Review : Rurouni Kenshin-Densentsu no Saigo hen

Just watched the movie and wanted to highlight things out:

1. As Aoshi's fans of course I want to highlight this one out first; Isseya did a good job portraying Aoshi! Not to mention the action scene fighting Kenshin and Shishio. I am satisfied. One thing bothers me, I did not recall Aoshi has ever showed such expression like wanting to cry in anime or manga. That being said, Isseya's nearly crying regretting his mistake expression felt pretty much sincere. 

2. Hands down to Sato Takeru. He brought Himura Kenshin along with Battousai alive. Kamiki also played Soujirou very well, his action scene was awesome!

3. One scene bothered my friend then me later, there was a scene Saitou wearing hakama on his disguise, then a couple of minutes later on the same spot, he's already with his police uniform fighting with kenshin. Magically. (￣▽￣)

4. Fujiwara definitely stepped up his game this time. On Kyoto hen I did not catch Shishio image at all from him until the end of the movie. This time, I almost forgot Shishio was played by Fujiwara esp on final battle scene. Or is it because I'm getting used to him being Shishio?

5. As for Eguchi playing Saitou, well...it's a bit better 

6. Fukuyama Masaharu played Seijuro Hiko well, for a veteran actor, his movement for fast fighting scenes are pretty much good. 

7. Kudos to fighting coreographer and director, the scenes are beautifully arranged and shot.

8. The downside of the movie is you can't see other Juppon Gatana fighting one by one like on anime and manga, maybe because of the duration limit. 

9. The scene of Kaoru wandering on a beach should be erased and filled with Juppon Gatana instead since it felt more like filler. No meaning at all, except maybe showing the actress' beautiful face (Forget her name) 

10. How the other x mark was made was not shown. I do hope there would be one movie about Tomoe and Enishi. But maybe the chance was pretty much thin.

11. Best moment (aside those involving aoshi in it,  of course) was kenshin and kaoru talking how the era had changed. I will not give you any spoiler,yet, it's a very sweet way to end the movie.

12. One OK Rock theme song made me want to buy their album....

Review: Rurouni Kenshin-Kyoto Taika Hen

I will not go into story details, but as usual, will highlight my fave scene and chara; bear in mind that these are my opinion you might not agree. I realize I am not a film critic or professional in doing so. This is my opinion as a the fan of manga and anime I love so much. I might misunderstand some parts because there was no english subtitle here, so please, if you find it wrong, let's discuss :)

1. First of course my fave chara, a little bit depressed seeing most of aoshi's lines only around "where is battousai?" during the movie. On the bright side however, Isseya Yusuke doing a good job in depicting Shinomori Aoshi. He got some cool fighting scenes.

2. Beautiful fight scene of kenshin vs Soujiro, which also played well by Kamiko Ryunosuke. 

3. I can't imagine other actor playing Kenshin than Sato Takeru just like Mizushimo Hiro for Kuroshitsuji's Sebastian. Kudos to the fight director for all of kenshin fight scenes, well arranged!

4. All of the charas are well displayed just like in anime and manga with appropriate adjustment. Hands down for actor and actress playing Misao, Ookina, Sawagejo, Houji! Well played! and kudos to the little boy Kenshin and Misao met, believable acting for such young age!

5. Eguchi Yousuke still not impresses me for Saito chara, but I am getting used to it.

6. I probably had high hope for Fujiwara playing Shishio. Somehow, I still feel he's too weak and less delusional than the original chara esp in the opening scene. But I feel he's improving near the end of this part. The opening scene felt so epic it was just a little not enough because Fujiwara's act was not believable on this particular scene.

7. The weakness of this movie I guess is how they make relation between Aoshi's obsession to meet Kenshin seems to be forced. As you know, in anime and manga, his obsession was because he can't defeat kenshin in Takeda's case. Here, because he did not appear on Takeda's case ( which is still a big question mark for me,WHY?!?), the reason was to take the blame of his subordinates deaths on kenshin who was even not there when they were killed! 

My friend, watching with me and who's not a fan of the anime and manga also felt weird about this. 

8.  Apparently Fukuyama Masaharu will be Kenshin's teacher, Seijirou Hiko. 

9. Since there was another scene of Kenshin reminiscing Tomoe, I guess there will be scene about Kenshin's past on the next part. I am not sure whether Enishi's story will be presented or not but it will be a pleasant surprise if there is.

10. A little bumped out because the saying good bye scene of Kaoru and Kenshin in the middle of the night with fireflies did not exist.

11. A credit for Miura Ryousuke who played Sawagejo because he apparently studied the chara even into details, esp on what he did with his eyes and movements.

12. My other fave scene is when Kenshin prevented the little kid from taking revenge to those who have killed his family members.

To sum it up, very recommended! As a fan of anime and or manga, I am pretty much satisfied. It's beautifully directed. 8/10. Can't wait to watch the next part on september.

here`s the link for the official trailer

Review : Galileo

So, I watched this movie yesterday

What do I think about this movie?

Not bad, but to me, it feels like watching the usual drama on tv, only longer. 

It does not feel epic to me.

Also, I did not, as long as I remember, see any recognizable scene of galileo, you know, the usual scene that always occur thus define galileo movie; like when he says "sappari wakaranai", or "jitsu wa omoshiroi" or the scene when he remembers every clue and write some equations wherever he is. Thus, it makes me feel something missing from the movie. I will not go into detailed synopsis or spoiler which I believe you can find in other websites.

To be fair, there were two scenes that remain in my memory:

1. Pet bottle experiment

You can see fatherly side as well as researcher side of Yukawa Sensei. He also taught kyouhei lots of things about research. It touched my heart since I also work in research world.

2. Although not clearly understand, kyouhei started to realize tha he somehow had participated unconsciously in one important event of the story.

I have to admit the child actor's acting is quite astounding for his age. I can feel his  mixed feeling of fear and regret

Overall, it is a quite good movie. There are a lots of important message that I think the audiences can relate. Plus, the beach and ocean scenes are really eyecandy (aside Fukuyama Masaharu of course).

As acting, other than Fukuyama and the child actor, I did not find any outstanding performance. Not even when the one plays Narumi cry seeing his father got interviewed. I can not emphatisize with the actress' play. I think I will give 6.5/10.

Honey Boo Boo

picture was taken from wikipedia

I realized that up until now, my posts have been very gloomy and distressful. So to balance things up, I decided to post something with cheerful atmosphere instead. Here comes Honey Boo Boo has been one of my fave entertainment show, pretty much helps me to forget my problems for a while.

I have to admit, watching here comes Honey Boo Boo is my new guilty pleasure. Well, actually, it is not a guilty pleasure now. It changes to be a must watch! XD First, I was a little bit suspicious with this reality show. I heard it once from Atlanta radio, and how the casts talk in English with very thick southern accent, people have to add subtitle to clarify what they are saying. And, the main idea of this show was cheezy. I mean, a reality show about a girl and her mom chasing a beauty queen title? Plus, I am one of those who thinks that children pageants sometimes can be too `mature`. How do you measure child`s beauty when they were all having make up on their faces??? Doesn`t it look like adults trying to overexploit their own children? Some people out there also criticize this show as very unhealthy and rude show since in some scenes they show how Mama provided unhealthy meal or drink to her children or how they curse each other freely. Talking about parents setting bad example to their children. Moreover, the appearance of honey boo boo`s uncle who openly admits he is gay, which will be a problem for people that are very fundamentalist not being open minded about it. (Note: I am against homosexual and gay marriage, but, personally, I do not have problem with people being gay; I disagree with their life choice, but I still appreciate the people).
But there are amazing character that each of the family members show making this particular show feels warm and show the real meaning of being a family. So, here`s what I learn from these beautiful Thompson family;

1. Alana `Honey Boo Boo` Thompson


This cute chubby little girl really has her dream set in very early age. She has this goal. She works for it. She is very confident. I mean, how many chubby girls out there have this kind of confidence given the social standard of being beautiful is being petite. She loves her own image. She got the attitude. Yet, she is still a little child whose sometimes can be upset and simply want to have fun and play. Although she has her eyes on the crowns, she still cares about her family. She collected as many candies as she can so she can give them to Pumpkin who had to stay in bed in halloween night. She agreed to cancel her schedule going to pageant because the family has to bring Chickadee to give birth Baby Kaitlyn. When, she was asked whether she was upset since she can not go to the pageant. She answered, yes, she was upset. But, there are still many pageants she can go. She understand, in her capacity of being just 7 years old, there are things that more important than beauty pageants. She even gladly prepared presents for Baby Kaitlyn.

2. June `Mama` Shannon
Despite of some rude expression she often said in the show and some careless gesture of being a Mom, I think she is just being a real Mom. She is not trying to be perfect mom. Yet, she is always there for her children. She is very supportive in helping Honey Boo Boo to make her dream come true. She is the one who always cheers the loudest whenever Honey Boo Boo appears on the stage. She was so caring when Chickadee being in labor or when Pumpkin got sick. She does a good job managing the money to afford as many family necessities as she could. She is always happy. She appreciate the value of making happy memories as a family. She is not thinking about herself and not taking so much fuss about her own appearance. She also has this confidence of woman with big curve (although I am not a fan of being obese for health reason only) which I think decent to Honey Boo Boo character.

3. Lauryn `Pumpkin` Shannon, Jessica `Chubbs` Shannon, and Anna `Chickadee` Pumpkin
They sometimes fight with each other but they are also very caring and supportive in helping Honey Boo Boo in every pageant. There was this scene of them that awed me. So, Alana is going to have her birthday party, and they were not that rich to buy presents. They decided to go to Mama`s daily needs storage and found some soap and food and wrap them as a present for Honey Boo Boo. Usually, some children will not be so excited seeing that kind of present. It was too simple. But, Honey Boo Boo said she was happy getting presents from her sisters, because she knew they gave from their heart.They look up and appreciate Mama`s boyfriend as Dad. They accept Honey Boo Boo as their family although she has different father.



4. Mike `Sugar Bear` Thompson.
He reminds me of my own father. He loves Mama so much. Although, Mama was still doubtful to marry him, he still stays for 9 years with her. He loves all of the children, although, biologically speaking, only Honey Boo Boo who is the only daughter he has with Mama. Others come from different father. When he has some day off, he did not spend it just for himself, he took time to just being around with his children. My favorite episode is when Sugar Bear took Honey Boo Boo out for some quality time of father and daughter. What a precious moment! He also supports Honey Boo Boo doing her thing. Giving her encouragement words and give appreciation and acknowledgement when she actually won something.



All in all, what I like the most from this show is that all of the members are just being themselves. They are not fake. They appreciate, love and accept each other. They show how a family should be without lecturing the audience. In addition, I do not know whether honey boo boo and her family principally against homosexual or not, but the fact that they accept Uncle Poodle the way he is without being so judgemental (they were sometimes make fun of him or being cynical about him being gay, but then, they always accept him whenever he comes, they even invited him for family occasions), is another plus point for others to learn that people are different, but that does not make they do not deserve any loving gesture from their family. I just hope that as fame and money they gain grow quickly, they will not change the purity of these characters in the future.