I loved the manga

I just watched the live-action movie of this (on youtube, search for the english title plus "eng sub"), and I was really hoping I wouldn't have to say this, but the manga is so much better. I didn't want to be that person in the youtube comments complaining that "the book was way betttttttter!", so I came here instead to post my list of grievances since everyone here has read the manga...

In advance: I'm sorry this is so meandering; this is just venting. The manga is really great, please read it if you haven't. The movie is ok, but is hard to like if you've read the manga IMO.

(spoilers for the live-action movie)
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Overall. I don't know why they changed so many of the details of the story. The reason people love this story so much is that it's a very well-written story. The details don't need to be changed to such a degree for a screenplay like this, and it actively ruins some of the character dynamics when its done. Stories like this are carefully constructed, with setups/payoffs, since all they have is a character story to tell, and if you start removing and reworking things from early in the story, the later stuff that you do decide to keep from the source is not properly setup and/or comes out of nowhere and makes it feel shoved-in, like you missed a scene somewhere that properly set it up.

Now I don't mean things like Mitsuomi's dad's business being changed to a furniture-making business (although that does introduce a subtle complication that doing something like that is a skill you learn over a lifetime, and if Mitsuomi doesn't know anything about it now, it's probably too late for him to learn). Nor do I mean something like Mitsuomi working at jii-chan's farm, which he never did in the manga. Or Yamato picking Mitsuomi up from the train station at the beginning of the story, which he never did in the comic. These don't have to be bad changes, but if you do make them, you must make sure that what you replace it with does as much character- and plot-work as possible, and that you don't miss covering anything important from the source material that's been cut that's going to bite you in the butt later.

I guess I'll swap over to talking about the characters here.

I did like Mitsuomi's actor, and I didn't initially think I would from looking at pics of him online. But he was fine in this movie. However Mitsuomi's character in the movie was portrayed as a conceited snobby layabout, which wasn't right at all. In the manga, he came home from Tokyo because he was disillusioned. He was someone who had a firm grasp of right and wrong, who spoke his mind, and frequently got in trouble for it, but he never looked down on people. But in the movie he basically wrinkles his nose at helping out on jii-chan's farm. And he immediately corrects his dad after walking in from Tokyo, saying, "well ackshully, I resigned," which destroys that whole subplot from the manga and makes him seem like a snot. In the comic he had already been working in his dad's shop for 6 months and knew all the ins and outs of the job before asking him about taking it over; the movie made him walk in from Tokyo with no clue how to do any of of the work and immediately propose that he be the one to take it over, which was just argggghhhh... It makes him look so bad, when he wasn't like that in the comic. Also, a minor point, but Movie Mitsuomi also didn't really do his dry bickering nearly as much as in the comic, and that was one of his more endearing traits. It was present here and there, but not nearly enough, esp with his parents, etc.

And I hate to say this, but early-on Yamato came across in the movie like he was mentally retarded rather than endearing and nice and sweet. There are ways to portray someone hiding behind a smile, but this wasn't it. Some of problems were from how his actor portrayed the part, but some of the problems were from how the story was pointlessly rewritten. All of the early endearing scenes of him from the manga were cut from the movie and were replaced by him being annoying instead all the while grinning like an idiot. Also, all the scenes of him correcting Mitsuomi in the hot-house were so irritating. I mean, Mitsuomi deserved to be corrected, but it was done in an annoying way by Yamato instead of a likeable way. I also hated the way he said Mitsuomi's name; it grated on my nerves throughout the whole movie and he said it soooooo many times. I don't know why his character was written/rewritten this way, but I do think Yamato's portrayal was the biggest factor that turned me off from the movie.

Also, one of the biggest issues with respect to Yamato was that the movie never really conveyed Yamato coming to like Mitsuomi. They were just shoved into the scenes together, but that doesn't mean they like each other. Heck, as far into the movie as when jii-chan was hurt and Ueda came over to help at the hot-house, you got the sense that Yamato was annoyed with Mitsuomi rather than liking him, and this was after the initial kiss! I mean I get that Mitsuomi was having a moment and messing up his work, but you would think that someone who like-likes him would 1) notice he was upset, and 2) be sympathetic and help him, rather than shooing him off somewhere else because he didn't want to deal with it. What in the what even happened here?

Speaking of Ueda, they changed Yamato's friend's name from Harada to Ueda for the movie (whyyyyyy?), and his character was completely different. He no longer seemed kinda cool or had that straight-guy big-dick energy from the comic. His character in the movie was just snivelly. And all of the movie's early plot stuff felt really forced with Ueda's character, like "do you wanna know his secret??", and the "he has a girlfriend", etc. These things didn't happen naturally as a result of characters being in the scene together for grounded reasons and conversing normally; they were just shoved into the movie in clunky ways to get the work of the plot done so that they could move on to the next scene. And Ueda wasn't even in enough scenes with them together to have seen any kind of longing expression on Mitsuomi's face to presume that he knows Mitsuomi like-likes Yamato, to even bother saying the things he does about Yamato's secret, or gf, or whatever. Just, arrrrrrgh!

Why did they shove in some dialogue about jii-chan wanting to see the faces of his grandchildren when in the comic jii-chan never pressured Yamato about this at all? It disgusted me because this sort of thing is normally used to show a lack of consideration of the character in question, and jii-chan was always shown in the comic to be intensely sensitive to Yamato's fragility over being abandoned.

Too much time was spent on the dad/furniture-making scenes, when it was not the primary plot of the story. More of this should've been cut, and that time used to build up Mitsuomi's/Yamato's relationship better instead. Like in the comic, these scenes should've been put into scenes of Mitsuomi on his way to dealing with something Yamato-related, rather than being scenes all on their own. Mitsuomi's valiant speech to his dad fell flat for me because the movie never showed Mitsuomi trying to do anything related to the business before that, when ostensibly Mitsuomi should've been sneaking in at night and trying to do a few things on his own. This was partially ruined by the movie making Mitsuomi go work at jii-chan's farm instead of working in his dad's business like he did in the manga, which would've allowed this subplot to progress more naturally as bits and pieces, and still get a proper build-up. This is what I mean by watching what you cut/change early-on, and making sure you're covering all your bases when you do cut/change things. :/

Also why shove bad romance tropes into a well-written story that weren't there in the original? Tropes are generally things you would cut from an adaptation, not add. When Mitsuomi trips and falls in the hot-house and Yamato catches him, I just rolled my eyes. When the girl is introduced to help jii-chan after his accident and Mitsuomi gets upset and runs away, it was so frustrating to watch. The awkward bath scene seemed almost pandering. This sort of stuff is a waste of time. Everything in the comic was much more natural and not stupid like this; why change it to make it stupid??

Now, I don't normally watch jdramas, so maybe this is a more general problem of how jdramas are made, but this director didn't seem to know how to visually convey emotions of characters without the aid of forced dialogue, especially those who are in turmoil. Comics have a lot of inner monologue/rumination in them, but you can't do that in a movie, and have the challenge of having to figure out how to convey these things visually instead. And there is a cinematic language for doing this that wasn't used at all here. There could've been scenes filmed from Yamato's perspective of him wistfully watching Mitsuomi thru a hot-house window as Mitsuomi's heading home. Or only showing half of Yamato's face while he bites his lip while we get a flashback to the initial kiss. Or have Mitsuomi catch Yamato staring, and then Yamato awkwardly plays it off. Sneaking glances is so easy to do and it was never used for some reason during the build-up phase. Certainly put in a montage of them driving around doing deliveries and horsing around in the truck, and actually having fun with each other; more scenes of them driving around were sorely needed to properly set up the seat-switching scene later, and a montage like this would've fit right in with all the nice atmospheric soundtrack pieces already in the movie.

The scene at the hospital of Yamato "breaking down" after jii-chan's fall was a stand-out badly set up and filmed scene. It was really awkward and very uncomfortable to watch because it felt like acting rather than a natural emotional scene. It wasn't filmed properly at all -- like, first show Yamato's hand shaking in jii-chan's room while Yamato is smiling and chatting, with underwater-sounding/obscured dialogue coming from Yamato so that the focus is on the hand (from Mitsuomi's perspective). Then cast Yamato in shadow as he exits the room with the top of his face cut off while he swallows hard and brightly says he'll visit jii-chan tomorrow (have his voice break on the last syllable, but him play it off), meanwhile Mitsuomi is still cast in the light of the room behind him, looking at him with worry. Then, in the truck, have Yamato start the car but not put it in gear. Have the silence become awkward as Mitsuomi realizes Yamato's about to have a moment. Anyway, this is just one example of a better way to have built up to this moment or conveyed Yamato's distress without a forced-sounding monologue.

Also, I'd like to add that when jii-chan hurts himself, so much more could've been done with this scene as well to convey Yamato's distress. Have Mitsuomi rushing around in the background competently taking charge of the situation rather than standing there like he's confused. Have a shot of Yamato hovering over jii-chan, frozen like a deer in headlights, with a look of terror on this face, and have the sound of Mitsuomi's 911 call in the background fade out into obscurity to only clearly hear Yamato's rapidly-increasing heartbeat fading in. Why was this scene so badly filmed?

Well, I guess it's time to stop. I can't really find it in me to rail about all 98 minutes of the movie. I guess the fact that this movie got made is better than it not getting made. I couldn't really connect with it, but it wasn't a bad movie by itself. And we really do need more movies depicting relationships like this done in a serious and considerate way. The music was good, certainly. The park scene was well-done and properly emotional. The scene of Mitsuomi yelling at his boss was great.

However, I'm still salty I never got to see the scene I was waiting for of Yamato climbing in to Mitsuomi's house through the porch/window (whatever you call it) and having Mitsuomi tell him to use the front door next time. That was like one of their classic "them" moments from the comic. :(

Ah whatever. The manga is still around, and it's great, and so is the sequel. If you haven't read it, go do it now!