Pacchigi! Love & Peace

If you have seen the previous film you will likely hate this one as a few of the important characters are mysteriously absent and the actors that play the remaining characters have also changed.

One of the other major detractors is the unnecessary inclusion of flashbacks to WW2 which are irrelevant to the story. The characters and what is going on in the flashbacks is not explained until the end and even then it is only VERY loosely connected to the main story which takes place in the 70s in Japan. Furthermore, the grizzly and VERY graphic nature of the flashbacks does not fit with the comparatively light tone of the rest of the movie.

Lastly the film is marred by a complete lack of explanation/resolution of important plot points such as the son who has a horrible disease. After all the trouble and side-plots that the characters go through to get the money for the kid's treatment, the movie ends without saying ANYTHING about what happens to the kid. There is also a whole side-plot about sailing out to Pusan to exchange some money which is also never explained. The same goes for why one of the main characters was arrested then suddenly released or what is with the woman and girl who visit him in prison???

I loved the 1st Pacchigi and had to see this sequel but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Takaoka Sosuke added so much to the role of "Oppa" in the 1st one and him not being in this one really left a hole. The plot was all over the place as far as flashbacks to his father escaping from war back to the 1970's. There was no real love story. The thing I loved about the first one was that there was humor, great fight scenes and a great love story as well a great music to back it all up. This one lacked any compelling attempt to fit any of those plots in and seemed like a jumbled mess. It was melodramatic and I didn't feel great sympathy for the characters.

In short, if you like Japanese movies, I would give this one a shot, but not expect too much. It's entertaining enough to watch, but I would recommend Pacchigi (2005) over this one.