Ahhh, long weekends.
I have to say, this was one of the best, most relaxing long weekends I have had in a long time. Long weekend, coupled with girlfriend out of town, with no AP show on top, made for all kinds of time. My weekend looked something like this.
Saturday:
8am - get up, have breakfast, watch Anime.
11am - Play StarCraft.
12pm - go over to friends house, teach him some C#, play some Guitar Hero.
5pm - swing by the video store, pick up “Stranger than Fiction”.
6pm - each dinner, watch Stranger than Fiction.
8pm - play some StarCraft (because I’m in the mood after the SCII announcement).
9pm - watch “Nobuta wo Produce”.
11pm - early sleep
Sunday:
8am - get up, have breakfast, finish Nobuta wo Produce.
11am - Play StarCraft.
12:30pm - start watching “Ace wo Nerae”.
2:30pm - Play StarCraft.
5pm - Order Pizza,watch more Ace wo Nerae.
9pm - Play more StarCraft.
11pm - sleep
Monday:
9am - get up, have breakfast, finish Ace wo Nerae, start watching “Attack No.1″
12pm - Play StarCraft
2pm - Watch more Attack No.1
5pm - Play StarCraft
7pm - Watch more Attack No.1
10pm - Play StarCraft
11:30pm - sleepytime. (Only 2 episodes of Attack No.1 left!)
So, it was the ultimate RTS/JDrama weekend. After watching Azumi and Attention Please I have become a big fan of Ueto Aya. I’m becoming a girly man as I’ve cried multiple times (sometimes per episode) in all of her drama shows. She has a way of conveying emotion, especially sadness, in a way that really touches me. I’m not exactly sure what she does that is different from other actors, but it’s probably a combination of the following. She gets a lot of roles, especially in her sports shows, where she is the stupidly optimistic underdog who has to go through a very painful development, both physically and emotionally, in order to grow into an amazing athlete. When I can see the idealism she portrays being confronted by the cruelty of reality, the tears she sheds coupled with the quivering lips, and the look in her eyes, it just starts my tears going without me even realizing until one falls down my cheek.
I also really appreciate the amazing ability she has to convey a different level of maturity in each role she plays. I have watched on of her works from each of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. This corresponds to her age of 18-21 respectively. In these years she portrayed an assassin, a high school tennis player, a high school volleyball player (who seems younger than the previous role) and an adult becoming a flight attendant. While most of the roles are close to her real age, the amount of maturity the role calls for is different for each one, and she pulls it off flawlessly. Most striking is that the earliest of the four roles listed was in Azumi, where she plays an assassin. She shows the most maturity in that character. The other characters call for an immature but lovable character who perseveres through all obstacles who grows by the end, much like a Miyazaki movie. While the character progression remains similar for most of these shows, she has the ability to take the story and the role and really bring it to life.
In these two sports shows, she has an interesting foil in Sakai Ayana, who plays her coach’s previous student/sister and rival to Aya in Ace, and plays friend turned rival/enemy turned friend in Attack. She is a very talented actress who hasn’t been in enough shows. She played a small role in Hana Yori Dango, and has done a couple other shows, but not near enough.
Anyways, enough of me gushing about Aya while I look at my office desktop 2007 Aya calendar. I know, I’m a dork. Ah well. It was a good weekend.