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Kuragehime - my review
Nov. 24th, 2015 09:24 amTsukimi (Rena Nounen) came to Tokyo to become an illustrator. She is crazy about jellyfish. Tsukimi is not very confident and she hesitates around men or attractive people.
She lives in the communal apartment Amamizu kan where men are not allowed. At the Amamizu kan, only otaku women, who belive men are not needed, live there.
One day Tsukimi gets into trouble at tropical fish shop. At that time, a stylish woman helps Tsukimi, but, in fact, the pretty woman is Kuranosuke (Masaki Suda) a male university student. Kuranosuke dresses like a woman because he was raised at the side of his powerful politician father and he does not want to become a politician.
Kuranosuke becomes interested in Tsukimi and Amamizu kan. He visits her at the apartment and hangs out with her. Tsukimi keeps his secret from her neighbors. Kuranosuke helps Tsukimi improve her appearance and she starts to change.
To be honest, the first minutes (like, the first half hour or so) wasn't that good. The reason is because it felt too rushed (i.e., the dialogue between Kuranosuke and Hanamori). I know they tried to fit the whole story in just 2 hours of movie, but it is the scriptwriter's job to make the scenes and dialogue flow naturally. And I did not feel it that way at the beginning.
But everything changes once Kuranosuke takes charge of buying the Amazuka. I like that, from this point (where the Amars help Tsukimi to make the dresses) is just like the manga. It wasn't changed like the anime (I hated that they did that). In fact, I am very glad that they made Mayaya-san one of the models.
One of the pro is that Shu and that "virgin-killer" have a tiny role. Not as important as in the manga and anime. The movie is more about the AMARS working, along Kuranosuke, to make clothes (thank heavens).
About the cast, all of them were perfect. I did not see Rena yet in any movie nor dorama (I have "Amachan" in my TBW shelf) but she was very good as Tsukimi; young, innocent and super cute. The AMARS were exactly like in the anime (Mayaya has even the same voice), same clothes even. Their house looked cozy, ancient and cute.
I did not like Suda Masaki so much at first. He has a weird smile. And someone like Tego would have made an excellent Kuranosuke (wasn't he elected best Johnny cross-dresser after all?). But eventually he won me over, because, boy, is this guy talented at cross-dressing or what? He can sure walk in high heels (and I mean, HIGH HEELS). If it was me, I would have walked like a robot. Not him. He walked like he was completely comfortable in girls clothes and high heels. Never stiff, never looking uncomfortable. And well, at the runaway he truly looked like a girl, so at the end, I was satisfied with this actor.
The soundtrack was lovely, very indie-like. I read that it is Sekai no Owari, a band I've read and see so much but not heard any of his songs so far. I guess I'll start now.
So, as a fan of the manga, I am satisfied, in spite of the first half hour. oh, and my sister was all "looks like it is a low-budget movie". Not even close, but she is quite ignorant in Japanese movies or Japanese style (she kept saying that the clothes were cheap and I was like "you don't understand Japanese fashion").
My rating: 8/10
She lives in the communal apartment Amamizu kan where men are not allowed. At the Amamizu kan, only otaku women, who belive men are not needed, live there.
One day Tsukimi gets into trouble at tropical fish shop. At that time, a stylish woman helps Tsukimi, but, in fact, the pretty woman is Kuranosuke (Masaki Suda) a male university student. Kuranosuke dresses like a woman because he was raised at the side of his powerful politician father and he does not want to become a politician.
Kuranosuke becomes interested in Tsukimi and Amamizu kan. He visits her at the apartment and hangs out with her. Tsukimi keeps his secret from her neighbors. Kuranosuke helps Tsukimi improve her appearance and she starts to change.
To be honest, the first minutes (like, the first half hour or so) wasn't that good. The reason is because it felt too rushed (i.e., the dialogue between Kuranosuke and Hanamori). I know they tried to fit the whole story in just 2 hours of movie, but it is the scriptwriter's job to make the scenes and dialogue flow naturally. And I did not feel it that way at the beginning.
But everything changes once Kuranosuke takes charge of buying the Amazuka. I like that, from this point (where the Amars help Tsukimi to make the dresses) is just like the manga. It wasn't changed like the anime (I hated that they did that). In fact, I am very glad that they made Mayaya-san one of the models.
One of the pro is that Shu and that "virgin-killer" have a tiny role. Not as important as in the manga and anime. The movie is more about the AMARS working, along Kuranosuke, to make clothes (thank heavens).
About the cast, all of them were perfect. I did not see Rena yet in any movie nor dorama (I have "Amachan" in my TBW shelf) but she was very good as Tsukimi; young, innocent and super cute. The AMARS were exactly like in the anime (Mayaya has even the same voice), same clothes even. Their house looked cozy, ancient and cute.
I did not like Suda Masaki so much at first. He has a weird smile. And someone like Tego would have made an excellent Kuranosuke (wasn't he elected best Johnny cross-dresser after all?). But eventually he won me over, because, boy, is this guy talented at cross-dressing or what? He can sure walk in high heels (and I mean, HIGH HEELS). If it was me, I would have walked like a robot. Not him. He walked like he was completely comfortable in girls clothes and high heels. Never stiff, never looking uncomfortable. And well, at the runaway he truly looked like a girl, so at the end, I was satisfied with this actor.
The soundtrack was lovely, very indie-like. I read that it is Sekai no Owari, a band I've read and see so much but not heard any of his songs so far. I guess I'll start now.
So, as a fan of the manga, I am satisfied, in spite of the first half hour. oh, and my sister was all "looks like it is a low-budget movie". Not even close, but she is quite ignorant in Japanese movies or Japanese style (she kept saying that the clothes were cheap and I was like "you don't understand Japanese fashion").
My rating: 8/10
