Sunday, August 10, 2008

Review: Koizora

Summary
Alternative Titles: Sky of Love
Genre: Romance
Release Date: Nov. 3, 2007
Starring:

  • Aragaki Yui as Mika
  • Miura Haruma as Hiro
Mika is freshman at a high school. One day she loses her cell phone. A classmate at her school named Hiro finds her cell phone and tells her where it is. Hiro calls Mika to have conversations even though Mika doesn’t know who’s calling. At first, Mika is annoyed by the stranger that keeps calling her, but after a while, Mika starts to fall in love with him.

Review
I haven’t had a good experience with romance J-movies. The only romance J-movie that I gave a very good rating to was Heavenly Forest. I find most of them to be very slow-paced with an unoriginal story. Koizora was no different. It has the most cliché storylines packed into a single J-movie. Judging from my summary, it might seem like the story is original, but I just describe the first 30 or so minutes of the movie. After that, the movie is filled with things we’ve seen a million times in Japanese dramas and movies. In addition, the story is incredibly slow-paced which makes it boring at times. There are many scenes were there’s complete silence without any background music or dialogue. In addition, like many other romance J-movies, the ending is a bit controversial. You’ll probably wish that the ending was slightly different.

On the positive side, Aragaki Yui brought some enjoyment to the otherwise boring movie. She’s a perfect fit as a schoolgirl. Aragaki has actually starred in several school dramas before and she has great acting in all of them. Aragaki isn’t as good as popular actresses like Horikito Maki and Toda Erika, but she’s pretty close. However, I wasn’t too pleased with the acting of Miura Haruma. He didn’t act out some the scenes as good as I would’ve liked, especially in the very tense scenes.


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Pro
  • Aragaki Yui fits perfectly in a school girl role
Cons
  • Most cliché storylines packed into one J-movie
  • Very slow-paced
  • Some might not like the ending
  • Didn’t like acting from Miura Haruma
Recommendation
Some people might get some enjoyment because of Aragaki Yui, but if you’re not a fan then you should stay away from Koizora.

Rating: 5/10

Video Preview
Warning: The second half of this trailer contains spoilers.

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6 comments:

^VinS^ September 26, 2008 at 8:06 p.m.  

Im added your blog to my blogroll, can we link exchange?

Lora December 23, 2008 at 12:49 a.m.  

Koizora....what can i say about Koizora. lol.

First off let me just say that as a female viewer, I will be honest and say that Miura Haruma is simply adorable. Okay now let me say as a harsh critic, Miura needs to stick to the no brainer series (i.e. 'GOKUSEN') because clearly he is still a newbie at acting. Which is okay, I mean they are both fairly young actors but I'm surprised they decided to cast someone as fresh as Miura. Aragaki sweeps his feet in this movie....and this movie is not even all that.
I think you were generous when you rated this 5/10. I honestly would have rated this 3/10 and thats being generous to the fact that its 'based' off a true story.

This has got to be the most shallow movie I have ever seen.
Maybe it's the appeal of young good looking people and the romance that reels in people. Romance? I found nothing romantic about the way Hiro approaches Mika. If anyone wants the same elements of this movie, but much more romantic, funner, and cuter, I'd vouche for Hana Yori Dango anyday.

Anonymous January 28, 2009 at 6:37 p.m.  

What can I say about it...Hm, I really liked it. I'm a huge J-drama and J-movie fan, and yes, I think the way the japanese see the lovey-dovey thing it's a little different from the Americans.

But in the same time, I think that's what's special on J-movies. I mean, if a japanese movie will be the same as an american one, with all that fuckin' superficial romance, it'll not have any charm.

I don't want to be mean or something, I'm just saying what I think. And about the "complete silence, without any background music or dialogue". Hello! Imagine how it would be like to see Mika crying and the background music will be something like "Rihanna-Disturbia".
To me it seems more natural like that. Don't know...

I agree with you, H.Y.P.E. I mean, now they're talking on the phone, and suddenly they're already gettin' laid. I was a bit upsetting but, on the whole, i liked "Koizora".

My opinion. Ja ne! :P

Anonymous April 26, 2009 at 2:00 a.m.  

i would rather watch the movie than to drama,
coz i really want yui Aragaki and miura haruma tandem,.than to other.... so 4 me i would rate them 10!

Anonymous September 5, 2009 at 8:47 p.m.  

Gosh... the movie was horrible.
I think you're being a bit nice
by saying the girls acting was good.

Come on, she got raped.. and she looked
like she lost her puppy. She just lost her
baby and she looked like... yeah.. not all
that sad.

The movie was just not good. The only
part I enjoyed was the part where
he died... o_o is that odd?

anyway, I prefer the drama over this movie ANYDAY!

Unknown May 31, 2010 at 1:35 a.m.  

i really loved koizora (;
if your not japanese then it night be harder for you to understand/like the movie..
i love it a lot, i balled me eyes out

also, i resently watched the drama; it was actually pretty good because it explained things that the movie didn't, it goes into more detail, whereas the movie was kindof rushed.

but all in all i think Aragaki Yui and Miura Haruma did an amazing job..i like both of them better then i liked the actors in the drama (:

Miura was only 17 when he was filming Koizora and i think he did a damn fine job..

this movie is a 10/10 ^_____^

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