Paradise Kiss (2011)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, comedy, fashion
Format: cinema movie
Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Mukai Osamu, Kaku Kento, Oomasa Aya, Yamamoto Yusuke, Igarashi Shunji, Kato Natsuki, Hirayama Hiroyuki,
Synopsis: Hayasaka Yukari is a soon-graduating student, who has all her life studied in order to please her mother. After one hard day at school she is "scouted" by two boys who take her to studio called "Paradise Kiss". She meets with fashion students Arashi, Isabella, Miwako and a guy who gives her scary vibe - George. By becoming their model, Yukari soon discovers that there is more to life than just studying and each person must be in control of their own life.
Rating: 5/5

The movie is made after Yazawa Ai's same-named manga which 5 volumes were published during 1999-2003 (anime has 12 episodes and aired in 2005). I am happy, that "Paradise Kiss" live-action saw the light in 2011 and not before it, because this live-action has amazing technical effects and cast. I cannot say how much it was different from the original art as I have not read the manga, but I certainly want to read it in future! I know that the ending of the live-action is different from manga. But remember one thing - "Paradise Kiss" is a shoujo-manga, so the live-action is very girlish too, a bit chic flick.

Hayasaka Yukari is the main character. At first she is snobbish with art students, because their life-style is totally unacceptable. Even though she cannot put up with her mother, she is brave and has a lot of attitude, many times she acts before thinking clearly. I found it weird that in many scenes Yukari had forgotten all things that happened a day or some hours before and acted like it was nothing. Every girl would be on the edge of heart failure, but she had no changes in her emotions. But I will write that mistake on her attitude. Miwako likes to call her Caroline and Isabella mostly refers to her with name Carrie.

 Kitagawa Keiko was amazing in it. At first you can see her with almost no make-up!!! and she still looks like an angel (=.=), just a little bit strange if you have always seen her with good make-up (yeah, even "Buzzer Beat" non-make-up scenes had more make-up than in "Paradise Kiss") Kitagawa Keiko had a great advantage in acting as a model, because she started her rising-road with model-career, being the exclusive model for Japanese "Seventeen".

George is a bit rude, egocentric, playboy, super talented in dress-design, veeeeeery hot and in reality he suck with being true to his feelings. Some scenes might seem unfair to girls, but I think that this dude really knows how to make shocking-therapy xD I have heard that in manga he is bi-sexual and likes sadomasochism, well  there is no sign of it in the live-action. I feel sorry for George, because he is alone most of the time, even though Isabella is always beside him, it is not the same. I liked his one saying about making something great - "It is not tlent, it is a desire". I believe that it goes for most of the things - if you do not have talent, but you have the biggest desire to do it, you will manage it too. Mukai Osamu looks so hot. (Happy be-lated birthday, he got 30 on February 7th!)

Miwako is very naive and I have a feeling that many times she did not get the real point at all. Arashi at the same time is rough, loud and defensive. He at first does not like Yukari at all, because he is annoyed by Yukari's uncertain and high attitude. Miwako and Arashi are together, but its origins go a long way to their childhood, which includes Hiroyuki. I think that Oomasa Aya and Kaku Kento were the right choices for these characters.

Isabella has the least screen time - she is like the mother to the whole Paradise Kiss crew and she helps Yukari a lot when Yukari is feeling down. She is the most loyal friend to George as he was the one who help Isabella to understand her real self. By the way, Isabella is actually a guy.. but her soul is woman, if you know what I mean. Igarashi Shunji made brilliant job - I think that no man has a easy work to act woman role (or a man who feels like woman).

Hiroyuki is the first love of Yukari, a friend and a classmate. Yukari always thinks it is one-sided, but actually she is just too blind to see Hiroyuki's feelings. I think that they suited together so much! that's way I had hard time to decide which guy I prefer. But like I said Hiroyuki was childhood friend with Miwako and Arashi, which makes everything a lot more difficult..

Kaori is the biggest rival George has ever had, but the difference is that Kaori does not have that kind of talent. In manga there are hints that George has some feelings for her, but in live-action they are confuted. Minor roles of parents are there too - like all the time - parents are horrible and suck at first, but later understand how stupid they have been.
One of the most cutest scenes are memories where they are chibis! But weird is that they all discovered their personality at such early age, except Yukari.

I fell in love with George designed clothes - these are even more my style than clothes in "Runway Beat". I would buy all of them, but I am short of money. Does anyone knows where to buy same styled clothes?
Live-action has a great soundtrack too.. and I really love art students. Hopefully I will be one of them next year - I sent my application to university. It is one of the best fashion movies made recently!

SPOILER review: I wanted to comment their competition dresses too, but I do not think it would be right to do in real review. I found Kaori's dress too commercial and it was nothing special. Just open some Korean fashion online shop and most of the dresses are like it! If the meaning of the competition was "right into the shop", then okey, but seriously??! George's blue dress was the killer!!! It was soooo beautiful and difficult to make! I actually would have wanted to see the first, yellow dress too, but they dropped it with neck and crop.
Some words of the end - it was sickly cliched,  but it worked so great! I got double butterflies in my stomach! (do not ask how it feels..). Hint - Kitagawa Keiko really knows how to kiss and so does Mukai Osamu.

Ranma 1/2 (2011)

Country: Japan
Genre: comedy, martial arts, romance
Format: Live-action movie
Cast: Aragaki Yui, Kaku Kento, Natsuna, Furuta Arata, Namase Katsuhisa, Hasegawa Kyoko, Nishiyama Maki, Tanihara Shosuke, Nagayama Kento, Kanai Yuta, Tayama Ryosei, 
Synopsis: Made after Takahashi Rumiko same-named manga/anime. Tendo family's dojo is in danger as their last follower quits. Right at that time the family head Tendo Soun receives a postcard from his old friend Saotome Genma, which says that he is bringing his son Ranma to Tokyo. Years ago Soun and Genma made a promise that their children will marry each other in order to inherit the dojo's. However there is a big "BUT" - while training in China, Ranma and Genma fell into Jusenkyo's springs, which now make then transform when their head get wet. Genma turns into Panda with cold water and Ranma into girl. Even though they turn back with hot water, Ranma wants to find a secret spring, which will make him 100% man again for ever and that spring is said to be in Tendo's hold.
Rating: 4/5
I am not a big fan of live-actions as usually they tend to fail at making them and I "Ranma 1/2" my favorite anime ever. I did not hold my expectations high, so the movie actually surprised me. Once again, if someone is to make live-action, please let Japanese do it (because USA live-action of "Dragon Ball" is the worst thing ever!!!!!).

Ranma was played by Kaku Kento. After seeing his martial art skills I understand why he was picked. He made all the moves himself. He was a little bit too skinny from face, but it is not the actor's fault that I imagine Ranma a little bit chubbier from face. I love how Kaku Kento nailed Ranma's attitude and personality. Ranma has rude speaking and uses rude expressions, many times he is full of himself and his so-called "pride" loses its meaning in certain circumstances.

Natsuna in Ranko (Female Ranma) role was on the top. It was enjoying to see how there were similarities to Kaku Kento's face-expressions. Natsuna acting was great. She looked exactly how she supposed to be and she was able to give right attitude to Ranko. I do not think she did her fighting for her, but it seemed that they used a stunt (just be the way the shootings were made).

Most doubts I had for Aragaki Yui. I have seen many dramas by her, so I did not believe that she could pull it off, but she took me by surprise. She was perfect for the role, maybe she had a little bit too feminine and less tom-boyish attitude, but it is forgivable as most of the scenes needed her to be more emotional. I did not liked that they made her to do kendo, Tendo's dojo was just for "anything goes with" martial arts (cannot explain it) with kicks, blocking, jumps etc, not for kendo. I liked that they portrayed AkanaxRanma relationship really well. It was cute and exactly as in manga/anime.

From other characters I most enjoyed Nabiki, because with her attitude it was a great idea to put her into host club and that made seducing Ranma for her own good more funnier. Easily said Nabiki is the daughter who will sell even her own family for certain amount of money. Also believable were Soun and Genma. I did not like the fact that they had made Kasumi's cooking skills to fun - as every time the it took hours for her to finish cooking. Actually she was a great cook, but it was good that they showed how naive Kasumi was.

I understand why they put Kuno's character in it, but I do not understand Gosunkugi role, because he is one of the most unimportant characters! They changed Sasuke's role with Gosunkugi, those fail spying were Sasuke's thing, not Gosunkugi's. Well, Kanai Yuta made a great work as Gosunkugi, especially by appearance. Same goes to Nagayama Kento who made Kuno look hot - in manga/anime he more is just masculine.

The authors of the movie (director, scriptwriter etc) have said that they wanted to make the movie like it is another OVA of anime, so that is the reason why they put in the new villain. I did not like the new villain as he was.. fail? I have nothing against drag queens, but it was a little over the board for me. It was amazing how much drag queens there were! On the other hand, Ranma 1/2 has always had weird, extra-ordinary characters, who have weird reasons for their actions. As they made it as a OVA it does not disturb that they do not have some reaaaaalllly important characters as Ryoga, Shampoo and Ukyo. They do mention Happosai, but in the girls locker room it would have been fun to see him. 

More than everything, I liked that they had put into script some legendary must-needed things like body-comparing, Ranma's first kiss (actually it was another male character who stole his first kiss in the manga), Akane's hair, awkward moments between Akane and Ranma and there even is a hint to Ryoga's joke. ah! one fail what the filmmakers did, is that the computer tricks are horrible. Maybe they did not have enough budget for it, but I find that most live-actions suck at computer effects. The story itself was as great as it would have been written by Takahashi Rumiko herself, but I believe that Yoshihiro Izumi made a great research before writing the script.
I know that for all Ranma 1/2 fans it is a must-see movie and even if you do not know anything about it, the movie itself is so easy to understand. All actors have made a great job to bring out their characters.

______________________________________________________________________________
This is my last review in this year. I made some look-ups and found out that during the year 2011 I watched 14 dramas (+3 as I watched both seasons of "Code Blue" and rewatched "Yankee-kun to Megane-chan" and "Nobuta wo Produce") and 26 movies (+6 if you count rewatching) = in total 40 Asian mediaworks (49 all together). I would like to say that I try to watch more and write reviews faster next year, but I cannot. I hope you understand me when I say that I am going to have university entrance exams and high school finals in spring. Hope you all enjoyed last year and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY!!!