Writing Adventures

Image used from:  http://asianwiki.com/Fortuna%27s_Eye Imagine if you have the power to know when someone is going to die, would you try to change their fate or let it be? However, by changing their fate, you will suffer the consequences of being closer to death in order to not upset the balance of life. Fortuna’s Eye is a fantasy romance film where the main character, Shinichiro Kiyama (Ryunosuke Kamiki), struggles with deciding the purpose of using the ability to help others or not. He meets Aoi Kiryu (Kasumi Arimura) one day, who is immediately attracted to her, but he sees her hand becoming transparent signifying that her death is near. When the ability is used, the film uses the visual effect of showing partial transparency of the person’s body. It’s an interesting take with using that visual effect, as the clothes are left untouched which I would imagine it makes it uncanny and surreal to see the ability happen in real life. It might be the simple thought of the eyes are...

Image from: http://asianwiki.com/Survival_Family I recently watched this 2017 Japanese movie called Survival Family, directed by Shinobu Yaguchi. It starred Fumiyo Kohinata, Eri Fukatsu, Yuki Izumisawa, and Wakana Aoi. I watched the movie on my flight back from Tokyo to Toronto, and overall, I enjoyed it. The story is about Yoshiyuki Suzuki (played by Fumiyo Kohinata), and his family as they try to adapt to living after a nationwide blackout seemed to have occurred with no logical explanation. I found the movie to be interesting in a sense that before the blackout occurs, we see a glimpse of what life is like for the Suzuki family. All of the family members relies on the convenience of technology, whether it is using the elevator, computers, phones, or TVs as an example. The son (played by Yuki Izumisawa) always have music playing on his headphones, and when the blackout occurs, he hears the ambient nature sounds to his surprise that he had never paid attention to in the past...

Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downsizing_(film) I recently watched a 2017 film titled Downsizing, directed by Alexander Payne, written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, and starred Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau and Kristen Wiig. The synopsis of the movie is about Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) and Audrey Safranek (Kristen Wiig), who decides to sign up for the "downsizing" procedure as a way to start a new happier life together to get away from the stress of their everyday life in Omaha. The downsizing procedure was discovered by scientists in the movie with their motivation of wanting to decrease humanity's footprint on Earth in an attempt to conserve resources to better the environment. To prevent spoilers, I'll leave the synopsis at this point to not ruin any surprise if you do decide to watch it. My thoughts about the film was surprising. I honestly didn't have any expectations of the film prior to watching it. I had seen one trailer, ...

Image used from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Name I watched a Japanese animation movie recently in theatres called Your Name (Kimi no Na wa). It was released in August 26, 2016. It starred Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mone Kamishiraishi, and directed by Makoto Shinkai.  The initial premise of Your Name begins with our two main characters, Mitsuha Miyamizu, a high school girl who wishes to leave her countryside home to live in the big city, having dreams of being in another person's body, who she later finds out that it was Taki Tachibana, who is trying to balance his part-time job and a normal high school life in Tokyo. What was really odd is that after she wakes up from her dream, she finds out that the people around her keeps on telling her she was acting very weird the day before. After both finding out what was happening with them (ie. the body swap in every couple of days), they set out rules to try to protect each of their own lives while trying to figure out why...

Image used from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantz_(film) I re-watched the Gantz live action movie recently. I remembered that I had watched it near the time of release years ago, but I had an itch to revisit the series so I want to watch the live action movies and re-read the manga over again. Gantz is a two part movie series, and this blog post is about the first movie released in January 29th, 2011. It was directed by Shinsuke Sato, and starred Kazunari Ninomiya, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Kanata Hongo, and Natsuna Watanabe. The Gantz series was created by Hiroya Oku. The basic premise of Gantz centers around a black ball with a man inside of it that transports certain people when they die to an apartment room in Tokyo during the night. They are forced to complete missions by killing the alien that Gantz tells them to hunt with special suits and special weapons. Nobody really knows why this is happening, except that they get points for each alien that they ...

Image used from: http://asianwiki.com/I_Am_a_Hero I watched a Japanese movie, I Am a Hero, around the same time as I did with Train to Busan. Coincidentally, they were both zombie movies which I don't often watch that type of genre. The Japanese movie was released on April 23, 2016 and was directed by Shinsuke Sato. The movie starred Yo Oizumi, Kasumi Arimura, and Masami Nagasawa.  The basic premise of I Am a Hero is the zombie apocalypse, but it takes its time to set up the zombie apocalypse. It starts the story a couple of days before the outbreak and introduces the main character, Hideo Suzuki, and his previous life before all hell breaks loose. He's always been a normal person with no accomplishments in life. All he has was his dream, but he's now 35 working as a manga assistant, which is consider lower than a normal part time job, with no hope of achieving his dream of being a successful manga artist. Then he meets a high school girl, Hiromi Hayakari along the...

(Image used from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_to_Busan) I rarely watched Korean movies, and I believe this is the first time I am writing a review of sorts for one. Since this movie takes place in the apocalyptic zombie setting, this makes it even less likely for me to watch as I don't really watch zombie movies. Moving on, I randomly stumbled upon this movie and decided to give it a shot. The movie, Train to Busan. premiered on May 13, 2016 at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The film was directed by Yeon Sang-ho, and stars Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, and Ma Dong-seok. To not give any spoilers to the story, I'll try to be as brief of a summary concerning the story. The story centers around Seok-woo (played by Gong Yoo) and his daughter, Su-an (played by the child actress, Kim Su-an) where they get on a KTX train from Seoul to Busan so that Su-an can see her mother due to her wanting to file a divorce from Seok-woo. Since it is a zombie film, things go awry and an inf...

Image used from: http://asianwiki.com/Chihayafuru_Part_1 Image used from: http://asianwiki.com/Chihayafuru_Part_2 A couple of months ago, I watched these two movies that are related called Chihayafuru Part 1 and 2. The Japanese titles are called: Chihayafuru Kami no Ku and Chihayafuru Shimo no Ku respectively. They were released in March 19 and April 29, 2016. The movie series is getting a third movie to round out the trilogy sometime in 2017. It was directed by Norihiro Koizumi, and based on the manga with the same name written by Yuki Suetsugu. The movies stars Suzu Hirose, Shuhei Nomura, and Mackenyu Maeda. The story is about Chihaya Ayase (played by Suzu Hirose) who meets and becomes friends with Arata Wataya (played by Mackenyu) a talented karuta player. After being introduced to karuta by Arata, she hopes to become the best karuta player in Japan. She also make friends with Taichi Mashima as they all play karuta together. Unfortunately, all three of them are...

(Image used from: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Boku_no_Ita_Jikan) I recently watched a Japanese TV drama (again) called The Hours of My Life (translated from Boku no Ita Jikan) that aired in Japan between Jan 8 to Mar 19, 2014. It starred Miura Haruma and Tabe Mikako. The synopsis for this Japanese drama on Drama Wiki is well done and not too spoilery, so I'll just copy and paste their summary here (with minor tweaks): "Fourth year university student Sawada Takuto (played by Miura Haruma) is having a tough time looking for a job. As the eldest son of the director of a hospital, Takuto's parents had expected him to become a doctor. But they began to focus their hopes on his younger brother Rikuto instead, some time during his junior high school. Although Takuto is popular and good at befriending ladies, he has no confidence that he will be loved and thus avoids deep emotional involvement with anyone. One day, he is informed that he does not have long to live becaus...

(Picture used from: http://asianwiki.com/Wolf_Girl_and_Black_Prince) I recently watched a Japanese movie called Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Oji (translated into English: Wolf Girl and Black Prince) that is based on a manga of the same name created by: Ayuko Hatta. This movie was directed by Ryuichi Hiroki and was released May 28, 2016. The main cast as you see in the movie poster above is Fumi Nikaido and Kento Yamazaki.  Overall, I enjoyed the film. I've never read the manga so I can't make any comparisons to the source material, but I thought that the acting, pacing, and the story within the film were fine. The synopsis of the movie begins with Erika Shinohara (played by Fumi Nikaido) who is a first year high school student and have joined a circle of friends who all have boyfriends. To make sure that she doesn't feel left out, she lies about having a boyfriend and thinks of situations to have her friend in a different school call her to excuse herself from them in...

(Picture used from http://asianwiki.com/Our_Little_Sister) I recently watched a Japanese movie called Our Little Sister, the English title from Umimachi Diary, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2015. It is based from a manga by the same name created by Akimi Yoshida. The movie falls under the slice of life genre, where for the most part, it is devoid of unnecessary drama that many other movies try to create their story around. I actually like the slower pace that the director took in making the movie as the cinematography is really nice. It allows the viewers to take in the sights and admire the surroundings.  Before I get ahead of myself, the story focuses on three sisters: the oldest sister, Sachi Kouda (played by Haruka Ayase), the middle sister, Yoshino Kouda (played by Masami Nagasawa), and the youngest sister, Chika Kouda (played by Kaho). They live together who have inherited the house from their grandmother....

(Image used from: http://www.digihara.net/review-ore-monogatari-film/) I recently watched a Japanese movie called Ore Monogatari!!, which translates into English: My Love Story!! It's based of a shoujo manga of the same name, and it breaks the tradition of shoujo mangas where the main POV is a female character and she is attracted to a handsome counterpart. The main character, Takeo Gouda is often misunderstood by his big stature, but has a big heart to helping anyone in trouble. He has gain the respect of the male students at his school. On the other hand, he is best friends with Makoto Sunakawa from his childhood and he is hugely popular with girls including girls that Takeo had a crush on but he is indifferent to all of them. That is until he saves the female protagonist, Rinko Yamato, from being molested and the two of them fall in love at first sight. Due to his misunderstanding of Rinko's interest in him and Makoto, Takeo believes that Rinko likes Makoto and pushe...

(Using image from http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_Song) I watched the Japanese drama called Love Song recently. It aired during the Spring 2016 season from April 11 to June 13. It stars Fujiwara Sakura and Fukuyama Masaharu. The premise of the series is that Kamishiro Kohei (Fukuyama Masaharu) used to be a professional musician for his band, and had a one-hit wonder before his contract expired and no one wanted to sign him. He retired from being a musician and works as a counselor for the hospital and a company.  Then comes in Sano Sakura (Fujiwara Sakura) into his office for counseling due to her poor communication with her co-workers and her boss. He finds out that she's a stutterer and lived a lonely life while growing up. However, when she sings, her stuttering goes away and she's blessed with a beautiful voice surprising her co-workers, Kohei, and her best friend. Kohei hopes to give Sakura hope and inspiration in life. That's the gist of the story line without g...

(Picture used from: http://asianwiki.com/Orange_(Japanese_Movie) I recently watched a Japanese movie called Orange that was released December 2015. It starred Tao Tsuchiya and Kento Yamazaki with co-stars Ryo Ryusei, Hirona Yamazaki, Dori Sakurada, and Kurumi Shimizu. The movie is adapted from the manga of the same name by the mangaka, Ichigo Takano. The overall plot of the story is Naho Takemiya (Tao Tsuchiya) receives a letter from herself that was written 10 years into the future that details her school life of that year in hopes of erasing any regrets that she felt during that time in her life. One of her friends, Kakeru Naruse (Kento Yamazaki) passes away a year later and she hopes that her letter arrives in the past in time for her past self to change the future and save Kakeru's life. That's the premise of the movie without revealing anymore details about the story. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and despite having a run time of 2 hour and 17 minutes, I wa...

(Image used from: http://asianwiki.com/Hinokio:_Inter_Galactic_Love) I recently watched a Japanese movie called Hinokio. It's relatively an old movie as it was released in 2005. It has a number of child actors that are now stars in the present. The movie stars Masatoshi Nakamura, Kanata Hongo, Mikako Tabe, Maki Horikita, and Ryoko Kobayashi. Excluding Masatoshi Nakamura, these are one of the first movies for the young actors and it's great to see them in something at the start of their acting career in my opinion. You can see them develop as actors compared to the movies and dramas that they star in now. Overall, I enjoyed it as it is a heartwarming, emotional, funny, cute, and a tearjerker of a movie.  The story is about loss, friendship, family, youth, and love. From the tagline for the movie is Inter Galactic Love, you can probably assume it has a sci-fi concept of some sort. Contrary to what some movies portraying robots as evil (ex. Terminator franchise), in th...

(Using image from: http://asianwiki.com/From_Me_to_You) I watched Kimi ni Todoke a couple of years ago, but I recently watched it again. I remember when I watched it the first time, I really enjoyed the film. I read a bit of the manga to get a glimpse of what the characters were like but I never finished it. After rewatching it again, I can say that I still like the movie. It's a very sweet, touching and emotional movie throughout and I really like the main theme that plays at important moments in the film. I think the actors that they chose for the main roles (Miura Haruma and Tabe Mikako) fit the characters well in my opinion. Tabe Mikako played Kuronuma Sawako, the social outcast who is an introvert but has a caring personality despite her gloomy appearance. Miura Haruma played Kazehaya Shota, the popular guy in the classroom who is liked by all. The movie also shows to not judge people by its cover. Everyone misunderstands Sawako's intentions because she doesn't...

(Using image from: http://asianwiki.com/The_Snow_White_Murder_Case) I recently watched the Japanese movie, The Snow White Murder Case. Overall, I found it interesting. The movie is a murder mystery type of story, but it is told through multiple perspectives where one of the characters is an entertainment reporter investigating on the incident for his TV network to broadcast. We don't see anything from the police's point of view. There is a high focus on social media with Twitter being the main tool that is used in the movie. The movie is about the murder of Noriko Miki who worked at a cosmetics company. The entertainment reporter, Yuji Akahoshi, starts to investigate about the incident through an university friend, Risako Kana, who happens to work at the same company as the victim. The primary suspect for the case as told from Risako is Miki Shirono, another co-worker that works at the same cosmetics company. That is because Miki disappeared the night of the murder. T...

(Using image from: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/07/14/the-boy-and-the-beast-film-debuts-at-1-earns-667-million-yen-in-1st-weekend/) I recently watched The Boy and the Beast. I don't think I can go into too much of the details to make it a full review of the movie, but here are my thoughts on the Japanese animated film. To start off, this was directed by Mamoru Hosoda. In the last 1-2 years, I watched his recent two films, Summer Wars and Wolf Children. It may seem to be a bit late as they were released in 2009 and 2012 respectively. I still haven't watched an earlier film released in 2006, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Without giving away any spoilers, the story of The Boy and the Beast is about a young boy called Ren, who lost his mom to an accident and abandoned by his dad, runs away from home and follows an unknown swordsman to an alternate dimension. This unknown swordsman, Kumatetsu spontaneously decides to call Ren (who he later renames to Kyuta) his app...

The InkCase+ is an 3.5 inch e-ink device connected via Bluetooth to your Android smartphone made by a company called Oaxis that used Kickstarter to crowd-fund their project. The main goal of this device is to look at your notifications, reading ebooks, answering phone calls, and so on without needing to turn on your phone. Therefore, it won't decrease the battery of the phone as much if you had it on. They also marketed a specific case for the InkCase+ and phone so that it makes it more convenient to carry with you. You can also use the pouch to carry the InkCase+ separately. Since I am writing this post, the project was successfully funded on August 14, 2014.  After a couple of months of delay, I finally have the product shipped to me earlier in the week. I'm not too bothered by the delay in shipping as it may give the company a little more extra time to fine-tune the product before sending it out to the backers. After opening the box all giddily like opening a presen...