This review may contain spoilers
Everything is good except the story... which is so bad !
I have read many reviews telling "this is a great story about friendship and growing up" but I strongly disagree!
For Western viewers, this drama can be frustrating. It heavily follows the Japanese school of cinema dramatic concept of "gaman" which means, suffering in silence, abandoning one's love for the sake of friendship and for the group's harmony and peace. Just that this concept is applied in such an exaggerated way, broken on multiple occasions, especially in the end.
All characters forfeit their love stories for he sake of a great, great "friendship triangle".
The main problem is that this is utterly destroyed in the last episode when Suuji decides to leave. This makes no sense. It is clearly shown that his father allows him to remain behind in a boarding house. However, Shuuji comes with a very, very weak excuse "I need to be near my brother to make sure he gets dinner when Father comes home late". For this, he ABANDONS his fantastically close friends Akira and Nobuta, his love and everything he worked for. Who could believe this?
Then comes Akira's decision. He is in love with Nobuta, Suuji has just left, he has his chance with Nobuta. What does he do? He Abandons Nobuta, going after Suuji (in a Helicopter no less!). No wonder many viewers have written alternate endings in which Suuji and Akira are in fact a gay couple. This would make much more sense than the official ending.
All love stories in the movie are inconsistent. In the beginning Shuuji tells Nobuta "Mariko is not my girlfriend" signaling he may date Nobuta in the future. Next, there is an important moment when Nobuta is about to confess her love in public, and it is revealed Shuuji intends to answer positively by dumping flowers on her head. So all the premises are there. But they choose to completely forsake their feelings for the sake of Akira's friendship who "happens", later in the show, to realize he is also in love with Nobuta. Even if it happens later. Even if, in the first episodes, Akira and Shuuji do not seem really such good friends.
Also, Shuuji and Mariko. The way he dumps her is at least dubious. Because in the last episode, when they have a final date, he admits he likes her. It doesn't make much sense except for the made-up reason hat he HAD TO pretend to date her in order to be "popular". This sound 100% cinema and 0% reality.
The girl who is a sworn enemy of Nobuta (I forgo her name) is also unbelievable. She apparently has unlimited power, like a Ninja, to observe and affect everything Nobuta does, being completely invisible. Yet the reasons for hating Nobuta so much are just not there. It is another substory not well written.
All in all, I enjoy Japanese movies and how they feel so unreal, partly because of how they look and talk and behave, and partly because of these unbelievable stories, and I didn't hate this movie. But I don't agree that his is a film about "growing up". Nobuta does grow up and she is definitely a better person in he end. But the 2 boys Akira and Shuuji... no way ! And I cannot stand by so many inconsistencies and so many writer's decisions which are the opposite of what should really happen.
For Western viewers, this drama can be frustrating. It heavily follows the Japanese school of cinema dramatic concept of "gaman" which means, suffering in silence, abandoning one's love for the sake of friendship and for the group's harmony and peace. Just that this concept is applied in such an exaggerated way, broken on multiple occasions, especially in the end.
All characters forfeit their love stories for he sake of a great, great "friendship triangle".
The main problem is that this is utterly destroyed in the last episode when Suuji decides to leave. This makes no sense. It is clearly shown that his father allows him to remain behind in a boarding house. However, Shuuji comes with a very, very weak excuse "I need to be near my brother to make sure he gets dinner when Father comes home late". For this, he ABANDONS his fantastically close friends Akira and Nobuta, his love and everything he worked for. Who could believe this?
Then comes Akira's decision. He is in love with Nobuta, Suuji has just left, he has his chance with Nobuta. What does he do? He Abandons Nobuta, going after Suuji (in a Helicopter no less!). No wonder many viewers have written alternate endings in which Suuji and Akira are in fact a gay couple. This would make much more sense than the official ending.
All love stories in the movie are inconsistent. In the beginning Shuuji tells Nobuta "Mariko is not my girlfriend" signaling he may date Nobuta in the future. Next, there is an important moment when Nobuta is about to confess her love in public, and it is revealed Shuuji intends to answer positively by dumping flowers on her head. So all the premises are there. But they choose to completely forsake their feelings for the sake of Akira's friendship who "happens", later in the show, to realize he is also in love with Nobuta. Even if it happens later. Even if, in the first episodes, Akira and Shuuji do not seem really such good friends.
Also, Shuuji and Mariko. The way he dumps her is at least dubious. Because in the last episode, when they have a final date, he admits he likes her. It doesn't make much sense except for the made-up reason hat he HAD TO pretend to date her in order to be "popular". This sound 100% cinema and 0% reality.
The girl who is a sworn enemy of Nobuta (I forgo her name) is also unbelievable. She apparently has unlimited power, like a Ninja, to observe and affect everything Nobuta does, being completely invisible. Yet the reasons for hating Nobuta so much are just not there. It is another substory not well written.
All in all, I enjoy Japanese movies and how they feel so unreal, partly because of how they look and talk and behave, and partly because of these unbelievable stories, and I didn't hate this movie. But I don't agree that his is a film about "growing up". Nobuta does grow up and she is definitely a better person in he end. But the 2 boys Akira and Shuuji... no way ! And I cannot stand by so many inconsistencies and so many writer's decisions which are the opposite of what should really happen.
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