a certain degree.
(note: blockquoted for organization purposes only)
but it’s a debate that i’d prefer to sideline in all honesty.
because no firm conclusion can be reached, and there can be no single or uncomplicated reason for one’s support for either camp.
it lies, partly, with one’s own moral principles, and personal understanding and grasp of the world around.
how is one to dispute another’s way of survival and sense of the world?there is no true justice that can be upheld.
who says the current system is flawless?
obviously it isn’t.
it merely consists of social laws tolerated and practiced by the majority.
that much is true — code of behavior are dictated by rules reached via general consensus.
sure, you can have individuals who disagree, thus we have Kira-characters, who take matters into their own hands, trying to get rid of what exists.
the police system, sidestepping laws established by acceptance and custom.
… in order to shape a similar fascist idealogy in which Kira kills off people he thinks are corrupting the society.people who support Kira, merely support another way of punishing what they deem wrong.
that’s fair enough … but it doesn’t necessarily translated to that being right.
however, who truly dictates what’s right or wrong in the first place?
if not the current system that is scoffed, what makes it them?they demand that accused (note: accused, not even convicted) individuals be killed, to lower the crime rate and have a purified society.
they declare the existing system ineffective, not capable to stop the crimes occuring daily.
they take judgement in their own hands, pronouncing guilt, invoking their own sense of justice and moral identity.
yet the thought is often believed to be what counts.
you don’t do the killing on your own, but you want someone to be killed.
how pure are you?how right is that?
how different are you from the accused criminals you want to see bleed and pay?
how much further will the hate and violence be allowed to fester?
let those same beliefs breed, and you generate more criminal tendencies.
if the criminal is fundamentally at fault for killing; you hate someone for killing –> you kill someone whom you believe guilty –> you become the criminal because you kill.to propagate crime against crime.
the measure to fight what you are against is what is abhorred in the first place.
how appropriate is that form of justice?
how humane is the death sentence — be it meted out by the existing system or your own prejudiced judgment?
defective reasoning underlines most arguments, because no one represents the ultimatum.i think what’s vital, is the fact that L has never stood for what is good.
he is essentially imperfect.
a truth he admits, when he apologizes for risking lives for what he deems (again, personal sense of justice intervenes) a larger good.
he eventually ends up sacrificing himself for the system he believes in — to me, a larger moral good than Raito sacrificing others for the ideology he advocates.
it’s not a simple two-ended issue, but once again, a measurement and quantification according to individual ethics and values.
the extent is indeterminate.i guess eventually my stand is …
there need be no war between people over the two systems.
but personally, i thought what truly needs to be pointed out is the erroneous approach that Kira is taking.
at least the current system acknowledges its own flaws.
somewhere in the last scenes, there was a mysterious whirring sound (like giant fans) and rhythmic pounding behind me.
i was sitting near the back of the theatre, and it happened at a very crucial confrontational point.
which kind of freaked people out, i think.
not in the ghostly sense, but in the “you are so facing the end” kind of way.
unexplainable, but.
somehow, the hype of the second movie is lost on me.
i think the first movie was definitely more anticipated.
… or possibly because i’m watching it kind of late when it actually started showing last Thursday.
still, i’m glad i got the big theatre at The Cathay, the same one as when i watched the first movie with Aur and Mint.
didn’t quite like the audience though; some members of them at least.
completely destroyed the atmosphere at times with their loudmouthed cracks.
i could throw popcorn at them … except i wasn’t armed.
to end off, i’ve decided to post Chinese lyrics of a song (by singer, Lin Guan Yin) that Aur thinks is “practically written for Raito”:
化身中世纪鬼魂我唱着歌
呼唤世界跟着我一起向下沉沦
超越善良与恶黑暗的勇气
释放绝对的真理一个人执行
白色手套捆着我的身份
还有沾满灰尘的斗篷
审判我的罪与罚
没有指纹没有蛛丝马迹
留下一个神话和奇迹
我活在你们心里
凶手的步履没有痕迹
伸张他的正义让世人留在梦境
凶手的眼睛只有冷静
忘记纯真回忆一个人堕入地狱
[movie] Boys Love
Boys Love is an original video which came out on DVD on 24 November 2006. I believe it was not released in theatres, due to its possibly sensitive subject apparent in its very title. As CDJapan puts it, it is “a story of male love” and a “great introduction to the world of BL”. But I don’t quite agree that is all to the film itself.
The film stars Takumi Saito and Yoshikazu Kotani, both who appeared in The Prince of Tennis movie as well as its musicals (participating in the successive generations of TeniMyu). The plot is relatively simple.
The movie tells the story of Akira Mamiya, a magazine editor who meets and interviews a young model, Noeru Kisaragi, and becomes sinfully attracted by him. Their love, however, is forbidden. Just doing his job, magazine editor Akira Mamiya (Yoshikazu Kotani) interviews high school model Noeru Kisaragi (Takumi Saito). Despite Noeru’s bad attitude, an enchanting picture of the ocean he draws leads Mamiya to invite him out for dinner afterwards. They connect at the restaurant, but while in the bathroom there Noeru solicits Mamiya sexually. The next morning, Noeru’s office calls the magazine office where Mamiya works. “Your editor was rude. Have him come and apologize.” When Mamiya goes to Noeru’s house to deliver the apology, he sees Noeru with a dirty-looking man. Mamiya is shocked to discover at that moment that his interest in Noeru goes beyond article research–he truly wants to know more about him.
(source: Wikipedia article)
It probably isn’t entirely fair for me to post about the movie when I couldn’t exactly understand 6/7 of the Japanese dialogue in the first place, thus possibly missing out on important points and references that were made in the film. However, if I consider what I can observe alone anyway, I would say that the film left me feeling quite let down.
All in all, the film basically discusses the subject of forbidden love between two males, and often exploits blatant displays of decadence to emphasize the undesirable nature of mere physical liaisons. This somtimes borders on misleading viewers to believe that sex is all there is to homosexual ‘love’. Yet on the other hand, it also juxtaposes the emotional relationship shared between the two male leads, in an apparently hopeful bid to offset the negative picture it had painted earlier. While it may be heartwrenching in some sense – pro-homosexuality/yaoi/slash audience is likely easily led to sympathize with the main characters, the film lacks an overall sense of completeness and beautiful melancholy which I must admit I expected and would have appreciated.
This is not to say it does not reach a decisive conclusion, because the eventual ending is without doubts. However, I still ended up feeling less than convinced. The actors’ performance contributes to this lack of conviction, as sympathy does not exactly develop into empathy, or is simply not given enough time to. While there were nuances of subtlety, other points in the film were either over- or under-stated, in a mocking myriad of inconsistency. A sense of detachment permeated my mind throughout, thus not triggering any major emotional reaction when I finally reached the end of the film. Additionally, the setting of the film is severely limited, the scenes bouncing between overused locations – the school rooftop, their apartments, the swimming pool. The plot is then compelled to unfold within such constraints and it is difficult to imagine it relating to a world beyond what has been concocted. Hence, once again, the notion of detachment. This quite disappointed me, because I believe that the film has undermined its own potential.
The trailer is available on YouTube, while the raw of the film has been uploaded here.
Additionally, the movie is also being uploaded by a few users, unsubbed, on YouTube.
A more detailed plot breakdown and review can be found here.
