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Reviews
Ame o tsugeru hyôryû danchi (2022)
OMG...Too long and too annoying
The idea of this story is a good one and the imagery is frequently beautiful and obviously the 2011 tsunami influenced this story but....
The characters are just so damn annoying. Kosuke and Natsume are just so freaking obnoxious. The constant bickering gets old. And, the bratty girl is the worst. The only likable character is the bigger boy in the red shirt; he's sweet.
But, worst of all, it's just way too long. This should have been 85 minutes tops. It's just endlessly repetitive and heavy handed with the "lessons" the kids learn.
I think a main problem is, the filmmakers desperately want to be Miyazaki but they don't understand how to do that. Miyazaki is the master of expressing complex ideas but in a very clear, concise way. It's why he's the Master.
Endeavour: Scherzo (2021)
Part of the sad decline of Endeavor
I don't understand what happened to Russell Lewis...it's like he forgot how to write a coherent, interesting teleplay. He's always been prone to ridiculous conclusions with "Endeavour" but at least, prior to the last couple seasons of the show, he's been able to construct clever, engaging episodes (mostly). But, Mr. Lewis's gifts seem to be fading as we approach the end of Endeavour. While Scherzo isn't the worst of Season 8 and is arguably the best of a lumpen trio of episodes, it's still a mess. And, the poor script hasn't been saved by the muddled direction, the tired performances or even the now lazy/underfunded design departments. What happened to the snappy set direction from previous seasons? It's like they're not even trying to pull off the 70s.
I'm hoping they're able to pull it together for the the final season so this show can go out on a high note.