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More thoughts on Zainin No Uso

August 21, 2015, 12:45 pm
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1) Forgot to mention lawyers actually object to leading questions during cross examination in Zainin no Uso. The use of leading questions in many legal jdoramas has always perplexed me but I attributed it to Japan being a civil law country. Looks like its more a case a lot of lawyer shows being written by idiots.

2) I love it when Hideaki says, "Not guilty and innocent are two different things." when he is praised by his boss after saving the serial rapist.

3) When Hideaki runs into trouble with the allergy case, he tells his client, " Facts are facts (and cannot be changed). You can't be found innocent but you can be found not guilty. To do that you need to throw away your conventional wisdom, morals and what your parents taught you. (Not too sure about the last one. It sounded like 両親のsomething. Sigh. My kingdom for Japanese subs.)

Edit: Just found out its actually 良心の呵責 which means pangs of conscience. Goddamn Japanese and all the words that are pronounced exactly the same.

One could read that as Hideaki's rule to winning but the interesting thing is that what Hideaki's character was taught as kid is devoid of conventional wisdom and morals.

4) Just noticed that Yasui Bengoshi being the original lawyer for the serial rapist was already mentioned in episode 1 so its that being of a spoiler.

5) My initial reaction when I finished Zainin no Uso was pretty good and the more I thought about it, the better it got and rewatching it has made like it even more.
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Mother Game

August 22, 2015, 10:21 pm
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Reasons to watch:


+ Lots of hot moms. Kinjiya Shihori (Yabe Kenzo) + Adachi Yumi. :)



+ Toyohara Kosuke aka Mr Lan Evo is in it.


Reasons not to watch

- With a name like Mother Game one would expect lots of backstabbing, double crossing and power plays. Unfortunately, its the harem version of a housewife jdorama. Nice and poor single mother goes to expensive pre-school and helps solves the problems of each of the major mother characters.


- Which doesn't sound bad but there's no depth beyond that. If you want a housewife/mother jdorama with character that are more than just their stereotypes, see Saito-san.

- The problems are presented in a boring way only to be solved by a speech by the main character at the end. I don't have a problem with this formula by the way, I love Hitotsu Yane no Shita but I have no empathy for any character at all.

Verdict?

Very bland jdorama despite the talents involved that only caters to its target audience. If you are you might like it, if not go watch Saito-san and avoid the second season.
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Soup : Umarekawari no Monogatari

August 24, 2015, 10:07 am
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Namase Katsuhisa aka Yabe Kenzo's wife has left him and his daughter doesn't like him.

He sucks at his job and Konishi Manami basically takes over his role and becomes his boss and he finds out no one at work likes him.

 Its his daughter's birthday and Yabe Kenzo goes to buy her flowers.

However, Yabe Kenzo's daughter doesn't want to spend time with him on her birthday and instead spends it with her friend shoplifting.

Daughter's friend says don't blame her cause I'm the one of invited her.

Yabe Kenzo lectures daughter. She says why are you trying to be cool only at this time after letting mom run away and Yabe Kenzo slaps his daughter.

Yabe Kenzo has to go on a business trip with Konishi Manami the next day and tells her about slapping his daughter. Konishi Manami is like don't look at me, I don't want to talk to you and requests to change her seat on the airplane. Lol.

Konishi Manami is pissed at Yabe Kenzo the whole trip and suddenly they both get struck by lightning.

And find themselves in another world while waiting to be reincarnated.

They have fun in the afterlife and meet some interesting characters.

This looks like heaven to me.

Why the hell would anyone want to get reincarnated when one can have so much fun? The soup in the title refers to the soup that they have to drink to get reincarnated.


However, who ever drinks the soup will lose their memory and Yabe Kenzo wants to see his daughter again.

Along their way, they meet Ohgo Suzuka who I haven't seen in yonks. Look how much she's grown since Sexy Voice and Robo. Sniff.

Let's not forget Furuta Arata. This movie has all my favourite people in it.

One can never have too many Konishi Manami screencaps.


Yabe Kenzo gets reincarnated and he gets to hang out with Hirose Alice and....

.. Hishimoto Ai. Lucky bastard.

And he finds out his daughter grows up to be Ito Ayumi! I could not have casted this movie any better!

Soup is basically a slow, subdued movie with a love story and a father daughter story wrapped in a story about reincarnation. The problem is the love story feels uncooked and needed a lot more seasoning. The afterlife stuff could have been a lot more interesting.

The father daughter bit is standard but what I enjoyed was the cast and their performances.

Soup could have been a great movie with more polish to the script but I kind of enjoyed it, probably more than I should have. Not bad but not memorable. Worth watching if you like the cast.

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Ishi no Mayu Eps 1+2

August 29, 2015, 6:25 am
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+ The directing on Ishi no Mayu is really good, especially the victim discovery scene in episode 2. WOWOW shows may not have the budget of getsu 9 doramas but they usually have very good direction and so far its been really good.

+ I am so glad this dude is not playing the always angry at the protagonist who is actually good at his/her job while doing nothing useful boss.

- That's because the main actress from Mother Game is playing a newbie in First Investigation Division. Nothing wrong with that, except the way she is written makes her too green. Ishi no Mayu establishes that some veterans can't even pass the exam and she is a police Sergeant so she should have experience.


- Yet her colleagues awkwardly pick on her and somehow trying to draw inferences from clues is strangely forbidden until the group retires to a diner at night. Ishi no Mayu tries to show the main character's smarts with her guessing the reasons for killer Toremi's actions while on the phone but these are questions that the police officers should have been asking themselves onscreen in the first place. Basically what I am saying is that Ishi no Mayu lacks that think along with the protagonist(s) part of serial killer shows.

- I really hate how she's bloody knocking over tins, not really looking around and getting so emotional in episode 2 instead of trying to play mind games with the criminal. I'm pretty sure the police handbook on following your partner does not say stick as close as possible instead of covering angles that your partner can't cover. Maybe she's really smart and is trying to make Toremi think she is too ruled by emotion.

- The only advice Kisaragi gets from her colleagues is keep Toremi talking as long as possible. Where's the bloody expert to teach her the rules when negotiating or how to draw out information?

- I have to ask, how come Kisaragi didn't know about the case that caused her father's death? Its not like he was in the secret service and the file was classified? She could have looked up the records since she's a cop.

 
+ Despite my complaints, Ishi no Mayu is a rare breed of jdorama cop show in that it tries to be realistic instead of trying to hard to be cool (I'm looking at you Ouroboros). I'm not expecting much but as long as it doesn't pull any Mozu magic hanky panky, I'm happy to be along for the ride. Watchable.
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100 Yen Love /Hyaku En no Koi

August 31, 2015, 6:15 am
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Ando Sakura is IMO, on of the few top tier actresses in Japan along with Mitsushima Hikari and they're both in one of my favourite movies ever Love Exposure. She stars in 100 Yen Love as Ichiko, a complete bum living of her parents who is kicked out and starts working at a 100 yen shop where she finds love and boxing.


100 yen love is a simple slacker tries to find some meaning in life boxing movie and Ando Sakura really carries the movie with her acting. She is so convincing as a NEET and a boxer. (cough, Mitsushima Hikari in Oyaji no Senaka). Ando Sakura really looks like she knows how to box and I love how 'ugly' the fight at the end is.


I love how motivations are not explained but rather its left up to the audience to infer from Ando's acting. While 100 Yen Love is a good move its just hovering below must watch for me. I think the directing is just not up to that level though the fight is pretty good.


In summary, a pretty good boxing movie about finding one's way in life where Ando Sakura shows that she is able to elevate decent scripts to great levels.
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Dokonjo Gaeru Episode 1

September 4, 2015, 4:30 am
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Mitsushima Hikari is back. Unfortunately, she just plays the voice of a frog that is stuck on a lazy dude's shirt. Dokonjo Gaeru is basically Doraemon set where Nobita has grown up to be a useless adult and instead of a robot cat with all sorts of contraptions, its a talking frog that likes to talk about konjou (guts).


The think that sticks out in my mind is that Dokonjo Gaeru is a very noisy show that really evokes that old anime feel. They've got a really huge budget with the CG talking frog on a shirt though a lot of times it looks like Matsuyama Kenichi is talking to his boobs.


As much as I like the cast, except for Acchan, I've got no nostalgia connected to the anime and just find the constant arguing between the NEET main character and his frog tiring. If they did a Doraeman with Bonita as a useless adult, I would be thinking the idiot has not learnt anything and why should I care? Dokonjo Gaeru hasn't really given me a reason to care. Maybe it gets better but I have no compulsion to continue watching. Meh.
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Ishi no Mayu Episode 3

September 7, 2015, 9:21 am
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Ok, I give up. I can't watch this series anymore. I sort of get what the writer is aiming for here but its executed in such a way that's so clumsy that I do care about the characters. The best part of the episode is when Kisaragi's partner scolds her for feeling sorry for herself and not doing any actual work. Like trying to outwit Toremi on the phone or something. The build up of the series has been whether Kisaragi has any pride as a police officer. When the answer finally came, I was indifferent to the soaring music. Meh.
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Stand by Me Doraemon

September 11, 2015, 2:42 am
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While I did grow up on a bit of Doraemon, it was something that I didn't get. All I knew was the theme song, that it had wacky gadgets and Shizuka's pantsu were white. While Doraemon was a property that I had a bit of familiarity to, I had to attachment to it and went in without any expectations.


Doraemon is very similar to Dokonjo Gaeru; lazy protagonist with weird sidekick teaching kids and adults that there aren't any shortcuts in life. The lesson is repeated multiple times throughout the short stories that make up Stand by Me.and the stories have a tendency to try to pull on emotional heart strings very hard.


My main problem is with the ending where everything resets to status quo where Nobita and Doraemon will once again go through the same pattern of story. Just when you think that Nobita has finally outgrown Doraemon and matured, he's back to his old self. Just like Dokonjo Gaeru, Nobita will always continue to learn that there are no shortcuts but will never improve because that would mean that it has to end.


Stand by My is a fun introduction to Doraemon but I don't want to see any more and it should have ended with Doraemon leaving.
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Tamiou Ep 1-6

September 14, 2015, 1:03 am
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Tamiou or king of the people is a body swap dorama about the Prime Minister of Japan swapping bodies with his useless son.


I was basically watching this for Endo Kenichi, Motokariya Yuika and Takahashi Issei. (Gonzo reunion!)


Tamiou is surprisingly watchable due to the fact that Endo Kenichi gets a lot of screen time with his useless son. (or is it the other way around)


Body swap doramas usually have both characters operating in their separate stories so more Endo Kenichi the better and its got the mystery of who is responsible for the body swap. Not to mention the reveal in episode 3.


While Tamiou's got a lot of funny moments, its got a lot of scenes where I just skip like the foreign minister and the bloody kids. I don't have many complaints about Tamiou but I just don't feel compel to watch any further episodes. (Or maybe I'm just thinking too much about Metal Gear Solid everyday and it would take a really good show to get my attention.)
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SCEJA Press Conference: Take my money now!!!!!!

September 15, 2015, 4:51 am
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RYU GA GOTOKU KIWAMI

Remake of RGG1? Take my money now! I can't wait for the extra stuff like Kiryu slapping poor Haruka. Nishikiyama deserves more screen time than he was awarded in the original game. Not looking forward to Majima in drag though.



PROJECT DIVA FUTURE TONE

My PS3 arcade controller better work with this game. Don't screw your hardcore fans Sega!



IKINIE TO YUKI NO SETSUNA

Old school RPG!!!! As long as it doesn't turn into a Bravely Default.


13 SENTINALS

Beautiful 2Dish graphics from Vanillaware, the makers of Dragon's Crown. I'm definitely getting this so they can do Dragon's Crown 2.


NIOH

Its actually alive, and coming next year!!!! This game has been in development forever and actually looks pretty good. Reminds me of Onimusha. Now where's my Last Guardian news?


BLOODBORNE THE OLD HUNTERS

The best asskicking I've had in a long time. Expansion to the game I never knew I needed. Take my money naw!


YOU'RE NOT GETTING MY MONEY



KOF XIV

Reminds me of the crappy 3D KOF for PS2.
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Metal Gear Solid V : The Phantom Pain

September 17, 2015, 8:14 am
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Finally finished Kojima's masterpiece so I can finally get back to jdoramas and movies. The Quiet ending was good but the final twist bloody sucked. Gameplay-wise, TPP is awesome. Kojima has made an open world game with classic MGS gameplay of multiple ways to infiltrate and capture bases. Though you have to replay maps multiple times, it works because there are so many ways to infiltrate and the game actually gets harder, though I think the difficulty should have spiked earlier. I don't feel like playing any more since I can't use Quiet after the ending.

Edit: after watching the video of the unreleased Mission 51 , fucking Konami robbed us out of the mother of all boss battles with their cut to funding.

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Yami no Bansosha is being subbed!

September 18, 2015, 10:07 am
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Solomon's Perjury : Suspicion & Judgement

September 19, 2015, 8:15 am
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Solomon's Perjury is a 2 part movie about a schoolboy who's death was declared a suicide but an anonymous note was sent to multiple parties claiming that the the boy was killed.  First off, this is one very slow movie, especially episode 2 which clocks at 2 and a half hours.


Secondly, the mystery kind of sucks, especially when final witness is revealed and I'm thinking why the fuck didn't this person just tell the cops in the beginning and save us all the trouble? There is actually a reason why but I didn't really care. Solomon's Perjury is less murder mystery and more about how people react to problems in a school from the principal played by Kita Yoshio trying to do what's right while under immense pressure to the media that is too quick in jumping to conclusions.


Ultimately, its not very interesting and would have worked better as a 4 episode WOWOW dorama instead. The one show that kept coming to my mind when watching was Suzuki sensei, especially with how the acting in Suzuki sensei is so much better.


Solomon's Perjury is a boring mystery 2 parter that with an equally boring social commentary side. The court case in the end just put me to sleep with the constant apologising. Its not crap and I admire the effort but its not worth anyone's time. Avoid. Watch Suzuki sensei instead.
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The Tale of Iya

September 21, 2015, 3:22 am
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Starring Takeda Rina (High Kick Girl), The Tale of Iya is one of the most beautifully shot movies you will ever see.

I thought she would forever be doing B grade martial art flicks but looks like she wants to be a serious actress. No, Takeda Rina does not throw any kicks in this movie.

The Tale of Iya is a movie filled non-stop with stunning images of the Japanese countryside.

While filled with beauty, it is about the harshness of country life.

However, The Tale of Iya is a very, very slow movie with hardly any plot and lasts for at least 3 hours.

How much you can enjoy The Tale of Iya will depend on how much you can get lost in its gorgeous visuals and sparse dialogue.

I feel the director is not on the Koreeda level of capturing human emotion.

I'm kinda disappointed because of all the great reviews. I guess seeing it on the big screen would make a bigger difference.


Only watch if you are in the mood for a slow, artsy but exquisitely shot movie about the Japanese countryside.
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Ichiban Densha ga Hashitta

September 24, 2015, 1:05 am
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Ichiban Densha ga Hashita is a Abe Hiroshi dorama special about the girls who drove the trams or roman densha during WW2 in Hiroshima and the first roman densha to run after the bombing. While it was a brezzy one hour, I wish they had let the old ladies do the talking with images and photos instead of dramatising the story.


I have a feeling that the anime short works better as a story than the dorama special. Watchable but I would not go out of my way.
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Assasination Classroom

September 27, 2015, 6:13 am
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I've never seen the anime. I only know its quite popular. Its basically GTO with Onizuka being an alien with tentacles and the students are tasked with killing their alien teacher who is threatening to destroy the world. Try not to think to hard about the plot, its basically your unusual teacher teaching life lessons to misunderstood students. On a side note, I think that tentacled aliens should stick to what they do normally do best in anime.


Assassination classroom feels like its trying to cram way too many episodes into one movie and I had problems staying awake as they kept introducing one character after another from a robot girl to Parasyte rip-off hair fighting student. All I kept thinking was, why the hell should I even care about these ever increasing number of characters?


Assassination Classroom is super boring and didn't even make me laugh once. The students are supposed to be underdogs but the movie just lacked pathos for me. Avoid.
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10 Reasons to Watch the Ano Hana jdorama special

September 30, 2015, 12:28 am
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1. They got the right actor for Jin-tan.

2. Menma is too kawaii.

3. Menma is too kawaii.

4. Menma is too kawaii.

5. Menma is too kawaii.

6. Menma is too kawaii. (Help! I can't type anything else!)

7. Menma is too kawaii.

8. Menma is too.... wait, is that the Fukada Kyoko stupid look?

9. I could look at Menma all day.

10. Anaru! (No way I could forget her!)

Ano Hana is crying porn but very watchable for me for obvious reasons. I love that they retained the music from the anime. What I didn't like was having separate confession scenes for each character about their Menma guilt which was super repetitive. I can't remember how it went in the anime but the writer should have combined some of the confessions together. Either that or they were padding the time. I think the dorama special lacked more Menma hijinks.

After suffering through the Attack on Titan and Assasination Classroom movies, its nice to see a decent anime translation. Very watchable and bring some tissues.
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Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai

October 3, 2015, 4:23 am
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God does not roll dice is a jdorama a plane that disappears without a trace in 1996. Kobayashi Satomi who's been in a lot of Matsumoto Kana doramas/movies like Pan to Soup and Tokyo Oasis is the employee in charge of dealing with the families. She herself is also a victim because her boyfriend and best friend were also on the flight.

Otsugi Ren plays the crazy scientist who believes that the plane flew into something like a black hole and would reappear 10 years later.

10 years later in 2006, the plane and everyone in it reappears and for them 1996 was just like yesterday. The theme of Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai is how can people who have experienced change in 10 years reconnect with their loved ones who they have grieved for 10 years?

Its an interesting dorama with a great cast and made me think. Problem is the pacing really drags from the middle and there a few traditional jdorama time wasting tropes.  The other passengers have their own stories which gets built up over the course of the series instead of solving one story each episode but the problem is that the characters are no more than just problems for Kobayashi Satomi to solve and I just wanted them over and done with.

For a show with an interesting and original premise, the execution of it lacked imagination and felt like so many other jdoramas which is a shame. If you like old school jdoramas and the cast and don't mind pacing issues you might enjoy Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai but it was disappointing for me after starting with so much promise.
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Autumn 2015 jdoramas that should be subbed

October 4, 2015, 3:00 am
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1. SHIN KANPAI SENSHI AFTER V

The tokusatsu parody is back for a second season! It was one of my favourite shows from last year. My only fear is if they run out of jokes for season 2. The good folks at megabeast empire are subbing the second season. Do watch the first season if you haven't! My body is ready!


2. SHINGARI

Someone please sub this because there is no way I can understand all the financial mumbo jumbo.



3. GODAN

Probably going to be your typical pharmaceutical cover up WOWOW show starring the guy from Love and Farm but Renbutsu Misako is in it and that's all the reason I need.



4. OKASHI NO IE

Odagiri Joe + Ono Machiko = must at least try. 


3. OTONA JOSHI

I don't really care about Kuninaka Shinohara Ryoko but I like everyone else but the most important thing is that the writer is Ozaki Masaya (Black President). Will this end up being a Shiroi Haru or a Last Doctor? Waittaminit, isn't Eguchi Yosuke in Shingari as well? How is he in two jdoramas in the same season? The obvious answer being WOWOW shows are completely shot before airing cause they don't want to let ratings dictate the story.



4.  GISOU NO FUUFU

Black President + Amami Yuki + Writer of Jyoou no Kyoushitsu. Unfortunately, the writer also did Kaseifu no Mita and Maru Maru Tsuma. I will try for the talent but my expectations are very low. Their chemistry might make this watchable.

NOT SO EXCITED ABOUT.....


SHITAMACHI ROCKET

I love Abe Hiroshi but WOWOW already did the same show years ago (which I need to watch) and I'm pretty sure the WOWOW version of the same story is definitely better than the TBS version.


ANGEL HEART

Is there anyone out there that think Angel Heart is even half as good as City Hunter? To be fair I haven't read it for ages but this might end up being so bad, its actually fun.
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Shinjuku Swan review

October 7, 2015, 2:26 am
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After the mess that was Tokyo Tribe, I wasn't that excited about Sono Sion's Shinjuku Swan. Plus, I never understood why Ayano Go kept getting those roles.

Shinjuku Swan is a movie about scouts in Shinjuku. They approach girls to work in kyabakuras or health centres and get a cut of the money. Basically, they are yakuza without the tattoos.

A penniless and jobless Ayano Go, gets becomes Iseya Yusuke's underling when he gets into a fight in Shinjuku and finds out he has a knack for scouting girls.

Ayano Go's character can take a lot of punishment and is also kind of straightforward stupid. Iseya Yusuke tells him that a lot of women in the water business are happy because they get to eat good food and buy they expensive handbags and Ayano Go believes him and makes it his mission to make all the girls he scout happy.

This is my favourite part of the movie; the guy who doesn't think too hard and sees the world in his own black and white way while working in a murky grey world.

 This is the first time I've already thought that Ayano Go was pulling his weight in the acting department.

The other takeaway I have from Shinjuku Swan is that Sono Sion should have directed the Ryu ga Gotoku movie.

He knows how to shoot guys in suits a lot better than Miike Takashi.

Shinjuku Swan also feels like Sono Sion's most commercial work in a long time, which is a good thing.

When Sono Sion is allowed to do as he pleases, we end up with movies that have no pace and a narrative that is all over the place like Tokyo Tribe.

Unfortunately, Shinjuku Swan has two problems. First of which is that the main story about the two scout companies doesn't lead anywhere interesting and is more like a set up to what comes next.

The other problem is that Yamada Takayuki's character kinda sucks when he turns out to be a 'how can you understand my feelings' villain.

Despite the let down from the main story, I rather enjoyed Shinjuku Swan. Not to mention, it looks pretty good as well.

I like the character and wouldn't mind seeing a sequel.

Watchable movie as long as you don't expect much but if you want something really good about the Japanese water business, watch the first season of Ushijima-kun.

More Mano Erina wouldn't have hurt though since it was shot before she turned completely anorexic.

 Huge sigh of relief from me that Shinjuku Swan did not suck. I'm looking forward to Sono Sion's 3 other movies that came out this year: Real Onigokko, Love & Peace and the Minna! Esper Dayo! movie.
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