Junjou (2010)

In my full honest opinion as this has been the first asian movie I've watched where it was focused on gays - and I was not disappointed one bit. However, not being a reader of the original manga I have nothing to compare too and I don't think comparing it would be necessary.

The storyline was very cheesy I must admit, however there are parts where you're at the edge of your seat biting your nails because you're so anxious of what's going to happen next, or the parts where you just melt because the cuteness of the two main characters. A plot like that is definitely one of the best.

Acting was sort of an okay for me, nothing too special, but not horrible either. I watched it mainly for Tochihara and wasn't disappointed with what acting I saw from him. Tochihara and Takahashi's acting lead me to believe that they really were a couple, which is outstanding nonetheless. You could feel the chemistry from both actors.

The soundtrack was beautiful especially the ending song, junjou by aotsuki. Overall, I'd recommend this movie to anyone who loves a nice love story. It was highly enjoyable and I've said it about 100 times already but extremely cute.

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sweet and fluffy with a touch of angst and a happy ending - pretty dang good, actually

Let's start with the plot, such as it is.

That was a little too sarcastic, really, because this plot has some differences and I rather enjoyed them. First of all, unusually for BL, this drama starts at a beach instead of ending up at one (or going to one for the honeymoon period) and we see how this plays out over several flashbacks.

Flashbacks themselves are an overused plot device, but they work here because they're inserted at just the right moment, don't go on long enough to become annoying, and connect with the ending. So, no complaints from me about those.

So, Tozaki is sitting on the railing at the top of a set of steps that lead down to a beach, where he's not-so-subtly ogling his first love, another student named Kurata.

In the present day Tozaki, now a freelance writer, meets Kurata whilst working on a job and they begin a relationship.

They begin by having sex, and then Kurata leaves and Tozaki thinks it's just a one night stand. Until Kurata comes back and Tozaki begins to fall in love with him all over again, this time with a clear picture of who he is.

Kurata obviously feels the same, but doesn't say anything. Neither does Tozaki and things just start to unravel slightly from there, with each thinking the other is only in the relationship for the sex and each trying to show, not tell, the other how they feel.

Tozaki's ex, who is also his boss, still has feelings for Tozaki, which throws another spanner into the works.

I enjoyed watching this, and it was quite well done. The production values were better than I expected and the acting was fairly good by the three leads, especially Tochihara Rakuto. There was one particular scene where the range of emotions that he showed on his face in the space of about a minute was impressive.

My one gripe with this was with whomever it was that did the costuming. Everyone was fine, except for poor Takahashi Yuta. For scenes where he was wearing a suit (and there were a few) he looked like a child dressed up in his Dad's clothes. I don't know that happened, because I could see the clothes fitted him, but somehow the proportions were all wrong and it was so odd it was distracting. I found it hard to take him seriously as an adult.

Would I rewatch this? Yes, I think so. It wasn't exactly a chore and it was a lovely little movie.

Oh, and one more thing: if you're reading this and thinking I've ripped it off from the other person with my user name and photo who wrote this review - i haven't. MDL decided my original account wasn't going to work anymore, and I had to make a new one. Which means I had to go and repost all the reviews I'd already written under my original account.

I did try to contact MDL about this problem, but got no answer.

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As deep as the budget allowed

After letting this movie settle in, I had an urge to write the review. Even though many might find the whole story kinda questionable, I think the overall idea was great. Rage, jealousy, sadness, and aggression could be psychologically explained, and I will try to do so in my own manner. Kurata is repressed homosexual and has an extremely deep fight within. We can see that from the very start. He has been in love with this boy since day one, but he waited for him to take the first step. I understand his character, being a person that does not go for what she wants due to fear of rejection, fear of looking weak… well just fear in general. I felt the character very well. And then, building a facade to keep himself safe, acting like he does not care about anything besides sex, acting out with rage outbursts when it is so transparent that he feels jealousy. All the emotions built into this character made me feel the movie intensely. As for Tozaki, I loved his gentle, kind, and patient side. I believe that these characteristics tore the walls around Kurata at the end of the story. I loved it honestly and I think about this movie a lot.

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The original manga is okay, not amazing, but not bad. The movie version didn't hold my interest, unfortunately.

My disappointment could be partly due to the fact that I didn't find the stars attractive. But maybe worse, they also didn't have much chemistry. Chemistry can make up for a low budget and a weak script, but with no chemistry it's hard to keep watching.

As in the manga, the characters have really stereotypical seme/uke personalities. The seme is typically emotionally restrained and domineering. Maybe with a better actor and more chemistry, I could have overlooked his major personality defects. But instead I just ended the movie finding him really annoying.

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aish - well redundant to point out, i didn't like this - and until the half way point i was bored or rather uninterested in everything going on - the mains didn't help me like this any better. get Tozaki is the sweet imbecile in love, or rather blinded by love (and he not that unique, a lot of people men and women alike - let themselves be used, abused and taken for granted cause their emotions r involved, and they can't seem to think straight). so yeah he was sweet, but the way he let Kurata treat him - all cause he was his first love - just frustrated me. seeing how at first Kurata treated him like a one-night-stand and then a booty-call, didn't help me like either character - especially when Tozaki always welcomed him with that stupid, innocent, expectant smile, i wanted to slap some sense into him.

the point i really started liking and connecting with this movie, was when Tozaki lost it and point-blank asked Kurata what he considered him - that was a moment of growth - where Tozaki at last demanded some respect. he stopped being an enabler and forced Kurata to come clean...

the fact that little by little (throughout this movie) u get that Kurata was as infatuated with Tozaki, when they were teens - and they were each others first-love doesn't sweeten or justify Kurata treatment of Tozaki. and u didn't get any back-story as to why he was the way he was - just cause he didn't want to be "out and proud"?!? and his fits or rage where he almost raped Tozaki (twice) - cause he was jealous was ridiculous.. especially when we talking about grow-ass-men not teens with raging hormones. so enjoying or liking this is beyond me, and i didn't have any problem with their looks - but have a major problem with the character's personalities and the plot in general - this screamed more abuse then romance - so a one off

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