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scottishlassJust finished feeding my obsession with a certain Japanese actor by watching A Sleeping Forest and oh boy, was that a roller coaster ride.
I normally don't like angsty mysterious series or movies and I wasn't too sure about this particular series, but when I started to watch the first ep I had to keep watching. One scene in particular made me go: Ah so deska! My recent obsession with Takuya Kimura is not so recent after all - more like a ten year obsession. About half-way into ep one there is a scene which I deja vu'd. I remember having seen it about ten years ago when I stayed in our local manga shop (my hometown has the biggest Japanese community outside of Japan in Europe) and that series must have been shown as I remember that scene in the forest. I actually watched the rest of the ep in that very shop. Strange how life goes in circles.
Anyway, this time I have caught up on the whole series and woah, it was a tear jerker.
summary:
Nemureru Mori is about a late twenty year old woman who suffered an awful tragedy as a child. Minako can only sketchily remember her past as a child, and three months before her intended wedding with Kiichiro she finds letters that were send to her in her childhood.
In order to shed herself from her past she decides to visit the sleeping forest, a natural forest in her home town, to face her past and to meet the mysterious letter writer. She meets Naoki, a young man. Mysteriously drawn to him and him to her they start working on the things of her past but what she will reveal will not only turn her past, but also her present and future into turmoil.
review:
I'm floored. I really am. As I said I normally don't like mystery, but here you couldn't help but not fall into the story. It has so many twists and turns and they are all logical.Every ep there is a different lead, another piece to the puzzle that leads to the murderer. But who is he or she? It is a question whose answer keeps changing from ep to ep, all the clues are there but with each different interpretation they lead to a different character each time. I really loved that.
Additionally, it was good to see Kimura in a role that is not really good. His role as Naoki is very ambiguious as he comes across as a very scary stalker at first. The first time we see him, laying down in that hammock in the green forest almost let's him appear like a fairy creature only to have him tell Minako so many personal things about herself that you cannot but feel creeped out. But he is so young, so the second thought is that he cannot possibly be connected to the fate of Minako's family, or is he?
What happens is a rite of passage, of deceit, of love, of discovering who you are ... and it is painful to watch. Not only does Minako find out who savagely killed her family but in doing so she looses the only family she has left, as well as losing perhaps the only love that would heal her from the past.
But what really got to me was the ending after the ending. Come on, you idiots, Naoki really did deserve a different demise. He had grown so much in the twelve eps and I really hated the way it ended. Spoiler: Nasoki dies from internal wounds he received in a bashing while protecting Minako. We can see it coming in the last ep, as he refused to go to the hospital but has these kinds of incidents where he looses hi balance and falls down. It is so heart wrenching to see him sitting on the train with the flowers for Minako and that one single tear rolling down his cheek as he dies. I was devastated. - But then again, as seen in Temptation of Wolves a brother who is in love with his sister (even if it is only his half-sister) doesn't deserve to live. What is it with those ppl? I mean why bring up this particular theme only to shy away from the results?? *sigh* Together with Minako he was also a victim, a victim of love and his only fault was to a) protect Minako and b) let her find happiness with someone who really could understand and heal her.
acting:
Takuya Kimura did a wonderful job. I really thought his acting ability had developped only recently but already in his early/mid twenties he had acting ability in spades. Now I know why I stayed and watched that ep ten years ago with my very rudimentary Japanese and no subs.
I already thought Beautiful Life had touched me but this one ... WOAH!! ... Not only does Kimura-san look hot in this ep (long hair) he emotes and Angst like the best of them. I'm duly impressed. Kimura-san did a great job and I hope I can get a copy of the series in better quality.
Miho Nakayama as the disturbed but determines Minako also is fantastic. I loved her subtle play and her show of determination even though at times as her character she had to be scared shitless. Great acting.
A more coherent and in depth write up can be found at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
winterspel's journal here.
I normally don't like angsty mysterious series or movies and I wasn't too sure about this particular series, but when I started to watch the first ep I had to keep watching. One scene in particular made me go: Ah so deska! My recent obsession with Takuya Kimura is not so recent after all - more like a ten year obsession. About half-way into ep one there is a scene which I deja vu'd. I remember having seen it about ten years ago when I stayed in our local manga shop (my hometown has the biggest Japanese community outside of Japan in Europe) and that series must have been shown as I remember that scene in the forest. I actually watched the rest of the ep in that very shop. Strange how life goes in circles.
Anyway, this time I have caught up on the whole series and woah, it was a tear jerker.
summary:
Nemureru Mori is about a late twenty year old woman who suffered an awful tragedy as a child. Minako can only sketchily remember her past as a child, and three months before her intended wedding with Kiichiro she finds letters that were send to her in her childhood.
In order to shed herself from her past she decides to visit the sleeping forest, a natural forest in her home town, to face her past and to meet the mysterious letter writer. She meets Naoki, a young man. Mysteriously drawn to him and him to her they start working on the things of her past but what she will reveal will not only turn her past, but also her present and future into turmoil.
review:
I'm floored. I really am. As I said I normally don't like mystery, but here you couldn't help but not fall into the story. It has so many twists and turns and they are all logical.Every ep there is a different lead, another piece to the puzzle that leads to the murderer. But who is he or she? It is a question whose answer keeps changing from ep to ep, all the clues are there but with each different interpretation they lead to a different character each time. I really loved that.
Additionally, it was good to see Kimura in a role that is not really good. His role as Naoki is very ambiguious as he comes across as a very scary stalker at first. The first time we see him, laying down in that hammock in the green forest almost let's him appear like a fairy creature only to have him tell Minako so many personal things about herself that you cannot but feel creeped out. But he is so young, so the second thought is that he cannot possibly be connected to the fate of Minako's family, or is he?What happens is a rite of passage, of deceit, of love, of discovering who you are ... and it is painful to watch. Not only does Minako find out who savagely killed her family but in doing so she looses the only family she has left, as well as losing perhaps the only love that would heal her from the past.
But what really got to me was the ending after the ending. Come on, you idiots, Naoki really did deserve a different demise. He had grown so much in the twelve eps and I really hated the way it ended. Spoiler: Nasoki dies from internal wounds he received in a bashing while protecting Minako. We can see it coming in the last ep, as he refused to go to the hospital but has these kinds of incidents where he looses hi balance and falls down. It is so heart wrenching to see him sitting on the train with the flowers for Minako and that one single tear rolling down his cheek as he dies. I was devastated. - But then again, as seen in Temptation of Wolves a brother who is in love with his sister (even if it is only his half-sister) doesn't deserve to live. What is it with those ppl? I mean why bring up this particular theme only to shy away from the results?? *sigh* Together with Minako he was also a victim, a victim of love and his only fault was to a) protect Minako and b) let her find happiness with someone who really could understand and heal her.
acting:Takuya Kimura did a wonderful job. I really thought his acting ability had developped only recently but already in his early/mid twenties he had acting ability in spades. Now I know why I stayed and watched that ep ten years ago with my very rudimentary Japanese and no subs.
I already thought Beautiful Life had touched me but this one ... WOAH!! ... Not only does Kimura-san look hot in this ep (long hair) he emotes and Angst like the best of them. I'm duly impressed. Kimura-san did a great job and I hope I can get a copy of the series in better quality.
Miho Nakayama as the disturbed but determines Minako also is fantastic. I loved her subtle play and her show of determination even though at times as her character she had to be scared shitless. Great acting.
A more coherent and in depth write up can be found at
winterspel's journal here.
