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) |
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?
No comments:
Post a Comment