Oni no Hanayome (2026)

A classic Cinderella story with a twist…

Watched opening weekend in cinemas. (Late to writing this review, but I have had time to think about it.)

I really, really enjoyed this movie a lot more than I expected, and it was not quite what I expected either. It is quite a cliché, many-times-told story at its core. However, the setting, costume design, and to some extent, worldbuilding (yes, worldbuilding) were real highlights.

The characters, while predictable, were not all entirely archetypal, albeit the female lead certainly was. The cast did well with their characters and are in themselves a highlight of the film. The most interesting characters in this story however, would be some of the side characters, not only with their contributions to worldbuilding but with their nuance, in which most of the major characters are somewhat lacking.

The setting is perhaps the most conceptually interesting part of the film, in that it is not two separate worlds in the way much Japanese media portrays, but an integrated world with yokai and humans.

If you want rich characters with deep stories of personal development, I might not recommend this film. However, if you wish to watch it for the cast or on its merit as an entry to the romance genre, I absolutely recommend it! What I’d argue keeps my rating so high in spite of the predictability and lack of thought-provoking characters, would be that this tells the exact story it wants to tell, and it does so with stunning visuals and solid performances. The accompanying soundtrack is also well-matched to the film.

As a closing remark, I would say what amazes me the most about this film is that I found it seriously immersive, and I can still recall the way I felt and reacted watching it. I found myself deeply invested in spite of the cliché, and that doesn’t happen often for me.

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