An epic continuation

Not gonna lie, I think that this is one of my favourite movies in High&Low franchise.

In this movie we continue the story from where the last movie ended. I am not gonna get into greater detail about the plot in this movie, because honestly the plot in this franchise is the same. We have a bad guy/school, we fight with them, we have a momentarily bond, we win, we bond for real after some time. This is the plot for every series and movies in this franchise.

However, I would like to point out how good the movie is to the eye. The cinematography, the colours, the frames, the fight-choreos, the attire, the camera work, the music, and many more!!! I believe that the movie had a high production quality. I cannot stretch enough how good the camera work and fight-choreos are!

Every actor was on their top performance and the outcome was amazing. I think that I need to acknowledge the elephant in the room though. Oya high, will never be the same without Murayama! He was and will always be the best leader in Oya. However, thankfully Todoroki was there :) I really enjoyed his development since the last movie. I NEED MAEDA GOKI IN EVERY MOVIE AND SERIES! PLEASE!

Something that I wasn't expecting was Suzuran's appearance here. Taking into account the reference to Rao and Suzuran in the previous movie, and also watching the movie's teasers, I thought that our main villain will be Rao. But I was wrong. And honestly, I enjoyed this plot twist. However, now I need more of Suzuran!!!! I NEED TO SEE MORE OF SUZURAN AND RAO!!

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Wait what?

Ah, yes! Finally a series that shows the true colours of all women, doing EVERYTHING to be in a relationship, and that points out that if you are beautiful on the outside then you are worthy to be in a relationship...

WAIT WHAT?

The year is 2021, I just can't accept that a drama like this exists. For some reason they are okay with portraying that being shallow is alright, and that if someone does not meet the society's beauty standards is ugly.

As I was a teenager once, I do understand the need to have a boyfriend and need to be beautiful; but, those types of stereotypes was passed down to my generation through movies, series and books that teenagers were the target groups. However, I find it absurd that you still get the same teenage-stereotypical movies.

To be honest, even though I have a huge problem with the plot and the stereotypical statements in this drama, I have to admit that from a cinematographic point of view, this series is really good. The colours, the scenes, the aesthetics, and many more, make this series easy to watch. But again the plot was a big turn off for me. Let me elaborate more on that.

PLOT

Kinoshita Mairu is a shy and introvert girls, that got the nickname "poisonous mushroom" due to her haircut and the fact that she is ugly. One day as she was living her not so exciting life she got a letter from someone asking her to meet them after class. At first she thought that this was a confession to her, but little did she know that the guy was actually lying to her and he made a trap for Mairu to fall into.

As Mairu is crying in the pit and wondering why she was born ugly, Kumada Tenyu enters the scene and tells her to stop using excuses and try to become beautiful. After a strange set of circumstances, Tenyu helps Mairu to change her outside looks, and he makes pretty. This change helps her meet Naru, an extremely jealous boy that is interested in Mairu. Except from those two male characters there is one more male character, Mirai. He is a childhood friend and door neighbour with Mairu, and it seems that he was always interested in her but he was afraid to tell her.

MY OPINION

I am extremely mad at this series. I feel that it is extremely sexist towards women. They try to present that girls are only interested and worried about finding someone to fall in love with. Moreover, it is encouraged that if women want to get a partner they need to wear make up and act girly. OH REALLY? WHY? SAYS WHO? For example, Maiku is always pointing out how good she is with cooking and she makes bento for Tenyu in exchange of a few advice from him.

The most important thing is to be true to yourself and to the person in front of you. I am not saying that appearance is not important, I am just saying that is shouldn't be that important! Instead of trying to create a shallow relationship maybe the drama should focus more on deeper means!

Furthermore, I have a huge problem with Naru as a character. Even though he seems as a nice, understanding, and kind guy, in true he is a manipulative, possessive, and jealous type of boyfriend. First he got mad with Maiku because she lied to him that she have never been in a relationship before and he told her that he doesn't want to be with her. Due to that Maiku apologised to him, because in reality she was in a relationship with someone for 1.30 minutes. He got mad with her again when they went in a double date at the amusement park because he was jealous of Maiku's and Tenyu's relationship. What did Maiku do? SHE APOLOGISED AGAIN AND SHE BROKE OFF HER FRIENDSHIP WITH TENYU. Dude!!!!!! What the heck?

To summarise this is a typical teenage-romantic jdrama! It is full of clichés and expected outcomes. Even though I assume that Maiku would end up with Tenyu (just my prediction), I still hope that Mirai would win the girl. TEAM MIRAI UNITE!!! Even though it is not clear yet, I have the feeling that he liked Maiku even when she was "ugly" but he did not confess because he was afraid of what his friend would say. Not that this reason would be acceptable.

Anyway, that's it. This series is full of sexist comments and statements: CHANGE MY MIND!

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