There was an announcement today on Twitter that Violet Evergarden The Movie will be shown on NTV during its Friday "Kin-yo Roadshow" slot (usually Friday night at 9 p.m.) on November 25, 2022. ๐๐๐๐๐
Nippon TV even made a 6-minute compilation of the series to introduce newcomers to the story.
(Three minutes into the video and I was crying... ๐)
Apparently, the usual 2-hour time slot will be extended by 40 minutes for this movie. As the movie is 140 minutes long, this means it should air with few, if any, scenes being cut to fit into the time slot. ๐๐
This completes the cycle ever since the special cut of the TV series aired on NTV in October last year, followed by Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll in November last year. I am so glad that NTV decided to close the loop on this. Looking forward to gluing myself in front of the TV on November 25, 2022! ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ
Update 26 November 2022: The movie aired on Nippon TV last night. During that time slot, "Violet Evergarden" was trending on Twitter in Japan.
The entire time slot was from 21:00 to 23:34, which meant 154 minutes for a 140-minute movie. Of course, being terrestrial TV, there was a need to make time for commercials, so some parts of the movie were cut... ๐ข
- The scene at the start of the movie, where Violet hands her dedication poem to Irma and it being read out
- The staff of CH Postal at the street market and bumping into Erica
- Benedict parking his motorcycle at CH Postal
- Gilbert's past, the one in which his father talked about "our flower" and Diethard got reprimanded
- The two ending songs (the credits were instead superimposed on the fireworks scene, and Daisy's visit to Ekarte Island)
Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of a Dark Dusk ๅๅ ด็ ใฝใผใใขใผใ・ใชใณใฉใคใณ -ใใญใฐใฌใใทใ- ๅฅใๅค้ใฎในใฑใซใใฉ (SAO Progressive's official website in Japanese) premiered in Japan today (the IMAX version had an early start yesterday). I am not a big fan of SAO, but I have been following the series so I went to catch it today.
This is the second movie in the SAO Progressive series of movies, but it actually covers the fourth volume of the light novels in this series, where the characters are in level 5 of Aincrad working toward level 6. So there is a bit of a jump from the first movie which covered the first volume, essentially level 1 of Aincrad.
They were also handing out door gifts to viewers, and I got this at the cinema.
The first show of the day included a live broadcast of an opening day event, in which the voice actors and theme song singer made an appearance. This event took place after the movie's screening, and they could talk about things in the movie without worrying about spoilers.
The opening event featured Asuna's VA Tomatsu Haruka, Kirito's VA Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, Argo's VA Izawa Shiori, and singer Aoi Eir. They talked about their favorite scenes from the movie and some episodes during the voice recording. Apparently, author Kawahara Reki has told Matsuoka that he hopes Matsuoka will keep playing his role of Kirito until he is 80 years old. I guess Kawahara really intends to write every single level in Aincrad for his SAO Progressive light novel series...
The movie itself had some fan service, like the bathing scene (which became a swimsuit scene). Otherwise, it was like SAO in general, with action scenes of fighting the boss monster taking up much of the second half of the movie. And once again, Kirito always comes to the rescue. I really had enough of the overpowered MC but I guess that's the whole point about SAO. Still, why can't Asuna be the one rescuing Kirito?
Anyway, this series is not ending anytime soon. There are still many fans of SAO, Kawahara is still writing light novels for the main series as well as spin-offs, and there are arcs in the main story that have not been adapted into anime. Plus volumes (and future volumes) of the SAO Progressive light novels waiting to be adapted. Great news for fans, and even better news (๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฐ) for Kawahara...
Today, the movie ็ทใฏ、ๅใๆใ (Sen wa, Boku wo Egaku) opened in Japan. It is based on a novel by the same name, published in 2019. The story is related to Japanese ink painting (a form of ink wash painting that originated from Chinese and spread to Japan), which drew my interest as someone who practises Japanese calligraphy, which basically uses similar equipment (brushes, ink, paper, and such). I even bought the novel and finished it before the movie came out. I was so excited about the movie, and bought a ticket for the first show today at the nearby theatre.
I couldn't find an official English name for this movie but I have seen "The Lines that Define Me" used here. The movie is due to release in Taiwan at the end of the month, and I think it will also show in South Korea. Hopefully, it gets to show in Singapore too.
The broad concept of the movie is the same as the original novel it is based on: the protagonist learned to recover from grief through ink wash painting. Through learning how to draw ink wash paintings, he slowly learned to see the world around him, coming out of his grief to move on in life.
Unlike the novel, though, there were some changes to the story. For example, in the novel, the protagonist had an eye for detail, but this was not reflected in the movie. The novel also had a romantic aspect to the relationship between Sosuke (the protagonist) and Chiaki (granddaughter of the Sosuke's ink wash painting teacher, who is herself a great artist), which was reflected in the manga adaptation but not really so in the movie. Sosuke's tragic past was also changed from the death of his parents in a traffic accident into the death of his family (parents and younger sister) during a flood. Sosuke's friends also knew about the tragic accident in the movie; in the novel, they only knew he has some sort of tragic past. Another ink wash painting master, Suizan, was turned into a woman who has stopped painting to become an art critic.
While these changes may not seem much, when taken together, they are enough to turn the movie's story into something quite different from the novel, with the only commonality being the broad concept. The movie is still touching, with great music by Yokoyama Masaru. Yokohama Ryusei also did a great job portraying the grief experienced by Sosuke. Still, I think the movie lacks the full punch I got from reading the novel. I may go watch the movie again just to see if my thoughts will change.
Here's a short video about how to draw an ink wash painting (it is actually an ad for the novel).
Actually, I have mixed feelings about how they changed the story for this live-action adaptation of the novel. While the broad concept is the same, in which the protagonist learned to recover from grief through ink wash painting, details have been changed. The problem is, the original novel is an award-winning work. It won an award because of its story, not just the broad concept. I am fine if changes are made to the story for a better live-action adaptation, which is usually needed if the source material is a manga, anime, or light novel. But for this, the original novel is a slice-of-life type of novel, which makes it easy for live-action adaptation as it is. So any changes to the story will need to really really add to the story...
For a mediocre piece of work with a strong concept, yes, the changes will likely make the resulting movie better. But for an award-winning work like this one, it means that whoever is coming up with this new story believes he or she can do better than the award-winning author. Most of the time, it is just hubris. Like this time. I don't think the movie's story is any stronger than the original novel; I don't think it is even on par. Still, the movie is touching because of the strong concept, but it could have been even better if they had been more faithful to the original novel.
Update 27 October 2022: I watched the movie again last night, and decided to write a bit more about my thoughts.
First, overall, the movie is a good movie. It is worth watching, with some plot lines that become clearer toward the end of the movie. The music is also nicely scored, adding a sense of dynamism to the more impactful scenes, and a slight sense of melancholy to the sadder ones.
There are, however, changes to the story which I cannot figure out the reasons. In the story, Suizan is another master artist, a soft-spoken man who is also in grief, which explains why he was impressed by Sosuke's ability to perceive his grief. In the movie, Suizan has been turned into a woman with a haughty attitude, but with no significant impact on the story. If you remove her from the movie, it won't really matter too...
The minor character Akane (Suizan's granddaughter) was also featured in the movie, but this time as a dairy farmer. But unlike in the story, movie Akane has zero impact on the story and does nothing to change it. Why even bother to bring her in if there is no role for her to play?
One key aspect of the story is Chiaki's antagonistic attitude toward Sosuke. Their competition, to see who wins the art award, is a key part of the story. But the movie did away with the competition. The motivation for Sosuke and Chiaki then becomes very blur. It also weakens the impact of the ending, when Chiaki wins the award, but Sosuke, who came in very close behind, was actually given a special award by Suizan (only in the story; in the movie, he was given the newcomer's award, which didn't convey the special sense of "only for you this year we came up with a new award"). And in the story, their relationship grew due to this friendly competition, and they grew much closer toward the end of the story. In the movie, the nature, direction, and development of their relationship is a bit more blur.
Sosuke's family story was also changed from his parents being killed in a car accident, into his parents and younger sister (named Tsubaki) being killed in a severe flood. I see this change as the director wanting to bring in the camellia (called tsubaki in Japanese) theme for the movie, with the camellia plant symbolising Sosuke's younger sister, which is why he cried when he first saw Chiaki's painting of camellia (rose in the story, though...) and ending the movie with his drawing of camellia winning him the newcomer's award (in the story, he drew chrysanthemum flowers instead). Although this change is part of the plot, I feel it does not really strengthen the story. It is more like a sidetrack.
In the story, Sosuke was told to learn to draw chrysanthemum without being given any sample drawing. Instead, Kosan-sensei told him to "beg the chrysanthemum" to teach him. Through trial and error and with perseverance, he eventually realised what Kosan-sensei meant and was able to draw his own painting of chrysanthemum that was so good that he was given a special award by Suizan-sensei, the head judge.
I also prefer the story for its portrayal of Sosuke as an outside observer looking at his own life. It gives a sense of him being delinked from reality ever since his parents were killed. Through learning to paint, and forming relationships with the people around him through painting, he was finally able to see life in the first-person again. In the movie, he is just plagued by sad memories, and a sense of guilt. But this is not as impactful as the story, where he has lost his desire to live (although that is not the same as wanting to die).
The character of Kosan was also changed from being a master artist at the pinnacle of his art, to being just another old man with some bits of wisdom to share. The Kosan in the movie does not have the aura of a master artist, and does not talk like one.
In all, I think the director and scriptwriter probably did they best to develop a consistent story for the movie based on the main concept of the novel. However, I think they probably did not have a deep enough understanding of this art form to fully comprehend the nuances in the novel that made the novel so impactful. It is such a pity, because the movie is only about 1 hour 45 minutes, and they could have easily did a faithful adaptation of the novel (which may take around 2 hours 15 to 30 minutes, I guess) instead to achieve a much more impactful movie. Don't get me wrong. This is still a good movie. But with the material in hand (they have a strong cast, and a great novel), it could have been sooooo much better.
Warning: This is a spoiler-filled rant about some of the things that I felt were wrong with the live-action adaptation of Whisper of the Heart (่ณใใใพใใฐ). (Update 18 October 2022: I read the original manga and this post has
been updated to reflect my thoughts after reading the manga.)
Shizuku has been pursuing her dream of becoming a writer for 10 years. In the movie, she has been trying and trying, sending in story after story to writing competitions but never winning anything. Well, most people would have given up; of course, that makes for a bad story. But Shizuku holding onto her dream after 10 years could have been handled differently. For example, after graduating from junior high school, she could have been so caught up with her studies, and then finding a job, that she put writing aside and only recently remembered her dream when she heard that Seiji is releasing his first (joint) album. Or, she could have been writing and writing and failing, but then, there needs to be a reason why she never gave up. That reason never really came up in the movie, but if a proper reason was given, it would have been more believable.
Seiji's fellow celloist is supposed in love with him. The problem though, is that this celloist is someone who is at the top of her game, good enough to cut an album with Seiji and the other two fellow celloists in their quartet. A person needs a certain resolve to keep practising to reach this height. It is thus very unlikely that she would keep her feelings for Seiji hidden all this while, and only tell him when Shizuku comes visiting. Of course, she could have been afraid of losing their professional relationship if she were to be rejected. If that was the case, I don't think Shizuku's visit would matter, since the possibility of losing the professional relationship is still there. There is also no real reason for her love interest in the story. It does nothing to propel the story forward. If the director needed a reason to send Shizuku back to Japan, there are many other possibilities that are more believable. And no need to send her back crying. I mean, she could go to Italy, refresh and reaffirm her resolve after meeting Seiji, and return to Japan fresh and ready to try again. So this entire "I love Seiji" scene was basically meaningless.
There was a scene when Seiji's grandfather was trying to cheer up 25-year-old Shizuku, telling her to cup her ears and listen to her heart. That scene looked... weird. I mean, it was like the old man was talking to a child, but Shizuku is not 10 years old, she not even 15 years old. She is a 25-year-old lady now and treating her like a child is just weird. Yes, I can see the point of an elderly giving advice to the younger generation. But the way it was done was like talking down to a child, and Shizuku was an adult.
Oh, and Shizuku's ex-classmate Sugimura (in the movie, he is getting married to girlfriend Yuko) continuing to act like a teenager even when 25 years old is just outright annoying. I don't understand why the director needs to make adults act like children. Then again, he was the same director who made Emma into a 16-year-old character in the live-action adaptation of The Promised Neverland and still made her act like a 12-year-old girl. But in The Promised Neverland, Emma just looked like a naive teenager. Here, Shizuku and Sugimura are naive adults. It is not just unbelievable, but annoying and irritating and basically weakens the entire story.
In the first place, this live-action adaptation was more faithful in
adapting the manga while trying to take some elements from the anime
adaptation. For those who may not know, the anime adaptation is actually
not a faithful adaptation of the manga. It took the main gist of the
manga's story, and came up with a more consistent and complete story
that brings together time and space, creating characters that people can
empathise with and a story of growing up. The reason is because the
original manga was actually not very well received when it was
serialised, ending after four chapters (gone in four months, since it
was published in a monthly publication back in 1989). The anime,
however, was a hit. But instead of trying to build on the anime for the
live-action adaptation, somehow, the producers decided to base their
adaptation on the original, not-well-received manga. Yes, they did take
some of the elements from the anime, not a lot, like probably only the
music part, but that initial step of basing on the manga was probably
the worst decision that could have been made. Why would you choose to
adapt something that no one liked? So that even more people will not
like your movie? ๐๐ค❓❓❓
We all have dreams, and growing up, we all have dreams that we have given up on. If this movie could have made some effort to reach out to the viewers so that we can empathise with the characters and story, the story would have been so much more stronger. Instead, we are given a movie where you cannot empathise with the characters nor the story, characters act in ways that do not fit their supposed ages or background. You don't feel the uplifting message of pursuing dreams until they are realized. The anime adaptation gave more than enough hints on how to do a proper adaptation of the story. I am really amazed at how someone can mess this up in such an epic way.
The live-action adaptation version of Whisper of the Heart (่ณใใใพใใฐ) was released in Japan today. Based on a single-volume manga of the same name, it is most famous for its anime adaptation by Studio Ghibli. I really like the anime adaptation, and was thus very interested in this live-action adaptation that tells the story of the main characters, Shizuku and Seiji, 10 years after their story in the anime. So I booked a ticket for the first show at the nearby cinema, and braved the rain (okay, it was a drizzle) to watch it this morning.
Oh, spoiler alert. This post will have comparisons with the anime adaptation and thus there will be many spoilers.
Before I go any further, just a disclaimer. I haven't read the original manga, so I cannot say for sure how faithful the adaptations (live-action or anime) were. I do own a copy of the manga, and flipped through it a bit, though. (Update 18 October 2022: I read the original manga and this post has been updated to reflect my thoughts after reading the manga.)
First, a general feel. The movie contains flashbacks to the time when Shizuku and Seiji were in junior high school, although it is weighted more toward the "10 years later" part of their story. I guess this is because the movie doesn't want to make the assumption that viewers have watched the anime adaptation or read the manga. Telling the "10 years later" without a background story would have been confusing, so these flashbacks are probably there to try and fill in the blanks. I did wonder why they didn't just do a quick telling of the junior high school days at the start of the movie, so that the entire movie follows a more chronological order instead of jumping around in time. But I guess the junior high school part of the story would have probably taken up quite a bit of time, lengthening the movie, plus diluting its supposed focus on "10 years later".
Another thing that anime fans will note immediately. The song has been changed from "Take Me Home, Country Roads" to "็ฟผใใใ ใใ" (Tsubasa wo Kudasai), although it is a more lighthearted rendition (the version played at the credits was performed by ๆ Anne Watanabe). "็ฟผใใใ ใใ" is a famous song in Japan but it can sound quite melancholic, and personally, I thought "Take Me Home, Country Roads" would be more fitting for the overall story. Still, the reason for choosing "็ฟผใใใ ใใ" (which means "give me wings") is probably because in the original manga (or rather, the sequel of the original manga), there was a part about feathers and wings.
While Shizuku's dream remains to write stories, the live-action adaptation changed Seiji's dream from becoming a violin maker (in the anime adaptation) to becoming a celloist. (I am not very sure, but I think in the original manga, Seiji was aspiring to be a painter.) I don't think this change has any significant impact on the overall story, though, if the goal is to make a comparison: Seiji, who has achieved his dream, versus Shizuku, who has not made much headway in becoming a writer.
Watching the movie, I was trying to figure out what the director (the same person who did the live-adaptation of The Promised Neverland) wanted to say with this movie, what story he wanted to tell. Frankly, I am not sure. It looks like a story about Shizuku finding courage to continue to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. But it ended up making 25-year-old Shizuku more like a naive lady who never grew up beyond junior high school. She met setbacks at work, ran off to look for Seiji in Italy, returned to Japan after thinking Seiji is better off in Italy with his pretty fellow celloist, but eventually Seiji came back to Japan to look for her and all ends well in a happy ending. There is no real character development, no real challenge that the main character overcomes to make it a gripping tale. In short, there is no real story, unless the story is to end with a "and they got married and lived happily ever after."
Compared to Laid-Back Camp: Movie, I think this movie didn't do a proper "10 years after" story. Laid-Back Camp: Movie may not be super, but as a "X years later" story, it brings back the characters for a credible challenge which they worked together to overcome. The characters in Laid-Back Camp: Movie also grew and developed during that X years, and are not longer the high schools girls. In this live-action adaptation of Whisper of the Heart, though, the only real main character who has grown and is no longer a junior high school student is Seiji.
The only saving grace is Anne's rendition of "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" at the
end of the movie. Although I prefer the more melancholic version, this
lighthearted rendition was an interesting take at the same song. Since you can listen to this rendition on YouTube, there is no real reason to go watch the movie.
Update 15 Oct 2022: This is another post touching on some of the things which I really didn't like about the movie.
To Every You I've Loved Before (ๅใๆใใใในใฆใฎๅใธ) and To Me, The One Who Loved You (ๅใๆใใใฒใจใใฎๅใธ) opened in cinemas across Japan on 7 October 2022. The two movies are based on two novels by the same name, with the same story being told from two perspectives. The two movies themselves uses scenes from each other, and actually, after watching both of them sequentially, I think it could have been possible to actually merge the two stories into a single movie given the overlap.
I had wanted to watch the movies on the day they opened, but it was raining heavily and I ended up catching the movies a day later. I watched them in this sequence.
The core story revolves around the male protagonist Koyomi. It is a story about choices, about parallel dimensions that branch off with every choice. There is a strong sci-fi element to this core story, with jumps to parallel dimensions and even going back in time. But what really struck me after watching both movies is that, there isn't really anything special about this story. I felt like I wasted four hours of my life. Was it touching? Not really. Was the sci-fi elements something new? Not really. How about the animation? Nothing groundbreaking. Music scoring? I have heard better.
I think the size of the audience at the cinema itself was a statement. Given that the novels were published in 2016, you should expect a fan base, right? This movie should have attracted fans of the novels, right? Well, I went to watch the movies today, a Saturday, a day after their launch in Japan. I could count the number of people at each screening. People were walking in and out during the movies. Guess this showed that there was nothing gluing people to their seats.
In fact, I think if they had simply merged the two novels into a single movie, it would make the movie more compact, the entire story more understandable, without making people sit through duplicate scenes when they watch the other counterpart movie. Yes, trying to stay true to the original work during adaptation is important, but I have also mentioned that, when doing adaptations, the important thing is to make use of the new medium, rather than trying to blindly reproduce. It takes time to read a novel, and having two separate novels, telling the same core story from two perspectives, with overlaps is fine, because there would be some time between the reading of the two novels. But when you turn them into movies, with people likely to watch them in the same day, not much time has passed from watching the first movie that you need a "refresher" during the second one.
And for people who have little exposure to sci-fi, especially the concepts of parallel dimensions and time travel, this set of movies is going to be really really difficult to understand...
Bottom line? Watch them if you really need to find a way to kill four hours of your life. But then again, those four hours could be better spent, like watching Violet Evergarden again.
Spoiler summary:
Summary of To Me, The One Who Loved You (ๅใๆใใใฒใจใใฎๅใธ): I want to marry my half-sister so we decided to travel to a parallel dimension in which our parents did not marry each other. Aka half-sibling incest in another dimension. Summary of To Every You I've Loved Before (ๅใๆใใใในใฆใฎๅใธ): I got my half-sister killed in that dimension travelling thingy, so I went back in time to start another timeline in which we never met so she would not die. Aka time travel so that I never meet the one I love in order to make sure I don't kill her.
(click on button above to see spoilers)
Oh, and the aspect ratio seems to be 16:9 instead of the wide format
usually used in cinematic films. I guess the producers were probably
targeting a Blu-ray release in the first place and not really expecting
to draw a crowd to the theatres.
I have been the proud owner of a Canon EOS 550D (also known as Rebel T2i and Kiss X4) since 2010. It came with a 18-135mm kit lens, but I recently managed to get a used Tamron 18-400mm lens. This allows me to take some much nicer photos of the moon.
The photo above was taken on 28 September 2022 at f/16, 1/30s, ISO 1600 at a focal length of 400mm. For white balance, I think I set it as 4000K.
This photo below was taken on 4 October 2022 at f/6.3, 1/1250s, ISO 3200 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K.
The photo below of Saturn was taken on 4 October 2022 at f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 3200 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K. You can vaguely see the rings.
The photo below of Jupiter was also taken on 4 October 2022 at f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 3200 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K. It just looks like a blob, though.
The biggest challenge is focusing the camera. At maximum zoom, any small vibrations can cause the image to blur, and autofocus doesn't really work very well. I found the trick to be a combination of using the LCD screen liveview to use with manual focus. And instead of single shot, it is best to use the 2s timer. Oh, you will need a tripod for sure.
After more or less placing the subject (moon or planet) to be photographed in the center of the viewfinder, switch to liveview. The moon should show up quite clearly, but for planets, use the cursor to place the white box around where the planet is. Then, zoom the liveview screen twice (for 10x zoom) to get a better view for focusing. Switch to manual focus. Before focusing, though, half depress the shutter button so that stabilization is activated. This makes it easier to focus.
Once the image has been stabilized, use the manual focus ring to focus the image (I use the craters on the moon for this; for planets, it is just trying to get as sharp a blob as possible). Once focused, depress the shutter button fully to capture the image.
This was the method I used to shoot the images today (4 October 2022). They turned out quite well, and I will try out this technique again when there is another full moon. There was a bit of noise due to the high ISO, so I guess I will try with ISO 800 or 1600 next time.
BTW, the Canon EOS 550D does not have time zone support, so it is best to set the time to GMT. Otherwise, you are going to get some really weird dates when copying the files to a PC.
Update 8 Oct 2022: Took a photo of Jupiter at f/6.3, 1/160s, ISO 6400 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K and managed to capture its moons.
Update 10 Oct 2022: Another photo of Jupiter and moons, taken at f/6.3, 1/30s, ISO 6400, white balance 5200K, focal length 400mm.
And Saturn with its ring, taken at f/6.3, 1/320s, ISO 3200, white balance 5200K, focal length 400mm.
And the full moon, at f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 800, white balance 5200K, focal length 400mm.
Please leave a comment if you are interested in commissioning a piece of calligraphy or want to purchase any of the calligraphy works I have posted on this blog.
