Summer Time Machine Blues

Summer Time Machine Blues

(サマー タイム マシン ブルース)

The Story:
To the members of the Science Fiction club, summer means hanging around in the clubhouse with the air con blasting, but when a string of bizarre events result in the destruction of the air con remote, they're forced to face the full heat of summer. The next day, after a run-in with a strange kid, the group stumble upon a strange machine inside their clubhouse. A strange machine that looks oddly like a time machine. After fooling around with the device, one of the members finds himself back in the day before. Now, with a fully-functional time machine at their disposal, the SF has one goal in mind: to steal the air con remote from their past selves before it is broken.

 

 

The Reason:

I'd heard very good things about this movie long before I had the chance to see it. It's a must-see.

 

The Stars:

The SF club

5 idiotic friends with no interest in Science Fiction who use the club as an excuse to hang out kill time.

The Review:

The film starts with the members of the SF club playing a game of baseball while the girls from the Photography club take their pictures.

Strange things start happening around them, but it's too hot to care. The group would rather just fool about in the clubhouse instead. That is until the bizarre chain of events results in the air con remote getting destroyed.

Faced with a summer of no air conditioning, the SF club is left with no choice but to put up with the heat if they can't find some way to fix the air con.

Suddenly, a strange kid appears in their clubhouse riding a strange machine. The kid disappears before the group can find out what's happening, leaving only the machine behind. Upon closer look the machine appears to be a time machine, but since such a thing couldn't possibly be real the group starts fooling around with it

When an accidental activation results in one of the members getting sent back to the day before and appearing in the background of a photo, the group realise they have possession of a real time machine. Not knowing what to do with it, the SF club resolves to fix their air con problem by traveling back to the day before and stealing the remote before it is destroyed.

While several members of the club are off having wacky adventures in the past, the remaining members of the club find out that if the past is changed even the slightest could result a paradox. They have to go back and stop themselves from seeing themselves and causing the destruction of the entire space time continuum.

Overall:
This is one of the best done time travel films I have ever seen. Close attention to detail is paid throughout, and the result is a hilarious comedy about 5 idiots trying to avoid the destruction of the universe. Several of the scenes at the beginning of the film make no sense until the real cause is revealed later on. An excellent movie that is a must-watch.

Stats:

Watched: Raw

Understood: Yes. Had to pay close attention though.

Does it matter: Yes.

Would watch again: Yes. Awesome movie. Already watched at least 4 times so far.

Recommend: Excellent comedy that is a must-see for fans of time travel

Rating: Must see

Amazon Link

Bonus:
Pay very close attention to the opening scene for several 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' shots slipped into the background.

Boku No Kanojo Wa Cyborg

 My Girlfriend is a Cyborg
(僕の彼女はサイボーグ)
A.K.A. Cyborg She

The Story:

Lonely college student Jiro spends every birthday alone until the year a quirky girl randomly joins him. Together the two go on a wild chase throughout the city. When the girl abruptly leaves him with only a cryptic farwell, Jiro is depressed that he'll never see her again. His life goes on as usual until the day one year later that the miraculous girl enters his life once more, but things aren't quite what they seem. She is really a cyborg create by Jiro's future self, modeled after the girl he'd fallen in love with, and sent back through time to save Jiro from a terrible accident. Jiro suddenly finds himself tasked with teaching his new robot girlfriend what it means to be human.

The Reason:

The title alone was enough to spark my interest. It sounded good, so I watched it.

The Stars:

Jiro

A lonely college student stuck in a rut that spends every birthday alone pining over the mystery girl that got away.

Cyborg Girl

An advance robot created by Jiro's future self and sent back through time to protect him and learn how to be human.

The Review:

This is the movie that asks what would happen if we replaced the Terminator with a cute Japanese girl? It takes this premise and runs with it, featuring some surprisingly violent scenes for a romantic comedy. The pacing jumps track quite a few times throughout the movie but overall works very well.

As a lonely college guy, Jiro's first response to the news that his future self has sent him a cyborg girlfriend is what you'd expect it to be.

She's not that kind of robo-girl.

Jiro finds himself taksed with teaching his new companion what it means to be human as her bizarre behaviour and strange quirks become apparent.

As Jiro adjusts to life with a robot girlfriend, he soon finds himself falling for her while learning what it is like to truly live.

Overall:

A tale of a boy and his bot. They live, they learn, they love. There is comedy, there is tragedy. Overall, an entertaining romantic comedy that jumps track quickly, but still manages to hold steady enough to keep interest. The copious amounts of time travel in the ending is enough to make you taste purple, but that's okay because it works. A great movie for when you want to watch something light-hearted.

 

Stats:

Watched: Raw

Understood: Yes. Mostly.

Does it matter: Yes, at least if you want to know what's going on.

Would watch again: Yes. Great movie.

Recommend: Great for those looking something light to watch.

Rating: Must see / Trace amounts of What did I just watch?

Amazon Link

Bonus:

A manga adaption was made based on the film. Feels like a film that should be based on a comic instead of the other way round.

Hikiko-san

Hikiko-san

(ひきこさん）
A.k.a. Scream Girls

The Story:

A group of high school horror fanatics start investigating the rumours of a series of bizarre murders happening in their city. In each case, the victim has been dragged across the pavement until they were torn to shreds. The girls soon come to believe the murders are being caused by Hikiko-san, a ghost that targets victims of abuse and drags them to their death. When one of the girls manages to get a photo of the mysterious killer, her life is turned upside down. Blamed for the murders and abandoned by her friends, the only friend Kaori has left is stranger on the internet with the screen-name Hikiko.

The Reason:
After watching Hikiko vs. Kuchisake-onna, I was curious what Hikiko was actually like. Even though that movie was poorly handled, I felt Hikiko had the potential to be an actual threat if done right. I'm glad I did.

The Star:
Hikiko-san

A vengeful ghost that targets victims of abuse and drags them to their death.

Very bandaged and raggedy, she appears and shambles about like a zombie with a broken back. She's played with around the same level of subtlety as in Vs, however, it's used to much greater effect this time. While she does drag her feet and moves ridiculously slow, she also abuses the crap out of the between-scene-scooter by teleport spamming behind her victim as soon as they take their eyes of her.

The Review:
This entire movie is shot in grey-scale giving it a very avant-garde feel that's somewhere between student-film and found-footage. It may seem gimmicky to begin with, but it does add a whole other layer to the atmosphere.

The movie starts with the group updating their horror blog and discussing the bizarre string of murders. It does feel like a bit of a slow boil teen drama at times, but that's okay because before long the girls are talking about Hikiko-san and the rumours of her involvement.

Kaori snaps a picture of a mysterious figure standing over one of the crime scenes and then strange things start happening. After a local girl dies, her friends tell her to drop it and move on, but Kaori is obsessed. She can't quite seem to get Hikiko out of her head.

Someone posts a cryptic message to their site and suddenly everyone is blaming Kaori for causing the murders. The class bully starts attacking and humiliating her, her friends abandon her, and every night her abusive father takes to beating her. 

Kaori starts having vivid dreams of being dragged to her death by Hikiko-san, and soon she can no longer tell reality from the dreams. She feels Hikiko-san getting closer. Drawn in by the abuse that she is suffering.

Frightened and alone, Kaori turns to a stranger on the internet. Constantly suffering, Kaori's one light in the darkness is her new friend known only as Hikiko. Kaori confides in her as her life gradually becomes a living hell, but is her friend really who she claims to be?

Overall:

This movie is just brutal. And I love it. I'm not even sure if I'd class this as a horror movie, but by halfway through I was sitting there awestruck completely engrossed in watching. I don't think I've ever seen a movie with the impact this one had, I was literally struck speechless by the end.

The level of abuse Kaori suffers over the film's 1hr duration is terrifying, and the torture she undergoes from the school bitch squad would be enough to count as a war-crime if they were soldiers. It really made me feel for the character, and then the ending happened. It was the perfect cap to events with a twist that, maybe a bit predictable, managed to tie things off perfectly.

Stats:

Watched: RAW

Understood: Around 80-90%

Does it matter: I have a theory that this movie would work just as well even without understanding a word.

Would watch again: Hell yes.

Recommend: Go. Do it now!

Rating: Must See

Amazon link

Bonus:

While she was playing hide-and-seek at the beginning of the film, Hikiko kind of reminded me of the First Slayer from Buffy.

Gomen Nasai

Sorry

(ゴメン　ナサイ）
A.k.a Ring of Curse

The Story:
High school writing club member Hitaka Yuka tries to reach out to genius loner Kurohane, but she rejects Yuka's offer of friendship, more interested in writing by herself. Yuka moves on but there's something about Kurohane that is unsettling and Yuka can't quite shake the girl from her mind. When class bully Sonata, tired of always being second place to Kurohane, starts picking on the girl, a strange notebook starts circulating through the class. A notebook written by Kurohane. Anyone who reads the story dies. Can Yuka find a way to stop Kurohane's revenge before it's too late?

The Reason:
I picked this one up purely because of the cover. I didn't even bother trying to read the synopsis. All I knew was it had a girl band in it and it was under horror, so I thought it might be interesting to watch.

The Stars:
Buono!

A net idol band that provides the music and play the main three characters. It would seem they had a big hand in making this movie. It was a little worrying that the focus would be on the band appearing in their first movie instead of any actual storytelling, but I needn't have even considered it. The girl are phenomenal actresses right from the start. Before the movie is a brief intro by the girls and they manage to convey a very subtle atmosphere that becomes very important at the end of the film.

The Review:

The movie starts with Yuka narrating events in such a way as to draw you right in. She has to muster the courage to ask class loner Kurohane to join the writing club. You can tell there's something not quite right about the quiet girl sitting alone. Kurohane rejects her offer, and Yuka goes away annoyed that no matter how good her writing is their teacher is only interested in getting Kurohane to join the club.

Events start moving when class bully Sonata starts picking on Kurohane. Shoving her, throwing food at her, and generally being mean to her. As part of an elaborate joke, Sonata rigs it so that Kurohane is called to write the script for the school play. Without a peep, she accepts and begins writing a story into her notebook. Yuka tries to talk her out of it, but Kurohane has a plan.

Anyone who read her story will die. No one seems to notice when classmates start dying, except Yuka. She watches helplessly as classmates and friends slowly succumb to Kurohane's revenge. A cursed notebook that kills whoever reads from it. There's nothing Yuka can do to stop it.

Overall:
This movie was awesome. It was incredibly well done with excellent use of camera angles and sound effects. The story was told in such a way to make you feel sympathy for the characters, even the one deliberately killing people. The movie tells the story of a curse being started, drawing parallels to Sadako and her cursed video. Subtlety is the key to making a horror movie truly chilling and this one does the job perfectly. The intro and ending come together in such a way that you can feel it pulling you in.

I highly recommend that you see this as soon as possible.

Stats:
Watched: RAW
Understood: Mostly

Does it matter: Yes

Would watch again: Definitely

Recommend: Yes

Rating: Must See

Amazon link 

Bonus:

It would appear that this movie is based off the book that gets written during the course of the film. Recursion for the win.