Jerghal Sometimes Japanese films can be quirky, hectic and incredible fun like Survive Style 5+. I'd kinda hoped this one was going to be an unknown jewel like that but unfortunately it wasn't. Kamikaze Girls is described by some as a Japanese counterpart of Amélie and although I thought that french flick was somewhat overrated I enjoyed it a lot more than I did this one. I tries to be unconventional with lots of flashy camera angles and some hipster cutting style and the colors are very saturated and 'in your face' but it all feels like they are trying too hard coz it just feels like it's not working. The story is also nonsensical (Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with Rococo, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience well...nothing really) but empty. There is just not much happening and even at a reasonable 100 mins it just feels to long and stretched out. A nice try but if you like to see eccentric Japanese film with strange humor than there are much better productions out there. So in that sense this movie DOES resemble Amélie: it's also overrated if I check the IMDb scores :)

Blackparadegirl I found out about this movie in a Finnish Lolita forum. I've always been interested in the Lolita style and everything related to Japan, so I asked this movie for a Christmas gift and I got it. I had to watch it on my computer, because it didn't work on DVD for some reason. But that didn't matter, at least I was able to watch it.Shomotsuma Monogatari, which translates to "Shimotsuma fairytale", was a cute story about a friendship of two completely different 17-year-olds. I never watched Japanese non-Anime movies before now, but my mum has seen a couple of Japanese horror comedies. She thought they were funny, so she decided to watch Shomotsuma Monogatari with me. Comedy is definitely NOT my favorite genre of a movie, but sometimes I just have to take a chance and watch something else than horror.Some parts of that movie were so funny that they made me laugh. Momoko (Kyoko Fukada) was so cute. I loved all the outfits she wore and wish they could be mine. After watching this movie, I've highly wanted to be a Lolita, but I have no money and I don't even get anything Lolita-like at this state. Anna Tsuchiya is beautiful too, but not in the role of Ichigo. She wore terrible crap I wouldn't wear in public even through you paid me for it! But this movie was good. Not the best in the world, but good. My mum thought it was boring, so she fell asleep while watching it! If she had watched the full movie she wouldn't think it was boring. It was really funny! I highly recommend this movie for all the fans of comedy movies.

Faisal_Flamingo This movie starts very good and reaches a point where it starts to go downhill until it becomes only an OK "pretty" picture to watch .. I don't know why I felt that ?? is just trying to be a Japanese "Amiele".At least "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" puts you at ease .. this movie uses the same cinematography technique but in a very annoying way.Don't get me wrong .. I'm not saying it is a bad movie .. it is just an OK watch-able movie.Anna Tsuchiya was unconvincing sometimes .. and her character is too innocent in the other hand, Kyôko Fukada was overreacting Director Tetsuya Nakashima has done a good job .. especially with the visual effects.

Mappyman A Very cute story of two 17 yr olds, both which are completely different from one another, joined by a strange chain of events. The main girl Momoko is comparable to Lizzie McGuire. Cutesy, delicate, and lives like shes a princess in the 1700s. Her father made a living selling generic clothes with multiple expensive name brand labels and winds up getting caught and kicked out to the country with her grandmother. The second girl, comparable to Avril Laviene, a dirtied-up biker gang member finds out about her clothes and even though she cant stand her style, ridicules her, and even head-butts Momoko around, shes helplessly drawn to this little girl. Together they're on a hunt to find an ex-gang member who can sew Ichigos perfect uniform for her gang member's wedding.I loved the movie's fast pace! It was very reminiscent to that of Japanese movie Survive Style 5 and kind of resemblant to Run Lola Run. There's a few segments that are drawn anime style to show past events even quicker and more violent. Its very funny how fast paced the movie runs sometimes but there's slow moments as well that tell the story. The entire movie plays out like a perfectly drawn girls manga, with insanely exaggerated characters, even more crazy outfits, and one male character in particular, 5 foot greaser haircut! Its well worth watching for any anime/manga fan! The music composed by Yoko Kanno fits very well into this movie and has fast and slow paced music for all of the scenes.Its a girl flick at heart but definitely one to see if you're into anime and manga. Very nice surprise ending as well!