Watching 映画『からかい上手の高木さん』 (live-action adaptation of Teasing Master Takagi-san) on opening day

The live-action adaptation of Teasing Master Takagi-san, Teasing Master Takagi-san Movie (映画『からかい上手の高木さん』), opens in Japan today, with a stage event featuring the cast that was live-streamed to cinemas across Japan. A typhoon was passing by this area today, so I was a bit uncertain if I could actually get to the cinema, but the typhoon passed earlier than expected and I didn't have to brave the wind and rain to catch the movie.

The stage event took place after the screening of the movie, and featured Nagano Mei who played Takagi-san, and Takahashi Fumiya who played Nishikata, as well as Eguchi Yosuke as Tanabe-sensei, and Shiratori Tamaki who played Ozeki Miki and Saito Jun who played Machida Ryo (these two are new characters for the movie). Director Imaizumi Rikiya also joined them on the stage.

You can find a video of the stage event on YouTube too.

I had been a bit apprehensive about this movie, after the disaster that was the live-action adaptation of Whisper of the Heart (my review here, plus additional thoughts here) which also had a "10 years later" story. I can proudly say that those fears were unfounded. Somehow, director Imaizumi managed to come up with a story that maintains the relationship between Takagi-san and Nishikata, while allowing them to each grow up mentally (and not just physically) in a story set 10 years after their days in junior high school.

This is no small feat. Nishikata has grown up to become a PE teacher at his alma mater, but he still retains his awkward personality, which makes it believable that he still behaves in a similar way around Takagi-san. Takagi-san, already more mature in the first place, continues to use that maturity to tease Nishikata, but also hoping to take their relationship to the next step now that they have both grown up. The relationship between the two of them is familiar to fans of the series, but they both showed aspects have having grown over the past 10 years, and the story even had episodes that showed that they have clearly grown.

It is a 119-minute movie, and the story itself can be a bit slow. However, I think this slow pace was to slowly build up the story, because in the end, I found myself shedding tears as the emotions struck me toward the end of the movie. I mean, I wasn't expecting to cry in this movie, but I was actually moved to tears. I would really recommend this live-action adaptation to fans of the series, after they have watched the live-action TV drama series, as a conclusion to the live-action route. The movie even ended with a scene referencing the spin-off series Teasing Master (Former) Takagi-san.

Hits and misses: calligraphy brush

Calligraphy supplies are not exactly cheap, especially larger brushes and good paper. So I try to source for supplies on auction sites and flea markets. Such purchases are mostly hits and misses. While paper is paper and you can still write on them, brushes can be difficult to judge when deciding if you want to try to buy something or now.

For example, a while ago, I managed to get this brush on Yahoo! Auctions. It didn't look like it was in the best condition, but it still looked usable. Goat hair calligraphy brushes of this size can be really expensive, and this looked like a good offer.

 

But then I washed it, and it looked like this. Basically, a lot of the hair had broken, to the extent that trying to use this brush as a normal one would be impossible. It can now function as a thin brush with extra long hair, though...😅

Compared to how a healthy brush looks, like the one below (which I wrote about here), the difference is quite obvious.

Since then, I have become a bit more picky about what I pick up on auction sites and flea markets. I am just glad that I picked up the "extra long hair calligraphy brush" with a bunch of other, usable brushes so it wasn't actually a loss.

A bit of apprehension

A live-action adaptation movie of からかい上手の高木さん (Teasing Master Takagi-san) will premier this Friday. This movie is a continuation of the recent live-action adaption drama series (8 episodes on TBS), but it will be set 10 years after the end of the drama series, with Nishikata now a PE teacher at his alma mater, reuniting with Takagi-san when she arrives at the school as a trainee teacher.

My experiences with such "10 years later" sequels have been mixed. On the one hand, we have the Laid-Back Camp movie that managed to creative an original sequel set X years later after the girls' time in high school. At the same time, we have the disaster of the live-action adaptation of Whisper of the Heart (my review here, plus additional thoughts here), where the movie had adults who behaved like teenagers.

While I am very excited to catch this new movie, I cannot help but feel apprehension that this will turn out like Whisper of the Heart, with the characters, who are working adults now, behaving like teenagers. I mean, Takagi-san's teasing of Nishikata would work when they were in junior high school, but if 24-year-old Nishikata acts like 14-year-old Nishikata, we would all think he has some mental development issue. Especially after watching the trailer... I really really hope the trailer used those scenes to capture existing fans of the series, but the characters in this sequel movie have actually grown up mentally and not just physically. I mean, it would be nice to see how Nishikata got together with Takagi-san in the end, since this was not covered in the manga, but it would be just lazy writing if they decided to make the 24-year-old Nishikata and Takagi-san, who are teachers now, act like there were still students in junior high school.

Keeping my fingers crossed... 🤞

My thoughts after watching the Teasing Master Takagi-san anime movie

Watching Trapezium (トラペジウム)

Trapezium (トラペジウム) is a novel written by former idol Takayama Kazumi, and it was recently adapted into an anime movie. I had been somewhat interested in this movie after watching the trailer, but it was quite low on my list. Still, after hearing someone mention that it is worth a watch, I managed to squeeze out a bit of time in between work to go catch it today.

 

When the movie started, I was greeted with the familiar names of Kakihara Yuko and Yokoyama Masaru. It signaled that the script and music would be good.

 

A brief synopsis: The protagonist, Azuma Yu, wants to be an idol. She has this idea of gathering members from the four points of the compass (north, east, south, west) to form an idol group. So she goes off to high schools in her town, visiting one in the south and west and befriended one girl at each school. She also reunited with a childhood friend, who was studying at a high school in the north. With herself being from the eastern side of town, she now has a team of four girls from all four directions, and she works to turn this group into an idol group.

Those who watch this movie expecting to see an idol anime would likely be surprised. While the story is about a group of girls who formed an idol group, the story is really about their different views. It was more human drama than idol anime. It was also very real, since the author was a member of the idol group Nogizaka 46. Similar to Oshi no Ko, it reveals a side of the idol industry in Japan. Like when it was made very clear to the protagonist that, the group with members drawn from and based on the four directions only really had value as a group.

 

The characters' names were also based on the four directions. The protagonist Azuma's name is 東 in kanji, which is the same character as east. Katori Ranko, who comes from the south, is given the nickname Minami, which is south in Japanese. At the same time, another hint was in her name, Katori, written as 華鳥. In China (and Japan), the phoenix, or 朱雀 or 朱鳥, is the animal symbolising the south. Katori has the character 鳥 in her name, linking her to the south. Meanwhile, the girl from the west is Taiga Kurumi. Her surname Taiga is written as 大河, which means big river, but is also pronounced in the same way as tiger. And guess what, the animal symbolising the west is the white tiger. Finally, Kamei Mika is the girl from the north. Her surname is 亀井 in kanji, with the character of 亀 or tortoise in it. Once against, the black tortoise (玄武) is the animal associated with the north. If you look at it this way, all of them have names associated with the four directions, but only Azuma's name was a direct reference. I was wondering why she didn't have an animal symbol for her name, but I guess the dragon 龍 (or 竜) would probably not have made for a cute girl's name. Also, a direct reference hinted that she is the true idol, the real "east" while the rest were just associated with their respective directions.

The story itself could be a bit too... devious? scheming? for people. The girls thought it was fate that brought them together, but the truth was that it was all Azuma's scheming. She planned for it from the start, venturing to schools in other parts of town to intentionally scout for potential teammates. They went volunteering, but it was not out of goodwill; rather, it was Azuma's plan to create some positive elements in the group's backstory. They thought it was a lucky break that they got to appear on TV, but it was again Azuma's plan to expose the group to media attention by volunteering at a place that was gaining popularity with tourists. In a way, she wanted to fulfill her dream of becoming an idol, and she dragged her friends into it. Kind of selfish, but to someone who thinks that being an idol is the dream occupation, she didn't see her actions as selfish but more like "I am helping all of you to become idols, the best job in the world! What is there is complain?"

 

Still, the story managed to wrap up on a positive note. And I think that is what made this movie enjoyable. It was not just an outright criticism of the idol industry. It was not just about a scheming, selfish girl. It was a human drama about people with different dreams, different views, about struggling to find your own place in a group, about dealing with other people. It could easily have become very negative, but it did not. That balance kept it real without making it too real. I mean, no one wants to see real life in movies; we see that every day in our own lives already. "Real but not too real" made it a relatable story that could be enjoyed as entertainment.

I hope more people will actually go watch this movie. I was greeted with this view when I went to the cinema today. 13th day of screening after the movie premiered on 10 May 2024.

Eventually, a few others trickled in and there was a total of 4 persons, including me, watching this screening of the movie. It is quite sad that this movie isn't getting as much attention as it deserves.

Movie's official website

Summer is here

The days are getting longer and hotter, so I thought I would write the character for summer 夏 while practising calligraphy. Here's the two versions I came up with.

Violet Evergarden orchestra concert in Beijing, China on 8 June 2024

The first Violet Evergarden orchestra concert outside Japan was just announced today.

6月8日(土)に北京中山公園音楽堂にて『#ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン』シリーズ初の海外オーケストラコンサートが開催💐#TRUEさん と #茅原実里 さんも登壇予定です！

「ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン」の音楽を海を渡って皆様にお届けします。https://t.co/leu8YttjlS#VioletEvergarden pic.twitter.com/0Kf43LdHt0

— 「ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン」公式 (@Violet_Letter) May 16, 2024

It will be held this year on June 8, 2024 in Beijing Zhongshan Park Music Hall (yes, in China).
TRUE and Chihara Minori will be singing and music will be performed by Dijiu Orchestra (帝玖管弦乐团) (I think you can find videos of them performing VE music on YouTube). Pieces will mainly be the ones from the 2021 orchestra, but there will be a new duet piece by TRUE and Chihara Minori for this.

紫罗兰永恒花园 交响音乐会 北京站
6月8日 北京中山公园音乐堂 (Beijing Zhongshan Park Music Hall is the Forbidden City Concert Hall)

(image source: Violet Evergarden official website)

Link to ticketing platform on Bilibili

There will be 26 pieces, and the concert will last around 130 minutes. On 9 June 2024, there will be a merch signing event with a talk session by the production staff (anime and orchestra concert).

I am so sad that I can't fly to Beijing for this. I hope the fans in China enjoy it. Meanwhile, check out my post on the 2021 orchestra for a recap.

Update: The concert was announced at noon JST today, and about seven hours later, when I checked back at the ticketing site, tickets have sold out.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

 

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf) 

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)
 

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

 

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.