Aesthetically pleasing with slow burn storytelling
This was one of the most anticipated films on my list. Ever since the release of the trailer, the ost and visuals really caught my attention. Judging by the trailer, it seemed pretty appealing in terms of its supernatural story concept and not your typical slice of life bl.Delving into the film, it started off strong with its visuals and character introductions, but the story pacing wasn't quite there.
I found myself pausing a few times throughout the film which was a bit concerning. It indicates the story wasn't engaging in the early stages (first 10 mins mark) especially when it came to the bond between the two main leads.
Story structure
The story went from point A to point B. There wasn't much breathing room to let the audience become invested in the characters. Of course, there were conversations made between main leads including Takito's character, Hanzawa (Cop). However, it took so long for a scene to show a genuine connection and emotion between the characters. The first half of the film felt absent, but its absence was not entirely bad. I replayed some scenes and noticed the silent pain the actors conveyed in their expressions which I appreciated.
I believe the film tried to appeal to a wider audience therefore the relationship between Hiyakawa and Mikado came across as a bit hollow. From a marketing perspective, it seems ideal to want to create a story structure that appeals to and invites both original fans of the source and supernatural enthusiasts. Based on watching the film it seems the film director and producers was struggling to build a gradual bond between the two main leads. It bothered me how everything was resolved at the last minute, but I loved how the threads started to connect together.
Acting
The casting choice was solid. From the beginning, middle to end, Hirate-sans performance kept me engaged and more intrigued with her character. I believe she is one of the idol actresses who does not overact. Okada and Shison-san's performance started to shine just after the 30-minute mark. In the climax scene, I believe everybody performed pretty well.
Music
A few osts caught my interest including when Shison's character has a moment of courage. The trailer song is a banger which I'm pretty sure it relates to one or two of the perspective of the main lead.
Production and Visuals
The CGI and colour gradient reminded me of the Bleach live-action. I appreciated the opening montage and ost. It made me realise the trailer didn't give away everything in the film which was a good sign from my perspective.
Overall, I would have liked to see more of the three main leads. I believe when exploring a manga adaptation especially with three main leads, it would have been great as a drama series or film trilogy. Hopefully, the anime adaptation brings more from the source material.
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This review may contain spoilers
Enjoyed it
Enjoyed it despite the lack of BL, it was a fun way to numb my mind. If you haven't read the manga and don't care about the lack of BL, it's still fun to watch.The differences between the manga and the movie did put me off a bit though. Here's where I felt off-- the manga had its fun and adorable moments between Hiyakawa and Mikado, their relationship was intense but cute and funny, but the movie ver of them lacks the mix of those qualities. Even if they didn't want to make it a BL, they could've developed their relationship a bit more.
The ghosts were much more scary and creepy in the mangas, though I will not fault them for their CGI work. The sequence of Hiyakawa remembering his past was amazing, I loved it, it was very fun and a memorable part of the movie for me. I liked the art direction of it all
The sequence in the manga where Hiyakawa binds himself to Mikado forcefully is intense and low key scary, it was the most memorable part of the manga for me because it was like "Oh shit Hiyakawa is not as innocent as he seems" moment, but it was lacking in the movie-- I wish those elements were present. I wanted to feel that "oh shit" moment, if you know what I mean hahaha. The lack of the psychic character was also disappointing, but hopefully there's a sequel and they add him.
The manga has this found family element-- missing in this movie as well.. If there's a sequel, I would like to see that too.
I think an anime adaptation of this movie would have been better..
Anyway, comparisons to the manga aside, I truly did enjoy the movie. The actors did well in their roles and I enjoyed the music as well. The actor for the younger version of Hiyakawa was brilliant, truly memorable. I wish there was more of Erika Hiura!! She is such a complicated and brilliant character and I felt bad they hadn't shown more of her. The characters were a bit underdeveloped in terms of their relationship with each other and that made it a bit dull for me. The ending was pretty cool. I didn't really expect much from a 1h45min movie, and there were many questions left unanswered and unexplored, but I liked it anyway. I truly hope that this is just a movie to develop the bases and we get to see more. If not, it was fun in its own way.
I truly suggest anyone who watched this movie and are aching for more-- please DO read the manga. It's a brilliant work of art. The author herself reconfirmed on her twitter that Hiyakawa and Mikado are in love with each other.
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This review may contain spoilers
Supernatural, Nothing More...
STORY: It's quite an interesting premise, one guy sees dead people and gets tangled up with another guy who can exercise ghosts, all tied together by a mysterious girl who can curse people to death. The guys develop a bond, but this wasn't even a light bromance. Absolutely nothing to see here. I thought I read somewhere that the manga had some BL elements, but NONE of that made it onto the big screen if there ever was any.ACTING/CAST: Basically only 4 characters dominate the entire screen time, and they did a fine job. I couldn't get past how much Hiyakawa reminded me of the Grim Reaper from Goblin... maybe it was the hair...?
MUSIC: I didn't really find the music interesting or even fit this movie well... seemed out of place for such a dark movie.
REWATCH VALUE: Nah, not now that I know the ending and there is no cuteness between the guys to bring me back. Typical supernatural thriller, nothing more. Good once though.
OVERALL: Was hoping for BL, or even some bromance, but none of that was here. Moving on...
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This Film RUINED the Manga... Watch the Anime!!
The anime was so much better!!!!This film doesn't even do the manga justice.
It's a plot hole festival!
It makes the manga look bad. Go watch the anime!
~~~ STORY ~~~
This is what happens when you try to fit a full manga series into 90 minute film. You get a crappy film that is rushed, full of so many plot holes, and isn't true to the original story. In fact, this film makes you so confused and irritated!
I just finished watching the anime, and watched this film the day after finishing the anime. I have never read the manga, but the anime was very suspenseful and kept be on my toes. It wasn't the best suspense, horror, mystery anime out there, but it was enough to get me invested. The anime was interesting enough to make me curious about the film. This film did a terrible job at telling the story of The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, that I regret watching it... Which sucks because Shison Jun and Okada Masaki are some of my favorite actors.
~~~ WHAT THE STORY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ~~~
Kosuke Mikado has always been terrified of ghosts. Why? Because he has the ability to see them. When he was 4 years old his father went missing, only leaving behind a jewelry box.. Strangely, no one, even his mother, remembers his fathers name or face. One day an exorcist named Rihito Hiyakawa arrives at his workplace. Hiyakawa saves Mikado from a ghost before turning to him and saying "You're my Destiny."
After that incident, Mikado is forced to work for Hiyakawa solving bizarre cases related to the supernatural. However, they keep running into the name Erika Hiura. As the duo investigate, the secrets behind Hiyakawa keep piling up, and it all might have something to do with Erika Hiura and Mikado's missing father's jewelry box.
~~~ WHAT WE GOT ~~~
Mikado is terrified of ghosts and can see them. One day Hiyakawa comes in and forcefully makes Mikado work for him. They repeatedly come across the name Erika Hiura during their investigations, but Hiyakawa doesn't care. Even when her body guard kidnaps them to help save her, he doesn't care. Mikado chooses to ignore Hiyakawa's wishes and investigate Erika Hiura and the bizarre cases himself. He learns that Erika Hiura is just a pawn. She is being manipulated by "Sensei," who is a leader of a cult. Mikado somehow ends up working with Hiura only to discover that Hiyakawa mass murdered the cult in the past after they mistreated him. The End!
Are you confused? I am.
~~~ WHAT's MISSING ~~~
Aside from an actual storyline? Everything!
Plot - The film tried to condense the plot so much that everything great about the plot of the manga/anime was missing. (Remember, I am going off the anime since I haven't read the manga.) The plot revolves heavily around Hikawa and Mikado. Hikawa's motivation is to make Mikado never leave his side. Meanwhile Mikado just wants to help and stop people from dying. As they solve cases Hiyakawa's strange and mysterious backstory unravels. Everything is linked to Erika Hiura, the cult, and "Sensei." Even Hiyakawa and Mikado aren't safe from "Sensei's" grasp. Hell, even Mikado's mom isn't safe from "Sensei." Everyone is a pawn in "Sensei's" master plan.
That being said, the film tried to cram all of the cases related to Erika Hiura and "Sensei" into two very short cases. They even tried to cram Hiyakawa's elaborate and tragic backstory into a minute. They didn't even touch upon Mikado's special abilities and why he can see ghosts. They talked a but about the power of words, but they didn't do into detail about it, or why Erika Hiura used her name in the curse. The worst yet, was that they just had Mikado sign a contract to Hiyakawa, and showed that Hiyakawa was manipulating him without even explaining why Hiyakawa did that and even use the power of being connected to each other.
The whole point of The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window is the bond between Hiyakawa and Mikado, yet the film did nothing to show it. They are supposed to be spiritually bonded together which is why Hiyakawa is jealous of everyone that can "touch Mikado's spirit." Mikado also can't seem to leave Hiyakawa alone, despite finding him strange. They have a strong bond together which is why they exorcize ghosts together. Even when the Hiyakawa misunderstand Mikado's intensions and acts out on his own, Mikado get upset at Hiyakawa, but he still wants to save him. However, the film made Hiyakawa out to be the pseudo villian, and all Mikado had to do was talk to Hiyakawa for a bit and great film over. They didn't even attempt to solve who "Sensei" was, why Erika Hiura was working for him, and what in the world the cult was. They just introduced everything and "Hey, Hiyakawa mass murdered the cult in the past because they were abusing him, so the end. You don't need to know who 'Sensei' is and why he did it."
Characters - All of the characters are watered down and just plain messy versions of themselves in the film. Other important character are straight up missing.
Mikado Kousuke - The key to everyone's heart. He somehow has the power to help everyone heal and fix their issues. He is also deeply tethered to "Sensei" even if he doesn't know it yet.
Hiyakawa Rihito - A man who was abused and manipulated since birth. He has the power to forcefully punch away ghosts. He was born and raised by the cult as a god, to get rid of their impurities. He was never given or shown any type of kindness or love. He believes Mikado is his destiny. He will do anything to keep Mikado next to him, even if that means bonding and tying Mikado to him forcefully.
Hiura Erika - A teenage necromancer, who was sold to "Sensei" and the cult by her father. She is forced by "Sensei" to curse people to fuel his master plan. She hates "Sensei" and wants to run away and be free from his grasps and her own power.
Hiroki Hanzawa - A cop who helped Hiyakawa after he mass murdered the cult. Despite his rough demenor, Hanzawa has a soft spot for Hiyakawa. He doesn't believe in the supernatural, but constantly asks Hiyakawa for help solving unsolvable cases.
Kazuomi Sakaki - Erika's yakuza bodyguard, who was only in the film for 1 minute. He looks cold and scary, but he's actually a really caring guy... at least for Erika. He hates everyone that tries to hurt Erika, even her father and "Sensei." He would save Erika from her hellish fate if it weren't for the fact that he would be killed if he tried to help her escape. He becomes an important character in the later half of the manga/anime. He tells Erika, "If you're going to escape. Take me with you."
Keita Mukae - An exorcist who was cut from the film!!! Like Hiyakawa, he can exorcize ghostss, however his tactic is to talk to them to ease their minds before exorcizing them. He's very good with establishing bonds with people and ghosts.
"Sensei" - A selfish man who manipulates people and ghosts for his own selfish gain. He has Hiura Erika do the dirty work, so nothing can be traced back to him. He has a fear that if people find out his name and face they will destroy him. He has pure hatred for Mikado.
~~~ IS THIS BL? ~~~
The film is not, but it's supposed to be. The film version of Hiyakawa is too stoic and doesn't get jealous of Mikado at all. In fact, he doesn't even bother to force his way into Mikado's spirit. Even Mikado doesn't care enough about Hiyakawa to prioritize his safety. They don't even touch on the fact that Hiyakawa called Mikado his "destiny" in the first scene. Also the exorcism isn't as sexual at it is in the anime/manga.
The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window is published by a BL magazine and is classified as such, but the anime was more Shounen Ai than BL. However, I'm not sure if the manga explicitly makes that distinction. In the anime, it's clear that Hiyakawa is in love with Mikado to the point of obsession. Mikado clearly has feelings for Hiyakawa, but it's unclear if it's romantic or not. Either way, they do have a spiritual bond that is stronger than everyone else. Also, they both occasionally do and say things that make other people question whether the two are dating or not.
Also, the exorcizing that Mikado and Hiyakawa do together is very intimate. Then exorcizing ghosts, Hiyakawa explains that isn't supposed to feel good because it's cleansing the air. The more of their spiritual power they use the better it's supposed to feel. When Mikado compares it to sex, Hiyakawa agrees that it's similar. In the anime, when they do exorcizing together, they are both exhausted and disheveled after... Like they had gone a few rounds together. Usually Mikado is slumped over Hiyakawa. Also Hiyakawa bites Mikado occasionally because he "get's too into it." That being said, when Mukae and Mikado exorcised together, Mukae was respectful and held Mikado's hand. He didn't force his way into Mikado's soul.
~~~ OVERALL ~~~
I really liked the anime, but the film was terrible. While I wasn't really expecting the film to incorporate the BL aspects of it, I was expecting a decent horror/suspense film. I got none of that.
This film was full of plot holes and didn't even manage to tell a decent story. There was no plot at all! This film was created by a big name company with big name actors, yet how did the film not manage to have a decent plot? They really tried to rush through the whole plot in 90 minutes and failed spectacularly. They didn't even solve the mystery that they were setting up to be the big climax.
Do I want a sequel? No.
Do I want a TV series? Maybe... Actually no. While I think the plot of the manga is more suited for a TV series, rather than movie. I think that since the exorcism and spiritual bond aspects of this story are very abstract and sexual in nature, it would be very difficult to show it in live action. The anime was great since we could see the different planes and the abstract nature of the bonds, everything was unrealistic. It would be hard to show different realms and bonds to each other's hearts without lots of CGI.
I personally think The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window should have been left as a manga/anime and never turned into a Live Action Film.
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So good and fun it should have been a series.
It still works perfectly fine as a movie, but there is just so much to explore and both the characters and connections between them could have been more deep and engaging, if this was more than just a movie.I finished it, liked it, was entertained from the beginning till the end, liked the characters, even ones I was skeptical about at the beginning, and yet the last thought I had - I needed more.
The characters were too diverse for this length. I did not get enough well paced character development from Mikado Kosuke, not enough in-depth exploration of Hiyakawa Rihito’s trauma and how he dealt with it for years, not enough time to truly understand and accept Hiura Erika’s actions. I wanted more background about the past events for the 3 main characters. More conversation about the power of belief in contrast to the power of not believing.
So many cool concepts, ideas and stories that could easily fill a short series. The source material was made for it, and yet all we’ve got was a movie. A good movie, but it could have been great.
On the note of source material, I tried to read it, but the sexualization of the connection the main leads had was just distracting and a bit ridiculous. The sensual exorcisms just made me laugh, so on that aspect, I’m actually happy the movie changed things up. I would appreciate a clearer indication of the feelings they had for each other, but there should be a middle ground between what was in the manga, and how much the cut out for the movie.
Acting was great. Shison Jun’s emotional scenes got me good. Especially the one after he passed out. The build up of the emotions the character was experiencing in these few minutes was delivered in a perfect fashion.
What’s more - the film was beautiful. Maybe it just fits my aesthetics, but I loved every frame of it. I also appreciate the gore that was excessive at times, but not gross and cartoonish.
One thing I would complain about was the soundtrack going from church choir to old school games. At times it completely did not match the scene it was played for.
Overall, I would recommend it. If you know the source material and expect a BL, this ain’t that. But it’s a nice story that vaguely touches on some interesting concepts.
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Umm
Well if you're looking for some Twilight Zone hot mess you've come to the right place. This has been on my PTWL for awhile and honestly I'm not even sure why I put it on here to begin with. lol I think this would've been better as a series than a movie cause I feel like there was little to no detail on the story which makes it difficult to keep my attention. The graphics (blood etc) were pretty convincing and there were some damn good MC visuals (bonus). This SHOULD'VE BEEN A BL but it's bromance af and I'm feeling some type of way about it! Overall, short, sweet, and to the point... I'm disappointed due to lack of pretty much everything to make it spicy.Enjoy...
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Další film podle mangy patří do té množiny japonských snímků, kde gay složku musíte usilovně hledat a domýšlet si ji. Je opravdu s podivem, že Japonsci jsou schopni balancovat do jednoho mangovského extrému (např. skvělý snímek The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese, kde gay vydírá heteráka sexem) až po tento film (nebo Love Stage), kde si divák musí alespoň malou bromanci vypotit sám. Proto ubírám body za příběh, ta větší romantičnost "mezi kusy rozčtvrcených těl" mi tam chyběla. Film to ale není špatný, když vše posuzujeme dle mangy. Kdyby to nebyla manga, tak by se můj úhel pohledu povážlivě naklonil k horšímu hodnocení. Herectví velmi solidní a zpracování jakbysmet. A ještě na závěr drobnost. Delší mužské prsty, než má Osada Masaki a které mohou některým imponovat, jsem ještě neviděl ...
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A Different Twist to a BL Story
I liked this movie. Normally, I detest occult and ghost stories but this one brought me into it. Mainly because of the excellent acting by the main characters. They were not easy roles because they required a lot of internal intensity to portray. It is filled with a lot of quixotic characters in bizarre settings but it worked. The chemistry and connection between the main characters is so evident. They are physical yet no physicality is involved. They are emotional without emotional attachments. They are individuals but function like an entity. Intriguing? Absolutely. But this is not for everyone. If you are looking for a love connection, move on. It's not here. Or is it?You can read my full review at BLBLISS.com.
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This review may contain spoilers
Take a psychic, a healer/exorcist, a girl who can curse people, a mad cult leader and a cop who doesn't believe in all this supernatural crap - and you get this movie. And I liked it a lot! Mainly for the very odd relationship that Hiyakawa-san (the exorcist) and Mikado-kun (the psychic) have. Because Hiyakawa can exorcise ghosts, certainly, yet he can't see them properly but Mikado works as a some sort of, well, amplifier you could say for him. When Hiyakawa touches Mikado's chest, they can both see the past of a person/place/thing.There's also some really good whump, especially in the first half of the movie. There's Mikado's guilt and his panic attacks, Hiyakawa's mysterious past and his crazy - dude's not normal, that's for sure - and then also creepy ghosts and dead bodies everywhere. Creepy!
It's based on a manga, IIRC, and the movie really made me want to read it. Also, the open ending hints at a possible sequel? Hopefully! I had a blast watching this one.
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