Ao Haru Ride Movie Review

Title: Ao Haru Ride
Genre: School, Romance, Friendship
Origin: Japan
Release Date: December 13, 2014
Cast: Tsubasa Honda, Masahiro Higashide, Yua Shinkawa, Ryo Yoshizawa, Izumi Fujimoto, Mitsuki Takahata

When she was a middle school student, Futaba Yoshioka (Tsubasa Honda) liked Kou Tanaka (Masahiro Higashide), who was unlike the other boys a quiet and gentle guy. Kou Tanaka then moved away and they lost contact. At the end of Futaba Yoshioka's first year as a high school student she meets Kou Tanaka again. Kou Tanaka’s name has changed to Kou Mabuchi and his personality seems different from his middle school days. Will he recognize her?

Last time I watched a Jmovie were… a year ago. Wow, I think I’m all “koreanized”, I guess that’s just what I prefer. But it was nice going back to the Japanese screen, and with such a lovely movie. The story sounded quite nice, and I missed those Japanese high school themed dramas, so I thought a movie would be a good comeback. The story was quite charming, and I loved how they gradually expressed their feelings and thoughts whether it be romance or friendship. One thing that bothered me a little, were the dialogues. They could have made the male actor talk a little more and make him explain his actions. It really frustrated me sometimes, but I guess that’s how it is.
It must really be a long time ago I watched anything Japanese since I didn’t recognize anyone, so it felt a bit ‘fresh’. I had no anticipation or anything, so I just enjoyed the movie and it did leave me with a nice feeling in the end. Recommend? Yes absolutely.  

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Kanojo wa Uso Wo Aishisugiteru Movie Review

Title: Kanojo wa Uso Wo Aishisugiteru
AKA: The girl who Loved Lies (literal title)
Genre: Romance,
Origin: Japan
Release Date: December 14. 2013
Cast: Sato Takeru, Sakurako Ohara, Shohei Miura, Masataka Kubota, Kouki Mizuta, Koudai Asaka, Ryo Yoshizawa, yuki Morinaga

 Aki (Takeru Sato) decided to quit his band right before their debut, but he would still provide the band ‘Crude Play’ with his self-composed songs. He then decides to date Riko (Sakurako Ohara), who doesn’t know anything about Aki besides his humming. Their relationship was set on a test, when Riko decided to become a singer and all the lies were exposed.
A love story between a 25 year sound-engineer with a heavy depression, and a 16 year old high school student with a voice of an angel. These two meet and start a relationship based on lies, but how will this turn out when they are both entering the show business.

A beautiful, emotional and relaxing movie, exactly how I love it. There is no clichés, no drama, no dragging just 2 hours of emotions. I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve waited for this movie for quite a while now, but it just took them so long to sub, so when I watched it, it totally lived up to my expectations. I watched it after the drama Bitter Blood, so I was really shocked to see Sato Takeru, I totally forgot he was the main actor. But a nice surprise I must say ;)
All in all a totally worth-watching movie!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts