My Love Story - JMovie

If it’s one thing I’m a fan of it’s the adaption of manga into anime and if you’re lucky enough (and under the right circumstances) the adaption of anime into live action. There’s just something satisfying about watching still figures come to life and the voices in your head be brought out into reality, even if they sometimes sound slightly different to what you’ve expected. Of course this isn’t to say it’s ultimate satisfaction all the time. In any case this time for me it most definitely is.

My Love Story (Ore Monogatari) the live action movie was probably one of the better adaptions from anime that I have witnessed in a while and I must say I’m glad I stumbled across it, without even knowing it existed. The innocent love story of a boy/man-bear that blossoms on the screen was beautifully brought to life in the movie and while there were similar scenes pulled through from the anime, it still was able to hold its own with a little original flair here and there as it stayed true to the overall journey that the adorable Takeo Goda goes on.

Following the same storyline we see as our kind-hearted, monkey-looking teenager saves the life of a girl from another school and promptly falls in love with her, only to have his affections dampened as he suspects the girl to be in love with his cool and handsome best friend who always seems to attract the girls. Though he struggles with the conundrum he has placed himself in we see how truly a great human Takeo is as he sets himself aside in order for the one he loves to find happiness with another someone he cares for. Honestly, such self-sacrifice is rare and admirable but in this case possibly the most sweetly foolish thing our hero could have done.

As reality would have it, the girl, Rinko Yamada, is indeed in love, star-struck even, but not with the prince-like human that our brute suspects. Instead, we see the story unfold in a way that has us, though at first suspecting, eventually confirming that she is smitten with Takeo. Of course our two leads are overly ignorant of the obvious, even when it comes to simple conversation, and it takes his good friend, Makoto Sunakawa, to show Takeo what is really happening.

The movie is lovely and a joy to watch, especially when you realize the overused- love triangle thing is nothing more than our lead’s imagination and not a plot device to fully influence the story as most dramas tend to push. What makes this story stand out is the appreciation it shows for good friendship and the sweet progress of innocent first love.

Even more brilliant is how well the actors brought to life their anime counterparts, a feat not very well done in many adaptions in the past. So it becomes a pleasure to see the natural way the actors portray the characters that once only seemed fictitious before being made just a little more real. A very well done job in the casting I would say.

My favorite scene though, and I doubt I’m the only one, was the one you had to wait to see at the end of the credits. This scene, so highly anticipated from the anime, was no doubt cringeworthily worth every second it played out. I honestly look forward to possible sequels, though I’m skeptical it’ll have any. Either way, this was a movie well worth my time and feels.

Mr Baek - KDrama

Have you ever felt so uncomfortable yet equally satisfied with something that you just became so very confused with yourself? I have, just recently upon finishing a kdrama that I had on my backlog, all the way from 2014. It was an intriguing experience that I don’t quite know what to make of it just yet. One thing is for sure though; I have watched something good but don’t know how I feel about the realistic applications of the outcome.

The drama that has me so troubled is Mr Baek, an interesting story revolving around a grumpy old man who has the rare opportunity to turn back the biological clock and relive his life a little differently. Following Chairman Choi Go-Bong, we meet a 70 year old man who is less than pleased with the world but finds himself convinced that he is all that as he carries on his life without trusting or acknowledging anyone around him. However things begin to change once he meets the young lady, Eun Ha-Soo, whom he eventually addressed rather sweetly as the ‘the milky way’, a play on her name that makes more sense in Korean than it does in English.

Anyway, after their fateful meeting our grumpy old man finds himself standing on death’s door but like most humans he finds he still has much to do and has no desire to leave just yet. Luckily for him though it seems someone is listening up there as he gets a strange transformation where his biological clock turns back a few decades, leaving him a healthy and active 34 year old man.

Not sure what to make of his situation he tries to get back into his old life in order to fix the many misunderstanding that had been left as he ‘died’. Thus we see him successfully presenting himself as his own son, Choi Shin-Hyung, a revelation that takes many of those around him by surprise, especially his one and only true son, Choi Dae-Han.

However, things don’t go as he plans as things keep forcing him out of the business he thought he was still busy with and instead he finds himself constantly coming across the cute and naïve Eun Ha-Soo who he slowly starts falling in love with. Of course Eun Ha-Soo also finds herself attracted to the strange and rather rude Choi Shin-Hyung, while having not the slightest clue who he really is.

Along with the sweet romance that blossoms between the two leads, we see Choi Shin-Hyung also begin to develop a relationship with his estranged son, the only other family member who actually seems to be missing him, while the rest of his family fight over the business he started and grew. Their relationship grows stronger as they face the evil Jung Yi-Gun, who Choi Go-Bong had always favored without knowing his true colors.

The story is very interesting and can get you pretty engrossed. But I must admit the relationship between Eun Ha-Soo and Choi Shin-Hyung had me just a little disturbed when I thought of the little details of who he was and how old he really was. I know age is but a number, but that number was just a bit high for my comfort levels. It was especially weird when they introduced the classical love triangle and his son, Choi Dae-Han, was the other competitor. I felt awkward rooting for the main couple when this happened. This kind of theme seems to suggest many disturbing things about our society, especially where old men are concerned, for example should it be okay for a 70 year old to be dating such a young woman? I mean its love right? Even still my brain was having some difficulties justifying why I got so excited for their romance.

Of course my troubles could only have been so great because the acting in this was amazing, especially where the actor who played Choi Shin-Hyung was concerned. The way Shin Ha-Kun portrayed being an old man, while also learning the things he was so surprisingly inexperienced with was adorable and worth watching. The relationships between the actors felt so real too so that has to be acknowledged too. Indeed the actors and actresses did a brilliant job portraying their characters.

All in all it was a good drama and I’m glad I spent 16 hours of my life watching it. I also admit that I will be looking for more works with these actors in. I’m very interested in seeing Lee Joon (aka Choi Dae-Han) in a lead role where he actually gets the girl. This drama definitely left me with many memories and feelings, along with a possible change in perspective when it comes to love and the limits of what can be considered an ‘okay’ age gap between couples.

Boku no Hero Academia - Anime

Good long running anime are becoming hard to come by, but luckily enough there still exists those few that have enough potential to stand with heavy weights such as One Piece and Naruto. Of course they are but fresh little baby anime still in their prepubescent stage, not quite fully grown, so it’s understandable when you come across a few hiccups here and there.

The anime I speak of is Boku no Hero Academia, an awesome adventure shounen manga that has recently been made into an anime. One could argue maybe even too recently as the manga holds not as much plot revealed as any anime would need to be considered as ‘long-running’. In fact this might even be why the season itself is shorter than what veterans would expect from an anime with such potential. Still one can’t deny that it’s good, though its general plot may seem as if it draws on previous work. But shouldn’t that be okay, after all inspiration is born from something already there (arguably) so it would be inevitable that the story would seem familiar as it follows a formula that is already known to get in the views.

In any case, the hero-based story follows young Izuku Midoriya, a normal middle school student with dreams of one day becoming a great hero like his idol, the symbol of peace, All Might. However, in a world where superpowers are the norm and are gifted to many people as they reach puberty, we see that our unfortunate lead is not one with the supposed genetic marker that would allow such gifts to be bestowed on him. Crushed by this reality at a young age we see a resilient little boy power through such a depressing situation and become someone who is almost always documenting every hero he encounters or has an interest in, which in his case tends to be all of them, an obsession that will serve him well in future.

It is while he is documenting such a hero that he falls into a very unlucky predicament that allows him to actually meet his idol in person. But things don’t go as planned and secrets are quickly revealed as young Midoriya discovers his hero might not be as invincible as he portrays himself to be. Still those revelations don’t phase our lead, it also becomes an historical meeting as our ‘quirk-less’ young boy is given the opportunity to become what he has always dreamed about, along with the encouragement and support of his ultimate role model who bestows on him something impossible.

Having received the ultimate gift we see as Midoriya now has a chance to attend a place that is meant to guarantee his rise to heroics, the legendary UA, where heroes are taught from young on how exactly to be heroes. Gathering with other young potential candidates who show great promise, Midoriya begins his high school life living up to his dreams as he learns that having a ‘quirk’ is harder than it looks, especially when it’s borrowed.

Like all coming of age stories and adventure manga that promise a fulfilling and eventful journey, Boku no Hero Academia, shows great promise in what it can and will offer its audience if we stick with it long enough. No doubt fans of Naruto will find this interesting, though maybe a bit ‘re-hashed’ if you think too much on how it all plays out, but meh…. Still worth a shot I think.