PHope

Otona Joshi translates into Lady Girls and the drama tried to present that. The main characters are three women who still feel like girls, even though everyone around them treat them like they are old. The women learn to not listen to what everyone expects from them and to follow their own heart. I actually enjoyed the leading lady's story, as she matured and moved on after her break up and business adventure. Her love story was nice as well. However, the two others weren't presented as nicely. It actually felt a bit rushed for them, as they were overshadowed by the leading lady's story. Finally, the performances were good from everyone. So, 6 out of 10.

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Surprisingly, Goldfish Club was a decent drama. Although the theme is school, the main characters have a lot of baggage to be trapped into the shoujo trops of the genre. The drama was dark at times and it followed the course of the relationship, as the two of them healed each other. The side character were, however, like out of the romantic comedy and her reaction was a bit too childish and predictable. However, except of that, the drama mainly follows a darker, more melodramatic path and it explores the characters quite well. The performances, finally, were really good as well.

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SIGN has a nice, slice of life story that follows a young man with hearing disability, as he tries to become a dancer. The dancing part was really good surprisingly. Though, I didn't get how he could talk so well, since he could hear only music. Apart of that, we followed some of the members' of the dancing group lives, as well as the main characters. The stories were okay and they (well, at least most of them) had a satisfying ending. The performances were good as well. Finally, the family dynamics and brotherhood between the leading character and his brother were interesting as well.

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3D Kanojo: Real Girl has a story that it feels as if you have watched it somewhere before. It doesn't offer much of a surprise or a nice never seen before twist. It just follows the well known melodramatic love story. I did like the otaku theme, however, and how a lonely boy found friends and love. The couple, actually, had chemistry and they looked nice together. Though, after the five year time skip, all the characters looked the same and too childish to be grown ups. But that is I guess a minor misstep, concidaring that the movie was just so so. At least the CGI were nice.

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If you like teacher-student relationships, then this movie won't disappoint you. Though, the story lacked some intensity. At least, the ending was nice and it concluded the story beautifully. I also liked that the teacher was hidding his feelings until the last scene of the movie. Therefore, the movie ended up being more realistic. Although, the love story needed some work. Finally, the performances were really good and I also enjoyed the side characters, who were cute. So, six and a half out of ten, because the movie was just okay and didn't offer anything original.

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Poetry Angel had an odd and slow start. But everything came together in the end. If you are going to watch it for Kento Yamazaki, he has a cameo for just two minutes, but the movie is worth watching overall. The story is simple, about finding your dreams, having courage to open up to others and discovering that things that matter were there beside you all along. The performances were really good, especially from the girl, who was exceptional. The ending was satisfying as well. I also liked the way it was filmed, with clean shots and some odd scenes when it came to the main character's poetry.

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