Zíza

I've seen the movie a few times now and I always get a craving for it again after a while. It's enjoyable, the characters are likable, I like the format too. I enjoy it. This is the perfect romantic comedy for me. I kind of wonder how the creators would handle it in this day and age of social media. I would love to see a movie like this.

The series does have dramatic scenes, but it's not a tear-your-hair-out-and-bite-your-nails kind of show. It's actually quite believable, even though the main character has a disorder where he can't forget anything, it's never too far-fetched. The series mainly touches on the subject of stalking, guilt, and the privacy (or lack thereof) of famous people, which might be interesting for someone doing some social studies, but for me as a viewer... I don't know. It took me an awfully long time to finish the series, I even forgot I had started watching it, and yet it's nothing dreadful. It's just so bland. The main character isn't over the top, her sister is awesome, the main character acts logically (when the police need to be called, he calls them; he thinks about things a lot, etc.), and his character is a really good actor, the story isn't bad. It's just totally devoid of chemistry. It struck me as terribly disjointed, unengaging, uninteresting. I'll soon forget the series, I can't even remember now if and how it was voiced... and if I do remember the show, it's probably because of the tic in the main character's eye...

Mature, enjoyable, not in a hurry to get anywhere, cute. You turn it on and watch everything go haywire. Even though the main character is a runner, she doesn't run anywhere or from anything, and boy is she shy! The object of her interest, however, is also shy, and while he may occasionally escape into the world of words, writing or reading because he likes the classics, like Dazai, he is not afraid to take action himself. The runner and the teenage writer, just out of high school, begin to form a relationship. We also follow their ordinary lives, ordinary worries, and interactions with family, friends, and surroundings. Broad, slow, and just long enough. Although I didn't particularly like the look of the characters, the setting was breathtaking – Kyoto, their rooms, the festival, Kawagoe... it was something to behold. If you don't mind that the series flows at its own pace and that it lacks traditional genre clichés, check it out. Even in the winter, it can warm you up.

Quality is on an upward trend. My disenchantment with the first series was eventually improved by the second series, only to be lure me in with the third (although there were parts that I didn't entirely enjoy). Strong fights, final revelations. We learn a lot of things, the genre changes slightly, and we slowly move on to the finale. It looks like it's going to be grandiose. I really like how it feels like the author had it very well thought out from the beginning, because we're also revisiting things from the first season, getting them from new angles, and everything makes sense. A better 3 stars.

I love the way this writer can hit the mark. Almost as if by accident, her characters directly and indirectly criticize the setting of society. At the same time, it doesn't go into some drama, it's just the characters going through their lives and the environment affecting them at various stages. Anyway, for me, a cool sequel to NigeHaji that also reflected the craziness of 2020 in its second half. It was even more of a closer theme for me, having lived through something similar myself. In some ways worse, in some ways better. So for me it was highly personal to watch, truthful, and I could totally relate to everyone. Not to mention that COVID, a thing that affected all of our lives, starts in the second part and isn't presented in a particularly draconian way in the special. No madness. Just sort of an intervention in ordinary life. I found the subject matter very sensitively presented. Just like that; for me it was almost like I was partly watching my own experiences, so I'm adding an extra star; if I were to rate it "objectively" it would be a 4. After all, it's still a good Nogi Akiko, a quality cast, fitting music, and a story that has an idea.

Takahashi Issei in a decent role as the gifted mangaka Kishibe Rohan from the world of JoJo. Three enjoyable episodes, unpretentious but full of Takahashi and his interesting acting. I liked the character of Rohan very much because he was very human. He had his quirks and supernatural power to read people like in the book, but at the same time his character had depth. He wasn't just a cold genius suddenly possessed by a savior complex. No, he wasn't at all. It was always stirring inside him – childish curiosity, elderly awareness, adult reasoning. Yes, and the boy was very entertaining. It's nothing groundbreaking but it certainly has the potential to entertain, amuse, and satiate.

It took me half a year, maybe nine months, to finish this series. It's not bad in the basics, not to mention Kimura's perfect acting (she’s just got it down pat), but the story didn't grab me enough to make me want to finish it right away and quickly. Or to see how it turns out. Because I didn't really care. I didn't care about the characters. I mean, each one was different, and the actors really tried, but it left me emotionally cold, maybe even hungry. Yes, there were about two moments that I liked and that somehow moved me, but that was it. I didn't care how they turned out. Plus, this food was completely foreign to me, I didn't find it tasty, aesthetically pleasing at most. It also sticks to the classic cliché, the good guy badass and genius in the lead role, then the omnivorous enemies who will undermine the Grand Maison Tókyo restaurant, all thankfully totally devoid of romance. That would have made the oddly tense story unbearable. If you like French cuisine... check it out. Ditto for liking Kimura Takuji. But other than that, there are better competitive series from a work (kitchen) environment.

A very strange, tragic, artistic – or as they say here art – film based on the 4th album of the band Acid Black Cherry. It's that album that tells the story of Eru, which eventually received this film version. So it's no wonder that it partly feels like a long music video, but also feels like a theatrical production. Even though the film tells the tragic life of a bland woman who was apparently loved by men due to/because of her pretty face and sweet demeanor (well, except for one), I couldn't help but like the heroine. I found her incredibly flat (her breasts, that is). Hirose Alice is beautiful and I think she did as well as she could, but the direction was rather weak, so it doesn't have the proper impact in the end. It's basically such a miserable story, almost like Victor Hugo wrote it. But you can contemplate Eru and her men. Who was the worst. Who was the best. And why.

It's kind of that classic thing where someone goes to a new job, doesn't like it at first, actually looks down on the rest, and expects to be out soon. But then he starts to get to know the lovely family in his new job, falls in love and enjoys it, and generally everything is bathed in sunshine. And so it was. All smiley, non-confrontational, nice and sweet. There's not really suspenseful moment in the entire movie. The whole thing is so superficial, not just the story but the characters, that it just fails to "enamor". You don't care and look forward to the end because it's boring. No conflict, no people, just colors. Maybe the creators were trying to imply that there was some sort of conflict between the main character and her boyfriend, but it completely fizzled out. [SPOILER] The way they break up in the end doesn't make sense, unless they were high school friends and didn't really want the relationship. He just repeats her first impression from the park, she just looks at him, and that's just the end of it. No debate, no more substantial reasons, etc. [END SPOILER] And this only took up such a tiny part of the movie that they could have easily afforded to cut it. (Like a lot of other scenes.) A weak 2 stars.

While it's nice that we get to see 30 years of two characters' lives as they evolve, wither, and blossom again, it's just that those excerpts don't quite make you like or understand the characters. Maybe not understand them, so much as sympathize with them. Basically, the whole film left me cold except for the moment when the camera panned to an alarm clock, which also showed the date: 11 March 2011. That made me cringe, but then the film went on its way. It doesn't develop one coherent story, but glues the pieces together weirdly. I can see why, it's obvious, we are after all looking at thirty years of their lives; but it didn't quite work for me. It had a lot of interesting ideas that would have been better if they were explored more in-depth rather than being done away with like that. The acting was perfectly fine, the main characters were likable, the direction and script were well handled. But it just didn't leave anything in me, and in two weeks I won't even know I've seen it.