Blue Spring Ride (2014)

First of all I must say that I really enjoyed this movie
I didn't expect it to be so good^^

In comparison, with the manga the story line was changed in some ways.....but I really liked those changes which is not usually the case but the way it was much better than the anime because the anime is like one third of the manga ;)

The cast was perfect and the acting was also good expect of few scenes of Futaba... I think her facial expression were a bit exaggerated.

The music was great and all in all it was the best manga-anime-adaption I´ve ever seen and I highly recommend it especially for the manga and anime fans of Ao Haru Ride :3

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I expected so much from this movie.
Well - not THAT much, but I still had some expectations.
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I read the manga years ago, but stopped halfway because of various reasons (it may or may not have become boring..) but I really loved what I read. It was cute and interesting and refreshing. Not your typical teen school-life romance.

This, however, is every kind of déjà vu.
First off, the movie is very long but for what it provided, they could've made it a 45mn movie.
The character development is non-existent. The chemistry is barely there.
What Kou has been going through was very poorly depicted. I couldn't bring myself to be even remotely sad for him. As for Futaba 'rescuing Kou from his own demons'.. No. Just no. Again, there was no character development. I didn't see how she rescued hm.
Everything after the first 35 minutes is slow and expected. Usual 'damn if they talked a bit more they could've easily sorted that out'.

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I do recommend watching this movie on a boring sunday night while browsing your [insert wanted social network here] feed if you're not looking for something deep or serious and just want to pass time.

A few more points:
- the filming and editing were great.
- the sceneries were cute.
- the actors were good. the main actor portrayed Kou's character wonderfully. He was exactly as depicted in the manga. Sadly it didn't make up for the weak plot.

Maybe it could've worked if they had made it a drama. Maybe it could've worked if they had made it a more concise movie.
Maybe it just didn't work for me.

I hope it helps someone ~ Also this was my first review in english so please bear with me. ^^

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I've waited for this movie for months after hearing that it would be coming out. Of course as an international fan, I had to wait until there was a subbed version online. As a fan of the anime, I was hoping it to be really good but in the back of my head I knew I should lower my expectations (especially after watching other anime live adaptations).

*Note* I am easily impressed with live action adaptations because I watch with an open mind and don't really compare the two versions.

The story was decent. Of course, its a slice of life anime turned movie so there's only so much you can fit in. It was cute and never did I feel bored or about to give up watching. If this was a drama, it could have been so good (maybe someday!). Really hated the girl leeching onto Kou but other than that it was a very light hearted story.

As for casting, I remember watching the trailer and seeing people disappointed with Kou's casting. But honestly, I really liked the casting overall. The characters looked the part and played the part really well. The main girl has a very refreshing face and the main couple even have chemistry looks wise. Every time I saw Touma, I flashback to when he played Honey Senpai- so it was a weird change of character for me haha. Also, I really like Shukko's actress.

The music is not something I noticed much except for the part where Touma's band is playing. Nothing really caught my attention and I usually notice the music only if it was really good or just plain sucky. So, I'll give it an average rating.

Rewatch Value! It was a really refreshing movie. A pure, innocent love. Definitely going to rewatch this one regularly. Short and sweet. The environment it was filmed was very refreshing as well. I mean, even looking at the poster calms me.

So overall, I give this movie an 8/10. If you just want something to watch to pass some time, I suggest this movie.

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It has more story than the anime

Cast/Acting:
I think they picked the right cast. Honda tsubasa really fits the role of Futaba in my opinion.
In the manga Kou was fighting for Futabas love more than they did in the live action, but I think the actor did still play a good role.


Story:
I have collected and read all thr manga and I think the live action does follow it most of the time, but some scenes they took from the manga and changed a bit, so that it would all make sense.
Considering they (only) had about 2hrs of screentime I think the story prgressed well...


Music:
For me the Anime/Movie OST is one of the most important things about a movie and I think the ost was pretty good


Overall:
I think the live action is good, cause it has more of the manga in it. The anime sadly only consists of the 1st 3 volumes of the manga. I collected all the volumes and know that the whole plot comes in kinda later on. I think it's a great story, but the anime itself is dry. I really like the live action though.

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For a movie that was based off a manga, I quite enjoyed it. Though I didn't finish the manga, I did read it recently. So the story is still fresh in my mind and speaking honestly, this movie portrayed the manga pretty well.

Story | Two middle school students, Yoshioka Fubata and Tanaka Kou shared mutual feelings. But due to circumstances, Kou ends up moving away and the two lose contact. However, a few years later he returns but as a completely different person which confuses Yoshioka. With the help of a few friends, Yoshioka struggles to try understand Kou's new self and break his hard shell.
Plot is a cliche, I admit. Typical type of Shojo manga storyline but it's a cute story about love, friendship and acceptance.

Cast | Overall I did like the cast. I believe Higashide Masahiro portrayed Kou's character nicely. Playing someone with a "dark" past but keeps it hidden from the world can be done wrongly and I have to say I loved Masahiro in this role. On the other hand, Honda Tsubasa, I have issues with. I didn't love her acting as much. Her bubbly personality seemed too forced. Some of her scenes with Kou were kind of ruined by her weird facial expressions and kind of robotic acting. That being said, her chemistry with Masahiro wasn't 100% here but it wasn't invisible either. There was a spark, but maybe because this was a movie the connection between the two couldn't go deeper.
Supporting characters, I'm honestly disappointed about. I liked those who were casted but this is a manga that had so much information you can't possibly expect everyone to have their moment. I thought the supporting characters played a big part in the story and it was unfortunate their character development in the movie wasn't a priority. (This is probably when the debate on whether this should've been a movie or drama will come into play)

Music | Instrumentals were nice. Helped set the mood for certain situations. Ending theme was cute and nice on the ears. Nothing really to rave about though.

Overall | Again, for what it was, the movie was good. They tweaked a few things and changed certain situations to fit the movie into 2 hours. And the changes I didn't have an issue with surprisingly. What they changed flowed nicely in the story. I'm glad that even with the changes, they kept the important parts of the story the same and they made sure to highlight those scenes. I can't say if this would be better as a drama or not because there is so much in this manga that I can already see things drag on, so as a movie, it's honestly more than what I was expecting. I also say good because the character developments weren't as great as I had hoped but still somewhat noticeable.

If you read the manga or watched the anime, I say give it a try when you're bored and can't find anything to watch. If you haven't, definitely add this to your list! It's a nice romance movie.

Rewatch, I'll probably come back. I really liked Masahiro so I would definitely watch this again despite my small concerns. ALSO, watch till the very end of the credits! The last scene was short but pretty darn adorable!

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This movie remind me of those movies I used to watch before these "asian movies and dramas" became popular.
It´s the typicall Japanese teenage movie set in a highschool with the girl who is cute but not that cute to be popular. And the boy who is mysterious and you are quite sure that he is hiding something that at the end of the movie you're gonna find out - if you didn´t find it sooner-
You know...it´s kind like Kimi Ni Todoke ( I´m talking and comparing about the live action movies not the anime). I enjoyed the movie, is a movie that I should watch again but not inmediatly. It made cry in some parts and smile with shyness in another ones.
The actors are all new for me so I feel ok with their acting, altough the main character remind me of Matsumoto Jun, he looks alike!
Anyway, it was a good movie :)

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I wanted so long for someone subbed this drama! I read the manga and watched the anime, so I knew the story. I really love how Futaba rescues Kou from his own demons. For a movie, this was pretty good. I rather if it was a drama, because then we could see how the characters grow. The development is the best thing about the slice of life manga, so I think this is a bad point, because if you don't know the story maybe you won't understand it all.
The music didn't got my attention, maybe because I was not so focused on it. The acting was ok for me, I loved Kominato's character, even the hair look the same as the anime, but they didn't go deep in the supporting roles.
I think it have to be rewatched... because I already watched twice! Hope you all like it as I did, and if you haven't read the manga and watched the anime: You don't know what you're missing!

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I feel sort of bad giving this a low score. It's an major improvement from all other manga to live-action adaptations that I've watched, but I still don't feel comfortable calling it a good movie or saying that I liked it and giving it more stars.

Aside from being a little old, this applies to Higashide Masahiro specifically, the cast was well chosen and they all performed nicely.

I appreciated this production's willingness to change things around from the manga/anime. It helped a lot. Even so, it feels like there was still too much information and plot lines for a two hour movie. It 's not so much that it felt rushed, but just overly overly packed and that kept me from enjoying it as much as I should have.

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I loved the Blue Spring Ride manga, and the anime was also really cute, so I had high expectations for this live action. I was, unfortunately, disappointed.

STORY:
While it does follow the original storyline of both the manga and the anime, there is something lacking in the way the plot was carried out. When I read the manga my would squeal, scream, and even cry when something exciting happened. With this live action, I did none of that. It's not that it was bad, it was just pleasantly boring.

ACTING/CAST:
I have never seen two leads with less chemistry than the actors for Futaba and Kou. I liked the cast and I think they represented the characters well, but the actress for Futaba wasn't able to deliver that quirky spark that Futaba has. Overall, disappointed with the cast and the acting because it was so dry.

MUSIC:
The music will always be good because the BSR OST is the best hands down.

REWATCH VALUE:
Kind of low. I would only rewatch it if I was doing something that didn't require me to pay attention to it.

OVERALL:
I had very high expectations for this but unfortunately, it was not as good as I thought it was going to be.

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I've always loved rom-com anime, but live action movies based on anime/mangas usually aren't good, after my own experience the actors in those kind of movies mostly are over dramatic or just do a shitty acting. Ao haru ride was one of my favorite anime series and when I found out they were gonna make a live action movie of it I went crazy XD It was awful to wait months until I could watch it with english sub, it almost killed me hehe. But to cut to the chase the movie actually surpassed my expectations! It wasn't at all like live action movies in general and the acting was quite impressive!!

The story was great, even if it's a typical romance between a boy and a girl it was still very emotional and relatable. It also shows that nobody is perfect, even if Futaba was a pretty girl who a lot of guys would want to date her, she didn't want that kind of attention which most girls would kill to have. And Kou's story made me cry, his whole family situation was heartbreaking and the way he acted as if he didn't care about anything at all just made me feel even more sorry for him. To show off that strong can't be easy especially when there's someone like Futaba who keeps pushing to the limits.

This is the first time I watch a movie with Higashide, and of course I fell in love with him immediately. You can really see how he goes into his role as Kou. All the feelings he stubbornly hides, his face expressions are close to perfection and his sad eyes made me come close to tears several times. And the scenes where he cried or got mad were so powerful and they actually gave me goose bumps. And that my friends is some good ass acting!
Tsubasa Honda on the other hand didn't really impress me at all. Sometimes she was annoyingly dramatic and her face expressions felt a little too fake. They felt more like theatre acting than real emotions. But she did quite a good job in general, she isn't the worst actress I've seen. It's just a shame she didn't reach Higashide's level cause I think the movie would've been a lot better and their chemistry would have been stronger.

I love the music, especially the theme music, I can't stop listening to it. It's so cute and romantic and sad at the same time which fits perfectly to this movie.

Overall it was an awesome movie, I've watched it like 10 times now and I'm not even tired of it. So it's totally something you can rewatch several times :3

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Uhhhh

I still had some questions because of the ending.
They were just going to stay friends???
I was confused but I let my mind go with “they’ll eventually end up as a couple”.
I’ve read the manga and watched the anime (manga is AMAZING) so I was satisfied. 👍

Overall it wasn’t a bad live-action since it’s romance and most romance live-actions come out decent.
In the live-action, Toma Kikuchi was very annoying, in the manga he wasn’t really trying to get all over Futaba Yoshioka.
I really hope Toma Kikuchi finds happiness in the future because he deserved better, he was someone who i wouldn’t want to hurt feelings with.

Definitely recommend!

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