Manga to movie catch-up reviews
Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon) live-action jmovie! based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa. A young, aimless boy, Yuugo Hachiken, enrolls in an agricultural high school to get away from his parents. Compared to Hagaren, this is a quiet story from Hiromu Arakawa that aims to teach as well as show the growth of the young characters. Hachiken stumbles along as he learns about the farm life and its industry and about making friends. The manga's story and characters kinda put me to sleep, but it does less so in the live-action movie. It does well to teach the viewer about the hardships of farm life and where food comes from. The movie doesn't really have any highs and lows, but intermingles small conflicts such as Hachiken's disapproving parents, Mikage's horse competition and Komaba's loss of his family's farm. Everything is showcased without too much drama. The movie equally shows the viewer of the cuteness of animals and the deliciousness of them. I do recall that the manga characters loved to eat meat. Because the school teaches humane practices, there is no turn-off toward eating what they raise. 7/10 rating~ for cute baby pig and delicious-looking bacon.
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) live-action jmovie! is an alternative presentation of the manga of the same name. I was disappointed to hear that the main character of Ciel was being replaced by a female character, but the movie is actually not that bad. It is set in modern times, but still retains some of the old fashioned Victorian style. Genpo Shiori is the young woman who runs the Funtom Corporation as a male after her parents are killed. She continues her family's tradition as the Queen's watchdog. Her situation mimic's Ciel; dead parents, revenge-time, contract with Sebastian...and the plot of the movie also resembles the first manga story arc with big hollywood-style plot changes. I enjoyed Sebastian and Rin (the maid)'s fight scenes. The choreography was fun especially with Sebastian's dinner knife. There are some typical bad guy faux pas's in the movie like how long they wait to kill Shiori...answer, just long enough for Sebastian to show up. This weakness didn't detract too much from the entertainment value. 8/10 rating~ for a live-action movie that retained the manga's black humor, snarky dialogue, horror-elements and mystery. Warning: the movie did leave the end open to a sequel.
Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno live-action jmovie! is the first part of the manga's Shishio story arc. The first movie was not as bad as I thought it might have been and this is also not that bad. There's plenty of fun swordplay to watch and the cast is pretty good. I do enjoy laughing at Shinomori Aoshi again. The only thing that does not translate well into the live-action movie is the manga/anime's humor. Kenshin's 'oro's just don't work without the SD faces. As the title suggests, the movie climaxes at the Kyoto fire plot and the gathering of Shishio's 'swords'. I look forward to the conclusion. 8/10 rating~ for that scene with Aoshi...hahaha.