Blackboard Part 1 - Mirai SP Review

Title: Blackboard part 1 - Mirai

AKA: Blackboard: Future

Genre: History, School

Broadcast date: 05 Apr 2012

Cast: Sakurai Sho, Oshima Yuko, Miyazawa Rie and Nakamura Aoi.

This is the first out of 3 stories about the school system changing in Japan.

In 1944 Shirahama Shohei (Sakurai Sho) proudly announced to his class that he would be going to war fighting the Americans in the Second World War. Encouraging his students to do the same after they graduate, he leaves filled with honor and pride, fighting what he calls the ‘Holywar’.

Three years later and the war has ended, Shohei returns home from the frontline, he is shocked how people from his own town are acting, and mostly how drastic the school system had changed. Losing an arm in a bombing situation, Shohei returns to find out that his father, brother and brother-in-law both lost their lives in the war, leaving him as the sole man in the house. Returning to school, he is offered a job, in which he decides to call together his former students, to see how they are. But out of 40 students 6 students join, blaming him for the loss of their friends. Realizing what he has done, Shohei starts to doubt his capabilities as a teacher…

Hmm, as I said before, I like school dramas, and I like Arashi, but somehow this didn’t go that far for me. It is very interesting, from a history point of view, but I didn’t really feel the ‘school’ in this. I liked Sho’s performance, and I enjoyed the special, I did honestly. But it was not what I had expected, and it didn’t really “fill” me, meaning I didn’t feel I got enough.

I can’t really say much, except that it has heart, and it shows a teacher growing with his pain and changing his life. I would recommend if you like history and if you like Sakurai Sho.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out 5 hearts

Bokura Ga Ita Zenpen (part 1) Movie Review

Title: Bokura Ga Ita Zenpen

AKA: We Were There, Part 1

Genre: Romance

Origin: Japan

Release date: March 17, 2012

Cast: Ikuta Toma, Yoshitaka Yuriko and Takaoka Sousuke

This movie is based on the manga by the same name.

Takahashi Nanami (Yoshitaka Yuriko) is a high school freshman, known to be completely honest in everything she says. When the classmates talk about boys, she isn’t really interested, until she meets the favorite topic Motoharu Yano (Ikuta Toma) on the school rooftop, sitting alone. She is immediately infatuated by Yano, and when he asks her to sit with him she can’t say no. While conversing, she notices how he seems sad and without will to live, so she begins to worry about him. Later that day, she and her classmates happen to talk about him, and he speaks rudely to her, she gets angry and leaves after calling him ‘the worst’. Being told that for the first time in his life, Yano is stunned, so he tries to make up for it, by helping her with her class duties. Slowly Nanami falls for Yano, but finds out about his past scars of his dead ex-girlfriend, whom he cannot forget. While sitting with him in class, she accidently confesses to him. Yano, not really loving her, tells her to date him, but for the honest and proud Nanami dating someone without genuine feelings is just cruel, so she refuses him. After a while, they start dating, but due to Yano’s past, he starts to ignore her, until Yano’s best friend Takeuchi Masafumi (Takaoka Sousuke) threatens to take Nanami away from Yano, because he is in love with her himself.

So he decides to take care of her, but can Yano forget his past love, and start loving Nanami, who loves him more than anything?

(Sorry about the lousy review, not my finest moment)

The one thing that hit me while watching this movie, was how typical of a manga storyline it is - with the entire honest and innocent girl meeting popular and complex boy - fall in love and get obstacles involving their pasts. And I never really expected it to be good, because the clichés and the storyline isn’t easy to live up to - but it surprised me how good it actually is. It is a real Shojo manga type, but yet manages to keep me interested, which isn’t that easy - since I’m not in that category, or prefer not to be due to the typical clichés. 

But Yoshitaka and Toma do great jobs, and make it seem genuine; also manage to entertain me most of the time. The negative is that everything seems so sudden, and sometimes I became confused, which is common in Shojo, but not that great for movies. 

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts