"Fish Story" is about a punk rock band who unwittingly wrote a song that would save the world decades after they split up -- and split up because that very song, and the album on which it appeared, were utter flops. Hence, it's not merely a movie about a punk rock band who saved the world, but a FAILED punk rock band who saved the world! And the movie is just as clever, witty, and fun as that premise would lead you to expect. Hell, there's a reason this movie lands on so many different critics' lists for, "The 100 Best Japanese Movies of All Time." The reason is that it is perfection.
Consider the opening scene, which depicts a meteor on its way to destroy the earth in a couple of hours. Corporate buildings are deserted; cars abandoned in the middle of the street; and litter strewn everywhere in the wake of a public panic. It's an apocalyptic scene of the sort we got in Stephen King's horror-fantasy, "The Stand." Only we quickly learn that unlike "The Stand," this apocalyptic plot is comedic.
Because there, in a vintage record store, two dudes are blithely unconcerned with the comet hurtling toward planet earth preferring, instead, to discuss why a particular band qualifies as authentic punk rock. It's funny as hell because it evokes how society ridicules certain communities with the aphorism: "Those people think such-and-such is more important than the end of the world!" Well, music nerds truly do think a precise distinction between "rock" and "punk rock" is more important than the end of the world. And so it is that with this we have a perfect opening scene that aptly sets the tone for what continues to be a perfect movie every second of its duration.
Now, one must be patient, because it's one of those movies wherein multiple narrative threads with multiple sets of characters from different eras are being woven together as we go; and you won't recognize just how intricately they'd been woven until the very end. But you'll have fun with the characters and the dialogue even when you don't know how the hell these various narrative threads can possibly come together. Then, man-oh-man, when they do come together you'll find it was well worth the wait. Indeed, it was spectacular!
Why did they both have blood on their lips after the kiss? Neither was shown to have bitten the other's lip. Nor were they shown to have knocked their heads together hard when the teacher slipped. Rather, it was a soft fall, and the kiss was shown to have been a soft one. So what was up with the blood?
Get the proper subs from subscene (not the bad rated one, which was machine translated from a chinese sub). Should…
What do you mean by "subscene"? I would give anything to watch this with proper subs cuz it's such a cool concept and I loved the director's other movies. But I could only find the machine translated version on Kissasian.
This has such a cool concept that I'd give anything to see it with proper subs. Alas, I could only find this on Kissasian, which had auto-subs that were so bad as to be incoherent. Does anyone know where to get this with proper subs?
Given that we all know Miura Haruma killed himself while this movie was still in production, it was remarkably prescient that the character he played had walked into the ocean to kill himself in the middle of the movie, and then became a suicide bomber at the end of the movie,
I loved this up until the ending. This was a rare example of a film where I really, really wanted the FL to forgo…
It's true that there are more than 2 options. But I would not go so far as to say that she "did not like" Ni. Rather, she was too trapped in her fantasy world to ever see him as someone who might make her happy if she gave him a chance -- even with his imperfections.
Ultimately, it's a film about the choice between the fantasy of a Perfect Mate or the reality of an Imperfect Mate. I, for one, was glad that she chose reality because now she has a shot at happiness.
I love this chick! She is utterly out there, while also rather witty (eg, she gives secret nicknames to acquaintances…
It annoyed me that she was so into Mr. Hip & Popular that it made her blind to Ni, who truly appreciated her quirkiness. Especially since Ni was rather quirky in his own right, which made him a perfect match (eg, the dude takes her fishing in the dead of winter for their 2nd date, lol, and then gives her those red sticky notes as a Christmas gift). But at the same time, the way she was trapped in her fantasy world was one of the things that made her so quirky.
The wonderful thing is that she finally broke out of that fantasy world in the final scene when she used Ni's first name, the red sticky note fell, and she kissed him. It meant she had finally connected to reality and, thus, realized that Ni was the right man for her. After all, the guy is a goofball like her, gets her, and genuinely loves her. How could she not finally see that he's the better choice than Mr. Hip & Popular who didn't even know her name?
Ultimately, the film's about choosing between the fantasy of a Perfect Mate, or the reality of an Imperfect Mate. If one wants to be happy in this life, then reality must prevail.
I love this chick! She is utterly out there, while also rather witty (eg, she gives secret nicknames to acquaintances that succinctly encapsulate what's silly about each of them). She's an od ball loner and even her hobby is eccentric -- ie, she collects fossils. And you gotta love a Japanese heroine who not only watches "The Simpsons," but also runs away from a boring work party to hide and say to herself, "Fuuuuuk! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" in English.
This may not be a masterpiece, but it's still highly worth watching just to see how badly gays were treated in Japan 31 years ago; and how the screenwriter and director countered this by humanizing the gay characters. In fact, it's remarkable that a Japanese movie was even made in 1992 that portrays gay people in such positive, sympathetic terms. Remember, AIDS was still rampant back then, and many homophobes used AIDS as an excuse to vilify gay men (as the movie makes clear).
The crux of the movie is the relationship of a woman with a gay couple, which she makes the central relationship in her life. Americans term such women "fag hags," while the Japanese term them "okage" -- which means the burnt rice stuck to the bottom of the pot. Yes, it's a negative term (and from what I understand, far more negative than "fujoshi"), but the woman is depicted as a positive person who feels safe around gay men for reasons the plot reveals, and which I won't spoil here.
In short, it's an old movie, and in some ways outdated, but a must-see for any BL fan. It's also very hard to find online, and the only copy I could find with English subs was rather blurry. I'll provide a link below:
This was made in Korea, not China, and at the time it was made, there had already been a number of feature films…
Thank you. I suppose I missed it cuz I simply do not care for wuxia as a genre in general and, hence, dropped the show rather early. I also don't care for the censored Chinese shows and don't bother when there are so many real BL's coming from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, etc. But thank you for the link. It was interesting.
I'm reading all the positive comments and i wanna watch but the premise is quite irky, does this give off pedo…
It is not "illegal" for a teacher to date a student as long as the student is no longer a minor. It is only against the school's own rules. In other words, a high school might fire a teacher for dating an 18 year old student, but the police will not arrest the teacher because an 18 year old is old enough to give legal consent. In Japan, the age of consent is even younger. You need to learn the difference between a school's employment rules and a nation's laws.
Oh, it's definitely about Yukio Mishima. In fact, it's acknowledged as such by all the American critics who reviewed…
Wow, thank you so much! You're the bomb, lol.
Of course, now the challenge is to actually find these films with Eng Subs.
I mean, Pink Films from back then are so tame and really not much more racy than most contemporary American rated R films, but they are still hard to find online.
Wow, Taiwanese BL's have really gotten lazy the past year. They're nearly as stuffed with Slip-And-Catches (SAC's), as the Thai BL's, so I've come to expect them. But dang, this show gave us a SAC a mere 2 minutes into the story! Couldn't they have waited a bit longer before serving us this lazy cliche?
Also, why isn't this restaurant bankrupt when we've seen only ONE customer (ie, the writer), in the place day after day who orders any food? Even when the writer's friend and blind date showed up they did not order any food. Was this show's budget so low that they couldn't even afford 2 or 3 extras to just sit in the place with bowl in front of them?
I just read through comments and found a couple of references to "pedophilia." This compels me to clarify the actual definition for these people, who clearly do not know what the word means. Because a pedophile likes prepubescent children who have not yet displayed adolescent sexual features such as pubic hair and breasts. Since a teenager displays these sexual features, a true pedophile would NOT be attracted to a teenager. In other words, pedophilia EXCLUDES all teenagers.
Therefore, a 23 year old teacher attracted to a 17 year old student cannot, by definition, be a pedophile. There might be ethical concerns about a teacher dating a student because the teacher is an authority figure, but this is an entirely different discussion.
If anyone still needs help grasping this simple concept, allow me to leave the Merriam-Webster definition of a pedophile. It is as follows: "Pedophile -- A psychiatric disorder in which an adult has sexual fantasies about or engages in sexual acts with a prepubescent child."
MyReadingManga features a lot of porno mangas mixed in with regular mangas. I just ignore the porn and go to the search line to find the regular ones. So it's no big deal.
1 
"Fish Story" is about a punk rock band who unwittingly wrote a song that would save the world decades after they split up -- and split up because that very song, and the album on which it appeared, were utter flops. Hence, it's not merely a movie about a punk rock band who saved the world, but a FAILED punk rock band who saved the world! And the movie is just as clever, witty, and fun as that premise would lead you to expect. Hell, there's a reason this movie lands on so many different critics' lists for, "The 100 Best Japanese Movies of All Time." The reason is that it is perfection.
Consider the opening scene, which depicts a meteor on its way to destroy the earth in a couple of hours. Corporate buildings are deserted; cars abandoned in the middle of the street; and litter strewn everywhere in the wake of a public panic. It's an apocalyptic scene of the sort we got in Stephen King's horror-fantasy, "The Stand." Only we quickly learn that unlike "The Stand," this apocalyptic plot is comedic.
Because there, in a vintage record store, two dudes are blithely unconcerned with the comet hurtling toward planet earth preferring, instead, to discuss why a particular band qualifies as authentic punk rock. It's funny as hell because it evokes how society ridicules certain communities with the aphorism: "Those people think such-and-such is more important than the end of the world!" Well, music nerds truly do think a precise distinction between "rock" and "punk rock" is more important than the end of the world. And so it is that with this we have a perfect opening scene that aptly sets the tone for what continues to be a perfect movie every second of its duration.
Now, one must be patient, because it's one of those movies wherein multiple narrative threads with multiple sets of characters from different eras are being woven together as we go; and you won't recognize just how intricately they'd been woven until the very end. But you'll have fun with the characters and the dialogue even when you don't know how the hell these various narrative threads can possibly come together. Then, man-oh-man, when they do come together you'll find it was well worth the wait. Indeed, it was spectacular!
Part 2 is on M4u.HD.TV
Ultimately, it's a film about the choice between the fantasy of a Perfect Mate or the reality of an Imperfect Mate. I, for one, was glad that she chose reality because now she has a shot at happiness.
The wonderful thing is that she finally broke out of that fantasy world in the final scene when she used Ni's first name, the red sticky note fell, and she kissed him. It meant she had finally connected to reality and, thus, realized that Ni was the right man for her. After all, the guy is a goofball like her, gets her, and genuinely loves her. How could she not finally see that he's the better choice than Mr. Hip & Popular who didn't even know her name?
Ultimately, the film's about choosing between the fantasy of a Perfect Mate, or the reality of an Imperfect Mate. If one wants to be happy in this life, then reality must prevail.
The crux of the movie is the relationship of a woman with a gay couple, which she makes the central relationship in her life. Americans term such women "fag hags," while the Japanese term them "okage" -- which means the burnt rice stuck to the bottom of the pot. Yes, it's a negative term (and from what I understand, far more negative than "fujoshi"), but the woman is depicted as a positive person who feels safe around gay men for reasons the plot reveals, and which I won't spoil here.
In short, it's an old movie, and in some ways outdated, but a must-see for any BL fan. It's also very hard to find online, and the only copy I could find with English subs was rather blurry. I'll provide a link below:
Одноклассники
https://ok.ru/video/3864502012556
Okoge, 1992 eng sub - Одноклассники
Of course, now the challenge is to actually find these films with Eng Subs.
I mean, Pink Films from back then are so tame and really not much more racy than most contemporary American rated R films, but they are still hard to find online.
Also, why isn't this restaurant bankrupt when we've seen only ONE customer (ie, the writer), in the place day after day who orders any food? Even when the writer's friend and blind date showed up they did not order any food. Was this show's budget so low that they couldn't even afford 2 or 3 extras to just sit in the place with bowl in front of them?
Therefore, a 23 year old teacher attracted to a 17 year old student cannot, by definition, be a pedophile. There might be ethical concerns about a teacher dating a student because the teacher is an authority figure, but this is an entirely different discussion.
If anyone still needs help grasping this simple concept, allow me to leave the Merriam-Webster definition of a pedophile. It is as follows: "Pedophile -- A psychiatric disorder in which an adult has sexual fantasies about or engages in sexual acts with a prepubescent child."