📽 JFF Theater Movie Club | Featured Movie July 🖌 👭 書道ガールズ! (SHODO GIRLS!)

Japanese Watching
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Ok I watched カラオケ行こ!

Osaka-ben was excellent from all the actors, as was the acting all around. Story was decent, and it did a solid job with the two storylines, but I can’t help feeling like Oka’s personal life could have used some more screen time - particularly at home, I would have expected more tension, or a glimpse into why there wasn’t much (his parents seemed sweet, but not oblivious enough not to catch on).

カラオケ行こ - were there BL themes?

I don’t really consume much japanese BL, but do consume unhealthy copious amounts of yuri. I think it’s fair to say it has BL undertones. It’s also clear from the acting that the story is not a romance… But if the director had wanted to take it that way, they probably could have done so merely via minor acting changes, without needing to alter the events or music much, if at all.

Yeah I think that subtext was equally present. (I also initially confused the two club ppl btw). Tbh it would have been cool if that was part of the story.

Age gaps (恋愛的 and otherwise)

I enjoy reading older teenager x adult yuri a good amount. There’s a lot to work with creatively - tension, boundaries, morals, taboos, relationship dynamics, legality, differences due to age, what if people find out, etc. On the whole, yuri presents things rather softly - sometimes even cozy unless it’s intentionally aiming for a more toxic relationship/predatory dynamic sorta thing. The two adult x 14歳 stories I’ve read were intentionally uncomfortable. (I mention those, since Oka is 14)

And on the other hand, you have stuff like HGに恋するふたり | L22 (which is not a romance, but according to some is yuri) - where you have a 30 yr old OL randomly encountering and deeply bonding with a high school girl (14歳) over building plastic model Gundams together. Eventually a classmate gets roped in too. I read 3 volumes, and it’s really wholesome.

One thing I find interesting in adult-minor gaps is how realistically the characters are portrayed… usually they are not (for better and worse), but occasionally they are. So I liked that both characters seemed their age here (unlike pics of the manga where Oka looks at least 16)

It’s such a great word :slight_smile:

That seems realistic to being a teen, to me

The speaking is very organic, and sometimes was a challenge for me without subs (but not from the dialect). I might see if my friend wants to watch it, so I have an excuse to rewatch… Very good immersion material!

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Watched the first 35 minutes of カラオケ行こ, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit so far! I gave up early and turned on English subs, else I’d be understanding 0%. :smiling_face_with_tear:

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カラオケ行こ

Omg I loved it!!

So I am very familiar with X Japan outside of this movie and when 紅 came on for the first time I absolutely lost it. Of course Kyoji would be obsessed with it.

I really liked the story arc that ran though the song. From Kyoji’s initial “どうやった?” (I died), to Satomi trying to get him to sing other songs that would be better for him (something like your 得意 and 好きな songs being a different thing.. it’s good advice, especially from a 14 year old). And I cried a tiny bit during Satomi’s performance (I honestly think I might have liked his voice singing it better than Toshi from X Japan :rofl:).

Strong agree. The Yakuza speak was the hardest for me (unsurprisingly), but the conversations between the students and with Satomi’s parents gave me no trouble. I ended up just jumping straight into the version on Netflix JP for the subs and I’m glad I did.

I also really agree with this. It feels like they’re doing their best to nod to the more detailed relationship that must be in the manga, but just didn’t have time for it in the running time of the movie. I did absolutely love the scene with the umbrella, and can imagine what the relationship might be from that.

Re: BL
I have consumed a lot of BL (and BL bait) in my time, and I think you can read it into the story but I don’t think it’s textually there.

That said, I dunno if anyone else was singing along to the cover version of 紅 in the credits like I was, but there was a short scene at the end where Kyoji was standing in front of a high school (presumably Satomi’s) and called him and ended the conversation with カラオケ行こ. He also has a new tattoo on his forearm: 聡美.

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Omg I totally missed the tattoo… I guess you could argue that for that one scene (and seemingly the follow-up manga), the BL is textually there :thinking:

I had some trouble with Oka’s male friend, but otherwise most of the students’ stuff and the parents were fine. Also some of the scenes btwn Oka and Kyoji were hard for me. I’m gonna watch again with my friend (with EN subs), so it will be cool to see what I missed

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tbf I don’t think I would have noticed it if I hadn’t watched with cc subs. I saw his name enough times that when I saw that tattoo I was like “wait a second! I’ve read that 300 times in the past hour and a half” :rofl:

I think I probably won’t read the カラオケ行こ manga (but I might watch the anime…), but I def want to check out the sequel..

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I was going to try watching カラオケ行こ this weekend, but I ended up being busy instead. :smiling_face_with_tear: I did watch テルマエ・ロマエ | L28 last weekend though, so thoughts below.

テルマエ・ロマエ

The first 30 minutes or so were my favorite part, where Lucius is just getting sucked into the present and marveling at modern Japanese bath conveniences. But then after that, the movie feels this need to add in a plot (which I understand from my friend who has read the manga isn’t in the original material) and I didn’t care for the romance-plot and couldn’t follow the politics-plot. I stopped about an hour in to get food, and was astonished I still have 40 minutes to go because the movie felt so long.

Honestly, I just preferred the disconnected episodic format of the anime.

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100% would and have missed that too, if you hadn’t mentioned it. Out of curiousity, I watched Ep. 5 of the anime, which is I think not the sequel but kind of like epilogue to what happened to 狂児 and how the tattoo came to be. I also watched the yakuza boss’ birthday contest for comparison, and I think I like the live-action singing better. But 狂児 is voiced by 小野大輔 :eyes: so maybe I will rewatch the rest too, it’s just 5 eps total.

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Finished my third watch 線は、僕を描く | L28 that I wanted to finish since it will leave the lineup after this cycle.

線は、僕を描く

For me it was quite a mellow watch, without large ups and downs. The imagery and music are beautiful, and the artwork is stunning. It made me interested in watching such a drawing performance live.

This one had subs on JFF, and with them it was a quite comfortable watch (being able to easily discern any technical terms compared to when you just “hear” the word).

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:megaphone: JFF announcement for May streaming titles

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They just announced four new streaming titles for May, starting May 7th. I will edit the top post accordingly once they are available.

:clapper_board: The 100th Love with You

On July 27th, university student Aoi Hinata has an accident. When she wakes up, Aoi Hinata finds herself in a classroom from one week before the accident.

:clapper_board: Erased

A struggling manga artist with the power to rewind time to prevent tragedies is framed for murder and thrust back into his own childhood. To clear his name, he must save a troubled classmate and uncover the dark truth behind her disappearance.

:clapper_board: THE MIRACLES OF THE NAMIYA GENERAL STORE

Three troubled youths hide overnight in an abandoned general store and discover a mysterious mailbox that connects them to letters written decades earlier. By replying to pleas for advice from the past, they become entwined in the lives and fates of strangers across time.

:clapper_board: SHODO GIRLS!!

Based on a true story, Shodo Girls tells a tale of hope and community spirit where youth and vigour meet age and wisdom to overcome the towns struggle to remain on the map.

:high_voltage: Last Chance to Watch

The following four titles currently streaming will no longer be available after 11:00 AM (JST) on Thursday, May 7.

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I finally watched カラオケ行こ, this time without subs (the first time was a while ago with English subs). I was curious how much of the 関西弁 I’d be able to catch - normally I don’t have much trouble reading it, but listening is more difficult. I understood more than I thought I would, although I think I would have had more trouble if I hadn’t both seen the movie before and read the manga. Some of the scenes with Satomi’s choir friend and the scenes where all the yakuza are shouting were pretty difficult, though.

I really enjoy stories like this that have a delightfully absurd premise and yet still have touching moments and characters that feel real. There’s also something charming about unlikely characters full-sending it in a group karaoke session.

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Btw perhaps we should vote for May’s now?

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Excited to see “The Miracles of the Namiya General Store”. I didn’t know it was a movie, but it’s based on a 東野圭吾 book that’s been on my to-read list for a while.

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:ballot_box: Voting for Featured Movie of the Month - May

With the next lineup out, it’s time to vote for our next Featured Movie of the Month! Vote for the title you would be most interested to watch and discuss together.

:ten_o_clock: Voting will remain open until 2026-05-07T02:00:00Z. The winning movie will be announced when the new lineup goes live, so we can start watching right away.

Which movie(s) are you interested in watching? (Multiple answers allowed)
0 voters
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I was wondering if I should merge the User Comments/Review section with the Line Up table…Not so happy with the layout at the moment, I have to add an archive at some point as well, and that might save some space…

Also started re-populating the public list → 📽️ Films streamed by JFF Theater | Japanese list by Pashmina | Natively

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Just a quick reminder now that we’re heading into the first week of May!

JFF Theater seems to release new titles after the first week of a month, so we’ll also use the first week to catch up - if you haven’t watched our Featured Movie yet, now’s a good time.

Secondly, 4 titles are leaving the lineup as mentioned before, so if they were on your list, make sure to check them out now!

Lastly, the poll is still open until the next release, don’t forget to vote if you haven’t yet!

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Finished カラオケ行こ in the nick of time! Really fun. Feeling a bit sleepy so no further thoughts at the moment.

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Managed to watch in for Mondays under the wire :sweat_smile:

Dunno if anyone is gonna manage to watch it in the few hours we have left, but I do quite recommend it!

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I tried to watch it the other day but it said I wasn’t allowed! :frowning: I tried changing countries, but it didn’t help …

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I had trouble on one of the browsers I use (maybe Brave?), but was able to watch it in Firefox.. maybe give a different browser a try?

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I loved that one! The comedy was just right and I really liked how everything wound up together. I think my favorite scene was the powerpoint presentation .

Oh no! :melting_face: So it happens only for that specific movie or did you watch カラオケ行こ on a different platform? Not sure if a VPN could maybe help if that browser thing mentioned by shitsurei doesn’t work.

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