Reviews

Another STRONGBERRY 's lovely work

Very cute, sweet and warm ULTRA SHORT FILM from STRONGBERRY :)

Can be made into a full length series :)

Just 7 mins is not enough, Need more of them :)
This is just one scene, just a confession scene😂

Their acting is so natural.

STRONGBERRY never ceases to amaze me, even if it just a scene or a full length drama :)
They can always be trusted, when U are in a search of a Good work to Watch!!

They will never disappoint U.
They don't compromise on the plot or the quality n don't miss the Perfection! :)

All their works etch a beautiful mark in your heart n mind.
If it is from them, I'm definitely in, without second thoughts! :)

(Silly me, am I like their ambassador!? :O, leaving a comment or a review in all their works' pages, speaking more about the production team than the actual drama😂)

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*This show has not started yet.*

I knew within the first 8 minutes of Oh My Kiss that it was going to be a waste of time to finish, yet I did. Why suffer through juvenile dialogue, a cast of actresses and actors, obviously, still wet behind the ears (even If they have other works on their resumes), a lack of

Scratch the last sentence because OMK isn't worthy of a review. I finished in hopes it would make me sleepy, which it did.
I gave it a 1 Rating for the cast's effort, and due to MDL Reviews requiring A star to submit.

Please, don't think 'I'll watch this to see if it really is that bad' after being warned. Sometimes some dramas and movies really aren't meant for watching just to pass the time. Good Night.

*unable to add to Completed or leave a Rating* Yes, the show was released. Maybe everyone involved in its making was so ashamed that it's kinda stuck in limbo.

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Well made but almost similar to the original

Not sure why would they remake a legendary film when they have almost no new input to an already well established premise, which the original version itself also blew up in Korea some decades ago, but really this script has proven to be successful so it's hard to go wrong with it. At least the overall quality is very well made and decently acted, though they've tweaked it with a different ending that feels less tragic, which somehow takes away a significant part of that sorrow and grief, now it's more like a respectful tribute to sweep up that waves of nostalgia in this untold melody approach, still a satisfying watch nonetheless.

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Surprisingly heartbreaking

First impressions: There’s already so many cats and dogs within the first 10 mins. I hope the animals got lots of treats :}. Honestly idc if the story is dogwater Im satisfied as long as I get to see silly animals.

TL;DR: if you love animals like me holy you will have a ball w/ this one. Story is rlly condensed, but it touched on topics of owning a pet, acting is good, music is decent, and it’s a good movie. idk if I’d want to watch it again, but that’s just my personal preference.

Story: Wasn’t expecting to cry but dang,, also, it doesn’t take much for me to cry tbh but anyways. I didn’t expect the reality of [redacted] to be in there 😭. Story is really condensed lol I barely remember the names of all the human characters, but it’s a movie adaptation of a novel so I can’t really blame them. There’s also a lot of characters bc of the different animals and somehow they get together and know each other? Sure!

Acting/Cast: Acting is pretty good, though idk if the blind representation was accurate,

Music: Pretty standard, nothing amazing but not terrible either.

Rewatch value: I don’t usually rewatch movies, so this is a one and done for me. It was enjoyable though!

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Nice Addition

I can easily say that this was an improvement from the sequel. The assassin was more engaging to me, there were no draggy dialogue and the scenes with Chisato and Mahiro are still fun, warm and endearing. The other new characters introduced was nice too, quite bland but not bad.

Baby assassin still keeps it sharp, crazy ridiculous but nail biting action scenes— there was quite a lot of them too! It's absurd when the shooting scenes miss with like, one feet of distance but if you've watched anime then you'll be used to that XD I always appreciate the gun shooting scenes also, Akari Takaishima did well for the combat stuff, nice addition too alongside Saori. Also, I love that slightly dark aspect the movies keep, like besides the flashy shoot out sequences, when somebody just ruthlessly gets killed, it's just gritty, quite stomach churning and really reflects the fact that as much as this is a action comedy movie, it's quite bleak and our main characters aren't heroes. They're just two, goofy psychopaths but love them all the same.

The first is still my favourite and athough I enjoyed this more than the second movie, I hope they end it here.

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Shockingly really liked this!
- Maybe partially because I watched the director's cut this time, but the writing was WAY more palatable in this than basically any of the previous Heisei 2 movies - the Fourze and Wizard parts were both coherently about the main plot, so that the 3rd part with the crossover actually made sense. The tones of the two segments didn't feel completely disparate either.
- We get to see a lot of our favorite characters again. I loved the rider interactions, adult Ryuusei is beautiful, and I actually ended up enjoying some of the movie-only female characters (Inga and Nadeshiko, primarily) a bit more than in their original movies.
- Fourze's section was adorable and wholesome (Gen as a teacher is the best), and I loved seeing Kengo again!
- The Wizard section does a wonderful job with its fight scenes, not just with nice choreography but also by letting Haruto actually do physical fight movements without the usual randomly spaced barrel piles or explosions out of nowhere. Also, Haruto's reactions were funny as usual, and I love how he interacts with Gen throughout the movie.
- I also loved Eiji's cameo, and the summons of the previous riders was charming for me since I loved those series. I am still laughing about Nadeshiko and Meteor having to hold on to Accel to fly.

That being said I did still have some criticisms:
- There is a LOT of fanservice that feels really unneeded and particularly uncomfortable in a Kamen Rider movie that is (ostensibly) aimed at kids. Incessant panty/thigh shots (including of Gen's students), Nadeshiko literally fights with her butt, Inga still has her weirdly pushed up bust, and also there is as always a really high instance of female NPCs being noticeably shiny. I really don't need to know so much about the director's preferences.
- The final fight is ridiculous, and at one point crosses the line into not making sense. I am willing to accept a certain amount of shenanigans due to the situation, but the randomly spaced stacks of barrels are back, and at one point Wizard and Fourze drive over barrels toward each other, despite previously driving alongside each other and having no reason to suddenly turn. The explosions here are SUPER overused as well - things just explode all over the ground despite there not being much reason for this, and at a few points the visual quality of the explosion footage doesn't even look that well combined with the rider footage.
- The use of random GoPro footage in this movie, particularly in the Fourze and crossover sections. I don't really understand this choice, so I can only assume that GoPros were trendy and/or becoming more accessible when this movie was made. Unfortunately, the movie cuts in and out of this footage, and this makes obvious the differences in quality and style of the two. I don't think they really had a great plan for how to use this and wish they would have stuck to normal filming techniques.

Side note: I did think it was slightly funny that, due to Haruto's very leggy fighting style, he actually ends up getting some of the weird panty-shot style camerawork usually reserved for female characters.

Overall, I think this was my favorite of the Heisei 2 movies so far. I still don't really like Sakamoto's style, particularly the weird objectifying shots and excessive battle scenes, and I'm looking forward to seeing some KR movies that don't involve him (at this point, I am of the personal opinion that he is basically the Michael Bay of Japan). Also, I believe this is the last of the films that use the 3 part system, which I am also hoping will be a positive change despite not minding it in this particular movie.

If you can stomach Sakamoto's idiosyncracies, or are willing to overlook them, this is actually a pretty fun movie aside from them.

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A Disappointing Fantasy – Failed to Hook Me

I usually love **fantasy movies**, especially those with time-travel or body-swapping elements, but *Suddenly Seventeen* (2016) just **didn’t hook me** the way I expected. The concept was interesting, but the execution felt **flat and unengaging**, making it hard for me to stay invested in the story.

The movie follows **Liang Xia (Ni Ni),** a 28-year-old woman who has spent years in a long-term relationship, hoping for marriage, but her boyfriend, **Mao Liang (Wallace Huo),** keeps delaying it. After feeling unfulfilled and heartbroken, she eats a **magic chocolate** that suddenly **transforms her back into her 17-year-old self.** This could have been a fun and meaningful journey of self-discovery, but instead, the plot felt **predictable and lacking depth.**

**(Spoilers ahead!)** One of the biggest issues I had was the way the movie **handled relationships.** While her 17-year-old self enjoys freedom and new experiences, she **starts developing feelings for a younger artist, Yan Yan (Darren Wang).** However, this romance feels **underdeveloped**, and the chemistry just wasn’t strong enough to make me care. At the same time, her older self struggles to deal with her past relationship with Mao Liang, leading to a **confusing mix of emotions** that never quite reach a satisfying conclusion.

The **ending felt frustrating.** Instead of offering a solid resolution, the story leaves things open-ended, with Liang Xia finally realizing she doesn’t need to depend on a relationship to be happy. While I appreciate the message of **self-love and independence**, the journey to that realization felt **slow and repetitive**, making the emotional impact weak.

The **fantasy element**—the magic chocolate—felt like a **lazy plot device** rather than an integral part of the story. It was never properly explained or explored, making it feel **gimmicky** rather than meaningful.

Overall, *Suddenly Seventeen* had an **interesting premise**, but the **slow pacing, lack of emotional depth, and weak romantic subplots** made it a **disappointing watch.** I expected something **heartfelt and magical,** but instead, it felt **forgettable** and failed to leave a lasting impression.

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I love Fourze the show, but so far I've really struggled with the movies.

Stuff I liked:
- Gen is adorable and the actor is trying really hard to carry the movie
- The parts that mostly focused on the club members were fun and cute! Loved Yuuki and Tomoko figuring out how to fight the bad guys together, Miu being randomly badass, and some of JK's little comedic moments. Kengo and Gen even get a brief spotlight of friendship toward the end, which was nice to see
- Ryuusei is really pretty, as usual
- Gen befriending an orbital weapons satellite is hilarious as a concept and works really well with the premise of the show
- Wizard! Loved the little interaction with Fourze and Meteor

Stuff I didn't like:
- This felt too short to properly get the setup it needed, so most of the movie-only characters were underdeveloped (or just not developed at all). Inga and Black Knight basically could have been completely removed with no detriment to the story, and the other two characters are really wtf due to the lazy setup for them
- The story is really rushed and messy (which tbf is typical of these films), especially in the context of the show. I'm willing to take a certain amount of continuity wackiness, but having the initial setup be that a bunch of teens need to go to space alone to set up explosives on a weapon satellite is...pretty out there, and doesn't really fit at all with the show. Honestly I think this entire movie would have made more sense if they had removed Inga's character entirely, and just had some mysterious "scientists" reach out from the orbital station asking the Rabbit Hatch for help.
- The ending tries to use built-up goodwill from the show to have all the previous characters Gen has befriended pitch in to help, but not only does this feel weird in terms of continuity, the lack of buildup time in the film makes this choice feel more like a lazy emotional manipulation.
- I know this is standard in KR movies of this era, but the attempt to squeeze in every single switch/move/power-up as fanservice in every movie is starting to get stale for me, especially when it just feels like the fight is rushing to get through as many gimmicks as possible


Finally, I just want to say I don't like Sakamoto's style. There, I said it. I think he wants to be making Fast and the Furious, and is instead stuck with Kamen Rider, and ends up forcing the movies to be the adult action version of themselves, so that they feel jarringly disconnected from the shows at a basic level. The camera tends to leer at female characters and his movies always seems to need at least one fanservice girl (in this one it was Inga with an uncomfortable-looking pushed-up bust). People seem to defend this with "but he's so good at action!" but is he? Multiple movies so far in Heisei 2 have been by him, but I've never been watching a TV episode of a Kamen Rider series directed by someone else and thought, wow the stunts are super lacking compared to the movies. The movies just up the amount of random explosions, guns, and female fanservice, none of which I feel like are things that have ever been a crucial feature of Kamen Rider.

Look, I don't hate action flicks. I enjoyed the heck out of "Shoot 'Em Up", which is pretty much as far as you can go into intentional B-movie action flick for action's sake. I just don't understand the need to mash so much adult action style into these Kamen Rider films, when the franchise is aimed at younger audiences and the TV series do not have this vibe.

I didn't hate this movie entirely, but...honestly I don't recommend this unless you really love Fourze and want to see all of the related content, or you actively like Sakamoto's style.

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Traumatic but worth a watch!

Its a tragedy around inheritance and laws before legal gay marriage in Thailand where you are not entitled to your partners estate if he or she dies. It is traumatic and full of twists and turns. It will make you think about it days after you finished watching it because of the intense themes of life, death, family and relationships. It will defiantly spark thought and cause you to think about the topics covered. Jeff is a fantastic actor, able to portray intense scenes beautifully with such a great memorable, skilled performance.

There is not a lot of rewatch value as it is so traumatising and once is enough for me. I hope to see the actors in other dramas/movies.

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Basically it’s a simple funny watch, the writing is really simple, but the characters and the budding friendships, the fight for your freedom and dream, and the on point comedic timing made it a fun watch

Koreans are racist but I think especially the ml, really showcased a good understanding of cultural differences
He didn’t make fun of them, he understood their values and in the end he used them to encourage the guys well
And even if some were shocked by these “villagers” everyone was really supportive and kind

Sadly real world isn’t that simple but I wouldn’t hate the sequel
The “unknown” actors also did a really good job, with minimum communication, they still conveyed their emotions well, I really liked the subtle emotions of shika, being overwhelmed by civilization, being away from his village and people and not wanting to play this game of fighting for their survival

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