Kagen no tsuki (2004) watch online HD

OK, I bought the Region 2 English Subtitled DVD of this movie and, first of all, I need to say that the subtitling was excellent despite several minor flaws along the way. Second of all, this film had some of the best special effects I've seen in a Japanese movie in a long time, far superior to those of the live-action Zeiram and Boogiepop films.

Third, the acting is superb. Chiaki Kuriyama plays Mizuki and Eve well, and Hyde (despite his bad English accent) plays Adam well. However, the film lies more with the characters of Hotaru, Miura, and Tomoki in their quest to help Eve from her entrapment in the house.

I only had a few small problems with the experience, but they did not take too much away from the film; the most major of these is a break in the flow caused by a short interlude explaining the meaning of Kagen no Tsuki, the "Last Quarter Moon," that feels almost completely out of place. Outside of this and a few small instances, the film was excellent and convincing.

Although some segments of the trailer make the movie seem slightly on the ridiculous side at times, the extreme emotions (mostly Tomoki, Mizuki's boyfriend, screaming) are accounted for well in the film, being extremely appropriate when they actually appear.

Overall, it was the best movie I've seen in years, with the most constant universe held within it. The characters and their circumstances feel real throughout the entire film. The first A+ film I've watched in years, and the most real. I can hardly wait to watch it again!

When I first saw this movie I got a little bored and confused in the beginning until I got into it further. This is one of those rare gems that reveals it's secrets gradually, like the petals of a lotus. Not undercutting the wonderful visual components, the music score is was what really hooked me. It was absolutely, heartbreakingly wonderful. In fact, without HYDE's achingly sad and beautiful song, and equally sad and beautiful presence, I don't think this movie would have "worked." His music transcends language. I loved all of the actors and actresses. This production was as first rate as any "Hollywood" movie you can name. At first glance you might dismiss this movie as mere "fluff." However, if you stick with it you will see the deeper meanings: Life and death, love and loss, betrayal and redemption. It is a perfect circle. What better way can I describe this movie.

Beth

*this review MAY contain a spoiler*

Kagen No Tsuki (English Title: Last Quarter) is a welcome and well executed modern fairytale of two tragic love stories accidentally mixed up. Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) does a wonderful job playing Mizuki and the supporting cast perform equally well if not outperform her in several moments. However I did not care much for Japanese pop idol Hyde playing the English rock star Adam (with an English accent so bad it is virtually impossible to understand the man). But the true strength of this film lies in it's storytelling. The atmosphere that Ken Nikai creates, the decors, the colors, the costumes, the lighting: they are simply all perfect. It is hard to get into the story without giving away any clues but in short, without any spoilers to the plot: Mizuki is bored with her life and moves in with a British musician named Adam, in a rather sinister looking house. As soon as Adam tells her he is going away she runs after him to join him. However she is hit by a car. Suddenly and without explanation Mizuki finds herself trapped in the old house, where she meets a girl who is looking for her cat. When Mizuki helps her find the cat the girl disappears in front of her very eyes,.. and somewhere in a hospital the girl (named Hotaru) wakes up in a hospital bed. All she remembers is getting hit by a car when she was looking for her cat, and a girl in her dreams who helped her find her cat and woke her up in the real world. This is where the story starts when Hotaru sets out to find a way to help solve Mizuki's mystery and why she is trapped inside the house.

In short? A delightfully different and wonderfully made film from Japan. It is hard to find anything wrong with this film. Go see it if you have a chance!

(This review is based on the recently released Japanese DVD with English subtitles which is a stunning release in terms of image quality, sound and subtitle quality).

Kagen no Tsuki might appear really strange/slow/targeted to fangirls only, but I think it would be unfair to underestimate it so much. Even if it's a movie inspired to a manga, and with a singer as one of the actors, in my opinion, it's not bad.

It has its very annoying moments, anyway... - Spoiler alert - The very start is quite slow and makes it look like some romantic crap for teenagers, but if you can get after the birthday scene and the small "tragedies" striking Mizuki, it gets quite interesting later, if you're a person who likes ghost stories, reincarnation and romantic things.

It's not a GREAT film, one of these movies that will make you clap your hands and talk about it to everyone you know, but it grants a good time anyway, especially to people who is more used to Japanese culture in general.

The story is very sad, and a bit too much "romantic" sometimes, like a fairy tale... but some scenes are really well-designed.

• Spoiler alert 2 - At the very end of the movie, and the titles... you can see both Mizuki and Adam on a boat. That scene is still stuck in my mind. As the "gate" of the house, as symbol to the gate from limbo to the world of dead is another thing I can't forget. Sometimes, when I see a girl handing a present to someone, I immediately remember Sayaka.

Maybe a part of me still likes fairy-tales.

OK, to the people who've NEVER read the manga: This movie is slow-paced. You may, or may not get bored. It depends if you get hooked in by the storyline, the characters, or the tunes. Of course if you're a fan-girl, HYDE will definitely hook you in. But Hiroki is a cutie as well. He delivers such adorable faces that you won't be able to refuse. The tunes are great also, because HYDE sings it (obviously). But Hiroki sings a little bit in the beginning of the movie too (don't miss it!) The storyline can get a bit too tidy and boring. But the "mystery" will keep you going if you want to find out what's behind everything.

ABOUT THE MOVIE: It's a story of a girl (Mizuki) who has a miserable life (but they don't show much of it), and meets a mysterious man named "Adam." She finds peace and somehow "familiarity" in Adam. And then, Mizuki gets herself run over by a car, and mysteriously finds herself trapped in a mansion with absolutely NO memory of her life EXCEPT Adam. The story starts from there. Go figure why Mizuki is trapped in the mansion as you watch the movie. (*note* no matter how much I mention Hyde's character "Adam" in this review, it does NOT mean that HYDE appears in most of the scenes. BECAUSE HE DID NOT.)

ACTORS & ACTRESSES: Chiaki Kuriyama really gave her best opposite performance in this movie (compared to her character in Kill Bill.) She really did great. Hiroki Narimiya also did awesome. He's got quite a character. I loved him! But I have to say that HYDE wasn't as good as he was in Moon Child. He's cool though. And he's hot. So I suppose that covers it all for the fan-girls? Hah! I also have to say that Hyde speaks some English in this movie, and I know it's adorable, but he can't pull off a British accent to save his life (and his character's supposed to be half British!) Anyways, the supporting kid actor and kid actress weren't what I expected. I guess they're alright? I had high hopes for them to be "adorable." But I wasn't attracted to "Hotaru"'s acting skills. And "Miura" was a bit dull.

OVERALL: I give this movie a 6 or 7. But since I'm being nice here, I'll give the IMDb poll SEVEN STARS. The piano version of the song "Last Quarter" (the movie's theme song) was soooooo GOOD in the movie! That song was used VERY WELL too! HYDE rocked the soundtrack! The movie's theme song is English by the way!

**************SPOILERS ALERT!!!!! WARNING!!!****************

If you've read the manga by Ai Yazawa (the "graphic novel" that this movie is based on), then the first thing I have to say is DON'T EXPECT A LOT OF "COMEDIC ACT" IN THE MOVIE. This movie goes VERY slow, VERY serious, and VERY heavy on the foreshadowing. You won't get confused if you just follow the foreshadowed scenes, or the scenes with the "clues."

The movie is a little bit different from the manga. First of all, Sayaka had a twin brother (in the manga, she didn't.) There are only two kid "investigators" in the movie: Miura and Hotaru. So you don't even see a "relationship" forming between the kids, because the other two kids aren't in the movie. And Tomoki is supposedly the reincarnation of Sayaka's brother (which you will find out much later on in the movie.) Another difference is that Aya recorded a video of her and Tomoki in her cellphone the morning after they "did it." That's how Mizuki finds out in the movie that Tomoki "cheated" on her. In the manga, there wasn't any "cheating" involved. It was just Mizuki giving way to Aya's feelings for Tomoki. The movie also starts with Mizuki celebrating her birthday (unlike in the manga, whereas Mizuki met Adam.) Adam didn't overdosed himself with drugs (from what I understand, compared to the manga), Adam in the movie committed suicide by a "car accident," supposedly to follow his lover. And in the movie, the connection between Mizuki and Sayaka is more than a "reincarnation." It's something to do with the necklace that Adam gave to Sayaka and then, Tomoki gave to Mizuki. Also, don't expect a lot of "comedic act" like in Ai Yazawa's manga (as I have already said). The movie is so much slower. There are some funny parts, but barely... probably only when Tomoki makes funny faces and idiotic comments. Also, the movie has a lot more foreshadowing because it's a movie (I repeat). Like for example, in the beginning, Mizuki tells Adam that she's heard "that song" before because her dad used to sing it to her (although in the manga, Mizuki never heard that "tune," but rather she came to like it until she heard it on the radio.) Yeah, I think that's pretty much it.

I'm sorry for perhaps unfairly skewing the rating on this film by giving it two stars, but I could barely sit through it. I don't think it is necessarily a poorly made film. but it's a film clearly targeted at Asian early- and pre-teens with the inclusion of super-secretive Japanese rock star "Hyde" in a prominent, though not leading, role. Every time he appeared on screen I would roll my eyes and groan because he looked like a Keith Partridge wannabe trying to appear tough by smoking cigarettes. He might be a talented musician but he's a terrible actor, at least in this film.

The rest of the cast did a credible job. Model, actress, and hair-do, Chiaki Kuriyama is always refreshing on screen. Western audiences may recognize her as Gogo from Quentin Tarentino's Kill Bill Vol 1. She appears to play the piano quite well, vamping on the film's musical theme, "Last Quarter", a couple times. I liked the theme a lot, but in the end this modern fairy-tale was just too sugar-coated and precious for my aged sensibility.

If it was not that ending I should vote with 10. I really liked the movie, actors, playing, story... But is that some kind of a joke? They reborn to be together and she chose the other boy? How that? If I understand right love is beyond everything, she knew his song from the very beginning, she died for him, and she suddenly chose the other one. It's not fair. "You will find me again, promise? Till I'm playing with someone else you will wait for another eternity 'till I get tired and come back to you." Well, I realised Japanese movies are quite good and actually I missed a lot not watching them. My bad. I think they should make more scenes with Adam and Mizuki, we actually can't see their strong bound, only a few scenes from their memories. And I really liked the song, it was pretty good for the movie. All I can say it worth the watch.