From the anime, "Oh my, what an ebil grin on Otani!"
Click on the images for bigger pics, also the pic don't belong to me
Click on the images for bigger pics, also the pic don't belong to me
It's three something in the morning and due to too much caffeine in my blood system, my eyes are wide awake and bulging (edit: I actually typed budging, Muahahaha!!) from the sockets.. almost but anyway was surfing about YouTube when I remembered about a movie that I was dying to watch for some time now. I search and voila, someone actually uploaded the entire movie, in 12 parts all together. Whee! Lucky lucky!
Been searching high and low for this movie at every anime store in Penang and KL and I was unable to find it. Always ended up with the person giving me a weird stare. I'm not entirely sure why but I'm guessing that they probably think it has something to do with love and a computer since the name is Love Com. Anyway if you love the movie, refrain from throwing anything at me, if you haven't watch the movie and is interested, DON'T read my review as it'll contain spoilers.
What it's all about;
Initially released as a shojo romantic comedy manga (2001-2006) by Aya Nakahara, it has been adapted as a live-action movie released in 2006 as well as a 24 episode television anime series in 2007.
Lovely Complex is a love story between a boy and a girl. The girl, Risa Koizumi, is 172 cm (5'7") tall—much taller than the average Japanese girl, ironically, her name means 'little spring'. The boy, Atsushi Otani, is 156 cm (5'1 and a half") —way below the height of the average Japanese boy (his name roughly translate to, "big valley") and is a pun on his diminutive stature. Because of this, they are called the "All Hanshin Kyojin" after a popular comedy duo that has a similar height difference.
During summer school, a very tall student (from another class) shows up and Risa immediately falls for him, as she has had bad luck with boys in the past because she is tall. There is a girl that Atsushi likes as well, so Risa and Atsushi decide to put aside their differences and help each other get their love interests. But as they get to know each other better, Risa's feelings for Atsushi begin to blossom, and her love life gets complicated from there. - wikipedia
The anime was alright, not as good as the manga but definitely not that bad as well. It pretty much stick to the original storyline with a little tweaking from here and there but nothing too important was cut away.
On with Love Com!
Top to bottom: Teppei Koike, Ema Fuijisawa
I love the main character, Teppei Koike, you'll probably remember him from Water Boys 2, another good Japanese drama. His acting isn't that bad but a little over exaggerated as well. But the female protagonist played by Ema Fujisawa was pretty bad along with the rest of the cast. I'm not being bias but her over exaggerated moved and facial expression sometimes left me wondering if she was a little spastic. Not to be rude to anyone but at some point it certainly look like it.
The actors, who were in their early twenties, played their characters not as the teenagers they were supposed to be but as children. Otani for instance, the male character, wore a pink cap askew, long shirts and gestured like an adult impersonating a small child. That was passably ridiculous. The female lead, Ema Fujisawa, wasn't particularly impressive either, she made a lot of useless, silly faces, stupid motions, giving the same impression as Otani, that of a small child in an adult's body. - comments from IMDb
Watching her and her girlfriend, Nobuko Ishihara and Chiharu Tanaka played by Nami Tamaki and Risa Kudo respectively the above quote really comes shinning through. The person couldn't have said it better. In both anime and manga Chiharu came off as a person who's really sweet, shy and naive. Someone you really can't hate but in the movie she gave me the impression of someone trying too hard to be sweet, shy and naive. Go figure.Since I've seen both the manga and anime, I noted that the insults has been kept to a minimum in the movie and they actually move a little too fast in the movie. Maybe it's the lack of time but because it was so fast paced, it didn't make the viewers see things better from Risa's point of view and understand why was it that she fell for Otani.
During the movie, there's a guy speaking in English with an accent so thick that I strain my ears to understand what he is even saying. Imagine someone who can't speak English speak English with a thick accent and you'll get the picture.. =_=;;
Thankfully, the acting does get better towards the end. There are probably some laugh out moment but overall, I'm happy that I finally get to watch the movie but it was a huge huge disappointment for me.
Watch it if you're bored and if you have not read or seen the manga and anime. I know of some girls that loves the movie so who knows. Besides the acting, the cast is drool worthy. It might become one of your favourite with the simple and heartwarming story about a giant and a shrimp.
P.S: Sticks and stones WILL break my bones so refrain from throwing them at me..
