deep and surprisingly hilarious

honestly i am not smart enough to understand the Subtext (watching the director interview helped a lot, but rewatch value is high because i think i would understand more after a second try lol), but i was still deeply moved by the film. the scene where the main character calls his older brother on the phone definitely made me cry. that being said, there were surprising moments of levity/hilarity (aka any scene with the welding coworker) that helped make the heavy film very digestible, like a drink of water after talking for a long time. the best part is that these humourous scenes are still character-defining! masterful stuff.

the cast has to be the most important part of a film like this, and these guys are no exception! the family felt very rounded to me, and i discovered why when i watched the director interview. apparently, the three actors stayed in a house together for the duration of filming and had conversations like 'oh here is how we sit at the dinner table' and 'this is what our life was like Before' - setting up a backstory amongst themselves allowed them to interact with each other in a very natural way that helped the audience innately understand Who They Are despite the reserved and introspective nature of both the main character and the film itself.

the lead actor really sells the whole plot, but the actor for the mom was holding it down too. her motives were simple, the decisions borne out of them were straightforward, but that makes it harder to convey on screen - especially with how little screentime she has! i wish we had more scenes from her pov because she definitely knows more than she lets on, and i think the son could benefit from seeing that too. the dad being a blackhole for so much of the movie adds so much tension in a way that impressed me. the way his actor portrayed him (and how the other family members react to him) made him very sympathetic. in so many ways, he is the reason we have a movie, and the viewer can notice and appreciate that.

i would be remiss if i neglected to mention THE LITTLE BOY. so much depth in that stare; he's gonna go places. even for a secondary character, he doesn't talk a lot; but the camera work does the talking for him. i think that is so appropriate considering his story, his role in the film, and what he represents to the main character. (plus, when he stops bowing? MY HEART!) his mom was also very sympathetic and takes up the right amount of space in all of her scenes, which is great considering the way we're introduced to her.

i had a feeling i was going to like this movie, but i definitely didn't expect ENJOYING it as much as i did. hopefully this essay helps explain why in a spoilerless way :)

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well-produced movie about an underdeveloped story

if there's anything to love about the movie, it will be these: the depiction of siblinghood and the clever cinematography.
- as the synopsis indicates, the children who grew up together and bonded over their shared abuse eventually grew apart, yuji more than the other two. we don't spend a lot of time with them when they're young, but it's not hard to see how that kind of dynamic may mature into the one they share in the movie: familiar and predisposed to trust despite their different outlooks on The Event That Changed Their Life Trajectories. the disagreeing teamwork between the three of them once they reunite brings an understated humour and lightness to the thematically heavy film, an atmosphere entirely helmed by the youngest daughter. both sato takeru and suzuki ryohei acknowledge matsuoka mayu's standout performance in grounding the otherwise melodramatic story, and i cannot overstate how her personality / their siblinghood is what carries the audience through to the end of the two hours.
- one night is set in the portside city of oarai in ibaraki, two prefectures away from central tokyo. it's not backwaters, but it's not bustling either. the movie generates the small-town feel that's necessary for the kinds of trauma that the siblings experience by focusing the setting on two main locations: the taxi company that the family owns/operates and their house, which is behind the business and connected by a little alley. the hub where the drivers wait for calls and the taxicabs themselves are important settings that evoke centrality vs reach, idleness vs transition, and intimacy vs detachment--all of which are compounded and contrasted by the fact that their /home/ is right next door. there are so many layers here i could write a disseration lol BUT i say all of that because the audience wouldn't be able to even begin to infer the emotional complexity of this setting without the camerawork and editing. the sequence where yuji comes back home is imo the most succinct example of what i'm talking about, but there were several shots in the film where the camera angles and focus and lighting just had so, so much impact on me.

if there's anything to hate about the movie, it will be these: plot holes, "b plot", and plot resolution.
- there is a glaring lack of explanation as to how/why two of the siblings stayed in contact and in oarai while only one of them is estranged and in tokyo, especially because the last time we see the three of them as youths, they are still together in a significant way. i found it hard to understand the particulars of how the other sibling's lives were affected by The Event as a result, which made their journeys to healing less interesting to me. considering it's a two hour movie, not addressing/explaining this seems like a poor use of time. (there is one specific subplot that i would gladly switch out in exchange.)
- i put "b plot" in quotes because that is probably being too generous, but there /is/ a secondary character whose character (in the personality sense) is speculated about and whose own family dynamics are explored. the film attempts to draw parallels between the character's scenario and the inamuras', but i think the execution is realllllly poor and i would want it removed completely if not for the fact that it actually plays a pivotal role in how the film ends.
- beyond this b plot and how it supports the plot resolution, the ending was weak on its own due to the aforementioned missed opportunities to set up motivations - specifically yuji's since he gets most of the attention, but really all of theirs - throughout the film.

the story is engaging enough that you'd want to finish the movie to see how it ends, but it's also unfortunately the weakest part of the film. if you're the kind of person that needs a solid story to enjoy media, one night may not satisfy you. if you're like me and quality production is enough to enjoy media, definitely give this a watch. i marked rewatch value as relatively high because there were a lot of things in the exposition that i lost/didn't realise would be important until i watched it again.

[also i'm gonna take some time to address the other reviewer's comment about the faulty story premise. police don't always arrest abusers, and they'd only know about the abuse if it were reported anyway. similarly, the hospital could only record the extent of the injuries if the children were hospitalised to begin with. speaking with a USA bias, it is unfortunately a very common circumstance that abuse is unreported and injuries are improperly treated, so i was able to accept the inamuras' circumstances rather easily. as for the mother being arrested for so long - she wasn't. she was released sooner than 15 years, but she just willingly stayed away until the 15 years she promised had passed. she lightly touches upon the various ways she bided her time during the barbecue scene, and the intentionality of the absence fuels much of the siblings' angst.]

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comprehensive review of why fns is good even though it's bad

charm points:
- if you're watching fns to complete sato takeru's filmography, you won't be disappointed. he's adorable in this, and his girlfriend (#1 best character in the show) is perfect. their interactions and b-plot are sooo cute and satisfying! legit, anna-san is my 2nd favourite love interest sttkr has had across every work i've seen him in. if you are ONLY here for sttkr, you could easily skip any scene that doesn't have them and simply benefit from an earnestly-studying-to-be-a-good-doctor hajime + an earnestly-trying-to-make-him-happy-through-her-food anna. my beloveds!!!
- every main character is their own person with their own motivations and their own arcs (arcs vary in intensity/length but are all present). i was particularly impressed with how much secondary characters were explored, especially because the show had unexpected pairs interacting with each other - and very naturally too! supposed 'ensemble' shows/movies don't even go to this extent, typically. by contrasting certain characters against each other, we get a very complete picture of the kind of people they are beyond the roles they serve in the main narrative. their personalities and stories colour this otherwise dull show.
- i didn't think anything of the theme song at first, but after i finished the show, i did find myself humming it while i was completing chores, so i guess the song was actually pretty good haha.

detriments:
- in trying to create nuanced characters, fns has some messy plot elements due to the show-not-tell strategy, specifically where the antagonists are concerned. i appreciate the writers' efforts, but sometimes a trope is a trope, and evil deeds are not redeemable.
- the editing team used this weird zoom effect when cutting between scenes. it was annoying during regular shifts then downright inappropriate for the really sentimental parts.
- the dialogue is Bad. like, written by someone who has clearly never shared real-time conversations with real people in real life kind of bad. it's weird since the writing - overall - is decent. the pacing is appropriate, most emotional beats are hit, necessary conversations are had... but the dialogue wasn't living up to the story fns was telling.
- the main characters and their love story are the weakest part of the show, unfortunately. i found it hard to believe in their love because it felt very superficial to me. tasuku (his name is spelled wrong everyone online for some reason, but it's tasuku) doesn't have a personality beyond living for another person, and monami's stated motivations contradict her actions in later episodes. considering they're the leads, i think they both would have been more bearable if they were more three dimensional. as a recent fan of kusanagi tsuyoshi who is trying to get into his acting, this was a bad place to start ^-^;;; luckily i am dedicated to him enough to give his works another try ?
- contrary to the opinions of those who wholeheartedly enjoy fns, i do not think the two leads or their love are selfless. i think they are deeply selfish, and the show is weakest when trying to portray them as selfless instead. in fact, most of the infuriating plot points are when they are actually trying to be selfless, but it doesn't work due to the simple fact that they are acting contrary to their character. this is why it trips up the other people around them when they make those selfless decisions. i'm not saying that tasuku or monami should be rewritten to be truly selfless -- i am not a person who needs my characters/media to have high moral standing in order to enjoy them (if you are, you may enjoy fns!) -- just that the show would have benefitted from leaning into the inherent selfishness of their decisions more. i do think fns could maintain its gentle, understated vibe even with an 'i'd turn my back on the world just to face you' kind of attitude as opposed to the 'let's face the world together' one it has, but choices were made.

other things to mention:
- if you decide to watch this, give it until episode 2. episode 1 is the hardest one to get through; it's purposefully slow to set up the specific kind of love shared between the two leads and therefore functions like an hour-long prologue. you sorta /need/ to watch it if you have any hope at all of enjoying fns for what it is, though. (might i suggest watching it on a platform that lets you play it at 1.5x the speed? you won't lose anything, promise.) emotions and activity definitely pick up in episode 2. i found myself invested in other characters enough that i wanted to know how things ended up for them, but of course most of the screentime is taken up by the two leads. if you don't like them and can't ignore them, just drop the show.
- fns was supposed to have 10 episodes and a different (unknown) ending, but it only has 9 with the finale airing as a two-hour special. that's because the day episode 9 should have aired was only a few days after the touhoku earthquake, so the original episode 9 was never aired in favour of the earthquake coverage. in deference to the tragedy, the script of the finale was rewritten to provide a greater sense of hope and comfort to those who lost loved ones [very topical, considering the show we're talking about], and the shooting schedule was also rearranged to accommodate the new script. filming continued until two days before the finale broadcast, and the episode was still being edited until right before airtime. for all of these reasons, the finale was the most watched episode of the entire show. without this context, it may be hard to appreciate how sentimental and saccharine the finale is or to understand just why fns is so beloved in its home country. i would never claim that media being 'culturally significant' automatically makes it 'good', but i do believe both cast and crew did good, admirable work here.

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"never was there a mountain with no fog"

here's what the movie did well (aka the mountain):
- capturing the rural beauty of akita prefecture. stick around for the credits, frfr
- illustrating complicated feelings about your hometown, the things it does well, and the things it lacks. i was born and raised in one of the biggest cities in america, and i still identified with the different characters' viewpoints about how great or how sucky this small town in akita is. i felt like the movie was written by someone who truly understood what 'home' meant.
- creating strong secondary characters and supporting storylines. i honestly would have watched a whole movie of nara-sensei torn between honouring her family's wishes for her that keeps her rooted in her hometown and finding/accomplishing her own dream out in tokyo; or of ryota and hideo working together to figure out how to teach farmers to become florists to save the local economy; or of the okamoto family resisting and evading debt collectors as they struggled to keep their gas station afloat and their folk heritage relevant; or of the last graduating class of an about-to-close-down school banding together to throw an epic school closing ceremony - complete with the obstructive meddling of well-meaning teachers - pulled together and led by the magnanimous empathetic and no-nonsense sayaka. (real talk, i totally fell for sayaka as a character and nakajima sena as an actress. absolute highlight of the movie for me.) these varied supporting storylines were how the movie was able to squeeze in so many repercussions of rural flight and an aging population, and they held a lot more appeal to me than the main storyline, unfortunately.

we experience the entire movie almost entirely through the lens of akira, who moved from tokyo to this rural farming town. he likes to draw, but he's otherwise a gary stu-type of character, and i actually think this was a brilliant move. he allows the audience to receive those extra storylines in a manner that isn't too emotional or overwhelming. they are simply facts as observed by a young boy who has 0 investment in the town's trajectory.

here's where the movie lost me (aka the fog):
- honestly, it's a stretch to say this movie is science fiction. the eponymous light isn't even seen by the audience - though, i also consider this a good move. this way, the focus doesn't shift from the town to the source/meaning of the light. that being said, the movie could lose this whole aspect, and it wouldn't suffer at all. the only parts that would be lost are the weakest parts of the movie anyway. namely, maki.
- i'll be straight up and say i did not understand the point of her character. the most value she brought to the story was as the daughter of the okamoto family. she really didn't need to be elevated to... what, akira's crush? i really cannot tell why they needed to have a special or significant relationship because every contribution she made to akira's character could have been satisfied, or was already being satisfied, by another character. (also, the less said about her incongruous characterisation, the better). there is a supporting storyline that offshoots from their relationship that i found superfluous in the movie, as well.

all of this being said, i mostly enjoyed myself while watching. it's a great vibes-centric movie. good views, good music, good people trying to do their best. the entire cast did a g r e a t job, especially the schoolkids. i would have liked to rate this higher, but unfortunately the parts i disliked i /really/ disliked ?✊

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slice of life (derogatory)

I watched this as part of the Japan Film Festival Online hosted by the Japan Foundation, and I am grateful for the opportunity to view the film even if I did not particularly enjoy it.

The supposed point of Dryads in a Snow Valley (orig. name "Ripples of the Wind") is to follow a couple who had moved from The City into this rural village known for its heavy snowfall. They moved prior to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and we watch the villagers assist and advise as the couple rebuilds their home. From here, we're shown village traditions and ways of life such as farming, traditional dyeing, their winter festivals/habits -- and through this, we're supposed to observe a stark contrast between the warm human interactions and the harsh cold environment they live in. We are also supposed to glimpse into Japan’s social issues such as depopulation.

You can tell by the way I'm writing that I did not experience this effect at all, and I blame the director/editing team. The documentary was filmed over the course of five years, and the content was presented to the viewer in an unorganised and sloppy manner. Visually and seasonally unrelated scenes were often cut right after each other, to the point where you could not tell where scenes were supposed to relate to each other chronologically or even thematically. It was like slice of life on steroids, so disparate . The presentation maybe would work better in an episodic format, but definitely not as a film. As it stands, I'd argue there is no story in this documentary at all. Dryads has its merits as a moodboard, but who needs a 1hr39min long moodboard?

All that being said, the sound mixing was insane. Very vivid and raw. In some scenes, it had an ASMR-esque quality. I hope the sound team won awards for that.

Within Japan, Dryads was well-received. Young people who were disillusioned with life in The City were inspired to move to rural areas and don their way of living. The film gets a lot of airplay in rural film festivals. I am an American living in one of our biggest metropolises, so I acknowledge that there are likely nuances and cultural mores I am not perceiving that prevent me from enjoying the movie to that extent. However, there are certainly better portrayals of rural Japan that are as realistic (if not as raw) in dramas and other documentaries. Living on the River Agano (1992) comes to mind, though I acknowledge that is not as recently produced as this film is and may not be as attractive for that reason.

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when embarking on a journey of punishment, make sure to dig two graves

a previous reviewer mentioned that show could have been squid game-level iconic, and i would like to extrapolate on that concept b.c i completely agree. if only they would have committed to the promise of the sordid premise, we would have gotten a compelling narrative and narratively complete story.

i'll start with our lynchpin, superintendent kim muchan. we're introduced to a character (and a team) that has an end-justifies-the-means approach to criminal-napping without regards for procedure, shame, or morals. i was really looking forward to that because i only watched tkv /for/ park haejin, and morally-gray really brings out the colour of his eyes... but this is not the character we get throughout the show. several times, the superintendent contradicts his own values, and i'd even go so far as to say he loses focus. too often he shows regard and places trust into people that at minimum have no reason to do the same to him! or they have straight up (ostensibly) betrayed him. so many factors would be different if only he were more consistent, and i believe the scriptwriters did this to portray him sympathetically—unnecessarily, i will underscore.

on a similar note, i was very confused by all the blurring in the show. what is the point of creating a show like this when you're going to censor not just mutilated bodies but also graffiti and knives? if you care so much about viewers' sensibilities, then produce a romcom instead. much of what made squid game so successful was how visceral it was, even for non-gruesome scenes (the tongue stuff during the dalgona event comes to mind). in my opinion, censoring visual aspects the way tkv did is not just a disservice to the story they're telling but also an insult to the audience.

finally, tkv did not lean into the moral quandaries enough, which is a shame because messages/themes stay with viewers far longer than cliffhangers and plot twists. how complicit are the public who votes, the media who elevate gaetal's platform, the legislature for generating laws that can be abused? so much focus is on the police (and really, #acab) that none of these other systems are called into question, which is a major shortcoming of the show. gaetal creates a "national death penalty," but not enough of the nation and how it works is involved in the story.

if these aspects were rectified, i would have been much more satisfied with the show, regardless of how i felt about certain characters.

but now i will go onto my personal disdain for certain characters lol i grew a strong disdain for the sisters as the plot progressed. joo hyun is too incompetent as a field detective to have attempted over half the stuff she did in the show. why was she always going places without backup?? if you're gonna work in cyber, you /have/ to accept that half of your worth is playing guy-in-the-chair for the brawn enforcement. plus, she was always emotionally compromised by her little sister's well-being. i'm not saying she shouldn't be worried, but i /am/ saying she shouldn't be going out in the field if she's going to lose her composure so easily. leave that to the traumatised and unattached members of the special investigation unit, please. (half-joking) i have these same gripes with her sister, but magnified tenfold because she's literally just a teenager and hurt more than she helped every single time she got involved.

i will wrap my review with this: park haejin explained in an interview that he asked the writers not to include a romance between the main leads as it would have distracted from the show. before watching, i disagreed with him - i'm of the opinion that romance is never extraneous. however, finishing this show made me appreciate how he is apparently the only one on this show who cared about the intended story. this show would have sucked even harder if they made me sit through a jank and haphazard romance subplot xD let's ignore the fact that i ended up really disliking joo hyun and being disappointed by the characterisation of kim muchan: this show is ~860 mins long. with all that time at its disposal, it /still/ didn't tell the story it should have/that i was wanting to see. if any of that time was relegated to developing a romance, who knows how much more the mystery-thriller aspects would have suffered ☠️ we all need to bow and thank park haejin for his service!!!

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the winged man and his wingmen

if you're like me and you were interested in this movie because you wanted to watch a matsuyama kenichi in love, i am happy to report that the concept is indeed as adorkable as it sounds. however, those the romcom elements do not start until literally 46 minutes into the 1 hr 45 min long movie, and they unfortunately don't stay for long. romance is the premise but not the point of this journey. these first 46 minutes are also straight full of matsuyama acting his pants off, and then you realise exactly Why he was hired 1hr 3mins into the film, so fans of his that understand his modus operandi will still find something to enjoy while watching even if you were romcom baited like me.

the entire movie had very noir-esque vibes with WAY more gore than i was anticipating for a movie branded as a fantasy romance. this gritty quality ends up being plot relevant later; and to complement them, the cinematography strangely also /looked/ humid??? besides the light, casual, summery costumes, almost all of the earth-based scenes take place in an okinawan shopping arcade, and there were hundreds of extras and constant parades of traditional okinawan performing groups. the movie was very visually busy and had a very cramped vibe, like these people were wayyy too close together and they couldn't tell if the sweat on their bodies were theirs or someone else's. imagine a baz lurhmann film shot on super 8 whose cartridge has been lost on a beach for three years, that's what this movie looked and felt like. it was impressively visceral but VERY asynchronous with the fantasy romance genre.

the patchwork nature of the story was unique and Might have worked in a 30 min tv show format, but in a movie it is not fun or quirky. it creates terribly awkward pacing and the effect of really lazy storytelling. honestly the whole movie kind of felt like it was different people's half-baked story premises that couldn't hack it as their own movies, so they were frankenstein'ed into one movie instead. (it's ironic that chasuke is constantly slamming his heavenly peers for their shitty 'screenwriting' when i very much am doing the same about this movie xD) i can confidently say this is not a movie i've ever seen before, but i also can't help but feel that that's on purpose

[SPOILER] the ending was TENSE and almost made the entire weird movie worth it if only it were executed better. it was resolved in a deus ex machina that i honestly wouldn't have minded because it could have been an excellent tongue-in-cheek reference if not for the extreme lack of payoff. unfortunately, i did not care about the characters' happy ending because i was not ever led to believe they wouldn't get it. [END SPOILER]

all in all, though, i think i'd rate the film higher if only it were marketed as a fantasy drama instead. my expectations were set in a certain direction, and since they weren't fulfilled, i'm rather disappointed. HOWEVER, i did enjoy myself and can acknowledge the movie for fully committing to the things it did well: maximalism, novelty, and matsuyama kenichi being Fucking Weird (complimentary).

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maybe the true cinderella shoes are the friends we made along the way

[spoilers don't appear until the end of the review]

a fundamental misunderstanding about 'ii hito' is that it's not about a 'good person' but a 'nice guy'. kitano yuuji is a stalwart caricature of the nice guy stereotype. his motto is that 'the happiness of those around me is my happiness', and he does go out of his way to make that come true - even when the recipient doesn't deserve it. other characters tell him multiple times that he can't possibly make everybody happy, and his response is that he's going to try anyway. this attitude may frustrate the viewer sometimes, but the show relies on it. yuuji straight up says in the first episode that he will never change, and he doesn't. as a result, there are as many deus ex machina kind of plot developments as there are developments that are brought about as a direct result of his actions or personality. if you cannot accept that kind of show, then ii hito isn't for you.

but if you aren't warded off by that, i encourage you to give this show a try anyway.

i really loved ii hito. i thought it was hilarious and feel good and adorable. it is upfront with you about what kind of show it's going to be, and it doesn't try to subvert or deepen that perception any further. if you're reading too deeply into the message of the show or the actions of the characters - especially yuuji's! - then you're going to be disappointed when you come up empty. actually, as far as manga adaptations go, ii hito was a really great one. kusanagi tsuyoshi completely embodied the unflappably positive yuuji, and the over-the-top directing choices (like delivering lines directly to the camera) are a fun ode to the show's manga roots instead of something to deride.

my favourite characters were yuuji, his girlfriend taeko, and the marathon runner-cum-salaryman kitamura. he's not the most prominent secondary character, but in my opinion he's the one who changes the most and for the better after meeting yuuji (and taeko. they're kind of a package deal even though they're not always in the same package for most of the show. you'll see what i mean when you watch.) i would not have minded an entire episode just of the three of them interacting. the vibes are so good.

there is no romantic drama between yuuji and taeko, either, which i appreciate because the show would have been different if that were a component. instead, their relationship is just very pure and arguably equal. (she's still a college student in their small hometown whereas he's a recent grad off in the big city trying to do a good job at his first job, so there's a significant amount of waiting around for him on her part; but the show makes efforts to demonstrate that this is a temporary, circumstantial thing and not the default of their relationship.)

the other great thing about the show is that it's a primarily female cast despite the main character being a man. most office dramas feature an all male cast with a token female character, but ii hito's most active secondary characters are all women, both at home and at work. it has a lovely effect on the show's interpersonal dynamics and is also plot relevant! we love pre-millenium media that passes the bechdel test~

the ost is pretty great. i will probably be singing 'mmm ganbatte miru yo yareru dake~' in my grave. it's a smap cover of a song called 'celery' by yamazaki masayoshi, which details a relationship between two very different people and how the narrator will work to make those differences mean less so that the two of them can enjoy spending time together. it's sooo cute; listen to both versions!

ii hito isn't perfect, though, and admittedly my gripes with it happen in the final episode, which does a lot to impact someone's perception of a show.
- plot overview: yuuji ends up in the product planning division's section 8, which is on the verge of being dissolved, and they try to save their jobs by developing a product called cinderella shoes: made of post-consumer recycled materials and designed to suit your individual feet size instead of expecting all people to have matching-sized feet. higher ups in the company do not want this product to succeed so that they can justify dissolving section 8. the hijinks in ii hito are related to yuuji's ill-informed but well-meaning attempts to bring this product to launch despite the corporate machinations.
[spoilers ahead]
- plot issue: when the cinderella shoes are debuted, THEY BREAK. it's this amazing design that's supposed to save section 8 and revolutionise the shoe industry, and it breaks?? i can't believe the writers left that in omg it spits on everyone's hard work and efforts. the other bad part is that despite breaking, they are still sold out as a product. what kind of consumer would see a shoe practically explode on tv and want to buy it? i wish the show show let the product succeed in every imaginable way. it's what section 8 deserves. it's what /i/ deserve!
- characterisation issue: there is one villain who is in fact ridiculous and not to be taken seriously, but he is not the show's antagonist. the real antagonist, inaba, is engaged to the new leader of section 8, so he's invested in section 8's downfall because she won't marry him until there's nothing she can do for section 8 anymore. after she breaks off their engagement, he wants to dissolve section 8 as a revenge thing. i actually love the direction of his character EXCEPT AND UNTIL the end. he steals the cinderella shoe idea and experiences 0 repercussions for doing so. in fact, he is /rewarded/ for doing so. that's so raw omg. if i wrote the show, he would have been SOL until the point yuuji can save him with his unerring kindness, and that's how he learns he was in the wrong this whole time.

yes yes i know i kind of read too much into ii hito even though i just said the show is not meant to be read into. it's just because i think it's so good and could have been perfect if not for these two glaring issues in the final episode. all the reasons i love ii hito still stand, though!! i think people should watch it for ~11 hours of light-hearted fun! plus if you're a smap fan, the smap cameos tickle your brain just right lol.

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decent until the end

[The spoilers are for the ending.]

As described, this movie focuses on the relationship between two housemates who have very different ideas of how to keep a home and how to approach life. The 'plot' is divided into four, probably-meant-to-be-connected-but-in-actuality-not-really acts. This vibe suits a slice-of-life drama much more than a film. I would actually watch this tv show, but as a movie it was cramped and hard to follow.

It seems one-sided in Ako's favour until the final act, where there is a confrontation scene between the two that was deeply satisfying. That was the best scene in the whole film.

The last 5 minutes are definitely the worst part. It is heavily implied that the strange family that visited are the ones to rob Ako, but the missing stone appears in a random part of the forest with no explanations (insinuated, offered, or otherwise) that could explain how it appeared there. Then there is a random supernatural element that is wholly out of place. The fact that this is the ending really undoes whatever suspension of disbelief (and affection, honestly) that the audience builds during the course of the movie.

The music gets a high score because it's relevant for act 1.

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this sucks but it's the director's fault

like others here, this show was on my watch list because of akaso eiji, but i moved it up after i saw that baba fumira was the FL because i loveddd her in keshite mane shinaide kudasai. i was so excited to see two people i really liked falling in love and being cutesy with each other. unfortunately that's not what we got at all, and i lay the blame entirely on the writer and director.

the STORY itself has potential, and my 5 stars is for the potential alone. two workaholics with an undeniable, mutual attraction who seek to make a relationship work despite being goal-driven and single-minded? that sounds awesome!
regretfully, the execution was really lacking. of note, the core of any strong romance narrative - the falling in love - was completely glossed over between episodes 1 and 2, which is when the show really lost me. there were glaring flaws far before that point, but @writer-san how can i be invested in the love between two fictional characters without watching that love actually blossom? as others point out, it's not like the love manifests in any significant or relatable ways /after/ the falling either. beyond the premise, there is nothing here gripping the audience.

the CAST is lovely, and i genuinely believe they could have made a really cute fictional couple if they had signed onto literally any. other. show. those who speak poorly of baba fumira need to watch her in keshite mane shinaide kudasai, which incidentally released the same year nee sensei did. akaso eiji's other works in which he a main lead are quite popular; i'm sure i don't need to direct you towards any.
however, the ACTING in nee sensei was really stiff and awkward. for example, there were several shots in the first two episodes of akaso simply walking that made me cringe because something about his gait was so unnatural. i blame the director though because a) they should have said something to help him out, for real, and b) their camera actions and angles emphasised the actors' stiffness instead of hiding it, which made for a terrible viewing experience.

the MUSIC is the least important part of this show, which is unfortunate because it was the part i enjoyed the most. i was shazam-ing left and right. (it says a lot that the show is a lot more palatable when you're focused on a secondary, menial task at the same time.)

as noted, i dropped nee sensei. i really wanted to push through since it was only three hours long (one of the things that drew me to the show to begin with as i wanted an easy binge), but man. the satisfaction of completion is not worth the mental and emotional toll.

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