Zíza

In the end, you have before you a completely ordinary film that is certainly not interesting in subject matter or portrayal. It's true that the three most important characters were well cast, but Oguri Shun is also almost always a safe bet, and the young actors tried really hard; Kitamura still has a ways to go, but Hamabe gave a very decent performance. The most interesting part of all this, though, is just its weird title. It's not a very memorable film, but it doesn't hurt to watch it.

An uninteresting, superficial take on an alien invasion that comes across as considerably sunny. A lot of things didn't make sense to me, unfortunately I didn't like any of the characters and barely finished the first season. I pretty much walked away completely bored after watching it, and I'm hoping that the next alien invasion I see will be more entertaining.

The kind of show where a new boss (here a female boss) joins a new workplace and in the end they win her over and she wins them over. We're in a journalism environment, so of course there will be all sorts of scandalous revelations that will clash with what JBC management wants. Occasionally. What's good here is that once again we have a male-female pairing that sparks things up between them, but oddly enough, they're not nasty to each other, barking at each other and trying to convince the other of their truth. Because they kind of trust and rely on each other from the start, which was extremely refreshing within this genre. Matsushima Nanako is a beautiful woman and doesn't do a bad job playing her character. Fukuyama Masaharu doesn't strike me as that much of a heartthrob until his later years, but he's still fun to watch. Unfortunately, he's also better at acting only in his later years. Such an enjoyable series set in a TV news production environment, spiced up with the various worries of the TV crew, and a light romance that makes for a very nice structure of storylines to the episode. An improved 3 stars.

Now this is definitely not my cup of tea. I didn't like the animation, or above all the look of the characters (but I could have lived with that, if only...), but I was particularly bothered by all the macho characters. Hi, I'm twelve years old, I don't really know how to transform yet, but my shoulders are as wide as the Charles Bridge... But even though you could turn a blind eye to that stuff (you'd just have to forget they're kids and think of them as swashbuckling teamsters), if only the story were worth it. This story, flowing from one pathetic pose to the next, from one pathetic speech to the next, just didn't grab me by the heart. On the contrary, it rather rudely robbed me of my time. If you're into macho stuff and like those cheesy speeches, postures, and an unchallenging battle of good vs. evil along with some of the supernatural stuff, then go for it. I backed off it right away.

This movie is a tough one for me. Sewing doesn't do anything for me, fashion or whatever it is basically doesn't either, plus I can only rarely stand the actress Nakatani Miki and she didn't really fit here. All of her movements, her expressions, that kind of blank look in her eyes, everything about her annoyed me so much that I couldn't enjoy the film. So I was legitimately bored, not at all impressed with the story or the fate of Ichi or anyone else, and basically I wouldn’t have cared if the atom bomb got dropped on them. But the cinematography, yeah, that was fine.

Basically, I have nothing more to add than what JFL wrote. The naive past and the present... although it tries to play on a realistic string, it's more of an adult fairy tale, where I thought I'd just let myself get swept up in the whirlwind of excitement and emotion the filmmakers were trying to throw at the viewer, but the ending let me down. Not so much the fairy tale gifts, but the very last scene, which for me completely overturned its combination of a fairytale quality with a slight bitterness. And honestly, I couldn't quite figure out which adult was which girl in the end. Only three were 100% clear to me, the third only because she was obese everywhere. I understand that the film can enchant you when you’re drawn into its melancholy and other such feelings, but somehow that didn't transfer to me. So maybe next time I'll finally get lucky enough to see a Korean film that wins me over.

After a long time, another nice high school romance where I was rooting for the heroine because she resonated with me so well. She wasn't some whiny twit, but a true country girl born out of the mountains! :-D And I also enjoyed it a lot since I watched at a training with my roommate, who was seeing her first Japanese movie ever. Plus, we were each rooting for a different fighter, so a fun time was a done deal. Admittedly, it was obvious that the film was an adaptation of something long because the narrative was inconsistent at times, but a hormone-crazed viewer could still enjoy it. And most importantly – the heroine ended up with my favorite, so I'm satisfied. A weaker 4 stars.

Boring, transparent, playing on the horrible psychology of the characters. But anyone who doesn't know Hole could care less because you don't see into him, you just know that he must be drinking and must have been living with someone and being a dad to someone, but he wasn't very good at it. He probably liked them, they probably liked him. But he screwed up sometimes. Probably the drinking. And then there's the killer. He's got a problem, too, but on the other hand, he's a genius because he can commit murder and build snowmen undetected. This adaptation was a waste of time. I haven't read the source material, but it’s been a long time since I’ve see such a boring movie.

Definitely better than the movie, still weaker than the anime, but that certainly doesn't detract from it. I kind of thought for a very long time that I'd give it a higher rating, but the ending... left a "sweet" taste in my mouth, so it dropped to a better 3 stars. Furukawa is definitely an interesting actor and Satoru unquestionably pulled it off. Except that in this movie, the kids are the ones in the lead. They were totally giving it their all and she was just great. If for nothing else, you should check it out because the kids were trying so hard here. It's definitely a successful adaptation, it flows briskly, and you actually come away quite satisfied. Those unfamiliar with the source material will be even more impressed.

I'm not familiar with the Korean version, and I have a feeling I won't be watching it anytime soon, but that's certainly not a bad thing. I enjoyed it, wondering what was behind it all. There was one twist I wasn't expecting, but then it all started to make sense and everything clicked where it was supposed to, and I figured it out. It's definitely an interesting crime story. It is very suspenseful; more than anything else it plays with the psychology of everyone involved, and plays it well. Back that up with solidly played characters and you have a great show. With a very interesting and captivating soundtrack. I honestly felt like this kind of background music would have been more suited to a horror movie, but all things considered, this is a horror movie as far as the survivors are concerned.