SPEC -heaven-

(SPEC～天～)

The true happiness can be only gained...
after you try really, really hard,

（本当の幸福ってのは…がんばって､すんげぇがんばって､）
 

fail, bump against the wall, sometimes are even betrayed by people,

（それでも失敗して､壁にぶつかって､時に人に裏切られて､）
 

 but still find your truely important friends someday
and fill your life with love and bond...

（でもいつか本当に大事な仲間に出会い､
本当の愛や絆に包まれていくことだよ｡）

(Story)

Saya Toma (Erika Toda) is a female detective with an IQ of 201. Takeru Sebumi (Ryo Kase) is a career detective with a distinguished background. They work on cases by postulating the "SPEC" of the unknown criminals and then deduce the criminal's unknown "SPEC" to make arrests.

A mystery occurs when bodies are found on a cruiser in the ocean. Saya Toma and Ryo Kase of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department are brought in to solve the case.

 

 

 I really liked KEIZOKU quite a long time ago but SPEC, created by the same director Yukihiko Tutsumi, became my favorite TV drama series again and this is the movie version after the TV drama(+ special drama) story. 

 

 

The combination of Toma and Sebumi has been always fun for me to watch like I enjoyed Shibata and Mayama in KEIZOKU. Unfortunately movie version of KEIZOKU was far from good compared with its TV drama series. However, I believe this was much better than KEIZOKU movie and can be recommended especially if liked its TV series.

 

I have to admit some portion of the movie looks a little tawdry due to the poor computor graphics but I also think Toma/Sebumi's character plus attracting story succeeded to cover it after all.

 

The ending of the movie was a bit mysterious but I've found the additional special drama("Zero") and movie("Close") will be shown this year(2013) later so I expect all the mistery will be cleared by those. It can be also a good reason I recommend you watch the existing TV series and this movie first to be ready for it!

 

 

SPEC 警視庁公安部公安第五課 未詳事件特別対策係事件... 価格：15,760円（税込、送料別）

【送料無料】劇場版 SPEC〜天〜 警視庁公安部公安第五課 未詳事件... 価格：6,766円（税込、送料込）

Okamikodomo no Ame to Yuki (Wolf Children Ame and Yuki)

(おおかみこどもの雨と雪)

"The person I fell in love was a wolfman..."

（私が好きになった人は、"おおかみおとこ"でした）

 

"He's found his own world..."

（自分の世界を見つけたから）

<Story>
Nineteen-year-old college student Hana meets a young man who sneaks into her classes for lessons and falls in love with him immediately. They soon start dating. One day, the man reveals his identity to Hana; he is a Wolfman and the only surviving descendant of the extinct Japanese wolf...

Japanese animation film directed by Masaru Hosoda, who created "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" and "Summer Wars".

I really liked both of his previous works "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" and "Summer Wars" but this has became my favorite. His talent was stunning from his earler works but this film will tell you he is going to be a true successor of Hayao Miyazaki.

Yuki reminded me of the sisters(Satsuki and Mei) appeared in Miyazaki's "My neighbor Totoro". Although Ame is a boy and has a little different character, beautiful Japanese countryside scenearies are also similar to Totoro.

 

 

Everyone would agree that Miyazaki's talent appears the best in his lively characters but so did Hosoda's talent in this film. You will see how lovely Hana, Yuki and Ame are like Satsuki, Mei and Totoro.

 

This could be really an homage from Hosoda to Miyazaki and Totoro but of course you can simply enjoy from the beginning till the end without any complicated thoughts. This can be recommended irrespective of age or sex so I hope English version will become available soon for you!