I Give My First Love to You

Takuma Kakunouchi (portrayed by Masaki Okada) is diagnosed at a young age with a rare heart condition that will only allow him to live up to 20. Having been in love with his best friend Mayu Taneda (portrayed by Mao Inoue) since they were little, he feels the need to push her away as his time winds down, all the while knowing of the promise they both made as kids to get married.

Although the title of the movie is very cheesy and screams Asian, I Give My First Love to You is actually a really touching movie. It was one of those rarities where I was able to connect to the story, and I’ll admit it, I did cry at certain points. It was that fucking good. I started tearing up just ten minutes in, and I don’t cry that easily.

Since the movie is about first love, I really liked how it opened up with Takuma and Mayu as little kids. It’s only fitting, right? And after watching it, I felt that the movie depicted first love perfectly. Seeing bits and pieces of their relationship from childhood through to high school was amazing. Their relationship was so tight that being further apart only brought them closer together. Not all first loves work out, yet the relationship between the two explores the boundaries and limits of that as well as what one could call true love.

Another subject explored in the movie was death. No one wants to die when they’re 20, Takuma included. Yet throughout the entire movie, the optimism and positivity that he shows, and the courage within him is so inspiring to see, especially since everyone around him knows the inevitable (very reminiscent of the late Randy Pausch).

This movie is one of the most heartwarming one that I’ve seen in a while. The screenplay, the acting, the soundtrack, everything was there. And whenever a movie gets me emotionally like this one did, it means I’ve truly connected to the story and the characters. For me, that takes the cake.

Rating:
10/10

My Rainy Days (Tenshi no Koi)

Adopted from one of the the ever so popular cell phone novels taking Japan by storm, My Rainy Days is a movie that stars Nozomi Sasaki as Rio Ozawa, a beautiful 17 year old high school student that operates a high school prostitution ring. While Rio seems to be as genuine as they come, her traumatic past has caused her to not care about anyone to the point where she secretly exploits her friends for money. Or at least until she meets Kouki Ozawa (portrayed by Shosuke Tanihara), a 35 year old college professor by chance. Instantly attracted to Kouki, Rio actively pursues him, while at the same time is confused by the unfamiliar feelings of love. And although Kouki wants to reciprocate his feelings to her, his days are numbered due to his malignant brain tumor.

My Rainy Days is an interesting movie to say the least. The first half hour of the movie illustrated Japan’s compensated dating (a form of prostitution) industry with Rio leading her high school’s “ring”. It was a great look into one part of modern day Japan as it somewhat laid the foundations for the more traditional premises of typical romantic dramas.

The movie explores a broad variety of subjects. For starters, the forementioned compensated dating. And of course, the forbidden land of student-teacher relationships. Then there’s also rape, suicide, and abortions, which really isn’t something you throw in a movie unless you have a strong message (which this movie lacked in the end). I felt the movie could’ve definitely been just as good without the latter for they didn’t seem to fit anywhere, and created very questionable subplots.

But with that all said, I still had an okay time watching the movie. There were times where I was lost within the various subplots, but that was likely due to the complexity and depth of some of the characters. One thing that I really liked was despite this being Nozomi Sasaki’s debut in a lead role, I thought she did a great job playing the naive and perky Rio.

I’d only really recommend this movie if you were looking for something a little different, is a fan of Nozomi Sasaki, or you just plain like Japanese girls. Yep.

Rating:
6.5/10

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