DMCpawn
'Murica
~Story~
First off, it's a brilliantly written comedy featuring badass YAKUZA. How does this NOT get butts in seats in anticipation to this show!? This show is freakin' hysterical; I think I considered rakugo as a profession for a while (it gives me an excuse to rewatch the show too). I questioned my own manliness as I saw Tora, the most loyal, manly yakuza this side of Shibuya, grace the screen. His glare of anger will strike fear into the most hard-boiled viewers; I thought his eyebrow-muscles were permanently altered to give off such glares. When I become a Yakuza boss (in my dreams), I WILL hire Tora at all costs. Even though he's part of a questionable organization, you realize he is a man of loyalty to a great faction in Yakuza.
The show mostly features Tora's (and Ryuji's) daily life once Tora learned of rakugo. Tora really sucks at rakugo (or just making anyone laugh, as his story-telling skills are the same as Buzz Kilington), but practices like a champ. For the most part, each episode features Tora describing how a real-life event is similar to the story his master told earlier; flashing back to the moments where the real-life action took place. The drum beat when they announce Tora's rakugo act is still second-nature to me; I still expect his stories. Tora even grew better as a storyteller as the story progresses, becoming a stage-favorite.
At the beginning, the blend of his rakugoka (traditional Japanese comedian) job at day, and debt-collecting Yakuza at night was comedic. However, Kudo-sensei couldn't just leave it at that. The Yakuza part of Tora's life is a major part of who he is as a person, and owes his life to his organization. As the story DEVELOPS (mature story development in a comedy!? OMIGERDZ!), you realize how Tora and his life isn't a comedy. I won't say much about the ending, but it was PERFECT. I'm sad that the ride ended, but it was one of the best. The post-drama haze is strong. It's been about a week, and I'm still wondering when I'll hear a story from Tora.
~Acting/Cast~
The cast consists of actors Kudo has worked with in the past, and in the future. Nagase is an excellent actor; the way he shows emotion with his whole face is a rare talent. It doesn't even need to be an over-the-top moment; you FEEL his character. I first saw him as the self-conceited detective from "Unubore Deka," but that disappear once he spoke. I admire actors with versatility in their roles. I can't praise his acting enough without turning this review into "Why I love Nagase Tomoya: his face." Junichi also acted as the easy-to-anger shopkeeper who is somewhat insecure about his clothes. News flash: he sucks as a designer; brace the bizarre fashion he thinks is "cool." Seriously, these actors from Johnny's are NOT just pretty faces; they have acting chops that are on par with non-idol actors.
The rest of the cast instantly grow as their characters. The show makes you feel like you're watching a family, not a group of actors. The show features visualizations Tora sees when he hears master's stories; the cast act as the characters in the rakugo stories extremely well. I LOVE versatility in actors! The actors/actresses in this show just makes you feel right. They feel natural in their roles; which is the best thing for viewers to be immersed in the story's universe.
~Music~
Being a drama with Yakuza, they have some Yakuza music. My favorite song from the OST was "Tiger & Dragon" from the Crazy Ken Band. The song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rwW7Qx9z2E) describes the Yakuza vibe from Tora quite well. The ending theme was from V6, as most dramas featuring Johnny's HAVE to feature a Johnny's song SOMEWHERE. It was a bit out-of-place, being the idol song in a drama with a solid OST featuring the Crazy Ken Band, but the song grew on me. Your mileage may vary, as there are probably some people who aren't too keen on pop music, especially idol music.
~Conclusion~
This drama is another show to add to my shrine of Kudo-worship. It's funny, grows up with you, and is touching. Really, it's a show to watch if you have a sense of humor, love Yakuza, or want to learn about a great & original writer working in the industry right now.
Was this review helpful to you?
I haven't seen the anime, so I watched this movie as new to the story as possible. Hell, I didn't even read the synopsis (well, the synopsis I read only involved robot nipples).
With the thought of robot nipples in your mind (think it, think it ... now mentally slap Dr. Evil's robot-chicks in their jealous faces), this show isn't one for those who flip nearby tables when something as suggestive as a nipple appears on screen. This movie isn't vulgar, but has a few suggestive (and might I say hilarious) scenes. I sure wish there was more crude jokes though...
This movie is a visual spectacular. Like I said earlier, I haven't seen the anime, but the movie was colorful, detailed, and full of neat little quirks and jokes. The robots were awesome, the fight scenes were a cartoony whirlwind of awesome, and the props made me feel like an anime superhero would pop up at any moment and proudly brandish his tights-covered genitals at my face. Bravo Mr. Miike (as well as the special effects team, they were the stars of the movie). Give these guys medals and all the hookers they will ever want!
And, to keep it brief, the music had a macho "FIGHT!" feel without attracting the men of wrestlemania to grace the screen.
Now, my beef with this movie is that it's "Johnny's-ized." Okay, that's a weird way of putting it. I can forgive the somewhat 2D characters (because kid show characters don't have life-changing epiphanies every week), but the plot was lacking. I'm not asking for Inception, but it wasn't as interesting, or funny, as I thought it would be. And for an idea on what childish things I love to watch for hours on end, I can watch the first three seasons of Spongebob like Lindsey Lohan can snort through crack and the remnants of her career.
The plot was more like "shit's happening at place X -> Goes to place X -> Fight scene -> ?????? -> PROFIT!" This kind of simplicity, even for a kid's movie with the aforementioned robot nipples, leaves some to be desired. The reason I mentioned "Johnny's-ized" earlier was because of the main lead, the always-adorable Sakurai Sho. While the others in the cast did a great job (Katsuhisa Namase did an AMAZING job; he's the best one on the screen)
In short, while this movie's plot isn't the most interesting thing since Sho-kun's Anan spread with numerous butt-pictures (Why would I know this!?!), it's is definitely a fun movie to watch as delicious, sensory junk food for the brain. If it is movie night and your two choices are "legendary movie that many people adore for its mind-blowing awesomeness" and "Yatterman," go with the former. However, if you just have ~2 hours to kill and you want to see some cartoon-like splendor, then give Yatterman a shot.
Was this review helpful to you?
I remember seeing the trailer for this movie about a year ago, and it seemed like an actiony yakuza/gangster flick consisting of a badass beating up people. What I got instead was a story slower than dripping tar about some schmoe who has a baby on the way, whose days are less exciting than a lip-synched Madonna concert, and some minor stuff about this drifter with love of beating up people. Guess which of these two stories the movie focused on? Hint: I am starting to wonder why the badass in this movie was even in the trailers and posters.
Seriously, this movie was... nothing. The whole time. It just felt like noise playing in the background. I ended up checking up on emails while this movie was playing. I considered skipping around, but preserved. I started daydreaming about watching something else. I imagined staring into a shotgun and escaping the torture of utter monotony. About 1:20 into the movie, and I claimed defeat. I have seen some boring movies (e.g. Yatterman, with Sakurai Shou), but I was able to watch the whole movie. I am the type of person who can justify watching a 4-hour movie by thinking "the director must want to convey a message which needs such an absurd runtime." Hell, if this movie was just campy and cheap, it would be fun to laugh at. But no, this movie is just BORING.
Perhaps this movie had an "epic" bloodbath at the end, but the setup (which is over half the length of the movie) makes it difficult to care about the characters. To be honest, I wanted them dead just so I can be entertained by SOMETHING in this movie. I did the unthinkable (for me, anyway); I stopped watching the movie halfway through.
This is not an action movie. This is not a yakuza movie. There are no cool action scenes. There is no human drama. There are no connections one usually experiences with characters in good movies. There is no joy. A gnawing feeling in your gut that says "Hey, maybe do something productive with your life for once" starts consuming your whole body, much like the urge to drink can haunt recovering alcoholics.
I wasted movie night with my sister (who chose to watch this) on this movie. Do NOT watch it. There is no action, drama, romance, deep thought, or hope in this movie. Just boring silence.
One last reason why you shouldn't watch it: I actually took the time to type this review up. I'm usually a lurker, so feeling the desire -nay, MOTIVATION AND RESPONSIBILITY -to warn you fine folks about this movie is a MAJOR sign that this movie is horrible.
Perhaps this wall will help:
BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
As a current socially awkward CS student whose been single all her life, I related to the Densha Otoko (main character) far too much. And NOT only do I love this movie, it gives me HOPE!The story is an odd twist on a common trope: a nerd falls in love, and has no idea what to do, and needs a makeover. When it comes to romcom tropes, there's no real "evil" rival character that does horrible things to get the guy/girl, so if you're the type to hate such characters (me!), you have nothing to fear! It's about the Densha Otoko improving himself as a person in order to get the girl, which is always a nice thing to see.
The scenes where the Densha Otoko asks the Internet what to do are well-executed, and the scenes where Internet commenters read his updates are small stories all on their own. (If you're well-versed in Japanese entertainment: a fun game to play is to see how many unnamed actors/actresses you know playing these commenters.)
The characters aren't too complex, but they're sweet and endearing; you can't help BUT root for them. Hermes (the woman's nickname) is essentially the sweet and cute lady character, and the Densha Otoko is the "resorts to the Internet for advice to move forward via his tablet" character that's been gaining traction in Japanese entertainment (before tablets were a thing, of course). However, he isn't haughty and I'm-so-smart-y as the stereotypical tablet-dependent character; if anything, he's like a little boy asking his big brother for girl advice. He's a ON (Original Nerd) that learns from nice people on the Internet on how to socialize, and [spoilers].
Takayuki Yamada is one of the best actors in Japan--maybe in the world, given his forays into film festivals with a couple of his recent movies--and his portrayal of the Densha Otoko is no exception. As attractive as he is, he was able to convince me of Densha Otoko's pure, unadulterated ON-ness. More than convinced, I truly believed he was the Densha Otoko. Hermes's character isn't too special, but Nakatani Miki showed her capability of playing a Sweet Lady character (so I wouldn't watch this movie to see her acting chops).
I'd recommend this to the socially awkward, nerds, fans of Takayuki Yamada, those who've been single all their life, and people who like using the Internet.
Was this review helpful to you?
