Gakko Gurashi and Last Idol Family
This review is mainly for the girls of the idol group Last Idol. So viewers have a little more knowledge of their background, rather than going into the movie with negative thoughts because they are music idols. Make no mistake, they are NOT your typical idol group. With that being said don't expect the acting to be award winning performances as this is their first full length film. The acting does start off slow and cheesy, but it gets a little better when the zombies come! Last Idol Family Official YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/LastIdolFamily/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1cZmNP43OM
Real fighting skills. As I said before Last Idol is not you typical idol group, in some of their videos the have fight scenes with monsters and demons much like the zombies in the movie. There are videos of the girls practicing martial arts and swordsmanship and they are quite good. They are definitely the group you want to be with when the zombie apocalypse starts... FACTS! Don't believe me? Here's some of their training and practice videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAixaY2oM7Y&t=39s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuxSbHrKoFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4__UVAz8L8
Last Idol Family is legit awesome and I can't wait to see what else they will be doing on future projects! That's why I'm subscribed. Midori is my bias, she plays Yuki in the movie. (^_^)
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The key to the horror aspect in this movie is the tonal shifts between the carefree slice of life vibe into something more terrifying. The illusion is so grand that it will make you lower your guard for a moment and make yourself vulnerable until the zombie swarm comes in, and the madness begins. That is the only reason why I think people will find this movie terrifying and not because zombie design was scary or the prosthetics and special effects realistic.
Not only the movie is mediocre in the production quality, but the acting is, let say, cute and leave it at that. The character also lacked depth, and it may be because of the limited time the movie has to explore these characters. They also appeared to be cardboard cutouts, the stereotype "we can do this together" strong personality, Kurumi, the mature but also useless leader, Yuri, the stoic and cold-shouldered pessimist Miki, and the airhead, full of energy, the loli of the group, Yuki. All of them were guided by the caring and everybody's favorite teacher, Megu-nee.
I dislike how the movie handled Yuki's mental state. They didn't explore it thoroughly. It could have been a lot better if they explored it like how dramas such as Boku wa Mari no Naka done it. In the movie, it seems she's just having a tantrum and not a hallucination. I guess it all comes down to the fact that they choose to adapt this story into a movie. Having limited time is a disaster in the making in any live-action adaptation. There are also points in the film where it is clearly written for an episode. They just cramped up all those scenes into a 2-hour movie, which resulted in not only weak characterization but also an abrupt ending.
Objectively, the only good thing I can say about this movie aside from the original plot is the twist near the end. It comes to me as heartwarming (even if it's poorly acted). I didn't see it coming at all, but I guess at that point, I already lost interest in the character, so I was not paying attention. But since I'm a guy who likes this type of plot, I enjoyed it a lot, so if you are like me who just want to see cute girls doing cute things in a zombie setting, then you'll also enjoy this movie.
Gakko Gurashi falls into the category of a brilliant idea but not executed well. There is so much potential in this story, given the strong underlying message it wanted to convey. It comes close to heart since we've been on that road before. There will come the point in time where we need to stop to rely on and just move on with our life. Had they executed it correctly, this movie would have been one of the best zombie movies ever. Now I'll check the anime and see if it's better.
Note: I always try to be as objective as possible in my reviews or just the recent ones, so if I only follow my personal feelings, I would give this one a 9 or 9.5 lol.
Check my Blog for other reviews & other JDramas stuffs. (｡◕‿‿◕｡)
https://thatjapanesedramaguy.blogspot.com/
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This review may contain spoilers
Please note: This review comes from an avid horror fan; this film is my first interaction with the School Lives! franchise and my opinion is based off seeing this as it's packaged - a zombie survival action-horror and without any prior knowledge.I knew upon starting this zombie survival horror that it was going to be a little worse for wear around the edges. The cast are a Japanese idol girl group - already I know that this is going to be cliched and a little cringe-worthy. That's nothing on the girls - it's just how they always end up type-cast a majority of the time. Something to take into consideration whenever you watch idol rookie-actor lead films.
I honestly thought this was a horror-comedy, maybe something satirical that was taking the mick of a lot of tropes within horror movies. The surprise when I checked the page to find that this was being pushed forward as a fully serious film was painful.
Every time a zombie shows up, the girls fluster, fall over, freak out, etc and don't seem to have any ability to defend themselves. They way they've survived as long as they have is an utter mystery to me. Not surprising, again, with cute and innocent Japanese idol leads, but disappointing none the less - they could have still done this with grace and professionalism that showed the actresses as cute and sweet, but with some semblance of realism.
Some of the girls deal with mental issues that would be common in an apocalypse - PTSD, being unable to accept reality etc, and this is a really interesting part of the film. Of course, this part of the film they barely developed and had pop up a few times and that was it.
With another cliched goodbye scene nearer the end, this film gets a tick for every possible trope they could have used, and ruined themselves with. Cliches are relatively normal in Japanese horror, don't get me wrong - but this is just taking the mick.
I feel like this is meant to be a feel good horror movie, one that blurs the line between realism and imagination within its parameters. However, even coming to this conclusion mid way through the film, I still feel like it missed the mark on that.
Maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I was a fan of the franchise, if I even knew what the story was about before going into it, or even if I knew how trope ridden it was going to be. Maybe it's meant to be like this in tone, similar to the anime and manga - not something I would know. I've seen a lot of people say this is very true to the source content.
As a horror fan? Someone who was browsing the horror tag and wanted something full of horror to watch?
Definitely one I wish I had skipped and not come across. I swear I've only seen 4 good anime/manga adaptations and there'll all by the same director... It's a massive shock and shame that the director of this was the person who directed The Chasing World.
With a cliche hallway scene, everything suddenly going wrong and another emergency to contend to, this film is honestly the most cliched and trope ridden horror I've seen released this year, worldwide. A film that has left me underwhelmed, bored and knowing I should have sprung for a Korean 2019 horror instead.
Also: one small pet peeve is how do these girls have an unlimited supply of bright white unstained uniforms in their exact sizes every day. It's the middle of the zombie apocalypse. How and where are you washing your clothes? When every other person/zombie in this film has disgustingly grey, ripped, and ruined shirts and pants? (Yes, this is how bored I was.... I was scrutinising their clothes come the ending).
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