#hirose yūsuke

[feanarwen]

2025 Japanese production of Wild Grey

Robert Ross: 福士誠治 Fukushi Seiji, 平間壮一 Hirama Sōichi

Oscar Wilde: 立石俊樹 Tateishi Toshiki, 廣瀬友祐 Hirose Yūsuke

Alfred Douglas: 後藤 大 Gotō Dai, 福山康平 Fukuyama Kōhei

[phantom-retrospective]

Since y’all seemed to like the post I made with the Black cast a couple weeks ago, here is the Red cast version of the same scene. Red Cast: Yu Shirota (Erik/The Phantom), Haruka Kinoshita (Christine Daaé), Yūsuke Hirose (Count Philippe de Chandon)

You can find both of the full performances on my Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/HHcdEQT

[mandilo]

Looking at the sumabo movies

I spend an evening discovering the wealth of content that can be found on the sumabo app and site. 

I now understand where the faces DVD come from and have been conquered by the sumabo movies :

The “movies” are an episodic mini series always from the point of view of a voiceless female that has to interact for various reasons with 3 gorgeous boys and has to choose wich one to favor. 

In the app there is a 3/5min free introduction to the episode and then the user chooses which boy’s “route” to purchase and watch (for me it’s around 3€/video).  The videos are quite short(around 5 minutes) if i trust the niconico channel but i love the basic principle. 

The casts are generally very interesting : 

Sumabo movie 7  Kuroba Mario ,  Kōsuke Kuwano,  Yūsuke Yata and  side characters Kenta Kamakari and Takashi Nagayama

Sumabo movie 6 Daisuke Hirose, Motohiro Ota, Tomoki Hiroki with Kitamura Ryo,Mitsuru Murata and Matsuda Ryo

Sumabo movie 4 Baba Ryoma, Hamao Kyosuke, Genki Okawa and Akazawa Tomoru 

Sumabo movie 3  Kentarou Kanesaki,  Yukihiro Takiguchi,  Takuya Ide and Takasaki Shota

I’ll make a separate post for each movie because the post would be far too long and i would never finish it (i didn’t mention the 5th movie since i didn’t recognize any face)

the link for android the app is here since the one on the site and youtube is broken 

The site has a niconico chanel for those who cannot use the phone. 

[hetaliaarchives]

Hetalia ~The world is wonderful~ musical cast photos revealed, performance info announced

At the beginning of September, the official website and the official Twitter account for the Hetalia musicals announced more information about the upcoming production, and released promo images of the previously announced cast in costume.

The fifth musical, titled Hetalia ~The world is wonderful~, is slated run from December 16 - 19, 2021 at the WW Hall of Cool Japan Park Osaka in Osaka and from December 23 - 31, 2021 at Shinagawa Prince Hotel Stellar Ball in Tokyo. The majority of the cast from the previous musicals will be reprising their roles, with Yuta Higuchi joining the cast as Romano.

(Higher resolution promotional images below the cut.)

Ryōki Nagae as Italy

Keisuke Ueda as Japan

Ryūko Isogai as America

Daisuke Hirose as England

Juri Aikawa as France

Yūki Yamaoki as Russia

Taishi Sugie as China

Takuya Kikuchi (credited under the stage name “ROU”) as Austria

Takeshi James Yamada as Spain

Gaku Takamoto as Prussia

Yuta Higuchi as Romano

(Reports indicate that Yūsuke Ueda is also slated to reprise the role of Germany in some capacity, but there has been no official clarification as of the time of this post at the end of September 2021.)

[nessie665]

‘’ Hold me and kiss me, as you would kiss Paris’’

Manaki Reika 

Kinoshita Haruka (ft. Hirose Yūsuke)

[187skytree]

Am I finally using this Egu/Yuya/Seiyuu page as I should? Instead of just reblog(especially when they are not even seiyuu stuff... don’t expect too much but I’ll finally start now :) I’ll even post some reports of events and their highlights later

Events :

Title:

Cast :

09/30 ヘロq company play

Eguchi Takuya, Hirakawa Daisuke

11／09 TO THE STARTING OVER live

Kakihara Tetsuya

11／19 West Side Story

Miyano Mamoru

11／29 Osomatsu Stage

(not seiyuu but some do voice act

Kitamura Ryō, Ueda Keisuke, Ozawa Ren, Asato Yūya, etc

12／08 SolidS solo live

Eguchi Takuya, Saito Soma, Hanae Natsuki, Umehara Yūichirō

12／15 A&G radio Men’s Christmas Event

Ishikawa Kaito, Kimura Ryōhei, Shirai Yūsuke, Komada Wataru, Amasaki Kōhei, Chiba Shōya, Uemura Yūto

12／22 Grimms Notes the Animation event

Eguchi Takuya, Majima Junji, Mizushima Takahiro, Uesaka Sumire, Kubota Miyu

01／03 Hyorotto Danshi Live Recording Event

Nishiyama Koutarou, Umehara Yūichirō, Eguchi Takuya, Enoki Junya, Chiba Shōya, Nakamura Shūgo, Murata Taishi

01／19 KINDAN SIRI PARTY 4U (working in progress)

Eguchi Takuya, Nishiyama Koutarou, Shirai Yūsuke, Hirose Daisuke

Pictures (Personally taken and official ones)

Pamphlet scans

[animefagos]

Anunciadas cuatro voces más para Hi Score Girl Extra Stage

New Post has been published on https://www.animefagos.com/2019/02/21/anunciadas-cuatro-voces-mas-para-hi-score-girl-extra-stage/

Anunciadas cuatro voces más para Hi Score Girl Extra Stage

El staff de Hi Score Girl Extra Stage, los episodios números 13, 14 y 15 de la adaptación animada del manga Hi Score Girl, de Rensuke Oshikiri, ha anunciado la incorporación de cuatro voces más:

Kenichi Suzumura como Sagat Takadanobaba

Takuma Terashima como Aulbath Ōimachi

Junichi Suwabe como Blanka Kuhombutsu

Y Kensho Ono como Sasquatch.

Anteriormente se anunció la incorporación de

Shiori Izawa como Nikotama

Kenta Miyake como Zangief.

La edición en Blu-ray y DVD de los tres nuevos episodios se pondrá a la venta el 20 de marzo, y tendrá un precio de 9.800 yenes (unos 76 euros). Los nuevos episodios también se podrán ver en marzo vía Netflix.

El anime se estrenó el 14 de julio.

Las voces fueron:

Kōhei Amasaki como Haruo Yaguchi.

Sayumi Suzushiro como Akira Ōno.

Yūki Hirose como Koharu Hidaka.

Kazuyuki Okitsu como Kōtarō Miyao.

Daiki Yamashita como Genta Doi.

Daria Midō como Chihiro Onizuka.

Satomi Arai como Namie Yaguchi.

Shizuka Itou como Moemi Gōda.

Chō como Jiiya.

Chinatsu Akasaki como Makoto Ōno.

Tomokazu Sugita como como profesor del colegio.

Kana Ueda como Tōno-sensei.

Taketora como el padre de Koharu.

Houchu Ohtsuka en la narración.

Yūichi Nakamura como Numata-sensei.

Hiroki Yasumoto como Guile-san.

Yoshiki Yamakawa (Hells, Kill Me Baby, Little Busters!) se encargó de la dirección bajo el estudio J.C. Staff. Tatsuhiko Urahata (Hajime no Ippo, Saki, Tsuredure Children) estuvo a cargo de la composición del anime. Michiru Kuwabata (Penguin no Mondai, Danchi Tomoo) se encargó del diseño de personajes. Yūsuke Suzuki se encargó de la dirección CG. Yoko Shimomura (Street Fighter II, Final Fight, Final Fantasy XV, Hirune Hime: Shiranai Watashi no Monogatari) compuso la música. Yuji Matsukura se encargó de la supervisión de animación. Tomoyasu Sakakibara (Monster Strike The Movie, Kuroshitsuji: Book of the Atlantic) está acreditado como director CGI, y Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment se encargó del CGI.

La cantante Etsuko Yakushimaru contribuyó con su tema Hōkago Distraction como ending del anime. El sencillo salió a la venta el 22 de agosto, y el mismo Oshikiri se encargó de ilustrar la cubierta.

El resto del staff es el siguiente:

Dirección de modelaje de personajes: Eri Sekido (SMDE).

Dirección artística: Akira Suzuki.

Color: Miho Kimura.

Dirección de fotografía: Shingo Fukuyo.

Edición: Kentarou Tsubone (REAL-T).

Dirección de sonido: Jin Aketagawa.

Producción de sonido: Magic Capsule.

Yaguchi Haruo, es un muchacho de sexto en el año 1991 y que vive para los videojuegos. No es popular en la escuela, no es guapo, no es divertido y ni siquiera es simpático. Lo único que se le dan bien, son los videojuegos. Un día, en un salón recreativo, se encuentra a Oono Akira, compañera de clase y que es guapa, inteligente, lista y popular. Ambos jugarán a Street Fighter II, solo para que Haruo pierda 30 partidas seguidas contra la chica, la cual resulta ser invencible en cualquier juego. Akira comenzará a seguir a Haruo en todas sus visitas a los recreativos para pegarle palizas en todo juego existente, algo que al muchacho molestará bastante en un inicio… pero que acabará haciendo que forjen una extraña amistad.

La revista Big Gangan anunció el anime en diciembre de 2013, que ha estado en pausa desde entonces por los problemas legales del mismo con SNK Playmore.

Oshikiri estuvo publicando su manga Hi Score Girl en la revista Big Gangan (Square Enix) desde 2010, pero en 2014 el manga entró en pausa debido a una controversia legal entre SNK Playmore y Square Enix debido al uso sin permiso de varios personajes de videojuegos propiedad de SNK Playmore. Posteriormente los derechos de los propietarios de los personajes se fue aclarando y por ejemplo Bandai Namco y Capcom confirmaron que habían dado su permiso, sin embargo Sega comentaba que a pesar que habían aparecido algunos de sus personajes, sólo había dado permiso para uno de ellos.

Square Enix y SNK Playmore sellaron un acuerdo en agosto de 2015, por el que SNK Playmore retiraba la denuncia contra Square Enix, permitiendo que se pudiera seguir haciendo y vendiendo el manga Hi Score Girl.

En 2016 los cinco primeros volúmenes se reeditaron bajo el Hi Score Girl CONTINUE.

El noveno tomo recopilatorio del manga reveló que la obra finalizará con el décimo tomo recopilatorio. El último capítulo del manga se publicó el 25 de septiembre.

Fuente: ANN.

[recentanimenews]

The Circus Is in Town in Phantom Queen Anime Film Key Visual

  Something wicked this way comes, because a new key visual, new cast members, and the Japanese release date have all been revealed for Kaitou Queen wa Circus ga Osuki ("The Phantom Thief Queen Loves the Circus", also known as Mirage QUEEN aime cirque), an upcoming theatrical anime film based on the adventure novel series written by Kaoru Hayamine and illustrated by K2 Shoukai about a mysterious phantom thief who goes head-to-head with a sinister circus in order to steal a legendary gemstone.

  The new cast members for Kaitou Queen wa Circus ga Osuki include:

  Toshiyuki Morikawa as White Face.

Makoto Furukawa as Shaman Saitou.

Yuri Noguchi as Silver Cat Hitomi.

Hinata Tadokoro as Jean-Paul.

Yūsuke Shirai as Styley Inoue.

Natsu Yorita as Beast.

Hironori Kondo as Prism Prism.

Hiromichi Tezuka as Joe Sesame.

Shin'ya Takahashi as Rocketman.

Yūya Hirose as Koutarou Seienji.

Ayaka Shimizu as Mari Ito.

Jin Urayama as Inspector Jouetsu.

And Kento Itō as Shintarou Iwashimizu.

    The story of Kaitou Queen wa Circus Osuki follows a mysterious phantom thief of unknown age, gender, and nationality who travels the world on the airship "Troubadour" along with their partners, Joker and RD, and steals anything that strikes their fancy. This time, the Mirage Queen targets the "Linden's Rose", a legendary gemstone, only to discover that it has already been stolen by a mysterious circus troupe known as the Seven Ring Circus. Nothing is impossible for the Phantom Queen, so they challenge the brilliant circus performers (including illusionists, acrobats, and hypnotists) in order to retrieve the gem.

    Kaitou Queen wa Circus Osuki is directed by Saori Den and features animation production by East Fish Studio. The film is scheduled to hit theaters in Japan on June 17, 2022.

  Sources:

Ota-suke

Comic Natalie

  Copyright notice: © Kaoru Hayamine・K2 Shoukai・Kodansha / "Mirage Queen" Production Committee

    ---

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

By: Paul Chapman

[otakunews01]

Rurouni Kenshin Gets New Stage Play in October

A new stage play adaptation of Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin manga has been green-lit. The play will make its debut run at the Shinbashi Enbujō theater in Tokyo from October 11 to November 7, followed by a run at the Shōchikuza theater in Osaka from November 15 to 24. Shūichirō Koike is directing and scripting the play, and Takeshi Ōta is in charge of the music.

The cast includes (with historical names written with family names first):

Seina Sagiri as Himura Kenshin

Moka Kamishiraishi as Kamiya Kaoru

Mitsuru Matsuoka as Kanō Sōzaburō

Yūsuke Hirose as Saitō Hajime

Ryosuke Miura as Shinomori Aoshi

Ryuji Kamiyama as Takeda Kanryū

[newsintheshell]

“Hi Score Girl”

Serie TV anime, 14 luglio 2018

Episodi: 12

Adattamento animato del manga “Hi Score Girl” di Rensuke Oshikiri.

Altri video:  [PV2]   [PV3]

Annunciata nel 2013, la produzione della serie si è bloccata a seguito di denuncia penale datata il 26 maggio 2014, da parte della società di videogiochi SNK Playmore, relativa alla violazione di copyright sui suoi titoli. La denuncia è stata ritirata nel mese di agosto del 2015 dopo che fu raggiunto accordo da entrambe le parti.  

-STAFF-

Regia: Yoshiki Yamakawa 

Studio di animazione: J.C. Staff

Sceneggiatura: Tatsuhiko Urahata

Character design: Michiru Kuwabata 

Direttore della cimputer grafica: Yūsuke Suzuki 

Musiche: Yoko Shimomura 

Supervisione animazioni: Yuji Matsukura 

Produzione CGI: Tomoyasu Sakakibara (Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment)

Sigla di apertura: sora tob sakana “New Stranger”

-CAST-

Haruo Yaguchi: Kouhei Amasaki 

Akira Oono: Sayumi Suzushiro 

Koharu Hidaka: Yuuki Hirose 

Kōtarō Miyao: Kazuyuki Okitsu

Genta Doi: Daiki Yamashita 

Chihiro Onizuka: Daria Midō  

Namie Yaguchi: Satomi Arai

Moemi Gōda: Shizuka Itou  

Jiiya: Chō  

Makoto Ōno: Chinatsu Akasaki 

Insegnante responsabile: Tomokazu Sugita 

Tōno-sensei: Kana Ueda  

Padre di Koharu: Taketora  

Voce narrante: Houchu Ohtsuka 

Questa è una commedia romantica è ambientata negli anni ‘90, l’epoca d’oro dei picchiaduro 2D. Haruo è un ragazzino che passa interi pomeriggi alla sala giochi. Un giorno, sorprendentemente incontra la sua compagna di classe Akira, che oltre ad essere una studente modello e di buona famiglia è anche un mostro a Street Fighter II! Per quanto si impegni, Haruo non riesce proprio a batterla. Da questo incontro fortuito, fra i due si instaurerà un inatteso legame.

Oshikiri ha lanciato il manga sulle pagine di Monthly Big Gangan nel 2010. La serializzazione dell’opera è andata in pausa a causa della denuncia da parte di SNK, riprendendo nel 2016. Square Enix, a seguito dell’accaduto, ha volontariamente ritirato i primi cinque volumi pubblicati, facendone uscire una nuova versione con il titolo “High Score Girl Continue”. L’ottavo volume è disponibile in Giappone dal 17 marzo 2018.

Sito ufficiale Twitter ufficiale

SilenziO)))

[save-the-data]

Musical Hetalia: The GREAT WORLD (2016) - (1) (2) (1/? Japanese Stage seen)

Italy: Ryōki Nagae

Germany: Yūsuke Ueda

Japan: Keisuke Ueda

America: Ryūko Isogai

England/UK: Daisuke Hirose

France: Juri Aikawa

Russia: Yūki Yamaoki

China: Taishi Sugie

Spain: Takeshi James Yamada

[dear-indies]

hey! can you lovely people think of any actors who are japanese and have that 'could kick your ass and you'd thank them' look? thanks in advance!

Rinko Kikuchi (36) Japanese. 

Chiaki Kuriyama (32) Japanese. 

Tao Okamoto (31) Japanese - Hannibal, The Wolverine, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice! 

Yū Hirukawa (30) Japanese - Omukae Death!

Shizuka Nakamura (28) Japanese - Yamaneko!

Sonoya Mizuno (28) Japanese / English, Argentinian - Ex Machina! 

Nanao (28) Japanese - Siren!

Rila Fukushima (28) Japanese - Arrow, Wolverine!

Meisa Kuroki (28) Japanese, Panamanian / Japanese.

Hayley Kiyoko (25) Japanese / White. 

Rina Kawaei (21) Japanese - Death Note! 

Ayami Nakajô (20) Japanese. 

Suzu Hirose (18) Japanese. 

and:

Ken Watanabe (57) Japanese -  Inception! 

Hiroyuki Sanada (56) Japanese - Extant!

Teruyuki Kagawa (51) Japanese. 

Tadanobu Asano (43) Japanese. 

Yūsuke Iseya (40) Japanese - Jiro Shirasu! 

Tomoya Nagase (38) Japanese. 

Shun Oguri (34) Japanese

Shota Matsuda (31) Japanese. 

Yuya Yagira (26) Japanese - Destruction Babies!

Masaki Suda (23) Japanese - Destruction Babies!

Booboo Stewart (23) of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Blackfoot descent.

Ryan Potter (21) Japanese / White. 

-C&adachisyuto! 

[anhlavodoi]

Movie Anime 'Fireworks' ra mắt PV mới tiết lộ ca khúc chủ đề.

New Post has been published on https://love2d.net/2017/06/28/movie-anime-fireworks-ra-mat-pv-moi-tiet-lo-ca-khuc-chu-de/

Movie Anime 'Fireworks' ra mắt PV mới tiết lộ ca khúc chủ đề.

Trang thông tin Cinema Today hôm nay đã xác nhận rằng: Kenshi Yonezu nữ ca sĩ DAOKO sẽ cùng nhau thực hiện ca khúc chủ đề “Uchiage Hanabi” cho Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? (Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom?) – Movie Anime được chuyển thể từ Live-action Drama cùng tên của Shunji Iwai ra mắt năm 1993. Bộ phim đã đăng tải lên 1 đoạn teaser ngắn, giới thiệu ca khúc chủ đề của phim.

Ngoài ra, 1 hình ảnh chính mới cũng đã được đăng tải

Bộ phim sẽ được công chiếu vào ngày 18 tháng 8.

Dàn diễn viên bao gồm:

Suzu Hirose (The Boy and The Beast, live-action Chihayafuru) trong vai Nazuna

Masaki Suda (live-action Princess Jellyfish, Gintama) trong vai Norimichi

Mamoru Miyano (Steins;Gate, Chihayafuru, Yuri!!! on Ice) trong vai Yūsuke

Kana Hanazawa trong vai gia sư Miura-sensei

Shintarō Asanuma trong vai Junichi, một người bạn cùng lớp

Toshiyuki Toyonaga trong vai Kazuhiro, một người bạn cùng lớp

Yuuki Kaji trong vai Jin, một người bạn cùng lớp

Takako Matsu trong vai mẹ của Nazuna

Nobuyuki Takeuchi (đạo diễn chính của Spirited Away, Penguindrum, Bakemonogatari) đang chỉ đạo bộ phim tại studio SHAFT. Hitoshi Ōne (live-action Bakuman., Moteki) viết kịch bản cho bộ phim. Akiyuki Simbo (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Nisekoi) phục vụ như trưởng giám đốc của bộ phim. Akio Watanabe (Nisemonogatari, Bakemonogatari) thiết kế nhân vật và Satoru Kousaki (Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Wandering Son) soạn nhạc.

Kịch bản lần này của Ōne sẽ có thêm các yếu tố hiện đại bên cạnh câu chuyện gốc của Iwai. Bộ phim sẽ lấy bối cảnh kì nghỉ hè, trong 1 ngày, khi mà một nhóm các thanh niên cố gắng xem pháo hoa từ ngọn hải đăng của thành phố. Trong khi đó, Norimichi – 1 thanh niên trong nhóm, nhận được lời mời đi chơi riêng từ “crush” của anh – Nazuna. Chuyện gì sẽ xảy ra tiếp theo?

Bộ phim truyền hình 45 phút đầu tiên được trình chiếu tại Nhật Bản vào tháng 8 năm 1993 trong chương trình If: Moshimo, và Iwai đã giành giải thưởng Đạo diễn Mới của Hiệp hội Đạo diễn Nhật Bản năm đó. Bộ phim có sự tham gia của Megumi Okina và Yuta Yamazaki.

[ljaesch]

Cast Members Announced for the Fireworks Anime Film

Cast Members Announced for the Fireworks Anime Film

Cast members have been announced for the forthcoming anime adaptation of the Fireworks live-action drama: Suzu Hirose is Nazuna Masaki Suda is Norimichi Mamoru Miyano is Yūsuke Takako Matsu is Nazuna’s mother Kana Hanazawa is Miura-sensei Shintarō Asanuma is Junichi Toshiyuki Toyonaga is Kazuhiro Yuuki Kaji is Jin Hitoshi Ōne is writing the film’s script and Nobuyuki Takeuchi is directing the…

[hetaliaarchives]

The official website for the Hetalia musicals has released the key visual for the previously announced final musical, Hetalia FINAL LIVE ~A World in the Universe~.

The musical will run from March 17 - 18 at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba, and then on March 21 at Festival Hall in Osaka. Cast members Ryōki Nagae (Italy), Yūsuke Ueda (Germany), Keisuke Ueda (Japan), Ryūko Isogai (America), Daisuke Hirose (England/UK), Juri Aikawa (France), Yūki Yamaoki (Russia), and Taishi Sugie (China), Takuya Kikuchi (Austria), and Gaku Takamoto (Prussia) will reprise their roles from the previous musical, with Takeshi James Yamada (Spain) also reprising his role from the second musical.

As previously announced, a compilation CD collection containing songs from the first three Hetalia musicals as well as a fourth CD containing new tracks will be released on February 28, 2018.

[thekoreanlass]

Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? (打ち上げ花火、下から見るか? 横から見るか? Uchiage Hanabi, Shita Kara Miru ka? Yoko Kara Miru ka?) is a 2017 Japanese animated romantic drama film produced by Shaft and was released by Toho. It is based on the 1993 Japanese live-action television drama and film of the same name by Shunji Iwai. Fireworks was directed by Nobuyuki Takeuchi, produced by Genki Kawamura, with a screenplay written by Hitoshi Ohne featuring music by Satoru Kosaki. The film stars the voices of Suzu Hirose, Masaki Suda and Mamoru Miyano.

A few weeks ago, in December 2017, I was dragged to the cinema by my younger cousin to watch this film. Albeit reluctantly, I let myself sit in front of the silver screen with her to give it a chance. I used to love animes and anime films are just one of the few things I take pleasure of if given the opportunity to view it, but most likely not at the cinema. Perhaps I’ll either stream online for it or download a copy. I’m that lazy. I usually think, too, anime movies aren’t something you normally pay for to entertain yourself. Most likely, I’d rather pay for an English movie, considering we love Hollywood films.

What got me a little bit excited about Fireworks, though, was my cousin demanding that this was another movie produced by the same person as the one which produced the smash hit anime film of 2016, Your Name, Genki Kawamura.

Anyway, that aside, this is going to be my first time reviewing an anime movie on my personal blog. Check it below if you are interested to read through my opinion of the movie.

The Cast:

Suzu Hirose as Nazuna Oikawa Masaki Suda as Norimichi Shimada Mamoru Miyano as Yūsuke Azumi

The Plot:

The story takes place one day in summer. A group of young men are planning to watch fireworks from the town’s lighthouse, wondering if fireworks are round or flat when seen from the side. Somewhere else, the class idol Nazuna asks the boy who likes her, Norimichi, to elope with her. What fate awaits these two in a day that keeps repeating itself?

Review:

Norimichi has a secret crush on Nazuna the same way his buddy Yusuke does. They both deny this, but secretly knows its true deep down. When Nazuna initiates a bet at the pool–where she declares the winner can ask the loser to do whatever–and the three of them dives in, Norimichi unfortunately injures his ankle, causing for him to come third place in the race.

Randomly, Nazuna decides the person who wins second place will have to take the role of being her date during the festival that night and the crown goes to Yusuke who is utterly flustered by her bold request.

Later, though, Yusuke ends up ditching Nazuna and Norimichi becomes the bad news bearer to the poor girl who actually planned to elope with Yusuke (since he is second place during the race). Feeling bad for Nazuna, Norimichi follows behind her and finds out about Nazuna’s plan to escape town. Unfortunately, her plan eventually backfires once her mother finds her and Norimichi finds himself useless the moment Nazuna is dragged away by her mother.

Consequently, when his group of friends finds him in the middle of the street with all of Nazuna’s belongings scattered on the ground, Norimichi throws a punch at Yusuke out of blame, saying Nazuna couldn’t have been taken away if Yusuke just came with Nazuna as planned.

Out of anger, he throws the crystal ball that Nazuna left behind towards the poster with the picture of the fireworks for the festival–causing for him to be magically thrown back to the time of the race at the pool. And just as he realizes what happened–that he traveled back in time and is given another chance to change their fate–Norimichi is determined to win the race, which he eventually does. However, things just doesn’t always go as planned and so he tweaks every wrong turn until they are right.

Eventually, every scene shows him a different view of the Fireworks. Sometimes they are flat, sometimes round. But then, he remembers what he is told about the fireworks. That you can’t find the fireworks any other way but round; not, if it isn’t in this world. As realization sinks in, he realizes how every time he travels back to right things, they are thrown into a different parallel world, which at first he didn’t take quite well. But then, Norimichi realizes that these world give him more time to be together with Nazuna and accepts that it is fine wherever they are as long as they are together.

The animated film, Fireworks, received a lot of exceeding expectations after it rapidly made noise for being a remake of the 1993 Japanese live-action television drama and film of the same name by Shunji Iwai and being produced by Genki Kawamura who was behind the hit animated film of 2016, Your Name. But received mixed to positive response for its middling potential in terms of the whole production, plot, character development, CG and other aspects.

In comparison to Your Name–they have also attempted to incorporate in the story a time-travel element while the innocent love story of two students blossom in the middle of finding out whether fireworks are round or flat when viewed from the side or below and a deeper dilemma the heroine, Nazuna, is facing as her mother plans to remarry for the third time and move away from the small town she grew up in–Fireworks has its own share of flaws than things to celebrate about. I dare say it unfortunately didn’t live up to the depth and beauty of Your Name at all.

Because, while the time-travel element was greatly explored in Your Name, it is vaguely explained in this film how the flow of time and parallel worlds came to exist. It didn’t show much how the time-travelling came to be–no theories or history at all–or how it relates to the fireworks (for it doesn’t at all). The movie only showed what the crystal ball can do and the infinite possibilities that accompanies it. It is great that they used this element to move the plot to a direction, but it prevented the plot from growing.

For all I know, the story could have been great with just the fireworks and romance of the two teens or the time-travelling and the romance without the fireworks.

I truly wish that they just stuck to one or two elements so the story could have gained more depth in it. For 90 minutes screen time didn’t give enough justice to the content of the film. It didn’t also give much significant character development to all of them, not even to Nazuna or Norimichi. The love story, much to my chagrin, is underdeveloped and stays stuck being a puppy crush.

The plot is very simple, but could have been better written. It’s so simple I don’t think I am satisfied with how the story panned and only revolved with the shape of fireworks, their elopement, and time-travelling. The potential is there but is not greatly explored, same goes for the means that aren’t really used more creatively to give an even more astounding masterpiece.

Plus, as many are pointing out, I think the 2D and 3D effects fused in one slate didn’t go so well together. Instead of appreciating the beauty of the CG and effects, it only made me sort of dizzy.

On a good note, I think that Norimichi’s character is kind of cool. He’s shy but is loyal. This is shown, albeit in small amounts, when he learned Yusuke secretly likes Nazuna and he kept mum of his own feelings. More so, the fact that he feels like he didn’t want Yusuke to hate him because he followed Nazuna, was another example. This loyalty extends to how much he can do for Nazuna despite how young he is. He does everything for her as long as she is happy. I think that’s the kind of character you’ll find lovable.

The love story isn’t that solid, but I guess this has something to do with the plot leaning more on the coming-of-age element, explaining more (albeit little of) of the struggles that teens their age experience and how they normally react to these situations. How could it have felt like to get away from the place you came to consider your home. Or How ones curiosity could fuel many other decisions.

Nonetheless, the film is fascinatingly told in a colorful modern classic way.

Rating this film, I’ll give it a safe 2.8 out of 5.

Credit: (1)

  Review: Fireworks, should we see it from the side or the bottom? Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? (打ち上げ花火、下から見るか? 横から見るか? Uchiage Hanabi, Shita Kara Miru ka?