Flip a Coin: One OK Rock Documentary (2021)

A gift for ONE OK ROCK fans

First and foremost, I want to say that I am a MASSIVE fan of ONE OK ROCK and have been since discovering them with the song "Clock Strikes" in 2015, while watching the South Korean variety show "We Got Married Global".

Since 2015, I have seen them live a total of three times, where most fans, especially international fans like me are lucky to have been able to see them perform live at a concert once.

That being said, when the pandemic hit and artists were forced off tours indefinitely, all of a sudden, OOR announced on their social media pages that they would be holding a live stream concert. I had wanted to see them, but tickets were roughly $50USD. Being so expensive, I opted out, but seeing the announcement of the documentary, I got super excited.

While watching, we got behind the scenes content of not only just how they prepared for the concert, but never before heard background stories of the band, the members, and how each ended up joining. I loved seeing Tomoya and his lovely baby boys, and my belated congratulations on a third child, as well as Taka seeing his father, making a surprise visit to his family home.

We saw the band struggle as they rehearsed and goofed off. We also saw a new side of Taka. My impression of him is that he is a big jokester, but here, he was serious and professional, and his commentaries and critique to staff seemed somewhat brutal - especially after hiring an AR team for the concert, only to forgo the entire idea due to none of the graphics not matching what he wanted in the end - which makes him seem hard to work with. Essentially, we saw a perfectionist Taka, which I still think was great to see.

The documentary also mentioned how Toru ended up testing positive for COVID-19, months prior to the concert, but it was briefly even mentioned, as Toru only retells how he felt sick one night, called up Tomoya and went to the hospital. His only other comments about the event was that he would like to never go back there. I personally wohld have liked to hear a little bit more, since it was dramatized for the trailer, but, I get it since being that sick must have been traumatizing.

I personally also would have loved to see more about Ryota and his life behind the scenes, but his screen time seemed to be limited to interview shots and B-footage.

As for the concert parts itself, they were really great to see, as again, for someone like me who didn't pay $50USD for tickets to see the event, even snippets of the end results of the concert. The edited comparisons versus actual concert night and rehearsal was a nice touch. Seeing the performances reminded me how great OOR is live in person and makes me hope that they will perform on tour again.

My heart absolutely broke at the end when Taka started crying, which resulted in everyone, from the other band members, to crew breaking out in tears. It showed the stress of how hard they worked and the time and effort they gave up for this once in a lifetime livestreaming concert was absolutely worth it in the end.

This documentary really is such a nice gift for OOR fans, especially for those who could not afford to buy tickets for it. If you are not a fan of the band, I highly recommend watching the documentary and checking out all of their stuff. The band members are passionate about what they do, and you can see that not just while they are performing on stage, but while rehearsing in the studio and the way they talk about their jobs. They are a band that has been around since 2005 and still together to this day because of how passionate they are about music and what they do and who choose to continue to be ONE OK ROCK.

Read More

Exceptionally Well Done Documentary Film on "Field of Wonder" ONE OK ROCK Live Streaming Concert

This documentary is the last film I watched in 2021, and I was completely blown away by it. My encounter with One OK Rock was many years ago when I found their MVs on YouTube, even before I found the rabbit hole leading to the Asian dramaland. I fell for their high energy, wildness, loud music, plus English mixed Japanese lyrics. I love most of their songs, from the heavier “No Scared” to softer “The Beginning”. I didn’t even know that the latter song is the OST of the “Rurouni Kenshin”, the first of its famous movie installments.

=====

Production: The making of this video is exceptionally well done. Specifically, I love the smooth shifts between their rehearsal and the actual concert scenes.

The subtitle was well done.

Story: The film starts with restless Taka telling us how hopeless he felt when Japan and the rest of the world were shut down because of the pandemic. Their last world tour was Australia tour in March 2020. Everyone was afraid, especially when Toru was contracted with the COVID-19. Forever a visionary, Taka started having this dream to create a live-streaming concert online. Most of the film then spent on how they prepared the concert. However, we also see a glimpse of their personal lives, for example Tomo spending time with his three little boys (the newborn is cutely presented in his father’s arm in the credit scene), Taka visiting his dad whom he once was estranged from, the members playing sports and barbecuing together.

I like the fact they also collaborated with other Japanese musicians and singers not from rock genre to perform together. Especially for the singers, each has their own unique voice and style and blended together harmoniously during the duet and chorus.

I also like the angst during rehearsal scenes on the second and the one day before the concert, when typhoon blasted Chiba, Japan where their live-streaming concert is held. Although there was no sign that the typhoon would stop on the concert day, the group and the team still rehearsed professionally and didn’t lose hope.

Acting: What to say, they’re performers. It was quite interesting to watch a glimpse of their anxiety in performing at an empty stadium, not seeing crowd neither hearing their cheers. However, one the concert started, the band and other performers just loosened up; especially knowing 100,000+ people bought online tickets (totaling to 110,000 live audience).

Visual FX: No complaint, everything was artistically created, like they were making a real movie!

OST: Although this film is not a video of their concert (you need to buy separately for their concert video), but we also hear and see them performing popular songs like “We Are” and “Wasted Night”. Their new song “Wonder” was also introduced at the concert. Taka singing a cappella the last line of “Wasted Night” as the last song gave me goose bumps, and closed the concert impressively.

=====

Lastly, congratulation to Toru who announced his marriage to Japanese model and actress Omasa Aya on 28th December 2021! Now with three of the band members are married, we’re waiting for the last eligible bachelor of the band Taka, to find his life partner!

Read More