[Confession] Wolf Girl and Black Prince
Finally gathering my thoughts for a confession because it has been a while since I watched this movie. I will now be reviewing Ryuichi Hiroki's Wolf Girl and Black Prince Live Action starring the hottest in demand star for manga-turned-movies: Kento Yamazaki and his leading lady this time, Fumi Nikaido!
Soooo Wolf Girl and Black Prince is a live action movie that was adapted from a shoujo manga called Okami Shojo to Kuro Oji by Ayuko Hatta. The real reason why I watched this was for two reasons: The first one was because I personally loved the manga and the anime and I thought, "Hey cool, why not?", and for the second reason was because of our Pretty boy Kento! *light squeals*
Here's a quick synopsis to get you into the groove:
Erika Shinohara (Fumi Nikaido) is a first year of high school student. While talking to friends, she makes up a story about her "boyfriend." In reality, Erika Shinohara doesn't have a boyfriend. Erika's friends soon begin to doubt her story and Erika is also running out of lies. Erika then sees a pretty boy on the street and takes his picture discreetly. She later shows his picture to her friends as her boyfriend. The boy in the picture is Kyouya Sata (Kento Yamazaki) and happens to attend the same school as Erika. She tells Kyouya about her situation and asks him to be her pretend boyfriend. Even though Kyouya has a pretty appearance, he has a dark side. (cr. Asianwiki)
Fan girling aside, I actually anticipated this ever since I saw an article about it. I was wondering how they'd do it - especially Kyouya Sata's red eyes in the anime - regrettably, Kento's eyes wasn't red (which I was totally okay with because it's hella live, you know. You can't get anime eyes all of the sudden even if it's suppose to be part of the show bla). Unfortunately, that's not the only thing I regret: The thing I'm most concerned is the chemistry they should have had. Yes, both Fumi and Kento are great actors but for an artist to be described as competent, they have to be flexible with all the roles they have and blend with their partners - and I didn't see that spark. I wonder what happened to Kento because he wasn't like that with other leading ladies before
Other than the lack of chemistry, I also would like to mention the unusual directing. As viewers, when we watch people talking on screen, we tend to look at their facial expressions to grasp what they meant. However here, the Director's unorthodox technique is to establish wide shots even when not needed - particularly when the characters talk! So I wonder myself how I could get that connection with the characters when they're not even attempting to make contact with me? Sad.
Wrapping up, the content of the movie is expected to be good since it came from the popular manga. Some scenes were there and some changed. It may have been too unrealistic for a live action movie so I guess it was the manga comparison that carried me to the end. If you want me to say something encouraging, I have one: I loved the kiss scene at the end. So twitterpatter.
My Rating:
Plot: 8.5/10
Acting: 7.9/10
Cinematography: 5.0/10
Characters: 6.5/10
Uniqueness: 4.2/10
OVERALL RATING: 6.4