Saikano Movie

I didn't mention that I actually found a subbed version of the Saikano movie a couple days ago. At first I didn't get it because it was in mkv format and I didn't know how to play it. But it turns out to be quite easy, I just need to grab the Combined Community Codec pack. It even plays ogm files, so no need for the Nimo Codec pack anymore.

The movie casts Aki Maeda in the role as Chise and some guy that looks like 古天樂 as Shuji (he doesn't look any way like his anime counter-part, at least they could have made him wear glasses!) The film opens up shortly before the Sapporo raid in the story.

Sapporo Air Raid	Chise, you are on the wrong swing!

Most differences between the movie and the anime are a result of fitting the storyline into the a format what works as a movie; such as fewer supporting characters and some that play slightly different roles. Also, the relationship between Chise and Shuji is not as well developed as in the anime, this is to be expected given the length of the movie. The most significant change is the ending though, which I find weakens the film. I like the anime ending much better.

The special effects in the film was sparse, but those that we do get are done quite well. Some parts of the movie is quite dark though, and I suspect it let's the director get away with doing less special effects.

I was disappointed with the BGM of the film though. I was looking foward to hearing some of the music from the anime. That just didn't happen.

Overall, the movie does a decent job of capturing the essence of the anime. But because of the weak ending and lack of a good soundtrack, I have to give it a lower review than the anime: 5/10

P.S. I changed the template on my blog. I really liked the last template but it had some bugs with rendering the side-bar (some links doesn't appear unless you hover over them).