blodeuedd

I love having a weekend with absolutely nothing planned except "tenimyu karaoke at some point". I thought I'd have plenty of time to lie around at home and ~~be lazy~~ sew (AHAHAHAHA!!!), but I ended up going out for Mexican baikingu with K after work on Friday, after which I shopped. Then yesterday's lunch and karaoke turned into lunch, FOUR HOURS of karaoke and sitting around eating pastries and chatting well into the evening. Today I got up bright and early, rushed to get my laundry done then battled the wind all the way to the station on my way to see KenKen With Kids (oh fine, the actual title is 新宿区歌舞伎町保育園), after which we kicked around Ikebukuro for a while and had lunch. And now I'm home watching So You Think You Can Dance Canada and the weekend is almost over! D:

While the hilarity is still fresh in my mind, I bring you KenKen and Kane-chan in Kiddyland:

新宿区歌舞伎町保育園 (Shinjukuku kabukichou hoikuen -- Shinjuku Kabukicho Daycare)

This film amused me no end. I must admit that I wasn't expecting that much from it, so I was quite pleasantly surprised. Not only was it rather well-shot (for a myuboy movie XD), though the shaky!cam action wasn't necessary at the beginning, the sound was good and it just looked like a production that had a decent budget. Another bonus is that despite the subject matter, it contains only a fraction of the cheese that I would expect from a Japanese movie featuring children. Also, all of the children act like real children -- none of that fake-adorable-that-makes-me-want-to-punch-something stuff you see all the time in dramas. My one complaint would be that apart from the baby, all the kids are in the 4-and-older range; while I know that it's because of filming constraints, it would have been hilarious to see the boys deal with a bunch of younger kids like the ones I work with.

So, the story! For some reason, I thought that it was about a bunch of hosts who hide from the yakuza by posing as daycare workers*, but it turns out that the story is about three hosts (that would be KenKen, Kane and Mamo, but I think I'll just go by their tenimyu names because it makes the story that much more hilarious, so Shishido, Sanada and Ishida With Hideous Hair) are forced by the yakuza to pay back the money that the owner of their host bar absconded with -- the fourth host (Ryunosuke -- er, I mean Hiyoshi) just sort of hangs around because he has nothing better to do? His reason for sticking around is the only thing I didn't understand about the movie.

As they're wondering what the hell they're going to do, Ishida tries to run away, only a Filipina hostess/hooker hands him her baby and walks away before he can do anything. He unloads the kid on Shishido and Sanada, whose mothering instincts kick in something fierce. XD They try to entertain customers while taking care of the baby, but they totally fail, because Shishido apparently sucks at being a host! Oh noes, how will they ever make enough money to pay back the yakuza?!?

The hostess/hooker eventually comes to collect her offspring and pays them for their trouble, and a whole flock of hostesses/hookers show up to drop their kids off, because they've heard that Shishido and Sanada are just so good with children. The boys figure this is as good a way to make money as any, seeing as how they haven't got any customers anyway, so they set about transforming the host club into a child-friendly space, complete with toys and child-sized tables and SANADA IN AN APRON WITH A GIRAFFE ON IT. Oh, KANE! XDDD

*dies*

Ishida sort of flits in and out until he is smitten by the lovely Mari-chan, who comes to drop her daughter off one day. From that moment on, he strives to win over the daughter in the hopes of getting the mother, and this ends in a surprise twist when Mari-chan reveals her secret! Dai shokku!

Two other main subplots are: Shishido's efforts to register the daycare at the ward office -- first of all he doesn't know what he's doing, then he can't register as a daycare because it's 24 hours, which is against regulations, then he can't register it as a nightclub, because kids aren't allowed in it, but with the help of one of the employees who has a crush on him, he manages; the other one is about Shota, a little boy whose mother doesn't come back to pick him up, and who Shishido takes under his wing.

Another subplot is the guitarist, who used to play at the host club, and how he is inspired by Shishido's support of his music -- but here's a hint, if you want an audience, don't play in a deserted side-street! -- and finds happiness again by playing the Anpanman song for the kids. *cracks up*

While on the whole the movie is pretty funny, if only because it's SANADA preparing a meal for a dozen children, the whole yakuza bit keeps things grounded, and the ending was thankfully not all happy happy, in that the yakuza boss didn't decide to let them go their merry way, though he did have a small change of heart.

Highlight of the movie: Sanada trying to interest Shishido in discussing the merits of different brands of diapers, wondering whether it's better to save a bit of money or to get the softer brand for the baby's delicate skin. There is not enough XD in the world to express how hard I'm still laughing at this.

Other highlights:

- Sanada in the bathtub with a bunch of little girls, then running around clad in nothing but a towel. The camera reeeeeaaaallly loves his chest in this movie.
- Sanada hanging up baby clothes to dry and being all smiley and domestic -- TOO FUNNY! XD
- Shishido being all gruff yet sweet and big-brotherly to poor little Shota-kun
- When Shota's mum shows up at the end (oh come on, you didn't really think she wouldn't, did you?) and her legs are as tall as KenKen. XDDD
- Mari-chan's big reveal... Half & Half! *was really not expecting that*

When the lights came up at the end, an employee came and propped up a poster for the movie on an easel, a sure sign that there would be some Talking. The guy who spoke (who was he, exactly?) announced there would be a guest, and I was hoping for KenKen or Kane (with the giraffe apron, of course! :D). However, the mystery guest was DAIZO, the singer, and he talked a bit and then performed the song from the movie, which was cool.

This was enough fun that I want to own the DVD so that I can watch it again, preferably with some of you people so we can all laugh at domestic!Sanada together. :D

Final verdict: 8.5/10, because I haven't laughed this hard at a movie in a long time.

* Which would make them pretty stupid, because if you're going to hide from the yakuza, the last place you want to be is in Kabukicho, am I right? I'm not sure why I thought this was the plot, because I don't think anyone had told me about it, so I guess I just dreamed it up?

In news unrelated to any myuboys (D:) I was on a roll yesterday morning, and my apartment is spic 'n' span. It's nice, but it's also a bit annoying because I notice every little thread or piece of lint on the tatami that much more, and keep complaining to Tabitha that she really needn't shed so much.