Summary Alternative Title: 雲のむこう、約束の場所, Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho Genre: romance, sci-fi Release Date: Nov. 20, 2004 Starring:
Hidetaka Yoshioka as Hiroki Fujisawa
Masato Hagiwara as Takuya Shirakawa
Yuuka Nanri as Sayuri Sawatari
Japan is divided into two parts after the second World War. One part of Japan, Hokkaido, was taken over by an organization named “Union”, while the rest of Japan is occupied by the United States. After the separation, a mysterious tower was constructed at Hokkaido. In the summer of 1996, three high school students make a promise that they would build an airplane and fly to the tower. While the student are preparing for their adventure, the two parts of Japan edge closer to war as the US tries to unravel the mystery concerning the tower.
Pros
Animation: Like Makoto Shinkai’s newer movie, 5 Centimetres per Second, the animation in this movie is absolutely breathtaking. It was released in 2004, but the animation is some of the best I’ve seen. The lighting is very realistic and there’s a great amount of detail in just about everything in the movie. Every single frame in this movie is beautiful. Even when the movie shows a torn down warehouse, all the lighting effects and detail make it irresistible to stare at. Just take a look at the sceenshots and see for yourself.
Poetic script: The script in this movie is very poetic and well-thought. Sure, most of it doesn’t really progress the story, but it is sometimes very touching to listen to and it adds a lot to the emotion to the scene.
I previously said that I’ll be making one major change, so here’s it is. I decided that it’s time to change the format of my reviews (for all future reviews).
The new format is designed to be more organized and concise. Also, I hope it will satisfy all types of readers, those who like to skim by reviews and those who actually read the whole thing. I’ve created a new Review Guideline page that briefly explains the new format.
Like my previous reviews, the new reviews will be completely spoiler-free (incl. the screens, summary and video). If there happens to be a section with spoilers then I’ll clearly indicate it.
One last thing: I’ll be posting a poll sometime in the future (after I’ve wrote a couple of reviews in the new format) so that I can get an idea of what readers think of the new format.
Today's the day. The Keizou Journal was officially started 2 years ago from today.
Because of this, I've decided to make a few changes to the blog that will take effect over the next few weeks. So far, I'm planning to make one major change and few minor changes.
Note the word "planning" since I'm not too sure yet. However, I hope everyone will like the changes (if they do come).
Summary Alternative Title: ライフ Genre: School Episodes: 11 Broadcast: Jun. - Sept. 2007 Starring:
Kitano Kii as Shiiba Ayumu
Fukuda Saki as Anzai Manami
Hosoda Yoshihiko as Sako Katsumi
Shiiba Ayumu has a terrible past. She receives help from her best friend Yuuko to successfully complete an exam and enter a prestigious high school. However, Yuuko fails to enter the same school and blames Ayumu for her failure. As a result, Yuuko attempts to commit suicide. Ayumu attends the new school but things get worse. She is continuously bullied by her classmates because of the incident that happened to her in the past.
Review If you thought Nobuta wo Produce dealt with bullying in schools, you’re in for a surprise. LIFE pretty much deals with a ton of issues including bullying, raping and gangs, just to name a few. But after watching the entire series, I have to say that there’s way too much bullying for the first 5 or so episodes. There was almost no progression in the story. It was just about the main character getting bullied with few students or teachers caring about the situation.
However, the first 5 episodes weren’t the biggest issue for me. I thought the biggest annoyance was the music. Most of the background music is this synthesized heavy-metal music stuff. Saying it was dreadful would’ve been an understatement. LIFE has some of the most repetitive, horrible, annoying background music I’ve ever heard. It almost ever fits with the mood of a scene since it’s always fast-paced and repetitive. Out of all the scenes in the drama, there were only a very few that actually had good music. Another thing I disliked was the ending. I don’t want to reveal anything too much about the story so all I’ll say that the ending might leave some disappointed.
In terms of the good stuff, I would have to say the last half was LIFE’s strongest advantage. After episode 5, I saw myself wanting to watch LIFE more than before. The story got more exciting and it wasn’t just about the main character getting continuously bullied. Another plus side is the acting. Overall, I thought every actor did a good job, considering most of them are old teenagers or young adults. The actor that stood out the most was definitely the main character played my Kitano Kii. Lately, she’s been starring in leading roles in more J-movie and J-dramas. I’m certain she’ll be one of the most popular J-drama actresses in the years to come.
Summary
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