Paprika (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
partypaprika) wrote2007-02-02 02:45 am
partypaprika) wrote2007-02-02 02:45 am
Entry tags:
Distracting myself until Hanadan turned out well
In an effort to distract myself until Hanadan comes out, I started watching another new drama called Himitsu no Hanazono.
Himitsu no Hanazono is about a young editor, Tsukiyama Kayo, working at a fashion magazine. Or rather, who used to work at a fashion magazine. The evening before her birthday, a coworker asked Tsukiyama to help with some work. Instead of turning it down, Tsukiyama agreed and ended up spending the first part of her birthday working for the magazine. There's this little bit right as her birthday approaches when Tsukiyama debates to stay and do the work or just go home. She's sitting in the chair, doing the twisty indecisive thing, trying to make herself go home, but she just can't. So she ends up staying all night working.
The next morning when all of her coworkers returned (looking refreshed after not spending the entire night in an office), Tsukiyama gives the work to her coworker. The coworker (not knowing she'd been up all night) thanks her and tells her that she didn't have to worry, because there wasn't a huge hurry. Tsukiyama, rightly so, decides that this is the last straw and takes the rest of the day off to celebrate her birthday. (A large part of me completely empathized with Tsukiyama, because I've totally done the gone way out of my way to help someone else and then they end up not needing what I did.)
At home, she lights a cake for herself and, by herself, wishes herself a happy birthday.
Tired of always being miserable and overworked, Tsukiyama finally makes the decision that she's going to resign. Filled with purpose, she goes back in to work to turn in her resignation letter. However, when she goes to turn in her letter to her boss, her boss mistakes Tsukiyama's niceties about working hard as Tsukiyama trying to console the boss. It turns out that the fashion magazine has been cut and the boss just assumes that Tsukiyama found out and is trying to make the boss feel better. Emboldened by Tsukiyma the boss informs everyone that the magazine is finished and everyone has to find jobs. Tsukiyama's relived that she doesn't have to resign; she's being fired. (Probably one of the few people ever to be excited about being fired : ) )
But, Tsukiyama's not quite that lucky. It turns out that the boss noticed how hard Tsukiyama worked and got her a job within the same company. She's being transferred to the manga division. Tsukiyama is horrified, having never even read manga in her life, but can't bring herself to say anything to boss. So, despite wanting to just be by herself on her birthday, Tsukiyama packs all her stuff and goes over to the manga department. The manga department is run by this slightly overpowering guy who smokes using a cigarette holder, which disturbes me to no end.
Tsukiyama's first assignmnet in the department is to collect Hanazono Yuriko's work. As Tsukiyama finds out, Hanazono Yuriko is an extremely famous shoujo manga writer.
Unsure what to do, Tsukiyama heads over to Hanazono Yuriko's apartment and discovers she lives on top of one of the scariest apartment buildings I've seen in awhile. Not only does she need to be buzzed into the elevators, they have a visual interface at both the elevators and the doors. Once at the door of the apartment, she's let in by a man who introduces himself as Tanaka. While he's making tea, a guy comes to the door selling newspapers and Tanaka goes absolutely crazy. Tsukiyama is suitably scared and trying to discretely escape when Tanaka brings her tea and cake.
While they're drinking, Tanaka introduces himself as another editor of manga comics. When he rushes off, Tsukiyama follows him and ends up in one of the many apartment rooms.
There she meets two guys working on the manga. Although she doesn't realize it, these are two of four brothers that make up the persona of Ms. Hanazono. The youngest, Hinata, is about 18.
He's the writer for the comics and very intelligent. When he first meets Tsukiyama, he essentially is able to tell her life story just by looking at her. At a first glance, he's able to tell that she all about pleasing others instead of developing her own self. The other brother in the room is Osamu, about 30.
He's the main artistic one out of the brothers, he does the artwork for the main characters. He's a little odd, to say the least, being very much an otaku and a little out of control at times, with a hairstyle to match.
Osamu seems to be struck by inspiration and decides that he needs to see a certain type of dress. He and Tanaka send Tsukiyama out with the explicit instructions to not come back until she's found the dress. Meanwhile, Tsukiyama's old boss, Kawamura Ryoko is eating at a restaurant and ends up literally running into another brother, Satoshi. He's around 27, a definite playboy and the business manager of the group.
His looks kind of remind me of an overly tan _____(insert your own thing in here. I couldn't quite complete the thought.)
The final brother is Wataru, who'd around 33.
He's probably the quietest of the bunch, and enjoys being outdoors and sketching. In particular, he enjoys sketching this one tree. A girl sitting near the tree assumes he's drawing her and very forwardly asks to keep the sketch even when she's sees it's of the tree. Wataru's very non confrontational, so he gives her the drawing before living.
Tsukiyama's now at a formal dress store being tormented by Osamu. She initially takes pictures of all the dresses, but Osamu's not satisfied. He insists that she try them on and take pictures. After she takes tons of pictures herself, he insists that he needs the full effect. And promptly gives an evil laugh.
(Yep. That's Tanaka holding the phone up for Osamu)
(the evil laugh)
After getting a salesperson to help with the pictures, Osamu pics the frilliest, not normal looking one. But when Tsukiyama goes to take it off... can you see where I am heading? The zipper's broken. And the nice salesperson has just been replaced by a male salesperson. Poor Tsukiyama just decides to wear the dress back to the apartment.
Before she can make it back to the apartment in one piece, Tanaka calls to give her a shopping list. Tsukiyama has to make a trip to the store in order to get their groceries. Having not really been properly embarrassed, Tsukiyama runs into her old boss in the store. She tries to get her boss to help with the zipper, but before her boss can fix it, she gets an urgent call from work leaving Tsukiyama's zipper still not functioning.
Desperate for her birthday (what a miserable birthday!) to end, Tsukiyama goes back to the Hanazono apartment complex. She has issues getting up into the apartment, first because Osamu's blasting music and then because Wataru mistakes her for a stalker.
(Trying to get someone to buzz her in)
When she finally gets into the apartment, Osamu has finished all the work. EXCEPT! it's the work for Tanaka and not for Tsukiyama. Hinata also takes the opportunity to inform her that the humiliating dress that she's worn around all day is Osamu playing a joke on her. At this point, Tsukiyama breaks down and asks to just see Hanazano Yuriko. It's at this point they tell her that Hanazono Yuriko is not in fact a woman but four brothers. They also thought that she was Tanaka's assistant, as as such, have not yet done her work.
While Tsukiyama recovers from this intergral new piece of information, the brothers decide that they're hungry and going out to eat. leaving her alone in the apartment.
While in the apartment, Tsukiyama decides, once again, enough is enough, and that she'll quit tomorrow. When Wataru returns to record a program, she informs him that she's going to wait until she can get the work. She's surprisingly firm and tells him that she needs the work today, because tomorrow she's quitting.
There's the really cute scene where he tries to guess why she's leaving. He asks if she's getting married. Single. Switching jobs. Nope. When it becomes obvious that she's quitting because of them, he awkwardly turns the conversation to her dress. That's when Tsukiyama reveals the zipper thing, and Wataru ends up using an exacto knife to unstick the dress.
As Wataru unsticks the zipper, Tsukiyama reveals she really isn't quitting because of them, but because she's tired of hating herself. She wants to run away until she can recover and work hard again. Wataru questions where she can really run to.
When Wataru returns, he tells the brothers that she's quitting. They're kind of ambivalent to the news until Hinata informs them that it was actually her birthday (he figured out using her email address). They all kind of realize they've been jerks, and they get her a cake and gift. They sing her the birthday song (there's an awesome awkward pause in the middle when they realize they don't actually know her name) and Tsukiyama is beside herself with happiness.
She tells them that even though they're really odd and eccentric, she'll continue to work with them. And then demands the work. This time they give in and do the work.
My thoughts:
Although it was only one episode, I think that I'm really going to like this drama. I can already see just how incomplete everyone is. There's the four brothers, that despite each having amazing talents, clearly have difficulty functioning in public. For Hinato, the 18 year old, he has this amazing perception, but he really doesn't know how to be respectful of others. He says what he thinks, whether or not that's appropriate for the other person. I get the feeling that he really only has his brothers and not any friends his own age. That actually seems to be an issue for all the brothers. Although family is really important, they have to learn how to function, at least on some level on their own. That's why it's so especially hard for Tsukiyama, because they don't really know how to treat people that aren't part of their family. Even Tanaka, he's been working with them since forever.
And Tsukiyama, she's so alone in comparision with the brothers, and their polar opposite. Where the brothers are all about what works best for them and not anyone else, she's all about what works best for others and never herself. It's not even that Tsukiyama needs to be in love or have a love interest, she needs a human connection that can make her realize that she can occasionally come first. And the brothers need a link to the real world. They need to realize that when they play mean jokes on people, it hurts. And when this group of people is combined, they'll activate Captain Planet! (Ok. Not really. But that would be cool.) But, I just see so much opportunity for all of the to grow, because in one sense or another, there'll all emotionally stunted. None of them has any real romantic relationship. Or any friend relationship, but that could just be because it's the first episode. I also see lots of potential for love triangle-ness.
Most of all though, I love the characters so far. I definitely love Tsukiyama to pieces. Tsukiyama is how I've felt, and I'm sure others, on their worst days or rough patches. She's so completely isolated in her misery. When she went home on her birthday and bought herself a cake, I thought that I would break down at five minutes into the episode. I also noticed, that throughout the entire day, no one called to wish her happy birthday. Not even her parents. She was so excited when the brothers wished her a happy birthday, and I can completely understand why. But I didn't just love her because she was pitiable. She's smart, hardworking, genuinely nice and knows what has to be done. She just, sometimes, has issues saying no. The brothers are also an awesome barrel of characters. They're all so quirky, that there's never a dull moment when they're around.
Wow. That was long.
The next morning when all of her coworkers returned (looking refreshed after not spending the entire night in an office), Tsukiyama gives the work to her coworker. The coworker (not knowing she'd been up all night) thanks her and tells her that she didn't have to worry, because there wasn't a huge hurry. Tsukiyama, rightly so, decides that this is the last straw and takes the rest of the day off to celebrate her birthday. (A large part of me completely empathized with Tsukiyama, because I've totally done the gone way out of my way to help someone else and then they end up not needing what I did.)
At home, she lights a cake for herself and, by herself, wishes herself a happy birthday.
Tired of always being miserable and overworked, Tsukiyama finally makes the decision that she's going to resign. Filled with purpose, she goes back in to work to turn in her resignation letter. However, when she goes to turn in her letter to her boss, her boss mistakes Tsukiyama's niceties about working hard as Tsukiyama trying to console the boss. It turns out that the fashion magazine has been cut and the boss just assumes that Tsukiyama found out and is trying to make the boss feel better. Emboldened by Tsukiyma the boss informs everyone that the magazine is finished and everyone has to find jobs. Tsukiyama's relived that she doesn't have to resign; she's being fired. (Probably one of the few people ever to be excited about being fired : ) )
But, Tsukiyama's not quite that lucky. It turns out that the boss noticed how hard Tsukiyama worked and got her a job within the same company. She's being transferred to the manga division. Tsukiyama is horrified, having never even read manga in her life, but can't bring herself to say anything to boss. So, despite wanting to just be by herself on her birthday, Tsukiyama packs all her stuff and goes over to the manga department. The manga department is run by this slightly overpowering guy who smokes using a cigarette holder, which disturbes me to no end.
Tsukiyama's first assignmnet in the department is to collect Hanazono Yuriko's work. As Tsukiyama finds out, Hanazono Yuriko is an extremely famous shoujo manga writer.
Unsure what to do, Tsukiyama heads over to Hanazono Yuriko's apartment and discovers she lives on top of one of the scariest apartment buildings I've seen in awhile. Not only does she need to be buzzed into the elevators, they have a visual interface at both the elevators and the doors. Once at the door of the apartment, she's let in by a man who introduces himself as Tanaka. While he's making tea, a guy comes to the door selling newspapers and Tanaka goes absolutely crazy. Tsukiyama is suitably scared and trying to discretely escape when Tanaka brings her tea and cake.
While they're drinking, Tanaka introduces himself as another editor of manga comics. When he rushes off, Tsukiyama follows him and ends up in one of the many apartment rooms.
There she meets two guys working on the manga. Although she doesn't realize it, these are two of four brothers that make up the persona of Ms. Hanazono. The youngest, Hinata, is about 18.
He's the writer for the comics and very intelligent. When he first meets Tsukiyama, he essentially is able to tell her life story just by looking at her. At a first glance, he's able to tell that she all about pleasing others instead of developing her own self. The other brother in the room is Osamu, about 30.
He's the main artistic one out of the brothers, he does the artwork for the main characters. He's a little odd, to say the least, being very much an otaku and a little out of control at times, with a hairstyle to match.
Osamu seems to be struck by inspiration and decides that he needs to see a certain type of dress. He and Tanaka send Tsukiyama out with the explicit instructions to not come back until she's found the dress. Meanwhile, Tsukiyama's old boss, Kawamura Ryoko is eating at a restaurant and ends up literally running into another brother, Satoshi. He's around 27, a definite playboy and the business manager of the group.
His looks kind of remind me of an overly tan _____(insert your own thing in here. I couldn't quite complete the thought.)
The final brother is Wataru, who'd around 33.
He's probably the quietest of the bunch, and enjoys being outdoors and sketching. In particular, he enjoys sketching this one tree. A girl sitting near the tree assumes he's drawing her and very forwardly asks to keep the sketch even when she's sees it's of the tree. Wataru's very non confrontational, so he gives her the drawing before living.
Tsukiyama's now at a formal dress store being tormented by Osamu. She initially takes pictures of all the dresses, but Osamu's not satisfied. He insists that she try them on and take pictures. After she takes tons of pictures herself, he insists that he needs the full effect. And promptly gives an evil laugh.
(Yep. That's Tanaka holding the phone up for Osamu)
(the evil laugh)
After getting a salesperson to help with the pictures, Osamu pics the frilliest, not normal looking one. But when Tsukiyama goes to take it off... can you see where I am heading? The zipper's broken. And the nice salesperson has just been replaced by a male salesperson. Poor Tsukiyama just decides to wear the dress back to the apartment.
Before she can make it back to the apartment in one piece, Tanaka calls to give her a shopping list. Tsukiyama has to make a trip to the store in order to get their groceries. Having not really been properly embarrassed, Tsukiyama runs into her old boss in the store. She tries to get her boss to help with the zipper, but before her boss can fix it, she gets an urgent call from work leaving Tsukiyama's zipper still not functioning.
Desperate for her birthday (what a miserable birthday!) to end, Tsukiyama goes back to the Hanazono apartment complex. She has issues getting up into the apartment, first because Osamu's blasting music and then because Wataru mistakes her for a stalker.
(Trying to get someone to buzz her in)
When she finally gets into the apartment, Osamu has finished all the work. EXCEPT! it's the work for Tanaka and not for Tsukiyama. Hinata also takes the opportunity to inform her that the humiliating dress that she's worn around all day is Osamu playing a joke on her. At this point, Tsukiyama breaks down and asks to just see Hanazano Yuriko. It's at this point they tell her that Hanazono Yuriko is not in fact a woman but four brothers. They also thought that she was Tanaka's assistant, as as such, have not yet done her work.
While Tsukiyama recovers from this intergral new piece of information, the brothers decide that they're hungry and going out to eat. leaving her alone in the apartment.
While in the apartment, Tsukiyama decides, once again, enough is enough, and that she'll quit tomorrow. When Wataru returns to record a program, she informs him that she's going to wait until she can get the work. She's surprisingly firm and tells him that she needs the work today, because tomorrow she's quitting.
There's the really cute scene where he tries to guess why she's leaving. He asks if she's getting married. Single. Switching jobs. Nope. When it becomes obvious that she's quitting because of them, he awkwardly turns the conversation to her dress. That's when Tsukiyama reveals the zipper thing, and Wataru ends up using an exacto knife to unstick the dress.
As Wataru unsticks the zipper, Tsukiyama reveals she really isn't quitting because of them, but because she's tired of hating herself. She wants to run away until she can recover and work hard again. Wataru questions where she can really run to.
When Wataru returns, he tells the brothers that she's quitting. They're kind of ambivalent to the news until Hinata informs them that it was actually her birthday (he figured out using her email address). They all kind of realize they've been jerks, and they get her a cake and gift. They sing her the birthday song (there's an awesome awkward pause in the middle when they realize they don't actually know her name) and Tsukiyama is beside herself with happiness.
She tells them that even though they're really odd and eccentric, she'll continue to work with them. And then demands the work. This time they give in and do the work.
My thoughts:
Although it was only one episode, I think that I'm really going to like this drama. I can already see just how incomplete everyone is. There's the four brothers, that despite each having amazing talents, clearly have difficulty functioning in public. For Hinato, the 18 year old, he has this amazing perception, but he really doesn't know how to be respectful of others. He says what he thinks, whether or not that's appropriate for the other person. I get the feeling that he really only has his brothers and not any friends his own age. That actually seems to be an issue for all the brothers. Although family is really important, they have to learn how to function, at least on some level on their own. That's why it's so especially hard for Tsukiyama, because they don't really know how to treat people that aren't part of their family. Even Tanaka, he's been working with them since forever.
And Tsukiyama, she's so alone in comparision with the brothers, and their polar opposite. Where the brothers are all about what works best for them and not anyone else, she's all about what works best for others and never herself. It's not even that Tsukiyama needs to be in love or have a love interest, she needs a human connection that can make her realize that she can occasionally come first. And the brothers need a link to the real world. They need to realize that when they play mean jokes on people, it hurts. And when this group of people is combined, they'll activate Captain Planet! (Ok. Not really. But that would be cool.) But, I just see so much opportunity for all of the to grow, because in one sense or another, there'll all emotionally stunted. None of them has any real romantic relationship. Or any friend relationship, but that could just be because it's the first episode. I also see lots of potential for love triangle-ness.
Most of all though, I love the characters so far. I definitely love Tsukiyama to pieces. Tsukiyama is how I've felt, and I'm sure others, on their worst days or rough patches. She's so completely isolated in her misery. When she went home on her birthday and bought herself a cake, I thought that I would break down at five minutes into the episode. I also noticed, that throughout the entire day, no one called to wish her happy birthday. Not even her parents. She was so excited when the brothers wished her a happy birthday, and I can completely understand why. But I didn't just love her because she was pitiable. She's smart, hardworking, genuinely nice and knows what has to be done. She just, sometimes, has issues saying no. The brothers are also an awesome barrel of characters. They're all so quirky, that there's never a dull moment when they're around.
Wow. That was long.