Saigo no Yakusoku

Saigo no Yakusoku (The Last Promise/最後の約束) is a 2010 Japanese tanpatsu, a special [movie-length] drama. It stars all five members of Arashi (Matsumoto Jun, Ohno Satoshi, Sakurai Sho, Aiba Masaki, and Ninomiya Kazunari) as well as Kuroki Meisa, Fujiki Naohito, and Otsuka Nene. The summary is as follows:

"Saigo no Yakusoku" is described as a human suspense story involving the hijack of a major building. The members of Arashi play five young men who happen to be inside, and the story depicts their attempt to escape and their interactions with the other people caught up in the incident.

I'm not a diehard Arashi fan, though it's been known that I like a number of their songs. :) Therefore, I can say that the reason why I decided to watch this was not solely based on the fact that all of Arashi were in the production, though I can't say that it did not affect my decision at all. Even so, I believe this was pretty good, even for someone who's not a rabid fangirl. ;) The plot is pretty good and I can attest that it is suspenseful - I just kept on wanting more until the completed. The interactions between the characters were enough for us to know their background stories but not too much that it became too much and confusing. The acting wasn't bad, either. Not to mention the huge twist towards the end of the film/drama.

However, it was a bit fluffy at times. Everything was done for a good reason - not only "good" as in it made sense (which is always a plus), but "good" as in "too good to be true." I mean seriously - fireworks? There was only what, one or two of it anyway. It does give one somewhat of a happy feeling in their tummy, so I suppose I can deal with it. I still think it wasn't a waste of my time so I'll let it have four of out five stars. Maybe three-and-a-half, but only because of the fluffyness of it all. I did enjoy the plot twist immensely. :)

You can watch it at both DramaCrazy and MySoju.

Crows ZERO

Crows ZERO (クローズZERO/Kuroozu ZERO), here and here, is a 2007 Japanese movie based on a manga set at a high school where gang life rules. It stars Oguri Shun, Yamada Takayuki, Kuroki Meisa, Kiritani Kenta, and Daito Shunsuke, among others. The synopsis is as follows:

The film centers around the character Takiya Genji, a newcomer to Suzuran All-Boys High School who aims to 'conquer' Suzuran. Genji makes a deal with his father, Hideo Takitani (Kishitani Goro). If he can conquer the school, he will be allowed to succeed his father as the head of his syndicate. But first, he has to defeat Serizawa Tamao, the "King of Beasts" and closest to conquering Suzuran.

I was browsing on DramaCrazy and I came across this movie and it sounded promising. Not to mention I was in the mood for some butt-kicking. AND it stars a number of people I've seen. It has a good number of fight scenes but it's not as bloody as it could have been. I'm not saying there wasn't any blood - there was some blood flying about - it was just not graphic; there was also a good amount of sound effects. Even so, some of it looked rather painful. I must also point out that the only time you even SEE any school administrators/teachers at the school is in the first 15 minutes of the movie, or so. Suzuran is definitely not a school.

Even then, I enjoyed it, relatively speaking. Even though the yakuza played a role in it, it wasn't only centered on fighting and "getting to the top." There were some morals involved (i.e. do not kidnap or otherwise gang up on females) and there was even a hint of romance. Ah yes, there were light-hearted moments and other scenes where the fact that they're human appears obvious, even though they all seem to have a bit of a problem with controlling their tempers and had no qualms about mortally hurting others. The acting was pretty good. For instance, when getting the life kicked out of them, they actually stumbled realistically instead of popping up miraculously even though they should be near-death, or there already.

There's also a sequel that has generally the same cast (with the addition of other actors like Miura Haruma) by the name of Crows ZERO II (2009). The synopsis is as follows:

Several months after "Crows: Episode 0" trouble brews again when thugs known as "The Army of Killers" from rival high school Hosen Academy threaten Suzuran High aka the School of Crows. The ruthless Hosen gang go after Suzuran alumni Sho Kawanishi after his released from reformatory for killing a Hosen member two years back. Kawanishi turns to his younger Suzuran gang members for protection. The Housen gang then seeks out right revenge on the entire Suzuran school, while in-fighting at Suzuran High makes them even more susceptible to the Housen threat.

You can watch both at DramaCrazy or the first one at MySoju.
Picture taken from here.