fake_moviestar

I only recently started getting into Japanese film and drama, and decided to follow Masaki Suda's filmography, as his performance in Mr. Hiiragi's Classroom was stand out. This is his 3rd work I have seen, and its incredible how different each of his character are - in this he is the wild and angry Senji, at times an unlikable character who evokes passion in his found friend Kenji.

Both leads are well rounded characters and were acted extremely well by both actors. The boxing scenes were incredible, the tension and realism to each fight was palpable.

I loved the atmosphere and cinematography in both movies, a slight noir feel to them that somehow creates a nostalgia for the past. The music was appropriate but not memorable, and the side characters ranged from likeable to completely unnecessary. The anti-suicide subplot was so weird and seemed very disconnected to the main story line.

The movies really could have been combined into one, had the frequent (and in my opinion wholly unnecessary) sex scenes been cut and the subplots been shaved down as well.

Note: there is a TON of sex scenes in this, just an FYI.

The biggest flaw for me though was the ending. I felt like perhaps I missed out on a message the movie was trying to tell its viewers, but by the end I really felt like what was the point? I missed it for sure, and it made me question why I even watched these movies in the first place.

The acting and atmosphere of these movies are incredible, but the ending completely fell flat for me, and so I wouldn't recommend investing the time into these movies.

Mr. Hiiragi's Classroom is an extremely interesting drama full of twists and turns, but at it's heart it has poignant themes and a heartwarming message. The style of the story is somewhat silly at times and a tad over dramatic, but it doesn't take away too much from what is a solid story with incredible acting (for the most part) from an extremely large cast.

At the head is Mr. Hiiragi, who's character is intriguing, dynamic, and charismatic at different turns. Masaki Suda is so very good, you truly cannot take your eyes off of him. The cast playing the students do a great job, with some of them being just okay actors and others doing an equally good job as the ML. In particular was the best friend of Reina, who was such a natural talent.

The soundtrack has some really beautiful moments, and I enjoyed the shock value scenes and style of the show. There were definitely some oddly over-acted parts and out of place moments, but overall as a whole, the drama was extremely good. I loved the underlying message as well. This was such a fun binge watch I finished it in two days and I will definitely be re-watching it again soon. I highly recommend it!

She Was Pretty had a lot of things going for it - a cute plot line that created lovely angsty moments and a fun feisty female lead that you can't help but love. The biggest problem for me was once the main conflict was resolved (episode 10 I think) the show completely lost its steam. I found myself struggling to finish, and for the last 5 episodes I was actively fast forwarding just to finish.

While I did love the female lead, her reactions were sometimes too over the top, it made an otherwise fun and cute character seem cartoonish at times.

I loved the message about beauty, that the FL was pretty just as she was, but at the same time you can try to make an effort to look and feel pretty without totally changing who you are.

The ML was cute as well, and they had great chemistry. I did get a bit of SML syndrome with this show, as the second male lead was such a good match for the FL, he was goofy and funny and saw her as special and beautiful before anyone else did.

All that being said, I'm not sure I would recommend this, just because the second half is so boring after the main conflict is resolved. I wish they had wrapped it up an episode or two after resolving the conflict but it went on and on and felt overly drawn out. The side characters were fun at times but I didn't care for them so much as to have so many subplots.