Story of Highs and Lows

This is a tough one to grade. There are many things I like about this: morally dark characters, violence, one-take camera shots, no simple solutions—just a progression of things getting worse, and mysterious happenings that the characters or audience are unaware of. What holds me back from a full recommendation is the characterization. The characters are left ambiguous, with most of what they tell each other being lies, so there's no real sense of character, making it hard to get emotionally attached. The writing is also not the best; most of the dialogue feels stilted and not how people would naturally talk to each other—it's just a bunch of yelling and swearing over each other with no proper conversations ever being had. The plot armor for certain characters became laughable, as multiple characters should have died over and over and still made it to the end. At the end of the day, the highs were able to outweigh the lows, and I would watch the second season that has been announced, but it's not something I'm eagerly anticipating

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Thoughts on the Takagi-San franchise (Anime, Manga, Live Action)

If I had to choose one genre in anime that is by and far my least favorite, it's the romance genre, not because I am a cynic (well, maybe), but the shows all tend to fall into two camps: harems and melodrama. Finding a show outside of that mold is like finding a needle in a ginormous haystack, which is why "Teasing Master Takagi-San" was such a surprise when I stumbled upon the first season of the anime in 2018. There were no love triangles, miscommunications, and it was just the innocent and budding relationship between two youth in the form of "teasing" as she likes to playfully tease the male character, Nishikata, who tries to find ways to get her back. As they are in middle school, she is shy about her feelings and he is not fully aware of them, creating a nice push and pull between the two characters.

Once I watched the first season of the anime, I went and picked up the source material and found myself breezing through the chapters. While they often found themselves falling into repetitive situations, there was a nice calm enjoyment that came from watching the two characters interact. The anime continued into seasons 2, 3, and a movie and decided to take what was an episodic story and create a more serial approach to the story which helped it stand apart from the source material and create two different experiences with the story. With both the anime and manga over, I thought that was the end of Takagi-San but here we are in 2024 with both a live-action television adaptation and a sequel movie coming later this year.

I at first was skeptical as live-action adaptations of anime struggle in adapting its source material but once I got into the first episodes of this adaptation, all my worry was gone. While holding onto remnants of the source material, the series was able to craft its own path, creating a third and just as engaging adaptation of the story. Our two leads have great chemistry and feel like the characters come to life but would work just as well if this was your first introduction to them. With this review, I can recommend all three; the manga, the anime, and now the live-action as each approach the story in an entertaining and thoughtful way.

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Fine Companion to the Anime

I have always been of one mind when it comes to remakes: if you can make a better version of a movie, then go for it; and if you can't, you need to leave it be. Even though the anime film is an adaptation of a novel, the anime has become such a classic, likely even overtaking the novel in the cultural zeitgeist, that any other attempt to redo the story will have to go up against the anime film. The reason I decided to give this film a chance was because of Director Takashi Shimizu, who is most known for directing the original 'Ju-On,' and the main actress playing Kiki, Fuka Koshiba, who is probably one of my favorites working in Japan right now.

It's been a while since I had seen the anime, so for the most part, I went into this blind, but it's not a bad film. I could see it more as a companion piece to the anime than something that can stand apart from the anime. With the director having a horror background, I was interested to see what he could bring to bringing this fantasy world to light, and for the most part, it feels very paint by numbers. His directing feels like the kind of assembly line directing of the MCU, where they just plug in a smaller-known director and have them make the film the studio wants.

Fuka Koshiba is the standout as Kiki; even at 17, she embodied how I imagined a real Kiki would be. She did a good job bringing out the more hokey or trite moments in the screenplay. The writing is probably the weakest part, as the film runs around the same length as the anime but feels longer and more drawn out. The pace feels off, as there are long moments where nothing happens, and then you have a bunch of events happen at once, and then the film mentions it's been three days, and I can't help but think all of this happened in three days.

The film tries to tie in the message of the story with all the characters, and it works for some and fails for others, but its heart's in the right place, so I can't fault it too much. Overall, while remaking Kiki's Delivery Service seems like an impossible task, for the most part, the cast and crew make a serviceable enough film that you can feel a little bit of the magic. Still, I highly recommend watching the anime first if you haven't seen it, as I can only see this working as a companion and not your first exposure to the story.

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A movie neither romantic nor suspenseful

A murder mystery rom-com that has a hard time balancing rom-com antics with mystery suspense. This is the setup for the romance: our male lead is a butler known as a bland pushover, and what helps him keep it together is his girlfriend. Our female lead is a more aggressive and bold character, polar opposites of the male lead. She comes aboard the ship he is working on as a butler and breaks the news that their significant others are cheating on them with each other. Whatever guess you have about the romance side of the plot, you'd be correct. There is nothing new or fresh with this as it hits every beat you can imagine.

What makes it enjoyable enough is the chemistry between the leads. They play off each other really well and add some life to their characters, even if the romance portion moves fast. As I haven't mentioned the murder mystery portion of the story yet, it's because the movie didn't seem that interested in it. The characters involved in that part of the story get very little screen time and characterization. When the case wraps at the end, even with a twist involved, the story doesn't give proper closure to all the characters involved, focusing more on our main couple. It makes one wonder why even have the murder mystery plot since it didn't add anything and didn't affect our main characters in any significant ways; it's just kinda there to pad out the runtime, which is 2 hours and 7 minutes, and probably about a half-hour of that could have been shaved off.

It's not an awful film; it's just very plain and would get lost in a sea of films with a similar premise. My recommendation for this would be if it's a Saturday afternoon, it's raining outside (not too heavy but not too light either). You are tired but not sleepy, you have a cup of tea beside you (no caffeine). You lay down on the couch with your arm resting under your head as you crave something inoffensive and not too deep, then this film is just for that.

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Perfect for a quick Christmas Binge

A fun action series that captures the essence of an anime/manga, featuring impressive fight scenes and endearing characters. Despite having only five episodes, it manages to generate considerable excitement for forthcoming installments. However, due to the limited number of episodes, certain aspects like character development for antagonists, side characters, and world-building are somewhat rushed. A potential second season could provide more room for these elements to unfold. In summary, it's an excellent series that sparks anticipation for the show's future and elicits my interest in exploring the anime—a perfect quick watch over the Christmas holiday.

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Enjoyable little flick

Pretty good little found footage film. It doesn't reinvent the wheel for the genre, featuring many of the same issues that plague films in the States. What I actually found most interesting was the mystery surrounding the asylum they were investigating. There were many rumors and theories about what happened there, and watching the characters learn different things was the most engaging part of the film for me.

The first half of the film is just setup, and the enjoyment of this part depends on how you feel about the characters or how attached you are to them. Since you know almost nothing about them in the first half, it can drag as they set up the story. However, once they enter the asylum, the thrills come in much more often, giving the audience what they expect and hitting the mark for the most part.

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Fine but Unnecessary

I have always been of one mind when it comes to remakes: unless you can make it better, don't touch it. I'll admit it's been a while since I watched the original Cube, but I remember liking it for what it was. It was definitely a film of its time that, in the right hands, could be done well. Unfortunately, the creators of this remake didn't have any new ideas for it; this is basically just the original "Cube" with an ethno-swapped perspective and nothing else. The best parts of the film are those you can watch in the original "Cube." There are moments when the film flirts with delving deeper, but it always pulls back before going too deep, keeping all the characters and emotions at a surface level. Overall, this is fine. If you have never seen the original, you will get more out of it. However, if you have seen the original, there isn't much need to see this one as well.

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Solid Start

I've been in a bit of a KDrama slump lately, so I've been looking for a show that I can get past the first week of, and so far, "Moon in the Day" looks to be that show. The best part right now is the acting; Pyo Ye Jin and Kim Young Dae are great in the first episodes and have good chemistry. They were the main draw for me to give this show a try, and they didn't disappoint. Where I do hope the show can improve is in the story. It's not bad, but a little convoluted at this point, and even with a 14-episode order, I worry that the show might end up overextending itself. So, despite a few issues, I enjoyed these first episodes as they were also pretty funny, and the flashback scenes were well done, doing a good job differentiating the time periods while making both parts interesting.

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So far so ok

This one requires your undivided attention. With the amount of dates, groups, and characters thrown at you from the start, you're playing catch-up. After two episodes, I'm still lost on a few things. The premise is interesting but lacks an emotional hook. It reminds me of the political thrillers of the early 2010s with its gray color scheme and its super serious tone. Hopefully, once I catch up to the story it's selling, I can attach more to it. Since Hulu released the first 5 episodes at the start, I'm more inclined to give this a few more episodes as opposed to if it was released weekly.

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Great First Episode

What a first episode! This one surprised me. I was anxious going into this episode because I was expecting a heavy watch, but I was pleasantly surprised at the balance of humor the episode had. The show doesn't shy away from heavy topics, but they don't overtake the episode. I also appreciated how they delved deep into the illnesses and what leads to them and how they tie into the episode and the other characters. It all flows together nicely. Park Bo Young is great here as the new psychiatric nurse and radiates a likable charm while also carrying her own baggage. The supporting cast also surprised me, as they were all likable, and I never felt annoyed when a side character appeared on stage. I am wary of the show heading towards a love triangle or square and hope the show doesn't take that route, as there are so many positives here that going that route, I feel, will hurt the show more than help it. Overall, I really liked this first episode and look forward to seeing where we go from here, and I would give this episode an 8.5/10.

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