Fashion 21 Liquid Eyeliner Review

A few months ago I did a review on three liquid eyeliners that I’ve tried before (Etude House, In2It and Revlon’s Colorstay).  In that entry I mentioned that I planned on getting the Etude House liquid liner because it was the one with the longest staying power out of the three.  However, when I went to the mall that weekend, it was out of stock.  I was too impatient to wait for the new stocks to arrive, so I decided to just get the In2It liner instead since I’ve tried it before and it worked fine for me.  But, when I got to Watson’s, I couldn’t find the In2It booth so I ended up getting this instead:

Fashion 21 Liquid Eyeliner (Waterproof)

The reason I decided to go with this one was because I remembered that Brinks has used this liquid liner before and she told me that she’s pretty happy with it.  It was only P120, so I decided to give it a try.

I’ve been using it for about two months now and it’s great.  It lasts the whole day without smudging, which is exactly what I want.  I did the same test I did for the other three liquid liners I reviewed earlier, and here are the results:

I applied three lines on the back of my hand.

 

Then I tried to rub the product off using my fingers

As you can see, there was minimal smudging.  And I was rubbing HARD!

Playful Kiss : First thoughts

So I finally found some time to start watching this drama.  I’ve been looking forward to it for the longest time.  I loved It Started With A Kiss, so when I heard they were making a remake I was so happy.  I became even more excited when I heard that they chose Kim Hyun Joong to play the male lead.

I’ve only been able to watch the first two episodes, and all I can say is – what a disappointment!

Honestly, if I didn’t look forward to this series so much (and if KHJ wasn’t the male lead) I probably wouldn’t bother to continue watching it.  It pales in comparison to ISWAK.   Sure, the cast and their acting is okay and I like the costumes and the set, but that’s about all.  The show is so colorless~  I have no idea how they can turn a good story into something this boring.

I saw so many behind-the-scene photos for this show in the internet and they were all really nice, which made me look forward to the show more.  I expected myself to laugh and cry while watching it (like I did with ISWAK), but so far, nothing.  No emotional response.

There are so many memorable scenes in ISWAK that didn’t appear in this drama.  I know that the producers probably didn’t want to make an exact copy of ISWAK, but if they were going to change the scenes, they should at least make it better.  Like when Baek Seung Jo wished Oh Ha Ni good luck on the exam, it was so plain and lifeless!  I remembered getting all excited and giggly when Zhi Shu said it as he passed Xiang Qin in the hallway.  And Xiang Qin’s reaction was priceless.   Oh Ha Ni’s reaction in PK was like “Oh yay, he wished me luck, now what?”.  And also the scene when they were checking out their exam scores.  It was so anti-climatic in PK!   That was actually one of my favorite scenes in ISWAK.   It was so sweet the way the two of them went on opposite sides of the board to check how the other did, and how happy they were for one another.  There was also a bit of a suspense there because Zhi Shu fell asleep in the middle of his exam, so we didn’t know if he would get a perfect score again (which he did).  And I loved it when Xiang Qin said “We may be on opposite ends, but at least we’re on the same paper.”  That was one of my favorite quotes in the entire series, and they took it out in Playful Kiss!!  The way the scene went down in PK was just so – for lack of a better word – bleh~

But I guess what I can’t stand the most is the lousy soundtrack!   Actually, I take that back.  it’s a bit unfair of me to call it “lousy” since I haven’t really been hearing it, which is frustrating!   There are so many colorless scenes that could have been improved dramatically by simply adding good music in the background.   And it’s not even because they don’t have a good song to use.  I checked out the official sound track of the series and the songs that they chose are actually nice, which makes me wonder why they’re not using them.  There were a lot of dead air (uhh, I’m not sure if that’s the correct term) in the series which could have been filled with any one of those songs.

No wonder this series got such low ratings (but surprisingly, people keep giving it good reviews on dramacrazy).  The first episode was really a pain to watch.  Episode 2 wasn’t that much of an improvement, but it was a bit better (mostly because there were more scenes where KHJ appeared – he’s the only reason I continue watching the show).  Anyway, the ratings go up after a few episodes, so I’m hoping the show will continue to improve.   Just because a show started off bad doesn’t mean it can’t get better.  The first few episodes of Goong bored me to tears as well, but I ended up loving it in the end.

I find the bears in the end of the episodes cute though.  Unoriginal, yes (Goong already did that), but still cute.

Mascara (Cover Girl, Etude House, Avon) and Liquid Liner (Revlon, In2It, Etude House) Review

I’ve been having a problem with oily lids lately.  This plus the heat and humidity results to my makeup being a mess by the end of the day.  I’ve been wearing liquid eyeliner and mascara on a daily basis for over a year now, and I’ve never had this problem until recently.  I mean look at this:

I’m wearing my Revlon ColorStay Liquid Liner and Cover Girl Lash Blash Luxe mascara in this photo.  I’ve been using the liquid liner since around February and the mascara since the start of this month.  Before I started using these products, I used In2It’s waterproof liquid liner and Avon’s Amazing Lengths mascara, and they stayed put the whole day without any problems at all.

I had some free time today so I did a bit of “research” on the current products I’m using.  I think the main reason for the smudging is that both products aren’t waterproof, which I only discovered today.  Pretty stupid of me right?  I’ve been using them for a while now and it never occurred to me that they weren’t waterproof, tch~

I bought both the liquid liner and mascara last December during my trip to Los Angeles.  I was just so excited to try the Cover Girl Lash Blast because I’ve heard a lot good stuff about it.  When I saw the Lash Blast Luxe, which is newer, I got even more excited so I bought it without even bothering to check if it’s waterproof.   As for the liquid liner, the word “colorstay” caught my attention and I automatically figured it was waterproof as well.  According to online reviews, the Revlon ColorStay Liquid Liner is supposed to be extremely smudge-proof.  But I guess I shouldn’t believe everything I read.

Anyway, I figured I should switch back to my In2It liner and Avon mascara, until Ezra suggested that I try Etude House’s waterproof liner and mascara.  She’s been using both products for a while now and she loves them.  Like me, she also used the In2It waterproof liner and Avon mascara in the past, but she claims that she likes the Etude House products better.  Of course I had to see for myself so I did a little test to compare them.

 

First the eyeliner:

So these are the products I tested:

From L-R : In2It Waterproof Liquid Liner, Revlon ColorStay Liquid Liner and Etude house Proof 10 Liquid Liner.  The In2It and Etude House liners both belong to my sister.  I’ve already used up my In2It liquid liner earlier this year.

The picture above shows the three liquid liners I applied on the back of my hand.  You can see that the Revlon liner tends to crack, which is another thing I don’t like about it.  The Etude House liner is the darkest of the three – if there’s such a thing as a “darker black”.

K-drama Review : Boys Over Flowers

After my “You’re Beautiful” obsession, I searched for more Asian dramas to watch.   I’ve always wanted to try watching Boys Over Flowers because I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  Since I was completely obsessed with “You’re Beautiful” when I started watching BOF (and because I already had an idea of what the story was about, having watched “Meteor Garden”) I didn’t think that I would like it that much, but I actually enjoyed it.

QUICK SUMMARY:

The story begins when Geum Jan Di, a “commoner” working at a porridge shop , is offered a swimming scholarship to Shin Hwa high school, a prestigious academy made exclusively for the children of the elite members of society.  This includes the infamous F4, a group of four boys led by the notorious Goo Jun Pyo.  F4 is well known throughout Korea for their good looks and the power they have over society.  When Jan Di’s friend, Oh Min Ji, gets into trouble with Goo Jun Pyo, Jan Di sticks up for her and ends up declaring war against Jun Pyo.  Completely new to the idea of someone standing up to him, Goo Jun Pyo finds Geum Jan Di’s strong will interesting and soon starts to develop feelings for her.

Cast

• Koo Hye Sun as Geum Jan Di
• Lee Min Ho as Goo Jun Pyo
• Kim Hyun Joong as Yoon Ji Hoo
• Kim Bum as So Yi Jung
• Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin

Extended Cast

• Kim So Eun as Chu Ga Eul (Jan Di’s best friend)
• Kim Hyun Joo as Goo Joon Hee (Jun Pyo’s elder sister)
• Lee Hye Young as Kang Hee Soo (Jun Pyo’s mother)
• Han Chae Young as Min Seo Hyun (F4’s best friend/Ji Hoo’s ex girl friend)
• Lee Min Jung as Ha Jae Kyung (JK Group’s CEO’s daughter and Jun Pyo’s fiancee)
• Lee Jung Gil as Yoon Seok Young (Ji Hoo’s grandfather)
• Jung Ho Bin as Jung Sang Rok (Kang Hee Soo’s Chief Secretary)

(I’m too lazy to write about all the characters, so I’ll just talk about F4 and Jan Di)

K-drama Review : You’re Beautiful

I’ve mentioned this show a couple of times here on my blog already, but I haven’t really had the chance to write about how much I’m obsessed with it.

(I’ll try to avoid posting spoilers in the first part of my review, but you’ll find a lot towards the end.)

“You’re Beautiful” is a fairly new Korean drama which ended late 2009.  My sister has been bugging me to watch it ever since it ended but I haven’t had the time until recently.  She warned me that I should only start when I have about 16 hours to spare (the show has 16 episodes), because she knows I’ll definitely be hooked, and she was right!  Seriously, if you’re going to watch this, be prepared to stay up all night because you won’t be able to stop.

MY QUICK SUMMARY (no spoilers):

The show is about a nun in training who is forced to take the place of her twin brother, Go Mi Nam, while he undergoes corrective surgery.  Her brother has recently been accepted into Korea’s top band called A.N.Jell.  She must keep her identity a secret while living in a dorm with 3 other band members, all of them guys.

MY THOUGHTS

One of the best Asian series I’ve seen in a long time.  Although gender benders are quite common in Asian dramas and mangas (Hana Kimi, Coffee Prince, etc), I still love them since they always guarantee lots of comedic scenes.

The story was very well written and the I love how it was directed.  I can tell that a lot of effort was made in the production of this drama.  The actors did a great job in portraying their characters.

THE CAST

A.N.JELL members:

Jang Geun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung

Park Shin Hye as Go Mi Nam (Male)/Go Mi Nyu (Female)

Lee Hong Ki as Jeremy/Kang On Yu

Jung Yong Hwa as Kang Shin Woo

Extended Cast

UEE as Yoo He Yi

Bae Geu Rin as Sa Yu Ri (Fan club president)

Kim In Kwon as Ma Hoon Yi (Mi Nam’s manager)

Choi Ran as Choi Mi Ja (Mi Nam & Mi Nyu’s aunt)

Kim Sung Ryung as Mo Hwa Ran

Jung Chan as President Ahn

Choi Soo Eun as Wang Kko Di (Coordinator Wang)

This show had me cracking up so much.  There were moments when I had to literally pause it because I was laughing too much and I couldn’t read the subtitles properly.  Of course, there were a couple of sad and touching scenes as well.

There are a lot of love triangles in this drama so I expected it to get messy.  I’m not really a fan of multiple love triangles because they usually give me headaches, I tend to get confused about who loves who.  But “You’re Beautiful” was just so well-written that I just kept on wanting more.

One thing I’ve got to tell is you is how much I loved the soundtrack.  I have the entire album on repeat right now.  I even downloaded some sheets online and have started learning a few songs on the piano. (You can see me play “Without Words” on the piano here.)

Soundtrack:

Still / As Ever – Lee Hong Ki

Descend from the Sky – Miss $ ft. Oh Won Bin

Without Words – 9th STREET

Lovely Day – Park Shin Hye

Promise – Lee Hong Ki ft. Jung Hwa Young

My Heart’s Calling – Kim Dong Wook

Without Words – Park Shin Hye

Still / As Ever – A.N.JELL

Promise – A.N.JELL

Without Words (Piano ver.) – Various Artists

Still / As Ever (Bossa ver.) – Various Artists

Song for a Fool – Park Sang Woo

What Should I Do – Park Da Ye

Good Bye – Jang Geun Suk

I would give this series full marks, 5/5 stars.  Yes, I love it that much.  It’s been over a year since I’ve been this hooked on a show (the last was the Taiwanese drama “It Started With A Kiss”).  I love everything about this drama: the cast, the plot, the twists, the soundtrack … everything!  I highly suggest that you go and watch it!

(There’ll be a couple spoilers and pictures in these next parts, so if you plan on watching the show, it might be best if you stop reading now.)

One reason why I love “You’re Beautiful” so much is because of the A.N.Jell members.  They’re all really talented actors and singers.  I think that having them actually sing the band’s songs was a huge plus.  It made the show a thousand times more believable.

Jang Geun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung was perfect.  I don’t think any other actor could have played this role as well as he did.  I loved his facial expressions and the special way he says “Go Mi Nam”.  He reminded me a bit of Tamaki Hiroshi when he played Chiaki in the Japanese series “Nodame Cantabile” (another fave of mine).  Another thing they have in common is that deep and beautiful voice that I can just listen to all day.  I wasn’t really a fan of his guyliner in the show, but I guess they did that to make him look a bit older since he’s supposed to be the leader of the band.

Park Shin Hye played Go Min Nam extremely well, I loved her from the start.  She’s just so cute and bubbly.  Her innocence and her scared expressions won me over.  She’s adorably stupid, you can’t help but love her.

I was thrilled to see Jeremy being played by Lee Hong Ki, the lead vocalist of the Korean band FT Island.  He’s more of a singer than an actor but I still think he did an amazing job in this series.  He reminded me a lot of Ikuta Toma playing Nakatsu in the Japanese version of “Hana Kimi”.  He was the one I was most attracted to in the first few episodes.  I only wish they didn’t give him that horrible hairstyle towards towards the end of the series, I mean what’s with those blunt bangs??  But overall I still think he’s great.  (I’m slowly becoming an FT Island fan because I keep searching for videos of Lee Hong Ki on youtube XD)

The last A.N.Jell member, Kang Shin Woo, was played by Jung Yong Hwa.  According to online polls, Shin Woo is the most popular A.N.Jell member, probably because he’s the kindest and sweetest among them (and he’s extremely good looking too XD).  He’s the most mature out of the members, and probably the smartest among them.  His one-sided love for Go Mi Nam made a lot of fans cry because it was just so pure.  His character reminds me a lot of Hua Ze Lei in the Taiwanese series “Meteor Garden”.

I really wish A.N.Jell was a real band, I’d definitely support them.  I’ve seen some videos on youtube where they actually perform together on stage to promote the show.  I’m hoping they’ll form a temporary group in the future just to please the fans (just like the Taiwanese F4), haha.

There are many scenes in this drama that stuck with me after I watched it. These are just some of them:

-The phone call between Tae Kyung and Mi Nam after she was hit on the head by a trophy and had to pretend that she was in the hospital.

-Tae Kyung’s expression while he watched Mi Nam and Coordinator Noona on the webcam

-When Tae Kyung’s phone accidentally fell on top of a parked truck and he made Go Mi Nam get it.  I loved the part when the truck started backing up and Tae Kyung was just standing there concerned about his cellphone.

-The scene when Mi Nam destroyed Tae Kyung’s room

-When Tae Kyung and Mi Nam gets lost after leaving the restaurant because of Tae Kyung’s allergy

-When Mi Nam had to choose a member to share a room with (adorable puppy eyes!)

-Manager Ma’s imaginary bed scenes!!  I loved it even more after seeing the director’s cut on youtube.

-The scenes where Tae Kyung torments Yoo He Yi (throwing away her shoes, sending her dad a message that she was pregnant, LOL)

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu

Currently addicted to this manga:

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu (Today Love Begins) by Minami Kanan

The story revolves around two highschoolers with the same name.

Hibino Tsubaki: A geek who’s completely out of touch with fashion.  She’s often teased for coming to school wearing pigtailed braids and a long skirt.

Tsubaki Kyota: An arrogant (and perverted) jerk who enjoys bullying nerdy girls.  He hardly studies but he manages to top every exam.  He’s extremely popular in school, especially among the girls.

(“Tsubaki” is the guy’s last name, but it’s the girl’s first name).

On the first day of school, Kyota decides that Hibino will be his next “target”.  He bullies her and she ends up cutting off his long hair, which makes him even more determined to make her life hell.  Of course, this is a shoujou manga, so it should be pretty obvious that all the hate between the two characters soon turn into love (or I should say lust).

I know that shoujo mangas are written for highschool girls, but I still love reading them.  There are a lot of romantic scenes in this manga that causes me to become extremely giddy and some that makes me go “awww”.  I love the way the characters are drawn and how the story unfolds.

I should probably warn you though, this is a “smut” manga, so expect to see some mature scenes.  They’ll all pretty mild, but if you’re not into that sort of thing, then you probably shouldn’t read this.  Comparing this manga to Minami Kanan’s other works, this is actually pretty tame (her other stuff are a bit more hardcore).

I think Kyota looks a bit like Zero (from Vampire Knight), which is probably one of the reasons I love him XD

This manga is still ongoing, so readers have to wait every month for a new chapter, but it’s totally worth it.

I’d rate this manga 4.5 out of 5 because some parts of the story are a bit too predictable.  The “most-popular-guy-chasing-after-a-geeky-girl-who-suddenly-becomes-cute-later-on-in-the-story” tends to be an overused theme in manga world, but I still enjoyed it a lot, especially the way Minami Kanan wrote it.  I really do love this manga, and I’ll be sure to watch out for updates every month!

Oops I did it again~

I didn’t play with anyone’s heart, but I did pay another visit to The Etude House yesterday

I tried my best to stop myself, but I eventually gave in T__T  I’ve been such a good girl the past week too, staying away from malls (or certain parts of malls), to avoid overspending.  But Ezra was with me yesterday, and she wanted to try the eyeliner there.  All it took was the tiniest bit of whining on her part, and I was in.  I’m so ashamed of myself (well, my will power at least).

WHY IS IT THAT I CAN’T GO INTO THAT SHOP WITHOUT BUYING ANYTHING???  Everything in there is just too cute!~

<<SIGH>>

So anyway, here’s yesterday’s haul:

More nail stickers since I loved the ones I bought weeks ago.

I also bought nail art pens.  Glad to see they had the black and white ones in stock yesterday. The last time I went they only had reds and pinks.

Two new bottles of nail polish.  Black and a deep plum color.

New apricot stick for my mom. I let her try mine and she loved it, so I bought one for her too.   I’m still deciding if I should give her my old one (the abused one on the left) and keep the darker color for myself, mwahahaha.

Alice in Wonderland : IMAX

Raffy, Ezra, Ckloy and I watched Alice in Wonderland yesterday at SM North.   Ezra and I were big fans of Disney’s cartoon version, so we were really looking forward to this movie.  It was Ezra’s and Raffy’s first IMAX experience, and they loved it 🙂

The movie started at 3:50pm, we arrived there around 3:00.  We bought tickets as soon as we got there, but most of the good seats were already taken.  We were lucky to still get seats somewhere in the middle.  We bought some snacks after getting the tickets then proceeded to the IMAX theater.

Ckloy and Raffy buying snacks

 

I’m too lazy to write a proper review of the movie, but if I had to rate it, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars.  I love the cinematography and the character designs (especially the costumes).  Watching it in IMAX made me feel like I was in Wonderland myself.  But, I felt like the story lacked something.  I can’t really explain it, but there were moments when I got a bit bored during the movie.  I would have been a lot happier if they had just stuck with the plot of the original cartoon.  Call me lame, but I think a bit of singing and dancing would have been nice too XD  (I miss Disney movies where the characters randomly starts singing about what they’re doing.)

We also felt that the movie was a bit too short.  We’re not used to watching movies that don’t last longer than 2 hours anymore.

Ckloy watching the credits after the movie.  We loved Anne Hathaway’s role here.  I was also happy to hear Snape’s (Alan Rickman’s) voice, since I didn’t know he was part of this movie.

 

Some pictures inside the theater:

Ckloy

Me (I wore my real glasses under the 3D ones, hehe)

Ezra had to keep pushing her glasses up because they were too big for her

Raffy

Trying to impersonate the Cheshire Cat ^___^

Ckloy’s and my feet.  Converse love, hehe.

(Ezra, Raffy, Ckloy and I all wore Converse high-tops that day. Ezra and I have identical black ones, Ckloy bought his brown ones last week, and Raffy just bought his double upper layer leather *whatever you call it* ones a few days ago.  Too bad I wasn’t able to take a picture of all four of our feet together)

Although the movie isn’t as spectacular as I expected it to be, I think it’s still worth watching.   It made me remember the days when Ezra and I would just lock ourselves in our room and watch the cartoon over and over again 🙂

(Poster outside the theater)

Johnny Depp!!  *fangirls*

Etude House Haul + Review + Nail Art

I really should stop going to this store.  My savings have started suffering ever since I discovered The Etude House T__T  I just can’t help myself, I want everything they have in there!  It’s gotten even worse ever since Ezra started liking the store too after seeing it in the Korean drama “You’re Beautiful”.

Anyway, our family went to Megamall this morning to have lunch with some relatives at Saisaki/Dad’s.  And of course, no trip to Megamall is complete without a visit to The Etude House, but this time I was there for a specific reason.  Brinks asked me to get her a tube of the BB Magic Cream I’ve been telling her about.  I promised myself that was all I’m going to buy today … which of course didn’t happen.

Here’s my haul for today:

Two bottles of nailpolish and some nail art stickers.  I’ve never tried any type of nail art before (at least I don’t think so), and I’ve always been curious about those nail stickers.  I see them all the time when I buy something since they’re right next to the register, so I decided to try them out.
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Apricot stick #3.  This thing smells so good!  I love it~  And the color’s really nice too.  I’ve been looking for a substitute to my Burt’s Bees tinted lip balm (my favorite lip product right now), and this looks promising.  And it’s only P198, weeeee~

EDIT: I’ve been using this for over a month now and I still love it.  I just wish it was more moisturizing on my lips, like my Burt’s Bees lip balm.  But other than that it’s great 😀

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Fresh Nailwash Safe: Nail color remover.  I normally use Sally Hansen’s nail polish remover and it works well for me, but I’ve heard good reviews about this product so I decided to try it out.  The thing I love most about it is the smell.  It doesn’t have that strong chemical smell that most nail polish removers have.  I mean it still smells like nail polish remover, but it doesn’t burn my nostrils as much as the others.  It also leaves a sweet fruity (?) scent on your nails after you use it.  This also comes in blue, which supposedly has a different scent, but when I tried it at the store they smelled the same, so I went for the pink one.  The best part?  It’s only P78!
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And of course, Brinks’ BB cream.  I’ve been using this for about 2 months now and I love it.  It evens out my skin tone and covers up my blemishes pretty well.  It also gives my skin that dewy effect 🙂

BB stands for “blemish balm”.  Basically, this product is supposed to conceal your blemishes, and at the same time, improve your skin complexion.  Skin care and makeup in one product, wow~

When I first started using it, I started getting pimples on my forehead, so I thought I was allergic to it.  I’ve read reviews where people claim to have broken out because of certain BB creams (though I haven’t come across reviews saying that Etude’s BB cream caused them to break out).  It made me so sad because I was excited about this product.  But, because I didn’t want my money to go to waste, I continued using it, hoping that my breakout was just due to my period.  After a while, my pimples started to clear up, so I guess it the BB cream wasn’t to blame, phew!  I still get breakouts once a month, but I’m pretty sure its due to hormones (since they happen right before my period) and not my BB cream.

I love how it looks on my skin, but I’m not really sure about the skin care part of it.  So far I haven’t seen any drastic improvements in my skin, but Ckloy’s been telling me that my acne scars have lightened and that my skin’s much clearer now. Weeee~  (Although that could just be because the BB cream conceals my scars pretty well)

EDIT: (Additional info)  I’ve given Brinks her BB cream and she told me it doesn’t work as well for her as it does for me.  Even after applying it to her face, she still needs to wear concealer to hide her pimple scars.  I’m fine with just using this on my face, it hides my scars well so concealer is not necessary for me.  So I guess it all depends on your skin, whether this will be good or not.  She also claims to have problems with pimples after using it, but it could also be due to the fact that she’s extremely stressed these days.  Who knows?  Maybe it just doesn’t suit her skin

Also, I’ve recently read somewhere that this specific product from Etude House is not really meant for skincare, more on makeup.  They said that if you want the BB cream with better skin care, its better to go for Etude House’s Precious Minerals BB Cream, which is a bit more expensive.  I’m not sure if this is true, since everything on the box is written in Korean.  Like I said, I haven’t seen drastic changes in my skin, but I noticed that I’ve been getting less pimples than I used to (except when *that* time of the month comes around).

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

I’ve been addicted to this anime lately. Its just so refreshing and funny. The plot’s different from most of the highschool anime I’ve seen (not that I’ve seen a lot, just ones recommended by friends).

The story revolves around a girl named Nakahara Sunako, and four (incredibly handsome) guys:

Takano Kyouhei (the violent hottie that girls worship)

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Oda Takenaga (the intellectual prince)

Touyama Yukinojo (the cutie pie often mistaken for a girl)

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and Morii Ranmaru (the playboy who can win over any girl … except Sunako)

The four boys live together in a mansion that is ran by Sunako’s aunt. The mansion’s amazing, so the rent is expensive, but she offers them a deal. If they can turn her niece into the perfect Japanese young lady, then she’ll allow them to live there for free. The four boys instantly accept the deal, not knowing that Sunako is a strange girl who loves the darkness, horror movies and anything that can be considered “scary” (such as her anatomy models, which she named Hiroshi, Akira and Josephine).

Of course the combination of the four “dazzling” boys and the “gloomy” girl leads to all kinds of comedic scenes.  I especially love Sunako’s exaggerated nosebleeds whenever she’s exposed to the “dazzling” creatures XD  She’s so cute~

Normally the anime shows her as a chibi character, to emphasize the comedy I suppose

But occasionally she becomes this cool beauty that can fight for what she wants:

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There’s also the semi-love story between Kyohei and Sunako.  I like it since its different from other love stories out there.  Their relationship is far from romantic (more on comedic).  But they do have their moments:

Weeeeeee~

I started watching this anime years ago, but I never finished it (I found the story a bit weird at first).  When I heard that they’re making a live action version (with Kame, Tegoshi and Uchi from JE) I decided to continue watching it.  I’m on episode 16 right now 🙂

My sister and I watched the first episode of the live action earlier today and we loved it 😀  They changed some parts of the story and added some new characters, so its not exactly like the anime, which is actually a good thing.  This way, people who’ve seen the animated version won’t be bored when they watch it.

(I’m a bit unsure about the casting though.  Although I love Kame, I wasn’t sure he would be able to pull of Kyohei.  Kame’s cute, but I don’t really consider him “hot”.  I always imagined Ikuta Toma or even Uchi for that role.  Kame would have been better of as Ranmaru. But after seeing the first episode, I decided he’s alright.  He’s a good actor at least.)

Anyway, I hope the live action will do the anime justice.  I can’t wait for episode two! ^___^ (The raw file is out, but we’re waiting for the subs)