This review may contain spoilers
A slowly placed uneven drama
The first thing to mention is the plot is a little strange. Is it common to come back to high school to help a old teacher with something in Japan? I know the schooling is very different in Japan and you have you have more obligations but the setup was a little random. I guess from a standpoint of helping out old friends it makes sense but then they added in the random swerve of Yuzuko's story!
I get that it's sort of a parallel to Kudo's story and showing what maybe would have happened to her if Hayama didn't take interest in her. But it's really just a plot device to move the story along. It felt really out of place. The pacing and plot lines shuffle a little bit too much in this story. Thus creating an uneven watching experience. Somethings happen at a snails pace. While others are in fast forwards like the relationship with Ono and Kudo.
Now there are some morality issues in this one. A teacher having a relationship with a high school student, despite things only becoming inappropriate after graduation. It's at first shown that Kudo is the unrequited love but then after the kiss scene all gloves are off.
Some may have issues with this romance situation. Especially during their final scenes together, we have a very emotional sex scene that is stark contrast to the other sex scene. This scene however directly comes after a scene with exposition that would make the sex between Hayama and Kudo controversial.
The movie skirts the line on morality a bunch with how these things play out. We don't need to necessarily feel like these are good decisions but they are there to inform us how these characters are themselves flawed.
And unfortunately the second relationship doesn't fair much better.
The main issue I have with this movie is the lack of chemistry. The two main leads Jun and Kasumi really don't have too much going for them. I didn't really feel like they had any sort of connection. Some actors just don't really get that spark together. They may have acted fine individually but I couldn't feel that rapport. The ending of the movie kinda proves this point that the love they shared was different but it surely will be controversial to a lot of people.
I've watched Kentarou and Kasumi in all their performances together in reverse order and this was by far their most physical but also most lacking in chemistry. But that's mainly due to the type of relationship they have in this. It's very unhealthy. I honestly wasn't expecting that sort of outcome. So I guess that's one positive to this story. That nothing ends positively lol.
The cinematography of the movie is fairly ok. There's a lot of rain shots and sometimes what I consider a few artsy shots. The movie has a fairly nostalgic tone over the film as well due to the flashbacks. There's also the classic blown out white light that's so common in Japanese media lol. The music is mostly nostalgic or sad piano.
Overall I'm not sure this is one worth watching personally.
I get that it's sort of a parallel to Kudo's story and showing what maybe would have happened to her if Hayama didn't take interest in her. But it's really just a plot device to move the story along. It felt really out of place. The pacing and plot lines shuffle a little bit too much in this story. Thus creating an uneven watching experience. Somethings happen at a snails pace. While others are in fast forwards like the relationship with Ono and Kudo.
Now there are some morality issues in this one. A teacher having a relationship with a high school student, despite things only becoming inappropriate after graduation. It's at first shown that Kudo is the unrequited love but then after the kiss scene all gloves are off.
Some may have issues with this romance situation. Especially during their final scenes together, we have a very emotional sex scene that is stark contrast to the other sex scene. This scene however directly comes after a scene with exposition that would make the sex between Hayama and Kudo controversial.
The movie skirts the line on morality a bunch with how these things play out. We don't need to necessarily feel like these are good decisions but they are there to inform us how these characters are themselves flawed.
And unfortunately the second relationship doesn't fair much better.
The main issue I have with this movie is the lack of chemistry. The two main leads Jun and Kasumi really don't have too much going for them. I didn't really feel like they had any sort of connection. Some actors just don't really get that spark together. They may have acted fine individually but I couldn't feel that rapport. The ending of the movie kinda proves this point that the love they shared was different but it surely will be controversial to a lot of people.
I've watched Kentarou and Kasumi in all their performances together in reverse order and this was by far their most physical but also most lacking in chemistry. But that's mainly due to the type of relationship they have in this. It's very unhealthy. I honestly wasn't expecting that sort of outcome. So I guess that's one positive to this story. That nothing ends positively lol.
The cinematography of the movie is fairly ok. There's a lot of rain shots and sometimes what I consider a few artsy shots. The movie has a fairly nostalgic tone over the film as well due to the flashbacks. There's also the classic blown out white light that's so common in Japanese media lol. The music is mostly nostalgic or sad piano.
Overall I'm not sure this is one worth watching personally.
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