Ore Monogatari!! Movie Review

(Adapted from my MDL review)

(WARNING!!: I'm a huge fan of the anime and manga, so this review might be a bit biased.)



It's been nearly two years since the shoujo manga "Ore Monogatari!!" got an anime adaptation, and not long after that anime adaptation ended - on Halloween that very year, to be exact - a live-action movie adaptation made its theatrical debut. As a fan of the anime who had watched it every single week without question, I was a bit curious about the live-action version, but at the same time, I was a bit pessimistic. After all, there were some factors that could keep the live-action version from being good, such as Takeo's appearance (I mean, with how freaking tall he is). However, I wasn't going to let my concerns hold me back; after all, a live-action Ore Monogatari might actually be good, right?

....Well, that'll depend on who you're asking.

Takeo Gouda, played by Ryohei Suzuki, is a big, intimidating, not-so-attractive high school guy, but underneath it all is a kind heart. Unfortunately, the girls he likes can't see that; they'd rather go for his hot childhood friend, Makoto Sunakawa (Kentaro Sawaguchi). However, this all seems to change when he saves Rinko Yamato (Mei Nagano) from a molester. Takeo thinks that Yamato, like all of the other girls, likes Sunakawa, but is this truly the case?

The first thing I'd like to mention is the acting. I'm not really one to judge acting, but in my opinion, the acting for this movie is a bit of a mixed bag, although it is fortunately more on the positive side. This is mainly because of Ryohei Suzuki's portrayal of Takeo; his facial expressions are quite amusing, and a handful of funny moments that were because of Takeo were performed well. It was also clear to see that he was having fun with his role. As for the rest of the cast, some of them were good, and others were bad; that's honestly all I can say about that.

As for the story, that's also a mixed bag, but this time, it is, unfortunately, more on the negative side. If this is your first time experiencing this series, you may not find a lot to be wrong with this story, but as for me, I couldn't help but find things wrong with it. The main problem is that although it only took a short time for the main couple to get together in both the manga and the anime (it's probably obvious who the main couple is, but in order to avoid complaints for spoilers, I won't say who it is), it takes FOREVER for them to get together in the movie! There were also other moments in this movie that were not only mixed around from the manga and the anime, but some were even changed completely! However, I can't say I hate the story too much; they had to cram all of this content into 1 hour and 45 minutes of screentime, so naturally, they were going to mix it around. Besides, there was one moment in the movie that I didn't recall seeing in the manga or the anime but still found slightly amusing, so I guess I can forgive this movie for that.

A real saving grace for this movie is its background music. There was a plethora of great background music in this movie that fit whatever was happening, and I enjoyed listening to it. I mean, not all of the songs were great, but a good number of them were! The ending song was also a nice song to listen to; it wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was good for what it was.

Overall, despite how great the anime and manga versions were, I found Ore Monogatari to just be an okay movie. Huge fans of the series might be slightly disappointed, but if this is your first time experiencing this series, you may end up liking it a lot. After all, no matter what medium, it's quite a sweet love story!

Grade: C

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