Bokura Ga Ita (Part 1) review

(2nd part of BRI is out already!! *_* just since today, i guess? i saw some screencaps from it at tumblr. i had a feeling it might be online around mid-october and i was right. of course, i am going to wait for subs though. i think i might like the 2nd part of the movie more, because it talks about their long distance relationship, the other girl that liked yano (i like how she's not as girly as nanami!), and they're grown up and mature now.) 

(i got a ton of screencaps, but i'm only posting the ones i like the most here, just in case there are still a lot of people who haven't watched this movie yet.)

i thought it was a pretty good movie. 

maybe it's because i'm not a fan of the manga and i don't like bittersweet love stories, so i didn't think it was amazing, like most people have been saying on tumblr and LJ. i do think it's great that this movie gave toma a chance to experience a sweet high school love story which he missed out on because of working for johnny's. it also might be the last time we get to see toma wear a school uniform for a role. this movie must be really special to toma, but to me, it is just a typical manga-style love story.

don't get me wrong, i did enjoy watching it. i liked how they were in hokkaido and we could see some nice rural scenary. i thought toma, yuriko, and the rest of the casts' acting was great. they really seemed like high school students. even Take (Sousuke Takaoka), who looked older than everyone. they managed to include most of the important parts from the manga without making the movie feel too rushed. and watching it makes me remember the feeling of having a crush on a boy in class and gives me a nice, nostalgic feeling. ~__~ and of course, the best part about this movie is being able to see toma as a cute, cool, popular high school student. and sometimes, he is a really sweet and caring boyfriend, too! (also, i liked toma's stylish clothes. the colorful t-shirts or the hoodie that he wore with his school uniform, the white knit sweater over a white collared shirt, etc. very cool!) 

i think my favorite scene in this movie was the rooftop/fireworks scene. her confession to him and his confession to her were both very sweet. and then their first kiss with the fireworks in the background!!! awwwwwww. ^_^

toma and yuriko make a cute couple and seemed very comfortable with each other. they both seemed very absorbed in their roles. toma portrayed yano very well. both the cute/cool side of him and the insecure/broken side. i have conflicting feelings for yano...i want to hate him for being arrogant, insensitive, and needy. but i also feel sorry for him because of his tragic relationship with nana. i usually root for toma's character, but in this case, i think i was rooting for Take. Take is the typical "other guy" in the love triangle that, despite being cute, kind, and supportive, has no real chance of being picked. toma used to be that guy (nakatsu and takemoto)! maybe that's why i feel sorry for him and want nanami to give him a chance. it's also because yano and nanami are one of those too perfect, lovey dovey couples that makes you envious and annoyed at the same time. lol. to quote one of the guys in their class: "they irritate me somehow." xD

i think they could have done a better job, showing that toma and take are good friends, though. i guess because take had such few scenes with toma, i didn't feel that they were that close at all. 

since i'm talking about the different characters, i should talk about yamamoto, too. in the manga, she looks very plain and has short hair. besides that though, yuika motokariya's yamamoto and the manga's yamamoto is the same quiet, creepy, emotionless girl. she is like a ghost from yano's past, haunting him, reminding him of nana and all the things he did wrong, that he can never undo. i think yano feels sorry for her and is drawn to her because she's the only connection he has left to nana. or maybe he feels like he doesn't deserve to be happy, he doesn't deserve to be with nanami, so (sometime in the manga) he stays with yamamoto and avoids nanami. or maybe it's because yano has some kind of serious illness that he's keeping a secret from nanami?! (remember in the trailer for the 2nd movie, he was grasping at his chest and collapsed?? he did it once in this movie too!) by the way, i still hate yano for what he did with yamamoto after nana's funeral. i understand he was vulnerable and really sad and angry, but that was a really really stupid thing to do!! after that, she will always feel like she has a chance to be with him and he'll always feel like he owes her something.

speaking of things i hate, here are some things about this movie that i did not like. the main thing that bothered me was that i felt like i already know what will happen in 90% of the movie, even before i watched it. the trailers and preview clips and pics gave away too many of the important scenes! from the start, i knew their relationship is doomed, and i had trouble enjoying the happy moments because i knew the sad moments were coming. i guess it's always like this, even with toma's previous movies, but somehow, this time it was worse. (maybe it was because i kept seeing the same pictures and gifs of certain scenes over and over on tumblr, since this movie/manga is so popular, for a long time before i actually watched the movie?) also, i read some of the manga, in order to be able to compare the manga and the movie. all this made the movie very predictable to me. 

i thought the dialogue could have been better, too. but i guess it's to be expected of a manga-based movie to have a lot of cliche couple scenes and lines. and i knew they would not include yano's dog, lalami, in this movie cuz they don't have time for it. i'm hoping the 2nd movie lalami will be there even just 4 one scene, though!! =( lalami is such a cutie!!!! argghh!! T___T he was my favorite character in the manga, pretty much. 

a lot of people commented that they love the color tones of this movie, but i really hated it. there's something about yellow (and evening sunlight) or really bright lighting that really bothers me. unfortunately, this movie used a lot of yellow toned lighting (like honey and clover!) and most of the time, a certain dull lighting that made everyone too pale. (just look at toma's hair in this movie and compare it to how very orange it looked in real life!) it drained so much of the color and life out of everything. i guess it's supposed to make things seem dreamy and nostalgic. but to me, it tainted everything and it annoyed me to no end. 

what was really annoying though, was yuriko being too girly and childish. i know nanami is like that in the manga, but it's different when a real person is acting that way. and it's not that cute. i have to give her props for being able to capture nanami's manga teenage girl awkwardness, though. sometimes it was too much, but i have to admit that she's a great actress to be able to pull that off. i also don't like yuriko's voice, but i think she looks cute with the hair bun and i love her braided hair + bun hairstyle too. 

when i was reading the synopsis for this movie back in 2011, i thought that it sounded a lot like hanamizuki, but actually it's a completely different kind of love story. hanamizuki had a much simpler (maybe too simple!) story and there was nowhere near as much drama and angst as in bokura ga ita. hanamizuki had a lot more beautiful scenary from hokkaido, though, which i hope we'll see more of in the part 2 movie of bokura ga ita. 

toma and yuriko make a cute couple in BRI, but i still like toma and gakky more. there's just something about yuriko that i don't like. she's quite pretty, a good actress, has a good sense of humor, is kind of a tomboy and teases toma a lot. but somehow, i just don't like her. (maybe it's because of the rumors that they were dating in real life?) i guess that's one of the main reasons why i didn't like this movie that much. if gakky or some other actress i liked was playing the role of nanami, i would definitely like this movie a lot more! imagine if it was maki!! *_* omg, that would be a dream come true for tomaki fans! hehehe...

ok, i think i covered everything?? i really didn't mean to write a long essay, but in the end, that's how it turned out. lol. i hope you enjoyed reading it, cuz i had fun analyzing the movie and  writing it. i hope no one gets upset because i didn't love the movie and criticized the movie a lot... there are just a few more things i want to say, but it's spoiler-y, so i've put it in the SPOILERS section below.

___________________ SPOILERS!! x__x

DO NOT READ 

IF YOU HAVE NOT 

WATCHED THE MOVIE YET!!!!!!!!

--the almost love scene was super awkward. lol. in the manga, i think it was not as awkward, and they still didn't do it, but got much further than toma and yuriko did in the movie. in this scene, i was really distracted by nanami's checkered shirt matching the checkered curtains of yano's bedroom. hahaha. also, i think toma looked quite thin and pale in this scene! and it seemed a little rushed that suddenly they were about to make love. 

--the scene that she waits for yano and he doesn't come... in the manga, she waited in the snow and it was more dramatic because she could have gotten seriously ill if she kept waiting and it was freezing cold.

--in the manga, besides saying he slept with yamamoto because he wanted to get revenge on nana, he also said he did it because he felt sorry for her. he is such an idiot!!! luckily she didn't get pregnant or else he would have had to marry her!!

--i liked the scene where yano was yelling at nanami after she said he betrayed her. even though he still shouldn't have gone to the hospital and kept her waiting, but i completely agreed with what he said!! she really overreacts a lot. geez...

--i liked the part that nanami said she doesn't mind crying if it's because of yano. it's kind of sweet. and because the other guy in the manga is always saying that he won't make her cry and he'll always make her happy, unlike the lead character. but in a real relationship, you can't be happy all the time. you'll get into arguments, you'll get mad at each other. so it's stupid to say something like "i'll never make you cry". that's kind of impossible, idiot! lol. but of course, in manga and a lot of love stories in general, it's what they always say. DESPITE THAT, WHEN TOMA SAID IT AS NAKATSU IN HANA KIMI, I WAS SO TOUCHED!!! awwww. i love nakatsu. =,) 

--i liked the part where toma was singing along with the rest of the class!! toma singing!! yey!! ~_~ i also liked the part where he was standing at the school entrance, looking at the rain, and asking her how do you forget someone. it was a sad scene, but toma looked so cool!! xD

-- i liked the scene where take said this is his last warning, he's going after nanami. yano got so angry, but i was rooting for take. yes! time to take a stand! even if he's your friend, but if he is a bad boyfriend, you should just confess to her! i also liked the scene where yano fell and hurt his leg and take didn't stop to help him. LOL. because if i was him, i'd think yano was faking it, too, and in a situation like that, you can't be too nice, and take has already been holding back for too long already. 

-- i liked how nanami drew cute little drawings on the music sheet for yano. and he kept it and you see that he still has it at the end of the movie. awwww...  toma, i can draw cute drawings like that for you on your scripts if u like! hehehe... =P