Quick Review #150: 366 nichi (movie)

Title: 366 nichi / ３６６日　　　　　　　

Rating: 6 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who want to watch a love story featuring very compatible-looking leads set in gorgeous Okinawa with a nice OST BUT don't mind the clichés and some unreasonable developments 

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not watched the drama version in its entirety (one episode only).

Liked:

- Despite my initial reservation about how Akaso Eiji and Kamishiraishi Moka were actually going to pull off looking like a couple with just a year's difference in age (even though their age gap is actually much bigger), I guess I was worried for nothing after all. It did seem like their previous experience of working together in "Pending Train" helped in improving their chemistry on the whole.

Thanks to the fact that Akaso can still look like a high school guy with his youthful looks and the proper styling plus he and Moka do look very compatible on screen, it was easy to forget their true age gap or not be bothered by it. I also liked their onscreen chemistry especially during the days when the lead couple was still in love - it was as if I could feel their happiness seeping through across the screen.

- I was particularly impressed with Moka's acting - be it as a young high schooler to an older version of herself in university and later when she became a mother. The breadth and depth of her acting was truly brilliant despite the story being quite meh at some junctures. I also liked her interaction with Inagaki Kurumi and was pretty surprised to find that they do look similar enough to pass off as mother-and-daughter in this movie.

- The scenery in Okinawa was definitely a sight to behold. Given that HY hails from Okinawa, this location was a natural choice and a good one after all. Along with HY's songs (not just "366 nichi" which is the motif of this movie), the actual theme song for this movie "Koi wo shite" was also a great fit with the visuals and story. It was nice to see that these elements complemented one another to make this movie more memorable and enjoyable to watch.

Disliked: 

- The biggest problem for me was the story i.e. how predictable this was heading (the couple was never going to end up together in the end) and how some developments were so unbelievable or didn't make sense. Just to name one - would you have allowed your junior school daughter to fly all the way from Okinawa to Tokyo on her own to find someone? While the father did get someone to "accompany" her in secret, it was somewhat bothersome to me.

One other problem I had was the similarities this had with another movie of a similar plot/genre i.e. "Ito" - also based on a song (albeit by Nakajima Miyuki), spanned 18 years, featured Okinawa (although Hokkaido was the "main" location for "Ito") and described how a couple couldn't be together for one reason or another. It got me comparing both movies unconsciously from time to time even though the circumstances facing both couples were truly different and the songs had vastly different vibes. 

Last but not least, I felt a generation gap with the lead couple in this movie - the MD player featured prominently in their younger days but my childhood and teenager days were more in the cassette tape-to-CD-player era. Frankly speaking, I hardly had any exposure to the MD because I moved on to portable MP3 players straight from CDs.  As such, it was no wonder that the MD plot device didn't really resonate with me.

Quick Review #149: Rokunin no usotsuki daigakusei (movie)

Title: Rokunin no usotsuki daigakusei / 六人の噓つき大学生　　　　　　　

Rating: 2 / 10

Recommended for: 

Who like the cast and don't mind the predictable and at-times yawn-inducing storyline 

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- The cast of young actors/actresses did a decent job in portraying their characters. Despite being in a "closed room" setting with hardly any variation in the background and the limited developments largely depending on their solo acting and interactions with one another, everyone contributed in keeping things going, albeit in varying degrees.

Disliked: 

- Often, the promotional slogans for suspense/mystery/detective dramas and movies tend to dangle the claim that the viewer will be in for a big shock or the story will be so unexpected so as to attract viewers' attention and interest. However, such claims tend to fall flat especially which is usually due to these claims increasing the viewers' expectations to such a point that there are huge shoes to fill. For me, while I like being pleasantly surprised when the result is better than expected, the disappointment I experience when the actual turns out to be way less than the expected is usually amplified.

In this movie's case, it was somewhat unexpected that even with a novel forming the basis of and supposedly driving the plot, the story didn't come across as coherent and convincing. Not only was the motive of the culprit so ridiculous and trivial, I was flabbergasted and rolling eyes at how someone became the scapegoat and yet didn't clear his/her name despite knowing who had wronged him/her. To begin with, the culprit's motive of taking revenge for someone who he/she had no vested or direct interest in just seemed unbelievable. Why would someone go to this extent at the potential risk of damaging one's career prospects just to get back at that company which didn't really commit a heinous crime or something? 

What was more bewildering was, the scapegoat went through such a great extent to take up the blame for someone who made use of him/her, managed to find proof to clear his/her name and yet did not go the last mile to seek justice for himself/herself? Not to mention the process of the final revelation many years later which hardly felt like vindication for the scapegoat, these developments were such a torture to watch.

- Due to the lacklustre story, the cast certainly could have done better than this but were very much limited by the constraints of their uninspiring characters. Especially since I've seen much better performances from them before in other works, I feel that this movie didn't bring out the best from them which was a huge waste of their potential.

Quick Review #146: "Grand Maison Paris" (movie)

Title: Grand Maison Paris / グランメゾン　パリ　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 6.5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who had watched the drama series and SP and wish to find out what happened next to Team Obana in Paris 

OR wants to watch a story depicting how people bounce back from setbacks and overcome the odds while featuring delicious-looking dishes 

OR are fans of the veteran actors playing key members in Team Obana

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- As usual, the story featured Team Obana overcoming the odds and managing to achieve the seemingly impossible goal of getting the elusive Michelin 3-stars honour but this time, at the homeground of French cuisine as foreigners against the incumbents. As I mentioned in my reviews of the drama series and SP before, the fixation on pursuing the glorious but elusive Michelin 3-stars title actually doesn't resonate so much with me, perhaps due to the fact that I know very little about fine dining and French cuisine as a whole although I do enjoy some dishes and their sweets. Therefore, I was a bit concerned initially that the movie would "alienate" me again in this sense because at the back of my mind, Obana's obsession with seeking the 3 stars in Paris just wouldn't resonate with me. 

However, what made the story this time more engaging and palatable was uncovering the reasons driving his behaviour. As such, it became a lot easier to make sense of his stubborn-ness and sometimes blind faith in himself. 

What also worked for me was how the central theme of how "outsiders" are perceived when they make inroads into the territory of the incumbents was depicted. While it's easy to criticize the French featured in the movie for being narrow-minded, elitist and racist due to their reluctance to accept Obana as someone good enough to work with them, there was a line said by the caviar businessman which really showed how this issue would make a lot of sense if you look at it from the other perspective. Just as the French may not welcome nor acknowledge a foreigner for being good enough in French cuisine to earn the three stars, the same kind of attitude would most likely be displayed if you have a foreigner trying to open a sushi restaurant in Japan and claiming to be as good, if not better than a native Japanese. In this current world we live in, much as we aspire for and seek fairness and equality for everyone, the truth is that protectionism for locals or the majority as well as the animosity and distrust towards foreigners are issues which are impossible to ignore and pretend that they don't exist. The drama didn't try too hard to preach but I think this message still came across in a pretty impactful way.

- Being a story about cooking, I thought that the scenes towards the end featuring the menu which Team Obana came up with to aim for the stars were done pretty well. Not only did the dishes look so delectable and pretty, I think there was ample time in these scenes for the viewers to scrutinise the dishes visually as compared to how everything flashed by in the drama series and SP.

- While I won't say that anyone stood out this time, the older members in Team Obana definitely had a stable and self-assured vibe which made them look charismatic, appealing and cool despite the challenges they faced. By this, I mean Kimura Takuya, Suzuki Kyoka, Sawamura Ikki and Oikawa Mitsuhiro. I would have loved to see more of these four in action though.

Disliked: 

- First of all, as a movie which featured cooking, there was comparatively a lot less airtime dedicated to the actual dish development and cooking processes this time. I thought that it was a pity because this was actually one of the key elements which made me like the drama series back then because there was so much effort put into these scenes and they did make the viewers feel more involved in the entire process.

- Unlike the drama series and SP, I felt that Team Obana in Paris didn't really have a stand-out younger generation representative or someone who could become a fixture in the team going forward so it felt like the "succession" element of the story was somewhat lacking. While Ok Taec-yeon's role definitely hogged the limelight for the younger camp, I don't really see him becoming a fixture in Team Obana for future editions of the Grand Maison series (if any) because his character seemed more like someone who should become a top notch patissier on his own with his own shop, not someone working with Obana for the mid or long term.

- For those who have never watched the drama series and SP, it might be challenging to make sense of the story especially the relationships between the members in Team Obana and the experiences they shared together. As such, the storyline might come across as confusing and fail to engage such viewers from the onset.

- Due to the fact that Team Obana boasted an international lineup this time and the location was in Paris, there were at least 4 different languages being spoken in the entire 2 hours. While I can't comment on the accuracy of the English subtitles for French and Korean, the Japanese ones did seem OK as in no blatant translation mismatches and errors. That being said, I think there is a need to delve into the meaning and importance of having subtitles beyond just being a translation medium across languages. 

I think that there is always this assumption that for foreign language films shown in Singapore, they tend to skip the subtitles if the dialogue is in English. Maybe it's the same elsewhere - are there Chinese subtitles for movies shown in Chinese-speaking locations? Or are there Korean subtitles for Korean dialogue in movies?

The problem is, much as English is very much used and understood in daily life and business settings here, the content of the lines may not be easily understandable if there is jargon involved or there are pronunciation, accent or even audio issues. In particular, the part where Linda (Tominaga Ai) was explaining the dishes in Grand Maison Paris' set menu - this was entirely in English with zero subtitles appearing on screen. While I did understand mostly what she said, there were some parts which I wasn't sure of because she used some terms to describe the dishes which were not so commonplace in daily life. I guess people who are gourmets or know more about fine dining may be able to understand these parts better. As such, having subtitles would be good to facilitate understanding of the lines.

I also touched on the point regarding audio above. Sometimes, due to the surrounding noise at the filming location or the actors' diction, it can be very difficult to pick up what they are saying. Moreover, subtitles can also help those who have hearing issues to understand the movie without actually listening to the dialogue. For a large chunk of this movie to have zero subtitles, I don't think that's a good move in terms of being inclusive to the audience at large. Just don't assume that the Singapore audience does not need English subtitles for English dialogue, please? If the OTTs are even having subtitles for actions like close the door, the phone rings, surely movies can provide a similar experience without having to go through parts of the movie without understanding fully.

- I guess the movie chose to focus more on the process rather than the outcome. Getting the three stars was more or less a given since Team Obana was already at the edge of the cliff and needed this to survive. However, for the movie to end just like this without no scene at all about how Team Obana reacted to the win, this was too abrupt and felt sloppy. Perhaps there are plans to talk about this aspect in yet another sequel but it would take a lot more to wow people next time instead of just repeating the formula of win -> fall from grace or suffer setback - > overcome the odds -> all over again.

Quick Review #145: "Yurigokoro" (movie)

Title: Yurigokoro / ユリゴコロ　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to see a well-crafted suspense story with intricate elements and great acting from the cast especially the three leads

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- Although the movie appeared to be just a mystery story right from the start, there was actually more than that. The two storylines which ran concurrently with each other were in fact very closely linked to each other. What I really liked was how the relationships between the characters were revealed in such a way that there were surprises and twists waiting to be uncovered by the viewer at various junctures. As such, the movie which may have been slightly longer than 2 hours, didn't feel boring as a whole. 

It was also commendable that while the story packed some surprises to "shock" the viewers, it also left a number of clues which we could pick up along the way to guess where the plot was likely heading towards. In this sense, when my hunches were proven correct, the gratification felt as a result also contributed to my positive assessment of this film. Layering and strike a balance between dangling clues and revelations was definitely not an easy feat. Often, many mystery or suspense stories fail to get this balance correct - either the outcome turned out to be totally unexpected because there were no clues at all or the outcome became so predictable because the clues were laid out in plain sight.

- The acting especially from Yoshitaka Yuriko and Matsuyama Kenichi was brilliant. Yoshitaka always has a knack for tackling such challenging roles especially those with warped mentalities or twisted characters and she delivered as usual in this movie. I really liked her chemistry with Matsuyama in this movie and their characters were such a joy to watch despite how dark and tragic the story was heading towards because of how their fates were intertwined with each other. Matsuyama may not have appeared until the later part of the story but his impact in the grand scheme of things and his character's "self-revelation" was done in such a compelling manner.

On the other hand, Matsuzaka Toori had a bit of a challenge in comparison because he didn't get the luxury of having a "fixed onscreen partner" like what Yoshitaka and Matsuyama did as his story involved interacting with a number of characters. In fact, he had to search for his "missing" fiancee played Seino Nana most of the time so he was pretty much "alone" in this sense. However, he still managed to show the transition of his character in a believable and engaging manner as he found out about the other storyline and how it fitted in his own life.

Among the supporting characters, I thought that Kimura Tae and Kiyohara Kaya probably stood out the most among them even though they didn't have that much screen time.

- Considering that the storylines were actually from two different periods in time (not explicitly mentioned in the movie at first but revealed later), there were different actors who had to play the same characters for the separate timelines. I thought that the casting was done pretty well in that sense because the actors from the different eras actually resembled one another in one way or another - maybe not so much in terms of looks but the overall vibe so it was not difficult to draw links between them and not feel as if they were totally unrelated. For example, I had never really seen a resemblance between Kiyohara Kaya, Yoshitaka Yuriko and Kimura Tae until this movie so kudos to the casting director for making such good choices. Often, many works fail to get this done properly so I always struggle to draw links between the actors doing the same characters especially if the looks of the actors differ in a big way.

Disliked: 

- While I did like this movie as a whole, I felt that there were some questions which were left unanswered. For example, the origin and background story of the heroine - was there a contributing factor that led to her unique psychological state or was she born like that? Or how about the fact that she was able to kill so easily despite her physical limitations against much bigger and stronger people? As such, the story didn't seem so complete with these minor omissions. Much as I understand that these probably wouldn't affect the movie in a major way, I thought that for the sake of getting a clearer and more complete picture, it might have been better to get some answers.

- The two storylines may have been brilliant in their own ways but I also cannot deny the fact that the current story arc was a tad lacking in terms of emotional tension and excitement compared to the past arc. It felt like the current arc was sort of like the vehicle to keep the past arc going so sorry to say, I was actually hoping to see more of the past arc where the action was taking place.

Quick Review #142: Gekijouban TOKYO MER ~ Hashiru kinkyuu kyuumeishitsu ~" (movie)

Title: Gekijouban TOKYO MER ~ Hashiru kinkyuu kyuumeishitsu ~ / 劇場版　TOKYO MER ~ 走る緊急救命室 ~　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of the drama series but don't mind the movie's story being rather flat this time

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- If you had enjoyed the drama series, you should be satisfied to see the return of most, if not all of the cast members (except the one who "died" in  the series and only appeared in flashbacks and photos) reprising their roles with the addition of new characters. Among them, An stood out most because her character was supposed to be the ex-girlfriend of Otowa (Kaku Kento) and the leader of Yokohama MER which had a completely different mindset as compared to Tokyo MER.

Disliked: 

- What really worked for the drama series did not seem to work wonders for the movie this time. While it may have been exhilarating and gratifying to see the Tokyo MER team overcome seemingly impossible life-threatening situations to save patients with zero casualties all the time, the formula got rather stale this time as I got very put off by some seen-that-done-that developments e.g. shouting loudly to declare that there were no casualties and the predictability of the story. Coupled with the fact that I actually know the Yokohama Landmark Tower pretty well and had stayed at the hotel there before, what I knew about this building kept bothering me as I watched how the characters go up and down that massive building with so much ease as if it was nothing. Perhaps it's just me but the added "reality" angle here by using an actual building actually backfired for me.

- To be honest, Yokohama MER was not a match for Tokyo MER in various ways. Other than An who could have potentially given Suzuki Ryohei a run for his money as the "leader of the opposite side", the rest of the Yokohama team did not have the same kind of name awareness as their counterparts in the other team so it felt like An was leading a group of literally unknowns. And to be fair to them, they also hardly got any airtime to show what their characters were like. Secondly, if it had been that the Yokohama MER team members were given ample time to show their mettle rather than appear as snobs who talked big and did nothing spectacular from the start, they might have come across as serious and credible competition against their seniors in the MER field. Due to these reasons, the Yokohama MER team never threatened the Tokyo MER team in any way at all so it felt like they were just there for no particular reason and purpose other than to emphasize the heroic deeds of the Tokyo team. I felt that it was especially a waste for An's character to be rather forgettable towards the end - there could have been more to show the clash of her ideals with Kitami (Suzuki) or the ex-lovers relationship with Otowa.

Quick Review #141: Terumae Romae 1 (movie)

Title: Terumae Romae / テルマエ・ロマエ　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who like to watch an entertaining film in a similar style as "Tonde Saitama" but set in the ancient Roman era and/or are fans of the cast especially Abe Hiroshi and Ueto Aya

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original manga.

Liked:

- If you are in the mood for some light entertainment i.e. chuckling rather than laughing out loud kind of humour, this is probably suitable for you. While much of the film was set in the ancient Roman era, the parallels and links between that and the current time in Japan was done pretty seamlessly and provided much comical relief until the tone turned a bit more serious towards the end.

- Abe Hiroshi is definitely very suitable for the lead role of Lucius, not just because of his ability to bring out both the serious and funny sides of the character but also due to his not-so-typical Japanese looks. In fact, if you look at the cast lineup, there were quite a number of actors known for their deep and well-defined features such as Kitamura Kazuki and Ichimura Masachika to play the Romans. As such, this deliberate casting choice helped to make the story flow more naturally so it was easier to immerse myself into the story.

And Ueto Aya was at her best in displaying her cute charm especially when she stood beside the towering Abe. However, those looking for romance between their characters might be a tad disappointed since this part was more or less hinted at but nothing really happened.

Disliked: 

- I thought that the story started pretty abruptly with a full blown explanation on why public baths were such a big thing in the ancient Roman era instead of introducing viewers to the scheme of things gradually. And if you are like me who knows very little about that era, it might not be so enjoyable because I couldn't really see the significance or importance of certain elements in this era or the terumae culture. While I did think at times that the style of this movie was somewhat similar to "Tonde Saitama" i.e. seemingly senseless and exaggerated humour, I actually enjoyed the latter more because I knew more about Saitama and the differences which various regions in Japan had when compared to one another so the jokes made a lot more sense to me. Being clueless about the Roman era probably limited my level of enjoyment for this movie especially the part about building a bathing era for the army engaged in battle for a prolonged period of time.

Quick Review #133: Kuuhaku (movie)

Title: Kuuhaku / 空白　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a story featuring different perspectives on who's at fault and who's the victim and/or are fans of the cast especially Furuta Arata and Matsuzaka Toori

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- This story will invoke changing emotions and interpretations as the movie progresses with regard to the topic of who's at fault and who's the victim in the case of an accidental death of a junior high school girl caught for shoplifting. I liked the fact that there was no standard answer given and showcasing different perspectives was a good way to highlight the dilemma of how difficult it is to view an issue objectively especially when emotions and our values come into the picture.

- The cast boasted quite a number of good actors with Furuta Arata and Matsuzaka Toori hogging the limelight as characters on opposite sides of the spectrum. Furuta's portrayal as a father who kept looking outwards to justify and make sense of why his daughter behaved the way she did and the reason she died instead of reflecting on his own actions was very convincing. On the other hand, Matsuzaka managed to show the complexity of his character who was filled with conflicting emotions as he faced criticism and pressure from what he supposedly did rightly but ended with the wrong consequences. Likewise, the supporting actors like Terajima Shinobu, Shuri, Ito Aoi, Tabata Tomoko, Fujiwara Kisetsu and Kataoka Reiko all pulled their weight to make their characters come to life.

Disliked: 

- While the individual parts of the movie were good, I felt that the story lacked a strong central theme or rather, was weak in trying to convey it. The title which literally means "blankness" can indeed be interpreted in a variety of ways such as how the father-and-daughter who hardly knew and understood each other despite living under the same roof, the emptiness and isolation which the daughter felt both at home and in school or the supermarket owner whose life revolved around the supermarket but he never realised the value of it to himself, the employees and customers until it was too late. While this multi-pronged approach might give viewers the freedom to develop their own conclusions, this also diluted the power of the movie's messaging. I felt like I went through a pretty emotional and painful journey but with no tangible or obvious outcome just like how the supermarket owner got a very belated and ambiguous apology for the father who finally acknowledged that his late daughter did do something wrong which contributed to the accident. Perhaps this hollow feeling is meant to resonate with the title and make everything come full circle but I would have preferred a clearer delivery of any central theme which the director or scriptwriter had in mind.

Quick Review #132: Tsuki no michikake (movie)

Title: Tsuki no michikake / 月の満ち欠け　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 6 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a love story but don't mind the illogical and harrowing reincarnation concepts in the movie and/or are fans of the cast

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- The love stories of the two couples i.e. the Osanais (Ooizumi Yo and Shibasaki Kou) and Ruri x Akira-kun (Arimura Kasumi and Meguro Ren) were depicted pretty well with the former being the heartwarming and brings-a-smile-to-your-face type of subtle love and the latter being more of passionate and somewhat intense kind of love. I actually prefer the Osanais' story especially the parts where they talked about how they fell in love with each other and eventually got married. Such a warm and fuzzy vibe and very blissful kind of love to watch. 

- The acting of the four leads were definitely quite spot-on and very enjoyable to watch except for the scene when Ooizumi's character Tsuyoshi was crying at the sight of his loved ones' bodies after the accident where his cries sounded a bit odd. While Shibasaki may not have appeared a lot, I thought that the ending moments of her character Kozue telling her side of the love story were extremely well done. Fans of Meguro Ren would be quite happy to see him as a lovelorn chap but may not be so excited to see the bed scene with Arimura Kasumi (not explicit though since they were mainly long shots from a distance and there was a blanket covering the actors).

Much as I don't feel like praising Tanaka Kei, I have to give him credit when it's due - he's really suited to play this kind of obsessive/abusive husband and lover with a seemingly harmless and nice face.

Disliked: 

- This is my personal preference though but I am really not a fan of 転生 / reincarnation stories to begin with. While I understood that this was necessary for the purpose of this story, the loopholes and illogical execution of this concept made it impossible for me to like the movie. To be able to choose at will how or who you will be reborn as - that's already quite unbelievable. Not to mention waiting for the reborn version to grow up (which will take at least more than a decade) before resuming your love story from the last life - that just comes across as a horror and rather repulsive thing to happen and I certainly don't find it, romantic at all. Especially the final scene showing who Kozue was reborn as - that really killed any remaining positive feelings I had for the movie. This was quite a pity though because I did like specific parts of the movie as outlined above but it ended on such a sour note that I am not even sure if I want to finish reading the original novel which has been lying around since I bought it a while ago.

- Given that the story spans quite a number of years, I was surprised to see that there wasn't any attempt to distinguish between the 80s and 90s more distinctively. As such, in terms of clothing, the sets, surroundings and character images, they didn't feel that different from each other in the two timelines. That could be a bit confusing for viewers though so that's probably why the years kept appearing on screen to indicate the time when the development happened. 

- In relation to the above point, while Ooizumi and Shibasaki's characters did appear different in the two timelines, both in terms of mannerisms and appearance since the couple did evolve from newly-weds to parents of a 18-year-old senior high school kid, Meguro's character didn't really show the progression of time. He may have dressed more maturely as a guy in his 30s when he met Ooizumi's character for the first time but it felt like he was stretching it a bit too far and didn't come across as too convincing in this sense. On the other hand, his scenes as the university student-version of Akira-kun were definitely more natural since that's close to his actual age.

Quick Review #130: Sunset Sunrise (movie)

Title: Sunset Sunrise / サンセット・サンライズ　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a feel-good story with serious topics embedded within amid some funny elements and/or are fans of Suda Masaki and Inoue Mao

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- While this movie was longer than 2 hours, it surprisingly didn't feel draggy nor rushed. Although I was a bit worried that this story might be big on senseless humour because it's a Kudo Kankuro script or go the other way to be a serious and dark story given the location in Tohoku (will inevitably talk about the aftermath of the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami crisis), I'm glad that there was a fine balance struck to make the movie quite palatable.

The story was pretty straightforward as it depicted how a company employee from Tokyo came to a fictitious town in the Tohoku region to rent a large house at an unbelievably low price after seeing the ad online. Since that was during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the virus hadn't actually spread in the countryside yet, an outsider from a place which was already seeing shutdowns and people working from home full time to curb the spread of the infection would naturally be viewed with increased scrutiny and skepticism. Even if the locals realised that his choice was largely influenced by the fact that he was a fishing enthusiast, had no ulterior motives and could make use of the fact that he could work remotely outside of Tokyo to pursue his interest, it still took them some time to warm up to this stranger. The journey which the lead character went through was predictable and there wasn't a lot of "drama" in that sense. However, I thought that the story provided quite a lot of food for thought on various issues. 

One line which I thought was quite memorable and impactful goes something like this - "We in the Tohoku region have always looked to Tokyo as the capital for things like the hottest TV shows to watch and the songs we listen to. However, how many people in Tokyo actually pay the same kind of attention to us? You people can't even name the 6 prefectures in the Tohoku region, for heaven's sake. And then after the tsunami crisis, you people just came to volunteer for a while, take off after that and conveniently forgot about us." Wow, very blunt but I think really impactful message which KudoKan was trying to convey here.

- Suda Masaki was definitely the star of the show as an endearing and funny stranger in this countryside as he learned how to live among the locals. I really liked his pairing with Inoue Mao and the ending was a tad unconventional i.e. that flying hug but very sweet. You would probably like this movie a lot if you are a fan of them.

Disliked: 

- Although the movie as a whole had a nice vibe, I thought that there were some parts where the humour got a bit stale. Perhaps by making the pace a bit faster in the second half of the story and cutting out the fluff might make this even more enjoyable to watch.

Quick Review #127: Kawapperi Mukoritta (movie)

Title: Kawapperi Mukoritta / 川っぺりムコリッタ　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a slow and mild heartwarming story and/or are fans of the cast

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- The charm of this story lies in the mild but heartwarming developments in the second half of the movie where people who aren't related come together to offer one another comfort in their respective struggling lives. However, the movie didn't go big on theatrics or extremely emotional outbursts to be a tearjerker so it came across more like a gentle river flowing through.

- While the characters were clearly struggling with their respective circumstances and flaws, there were also parts which made them look more endearing and relatable to the audience. In this respect, I think that the cast of Matsuyama Kenichi, Muro Tsuyoshi, Mitsushima Hikari and Yoshioka Hidetaka were critical in making these characters look more appealing than they seemed on the surface. Also look out for some of the cameos who added a nice edge and surprise to the story at times.

Disliked: 

- It took a lot of patience and willpower not to give up on this halfway because the slow pacing was indeed a big deterrent. Coupled with the fact that the gloomy state of affairs added to the weight of the story, this is probably something you might not want to watch if you are feeling down or frustrated because it will get on your nerves. Moreover, the ending may bring a light smile to your face but I wouldn't call it gratifying enough to justify the "torture" from the first half of the movie.

- Much as the characters were endearing and quirky in their own ways, I thought that the movie painted them as rather one-dimensional so it was difficult to see why they behaved as they did. As such, I found that I couldn't really understand these characters enough to form an opinion about them and only remembered them more for their interpersonal interactions that were the highlight of this movie.

Quick Review #125: Sekai no chuushin de, Ai wo sakebu (movie)

Title: Sekai no chuushin de, Ai wo sakebu / 世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who like pure love stories and are fans of the cast especially Oosawa Takao and Nagasawa Masami

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

* I have watched the drama version starring Ayase Haruka & Yamada Takayuki.

Liked:

- While I do know of this movie from 21 years ago being such a huge hit back then and am familiar with the story since I did watch the drama version also from 2004, I never thought of watching this until I came across the MV of "Hitomi wo tojite" by Hirai Ken and was reminded of the fact that Oosawa was the lead. And so, since I'm on a Oosawa high these days, there was no longer a reason for me to skip this despite my reluctance to watch pure love stories.

The thing is, the drama version seemed more tilted towards the high school arc rather than the adult arc so I hardly remember what happened in the latter timeline. On the other hand, the movie tried to shuttle between both timelines repeatedly which I felt was a bit easier for me to stomach the film which was close to 2 hours and 20 minutes long. It also helped that Oosawa was featured very prominently in the adult arc. In particular, I really liked the nostalgia factor from the high school arc such as cassette tapes, song dedications on radio shows and the Walkman which were things from my childhood.

- Nagasawa Masami's acting was simply fantastic for a newbie which definitely explains why she won so many awards for her performance here. Especially in the scenes featuring her voice only in the tape recordings, there was so much emotion conveyed from those scenes despite not seeing her facial expressions or body language. If you are a fan of hers, you will definitely want to watch her in this movie. Her chemistry with Moriyama Mirai was also good, be it the lovey-dovey or the sad parts.

Disliked: 

- This is more of my personal view towards Saku (Oosawa) as an adult because his behaviour bothered me quite a lot. He was supposed to search for his missing fiancee Ritsuko (Shibasaki Kou) who had gone to his hometown without a word but seeing him being so caught up with his past emotions pining for a long-gone first love, I don't know how Ritsuko could still stomach this and go to Australia with him to visit the place that he and his first love failed to make it to. After realising this fact, I would definitely have wanted to take some time off the relationship and wait for both sides to be ready before moving on (be it together or separately). While some viewers may like this devotion towards Aki shown by Saku, I just couldn't see it in this manner.

- Due to the shuttling between both timelines, the good thing was that it helped to keep the story "fresh" but the transition was sometimes abrupt and awkward. Just when I was getting into the vibe, the scene changed to the other timeline. And it also didn't help that there was too much of the sorrow in the high school arc and too little of the initial lovey-dovey for Saku and Aki so the whole film felt so heavy in the emotional department coupled with the dark atmosphere in the adult arc. Not the type of movie you would want to watch when you aren't in the best of moods.

Quick Review #124: TANG (movie)

Title: TANG / タング　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of Ninomiya Kazunari and like to watch a light science fiction story set in the futuristic era

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel "Robot in the Garden".

Liked:

- As this movie was primarily focused on Ken (Ninomiya) and the robot Tang, you should be pretty satisfied with seeing a lot of Nino here. I also liked his interaction with Mitsushima Hikari who played his wife here. The acting from the both of them really helped to make this movie a lot more bearable for me at least. 

While Tang the robot didn't strike me as very endearing at first, it did grow on me over time as the film progressed which strangely enough, mirrored how Ken felt towards it. In this sense, I have to give the movie credit for making me feel this way.

Disliked: 

- The biggest issue I had was with the story which was predictable and quite uneventful. I do not know if the movie followed the original novel closely but the film felt pretty draggy at many junctures. The CG was a bit too much and overwhelming to show the futuristic vibe of the story. Moreover, the mad scientist part felt like an unwelcome distraction to me.

- The other problem was that the story did not delve deep enough into the characters to make me empathize with them or understand their actions. For starters, Ken's reluctance and inability to make decisions wasn't explained properly to justify his behaviour when faced with his own father's medical emergency. While I understood that he didn't want to continue being a doctor after his indecisiveness supposedly played a part in his father's death, the reason for this character trait wasn't addressed at all. There must have been something that triggered his lack of confidence in himself prior to that incident with his father but sad to say, the movie didn't give me this answer. And for his wife to bear with his downward spiral and loss of motivation in his life seemingly for an extended period of time, I would have appreciated a bit more insight into their relationship that could explain why she still tolerated this until she finally snapped.

- Despite having a pretty good lineup especially the three actresses Mitsushima, Nao and Ichikawa Mikako, I felt that they didn't get the opportunity to show their acting chops which was a great pity.

Quick Review #123: Strawberry Night (movie)

Title: Strawberry Night / ストロベリーナイト　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of the "Strawberry Night" series and the late Takeuchi Yuko, want to see the sizzling onscreen romance of Takeuchi & Oosawa Takao but don't mind the lacklustre suspense

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- Fans of the "Strawberry Night" series and Takeuchi would probably like this, even just for the nostalgia since this movie was from 12 years ago.

- My only motivation for watching this was Oosawa so in this sense, I was pretty satisfied to see his acting as a yakuza head who was deeply attracted to a police officer he should have steered clear of and the amount of airtime he had. The icing on the cake was the sizzling onscreen romance of his character with Takeuchi's Himekawa although that was meant to end in tragedy from the start.

Disliked: 

- Perhaps due to the onscreen romance being too eye-catching, I found the suspense element of the story pretty underwhelming in comparison. Not only was it not difficult to deduce what had happened, the way how things developed especially the parts that didn't make much sense during Himekawa's solo investigation operation made it difficult for me to immerse fully into the story. 

- While much had been talked about in the past about the so-called love triangle between the characters of Takeuchi, Oosawa and Nishijima Hidetoshi, it was obvious that Kikuta never stood a chance. If it had been that Kikuta did matter to Himekawa in the romantic sense, perhaps that would have made the romance part even more exciting to watch.

Quick Review #122: Shinkansen Daibakuha (movie)

Title: Shinkansen Daibakuha / 新幹線大爆破　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are in the mood for a Shinkansen version of the Hollywood classic "SPEED" and/or want to catch glimpses of your favourite actors in the cast

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Currently showing on Netflix

Liked:

- If you liked the Hollywood movie "SPEED" which featured Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock stuck on a bus which couldn't stop due to a bomb planted on it, this movie can be likened to a Shinkansen version of that film with even more lives at stake with the speed limit raised even higher. Since JR provided filming support, the reality factor was heightened and thus helped to accentuate the tension and intensity needed for such a movie.

Disliked: 

- The positioning of this movie was a big issue. I don't know whether to classify this as a remake, sequel or refresh of the first movie in 1975 but there were a lot of references to the case in that movie. It may come across bewildering to people who are unaware of this link or have never watched that movie. To have them keep harping on that while assuming that viewers are in the know - I thought that was a bad move and didn't allow me to enjoy the movie on its own.

- The story was also very flat in that the ultimate motive for the bombing was somewhat "childish" and "trivial". I had also read comments from viewers about how this was comparatively small-scale and hard to empathize with vs. what was the motive in the first movie i.e. a thinly-veiled criticism towards the societal problems brought about by the period of high economic growth in Japan at that time. It also didn't help that because there were so many characters in this movie, there simply wasn't enough time to delve further into their personal circumstances, mentality or motivations behind their actions. As such, it was really difficult to identify with the criminals' motives.

- The information overload and technicalities involved in this movie was rather hard to stomach. To begin with, the number of characters and their positions, the places which the Shinkansen moved to and past as well as other trains involved in the rescue process were a lot to take in and the captions and subtitles flew by so fast that I had to rewind many times to read them. And when they got started with using the technical terms in the control centre, I pretty much lost track of the plot and decided not to try to make sense of how they were trying to manipulate the other trains to save the Shinkansen in question. Unless you are in the know, I think it's hard not to feel alienated by the amount of technical information overload here.

- While the cast did boast quite a number of credible actors including Non who hasn't been seen in many big productions ever since her dispute with her old agency, I think the movie just didn't offer these actors enough room to work with and that was a big pity.

Quick Review #121: Wara no tate (movie)

Title: Wara no tate / 藁の盾　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who like action films by Miike Takashi and/or are fans of Oosawa Takao and Fujiwara Tatsuya

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I remember having watched this before in the cinema when it showed in Singapore 12 years ago but I didn't write a review back then.

Liked:

- If you are a fan of Oosawa and Fujiwara, chances are, you would be quite pleased to see them in this movie. I have been on a Oosawa-high after watching the "Kingdom" movie series so this film came at a perfect time for me because he had a lot of scenes as the lead and looked so good. As for Fujiwara, he had a meaty and difficult role and as usual, you can count on him to deliver a credible performance.

Disliked: 

- I think I've mentioned this before but perhaps, Miike Takashi's films just don't go down well with me. Those who like his style might think otherwise though. 

The biggest issue I find this time (even though this was my second time watching it) was how flat the story was. Perhaps this was why I didn't want to write a review back then even though I made the effort to watch this in the cinema for the sake of Oosawa and Fujiwara.

So much attention was put on the nationwide manhunt for a psychopath killer who was being escorted to Tokyo for questioning and to be honest, the action scenes were pretty good. However, the story did not give much insight into the characters who felt very one-dimensional and forgettable. It also did not delve as deep into the moral dilemma of duty vs. conscience & justice as implied in the PR captions What's more, the ending was kind of sloppy even though I liked the fact that Oosawa's character survived.

- I feel that female characters in such movies can be portrayed quite stereotypically and positioned as more of an afterthought so it wasn't surprising to see Matsushima's character having not much room for development. It was a pity though because she did undergo an image change for this role but it just didn't leave much of an impact and felt rather insignificant.

Quick Review #120: Gekijou (movie)

Title: Gekijou / 劇場　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who like bittersweet stories and are fans of Yamazaki Kento & Matsuoka Mayu

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original novel.

* Currently available on Amazon Prime (subject to geographical location)

Liked:

- The acting of the two leads is definitely the highlight of this movie. Yamazaki deviated from his usual youthful and largely positive screen image to play this unkept, lethargic and jaded character Nagata who leeched onto his girlfriend Saki played by Matsuoka. Honestly speaking, this couple didn't have any lovey-dovey scenes or even shared a kiss so there was hardly anything romantic about their relationship. Even so, it was easy to see from their acting how their mutual attraction was hard to pull apart despite both having a negative influence on each other. 

As Nagata tends to keep his emotions bottled up, Yamazaki had to do a lot of monologue to explain his thinking and actions but often in a toned-down and somewhat emotionless manner. I thought that he managed to show Nagata's state of mind pretty well through this movie although his fans might miss seeing his face and a more positive vibe here (hair covering most of his face, walking with a slouch at times and looking listless). On the other hand, Saki was very expressive and showed her emotions on her face at first but as she gradually withdrew inwards in fear of making Nagata unhappy and wanting to preserve their relationship, it was painful to see her change. Matsuoka did so well in conveying this transition and I really liked her scenes in the ending moments of this movie.

- The love story itself may have been quite predictable in the sense that there was no way this couple could have a happy ending because of the toxicity in their relationship. As such, if you liked "La La Land", you might feel satisfied with the ending here. 

While it may be easy to see Saki as the sole victim, I think it did work both ways for them. She was unable to stand up for herself so that allowed Nagata to take liberties with her and gradually make her clam up and not speak her mind. Likewise, Nagata may have appeared as a shameless leech at times but deep down, he probably minds this fact more so than anyone else and blamed Saki for being too soft on him yet being too caring at times which put unseen pressure on him. It was painful to see how much they were tormenting each other yet not letting go because they were stuck to each other like magnet opposites.

Disliked: 

- The length of this movie could have been shortened to fit within 2 hours and the pace made much faster. While things started off pretty quickly, it slowed down so much from the point Nagata started living with Saki right till the end. I'm sure the audience would have understood how painful and toxic their relationship became so I wondered if it was necessary to prolong our suffering by seeing their interactions dragged out like this. Especially in the parts when Nagata was being a total jerk, it really made me quite annoyed and I had the urge to fast forward through those scenes.

Quick Review #119: Kingdom IV Daishogun no kikan (movie)

Title: Kingdom IV Daishogun no kikan / キングダム IV　大将軍の帰還　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8.5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who have watched the first three movies and/or are fans of Ouki / Oosawa Takao

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.

* Currently available on Netflix (subject to geographical location)

Liked:

- If you are a fan of Ouki / Oosawa Takao, this movie feels like it's a tribute dedicated to him and way long overdue because he didn't get much airtime in Parts 1 and 2. The sub title also reflects the emphasis on this character i.e. Ouki's return to the battlefield despite being "retired" for a while and his subsequent "return" to the capital city after the fierce battle at Bayo. Not only did Oosawa get to display his physical prowess and fighting skills of Ouki in this installment (apparently, the battle scenes of Ouki vs. Houken took 5 to 6 days to film according to Oosawa himself in an interview), the softer parts in this character such as the strength of his firm beliefs, his astute judgement as to who was a worthy king to serve, wittiness and humour right till the end and his tenderness reserved for one woman only all made Ouki such a legendary and charismatic character. No wonder Oosawa won the best supporting actor award for his performance in this movie at the Nippon Academy Awards this year!

On one hand, although I am sad to see the demise of Ouki, I actually am happy at the same time. Since the PR slogan of this movie claims that it's the finale in the series (although the story is far from finished), that means Oosawa doesn't have to put on weight and lose weight again in a short period of time for this role again. As to how much longer the Kingdom series will last or when the next sequel is coming, it probably won't affect Oosawa since Ouki will only appear in flashbacks. I cannot imagine how tough it must have been for him to do this 4 times during the past few years when he filmed this movie and acted in other productions at the same time such as "Chinmoku no kantai".

- In order to accentuate Ouki's greatness, I think Kikkawa Koji's Houken provided a great contrast in terms of the nerve-wrecking fighting scenes between both generals, screen presence and the subtle emotions they showed. While Houken had the physical wounds to show for his defeat at Ouki's hands 9 years ago, the emotional damage that Houken dealt to Ouki by killing Kyou may have been unseen but was equally, if not deeper. Although there was no "outburst" so as to speak, the simmering emotions underneath their facades were very evident and compelling.

- As compared to Oosawa who dominated much of this installment, Yamazaki Kento "suffered" a lot more because he was so badly beaten up by Houken and didn't have much room to show off his fighting skills this time. However, Shin's growth in terms of his character and maturity as a leader was unmistakable as he learnt a lot from observing a great general like Ouki and practical experience on the battlefield. In this regard, I thought Yamazaki made up for the lack of action and supplemented it with the emotional growth of Shin.

- Although I was concerned that this movie might end at a middle-of-nowhere juncture before the next installment comes along (if there is one), I think it was good that the story stopped at a good point where those who survived reinforced their resolutions and beliefs to realise their dreams and those who supposedly won step back to prepare for the next battles while mindful that this is not the end. Otherwise, it would have been terrible to have a cliffhanger ending that hardly matched the PR slogan of this being the end (tentative) of the movie series.

Disliked: 

- While Araki Yuuko's Kyou may be the key female character in this part, the tough side of her character didn't resonate so much with me unlike the first three parts where the ladies showed a fine balance of toughness and tenderness and were very attractive (not just looks but the aura they displayed). However, Kyou's softer feminine side especially while in front of Ouki and when she revealed how she was the one who "proposed" to him were really endearing and cute to watch. I have no idea if Araki was a match for the character's image in the original manga or what was the exact age difference between Kyou and Ouki (online research tells me a variety of answers between 10+ and 20+) so it kind of bothered me a bit to see Araki put together with Oosawa. As such, it might have been good to have Ouki's perspective on why he liked Kyou enough to take her proposal seriously because I doubt he would have been a man who would be casual on who he would pick as worthy enough to be his wife. 

- Same grouse as in Part 3 - some characters were still under-utilized and very much flash-and-go. Oguri Shun's character looks like he's here to stay for a while but where did Yamada Yuuki go? And will there be someone to rival Houken in time to come because I cannot imagine Shin matching up to him in terms of strength as yet. And Hashimoto Kanna's Ten...is anything going to happen anytime soon? Or else I have the feeling that she's hanging around but nothing really ever happens with her character. And Tamaki Hiroshi is supposed to be some brilliant military advisor so his moment to shine is yet to come. The somehow-looking-evil chancellor played by Sato Koichi also needs some airtime to prove his worth. Welcome back, Nagasawa Masami but two scenes is hardly enough. 

- Come to think of it, why do the ladies in the military or who did fighting scenes dress like Western gladiators with quite a lot of skin exposure (not concerned about getting injured on your limbs?) while the guys seem to be covered all up in their armours (well, except for Ouki who showed off arms and allow glimpses of his pumped up chest)? And don't get me started on the feathers around Oguri's neck...so distracting! Is it also a common trait for the commanders to stand out with colours, long hair or even permed hair in that era?

Quick Review #118: Kingdom III Unmei no honoo (movie)

Title: Kingdom III Unmei no honou / キングダム III　運命の炎　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who have watched the first two movies and/or are fans of the cast especially Oosawa Takao, Yoshizawa Ryo and An

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.

* Currently available on Netflix (subject to geographical location)

Liked:

- Finally! For those who want to see more of Ouki / Oosawa Takao, it had been such a long wait because he finally appeared more and spoke a lot more in this movie. While he hasn't really shown his physical skills on the battlefield yet, the Ouki in Part 3 was portrayed as someone who is a shrewd strategist and good at deploying his men and leading them in the mental sense. In addition, he finally looked like a human with emotions brewing within despite his nonchalant calmness on the surface. As such, if you like Oosawa Takao, you will probably be pretty satisfied with this installment. From the size of his image on the poster, I think that was a telling sign of the significance of his role in this part as well.

- While Yoshizawa Ryo kind of faded into the background in Part 2, this installment finally explained the reason for his motivation to unify China and thrust him back into the limelight. From the pattern so far, it looks like there will be a central female character featured in each installment - Part 1: Nagasawa Masami's Youtanwa and Part 2: Seino Nana's Kyoukai. That was probably why in the first half of Part 3, An's role Shika and her influence on Eisei were featured very prominently, albeit short. I don't know the age setting of Shika and Eisei at this point in time but I thought Yoshizawa and An had very good chemistry in those few scenes and showed the strong bond between their characters with a tinge of romantic vibe (just my feeling though). Just too bad that it was a tragic ending for them.

- In the second half of Part 3, Seino Nana's return as Kyoukai and her strengthening relationship and comradeship with Shin (Yamazaki Kento) was definitely the highlight. Both of them also showed an improvement in their fighting skills and movements here. 

Disliked: 

- While I liked the portions of Part 3 which tried to fill in the blanks and develop the characters more by showing their background stories or their inner thoughts, the Bayo battle was kind of unbelievable and somewhat tiring to watch towards the end. This was because Shin's squad Hishintai was largely made up of peasants and for the small team of 100 to be able to take on a massive troop of supposedly trained soldiers, it felt really impossible. I get it that Shin definitely had to overcome this seemingly insurmountable barrier in order to head for greater achievements but still, the realist in me didn't quite like how the situation panned out.

- I wonder if at least half of the Japanese entertainment industry showed up for this movie but I'm truly amazed by the number of actors and lineup introduced so far. The problem is, with so many characters and just a 2hr+ movie to work with, it is inevitable that most of them hardly get a chance to shine or show what they are capable of. For example, Sato Koichi and Tamaki Hiroshi appeared since Part 2 but to be honest, they just looked like superficial villains at the moment since there was hardly any explanation and insight into their actions so far. Likewise, the fleeting shots of new characters played by Yamada Yuuki, Kikkawa Koji, Yamamoto Koji or Oguri Shun felt like a teaser which I'm not sure whether it may lead to anything significant in Part 4 and beyond.

- It annoys me to a certain extent to have to switch between the subtitle languages at times because the furigana is sometimes missing from the names in Kanji flashed on the screen and in the Japanese subtitles when a character appears for the first time. If I want to know how that name is pronounced, I have to return to the English version so it causes a bit of time loss for me and impedes my momentum in watching the film. Given the number of characters in this series and their mind-boggling positions/titles, knowing how their names are pronounced at least helps me distinguish between them. I could have stuck to the English subs throughout but I was also bothered by some translation issues here and there so I would have rather watched the movie with the Japanese subs.

Quick Review #117: Kingdom II Harukanaru daichi e (movie)

Title: Kingdom II Harukanaru daichi e / キングダム II　遥かなる大地へ　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who have watched the first movie and want to know what happened next and/or are fans of the cast especially Yamazaki Kento, Seino Nana and Oosawa Takao

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.

* Currently available on Netflix (subject to geographical location)

Liked:

- Compared to the first movie, this sequel clearly had lots more going on despite the fact that the battle technically only lasted a couple of days. However, the scale of the battle scenes, majestic landscape shots in line with the sub title as well as the obvious growth in Shin's character and physical skills made this more interesting to watch. The thing is, you probably need to watch the first movie to see the key differences and improvements. While there was a summary in the beginning to refresh your memory of Part 1, I think that might not make much sense if you are jumping straight into Part 2.

- Considering the fact that Part 2 was shot in Japan and China over a long period of time and had to be scaled down due to the shooting period coinciding with the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021, I would give a high score to this movie for the effort alone. While CG could probably account for the aerial shots of large armies, there would probably still be a need to gather many extras to play the soldiers on both sides along with horses and chariots. It could not have been easy to film in such locations too where the weather conditions should be pretty tough. The fighting sequences were definitely more refined than Part 1 especially Yamazaki Kento who seemed much more skillful as Shin in the span of 6 months (based on the movie's storyline) and Seino Nana (if she did all those scenes herself) was truly brilliant.

- Although Yamazaki didn't stand out too much in Part 1 compared to Yoshizawa Ryo, he definitely led Part 2 well with marked improvements in the action scenes and Shin evolving to be someone who started to think more rather than act rashly. The hidden star of Part 2 is actually Seino though. It would not be an understatement to say that her character Kyoukai stood out more than anyone else and I hope to see her again in the future installments of this series.

Disliked: 

- I have to admit, I started to watch "Kingdom" solely for the sake of Oosawa Takao. It was very disappointing to see that he finally appeared in Part 2 with only 30 mins left to the end. Much as I think he still left an impact on the story as well as in Shin who realised his inadequacies and needed to learn to become a great general, I simply didn't get enough Ouki in this movie. 

I also wondered - why is that the rest of the generals were all covered up in their armour suits but Ouki was showing off his chest and arm muscles like that? While I don't mind seeing a beefed up Oosawa, I just felt odd that Ouki stood out in such a manner. And his hairstyle somehow seemed to be a bit too long for a general and would get in the way during battle. Oh well, maybe that's how the manga designed him to be.

- Likewise, some of the characters who stood out in Part 1 such as Nagasawa Masami only appeared in the summary section. Yoshizawa as the King stayed in the palace all the time so there was hardly any action from him. Hashimoto Kanna also "stayed home" but I imagine that Ten will become a military strategy advisor in time to come (as proclaimed at the end of Part II) since she's not really built physically for the warfare. I'm not sure if these characters (except Eisei) will be featured more prominently in Parts III and IV but given the endless stream of new characters popping up, I'm concerned that they might not get a chance to shine again.

- Frankly speaking, since I do not know the manga's storyline, I do not know what to expect. If the story stays true to history, then this will be a journey where the Qin kingdom (pronounced as Shin in Japanese) had to conquer all the remaining states. Part II only covers Wei (Gi) so it will be a long way till the end before Eisei achieves his goal of unifying China. It remains to be seen if future installments are all about the conquests or would feature more in terms of battle of wits plus Shin's development to become a great figure one day.

Quick Review #116: Kingdom I (movie)

Title: Kingdom I / キングダム I　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who like historical-action films, fans of the cast or the original manga

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.

* For the sake of easy reference, I have added a number to the title here to differentiate this from the sequels in the Kingdom real-life movie series.

* Currently available on Netflix (subject to geographical location)

Liked:

- While I may not have read the original manga, the fact that the story was based on the Warring States era in Chinese history helped to maintain a certain level of reality amid the fictitious elements that may come across as a bit exaggerated and far-fetched. For those who know about this turbulent period in Chinese history, be it a little or a lot, this pre-knowledge will almost certainly come in useful to understand the historical setting of the movie. As such, I was able to "get into" the story easily thanks to this prior knowledge I had about that era.

- As per a blockbuster production, there were so many cast members - many of whom should be pretty familiar and well-known faces even to international audiences. To be honest, Yamazaki Kento may be the lead but due to the fact that Shin had just barely evolved from a rash young man free from the shackles of being a slave to one fighting for a cause, it will probably take some time in the subsequent sequels for him to develop into a charismatic character in his journey to become a great general. In contrast, Yoshizawa Ryo probably had a bit more room in this movie to go deeper into the emotions of his characters since he played two characters of vastly different circumstances.

On the other hand, the supporting characters stood out way more despite limited screen time for some. For one, Oosawa Takao's acting as Ouki left such a strong impact on me, not just in terms of how he bulked up to project that menacing look with a lot of screen presence but also his aura as a military leader and his ability to make Ouki look like a fine blend of evil and righteousness. 

Likewise, Nagasawa Masami's acting as Youtanwa was so eye-catching because of how she appeared credible as a leader of the Mountain Tribe and looked so charismatic. Her costume looked a bit too Western and out of place though in that era since it resembled more of something you might see in Western movies about European gladiators.

- The action sequences were better than I expected. Given that there was an element of fantasy in this historical story, I was a bit concerned about how the action scenes may seem comical and unrealistic if the characters all looked like they had supernatural powers. Fortunately, the action scenes were largely sleek and smooth to watch especially those where Yamazaki and Yoshizawa appeared in. That could be due to the fact that Shin and Hyou self-trained with the "wooden swords" and became skilled swordsmen through years of hard work. In contrast, there were scenes from people like Ouki who used his weapon and strength to send people literally flying - this might seem a bit too fantastical to some.

Disliked: 

- Given that this movie functioned more like an introduction to the Kingdom series and had a lot of background explaining to do, there wasn't really much room for story developments that could surprise or wow the audience. As we already know by now, there are already 4 movies to date in the series so it's a given that Shin won't die no matter what happens and Eisei will live to unite China one day. In this sense, the predictability might be a bit boring for some but it's still necessary to sit through this for the sake of making sense of the sequels ahead.