Another teenage wasteland one. Well, not really, but kinda... I mean, if you think about it it's still the same old school bullying and pettiness on full display. Of course it's also a study on grief, in the case of this particular girl, whose outlet for her feelings becomes music. Indie rock music apparently. But then her bitchy female classmates gossip that she is trying to attract the boys by acting all cool and interested in what they like, instead of the other way around. Which is the same tactic btw that they used on Seto, the girl who dies. Basically meanness and jealousy. So boring right?
But then again this is the high-school ecosystem. Always, in every generation.
I needed more from this movie, I feel it's incomplete, elliptical, evasive in places. I needed more breakthrough moments and conversations, although there is some of that and is effective. It's what elevates it above the run of the mill Japanese teenage drama, which is a dime a dozen over there, it feels like they release dozens every week.
Also, it didn't help that there are many kids involved and it took me a while to figure out who is who and on whose team. The allegiances and alliances. As silly as that sounds. Two boys with bangs confused the heck out of me. Most of all Yuki stands out, as an oddball to them, as a bright, interesting young woman to the audience. And a couple of other boys. There's the rub. I wanted to slap those girls senseless. Always talking nonsense. I wonder what kind of adults they will make. The bartender/former guitarist's take on adulthood was a little disappointing, but maybe accurate. Some people do grow up and out of it. But not all, not really.
