A 1,761 word review of "Dareka ga Watashi ni Kisu wo Shita" in which I use the word "strange" a lot
I have to go to school tomorrow even though it's my spring break for AP Calculus. Technically I also "have" to go for AP Government but it's so early... 7:30!! No thanks. I like sleeping. I SHOULD be doing my homework right now for AP Calculus but... eh. I don't get it. ;__; I hope I don't get in trouble tomorrow ;;
So I'll take the time right now to write about DareKiss~! :D
I dragged my friend (gosurori15 ) along because I got an extra ticket and... I didn't want to be alone. I felt bad for my dad because he just waited in the car the whole time. The place wasn't packed so I was trying to call him to say the he could come but he had no reception in the parking lot. Well, I suppose it's for the best since he tends to fall asleep during movies ;;
It was really amusing to see the fans sitting to the right of us, well, fangirl. The first time Tegoshi popped up they were all giggling. My friend did as well and I just ended up smiling. I was quiet... o__o No awkward fangirl moments save for an "aw..." that managed to escape me. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Other than the obvious "it's in Japan now" aspect of it all, they completely killed off Naomi's mom - which I was quite disappointed by. Not only that but the whole argument over Naomi's mom between her and her dad was far better in the book. When Naomi said "I'm just kidding dad, I know mom's dead," I actually laughed a bit inside because I didn't know she was nonexistent. I thought that her dad would be all "what are you talking about, we got divorced!!" or that her mom would later appear at the hospital. But no. I felt kind of bad ;;
Another change is that Naomi is no longer an orphan, or at least they don't even mention it. I didn't mind this too much since I don't think it took too much out of the story. For Naomi's photography project she and Yuji/James threw cameras down the stairs to portray her own accident. In the book, her photography teacher didn't like the idea and she had to redo it - in the movie though, she got a good grade (well, if you consider a B+ to be good.) But that's just me nitpicking. I'm fine with all that but I just disliked how Yuji just comes out of nowhere with a box of old cameras... While that's not bad I liked it better in the book ;; Because she went out to buy the old cameras with James, she remembered about Will. Or something like that. I actually don't remember so maybe I shouldn't be complaining about this part.
Of course, with three big name actors, it'd be difficult to gather them all together for every single shooting. During the beach scene it was pretty damn obvious that it was fake. If it wasn't fake then... that's just plain odd. It looked strange with the ocean behind Yuji. Though this isn't really a complaint, it was strange how during Yuji and Naomi's crosstalk they were never shown at the same time - just a closeup of their faces depending on who's talking. I could kind of tell that Maki and Matsuyama didn't shoot the scene at the same time ;;
But those are pretty much all my complaints. :D I think I was just being more critical of this movie because I had read the book and enjoyed it. Which is why I worry about the movie adaptation of The Hunger Games.
Mirai. End of story. Will was awesome but Mirai is just... agh~ Maybe it's because it was Tegoshi but I seriously loved Mirai's character. I personally believe Tegoshi did a great job, or that could just be because I had just finally watched the second episode of YamaNade earlier in the day and I think his character is... strange ;; Sadly, Tegoshi's English wasn't the best. I mean, I'm still confused over his "ohh now I'm pissed" line. Was he really pissed and his accent just made it difficult to interpret his feelings or was it supposed to be slightly sarcastic? I found it funny though how one English line they actually put subtitles for. Though I actually understood that line perfectly - there was this other line which I had NO clue what he was saying. Regardless, Tegoshi was superb. You could really Mirai's emotions and understand just how much he cares for Naomi.
Also. Tegoshi + GLASSES + that hairstyle = :D
Naomi. I think Maki did a pretty good job. Her English was perfectly understandable though her intonation was strange at some points. I'm fairly neutral about Maki in general so I don't have much to say about her.
Matsuyama. He was good! o__o I've never seen him in anything else before so I can't really compare him to any other works. I really liked his acting. You could really feel Yuji's internal struggle... Oh, somehow he reminds me of Nino. I'm not entirely sure why but that's all I saw ;;
Anton Yelchin... My friend thought his acting was bad but I'd like to disagree. His acting wasn't amazing or anything, but he did a pretty good job. I never liked Ace in the novel but in the movie he came off as a pretty likable character. I sure hope his numerous "gomen nasai"s were supposed to be spoken with such an accent and not because he can't pronounce Japanese properly.
I'd talk about Emma Roberts too but her role was so... tiny. I liked her acting though~
As for Kylee... She was barely there! I mean, she's barely there in the novel as well but geez... I don't think she took up even 5 minutes of screentime unless I'm seriously having bad memory right now. She looks SO DIFFERENT. Compared to all those pictures for Kimi ga iru Kara ... she looks nothing like that. I think she actually looked her age - 14. I still feel weirded out that she's 14 yet Tegoshi's 21 at the time of the filming. 7 years... I'd say ew but then that'd be a slap in the face to Massu. |D
Now all those visual effects. I'm sure you've pretty much already heard about the photographs. Since the yearbook is a pretty big thing in the movie (and in the novel) photography played a key role as well. I thought it was really cool how whenever a picture was taken you'd see it pop up on the screen. My favorite scenes where this was employed were during the dance (I don't remember if it was prom, winter formal, homecoming...) when Naomi was taking pictures of everyone for the Yearbook. You see the photographs all around her with the last few shots being of Mirai extending his hand towards her.
Another scene where I enjoyed it was the part with the photography project. I'm not sure if I can explain this properly, but there was a "photograph" on the screen. They threw another camera which "hit" the "photograph" and caused it to fall - kind of as if it were a blanket. That was a pretty bad explanation ;; Also, Naomi was taking pictures while she was running down the stairs. The photographs would appear next to her and she'd basically run through each of them, causing them to shatter.
The photographs also served really well to "wrap up" all the memories shared with Yuji before the two are separated.
Overall, I think it was a good movie. Nothing breathtaking but definitely something fans of any of the actors should watch. I'm sure others who aren't really fans of them would enjoy the movie as well, though perhaps to a lesser extent. As for if it will do well if it were released in the US... I think it will do okay as an indie film. Sadly, despite the nice story, it obviously isn't a box office topper. I thoroughly enjoyed it though despite my slight beef with the changes from the book.
I forgot to mention, for the subtitles... they basically just copied the lines from the book. XD I only reread the first two chapters, a bit of the middle, and the ending of the book before watching the movie and I couldn't help but notice that.
Would I see this movie again? Definitely. Though that may only be because a) I want it to do well and b) I'm a fan of the actors and the book. Well no, for the actors I was basically only there for Tegoshi because if it were just Maki and Matsuyama, I don't think I'd bother going. I'd just wait for it to be released here. Going off on a tangent there... I know there are people that watch movies over and over again because they love it so much. (I know a couple of people at my school that've watched Avatar numerous times.) I'm not that type of person, but for this movie I wouldn't mind because for once, I actually care about the actors. Would those who have no clue who the actors are do the same? I'm doubtful. Still, it's a good movie!
Wait wait last point. The kissing scene between Naomi and Yuji was awkward. Between each line of speech they'd kiss each other numerous times. Perhaps you'd find it romantic but I just thought it was strange ;;
No, this is the last point. While we're still on the topic of kissing. Seeing as how I've only seen a few dramas and all but one of them had Johnny's in them whether I knew it at the time or not... the kissing here was pretty legit. No simple touching of the lips. Perhaps not as intense as Naoki and Riko from Buzzer Beat but I just had to point that out.
WOW THIS IS A LONG REVIEW IF YOU COULD EVEN CALL IT THAT. Err. Congrats to you if you've managed to read it all. <<; I apologize for my not so amazing way of making things sound interesting. I'm not that good with words. ):
"OOH NOW I'M PISSED." <-- I can't get over it. It makes me smile.
So I'll take the time right now to write about DareKiss~! :D
I dragged my friend (gosurori15 ) along because I got an extra ticket and... I didn't want to be alone. I felt bad for my dad because he just waited in the car the whole time. The place wasn't packed so I was trying to call him to say the he could come but he had no reception in the parking lot. Well, I suppose it's for the best since he tends to fall asleep during movies ;;
It was really amusing to see the fans sitting to the right of us, well, fangirl. The first time Tegoshi popped up they were all giggling. My friend did as well and I just ended up smiling. I was quiet... o__o No awkward fangirl moments save for an "aw..." that managed to escape me. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Other than the obvious "it's in Japan now" aspect of it all, they completely killed off Naomi's mom - which I was quite disappointed by. Not only that but the whole argument over Naomi's mom between her and her dad was far better in the book. When Naomi said "I'm just kidding dad, I know mom's dead," I actually laughed a bit inside because I didn't know she was nonexistent. I thought that her dad would be all "what are you talking about, we got divorced!!" or that her mom would later appear at the hospital. But no. I felt kind of bad ;;
Another change is that Naomi is no longer an orphan, or at least they don't even mention it. I didn't mind this too much since I don't think it took too much out of the story. For Naomi's photography project she and Yuji/James threw cameras down the stairs to portray her own accident. In the book, her photography teacher didn't like the idea and she had to redo it - in the movie though, she got a good grade (well, if you consider a B+ to be good.) But that's just me nitpicking. I'm fine with all that but I just disliked how Yuji just comes out of nowhere with a box of old cameras... While that's not bad I liked it better in the book ;; Because she went out to buy the old cameras with James, she remembered about Will. Or something like that. I actually don't remember so maybe I shouldn't be complaining about this part.
Of course, with three big name actors, it'd be difficult to gather them all together for every single shooting. During the beach scene it was pretty damn obvious that it was fake. If it wasn't fake then... that's just plain odd. It looked strange with the ocean behind Yuji. Though this isn't really a complaint, it was strange how during Yuji and Naomi's crosstalk they were never shown at the same time - just a closeup of their faces depending on who's talking. I could kind of tell that Maki and Matsuyama didn't shoot the scene at the same time ;;
But those are pretty much all my complaints. :D I think I was just being more critical of this movie because I had read the book and enjoyed it. Which is why I worry about the movie adaptation of The Hunger Games.
Mirai. End of story. Will was awesome but Mirai is just... agh~ Maybe it's because it was Tegoshi but I seriously loved Mirai's character. I personally believe Tegoshi did a great job, or that could just be because I had just finally watched the second episode of YamaNade earlier in the day and I think his character is... strange ;; Sadly, Tegoshi's English wasn't the best. I mean, I'm still confused over his "ohh now I'm pissed" line. Was he really pissed and his accent just made it difficult to interpret his feelings or was it supposed to be slightly sarcastic? I found it funny though how one English line they actually put subtitles for. Though I actually understood that line perfectly - there was this other line which I had NO clue what he was saying. Regardless, Tegoshi was superb. You could really Mirai's emotions and understand just how much he cares for Naomi.
Also. Tegoshi + GLASSES + that hairstyle = :D
Naomi. I think Maki did a pretty good job. Her English was perfectly understandable though her intonation was strange at some points. I'm fairly neutral about Maki in general so I don't have much to say about her.
Matsuyama. He was good! o__o I've never seen him in anything else before so I can't really compare him to any other works. I really liked his acting. You could really feel Yuji's internal struggle... Oh, somehow he reminds me of Nino. I'm not entirely sure why but that's all I saw ;;
Anton Yelchin... My friend thought his acting was bad but I'd like to disagree. His acting wasn't amazing or anything, but he did a pretty good job. I never liked Ace in the novel but in the movie he came off as a pretty likable character. I sure hope his numerous "gomen nasai"s were supposed to be spoken with such an accent and not because he can't pronounce Japanese properly.
I'd talk about Emma Roberts too but her role was so... tiny. I liked her acting though~
As for Kylee... She was barely there! I mean, she's barely there in the novel as well but geez... I don't think she took up even 5 minutes of screentime unless I'm seriously having bad memory right now. She looks SO DIFFERENT. Compared to all those pictures for Kimi ga iru Kara ... she looks nothing like that. I think she actually looked her age - 14. I still feel weirded out that she's 14 yet Tegoshi's 21 at the time of the filming. 7 years... I'd say ew but then that'd be a slap in the face to Massu. |D
Now all those visual effects. I'm sure you've pretty much already heard about the photographs. Since the yearbook is a pretty big thing in the movie (and in the novel) photography played a key role as well. I thought it was really cool how whenever a picture was taken you'd see it pop up on the screen. My favorite scenes where this was employed were during the dance (I don't remember if it was prom, winter formal, homecoming...) when Naomi was taking pictures of everyone for the Yearbook. You see the photographs all around her with the last few shots being of Mirai extending his hand towards her.
Another scene where I enjoyed it was the part with the photography project. I'm not sure if I can explain this properly, but there was a "photograph" on the screen. They threw another camera which "hit" the "photograph" and caused it to fall - kind of as if it were a blanket. That was a pretty bad explanation ;; Also, Naomi was taking pictures while she was running down the stairs. The photographs would appear next to her and she'd basically run through each of them, causing them to shatter.
The photographs also served really well to "wrap up" all the memories shared with Yuji before the two are separated.
Overall, I think it was a good movie. Nothing breathtaking but definitely something fans of any of the actors should watch. I'm sure others who aren't really fans of them would enjoy the movie as well, though perhaps to a lesser extent. As for if it will do well if it were released in the US... I think it will do okay as an indie film. Sadly, despite the nice story, it obviously isn't a box office topper. I thoroughly enjoyed it though despite my slight beef with the changes from the book.
I forgot to mention, for the subtitles... they basically just copied the lines from the book. XD I only reread the first two chapters, a bit of the middle, and the ending of the book before watching the movie and I couldn't help but notice that.
Would I see this movie again? Definitely. Though that may only be because a) I want it to do well and b) I'm a fan of the actors and the book. Well no, for the actors I was basically only there for Tegoshi because if it were just Maki and Matsuyama, I don't think I'd bother going. I'd just wait for it to be released here. Going off on a tangent there... I know there are people that watch movies over and over again because they love it so much. (I know a couple of people at my school that've watched Avatar numerous times.) I'm not that type of person, but for this movie I wouldn't mind because for once, I actually care about the actors. Would those who have no clue who the actors are do the same? I'm doubtful. Still, it's a good movie!
Wait wait last point. The kissing scene between Naomi and Yuji was awkward. Between each line of speech they'd kiss each other numerous times. Perhaps you'd find it romantic but I just thought it was strange ;;
No, this is the last point. While we're still on the topic of kissing. Seeing as how I've only seen a few dramas and all but one of them had Johnny's in them whether I knew it at the time or not... the kissing here was pretty legit. No simple touching of the lips. Perhaps not as intense as Naoki and Riko from Buzzer Beat but I just had to point that out.
WOW THIS IS A LONG REVIEW IF YOU COULD EVEN CALL IT THAT. Err. Congrats to you if you've managed to read it all. <<; I apologize for my not so amazing way of making things sound interesting. I'm not that good with words. ):
"OOH NOW I'M PISSED." <-- I can't get over it. It makes me smile.