Zíza

No, it's not a movie for everyone. Once again I’ve watched more of an artsy film and liked it. Not so much because of the acting, but because of the music (it just did a lot, without it I would have liked the movie half as much) and the weather. It may be weird, but I loved the weather in the movie. It was colder – and that’s all. It seemed to describe the whole thing. A classic hollowed-out, full-on Japanese film.

After maybe seven? Years I watched it again and still enjoyed it, I can see why it gripped me so much at the time. I don't understand combat tactics or military science, so nothing there distracted me unnecessarily... The movie has what for me is the perfect balance of friendship, combat, emotion, and fun. The acting didn't bother me (except for Eikura Nana's occasional stiffness, I think she's better at drama than action stuff, that's why she was so great at talking rather than shooting and punching), Okada is great, he keeps both the acting and the "action" components of his performance at a high level. The idea is good, interestingly executed, the script is good quality, Sato Shinsuke is still finding his feet a bit as a director in the action genre, but he hangs in there. It's not the best film of its genre, I just like it despite all the flaws. I'm not going to change the rating out of nostalgia, let's keep it at a low 5 stars.

A series without Korean polish. Everyone is believable, normal in their categories, no one exaggerates anything, no unnecessary ranting. It’s the interestingly unfolding story of several different people, the most important ones being the guy with the beautiful voice and IU, in which they support each other and find something in each other that they desperately needed at that moment. Basically you can feel how their relationship is growing, and [LIGHT SPOILER] in the last episode you could cut with a knife everything they managed to say to each other just by smiling at each other on the sidewalk. [END SPOILER] Human drama – nothing more, nothing less, but perfectly sufficient. Even despite the heavy subject matter, it was substantially and sensitively handled and brilliantly acted and portrayed. Don’t expect to be dazzled if you don't like the genre of dramas where everything plays out slowly, there's no hurry to get anywhere, but if you’re the type who seeks out this genre, you’ll be thrilled. A strong 4 stars.

A terribly sweet series that doesn't actually play at anything. We watch as a strong bond develops between the three main characters, and the fact is that they have amazing chemistry. Not to mention that they are played to a tee. We can safely experience their hardships and the hardships of others in the village and not feel weird about it. It's not a one-shot that you binge on, it's a series that needs to be broken down or it might start to get boring. Indeed, it's awfully fun to come back to.

A nice relaxing affair. Right from the beginning it was all about poking fun at the clichés in Shōjo manga, and it certainly didn't stop until the very end. Plus, Koseki Yūta and Kuriyama Chiaki had nice chemistry together, it was a good fit, and most importantly – well acted. The whole series is basically just about them and their relationship. The rest of the characters have almost no space; everything except their romance is pushed to the background. Which means if you’re looking for pure romance, reach for this one and you won't get burned – it’s nothing but. Not to mention an appealing 25 minutes per episode. Fresh and sweet.

I liked that the characters did something with their mental issues, that they didn't let them fester. I just couldn't stand the constant barking, yelling, mistakes, and everything. I didn't enjoy the series at all at first because of that. But then it got good, actually rather enjoyable, funny and likable. And then clap, it got kind of “meh" again, and towards the end, like the last two episodes, I was praying it would be over because I was getting tired of it. The plot development, or rather the ending, didn't interest me, instead it was pretty annoying. It's great that this time going to a psychologist isn't treated as taboo (it's not what the show is based on), but just part of the characters' everyday lives; but it just wasn’t enough for me. Luckily it's short (by Korean standards), so you don’t suffer too much with it, and I do believe it will find its audience. A better 2 stars.

This river isn't as deep as the one in the book, but it's still definitely an interesting watch. It's pretty much an art film, and a lot of the elements are based on Japanese theatrical tradition, not to mention the construction of some scenes that harken back to the "golden era" of Japanese film. It's a film to think about, it appeals to multiple senses, it tries to squeeze something out of the viewer rather than squeezing itself for the viewer. Not exactly relaxing afternoon viewing.

It's a very good series, no question about it. Without unnecessary romantic turns and twists, take one at your own slow pace to the end. Plus Mr. Teacher is ace, a character truly written interestingly and well. Then there are the students, they have their problems, motivations, backgrounds, pasts, and now they’ll catch up to them, only for it all to come to a head when a murder happens in their "sandbox". Sometimes I liked it more, sometimes less, either way I enjoyed the teacher the most – he stole the show. And then there's probably a stumbling block here as your attention was very much split between numerous others. On the one hand, that's good because I didn't get bored; on the other hand, I felt like the series lacked focus. It was constantly jumping around, flashbacks, a few hours here, a few hours there, weeks, months, from character to character... yes, it sustained the show in its slow-moving action, but I found it annoying at times. What bothered me even more, though, was the withholding of facts just to make it more suspenseful. There were so many times that the characters already knew something, or something had happened, only it was withheld from the viewer just to keep them in more suspense. I understand it's a storytelling device, but it was so overused here... it bothered me. When you have a trial and they deliberately cut something out of it so you don't know and they can come back to it later... it seems to me that it's because they themselves weren't clear at the time who they were ultimately going to set up for it... It didn't have to be that way, but it had that effect on me, which kind of spoiled the viewing experience. And then there was the last episode... which, a year later, three years later, it kind of killed it for me and I give it three stars. Because at the end I walked away from it annoyed and yet there were such good moments that I enjoyed to the max. I'll definitely recommend it for viewing, to be included with the ballast of poofy shows that take advantage of the romantic relationships between the characters to do weird things, this is a diamond that didn't abuse any of it because it knew it didn't need it to keep the viewer glued to the screen. A weaker 4 stars.

I was annoyed at times at how it suddenly veered off, giving me the backstory of who was where right when I was interested in something else, when I finally wanted some resolution to their zodiac curse; though I can see why it happened that way. Even a tree, if you want it to be healthy and fruit well, has to stand on proper roots. Even a house has to have a proper foundation to keep it from collapsing. That's basically what's great about this anime – you get everything here. Everybody started somewhere, everybody grew from something, everybody grew up somewhere, and everybody ended somehow. After watching it, you realize that it's classic Shōjo, that the fantasy elements are just there as an accompaniment, they're not the main point, because ultimately it's about the psychology of the characters, their development and transformation. None of the many characters were just "that", they all had shades of gray. They made mistakes, they suffered, they rejoiced, they loved, they hated. Even though a couple of the characters keep turning into animals, in the end it's an ordinary human drama about how much family background matters. I loved it, I devoured it, gobbled it up until I was sorry I had to say goodbye so soon. In the end, even the characters I usually don't like very much (Tohru and her boundless altruism, Momiji and his childishness) I grew to love here, because they didn't just contain one thing, they outgrew it. I fell in love with this anime because of its characters as they grew and matured. Not to mention that it ended well in the sense that we get answers to all the major questions.

The first two or three episodes were great, fun, it went by nicely. But then it slipped into the old classic and it wasn't as interesting to me. Suddenly it lost the specialness for me that drew me to this anime. Sure enough, it was still an enjoyable show, innocent and gripping. And yet the animation was really terrible; I didn't like the character designs and the way they tried to move the scene around at all costs, the backgrounds to make it like NPCs from Vice City were walking around... I think it was unnecessary and spoiled the impression. Static backgrounds are fine in Shōjo stuff, at least they don't steal the spotlight from the drama happening to the characters. In terms of the characters, they were fine, not everyone was original, but they worked together pretty well, their chemistry was ok and no one was over the top. But because I expected and wanted more comedy from this... Just a three, not a touch more.