UPCOMING JAPANESE LIVE ACTION MOVIES THAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO WATCH

8. Ani ni Aisaresugite Komattemasu

I never read the manga before but for the love of Chiba Yudai, I’ll watch it. Haha!

7. P to JK

I so love the manga. But because of the mangaka’s maternity leave, the manga was put on hold. I’m so glad that they’re making a live action adaptation. And the policeman is Kamenashi FREAKING Kazuya!

6. Fullmetal Alchemist

I don’t like Tsubasa Honda because of Aoharaido but my Yamada Ryosuke (my niban) will be playing Edward so I’m really looking forward for this!

5. Death Note: Light Up The World

After many years! Finally! This seems to be really interesting and the casts selection seems awesome! I’ve watched the trailer and I’m super excited! Plus Higashide is bae. Haha!

4.  Hirunaka no Ryuusei

This could’ve been my number one if Mamura Daiki’s character was played by Sakaguchi Kentaro but moving on, haha, I’m still looking forward to this because I like Nagano Mei. And I love Yamamori Mika-sensei and the manga so I’ll still support this even if this was my greatest heartbreak!

3. Peach Girl

I HATE the anime. So much. Momo is an indecisive bitch and I seriously hate her. Haha! But after seeing Inoo and Mackenyu in the trailer, how can I resist? HAHAHA. I’ve never seen Inoo so manly. He’s so adorable!

2. Nakimushi Pierrot no Kekkonshiki

This came out last September 2016 but since I live outside Japan, I have to wait for like 4 to 6 months for it to be translated in English. I’ve watched the trailer few months back and I’m hyped about this because of Mirai Shida. Though after watching Koe Koi and met Ryusei Ryo, I gained another reason to look forward to this!

1. Kimi to 100 Kaime no Koi

Sakaguchi Kentaro (my ichiban) is in it, need I say more? Haha! Seriously, I’m really looking forward to this! Finally! Guchitaro is the hero! The movie's theme seemed sad but what the hell! I don’t mind crying if it’s for Guchitaro. ♥

✪✪✪

I hope 2017 comes faster!

MOVIE REVIEW: Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai

Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai

Alternate Title: I've Always Liked You

Duration: 1 hr and 30 mins

Genre: Romance, School

Summary

Natsuki Enomoto, a third-year student at Sakuragaoka High School, has feelings of unrequited love for her childhood friend, Yuu Setoguchi. Unable to be true to her own feelings, Natsuki tells Yuu that she is merely using him as a stand-in to practice confessing her love to. As Natsuki continues to pretend not having any feelings for Yuu, her classmate Koyuki Ayase asks her out on a date. Will Natsuki ever be able to stop “practicing” and actually confess her love to Yuu?

(Source: Aniplex USA)

Review

I’ve been wanting to watch this for quite a long time now. I got addicted to Honeyworks a few months back but English subs for this movie still wasn’t available then. I forgot about the movie and only remembered watching it because one of my Facebook friends, Vianna, mentioned it on her recent Facebook status. So yey! Finally got the chance to watch it.

The story was about a set of high school friends that were secretly in love with each other.

This movie was cute. Yes, cute. It’s not something spectacular since you probably watched this kind of plot mostly on other animes but if you’re looking for something that has doki doki / fuwa fuwa feels, you’ll definitely like this. I’m a sucker for pure (lol) kind of romance lately so this was a good watch for me. The movie got its own charm despite the cliche plot. Animation was great, too! The art was aesthetically pleasing. And I’m so digging their seiyuu choice! Kaji Yuuki and Kamiya Hiroshi are like one of my favorite male seiyuus so that was totally a bonus point!

Overall, this a good watch if you want to pass time. And oh! I forgot to mention about the soundtrack! I’m loving Byoumei Koi Wazurai these days. It’s so cute and catchy.

Rating: 4/5

Watch Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita HERE

MOVIE REVIEW: Chihayafuru Second Verse Live Action

Title: Chihayafuru Second Verse

Alternate Title: Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku

Original Work: Yuki Suetsugu

Genre: Sports, Shoujo, School Life

Summary:

Sixth grader Ayase Chihaya, a tomboy with no ambitions or goals of her own, gets to know Wataya Arata, a transfer student at Chihaya's elementary school and an outcast. Through Arata, Chihaya picks up karuta and they form a team with their other friend and classmate Mashima Taichi. After graduating elementary school, Chihaya continues to play karuta hoping for a chance to meet Arata again after he went back to Fukui to take care of his sick grandfather. As time passed and Chihaya enters high school, she starts a karuta club with Taichi so that they can finally meet Arata again.

Source: KissAsian (kissasian.com)

Review:

Since Heroine Shikkaku, this was one live action adaptation that I really enjoyed. Honestly, I had second thoughts about Chihayafuru having a live action movie. If you’ve seen the anime, you might get what I mean. The way how they take cards during plays was really epic. I was hesitant to give the live action movie a try but for the love of Arata, I watched it and thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed.

Chihayafuru Second Verse was a feel-good movie to watch. I thought they did great choosing the characters for this adaptation. Suzu Hirose was perfect as Chihaya. I rarely like Japanese actresses because I prefer the actors, lol, but as of now, the only Japanese actresses that I like are these three: Ayase Haruka, Kiritani Mirei and Nagano Mei. But Suzu effortlessly joined the bandwagon by making me instantly like her. The way how she acts was refreshing. I could really see Chihaya while watching her. And may I add that she is so freaking pretty! I couldn’t think of anything bad about her. Lol.

As for Shuhei Nomura, he’s great, too. Only, I liked Taichi 2D more. Not because Taichi 2D was way hotter (lol) but because I prefer the way how transparent Taichi was in the anime. I loved watching his unrequited love towards Chihaya. This was probably just me being too biased, don’t mind me. Shuhei did a pretty great job.

For Mackenyu… Oh, hell, I loved him. Haha! I’m a huge fangirl of Arata 2D. Gosh, I love his Fukui-ben on the anime adaptation (All hail Hosoyan!) that was why I was really excited to hear Mackenyu speak. I was so glad because Mackenyu didn’t disappoint. I couldn’t picture any other Arata than him. Okay, this blogpost might be just an outlet for me to fangirl over Mackenyu. Lol. I got addicted to his voice, too. I have this fascination towards Japanese accents because of Hatori Heiji from Detective Conan and Arata. It was really wonderful how Mackenyu pulled this off. I love him! Haha!

For other characters, Shinobu (Mayu Matsuoka) was perfect, too. I could’ve shipped him and Arata but I’m pinning for Arata to be with Chihaya. Besides, Shinobu 2D was not even interested in Arata that way so whatever. The one who played Ooe was cute, too.   

If there’s something that I’m not satisfied with, it was that they changed the characterization for Tsukue-kun and Nikuman-kun. They were better in anime. Period.

My Personal Thoughts:

You might be wondering why I reviewed this one instead of the first installation, Chihayafuru Kami no Ku. Well for one reason, I never really got the chance to properly watch Kami no Ku. What I did when I watched the first movie was scan it and skip on the parts where Arata (Mackenyu) appeared. Sorry not sorry for loving Arata this hard. Lol. Nevertheless, this was an example of a splendidly made live action.

Rating: 4/5

Watch Chihayafuru Second Verse HERE

MOVIE REVIEW: Heroine Shikkaku Live Action

Title: Heroine Shikkaku

Alternate Title: Heroine Disqualified, No Longer Heroine

Original Work: Momoko Kouda

Runtime: 112 minutes

Genre: Rom-Com

Plot

Hatori Matsuzaki is a female high school student. She has a crush on her childhood friend Rita Terasaka and believes he will eventually choose her as her heroine, but Rita Terasaka begins dating Miho Adachi. Meanwhile, the most popular male student, Kosuke Hiromitsu takes an interest in Hatori Matsuzaki.

Review

If someone asks me to pick one live action movie and live with it forever, I'll definitely choose Heroine Shikkaku. I loved and continously love everything about the live action movie. 

 Let's start with the characters:

Terasaka Rita

I liked Yamazaki Kento since his role in L-DK and watched him silently (lol. Hardly. I fangirl-ed so hard especially during L-DK era. :D) as he began to dominate the live action scene. Everything about Yamaken was perfect for Terasaka Rita's role, except for the fact that he didn't make me hate Rita as much as I hated him in the manga. The 2D Rita was a fickle-minded jerk and I hated him as much as I hated 2D Mabuchi Kou in Aoharaido. Rita and Kou are like my most hated heros ever. Haha! What Rita always did was to hurt Hatori because he was so indecisive. But the Rita 3D was not as bad as Rita 2D. It was established nicely that he had feelings for Hatori ever since their childhood days. He just didn't realized that he was in love with her until Hiromitsu, my bae, entered the scene. I loved the part where he kept Hatori's photos with or without him. That was really sweet and I'm completely sold to him because of that. 

Matsuzaki Hatori

Hatori's character was far from your beta-shoujo manga heroine type. She had a rotten personality and liked to look down on people. She strongly believed that Rita was only destined to be with her in the end until Adachi happened. Kiritani Mirei's portrayal of Hatori was superb. She was hilarious and I couldn't ask more from her. She nailed Hatori's facial expressions. It was as if Hatori was created specifically for Mirei. 

Hiromitsu Kousuke

Oh, my oh-so favorite Hiromitsu! You have no idea how much I loved Hiromisu 2D. He is my favorite second lead ever. He was really charming and perfect and Hatori was such an idiot for choosing Rita over him! Sakaguchi Kentarou was the perfect Hiromitsu. And I don't think that I could ever move on from Hiromitsu for life. You don't have any idea how crazy I am for Sakaguchi because of this. My fangirl heart fainted whenever he did squeal-worthy gestures. I was crying with so much feels because my heart broke for him. I fell in love with Hiromitsu completely the moment Hatori bumped into her in the cafeteria. Hiromitsu is my ichiban in my second lead harem. :D 

Overall, I my heart yearns for Hiromitsu but I don't have any objections. Because for me, the purpose of Heroine Shikkaku is to let us know that no one is perfect. No matter how lacking you are, there will always be someone who will accept you just the way you are and wouldn't want you any other way. Just like Hatori and Rita with each other.

My Personal Thoughts

Heroine Shikkaku is something really special to me. I've read the manga during the times that I was going through the shittiest phase of my life. Heroine Shikkaku made me realize that it is okay to not be heroine-like. That it is okay to be yourself, no matter how twisted you are. Because someday, someone will come along who would accept you--all of you--imperfections and all. I just hoped that Hiromitsu ended up with someone else. How I wish I meet my very own Hiromitsu. :P

Rating: 5/5

Watch Heroine Shikkaku Live Action HERE

MOVIE REVIEW: Kimi no Na wa (Your Name)

Title: Kimi no Na wa

Written and Directed: Makoto Shinkai

Animation: CoMix Wave Films

Distributed: Toho

Running Time: 107 minutes

Plot

The story is set one month after a comet has fallen for the first time in a thousand years in Japan. Mitsuha, a high school girl living in the countryside, wants to live in the city because she is tired of life in the country. Then, there's Taki. He's a high school student living in Tokyo with his friends while working as a part-timer at an Italian restaurant. He also has a strong interest in fine arts involving architecture. One day, Mitsuha dreams of herself as a young man. On the other hand, Taki also has a dream where he is a female student attending high school in the countryside. What's the secret behind their dreams?

Review

Genre: Drama, Romance, School, Supernatural, SciFi

        Is there any Japanese culture enthusiast that hasn't watched this movie? I bet none. The movie is a 14.56 billion yen ($140.3 million dollars) box office hit. The rave about this movie was extreme. Upon watching it, I immediately realized why. Makoto Shinkai's "Kimi no Na wa" or "Your Name" is a masterpiece. I can say that it is on par with Ghibli Films that I utterly loved since I was young. 

       Kimi no Na wa was skillyfully delivered. Everything about this movie was perfect. The characters, the phasing, the story, the animation, the soundtrack---everything. I emphatized with the characters throughout the movie. It was a roller-coaster ride feels. It was my first time watching a Makoto Shinkai film and it didn't disappoint. 

       Watching the movie makes me want to read the novel, too. But it's a shame that it's only available in Japan and I can't read Japanese.

Rating: 5/5 

Watch Kimi no Na wa HERE

REACTION: Hirunaka no Ryuusei Live Action Cast Revealed!!!

Mei Nagano as Suzume Yosano

Shohei Miura as Satsuki Shishio

Alan Shirahama as Daiki Mamura 

This is the worst day of my entire fangirl life! If you only knew how much I yearned for Sakaguchi Kentaro to be Mamura Daiki. I never, even for a second, thought of anyone else to be Mamura Daiki other than SakaKen. Imagine my disappointment when I saw this poster at work. Luckily, I just logged off so I am free to be devastated as much as I could. I just couldn't cry because my officemates were there but I was actually shaking and in the verge of crying. I felt like I just finished taking the Ice Bucket Challenge. My whole body felt numb and all I wanna do was burst into tears. I could feel my heart slowly being torn into pieces and my mind just couldn't accept the fact that this was reality. I'm not dreaming. Sakaguchi Kentaro will never be officially Mamura Daiki. 

What the hell happened? Why did they even made Sakaken to pose as Mamura Daiki for the magazine if they weren't planning on giving him the role? You made us hope! Pinaasa niyo kami ng sobra. What the freaking hell happened? I couldn't grasp the idea of 3D Mamura Daiki being someone else. I couldn't accept it. I can never accept it. I will never accept it. Casting Crews-tachi, how could you do this to us? What did we ever do wrong for us to deserve this? *rolling on the floor crying*

Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against Alan Shirahama. I mean, he's handsome and all but... he's still not Sakaguchi Kentaro. For years, my whole being was set that if ever there'd be a HnR live action, Sakaken will definitely be Mamura Daiki. 

Thanks for ruining my life, Casting Crews-tachi. 

Well, at least, Miura Shohei pulled off Shishio-sensei's hairstyle perfectly. 

How can I even move on from this?

#JusticeForSakaguchiKentaro