Return to Form

The OG story that this show is adapting has always been a weird case of curiosity for me ever since I was a child, albeit it was the Koren version "Playful Kiss". I have only discovered that there are several different adaptations to this, and after watching the first season I was left kinda wanting for more.

The first season felt like a cookie cutter in many areas, blame my nostalgia for "Playful Kiss" on that, but this second season really sets up this one on a different league simply because it went beyond the weeding, there is an entire life after Kotoko and Naoki get married in the first season and having grown up over the years, I definitely appreciated the more mundane adult life of the couple as they moved on past school and college, and to the real world.

I would argue that this season, as it tacked the relationship outside school and home put both leads into more believable scenarios that definitely pushed their characters to be develop more, especially for old cold folk Naoki.

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A Fall From Grace

I can't put into words how shocked I was after watching the first season and how unexpectedly good it was, but at the same time, I was too afraid that it was only going downhill from then due to how high a bar it set.

I guess my nightmares turned out real. As much as it pains me, this season was a claustrophobic mess of intertwined plotlines that tried too hard to complicate the picture and raise the stakes that at more times than not ended up killing all the setup from the last season in favor of some newly introduced characters that are hardly relatable, likable, or redeemable in any way, shape, or form.

In short, this was such a snoozer with only the first part of the seventh episode that had any substance or enjoyment to it.
I do hope the third season redeems the image of this series, or else, this would be such a shame.

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Zombie Survival Done Right

For something that I expected to fall off short, I'm still in awe of what I saw. Sure, I've heard a lot of praise about this movie, but at the end of the day, it's just another zombie survival, how good can it get?

I take it back. How good can it NOT get?!

When even Hollywood can't sell off a plot with its seemingly unending budget, you'd think nobody else can. Well, I guess I'm stepping into a territory where nothing of that matters.

This movie had everything, cast, plot, budget, and most importantly, it was enjoyable. The acting was superb, I really connected with all characters. The gore as unforgiving, and the stakes were racing the high skies. This is a really special experience as a first-time watch, and ever more so as rewatch material.

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What an Innocent Love Story

One thing that's definitely gone over-saturated in the medium is how over-the-top and over-dramatic everything is acted out. Sue, it makes for bugger stakes, larger-than-life storytelling, however, in today's world, there is so much like that's it's daring to stumble across an unassuming, unadulterated adaptation like Kimi Ni Todoke.

Kimi Ni Todoke is an innocent, wholesome, and pure romance told through the lens of a high school outcast, Sawako, buried deeply under stacks of rumors and deep-fried gossip. And you know how superstitious some of those remote rural Japanese towns can be. Until that is, she meets this pleasant, loved-by-everything high school sweetheart, Hazehaya, who breaks through the social cage keeping the FL away from any meaningful interaction.

The synopsis seems generic enough to pass you by in an instance, however, the approach and the execution are what kept me engaged. This is a family-friendly showing of innocent, coming-of-age romance with no vulgarity to show. Not even a single kissing scene and you know what? That's fine, in fact, it's what makes it stand out in my opinion because even without any intimacy of that kind, the direction of the movie makes it work, and beautifully so.

What drew me originally to watch this is Tabe Mikako herself, I'm so in love with her acting, she has such a way of expressing emotional frequencies through her talent as an actor but nobody told me I was in for discovering such an amazing male lead, Miura Haruma who stole my heart in this role. Unfortunately, I was hit by the news of him dying a couple of years earlier at such a young age of 30 too.

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