Suki tte Ii Na Yo (Say I love you) 2014
This post talks mostly about the live-action film that was adapted from the manga (and anime?)
UWAAAAAA~ The manga and anime definitely took a spot in my heart. I discovered the manga when I was in the verge of not taking interest in mangas anymore because I can't seem to find something new. Almost all of them (particularly shoujo mangas) have either cliche stories or poor story development. *sigh* I almost gave up. But this manga got rid of my boredom. Yatta~ And the anime was good too. :3 Second season please~!
This is actually lengthy. But, I think it is really helpful if you do want to know how the story was executed in the movie.
[Review and Spoiler (click to open)]
I don't actually post these kind of stuff because I know that doing reviews takes a lot of time and effort. But this movie made me cringe so hard that I decided to make this. (Well, this is only my opinion.)
So, the story started with the school's festival having an idol contest. Of course, our dear Kurosawa Yamato (Fukushi Sota) is one of the competitors.
*insert the loud screams of his fans*
Tachibana Mei (Kawaguchi Haruna) is somewhere in school passing her time doing her favorite thing - plugging her ears with earphones having no care in the world.
A/N: Okay. So, I honestly don't know what to feel about the opening scene. It's not that catchy. Usually, opening scenes have narrators or shows scenes that eventually introduce one of the story's characters. Yup, still prefer the anime scene. Kimi Ni Todoke's film also had a different opening scene from the manga, but still it's interesting. Hmmmm... Rather than interesting, I would say that it somehow gives you something to hold on as you try to decipher what's happening as you're watching. /End of A/N
So, here comes Nakanishi (Nagase Tasuku), the supposed to be very pervy guy who always thinks of ecchi stuffs. As he and Yamato are walking along the corridor, he sees Tachibana and intentionally bumps into her causing her to fall down.
And why did he do this? TA-DA! Because he thinks it is SO interesting that he should let Yamato see it. *rolls eyes*
A/N:Yep, you guessed that right. There will be a lot of comparisons that will be written here. *sigh* I just can't help it. Sorry.
Don't worry. Nakanishi is not really an idiot to begin with. In the manga and anime, he accidentally bumps into Tachibana while talking to his friends. This is why I was surprised that he looked like a jerk here in this scene. /End of A/N
Supposed to be, Tachibana will look at Nakanishi with annoyed eyes and leave Nakanishi without even acknowledging his apology, but in here, she just awkwardly stood up and walked away with her head down.
A/N: I'm sorry, but I have to be really precised with this scene because this is where Yamato saw how different Tachibana is and started to take interest in here. But no, this didn't convey any thoughts or feelings. It's just like he randomly asked her name. If the viewer didn't read the manga, I'm quite sure he/she didn't get the real gist of it. /End of A/N
After he asked her name, he definitely took note of it.
Then, of course, one of the important scenes also. Tachibana Mei's roundhouse kick. Nakanishi is checking out the length of the girls' skirts. He sees Tachibana, and once again stupidly tugs her skirt. Not just once, but three times. Who would want that? Hence, she gave him a roundhouse kick. But poor Yamato is in the way, thus he was the one who was kicked instead.
Behold Tachibana Mei's pantsu that became a hot topic around school
She told them to die, and continued walking upstairs as if nothing happened. Yamato, though injured in his hand, laughed at what happened, thinking that Mei is now more interesting.
A/N: Okay. So, I thought that you might be confused to what happened in the anime/manga and in the movie. So, I'll be noting it as Manga/Anime if I'm talking about it.
GAAAAA. This scene is very very very very very very (you already get it) LACKING. Also, Nakanishi should be playful. The stupid things that he does should not be intentional. Hence, I didn't feel any tension that was built up. So, here's why I think of this.
Manga/Anime: Nakanishi is playfully checking out the length of the girls' skirts because they're so short, you could almost see their underpants when they're walking up the stairs. He suddenly saw someone's skirt which is knee-high, stating that knee-length skirts are also eroi. He tugs it, then he sees that it's actually Tachibana. Tachibana is shocked and so pissed that he executed the roundhouse kick, accidentally landing it on Yamato. Everyone tells her that it's only an accident which made her say, "If it's really an accident, then why does it keep happening?!" Then she went up the stairs with her pissed mood.
The inner self of Tachibana was not conveyed at all. Since, there were no narrations, her inner thoughts were not heard. Why she did this, why she is acting that way. She is tough and indifferent on the outside, but actually she's not rude, and she's quite fragile. /End of A/N
HAI~! Next scene. Yamato approaches Tachibana and apologized to something he didn't do. He, then, suggested to be friend with her, asking her her number. Of course, she wouldn't give it. Thus, Yamato wrote it in a piece of paper and insistingly told her to keep it. Becoming softer towards Yamato's behavior, she gave him a lot of band-aid to make sure his wound would heal faster.
The next morning, Yamato calls Tachibana by her first name multiple times, but he fails as Tachibana ignores him every single time. Finally, when he caught her attention, he tells her that he is upset that until then she still didn't call him.
A/N: Hah~ I'm also upset with this scene. Please refer to the manga/anime. *sigh*
The stalker guy is not that convincing also. He didn't give me much of the kimochi warui feels. And when Yamato came to help Tachibana, she didn't seem to be nervous/scared at all. It looked to me that she just wanted him to pick her up the book store. Haha.
The Stalker guy. Though I would still be frightened if someone really followed me.
I won't spoil you too much. I won't tell what Yamato did to drive away her stalker. See it for yourself. kekeke
As Yamato walked her home, this is where she explained everything to him. Still, the explanation is not enough to understand her.
A/N: I'll be fast-forwarding a little bit. Because this is like only the first 12 minutes of the movie. And if you didn't notice, I'm starting to get lazy to narrate the whole story.
Their first real kiss isn't that hand and teeth clenching as your body wants to explode with feels. So, judge it with your own eyes. No screencaps. :P
Nakanishi and Asami-chi's love story development? Quite disappointing. Next~!
And since, Mei didn't have that "short" hair to begin with, her hair won't be seen to grow long enough to decide that she will have a haircut. Hence, the film just suddenly jumped to their date.
So, she's just now okay with holding hands? Eh?
Aiko's confrontation with Tachibana? Nahh. I wasn't shaken even a little bit.
Yamato brought Mei to his old school to understand him a bit. Quite touching, but still.... naaaaah
The most interesting part was actually Kai-kun. But still there are a lot of feels a bit rushed and confusing tbh.
In here, he confesses his love to Mei. D'awwwww~
The last scene is with Megumi, which I feel bad for. She didn't have enough screen time, thus she didn't actually had a story. *sigh* Though she is annoying, she shouldn't be seen as an extra in here.
Reader, meet Megumi
So, here's a summary of what I think of the movie:
I salute those who always give drama/film recaps. This is tough. It took me almost 3 hours to write this.
UWAAAAAA~ The manga and anime definitely took a spot in my heart. I discovered the manga when I was in the verge of not taking interest in mangas anymore because I can't seem to find something new. Almost all of them (particularly shoujo mangas) have either cliche stories or poor story development. *sigh* I almost gave up. But this manga got rid of my boredom. Yatta~ And the anime was good too. :3 Second season please~!
This is actually lengthy. But, I think it is really helpful if you do want to know how the story was executed in the movie.
[Review and Spoiler (click to open)]
I don't actually post these kind of stuff because I know that doing reviews takes a lot of time and effort. But this movie made me cringe so hard that I decided to make this. (Well, this is only my opinion.)
So, the story started with the school's festival having an idol contest. Of course, our dear Kurosawa Yamato (Fukushi Sota) is one of the competitors.
*insert the loud screams of his fans*
Tachibana Mei (Kawaguchi Haruna) is somewhere in school passing her time doing her favorite thing - plugging her ears with earphones having no care in the world.
A/N: Okay. So, I honestly don't know what to feel about the opening scene. It's not that catchy. Usually, opening scenes have narrators or shows scenes that eventually introduce one of the story's characters. Yup, still prefer the anime scene. Kimi Ni Todoke's film also had a different opening scene from the manga, but still it's interesting. Hmmmm... Rather than interesting, I would say that it somehow gives you something to hold on as you try to decipher what's happening as you're watching. /End of A/N
So, here comes Nakanishi (Nagase Tasuku), the supposed to be very pervy guy who always thinks of ecchi stuffs. As he and Yamato are walking along the corridor, he sees Tachibana and intentionally bumps into her causing her to fall down.
And why did he do this? TA-DA! Because he thinks it is SO interesting that he should let Yamato see it. *rolls eyes*
A/N:Yep, you guessed that right. There will be a lot of comparisons that will be written here. *sigh* I just can't help it. Sorry.
Don't worry. Nakanishi is not really an idiot to begin with. In the manga and anime, he accidentally bumps into Tachibana while talking to his friends. This is why I was surprised that he looked like a jerk here in this scene. /End of A/N
Supposed to be, Tachibana will look at Nakanishi with annoyed eyes and leave Nakanishi without even acknowledging his apology, but in here, she just awkwardly stood up and walked away with her head down.
A/N: I'm sorry, but I have to be really precised with this scene because this is where Yamato saw how different Tachibana is and started to take interest in here. But no, this didn't convey any thoughts or feelings. It's just like he randomly asked her name. If the viewer didn't read the manga, I'm quite sure he/she didn't get the real gist of it. /End of A/N
After he asked her name, he definitely took note of it.
Then, of course, one of the important scenes also. Tachibana Mei's roundhouse kick. Nakanishi is checking out the length of the girls' skirts. He sees Tachibana, and once again stupidly tugs her skirt. Not just once, but three times. Who would want that? Hence, she gave him a roundhouse kick. But poor Yamato is in the way, thus he was the one who was kicked instead.
Behold Tachibana Mei's pantsu that became a hot topic around school
She told them to die, and continued walking upstairs as if nothing happened. Yamato, though injured in his hand, laughed at what happened, thinking that Mei is now more interesting.
A/N: Okay. So, I thought that you might be confused to what happened in the anime/manga and in the movie. So, I'll be noting it as Manga/Anime if I'm talking about it.
GAAAAA. This scene is very very very very very very (you already get it) LACKING. Also, Nakanishi should be playful. The stupid things that he does should not be intentional. Hence, I didn't feel any tension that was built up. So, here's why I think of this.
Manga/Anime: Nakanishi is playfully checking out the length of the girls' skirts because they're so short, you could almost see their underpants when they're walking up the stairs. He suddenly saw someone's skirt which is knee-high, stating that knee-length skirts are also eroi. He tugs it, then he sees that it's actually Tachibana. Tachibana is shocked and so pissed that he executed the roundhouse kick, accidentally landing it on Yamato. Everyone tells her that it's only an accident which made her say, "If it's really an accident, then why does it keep happening?!" Then she went up the stairs with her pissed mood.
The inner self of Tachibana was not conveyed at all. Since, there were no narrations, her inner thoughts were not heard. Why she did this, why she is acting that way. She is tough and indifferent on the outside, but actually she's not rude, and she's quite fragile. /End of A/N
HAI~! Next scene. Yamato approaches Tachibana and apologized to something he didn't do. He, then, suggested to be friend with her, asking her her number. Of course, she wouldn't give it. Thus, Yamato wrote it in a piece of paper and insistingly told her to keep it. Becoming softer towards Yamato's behavior, she gave him a lot of band-aid to make sure his wound would heal faster.
The next morning, Yamato calls Tachibana by her first name multiple times, but he fails as Tachibana ignores him every single time. Finally, when he caught her attention, he tells her that he is upset that until then she still didn't call him.
A/N: Hah~ I'm also upset with this scene. Please refer to the manga/anime. *sigh*
The stalker guy is not that convincing also. He didn't give me much of the kimochi warui feels. And when Yamato came to help Tachibana, she didn't seem to be nervous/scared at all. It looked to me that she just wanted him to pick her up the book store. Haha.
The Stalker guy. Though I would still be frightened if someone really followed me.
I won't spoil you too much. I won't tell what Yamato did to drive away her stalker. See it for yourself. kekeke
As Yamato walked her home, this is where she explained everything to him. Still, the explanation is not enough to understand her.
A/N: I'll be fast-forwarding a little bit. Because this is like only the first 12 minutes of the movie. And if you didn't notice, I'm starting to get lazy to narrate the whole story.
Their first real kiss isn't that hand and teeth clenching as your body wants to explode with feels. So, judge it with your own eyes. No screencaps. :P
Nakanishi and Asami-chi's love story development? Quite disappointing. Next~!
And since, Mei didn't have that "short" hair to begin with, her hair won't be seen to grow long enough to decide that she will have a haircut. Hence, the film just suddenly jumped to their date.
So, she's just now okay with holding hands? Eh?
Aiko's confrontation with Tachibana? Nahh. I wasn't shaken even a little bit.
Yamato brought Mei to his old school to understand him a bit. Quite touching, but still.... naaaaah
The most interesting part was actually Kai-kun. But still there are a lot of feels a bit rushed and confusing tbh.
In here, he confesses his love to Mei. D'awwwww~
The last scene is with Megumi, which I feel bad for. She didn't have enough screen time, thus she didn't actually had a story. *sigh* Though she is annoying, she shouldn't be seen as an extra in here.
Reader, meet Megumi
So, here's a summary of what I think of the movie:
- Very serious atmosphere throughout the movie
- Changed/removed scenes that didn't make the movie any better
- Not even one character narrates what's happening or his/her inner self (Since Mei is an introvert, this would help a lot)
- Mei's somewhat annoying too perfectly cut hair
- Casting... they somehow look like the manga characters, but acting-wise.... I'm having a hard time thinking if it's your fault or the director.
- Guess what? The director wrote the script. That figures.
- Only one constant camera angle shot. That won't show the emotions, dude. This leads to blocking.
- No Kitty :( Marshmallow, I missed you.
- Story is too rushed/jam-packed.
- Yamato's sister, why aren't you here?!
- I really want to defend Kawaguchi Haruna here, but nope, I can't. And you, Fukushi Sota is not excused either. *sigh* I'll give you another chance on your other projects.
- So, who wants to re-adapt this story with a significant improvement, eh?
I salute those who always give drama/film recaps. This is tough. It took me almost 3 hours to write this.