KIDS (2008)

Coutry: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: friends, life&death, supernatural
Cast: Koike Teppei, Tamaki Hiroshi, Kuriyama Chiaki, Izumiya Shigeru,
Synopsis: Asato moves into a little rural city to visit his mother. He meets Takeo, who finds out Asato's supernatural power to transfer somebody else's pain and wounds to himself. There is also one friendly cafe-girl Shiho, who starts hanging out with them. But each of them have their own dark past, which continues to haunt them.
Rating: 2

I watched the trailer and I wanted to see it sooo badly, but.. a disappointment.
To start with Asato. Actually there is nothing wrong with his character. It was really promising, but something was wrong. He was too otherworldly and the most usual line from him was "Eh?!" Koike Teppei looks like junior high kid, but in movie he was attending evening high school. I did not like the kissing-scene at all! It is so going down as one of the worst kissing scenes (I have to make it someday now).  Asato was very emotional.
Takeo  did not think much, was rough, said anything he wanted no matter to who and in what situation. He thought that revenge and violence is the right answer to everything. I enjoyed Tamaki Hiroshi in this role, because he was very masculine and pulled his role off.
Last character was Shiho. She ended up to be a bit bitch (so some Takeo's words were true) Her scar was horrible. I do not understand how there can be such people as her former classmates, but at the same time her lack of friends and personality did not match at all. The lack of courage was not shown at all.

But what actually ruined the movie were next points. The sound of the movie was incredibly BORING and wrong. They used slow music even at places it did not suit at all and there were approximately 3-4 songs used. It made the whole movie lingering. In addition, they used music way too much and too loud. There was not much action or deeper meaning in the story and in the end they were totally exaggerating with the chain traffic accident. The slow motion in this scene was more than unnecessary. Real chain traffic accident can be seen in "Code Blue"
I hope that the original novel by Otsuichi is better than the movie, because it was ruined by technical issues and you cannot write a novel with that compacted action as it was in the movie. The main idea of it has so much potential to become something great - kind of wanting a new version of it =D

At the same time, most of watchers have loved it and said it was amazing - well, decide yourself!