Live Action Review: Say I Love You

SUMMARY

Tachibana Mei believes she doesn't need friends - a childhood incident has her convinced that friends will inevitably betray each other. Instead, she separates herself from her peers to the point where none of them have even heard her speak. That is until she kicks Kurosawa Yamato down the stairs. Rather than be offended (it was his friend who actually deserved the punishment), Yamato becomes interested in the one girl in his midst that doesn't act like all the others that clamor after him. Despite opposition to their friendship, Yamato begins to coax Mei out of her protective shell, and Mei in turn is able to reveal the real imperfect Yamato underneath the perfect smile.

TL;DR

Full of our usual favourite Japanese romance tropes (popular boy, unpopular girl, love triangles, jealousy etc), this live action movie doesn't do a bad job at all in adapting the original manga by Hazuki Kanae. The story is actually fairly simple and is very easy to follow, and the growing feelings between Mei and Yamato are heartwarming to watch. The characters are very true to the manga characters, and the plot also sticks close to the original. It probably attempts to pack a little too much into the movie time limit (you may understand when Takemura Kai comes into the picture) but it is nonetheless a very pleasant way to spend a few hours.

Because of it's simplicity, there isn't much else to say in this TL;DR that wouldn't give away a few spoilers, so if you're interested please stay tuned for the review below!

FULL SUMMARY

As I said, there's nothing too complicated about this love story. Due to his good looks and amiable nature, Yamato is used to receiving special attention from guys and girls, especially girls, so when Mei accidentally kicks him rather than his friend Kenji down the stairs for holding on inappropriately to her skirt, it's no surprise that his interest is piqued. He probably thought he had an idea about her when she scurries away silently after Kenji accidentally on purpose knocks her over during the school fair (his bullying behaviour is quickly brushed over in the movie and never brought up again. More on this in a minute). But then Mei actually sticks up for herself and fights back on the stairs, completely overturning his image of her.

Mei herself has an interesting character. She appears to fluctuate constantly between being strong and weak. In a way it is frustrating, but in another it is quite realistic that she should be strong in some ways, for example when it comes to protecting herself and dealing with the people around her, but weak in others, for example when it comes to romance and her insecurities between to pile up. In different areas of life we tend to be strong and weak, so while at first I was a little exasperated by this aspect of her character, upon reflection I think it adds some dimension to an otherwise quiet character.

She is contrasted well with the other female main characters of the movie. Asami appears to be bubbly and a little ditzy but doesn't fall over herself about Yamato like others do, but instead just genuinely likes him as a person, and also has to deal with female bullies who like to make fun of her. She seems to appeal to Mei's sweet side, and she protects herself in her own way, like Mei. Aiko on the other hand seems to appeal to Mei's strong standoffish side. She is outwardly confident and doesn't take any nonsense from people, but again on the inside she is self conscious (especially about her body).

Asami (left) gives advice to Mei with Aiko's help (right)

What's amazing when it comes to these girls is that they go through very real problems in high school that girls actually experience. Asami is large chested and is teased and bullied about this by other girls in school. Despite how talkative and confident she is, she chooses to protect herself by smiling and ignoring the girls who do it. Aiko has a similar body conscious problem, but this time it's the stretch marks that cover her body from losing a lot of weight very quickly. Personally I wasn't aware that you got stretch marks from losing weight quickly, I thought you might get them from gaining quickly as the skin is stretched to accommodate the extra weight, but I'm not doctor, and stretch marks are still a big self conscious issue for real girls so I'm willing to let it go. Aiko is the typical beautiful girl in school who is stunning and confident but hides an inner pain that she hides under clothing and refuses to let people see.

It was refreshing to see real life problems dealt with in the manga and hence the movie that don't just circle around romance. It wasn't that Asami hated her chest because of boys, it was because of girls around her. And Aiko didn't hate her stretch marks because of boys, but because she was worried about being ridiculed.

The only real problem I had with these girls was that, due to the time limits of the movie, Aiko becomes friends with Mei suddenly overnight and it feels way to fast. In the manga there was time to stretch this out and for Aiko to gradually warm to Mei and vice verse, but there wasn't this luxury in the movie.

Kenji, who ends up dating Asami, is a complicated problem for me. On the one hand I can see him as the quintessential high school student. In love with a pretty girl but struggling to impress her and ending up saying the wrong things, good friends with his best friend Yamato and generally happy at school as he is in the popular circle, and also someone who finds it easy to bully someone without perhaps realizing that's exactly what he's doing, he might think it's all a bit of good fun, because no one is telling him otherwise and he hasn't the awareness to figure it out for himself.

The movie and I think nor the manga really deals with the fact that what he does to Mei in the beginning of the movie/manga is actually really quite cruel. He actually pushes her over because he knows she doesn't talk and wants to either get a response out of her or at the very least show Yamato how weird the quiet girl is. Similarly, holding onto Mei's skirt on the stairway with his friends giggling around them when she has done nothing to provoke him is also very mean. And yet these situations are not dealt with, he is brushed over as a good person and he never does anything bad again. If his cruelty is just an instigator for Mei and Yamato meeting, then their meeting really should have been made to happen in a different way that's not quite so out of character - at least the character that we are then persuaded to believe is really him.

The flaw in Kenji is also something I have to bring up when it comes to the likable Yamato. Yamato is a positive person who is easily liked by others just as he easily likes the people around him. He is popular due to his good looks and charming personality, but this doesn't seem to go to his. He just genuinely seems nice. It is because he is so nice that throws up some of the issues between him and Mei, like when he briefly becomes a model and often goes out to dinner with his female coworker (also a model) because it is convenient and he thinks she is a nice friend. Obviously this causes Mei to become jealous and unsure of what their relationship entails because while he treats her very well, he treats everyone else well too.

However, the issue that is added to give Yamato a little more personality than just a "nice guy" is his past friendship with Kei. At his previous school Kei was bullied by everyone incessantly and Yamato would join in ignoring him when their peers were around, and would only hang out with him in secret even though he did like the boy. Kei eventually transfers schools without telling anyone except for a mysterious thank you to Yamato for being his friend. Yamato has apparently never really gotten over this, watching other people bully someone and doing nothing to stop them.

SOUND FAMILIAR YAMATO? How about when your good friend Kenji pushes a girl over in a hallway because she doesn't say anything, or when Kenji pulls on her skirt. Although Kenji was the one who should have been kicked, I think Yamato still deserved it. Vindictive? Me? Better believe it. If he was so affected by the incident then why does he just stand by and let it happen again?

Other than this blip in his personality, I do actually like Yamato. Although why Asian dramas and movies insist on the below awkward stance of boy and girl who are not dating yet but still touching I do not know. Who holds onto someone like that in real life?

Manwha Review: Orange Marmalade

SUMMARY

Baek Ma Ri has a secret she has worked her whole life to keep; she's a vampire. A peace treaty between vampires and humans has been in place for 300 years, but the fear of vampires is so deeply rooted in society they do everything they can to keep their identities a secret. Ma Ri herself has been deeply traumatized by the discrimination she has faced ever since she was a child. Now, she has finally settled into a new school and is determined to graduate without incident by self-isolating herself from her classmates. But as always, things don't quite go as planned, especially when she surprisingly piques the interest of the popular and distant Jung Jae Min.

TL;DR

This is actually a Korean webtoon by Seok Woo which means that it is structured differently to a manga and it is also in colour, which made a nice change! I made the mistake of thinking that each page was the size of a manga page and got thoroughly confused by the story which seemed to jump all over the place before realizing that each page is actually a lot longer, so keep scrolling!

I was very impressed by this manwha/webtoon (I think I'll call it a webtoon for here on out). The pace was fantastic, it didn't feel like some parts dragged on forever while some were skipped over. The characters themselves were brilliantly varied and flawed. Rather than simple straightforward flaws like jealousy and laziness, the flaws were much more complex and realistic, especially seen in Ma Ri's friend Soo Ri.

Additionally, this story isn't only about turbulent romance and friendships. There are much bigger things at stake. The balance in this story between romance, friendship, discrimination and bullying, and societal values is truly excellent. None are neglected to favour a particular storyline and this is what makes the webtoon stand out from other mangas and manwhas I've been reading lately. It's rare to not only sympathise with a character but also empathise with them too. I came away from reading this thinking "wow, I want to talk about this with someone". And I may need to reread it sometime soon to go over the finer details I may have missed the first time around. Anyone else do that?

And now, Jeeves, take the reader to the spoilers!

FULL SUMMARY

Ma Ri herself is a great protagonist, but if I was being picky, I'd say she is a little too nice. Obviously she tries to keep people at a distance for protection, but even then she has a "sacrificial lamb" "I'll do anything to save you in the end" thing going on which is less realistic and so commonly done in mangas. However, her non-discriminatory idealism, interesting reactions to situations, and true teenage girl in love behaviour goes a long with me. And once Jae Min stops the weirdness we see in the first few chapters (the circumstances continuously constructed to get Jae Min interested in Ma Ri are a bit of a stretch) and gets on with trying to win her over, he really wins me over too, especially as he becomes more and more complex as a love interest as the webtoon progresses. Their romance is also incredibly endearing and sweet, which, as a romance lover, is one of my main priorities for a good manga.

Pace is also a huge deal for me because a lot of shoujo manga has characters falling in love or making huge changes overnight, which is fine if you want a quick romance fix, but is not so great for really enjoying a storyline. I also loved how there was a balance of different storylines for Ma Ri. The usual tactic of artists is usually to focus on other characters briefly for additional storylines, but Ma Ri is the sole focus and has enough depth as a character that she can produce multiple storylines herself. There's her relationship with Jae Min, the developing friendships she has with her friends, mismatched values with Han Si Hoo, dealing with prejudice from acquaintances and society, responses to vampire/human events that happen outside her immediate world, her relationship with her constantly moving family, SO MANY PLOTLINES that all work together so that you aren't overwhelmed and add to Ma Ri's character.

I briefly mentioned character flaws above, and what immediately comes to mind is Woo Mi's reaction to seeing Si Hoo drink Chae Rin's blood. Although she knows that Ma Ri is a great person, it becomes hard to wipe that image from her mind and it starts to affect her relationship, more so when an apparent "attack" on a human becomes news and Ma Ri eventually is exposed. Rather than the usual "you're my friend no matter what" selfless trope, she begins to sink into a very human and realistic reaction: fear. I know I'd be terrified if I'd been in her place, considering I'm so incredibly squeamish. She can't help but let it affect her.

I loved how slowly they revealed Jae Min's hatred of vampires. It didn't even occur to me until they were dating that we didn't actually have any clue how he felt about them, and I thought it could go either way. Their relationship after her reveal seemed true to that of a teenager. Do I try and persuade them? Should I be mean because I'm hurt? Do I give them the cold shoulder? I'm pretty sure both of them did all three at one time or another.

I also think that self-realization is incredibly hard and is usually taken for granted in mangas. You know, when it suddenly occurs to the character that what they did or thought was wrong? Usually it's out of the blue and they just realize it for themselves, but it takes a big person to do that and not all of us have that ability. For Jae Min, it's seeing his behaviour towards Ma Ri being done by other people right in front of his eyes. Just like Woo Mi, even though he knew Ma Ri wouldn't hurt a fly, it didn't manage to negate years worth of hatred towards vampires. Finally, when he sees her being viciously bullied and attacked when she did nothing to provoke it and does not reciprocate their attacks, he is able to sort his feelings out.

Although the part where he drinks the sachet of blood in front of his classmates is a bit weird. Something of a throwback to his weirdness in the beginning chapters, me thinks.

I didn't really have a problem with Soo Ri doing a 180 on how she feels about Ma Ri and vampires, and the fact that she never doubts her like Jae Min and Woo Mi do, because of Ma Ri's extreme act to save her. She saved her life, and yes she had vampire healing powers, but with all the blood I don't think it meant that she didn't feel the pain of being crushed under heavy pylons, or the pain of being healed again, and we know vampires can die and aren't immortal so there was a possibility she actually could have died. I think Soo Ri knew all this, and it clicked for her that Ma Ri's distant behaviour before the event was because she was deeply hurt by their prejudiced comments about vampires, and in spite of this saved her anyway.

Man I loved Orange Marmalade. They really need to make an anime from this. It's practically drawn and coloured in already!

Anyway, definitely one of my top recommendations!