Honey (2018)

I really wanted to like this film but in reality it was rather boring. Nothing much going for it plotwise and very slow moving. Not to mention a few alarm bells throughout the film that I cant believe some are willing to gloss over. First is, she's in love with her own uncle? That was extremely off putting for me and sort of glossed over - no one was overly bothered by this issue? I'm not going to complain about it in the sense of that I'd wish they had never written it in, I don't mind flawed /eccentric characters but what does worry me is the effect it has on the wider audience. This is the second time in a Japanese film/tv show I have seen a young girl who has developed romantic/even sexual feelings for her own blood related uncle. I rlly hope this is a fluke and isn't becoming some trend in Japanese cinema where young innocent girls are depicted as often having innapropriate fantasies/feelings towards authority/father/family figures - because its just plain wrong. In both dramas/films it was never really seen as much of a problem either - which is where my problem with it comes into play - because what does that teach an audience?
OK that part of the rant is over. The second part is - our male lead gets rejected, they agree to be just friends, she falls asleep whilst out with him.. and what does he do? He kisses her. A complete violation of her space and trust in him, not to mention it is essentially sexual assault. Yes, he is shown to feel incredibly guilty and ashamed of it - which is better than the uncle issue but that doesn't make it ok. What is worse is that they write her character as if she enjoyed it and wanted it to happen? Which just isn't the case in most real life scenarios, at all. It again just puts out the message that when a girl says "no" she really means yes.
There was also a scene where he pushes his own mother which wasn't the greatest thing to see character wise but I'll stop here.

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This is a classic coming of age story, but with a few different elements. Both mains, Onise Taiga & Kogure Nao are "normal" high school students who have been impacted a lot due to their close relationship with their parents. On one side, we have Onise who was raised by his mother and shared a close bond with her where whenever she would get close to another man, he felt like he was being cheated on/abandoned and started to act out and get into trouble where everyone labeled him as the "bad guy" at school. Kogure on the other hand, after a tragic accident that killed her parents, is raised by her uncle and somehow developed a love for him that she misplaces as being romantic love.

This is a classic coming to age story about two teenagers who find one another and decide they want to grow and not be label by their past selves - Onise doesn't want to be labeled as this bad guy who feels lonely and gets into meaningless fights, but instead a guy who protects the people he loves and cares for everyone. Kagure wants to be happy and strong and passionate, and not the "scaredy-cat" shy girl who lost her parents when she was young and is now scared of....tunnels (for example).

Together, Onise and Kogure learn what being in love is like and what it is like to support themselves as well as one another.

I really liked his drama as well because the love that Onise and Kogure had for one another was very innocent even though they went through some very adult situations. They enjoyed living and loving in the present, but also learned to understand what loving one another in the future would mean especially with their pasts.

This was exactly what expected this to be, and I am really happy about it. It was very well done and I really did love the depth of Onise's character. Plus, their side friends were also really cute as well.

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This was a cute and refreshing movie to watch after a heavy and sad tv series. I will stand by my opinion about Japanese manga movie adaptations - it cannot compare to the original novel and story. Sure, the production was very nice and the casting was super cute, but it was your average 2h of wasting time. I would have rather just read the manga, as I have heard good reviews about it. The character development and relationships were very unclear, the acting was mediocre at best. Probably, the simple cinematography was the best aspect of this film. There are definitely better manga adaptations out there, but if you are into cute high school love stories, this movie might peek your interest.

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