I'm an American girl, but I grew up binge-watching and rewatching all of the Marmalade Boy anime episodes, reading the manga over and over again, and writing my own Miki and Yuu fanfiction. I've been such a devoted MB fan over the years, so I was thrilled to find out that Warner Bros. Japan was taking on a live action version. When I first saw the cast list and the trailer, I was so excited. The trailer looked promising with so much action and important parts from the anime/manga; however, the film did not deliver as hoped.
The actors who play the main two characters, Miki and Yuu, have wonderful chemistry on screen, but Hinako Sakurai (Miki) was my least favorite of the two. She lacks the true spirit of Miki Koishikawa and has the same reaction/face with pouty lips in most of the scenes. She does not exert the same energy as the Miki we know and love. I found myself actually not liking this version of Miki. Yes, she shares the amount of bluntness anime/manga Miki possesses, but she is also extremely harsh and kind of a b****. She makes Miki's character seem more annoying than lovable, and it's hard to sometimes root for her to end up with the private and mysterious Marmalade Boy Yuu.
The timeline of the movie is also a bit strange. I like that the movie stays true to most events and dialogue from the original series, but the first half is veryyyy slow. I like that the tennis match is kept in, but it could have been cut down quite a bit. Arimi is also included in the movie but merely for nostalgia purposes. She absolutely has no reason to be there, except to bring up Yuu's nature of not opening up to people, blahblahblah. He's already explained this to Miki after climbing through her bedroom window?? Miki listens to Arimi but does not quite interact with her, and there's no internal conflict like in the anime/manga which makes scenes with Arimi exciting and hilarious. The lack of internal conflict or really any emotion toward Arimi in the movie takes away from Arimi's adhesive personality and her quirky obsession with handsome people.
Yuu and Miki's relationship should also appear more in the movie!!! It takes so long to SEE that awesome chemistry the two actors have together as a couple, and then it disappears quickly- with Yuu finding the family photo album and peacing out after four quick scenes together (swings, beach kiss, leaves, bracelet, byeeee). There are so many things I'd like to add, but I'll refrain from trashing this movie even more, because I didn't hate it.
Overall, I like it because it's Marmalade Boy. The chemistry is what stayed with me, most of the actors were great, there were just things that didn't balance together to make this movie what it should have been. I wish this movie could have a re-do, because it's not exactly the homage MB deserves. Instead of giving us marmalade, the movie falls short and gives us nothing but bland, boring generic ketchup packets.
The actors who play the main two characters, Miki and Yuu, have wonderful chemistry on screen, but Hinako Sakurai (Miki) was my least favorite of the two. She lacks the true spirit of Miki Koishikawa and has the same reaction/face with pouty lips in most of the scenes. She does not exert the same energy as the Miki we know and love. I found myself actually not liking this version of Miki. Yes, she shares the amount of bluntness anime/manga Miki possesses, but she is also extremely harsh and kind of a b****. She makes Miki's character seem more annoying than lovable, and it's hard to sometimes root for her to end up with the private and mysterious Marmalade Boy Yuu.
The timeline of the movie is also a bit strange. I like that the movie stays true to most events and dialogue from the original series, but the first half is veryyyy slow. I like that the tennis match is kept in, but it could have been cut down quite a bit. Arimi is also included in the movie but merely for nostalgia purposes. She absolutely has no reason to be there, except to bring up Yuu's nature of not opening up to people, blahblahblah. He's already explained this to Miki after climbing through her bedroom window?? Miki listens to Arimi but does not quite interact with her, and there's no internal conflict like in the anime/manga which makes scenes with Arimi exciting and hilarious. The lack of internal conflict or really any emotion toward Arimi in the movie takes away from Arimi's adhesive personality and her quirky obsession with handsome people.
Yuu and Miki's relationship should also appear more in the movie!!! It takes so long to SEE that awesome chemistry the two actors have together as a couple, and then it disappears quickly- with Yuu finding the family photo album and peacing out after four quick scenes together (swings, beach kiss, leaves, bracelet, byeeee). There are so many things I'd like to add, but I'll refrain from trashing this movie even more, because I didn't hate it.
Overall, I like it because it's Marmalade Boy. The chemistry is what stayed with me, most of the actors were great, there were just things that didn't balance together to make this movie what it should have been. I wish this movie could have a re-do, because it's not exactly the homage MB deserves. Instead of giving us marmalade, the movie falls short and gives us nothing but bland, boring generic ketchup packets.
