Osaka
I knew it was a pretty popular manga so I gave it a try because lately I'm into live action adaptations.
The plot is not that easy to follow.
Long story short: an homeless guy who suffers from amnesia gets involved with a medical student who believes that if we make a hole in the middle of our forehead we can see things that other people don't. The main character has to live with this hole in the head for seven days to prove to the medical student that the experiment was a success.
The first half of this movie was brilliant.
Narita Ryo character ( God bless his acting skills) is weird, it catches your eyes from the very first time it steps on the scene.
But, towards the end, the plot get all messy.
There's a huge plot twist but it was all rushed up.
In the end, I might say that you can enjoy this movie just for Narita's character.
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Kamenashi Kazuya plays a cop who falls in love "without a reason" with a high school girl. Kame's character is good, not particularly likeable but good.
What I didn't get while watching this movie is why, for God's sake, an adult man like him fell in love with a high school student who acted exactly how one of her peers.
The ending with Bruno Mar's song was the part the I actually liked better.
Not a good movie, but definitely better than other shojo manga filmed this year.
*cough* peach girl, for instance.*cough*
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"Peach girl" is a cute and sweet movie. The plot is a little bit confusing, there aren't any cliffhangers at all but you can't expect much from a shojo manga of this kind.
Mackenyu is a sweetie but his character is a pain in the ass, plain and without guts.
Keii's one is adorable and for the first time, I actually saw a boy who is more concern about his crush's happiness than his own one.
"You have to fight, even play dirty, if you want to get the girl." This clique didn't happen here.
True, this cute movie is FULL of cliques, misunderstandings and predictable scenes, but at least the two males wanted the girl to be truly happy and didn't pressure her to make a decision.
I'll mark it 6 out of 10, not a fan of this "sweet" shojo manga, but it was kind of good and not that terrible.
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This review may contain spoilers
This review might and will contain spoilers: This drama has a lot of violence in it. But it's a crime drama, violence needs to be a part of it.
I'll not focus on the plot this time. It was ok, almost brilliant. There weren't black holes, everything fit perfectly together so I have nothing to complain about the plot.
The most interesting thing about this drama is its characters.
Some of them were written really well, some of them were too plain for me to like them.
Let's start with Jin Hyeok.
A pretty skillful cop, he chases criminals and murderers like a crazy dog chase a car.
Clever, never disappointing when it comes to his way of dealing things and troublesome situations. He seeks revenge toward the psycho who killed his wife, he's a protecting father yet his son has never been a pain in the ass (Like SY has been in Duel).
At first he can't team up with his new team, he just wants to do his job alone like a lone wolf. But after some episodes we see that he's actually stronger while being in a team.
Kwoo Joon is the tough female cop that works as his sidekick.
Both seeking for the murderer who killed their darlings, Kwoo Joon is the brain of the team.
She has a really good hearing, almost a supernatural power I might say.
She knows how to handle things, but, most of all, she knows how making a team work.
She's not the best female character I have ever seen in Kdramas but she was a really strong woman.
REASON TO WATCH IT.
The villain is one of the most interesting and creepy villain I ever saw.
I'm not just talking about how he kills people, a really gruesome way, but I really enjoyed his personality and his background story.
A villain is a villain and a well made villain doesn't need to have a sad background story to being with.
Taegu grew up with a mental illness. His father didn't want to cure him so his father made TaeGoo become that kind of adult.
I really enjoyed the way they killed him off.
Maybe it was too unrealistic, but he was killed the way he used to kill people.
And, in the end, he was scared.
Great drama, I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10.
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We all know that OCN is amazing when it comes to Chasing and thriller drama (Voice and Tunnel were gems).
Duel plot centers around a group of people who are obsessed with a vaccine that might cure terminal illness.
We have different characters, all of them are connected to each other somehow: two clones seeking for a way to survive. One is taking revenge on those bad guys who treated him like an animal, the other one is trying to help a veteran cop to find his kidnapped daughter.
This drama started really well, the plot was thrilling, the characters were well scripted.
But, sadly, toward the end it started to be a little bit sloppy and the plot has some black holes.
First of all, let me talk about the two twins.
SungJoon is the nice guy. He was used by his twin as an escapegot, when he committed some homicides he blamed them all to his twin. He has no memories at first, he doesn't know who he was and why there's a guy who looks exactly like him without being his twin by blood.
His character's psychology is not bad. He's too kind, too soft and too innocent to be the real villain. In fact, the drama didn't give us any suspense. We know that there won't be any plot twists about him right in the first episodes of this drama. Pretty disappointing, though.
The real gem of this drama is SungHoon.
Evil, clever and with some guts. He seeks revenge, he seeks life and he's doing everything to achieve these two things.
He was a victim too, yet no one gave a damn about him.
Reason to watch it :
SungHoon, obviously. We can see his character grow during the drama.
Reason to not watch it:
Mirae and the bloody sick kid were useless. Both annoying characters, they didn't make the audience sympathize with them.
The way the police handle the case of Sunghoon left me speechless. When they found out who he was and why he was doing all those bad things they even tried to help him out neither for a tiny second.
If you are watching this to see some sweet moments between the two twins, drop it.
Sunghoon isn't a sweet guy. All the bad things that had happened to him turned him into someone who is just filled with anger and grudge. He doesn't forgive his brother for not trying to find him and even in the end, even though we can see a little bit of change in his mind, I couldn't see a real affection for his twin.
Yup, he did try to save SungJoon in the end, yet I still didn't see that love that brothers share.
SungJoon loved his twin. But, let's be honest here.... Did he really try to help him out? He was all into saving that annoying kid that, in the end, I started to find him a pain in the ass.
IS THE ENDING WORTH THE WATCH?
No, if we are only talking about the ending... Absolutely not.
Korean dramas are predictable, we all know it. It doesn't give justice to any of its characters and it left me with some sour taste on my tongue.
IS THERE ANY ROMANCE?
Nope, thank's God there isn't any romantic story between the characters. They tried to pair up SungJoon with Mirae, but romance were useless in this plot and thank's God the screenwriters knew it before screwing up everything.
I secretly ship SungHoon with SeoJin though.
IS THERE ANY SUSPANCE?
I might say no...
After 5 episodes you know exactly how is going to end.
These drama could have been perfect if they tried to focus a little more on the twins background story and their relationship.
IN THE END, DID I LIKE IT?
I might say so. SeJong is amazing, he made me his fan right after the first episode.
I'll give this drama 6.5 out of 10 because the ending ruined EVERYTHING.
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This review may contain spoilers
Even though some of you might say that this movie's plot is a little bit "predictable", I still find it innovative. This review might and will contain spoilers, so don't read it if you didn't watch the movie yet.
The plot might sound and look simple, but it has a huge psychological depth.
Some kids, who is obsessed with social networks and virtual life more than their real one, decide to punish a rude girl who post malicious comments about a soldier's death.
They gather up to film this girl being punished. But when they enter her apartment, they discover that the girl has taken her life.
But something smells fishy. It doesn't look like a suicide. Someone murdered this girl and they want to find out who's this psycho.
The plot sounds like some cheap thriller movie, with young wannabe detectives who are chasing a pretty bad killer.
Nope, the director fooled you right in the beginning.
The main characters are the real murders. They played with this girl's mind, making her feel uneasy and scared.
Yet, no one of them want to admit that this girl killed herself because of their words.
Can some nasty comments push someone to commit suicide?
Are words more dangerous than weapons?
Yes, they are.
This movie shows how easily oppressors become victims and victims become nasty fellows.
Young Min is a real shining character. He admitted his wrongs, he was the first one who wanted to target this ""bad girl""", the first one who suggested that maybe this girl was killed by someone and also the first one who openly admitted that the killer was him.
Actually, all of them took part in it.
The internet is a nasty beast. If you keep feeding it, it will grow fatter and hungrier.
Overall, this movie told a good lesson.
The same lesson that all of us will soon forget after one hour.
A must watch.
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This movie doesn't need a serious and heavy review.
It doesn't have black holes, the plot isn't sloppy and the characters are played BRILLIANTLY by their actors.
Kamiki Ryunosuke doesn't know how to disappoint people. Nagase Tomoya knows exactly how to make us laugh.
This movie can't be summarized like this : Cool kids go to hell and become rock stars after dying, nice kids go to Heaven and sleep in creepy white rooms after dying.
Definitely, a must watch.
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I watched this movie with a skeptical attitude. Not a big fan of plots which one of the main characters suffer from an incurable illness, but this has actually some good points.
The plot is a little bit different from any other shojo mangas, that's maybe the reason why I loved the manga so much.
An adorable kid met this bubbly girl who's a violinist. The girl wants the boy to play the piano again so she starts to encourage him to not turns his back to the real love of his little life; classical music.
What I love about this story is the huge love for music shown by the characters.
Kento played an amazing Arima here. He's cute, nerdy, a ball of fluffiness. His cry scenes gave me goosebumps.
The cinematography is colorful, making every single actor look like an anime character.
There isn't a real love story, at least in the manga version, so I was a little bit confused when I saw how the movie ended.
Kaori's illness isn't explained at all, leaving the audience thinking "What the actual hell is this girl daying of?"
Expect for Suzu Hirose's voice tone that actually sounded like the one of an anime voice actress, everything was well directed. Sometimes the peace of the movie was a little bit slow, making me look at my phone, but it wasn't actually a big deal.
Hands up for Kento's acting here. Comparing this character to Naruse's one, I think he has done a better job in here.
At least, Arima made me feel something.
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There isn't a real reason to not watching it as soon as the subbed version has come out.
Death note is a milestone of the live action adaptations in Japan. It looks like everyone wants to rewrite its story, trying to make it better or maybe just trying to come up with a good plot for a sequel.
This movie had a great potential for its plot, with a well-known director and with a pretty high budget.
But its plot has some really bad holes that I tried so hard to not get influenced by them while writing down this review.
First thing first, let's write a little list of good reasons to watch this movie:
- Masaki's great performance.
- The chemistry between Ryuk and Shien.
- Good cinematography
-Arma's relationship with Ryuuzaki.
PLOT
Full of cliques from any kind of American thriller and action movie.
Set in the Death Note's universe, the world has to face another Kira's menace. 6 death notes were dropped by the Death King to the world and now all common human beings are using them to achieve something for their own good. But the police now is well prepared to fight a new kira's madness. A special police unit was created and now they are trying to get the death notes in their hands to bring back a peaceful world.
But what's a peaceful world? The distinct trait of Death notes plot is its willing to make you ask yourself what's good and what's evil. If we punish criminals for their actions by killing them, are we criminals too? Or are we some kind of good fellows that are just trying to make the world better? Isn't the death note a useful tool for the Law? Isn't the death note itself the real form of Justice?
In this movie they tried to give us a reasonable answer.
The death note drives you crazy because it drives you insane while thinking that maybe you are above all the human beings, making yourself look like a real God.
This time Kira isn't a person, but a status. Just like L's name.
We have two Kira and, at the same time, we haven't got either one.
There's Shien, the cyber terrorist who's Kira's devotee just like Misa Amane was back then.
Shien was a pretty interesting character. Young, clever, he didn't actually want to be a follower of a new Kira. Light was Kira, so nobody better than him couldn't be the perfect Kira's successor.
I Liked him so much, it was well written, His actions were always well planned.
He had an interesting chemistry with Ryuuk, making them look like partners in crime rather than a death note's keeper and his Shinigami.
Talking about Shinigamis, I wanted to see more of them in action. Six death notes were dropped on earth but we barely saw just three Shinigamis.
Beppo, who appeared right on the first minutes of the movie, was quite interesting and I was expecting to see them more during the movie but he got cut off right away after explaining to the police unit some new rules that we didn't actually know.
Arma was an upgraded version of Rem. Classy and well mannered (can I use this adjective to describe her? Idk) female Shinigami, he looks more like a mother to Ryuuzaki. In fact, when she protected Ryuuzaki I saw her sacrifice more like a mother's one than a lover's one.
Souseke Ikematsu did a great job. We have already get used to a different version of L's personality with the Drama's adaptation so I wasn't surprised to watch a Ryuuzaki which personality was written to be hugely different from L's real character.
He's a bitchy, hyperactive and sarcastic man that doesn't want to follow L's steps and modus operandi.
He doesn't trust and won't ever trust anyone around him, making him look like a lone wolf. In fact, he doesn't even have a "sidekick" or someone who looks after him as Watari did for L.
I loved his character. He isn't L so people shouldn't compare him to L. I saw a little bit of Mello's influence in him but it was just a slight sparkle.
I wasn't impressed nor amazed by Higashide's character and Higashide's performance.
Mishima is introduced to us as a "death note" nerd, a skillful cop who want's to stop Kira's legacy.
He was a bore. His plan was nothing new, the screenwriter made him look like a Kira's copycat.
He did EXACTLY what Kira would have done, so there weren't any kind of unexpected plot twists.
There were some contradictions with Misa's death but she wasn't a real big character here so I didn't mind it.
In the end, I might say that this movie looked like a plot for a pretty interesting fanfic.
Because that's what Death Note: Light Up the new world is... Good material for a fanfic, not a Death Note Sequel.
Anyway, I've decided to give this movie 6.5 out of 10 because it wasn't a really bad movie to watch.
It was a spin-off, so basically the plot hasn't nothing to do with the real story and the original characters.
I know that lot of people didn't like it but I assumed they have watched this movie thinking that it was a sequel to the original plot, which it isn't.
It's set in the Death Note's universe, so you shouldn't watch it thinking that it's related to the original plot.
Mates, give this movie a try just for MASAKI SUDA amazing acting skills.
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The devil asks a pretty good question to the main character here.
I was reluctant to watch this movie. Plots about illness aren’t my piece of cake but this time I gave it a try.
Unexpectedly , this movie doesn’t even talk about illness so seriously.
The plot is simple but its has lots of good life lessons tangled up in its story.
THE PLOT:
A young boy finds out that he has just a day to live due to a terminal illness. He meets the devil who gives him the opportunity to extend his life for just one day each time he decides to erase something from this world.
It might sounds like the typical sad movie in which the main character struggles to survive and die miserable because of the pain of his incurable illness. Maybe with a love story who makes you cry during the movie.
Thanks God, it isn’t.
The Devil isn’t just tempting the main character. He’s teaching him a lesson. Would you erase everything from this world, basically your own valuable memories and things, just to run away from your death? During the movie the main character is tested by the devil. Erasing things, like cellphones or movies, means to erase all the good memories connected to them. He wasn’t just erasing things, he was erasing his own life from this world.
CHARACTERS:
Different types of characters faced each other in this movie.
The best friend with his touching sentences about friendship and his huge obsession for movies.
The ex girlfriend met thanks to a wrong call.
The parents and their pretty common family.
The Devil, with his long fingers and his sarcastic giggle.
The Devil was supposed to play the bad guy here. But in the end he was actually helping out the main lead.
Amazing acting skills, Takeru’s crying scenes are so stunning that almost makes you cry along with him.
I’ll give this movie a 9.5 out of 10. The cinematography is stunning, even though some scenes were badly filmed.
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Yamaneko, the sort of tonedeaf version of Lupin, a thief that looks high on drugs every time that he opens his mouth to say something.
I’ll be honest while writing this review and I’ll try to ignore my HUGE love for Kame.
What’s this drama core? Yamaneko and Katsumura’s characters.
Without these two leads this drama would have been sloppy and pretty boring.
The plot is simple. The handsome and weird thief who wants to take revenge and kill the bad man that has ruined his entire life making him a spy without his will.
Yuuki’s character wasn’t a real villain. He looked like a ghost, something that haunts Yamaneko.
The real villain, the one who really made you scream “THAT’S A NASTY ONE” was Katsumura.
Clever, insane, yet not Narimiya’s best villain. We all know how good is Narimiya at playing the bad guy role.
Suzu Hirose’s character was irrelevant. A genius young hacker with a cold yet good personality who just want to stuck with Yamaneko to finally have a proper family. That was a clique. She was boring, her personality was not well written.
This drama had some good points, a really funny comedy scenes but, also, it had a lot of black holes.
I’ll making a simple example. Let’s talk about Yamaneko’s past. Totally massed up. I think the audience had some hard times while trying to understand what the hell was his reasons to take revenge on that masked creepy ghost. Sure, he was betrayed by the one who rose him. Sure, he wanted to make Japan great again. But why? Why was his trying so hard to heal a country that didn’t asked to be healed?
He was so obsessed with Bushido, yet he didn’t actually follow the Bushido’s philosophy.
I wanted him to commit suicide in the end, just like betrayed samurais do.
Even if the plot was lacking some points, I still think that this drama proved once again that Kamenashi is actually a pretty good character.
Maybe Yameneko reminded me a bit to much of god Yato from Noragami manga but still it was a good watch.
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That’s the question that this drama want you to answer.
I watched this drama just because Kyungsoo was in there. And, I’m afraid to say, it was the only reason why I didn’t drop it after two episodes.
The plot is quite interesting. A family is crashed by a young and clever serial killer. That handsome serial killer takes away the little kid of the family, making the older one crave for revenge.
The plot itself isn’t the real reason why I gave this drama 6 out of 10.
It had a great potential : an epic battle between two brothers and the man who teared their family apart. BUT, as we all know when it comes to korean drama, the only thing that spoiled it all was the romance that the screenwriters tried so hard to gave us.
Two completely opposite characters : the dumb, nagging and useless female cop, who didn’t act once as a heroine. And the clever criminologist, who’s character was pretty good but got ruined by the female lead toward the end of the story.
The little brother, Lee Min, was the sugar to pour in this bitter tea.
He was educated by a serial killer, so in the end he became one himself. His personality, his appearance and his morals were fascinating. Yet, he was a huge attention seeker, he forgot really quickly about his revenge toward his brother, making the plot lacking some good concepts.
Lee JunYeong was supposed to be a creepy and dangerous man. Unfortunately, he wasn’t.
All his charisma, the charisma that Kyungsoo gave to the character while playing his younger self, was totally outshine after growing old.
He was a pure and innocent man who had two choices : to forgive his family or to punish them.
They tried to give him a sad story just to make sympathize with him. His characters became pathetic in the end. Just a poor man who just wants to built a family with those kids.
Cha JinHa was a pain in the back. A stalker, useless, sleepyhead girl who just wanted to make Lee Hyeon her boyfriend. She was such a bad character that I couldn’t stand her for only two seconds.
This drama had a good plot. But once again, korean screenwriters spoiled it with a romantic and stupid love story.
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Commuting to School Series: Commuter Tram
10 people found this review helpful
I do like to watch shojo movies but this one was really awful.
There wasn’t even a real and catchy plot, no acting skills at all.
I feel bad saying it but as a big fan of Chiba Yudai I was really disappointed by his acting here.
Sloppy, awful, something that I won’t watch ever again.
And what about Ryo? He’s such a great actor but he has a strange and gloomy curse : it seems like no one wants to give him a lead role.
Chiba’s cute scenes were adorable….
I’ll give this movie a low score and, to be very honest, I won’t even recommend it to my friends.
Basically only big fans of Yudai can be able to handle it and watch it ‘till the end.
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Unfortunately, Orange is that case.
I'm not a fan of Tao Tsuchiya but I decided to give this movie a try because my cupcake baby boy Kento was in here.
Let's say it straight: This movie can be barely watch because of Tao Tsuchiya terrible acting.
I'm not saying it's her fault, I think that she was directed really bad.
It was like watching an anime character, I really bad female character with that unpleasant and annoying voice that makes you want to slam your head over your keyboard.
She portrayed that typical Japanese female character with a pure soul and and an high pitched voice.
At some points she really pissed me off with this bloody annoying voice of her and those ridiculous gestures that made her character looked dumb and...... dumber.
Can't get why she was so praised for this movie because she was really that only thing that spoiled it.
Although the movie was way too long and sometimes there were some boring scenes to handle with, I think that the half part of it was really directed well.
As I always say when I talk about Kento, he's only know for his beautiful face and most of the time his fans are just too biased when it comes to give a review or a score to his movies.
In this case, I think he really deserved all the good things people said about his acting skills.
Some crying scenes were really heartbreaking and his intonation ( I let's face the truth, most of the time his voice really lacks intonation) was so on point that I almost felt down off my chair.
I still think that Kento really needs to improve his acting skills but damn, he really showed a glimpse of his real talent here.
He really deserves better roles, dramatic ones I might say.
The cinematography was brilliant, those pastel colours were on point with the sweetness of the plot. Talking about the plot.
If you have read the manga or at least heard about it, you know that the main plot talks about depression.
Kakeru is depressed, He's a teenage boy suffering from a depression caused by a really tragic happening.
What I didn't like about the main plot was that thgey didn't actually showed this side of it.
Although Kento has portrayed it perfectly ( his sad gaze, his low voice, how he changed from hype moments to really depressed ones) I do think that the mangaka didn't really understand how depression works.
Kakeru is depressed and saving him with the power of friendship and with some positiveness looked I little bit odd to me. They cured it too fast and this has left me a little bit confused.
But in the end I think that the mangaka wanted to make us think that even in those kinds of moments there's still hope to relay on.
Talking about the cast, a really good one.
I won't give this movie an high score just because of Tao, I'm so sorry to say it.
I don't think I'm going to re-watch it but at least I was so happy to see that Kento is trying to kick his haters on their feet showing that he can actually be a good actor and not just an hot ikemen.
Kento, my dear, now it's time to move on and pick some really good roles.
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He became pretty famous thank to Koinaka, you all know it.
He has a great potential, sometimes He actually act better than pretty known actor as Kento Yamazaki or Sota Fukushi, but his best character has yet to come.
Now let's focus on this movie.
Violence.
Just violence .
This director is know for being one of the most active challenger for Takashi Miike's throne.
His Litchi Hikari Club is a proof.
This time, he just made up a story and asked you a question : what revenge means and when is violence allowed?
Here, when it comes to pay someone back with the same violence they showed you it's allowed, according to the director's view.
This movie is disturbing, all scenes have a really disturbing music.
Blood, rape, disgusting human beings, this movie have it all.
So when a psychopathic with a cute face who loves to eat chips and drink cola takes revenge for a Sempai he barely knows, is violence allowed?
I'm still trying to figure it out.
Police can't do its job so should human beings get justice on their own?
That's what this movie talk about, with a lot of bloody scenes though.
Watch this movie and try to answer this question.
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