Finally got to watch this much-anticipated movie. I shan’t go much into its’ synopsis, did that in an earlier post here.
I was never good at making reviews and so I’m gonna keep my review short and brute. I love everything about the movie except for its ending. Kimochi warui! I don’t understand why they decided to end it differently from the manga. But that’s just my two-cent worth of opinion.
I certainly love the pairing between Okada Masaki and Inoue Maou that I wish they were really together off-screen. Definitely and eye-candy match, them both. MatsuJun fans are not gonna like this, but I’m definitely pro Okada-Inoue as compared to MatsuJun-Inoue couple.
It goes without saying that my favorite scenes from the movie would be everything of Takuma and Mayu together i.e. from the time they were just kids, how Takuma stood up for Mayu when she played got bullied in school, them taking the bus together, the ride together in the packed-train, the kissing scenes, and even the quarrel scenes. The chemistry between Takuma and Mayu is so believable, especially the kissed that lead to their consummation of their relationship. Not your ordinary peck on the lips kind of kiss.
Ooh, I must add (and not as a betrayal here for Takuma) that I like it how Takashi (Takuma’s love rival) calls Mayu ‘Hime’.
Another thing I wanna point out is that I’m really getting tired with the (sorry but I’m gonna use this word) –> ‘typical’ plot of a teenager’s first love that ends-up dying. Blah! Oopsy, I just leaked a big spoiler here, gomen-ne minna san. For the staunch manga fans of Boku no Hatsugoi, you may wanna stick to just reading the manga. Like I said in the beginning, they should have just stayed with the original manga ending.
If it weren’t for Okada and Inoue, I think I would have just skipped this movie altogether. But after having said that, it wasn’t such a big disappointment as I found myself after watching Tajomaru, starring Shun Oguri. For the benefit of those who don’t know, Okada and Oguri did a dorama together in HanaKimi. Yup, Okada played Sekime and his character was really overlooked by most because Ikuta Toma did such a brilliant job as Nakatsu! N’way back to the story in hand, the latter movie was such a big disappointment that I would definitely ask non Oguri Shun’s fan to skip it altogether for fear that they will wonder what’s with the hype of Oguri as one of the rising actors in Japan nowadays.
Enough of Shun, I really wanna talk about Masaki Okada. I got hooked to him since HanaKimi really. After HanaKimi, he did a few more doramas and finally had his starring role in a dorama entitled Otomen. I didn’t follow this though – so much for a fan huh? Well, mainly because I’m more of a fan for his movies. Yup, he has a few movies under his belt already. Don’t just take my word for it, but he’s a talented actor. Among my favorite of his movies are Juryoku Pierrot and Harufuwei.
I’m happy to find out that for 2010, he already have two movies that I will be on the look-out for, and that will be 1) Raiou and 2) Matataki. I’m not quite liking the plot for the latter, but I shall keep my thoughts to myself until I’ve seen the movie.
One more last thing, as much as I like Okada Masaki’s curly manes, there are times when he’ s just really having a terrible bad hair day – literally speaking here! I hate it when that happens. But his voice could never go wrong for me. I simply love to hear him doing narration! XD
HOHO! I watched this movie too. Debated doing a review of it, but gave up. Being swamped by work is no joke. RL sucks.
I kinda liked most of it, bar the ending, although to be honest, it’s hard to give it a happy ending. It wouldn’t have felt right, like all the angst would have been all for nothing. I had a sneaking suspicion it would end like that anyway, even though I didn’t watch the trailers.
Speaking of Ikuta Toma – I MISS HIM. He was my favouritest person in Hana Kimi. Okada’s not bad; I never got around to finishing the reviews of Otomen I think, but I did finish the drama, and it wasn’t half bad. He certainly did a good job in this movie.
i’m guessing my first comment was MIA so…here goes.. (again
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‘typical’ plot of a teenager’s first love that ends-up dying. —> i hated it too though it still got me every now and then *sigh*.
but i dont think u gave much of spoiler here redge since we’re SPOILED tru the “here-how-all-the-story-will goes-trailer”. kekeke~~ but glad you still enjoyed the sweetness of “typical” J-drama film. I still do too…
btw, incase u hadn’t notice, i signed with wordpress account and still thinking if i should switch since a friend recommended me switching. I prob had would if i knew how to transfer all the posts (and the comments too)from blogspot. no time to look into that at the time being… too much commitment (if you know what i mean). hahaha
Rae, sorry…your 1st comment isn’t missing…I only approved it today–together with your this comment. Gomen-ne Rae-chan.
Don’t you hate it how Japanese love stories always ends with one of the lover dying?? E.g.: Tada Kimi wa Aishiteru, Koizora, Ima Ai ni Yukimasu, Love Collage, April Bride, Rainbow. If it’s not that, they get separated in the end e.g One Million Yen and the Nigamushi Woman and Harufuwei . Okay that’s not a lot, but still, you get what I’m trying to say here right? AND YET, despite and in-spite of all that I can’t help but gets drawn to it, over and over again
Ehehehe… I guess there’s this invisible word written on my forehead that’s spelt as S.U.C.K.E.R ~ HAHAHA.
Weeee~~~you have a wordpress account! SWITCH YOU MUST!! Ahaha. Ooh, if you do switch and decide to import all your posts frm blogspot (like i did), dont forget to leave a link at your blogspot redirecting your readers to your wordpress ya. But I guess you know that already. Ehehe.
i just wanna ask, uhm, where did you watched this? are english subtitles available already? i was waiting for this a long long time. i know the dvd came out already but school got in the way and i sorta forgot about it.
thanks! and i love your blog! i read it every once in a while! XD
watched it without the subs
wow, this was a quite more than one coverage
; from the movie to a bit of Hanakimi’s and even Oguri.
anyway, ” ‘typical’ plot of a teenager’s first love that ends-up dying. “….didn’t the trailer already hinted us that it’s going to end that way?? hehehe. Thanks for the reminder of the manga version
and yeah, the book is usually (if not always) better than the movie version ne. owh… and i likey Masaki Okada in Otomen although I haven’t finished the series yet. too much commitment ler… hehehe 