Sunday, April 06, 2008

Done with "Hotaru no Hikari"

I finally finished watching "Hotaru no Hikari". This is the first time I've been surprised by an ending.

In the beginning, you see Hotaru Amemiya at work, in an office (interior design). She's well dressed and efficient. At the end of the work day, all the women go out to drink to celebrate that their design has been chosen for a project and they talk about how Hotaru has run home. They figure she probably has a guy at home waiting for her. They comment about how they all better get to it bfore they become "himona-onna" (dried out woman). It's becoming a common thing now with women in their 20's. One of the girls asks "What are they"? Women who at work put on a face of a lively office lady but as soon as they get home...they change into jerseys...and their hair in a samurai style top knot...and they might even scratch their butt...snack in one hand; canned beer in the other...the other girls gasp at the thought. On weekends, himono-onnas don't go on blind dates; they go straight home. She never has a guy around her...One of the girls says she's sure there are no women like that at work. Little do they know that they've just describled Hotaru. They go on to describe himono-onnas as women who hug their pillows because they don't have a guy.

Meanwhile...in an empty apartment...a man is packing up his things, with a friend by his side. His wife has left him and he's packed his things and going to go live at his parent's house since the home is vacant. He walks in to see pairs of shoes on the floor. He walks in further to see that it appears someone is living there! In the distance he sees a mountain of newspapers moving...he grabs a plunger and uses the handle end to poke the newspapers. He realizes there's a person underneath and uses the plunger to slowly remove the newspaper to reveal the samurai top knot..he runs away to the other side of the room. The person moves around and stretches to reveal, it's Hotaru. She wakes up and rises from under the newspapers..she stretches again raising her arms in the air and she notices the guy. They stare at each other and she says..."Manager? Manager Takano" Hotaru asks him what he's doing there. He's still stunned so she tells him she's Amemiya Hotau. He starts to remember the girl at the office that he knows...as Hotaru. He's surprised it's the same girl...

He asks her what is with the outfit...why is it so messy?? He wants to know what happened to her and she replies "nothing in particular". He wants to know where the efficient Amemiya is. She tells him that since he's seen her as she is...she confesses she is like that at home, so it's normal.

Manager Takano tells Hotaru that he decided to live in the house...alone..to think about things..ALONE. Hotaru tells him he's going to have to find a place to live since she lives there. He tells her it's his house and she reminds him she's the one living there. She runs to get a piece of paper. Apparently, she was at a bar owned by Manager Takano's father. He had told her he was going abroad and not sure when he would return. She walks away...Takano picks up the "contract" and reads it
"Lend me, please?"
"okay"
Hotaru pops back into the room and says the rental agreement is on the back...Takano turns it over...
"forever, please"
"sure"

Takano says she needs to move out since it won't look good if it's found out he's living with his "junior" (subordinate). Later he decides since she is himono-onna, it's not really like he's living with a woman. He tells her she's himono-onna, dried up...and with a set of rules, they decide to live together. First episode is also where we meet Teshima Makoto. A guy that used to work with them but had gone to London and now is returning. We find out that Yuka, one of the girls in the office, has a thing for him.

This dorama was rather silly at times, which was nice. It was comedic. Oh, and...the reason I picked this one was because I looked up Shinji Takeda's list of doramas he's been in and this was the most recent (if I remember correctly). I was so eager to see him again...eager to see if he still has that "pretty" look about him that I used to like. Though he was in the first office scenes at the beginning of the show, I couldn't be sure if the guy I thought was him really was him...upon closer watching...I could see it was. He was more mature looking. Still "pretty" but not so much anymore...his face looked like he still couldn't grow facial hair...lol. I also noticed, he's kind of short for a guy. When the co-workers go out together, he's the shortest one there; but it's ok, he's still plenty gorgeous. I'm going to have to look at the other doramas he's been in and watch another one. AND...as I was surfing the net for some pics of him, I came upon one from a movie called "Love Death" which he was in. I THINK he stars in it...I have to get my hands on this movie cuz I found this pic...and if he's got a body like this...oh baby...He kind of looks like a guy here so at first I wasn't sure if it was him or not...but yeah, that's my boy...

 

UPDATE: (16 JULY 2011)
Had to take this pic out cuz it was no longer available.  Will try and find a new one so I can post it again!




And here's a picture of him as he usually looks...


UGH...I can't believe he looks like a guy now. Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen...I first saw him when he was probably about 22 or so...and now he's like 35...
I've got some more pics coming as soon as I get 'em...in the meantime...here's one of Amemiya in her himono-onna attire:



2 comments:

LindaVee said...

Oops. I diss't the guy. He looks great in the pics you posted. Hot!

And that girl is supposed to look manly? She's cute!

New York Jellybean said...

Yeah, she's supposed to dress like boyish...it's the point of the story...it's a nice one...I'll have to post this one after Bambino.