Abe Sadao grew up in Aomori as a child who loved disassembling things to see how they worked and wanted to work continue living in Tokyo until he had an omiai with old classmate Kanno Miho. Anyone would forget Tokyo to live as an apple farmer with Kanno Miho. Turns out that Kanno Miho has allergic reactions to pesticide used on the apple trees and Abe Sadao begins his quest to find a way to grow apples without pesticides.
WHAT I LIKED
- Abe Sadao and Kanno Miho. I'd watch anything with them on it.
- You can't really go wrong with the underdog story.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
- Despite Kiseki no Ringo being the closing movie of JFF2013, I had a feeling that it was going to be one of those by the numbers movies. The story beats, the dialogue, the challenges all seem so familiar and uninspired. They've taken an interesting story and 'Disneyfied' it turning it into a fairy tale.
Comparing this with The Great Passage, feels inspired while one feels overly manipulative with constant use of rising ochestral soundtrack. Both admittedly have perfect wives but The Great Passage is exciting because it shows you the mundane while Kiseki no Ringo is mundane because it tries too hard to make it exciting.
SUMMARY
A jmovie aiming for to be a feelgood movie the lowerst common denominator. Meh. I wouldn't have watched it if not for the Japanese subs cause the Aomori-ben is so thick.
Link is an ambitious WOWOW dorama about a bunch of people who are connected to bank robbery. You have Omori Nao (who was awesome in The Ravine of Goodbye) as a former policeman now bodyguard, Tanaka Rena as an OL working for said bank, Mimura as a nurse, Tamayama Tetsuji as a teacher, Kinpachi sensei as a politician aspiring to be the Prime Minister and Ayano Gou as the mysterious Sean.
Link starts off really interesting as we slowly get to see how the various characters connect to one another. The only thing I wasn't sure of was the Ayano Gou character and his mumbo jumbo about creating another facebook and how his weird storyline would link everyone together.
WHAT I LIKED
- All the characters having to make tough decisions of doing the right thing and the personal sacrifices that it cost them.
- Did I mention OL Tanaka Rena and Mimura as a nurse? I really liked Mimura's performance. Tanaka Rena not so much. I used to think she was a good actress but all the dorama acting has been mediocre to bad.
- The final Kinpachi sensei politician twist. Would have been even better twist if the dorama didn't hinge on Ayano Gou's character. Kinpachi sensei's character needed a lot more screentime.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
- Way too preachy. Some of the lines are way to expositionary and spell everything out matter of factly. Obvious lack of invisible exposition is a sure sign of a bad writer.
- Ayano Gou should not have been the connecting character so to speak. Everyone on this show makes difficult life changing decisions and the star should have been Kinpachi sensei's politician. This show should have been more about him doing whatever is necessary because the ends justifies the means versus the other characters who are about doing the right thing regardless of cost.
This should have been the crux of the dorama instead of the people are connected sos facebook wannabe crap. Link tries to present it that way but it could have been done way better especially without the emphasis on Ayano Gou. In the end, he was only connected to three characters.
- Don't security guards have a code of ethics in regards to client privacy? Its not like Kinpachi sensei killed anyone or molested a child. Is anyone surprised a politician accepts illegal loans?
SUMMARY
Link shot for the stars like Lady Joker but the script is not smart enough and falters. I enjoyed most of it until the last episode when it fell apart though Ayano Gou's shadow hung like guillotine over the series' ending from the get go. I'd rather watch WOWOW try and fail than another idoru dorama though. Watchable up to last episode.
As the title suggests its the story of Yokomichi Yonosuke (Kora Kengo), this earnest, carefree and awkward university student from Kyushu and the various people he had an impact on during his uni days. He is, as Yoshitaka Yuriko's character Shoko puts it,
WHAT I LIKED
- Kora Kengo not playing a serial killer for once.
- Awesome cast and acting. Yoshitaka Yuriko, Ito Ayumi, Ayano Gou and Asakura Aki. Kora Kengo really becomes Yonosuke through his posture, awkward mannerisms and very obvious facial expression. Very different from his usual characters.
- Yoshitaka Yuriko as the truly kawaii and pure ojousan. Moe~~~~~~
- Pretty funny movie.
- Did I mention Yoshitaka Yuriko is so cute?
- Ito Ayumi as the mysterious older woman.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
- There wasn't really a conclusion or a point to the story for me. Its like the movie is saying Yonosuke had a positive influence on all these people's lives and that's it.
OVERALL
Enjoyable but forgettable.
THE GREAT PASSAGE
I actually fell asleep and missed the showing. Luckily I already had the 8thsin subbed version. At least I already bought the tickets to clear what little there is left of my conscience. The Great Passage reminds me of one of the reasons why I started watching jdoramas in the first place; when they take a seemingly menial job and show you how difficult and important it is and in this movie's case its the making of a dictionary.
Its not something that I think about though I use Japanese to English dictionaries on a daily basis and there are a bunch of mistakes and explanations can be a bit vague and I have trouble discerning multiple words with the same meaning. The most striking thing from The Great Passage is how difficult it is and how much time it takes to compile and edit a dictionary, especially one on paper where you can update or correct it. Not to mention the ever changing Japanese language and slangs that continue to pop up.
Don't need to rave about the steller cast as you can already see it from the poster. The Great Passage is a great feel good, crowd pleasing movie about the unappreciated department of a publishing company that never gets oversentimental. A must watch movie.
So ends the Japanese Film Festival for me and I'm going to get Library Wars from the interwebs. My only regret is not watching Summer's End instead of The Apology King. Mitsushima Hikari, I'm sorry for choosing Abe Sadao over you. :( Hope Summer's End shows up online soon. Ayano Gou and Namakemono-san who are in Summer's End are in the two movies I watched today. Thanks to the JFF people for organising such a great line up. The only other movie on my list to watch is Koreeda's Like Father, Like Son.
KANATA NO KO
OMFG. The director of The Ravine of Goodbye in a WOWOW series with Arata and Matsushima Hikari!!! Not familiar with the main actress Sakai Maki. Looks like she was in Big Wing but I've exorcised all memory of that horrible dorama from my memory. Looks like its hasn't been torrented at d-addicts yet.
Let's great straight to the important bits. You get to see a lot of Maki's Yoko's boobs including a very nice sideboobs from behind. No nipples though. Did I mention that there are quiet a few sex scenes? Now that I have convinced most of you to watch this movie, let's take a quick look at what this movie has to offer besides Maki Yoko.
Kanako (Maki Yoko) and Ozaki are a married couple living in this rural town. One day, their next door neighbour is arrested on suspicion of killing her child and the media descend upon the sleepy town. Among them are reporters played by Omori Nao (Ex-cop from Link which I'll review next week) and Suzuki Anne. The husband Ozaki is suspected by the police of having something to do with the child's death and the two reporters dig into Ozaki's path and find out that Kanako and Ozaki are not your usual couple.
The haunting ending song Saisakizaka written by Shiina Ringo.
The Ravine of Goodbye is an excellent character drama with a dark subject matter. Like The Devil's Path, it is an unfliching look at what people are capable of and explores themes of crime, guilt, forgiveness and other dark emotions. Unlike the Devil's Path, its not just the characters' whose past are being explored that are interesting but also the two reporters themselves who represent the audience's POV. Instead of being straightforward blank slates, their reactions to the information that they uncover is very powerful. I really love Suzuki Anne's performance when the two reporters have their discussion about crimes and victims at an izakaya.
Compared to Orpheus' Lyre, The Ravine of Goodbye just blows the acting away. Not that Hirosue Ryoko wasn't good but the acting from the four principal actors in The Ravine of Goodbye is just so raw and nuanced. Its like comparing your typical jdorama to a WOWOW production. Maki Yoko's role is the type of meaty role that any actress would gladly show skin to play. Its not often you get to see such a complex character in a difficult relationship.
Riveting movie with great performances that will stay with you past the ending. Hopefully a rip will come out soon cause I want to watch it again, not just for Maki Yoko sex scenes. I want to do a spoiler review because there's so much to talk about in this movie but thete's no point atm as 99% of readers are not able to see it. Must watch from me.
PROJECT MIRAI 2
Fedex finally delivered. Got a call from complaints guy saying its their busy period and the bullshit attempted deliveries were done by contracted couriers which I suspected. If their cue card reading customer support would have told me that, I would not have been pissed off. I in fact asked customer service whether it was a contract driver that attempted my delivery and was told no.
Came with bonus study book for me to practice my kanji writing.
At the beginning of Orpheus' Lyre, we see Hirosue Ryoko and Inagaki Goro at their funeral of their daughter. Then we get a 10 minute flashback of this once happy family as we wait to see how their daughter, Kanako meets her demise. Hirosue Ryoko's character has a hard time dealing with the loss and tries to hang herself and the first ever first person suicide attempt I've ever seen on film.
The mother survives and begins to go off the reservation by imagining that Kanako is there. Inagaki Goro tries to get her to see reason, but Hirosue Ryoko is in full denial mode including not going to her daughter's grave. One night, she runs into Fukuda Mayuko who plays a pregnant teenager who is hiding the identity of the father. Hirosue Ryoko befriends this teenager but it seems she has ulterior motives.
First off, happy to finally get a good movie at the Japanese Film Festival. Not must watch but very solid throughout. The acting from Hirosue Ryoko and Fukuda Mayuko is of course excellent. I like that Hirosue Ryoko doesn't play her character as crazy but rather as someone who believes in certain things. Inagaki Goro doesn't do anything bad but he's just there for budget reasons. The camera work is beautiful, inventive and fun. I like how the chapters/time jumps are bookmarked and there are a lot of slow panning camera shots that keep it from looking like a dorama special.
Towards the end, I was thinking it would be better if they had left things for uncertain but the final payoff at the end sealed the deal for me. Solid movie missing something from being a must watch but no complaints from me at all.
I need to rant about useless Fedex. Was supposed to receive Project Mirai 2 on Monday from Play-Asia according to tracking. Fedex deliveries usually arrives at my workplace around 2pm. Nothing arrives. Alarm bells start ringing and I give Fedex a call. Assured that it would delivered by 6pm. 5.45 tracking says courier tried to deliver. Fucking bullshit.
I work at a Federal Building and the delivery entrance is always open with a security guard.
Called today after 3 and was told that delivery might have been attempted today and that she would call me back. Guess what? No call back. Called again and after some diging was told that courier tries to deliver at 9.30 today although it doesn't show up on tracking. Worst bullshit I've ever heard.
Worse is the customer service from cue card reading people who aren't even listening. I work at a public building in the CBD with security in front that can get my parcel for me and a delivery entrance at the side. What part of there is no fucking way someone tried to deliver my package do they not understand?
Sounds to me like couriers not doing their jobs and just skipping deliveries but claiming they tried. Fuck Fedex. I remember this happening once before but no more Fedex for me. Used to be able to get stuff from Play-Asia by Fedex in 3 days but I'd rather get Australia Post to deliver rather than getting dicked around by this courier company that has gone from good to bad. Fuck Fedex.
I can't really make up my mind about The Devil's Path. The movie starts off with this yakuza Sudo doing bad things to a few people before he gets captured. One day, reporter Fuji played by Yamada Takayuki receives a letter from Sudo who is one death row. Sudo claims to have commited even more murders for this person called 'Sensei' who is living large while Sudo is awaiting death.
Fuji starts investigating Sudo's claims and this sensei person played awesomely by Lily Franky aka the bad old dude from Moteki. Never realised what his name was until I noticed the name at the credits of this movie despite having seen his work many times. I didn't see no caucasian lady in this movie. The more Fuji investigates, the more we see what Sensei's plans were and be prepared for a morbid movie about people's ability to do evil.
Performances are great especially Lily Franky as sensei and Ikewaki Chizuru too brief appearances as Fuji's wife who has to deal with his elderly mother while Fuji obsesses with the case. The movie feels too long but I never felt bored. It just never brought me to the edge of my seat. Probably because the whole movie can be reduced to a scam and while there may be deeper themes The Devil's Path wants to explore like treatment of the elderly and righteous indignation of others' sins at the expense of one's own, its only skin deep.
The Devil's Path wasn't the gripping dark movie I was hoping but I didn't mind it. Morbidly watchable.
The first 2/3rds of The Apology King is freaking brilliant. Abe Sadao steals the show as the guy who runs the Tokyo Apology Center, helping people apologise. The Apology King presents the stories as five separate cases. The first story has Inoue Mao as this Japanese who lived abroad who has trouble apologising and becomes Abe Sadao's right hand woman. The second is a funny sekuhara story with Ono Machiko and the third is about a divorced celebrity couple with the wife played by Matsuyuki Matsuko (Mother). The fourth case, well I won't spoil that.
All three stories were hilariously funny with laughs every minute and event intersected against one another. Then we get to the five story which is about this fictional country of Mantan and that's where the comedy started grinding to a halt for me. First of all, Abe Sadao and Inoue Mao are hardly in the last story. Its their comedic chemistry that is the center of this movie.
Secondly, they could have told the audience the information about what happened and the few jokes as well about Mantan in half the time. This is one of the rare instances I wish someone had gone Harvey Weinstein on a movie. Someone needed to tell the editor that this wasn't a character dorama. If there are hardly any jokes, speed things along and Abe Sadao should never be off screen for more than 3 minutes. They could have easily done most of the Mantan thing in flashback with a lot of fat cut off.
Thirdly, the jokes come from whatever bullshit custom the writers make up about Mantan whereas the first four stories are things that happen, albeit in a much more exaggerated way. The first four stories are taking everyday stuff ie suicides, press conferences are putting them through this absurd microscope. The final Mantan story just drags and drags because really, its only interesting purpose is to tie all five stories together.
Too bad it took what feels like half to movie to get to the end. By the time the music came around, we was dejected. Similar to Blindly in Love, The Apology King is stuck between two movies. Most of the movie is a funny satire on the act of apologising in Japanese society and the third act is trying to be some crowd pleasing generic comedy complete with music video credits. The Apology King makes fun of so much relevant stuff like putting on a show apologising to the general public is more important than the victim. They even made fun of Erika-sama's 'betsu ni' incident although no one in the crowd laughed. We need an Abe Sadao and Inoue Mao Apology King dorama series. In trying to hard to have this great punchline, the writer sort of forgot that its the story leading to the punchline that is more important. Such a waste of potential.
Edit: Fark. Deeply regretting not going to see Mitsushima Hikari and Namakemono in Summer's End instead.
SHIELD OF STRAW
My expectations were low based on comments from those who have seen it. I just wanted to see whether Miike could pull of a modern action movie after butchering Ryu ga Gotoku and he's done a decent job. Its basically the story of Jin sensei and Matsushima Nanako tasked with bringing suspected pedophile killer played by Fujiwara Tatsuya from Fukuoka to Tokyo after the rich grandfather of the victim puts a 1 billion yen bounty of the killer's head.
With so much money at stake, no one is to be trusted and as Jin sensei says, its not random John Doe he fears but people who are have been trained to kill ie police. Dialogue could use some polish but things but quickly enough that I didn't dwell on it too much. The aim of the story is to show the price that people pay to do the right thing and make the audience question what they would have done and it did just that.
There is a scene involving a charging truck that I was happy with cause Miike did not have the money to do a wide money shot so he had to resort to close shots and most importantly he did not use cheap CGI aka Yamato. If you don't have the budget screw money shots as long as the audience can follow the action and things are spatially correct.
There are two things that were too contrived for me. The identity of the driver of the car they hijacked and alarm bells not even going off for Jin sensei at the climax with the dangerous object when he's suppose to this really good SP and not to mention his stupid method of disarming an attacker. Overall it was ok. Needed more Fujiwara Tatsuya as the evil killer. Watchable.
Edit: Two thoughts. Jin sensei probably had the strongest justification to kill Fujiwara Tatsuya near the end but he would have lost himself. I guess SP training is more about protection than neutralising the threat.
IDOLING!!!
Turns out the song that they sang during their mini-live in Odaiba is I'd Ring not Idoling. lol.
35 year old public servant Kentaro, has no friends, lives with his parents and his only hobbies are playing Rumble Fish 2, saving his money and his pet frog. His parents join this matchmaking thing between parents and somehow Kentaro ends up meeting with the blind Naoko (Kaho).
THE GOOD
- Seeing Kaho on the big screen. :)
- Very good supporting cast with Osugi Ren and Kuroki Hitomi playing Kaho's parents.
- Pretty funny, especially Kentaro's parents.
- The first half plays like this slow burning character based movie.
THE BAD
- Instead of going the character study route, its goes the more generic romantic comedic/soap opera route. Kaho's character is so underdeveloped and there's a lot that Blindly in Love can talk about in terms of the similarities between the two characters. Can't blame them for going the safe route but meh.
- The Yoshinoya scene should have been the ending but they wanted the pay off for the frog thing which I thought was unnecessary. More character stuff, especially looking at whether both parent's enabled their children's reliance with the Yoshinoya scene would have been better. Even the yariman could have used more screen time.
- Kaho's parents' subplot being unresolved.
THE UGLY
- Having a strong desire to eat some real gyudon and wishing I were back in Japan. I want Tokyo Chikara Meshi gyuyakinikudon right now. :(
SUMMARY
- Crowd pleasing movie with good acting and an uneven third act. I just feel it could have been much more and I'd rather they tried and fail than play safe. Watchable.
Edit: Forgot to mention these two ladies who would not stop talking even when the movie started. Dude next to them told them to be quiet and the women instead of keeping quiet answered him and told him to shut up. Dude overeacted and got physical, had to be moved to different seat but people who talk in cinemas annoy me.
Finally got a 3DS LL. Was very tempted last trip but I didn't really need the upgrade for Bravely Default. The Project Mirai 2 demo gave me reason to upsize. 3DS is too uncomfortable for music games. Should receive PD2 on Monday. : )
3DS streetpass makes travelling Japan fun. There's only one region left in Japan on my streetpass map to go. Finally got over 1000 miis in my plaza!
Not a One Piece fan but graphics look good. Plays like Sengoku Musou.
Ended up getting the 3DS slide pad for One Piece. Its uncomfortable cause the second stick is to the right of the buttons instead of above of below it. Tried it with the Bio Hazard demo and it works better with the shoulder buttons. 3DS should have two sticks like the Vita.
Cheap 2nd hand one missing the club Nintendo points. Need to redeem my points before they expire.
I spent over a 100 hours on Zero no Kiseki Evolution. Can't wait for Ao no Kiseki Evolution next year.
Could not stand the pathetic battle system from the first game but I cannot resist being able to walk around a virtual Akiba.
Another generic gimmicky Tony Taka game? cough Shining Ark. After Zero no Kiseki, a need an old school JRPG with simpler dialogue. Unfortunately not fully voiced and its got this stupid kissing element in order to unleash special moves.
Yes, Tony Taka games have gone from pulling swords from breasts to kissing in the midde of battle. The bad news is that there are male party members for female gamers.
At least you can turn off the kissing minigame for dudes. Not sure if it means automatic max damage. As long as I can finish the game without any dude on dude action, who cares.
My first Scandal poster.
Cannot resist polystone figures...
Rakuten Eagles championship shirt.
Shingeki no Kyoujin shirt. Took me a whole day to find the LL brown version in Akiba.
30000円 worth right there. Sony should just release a 128GB card. Considered going digital for my Vita games but I need the space for PS1 and PSP games though now I've got a 32 and 64 Gb card. Having all my games digitally on two cards would be easier than swapping around and be enough in terms of space.
Vita card holder.
And of course my two calenders, Sambomaster, Scandal and Gundam Front shirts which I covered previously.
Went to Hello Project Shop building at 11, went up to the 6th floor and found out it opens at 12. WTF.
Had half a mind to go to Shosen Book Tower but I had to buy it straight from the HP! shop. Emded up at Tokyo Chikara Meshi for the lovely gyuyakinikudon which is super cheap and delicious.
Was very surprised at the A3ish size. I was thinking budget cut since she has graduated.
The calender folds out so its not that small.
Best of all, two pages per month instead of the usual one big sheet for every two months.
Mano Erina calenders have always neen consistantly good.
And I will keep buying as long as she keeps making them.
She looks better with long hair but its all for the Patlabor movie.
HP! shop pics to posts behind.
Hope Mano Erina finds success in her acting but I'd rather she be singing.
As bonus I got two photos! Michishige Sayumi! Thank the jpop gods I waited and hour to buy fom the HP! shop.
