June
France
Before watching I think you need to be ready to watch a somehow goofy drama. The title and poster first led me to think it was a serious drama, but it's really not. And if you're not in the mindset to accept ridiculous acting and goofy scenes in a serious setting, then you're probably not gonna enjoy it. I don't think it's the drama that is "bad" but rather the viewer needs to be ready to go along with the peculiar mood created by the leads, and if not, it's probably come off as bad or ridiculous. But it's actually made on purpose, and I though it was interesting to have, for once, a detective story that isn't 95% serious. dark and guns. I do enjoy those, but I thought a dorky detective story was refreshing. The "cheap" ambiance was actually made on purpose and found it interesting.
The main story is quite good, funny and stimulating.
The cast is also very good, and it was nice to see the actors giving a funny side to their own character for that mystery drama instead of sticking to a serious one like a lot does.
The main problem was that some stories were somehow easy to figure out, even before the main character's search process. Yes, some episodes are somehow easy to figure out but others are harder to guess and that makes it up for it, Not to mention I really liked how the drama really explorer the mind and feelings of the characters.
I also heard criticism about how MONSTERS is somehow repetitive. The drama do follow the same pattern from one episode to an other, but it's a detective drama and a lot of dramas of this genre follow the same pattern. (or even other genres, it''s common to have a pattern and follow it)
The characters were fascinating, and endearing... I especially like Yamashita Tomohisa to be this cute and funny, it was really refreshing to see him in that kind of character after so long ! It somehow reminded me of his cute younger self from Nobuta no Produce~
It's a refreshing drama I'd recommend you to watch !
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However I feel like this movie did start on that topic to then leave it halfway without giving a conclusion on that matter, which I found to be a pity.
Overall it's very confusing. There are a few pieces of story/life advice that are interesting but I really feel like they were mashed together to make one story and it appeared to be very confusing to me...
Apart from the "Sebangou No Nai Ace" song the music didn't really strike me...
As for the acting, it could have been better. I especially expected more from Seto Koji. But to be fair, this is a movie whose aim is probably to be funny and look somehow exaggerated ? So it's not really the kind of movie that will help showcase great acting skills.
Won't really recommend this to my friends. It wasn't boring but it wasn't great either. If you don't mind getting confused and thinking 'what the fuck am I watching' a few times during the 2h of this movie, then you might be able to finish it !
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This review may contain spoilers
Seing the good reviews on MDL I wanted to make a contrasting review after a rewatch and debating with friends after watching it together,The overall plot was a good idea. A plot-twist from the first movie with some additions etc, I was all in for that, But it was handled veeery poorly. It's overall confusing, blur and it actually needs effort to understand what happened. I needed to watch the movie twice and read an article about it to actually have a better idea of what happened (and that person and I are pretty much as confused about the same things so I take I'm not completely stupid. This explanation page contains spoilers so I warn you, but it's a very good review and explanation for those who ended up confused as I was ; http://www.tohokingdom.com/reviews/romero/omc2.htm )
The acting wasn't good. Each taken separately weren't half bad, but they really lacked chemistry and vivacity. The scenes involving the couples seemed awkward to me because I wasn"t really convinced of their feelings, There was also an overall lack of scenes describing who really were the characters as the action kicked in very fast . We thus got to discover about them along the way but it still felt lacking to me,
As for the music. I really didn"t notice it that much. When watching i took notice of two of them because it was louder and original but it was soon forgotten, And none actually served the purpose of creating a mood, they rather were illustrating what the audience was seeing.... which isn't half bad, but I really expected more. But let's be fair, I don't think the soundtrack was the focus in any of the OMC movies...
To conclude, I would say this movie would have been nice if it was a new story, like I expected it to be. Trying to link it with the first story made it unnecessarily complex (not to mention the apparition of plotholes) and spoiled the overall result.
If you're looking for a fright, I don't really think that's the right movie either. It was, to my mind, half as scary as the first was. If you want a good story based horror movie, it's not the one either. I wouldn't really recommend this movie. I watched it with friend because we wanted to watch the whole saga but the 2nd movie is a big disappointment to my mind.
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I do read the manga and sort of enjoy it... But this live action just emphasized the flaws of the storyline and it's just not working for me.
We get a lot of weak/passive heroines in shojo manga and as much as I prefer stronger-willed heroines, I don't really hate passive ones. HOWEVER, here her evolution from one state to another is so abrupt it makes unrealistic. She's so shy she complies to Kurosaki... but then she finds the strength to talk back, to revert to super shy... Going from one extreme to another, I'm extremely puzzled about her personality.
Kurosaki is the main reason the plot just doesn't work for me. This is plain abuse. Reading it in the manga is one thing, but seeing it 3D just made me feel uncomfortable. It's not even remotely close to the playful teasing one can find in shojo manga, because the male lead expresses his love through bullying the girl. It makes it that much harder to appreciate the moment he's being sweet. I mean Kurosaki and the heroine switch so radically it almost makes them look bipolar.
The acting was ok, not bad, not good... I like the actors and find them convincing... Maybe the fact the scenario and the characters just don't work for me makes it that I can't be convinced by their performance... How can I be convinced the actress is in love with the dude if I believe it is nonsense to fall for someone who behaves this way?
I didn't notice the music, appart from the ending song, but I didn't think it wasn't matching the movie, so I give it a ok.
I actually forgot I watched that already... so I watched it today because it was in my plan to watch list and I was in the mood for some shojo live action... Well... While watching it I would remember I already watched the scene that was on... and kept watching because I thought I must have stopped halfway because I didn't remember what happened next... Well I did that for the two SP and the movie until the very end, to realize I actually had already watched it all. So my rewatch value is ; not something that leaves an impression on you... But I definitely think I like even less than the first time I watched it, because now I'm sure I'm gonna remember how I didn't enjoy that at all.
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