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meimichiHana Yori Dango Returns: ASKJDBAE'FBe'jd.
I'm sorta baffled since I've been seeing lukewarm responses all over, and nobody's even saying the same complaints (too fast! too slow! too eventful! not enough happened!). I think I liked this better than any other full episode so far from the previous season, though the second half was more packed than the first. I felt like the higher production values and the way the characters were changing made it all feel really grown-up ("Love so sweet" and "Flavor of life" also both sound more mature in comparison to "Wish" and "PLANETARIUM"). Like S1 was the characters' youth, and S2 will be them learning how to grow up together.
Most of all I thought the acting was a lot better than the previous season. MatsuJun is good at hopelessly cheesy manga portrayals and his comic timing is great, but during serious moments...he has this quality where even though the performance isn't bad, it always feels to me like he's aware of the camera. I never feel like I'm watching a private moment. But I thought he'd improved so much, and I loved his subdued, distant performance here! Inoue was always good but the only time she wowed me last year was in the finale scene (the way she just manages to say, "Horeteru yo...!" just pushes me over the edge into tears every time). But in this episode, the gap between Tsukushi's face to the world and her true feelings was nicely portrayed.
Also, I was a little worried that the look of the show overall might suffer since they must have spent a ridiculous amount of money to shoot in New York. But that just wasn't the case!
Y HALO THAR NEW YORK!
THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY TO SEE AGAIN:
While this made me a little sad:
This was one of my favorite parts of the episode. It was so lavish compared to the intro shots for F4 in the S1 premiere. I felt like I was feeling the power of F4 all over again. :D
Seriously, the locations in this episode!!
I think it's the same book he was reading in S1. I always wondered what it was! Thank you, closeup!! Totally Hanazawa Rui-rashii. And I really like the cover design, I want my own copy!
GOD COULD RUI BE ANY CUTER AT TIMES. I THINK NOT.
PINKY FINGER UP.
CRY.
TIME FOR THE BEST OF TSUKUSHI AND TSUKASA: FLASHBACK EDITION
And now...the opening sequence. I AM IN CRAZY LOVE WITH IT. SO I WILL BE EXCESSIVE.
I LOVE RUI YAWNING.
SO PRETTY!
Okay, MatsuJun looks okay...
Oguri looks great...
But what the hell were these two thinking?
Well, I'm guessing, "LA, I'M SO PRETTY AND SO CONFUSED!" since that's what they look like, but.
I LOVE THIS.
NOT AS MUCH AS I LOVE THIS.
My favorite part is how everyone else looks straight ahead when they take their bow, but Tsukasa can only look at her~
I love Tsukushi's pencil chopsticks!
I liked this so much!
This guy is entirely too adorable for Sakurako.
I do love her headband though.
I'm also digging Yuuki's hair!
HI JUNPEI
Could he be any cuter here? I doubt it.
Yeah, another flashback, but I really love any shot that involved those billboards.
JUNPEI 1.0 to...
...JUNPEI 2.0! I love a boy doing the whole "Take off the glasses and shake out the hair, and I'm a SUPERMODEL!" moment. Hee!
If you're anything like me, then you've been looking at the promos for Hanadan 2, noting the new-and-improved, super-hot look for Tsukasa, but mourning one of the things most beloved about S1: Tsukasa's ridiculous coats. I saw his New York coat in that promo shot and went, "HOTTEST COAT EVAR," and then, "BUT IF HIS HAIR IS HOT AND HIS COATS ARE HOT THEN WHAT WILL I MOCK?" And then I felt empty inside.
Luckily, it appears that Junpei heard the cry of my EMPTY SOUL and decided to step up to fill that void we all felt. THANK YOU, JUNPEI!
Once this happened...
...you knew this had to follow. Tsukushi's life just works that way.
I think if you listen closely, you can hear the cry of Tsukasa's EMPTY SOUL screaming in rage: "NOBODY ELSE WEARS RIDICULOUS COATS WITH THE WOMAN I CHOSE!!"
Rui is pretty.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE. Especially Rui's coat.
Hee. If Tsukasa hadn't grown up so much...you know, last year, he TOTALLY would have pulled something like this. An overseas akafuda, hee.
There's actually a WIND MACHINE during the reveal.
Love for this location!
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mojotastic was right about Rui's hair eating his face. :(
I don't really blame these guys for thinking they could kick Rui's, um, bitch ass. Or whatever it was they said.
I mean, you saw those shoes via the closeup. And in the next picture, you will see his fur-trimmed sleeves. I mean. WHAT.
SLEEEEEVES.
I choose to think that Tsukushi and Rui are wearing their fur-trimmed coats to symbolize their pining for Tsukasa.
AND NOW SOME TRULY EXCESSIVE PICSPAM BECAUSE. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. REUNION TIME, BITCHES!
I LOVE THE SUNGLASSES
Okay it looks excessive but...this is the moment where his lips move, "Makino?"
And then she "answers", "Doumyouji?" SQUEEEEEEEEEEE.
At that point I was like, why can't they just run towards each other in slow motion and make out in the middle of New York with the camera spinning in 360 degree angles around them? THEY'RE IN AMERICA AND COULD GET AWAY WITH THAT KIND OF THING
But obviously it was Not To Be.
Even though his eyes are saying he wants toooo!
FAAAAAAAACE.
Seriously, my heart was crumbling watching his face through this episode. An understated performance from MatsuJun? Who knew that could happen?
I considered going back for another cap where it didn't look like she was eating his scarf...and decided against it.
NEW PERM = A++++++++++
BACKLIGHTING = A++++++
You can't tell in this picture, but the suit is pinstriped. And seriously hot.
And his face in this scene was in my top three favorite moments from the episode.
SO SAD.
"Dakara nanda?"
....okay. I'm cutting this short at 124 pictures and then adding a sequel picspam later. Except, let's not kid ourselves, the final hour was way more eventful than the first forty minutes and there's more to cap, so I wouldn't be shocked if this was part one of three. :( I was going to cut this off at 100 caps but figured I should just get the reunion over with. Because the reunion and the baseball diamond would be a picspam unto themselves!
Oh, also, don't just swipe the caps for your own use? Because. Um. I literally spent all night on this. I suffer formy art MatsuJun's hair and Oguri's pretty!
I'm sorta baffled since I've been seeing lukewarm responses all over, and nobody's even saying the same complaints (too fast! too slow! too eventful! not enough happened!). I think I liked this better than any other full episode so far from the previous season, though the second half was more packed than the first. I felt like the higher production values and the way the characters were changing made it all feel really grown-up ("Love so sweet" and "Flavor of life" also both sound more mature in comparison to "Wish" and "PLANETARIUM"). Like S1 was the characters' youth, and S2 will be them learning how to grow up together.
Most of all I thought the acting was a lot better than the previous season. MatsuJun is good at hopelessly cheesy manga portrayals and his comic timing is great, but during serious moments...he has this quality where even though the performance isn't bad, it always feels to me like he's aware of the camera. I never feel like I'm watching a private moment. But I thought he'd improved so much, and I loved his subdued, distant performance here! Inoue was always good but the only time she wowed me last year was in the finale scene (the way she just manages to say, "Horeteru yo...!" just pushes me over the edge into tears every time). But in this episode, the gap between Tsukushi's face to the world and her true feelings was nicely portrayed.
Also, I was a little worried that the look of the show overall might suffer since they must have spent a ridiculous amount of money to shoot in New York. But that just wasn't the case!
Y HALO THAR NEW YORK!
THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY TO SEE AGAIN:
While this made me a little sad:
This was one of my favorite parts of the episode. It was so lavish compared to the intro shots for F4 in the S1 premiere. I felt like I was feeling the power of F4 all over again. :D
Seriously, the locations in this episode!!
I think it's the same book he was reading in S1. I always wondered what it was! Thank you, closeup!! Totally Hanazawa Rui-rashii. And I really like the cover design, I want my own copy!
GOD COULD RUI BE ANY CUTER AT TIMES. I THINK NOT.
PINKY FINGER UP.
CRY.
TIME FOR THE BEST OF TSUKUSHI AND TSUKASA: FLASHBACK EDITION
And now...the opening sequence. I AM IN CRAZY LOVE WITH IT. SO I WILL BE EXCESSIVE.
I LOVE RUI YAWNING.
SO PRETTY!
Okay, MatsuJun looks okay...
Oguri looks great...
But what the hell were these two thinking?
Well, I'm guessing, "LA, I'M SO PRETTY AND SO CONFUSED!" since that's what they look like, but.
I LOVE THIS.
NOT AS MUCH AS I LOVE THIS.
My favorite part is how everyone else looks straight ahead when they take their bow, but Tsukasa can only look at her~
I love Tsukushi's pencil chopsticks!
I liked this so much!
This guy is entirely too adorable for Sakurako.
I do love her headband though.
I'm also digging Yuuki's hair!
HI JUNPEI
Could he be any cuter here? I doubt it.
Yeah, another flashback, but I really love any shot that involved those billboards.
JUNPEI 1.0 to...
...JUNPEI 2.0! I love a boy doing the whole "Take off the glasses and shake out the hair, and I'm a SUPERMODEL!" moment. Hee!
If you're anything like me, then you've been looking at the promos for Hanadan 2, noting the new-and-improved, super-hot look for Tsukasa, but mourning one of the things most beloved about S1: Tsukasa's ridiculous coats. I saw his New York coat in that promo shot and went, "HOTTEST COAT EVAR," and then, "BUT IF HIS HAIR IS HOT AND HIS COATS ARE HOT THEN WHAT WILL I MOCK?" And then I felt empty inside.
Luckily, it appears that Junpei heard the cry of my EMPTY SOUL and decided to step up to fill that void we all felt. THANK YOU, JUNPEI!
Once this happened...
...you knew this had to follow. Tsukushi's life just works that way.
I think if you listen closely, you can hear the cry of Tsukasa's EMPTY SOUL screaming in rage: "NOBODY ELSE WEARS RIDICULOUS COATS WITH THE WOMAN I CHOSE!!"
Rui is pretty.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE. Especially Rui's coat.
Hee. If Tsukasa hadn't grown up so much...you know, last year, he TOTALLY would have pulled something like this. An overseas akafuda, hee.
There's actually a WIND MACHINE during the reveal.
Love for this location!
Maybe
mojotastic was right about Rui's hair eating his face. :(I don't really blame these guys for thinking they could kick Rui's, um, bitch ass. Or whatever it was they said.
I mean, you saw those shoes via the closeup. And in the next picture, you will see his fur-trimmed sleeves. I mean. WHAT.
SLEEEEEVES.
I choose to think that Tsukushi and Rui are wearing their fur-trimmed coats to symbolize their pining for Tsukasa.
AND NOW SOME TRULY EXCESSIVE PICSPAM BECAUSE. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. REUNION TIME, BITCHES!
I LOVE THE SUNGLASSES
Okay it looks excessive but...this is the moment where his lips move, "Makino?"
And then she "answers", "Doumyouji?" SQUEEEEEEEEEEE.
At that point I was like, why can't they just run towards each other in slow motion and make out in the middle of New York with the camera spinning in 360 degree angles around them? THEY'RE IN AMERICA AND COULD GET AWAY WITH THAT KIND OF THING
But obviously it was Not To Be.
Even though his eyes are saying he wants toooo!
FAAAAAAAACE.
Seriously, my heart was crumbling watching his face through this episode. An understated performance from MatsuJun? Who knew that could happen?
I considered going back for another cap where it didn't look like she was eating his scarf...and decided against it.
NEW PERM = A++++++++++
BACKLIGHTING = A++++++
You can't tell in this picture, but the suit is pinstriped. And seriously hot.
And his face in this scene was in my top three favorite moments from the episode.
SO SAD.
"Dakara nanda?"
....okay. I'm cutting this short at 124 pictures and then adding a sequel picspam later. Except, let's not kid ourselves, the final hour was way more eventful than the first forty minutes and there's more to cap, so I wouldn't be shocked if this was part one of three. :( I was going to cut this off at 100 caps but figured I should just get the reunion over with. Because the reunion and the baseball diamond would be a picspam unto themselves!
Oh, also, don't just swipe the caps for your own use? Because. Um. I literally spent all night on this. I suffer for
