if i had 10 thumbs i'd raise them all up for "last friends" - sugee!

Last-Friends01

So far I've watched the first five episodes and they're just all wonderful! Last Friends, to me, is just way up there, almost on the same level as Hana Yori Dango! Both these j-dramas are the epitome of the very reason why I love j-dramas! Walang sayang na eksena! And the characters, whether originally created or adapted from another story, are given so much depth you don't see them as characters anymore as the story unfolds - you begin to see them as real people. You wouldn't be surprised if you find yourself bumping into them the next time you go outside (that is, provided you're in Japan hahah!).

The story was crafted to define the human psyche against issues and emotions that the current generation can relate to. The opening theme presents five words that pretty much sum up the conflicts evolving within the series - LOVE. AGONY. SOLITUDE. LIBERATION. CONTRADICTION. But the single theme, I believe, is how the human soul reacts when it hungers for love. People with different personalities, each having seen a different face of life, react differently to this hunger, and with varying intensity. Michiru (Nagasawa Masami), for instance, portrays the weakest link among the five characters. In the early scenes I kept saying the girl was just stupid, allowing herself to be her boyfriend's object of violence. But the episodes slowly revealed things about her that made me understand why she chose to put up with such a disturbing situation. The story made me understand how utterly low she actually feels about herself, because she believes no one has really loved and cared for her, not even her own mother, until Sosuke (Nishikido Ryo) - the two-faced boyfriend who treats her gently one minute and hurts her till she bleeds the next - came into the picture. Caring for Sosuke was a burden she willingly placed upon herself, because she believes he also doesn't have anyone else to care for him, therefore she imagines his pain as very much like her own. Idiotic, really. It's something that I somehow understand but will never perfectly grasp the thought of. Yet, come to think of it, it does happen in reality. This is still one real issue actually happening across generations and different societies. And these women, who allow themselves to be constantly subjected to such pain, might just have the same psyche as Michiru. In the end, they all hunger for love, so much they're willing to take any form of it, or what's seemingly like it, even if it eats their life away, as Episode 3's subtitle aptly puts it.

And then there's Ruka (Nodame Cantabile's Ueno Juri), Michiru's best friend. She seems to be the strongest lead in the story. While Michiru grew up in a world where she hungered for attention, Ruka grew up in a warm home. Her family's always there to support her dream of becoming the best Motocross racer in Japan, and her father is her greatest fan. All seemed right, it would seem, for Ruka, but as one of the characters said in one of the scenes, we will never really know how lonely a person is even if we're looking at them close by. For Ruka actually has gender issues - she's not comfortable with her body, she's dead scared of people getting too close, especially men, and she's in love with her best friend. She doesn't know how she will let her family know about it, especially her dad whom she said she doesn't ever want to see saddened by anything. Worse still, she doesn't have the courage to tell Michiru about how she really feels, and it pains her to see her friend constantly being hurt and getting manipulated by that spawn-of-the-devil boyfriend of hers. Ruka aches for Michiru's love. But above all, she wants freedom from the gender-oriented conforms of the society.

The story so far revolves mainly on these two characters, while breadcrumb trails of info about the other three are gradually being inserted in the plot, which makes them equally interesting. The inner conflict has already been established for each of them but, following the Asian belief that everyone has their good and, erm, not so good side, I'm expecting there's a true cause that the story will unravel later on, which will explain why the inner conflict was there to begin with, particularly for Takeru (played by Eita). Why he's just as afraid as Ruka in getting intimate with the opposite sex is still a mystery. I've a theory inside my head that's quite more disturbing than Michiru's issue, but I'm not gonna say it yet until I've seen enough proof. In any case, I would love for him and Ruka to eventually be together (because he's actually falling for Ruka!), but for some reason I'm having a nasty premonition about what will happen by the end of the story =(

Did I mention the opening theme earlier? Oh, but I didn't mention how SUGOI the opening theme is! Both the video and the song are just so perfectly done, and the combination married well with the concept of the series. Utada Hikaru's Prisoner of Love, as expected from my fave artist, ROCKS! And the red thread thing - it's actually based on Japanese (or was it Buddhist in general?) belief, where the red thread usually represents the thread of life that connects one person to another, in the context of fateful encounters, whether friends or lovers. Galeng di ba? ^_^

Lastly - I'd just die if I didn't say this - the actors are just all fantastic! They all play their part so well, especially Ueno Juri-san! For crying out loud, I saw her as Nodame and she just looked so laughably dumb, spaced out, but downright adorable there hahah! And then I saw her here and it was a complete 360-degree transformation! Best actress ikaw ba yan?

All things considered, Last Friends is a MUST-SEE J-DRAMA! Heck, but I haven't blogged like this, THIS LONG, for a very long time now! I never even wrote something like this for HanaDan (shame on me!). So, yeah, saying I love this j-drama, and that I would definitely recommend everyone who hasn't seen it to SEE IT ALREADY --- it's 100% understatement ^_^