[Anime Movie Review] Grave of the Fireflies / Hotaru no Haka 火垂るの墓

Ok, another Studio Ghibli movies streak. Grave of the Fireflies, or Hotaru no Haka. This movie was released on 1988. If mostly Studio Ghibli's movie is about fantasy, this time I could say it's more to a daily life story with World War era setting.

The story is actually quite simple. There was a brother and sister called Seita and Setsuko who lived in a city in Japan in the World War era. The American bombers were flying above them, which led them to go to the bomb shelter. Their mom went to the bomb shelter ahead since Seita needed to secure their belongings. Seita took her little sister Setsuko with him.

Before they reached the shelter, the bomblets dropped which led to fire in the whole city. Seita and Setsuko were succeed in fleeing, however, their mom got into the fire and badly injured.

Their mom died no longer after that incident. Seita decided not to tell Setsuko first since Setsuko was just a little girl.

Having no home due to the fire, Seita asked help from their mom relatives. At first, they were accepted, but as days went by, their aunt kept nagging and hated them. Well, I think it's just as expected since the food was hard to get at that time.

Seita decided to live on their own. Seita brought Setsuko to an unused cave and stayed there with Setsuko.

Things went even worse. Food scarcity led Seita to be a thief, yet, they still didn't get enough nutrition. Setsuko suffered from malnutrition and died.

Seita who was left by his whole family felt hopeless and also died not long after that.

This movie has a really simple story but very touching. In reality, maybe many people who experienced the same as them back then in World War II. This gave me a thought that egoism from the politics could lead a war and made the whole country suffer from it. In the same time I also grateful that I was born in this era, in a place where there is no such a war, and hopefully it will never happen in everyway.

Well, it's a super good movie, even though there are other movies which has the same theme and similar story (like "In This Corner of the World"), but it's still good and interesting, giving us one more alternative life story which might happen in the World War era. It's a must watch movie.

I gave this movie 8 out of 10 points.

[Anime Movie Review] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind / Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa 風の谷のナウシカ

Another Studio Ghibli film's review streak, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind which was released 1984. This is the first Studio Ghibli's film I think. Now, let's just get started.

Nausicaa is a princess from a kingdom Valley of the Wind. She is so great in flying using a glider.

So, the setting is in a world with so much toxic caused by a war. There is a poisonous forest named Sea of Decay, which has so many giant mutant insects. One of them is Ohm.

Ohm is an insect which eyes would turn red when they are angry. Its shell is very hard and could break swords made of iron. No one could survive if they are attacked by the raging Ohms. The Kingdom of the Valley of the Wind could make weapons from a died Ohm's shell though.

The toxic are getting worse day by day. People from many kingdom are anxious and try to find a way to save themselves. One of them is the Tolmekian which are led by Princess Kushana. They invade the Valley of the Wind and want to use the Giant Warrior to harm the jungle.

Believing that the best way to handle the poisonous jungle is not with force, Nausicaa tried to stop them. Well the story continues until it ends with a happy ending of course.

I can't actually believe that it's the first film ever made by Studio Ghibli because it's super good. Compared to other movies created by them, I think I could say this is one of the best. Well, most of them are the best though, lol. But, recently I found one of the latter movies is not that great, and this is just the contrary.

I could give this anime movie 8 out of 10 points.

[Anime Movie Review] Howl's Moving Castle / Hauru no Ugoku Shiro ハウルの動く城

Another writing about one of Studio Ghibli's film, Howl's Moving Castle. This film was released on 2004 based on a novel written by Diana Wynne Jones. Well, let's get started!

The film setting was on a war period. Sophie, a girl who lived in a small town, was a hatter who tried to make the best hat. One day, on her way home, Sophie met some soldiers who tried to tease her.

In danger, suddenly there was an unknown blonde man who helped her. Later, she would know that the man is Howl, a witch who lived in a moving castle near her town.

While in other hand, a witch of waste, who had a one side love with Howl, started to get jealous and put a curse on Sophie. Sophie became an old grandmother, and because of that condition, she left her town to find a place for her to stay.

On her way to find a place, she met a moving turnip. That moving turnip helped her in finding a place to stay, which was Howl's Moving Castle.

Old Sophie met the Turnip

Howl's Moving Castle

In that castle, Sophie met Markl, a little boy who lived with Howl, and Calcifer, a fire demon who was the source of energy to move the castle.

Together, they faced problems related to the war. Sophie helped Howl in many ways.

Based on what I watch, the animation of this film is no doubt. Studio Ghibli, as always, is stunning and amazing. However, it's quite hard to understand the line of the story. The story is a little bit abstract and hard to understand. I could say that this is the worst Studio Ghibli movie I've watched so far. Even though the story is not so clear, especially from the middle to the end of the story, but it's still entertaining and not bored to be watched, as expected from Studio Ghibli.

Well, I still could give this film 6.5 out of 10 points.

[Anime Movie Review] Princess Mononoke / Mononoke Hime もののけ姫

For those who doesn't know yet, last time I went to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, and ended up watching Laputa Castle in the Sky which I had written the review before. Now, I want to write a review for another Studio Ghibli movie, Princess Mononoke. It's actually an old film from Studio Ghibli which was published on 1997 and maybe many of you have watched this film, but still, I want to write the synopsis and review for those who hasn't watched it yet.

Ashitaka is a prince, as well as a warrior from a small town, between north and east. One day, a demon boar came to the town and was going to attack Ashitaka's village. To protect the people in the village, Ashitaka had no choice but to kill it.

Ashitaka was cursed when killed the demon boar. There was nothing could cure the curse, except going to the west and saw what made the boar turned into the demon which might help Ashitaka found a way to cure the curse.

Ashitaka started the journey to the west and found out that a village was burning the forest down which made the animals there angry. He tried to reconcile the relationship between humans and animals. He also met San, a human which was raised by wolf, making her in the animals' side.

Even at the first San looked like an enemy, but in the end she and Ashitaka were helping each other. Together, they tried to save the forest from the bad people and also saved the people from the God's anger.

It's just a short synopsis from me, but when you watched it, it's actually so interesting. "This is Studio Ghibli" is all I can say about this anime movie. So far, Studio Ghibli is never disappointing me in all the story, animation, and concept. I think my blog will be full of Studio Ghibli's films review.

I have watched four of Studio Ghibli's film: Spirited Away, Totoro, Laputa Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke, and the story of all of them are very different, yet interesting and amusing. I'm really looking forward to watch and write a review for another Studio Ghibli's movie, so please look forward to it!
I gave this anime movie 8 out of 10 points.

[Dorama SP Review] Bokura no Yuuki: Miman Toushi / Miman City 2017

Well, I did make a review of this dorama before because even though it's old, the story is nice and unique, making it one of my favorite dorama. I'm quite surprised and excited when I know that they are making the SP edition of this dorama.

If you haven't watch the dorama series or you want me to remind the dorama, please refer to my review here:
Bokura no Yuuki: Miman Toushi dorama review

Back to the SP series, the story starts at 20 years after the Makuhara City incident. Yamato (played by Domoto Koichi of KinKi Kids) is now a junior high school teacher and Takeru (played by Domoto Tsuyoshi of KinKi Kids) is now a lawyer. 20 years ago, they promised to be a nice and good adults, and they promised to meet again in 20 years in the same place where the satellite fell down to see what kind of adult they will be.

As promised, they met at the same place again after 20 years. The place where the satellite fell down was being reconstructed into a library. Akira (played by Masaki Aiba) was the architect for the library. However, there is a news that quite some people died during the construction.

It is later known that the T-Makuhara virus from 20 years ago remained somewhere under the ground zero of the building. Yet, the government didn't stop the construction.

With some story, at last the best friends from 20 years ago gathered again to make the government stop the construction of the library. Kiichi (played by Kohara Yuuki; which is not an actor anymore but acted just for this dorama), who is a bus driver, and Mori (played by Matsumoto Jun) is also joining the forces.

Yamato's problematic student and friends are also unexpectedly helping them in taking the underground water which is contaminated by the virus.

Sometimes, the expectation is just so different from the reality. I expected this to be an amazing dorama SP, but it's just so disappointing to me. Rather than the continuation of the dorama, I could just say it's simply a way of KinKi Kids to celebrate its 20 years debut anniversary wrapped in a 1,5 hour movie.


I get the idea of the story, but the length of the movie might be the producer team's problem to make it interesting. Rather than a touching and interesting dorama SP, it became so cheesy and absurd. I guess it could be a better continuation dorama if they make it a little bit longer and detailed story.

The reunion of the actor and actress are somehow surprising. I know it's not easy to gather the casts once again in a movie after 20 years, moreover, some of them are not in the entertainment biz any longer. I gave two thumbs up for this.

Since the actors mostly are from Johnny's Entertainment, this is absolutely a Johnny's Entertainment movie. Even the new casts are from Johnny's Jr. 

I also realized, KinKi Kids are absolutely aging so much compared to the first time I know them around 10 years ago. I mean, everyone is growing old, but they just cannot hide that their face looked so old in this movie, especially Tsuyoshi.

Well, if you watched this dorama series before, you can just watch this dorama SP, but just don't expect too much.
Even though I was a KinKi Kids fan (I even got their name "Domoto" in every of my ID =_=" ), it's quite disappointing, so I give this dorama 4 out of 10 points.

[Japanese Movie Review] MARS ~ ただ, 君を愛してる~ / MARS ~ Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru

Just before, I write about the dorama MARS ~ Just, I love you. Now I'm going to write a little bit about the movie. This movie was also aired in 2016, and it's the continuation of the dorama.

For the dorama review, you can find it here:
MARS ~Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru dorama

Okay, the first thing I will say is I'm very impressed with this movie.
I wonder when does it start to change from a romantic, high school genre into something quite mysterious and thrilling?

If the dorama tells many thing about the male side, the movie tells us more about Asou Kira (played by Iitoyo Marie)

Unexpectedly, in this movie, it will reveal more about Kira's past. If you have watched the dorama, you must be noticing that Kira has some kind of trauma related to a man. I only could guessing in the dorama, but with this movie, it is all clear.

On the other side, Kashino Rei (played by Fujigaya Taisuke of Kis-My-Ft2) starts to change. Doesn't want to hurt his girlfriend, Kashino tries hard no to be violent anymore.

However, it's not as smooth as it seems to be. Kirishima Makio (played by Kubota Masataka) starts to reveal his true face. He, who seems to be a quiet and introvert man, is actually a psycho... It was already introduced also in the last part of the dorama.

If the dorama tells us more to a romance story, in this movie, it's more thrilling, mysterious, and psycho, even though it still has some romance in it. Before, I said the dorama is quite interesting, but with this movie I conclude that it's wonderful. I bet the viewer expect that this is a pure standard romance story at first, but actually it is not. It's just so unexpected.

I like this movie more than the dorama, however, the movie and the dorama completed each other. It's just a package you need to watch.

I gave this movie 8 out of 10 for this dorama.

*this review is a personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if there is any mistakes, please feel free to make a correction*