The Liar and His Lover (2013)

I can't believe noone wrote a review yet!
This was the best Japanese romance production I have seen to date.

The acting was stunning. The fine skills exhibited by all the cast (also the support roles) was just brilliant.
Japanese productions tend to be either overly melodramatic or greatly exaggerated acting-wise. But this was neither.
It was just beautful from start till the end (and by that I mean the very end. The part after the credits...)

Story: Aki is the genius songwriter of CrudePlay, a band of highschool friends in which he formerly used to play. When he meets Riko, he wants her to like him as himself, not as the famous composer he is. So he lies. This is revealed when Riko is scouted by the same label. Will they overcome the obstacles of the industry and the rival from his own band?

Characters: I loved every single character in this drama. Aki, the tormented genious whos heart is slowly opening to the young and sweet Riko. Riko, the gentle singer who admires Aki as a composer and has a passion for singing. The chemistry between the leads was very real. I liked the way they interacted when the were on screen together.
Shou, the cool best friend. He's singer of CrudePlay and I think just as cool as Aki. His acting was very sophisticated, very detailed and perfectly portrayed the friendship between him and Aki. I think he is also my favourite character. And I am not (just) saying that out of 2nd lead bias. I just think he acting was so mesmerising.
And all the other loveable side characters.

Music: Well this is a music-themed film, so this only could be good, right? It's very light pop based. Not really catching, but definitely easy to listen to. I appreaciate that it is not one or 2 main songs that get repeated over and over like in many other dramas.

Rewatch Value: I don't rewatch much. But I may just rewatch this some time. You can probably pick up more details and emotions in this movie during a rewatch. You can look at the beautiful characters more closely and find new expressions that will make you like them even more.

Overall: I can highly recommend this drama to everyone who likes music-themed stories, a sublime romance, fantastic acting, loveable characters, and a magnificent story.

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Story: I don't think it's a very novel storyline, but it's cute so it's worth going along with. I have a stronger disdain for cliches than most people, and I thought this was okay. It does jump around a lot and doesn't have much time for development (unfortunately), but in the two hours they had, they got enough in for the story to be full enough to be enjoyable.

Acting/Cast: Satou Takeru has already blown my mind multiple times--and he carried the team well in this film. Apparently this is the lead actress's first work ever, having beaten out 4,999 other applicants. I think she beat them with good reason. Her singing voice and acting didn't leave me asking for someone with better skills in either arena. With manga adaptations it's quite common to see good-looking but subpar actors and actresses cast in the lead roles just for higher viewership, so I'm extremely glad that didn't happen here. I'm the type that will avoid a work if it has an actor/actress in it I don't think acts well (since it'll also detract from the drama/movie itself), so I'm, again, extremely happy with the cast and the acting.

Music: As a movie about music, if the music was bad there'd be no point watching it, right? Right! The music and lyrics were great--and most importantly, fit the story and the atmosphere. Maybe not something I'd listen to on my iPod forever, but quality enough to keep the movie believable.

Rewatch Value: I don't like rewatching, but maybe I'll rewatch the cute and sweet parts. ><!

Overall, a must-watch for even a cynic like me. Manga adaptations or high school romances are usually quite...silly? Shallow? And I'm quite skeptical of them as a genre, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one, despite the fact that overall development was lacking due to their movie-length time constraint.

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