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.

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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!!!

Koizora (2008)

Country: Japan
Genre: romance, school, family,drama
Format: drama 6 episodes
Cast: Mizusawa Elena, Seto Koji, Abe Tsuyoshi, Aoi, Miura Shohei, Haru, Nagayama Kento,
Synopsis: Drama version of "Koizora". Mika´s life is pretty normal, until she is suddenly kissed by Sakurai Hiro, a boy from her school with a abnormal appearance. At the same time, there is Mika´s classmate Tatsuya, who is in love with Mika, but with Hiro´s persevere, surprising and sudden character leaves a big impact into girl´s heart. 
Rating: 5/5
I like the drama version much more than movie version - there are just too many things going on to but it into 1,5 hour, even though in the end drama got a bit too lingering. 
I liked Seto Koji´s acting more. Furthermore, I loved Hiro´s character - he is totally the guy whom

girls might fell for. His surprising and sudden acts were the things which make girl´s heart race. (But there are also some things I do not approve to remake in real life). Hiro acted like a bad guy, but actually was really caring and loving. The head patting is one of the cutest things of all and girls actually like that (at least I do) ^^ At first, Hiro seems really persistent and kinda delusional, but it was more caused by the fact that he was used to "easy" girls and that's something that Mika definitely is not. I felt that thanks to Mika Hiro grew up. You can hear Seto Koji singing and playing the guitar too!! (if you do not know, then Seto Koji is in a j-rock band called Tetra-Fang and in a actors group D-BOYS)

The storyline was beautiful and really sad. How is it possible, that when somebody finds her/his true love, then something sad and terrible will happen? Oke, it is not so all the time, but Hiro´s and

Mika´s love story is based on true-life-events. It was originally a keitai-novel written by Mika. To me the story was really unpredictable and every new thing surprised me. From the start you can understand that something is going to happen, but you do not know what! (It is like "Nana" anime, where I started to cry in the end of every episode, because I knew something will happen, but did not knew what) Mika is played by Mizusawa Elena. Her acting is not the best in it, but it was her first time acting too, so let's forgive her. Mika is used to be protected and her horizon is actually really narrow at first. She is shy, plain and she does not have an outstanding beauty, but there is something really cute and natural in her. That's what makes men fall for her and their exes' hate her. Dealing with jealous ex and her friends can be really frightening and I know the fear she was going through. Being afraid to walk alone on the streets and changing route just because you see one of them - even though when you say that it did not shake you at all and you will not give up on a guy just for that, there will be the fear for long time. Especially, when you have been seriously threaten.

The friend-relationship between Mika-Aya and Hiro-Nozumu is really great. True friendship is when you do not betray your friend. Mika made everything she could to get Aya and Nozumu together and Aya was always by her side. Like the time when news about Mika´s and Hiro´s relationship spreed out, then Aya told Mika to keep chin up and smile as she usually does ^^ And Nozumu kept his promise to Hiro, even though he did not approve it, because he saw how much Hiro is actually hurt.

There are two sentence more, which I like and both of them are from Mika:
"Do I need a reason to like something?" - actually, you really don´t! It just happens and you cannot tell the reasons. It might be someone or something - it does not matter. Do you can give reasons to

everything you like? I know that I cannot, because I like really weird stuff too. Another sentence was "Walking shoulder by shoulder at the same pace" - in fact in this scene Hiro and Mika did not walk in the same pace, but you get the idea. I never knew what is so great about it, but I think that until you have not walked with somebody like it, you will never knew. Even if you are not in a relationship or if it is only the person you like (might be one-sided crush), when you notice that you are walking down the stairs with that person step by step in the same pace, even though you see that he could walk faster (because you are in shock and are walking really slowly), it is something that you will always remember. As you might understand, it has happened to me - he was my first love. He always took me by surprise, but at that time.. well, I was not the person I am today. I think that it is with all first loves in the world ( not accurate about people who marry their first love), that first love is something that is bittersweet, it hurts like hell, but feels like heaven at the same time and you know that no matter what you will always remember him/her.
I think that "Koizora" is definitely a MUST-WATCH drama, real classic that you will remember after watching. When I re-watched it, I started to cry after first 3 minutes of first episode, so cry-baby's (like me) need a tissue-box near you!

SPOILER-review: I do understand why Hiro broke up with Mika and did not say the truth about the cancer. I think that in these kind of decisions there actually is not right way, because I too would not want to make my partner suffer, but at the same time.. he should have the right to know. As I said, it is really difficult to find any easy way.
There was one thing that I did not understood - why they did not use protection? If you have sex, then use protection - it is a really easy knowledge and I would not say that they are terrible expensive or difficult to find from stores (first part might depend on countries, but it is cheaper than bring up a child). On the other hand, I am extremely happy that they decided to keep the baby, even though things went other way, because I agree with Mika on this question - I would never forgive myself if I get pregnant and would not give birth to this child. I know so many acquaintances, who have made abortion and I do not judge them for their decisions, but I am just saying that it is something that I would not do.