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Piece this is something I have been meaning to review some time ago but kept putting it off. But now that I want to get through my backlog it is time to finally write this up.
So the basic plot is that the students of Bakaleya must go to the main Cattleya school while their school is worked on to be put up to standard for earthquake safety. The guys have to make sure they stay out of trouble or face being expelled. Which is made complicated with
Jimbo Makoto (
Kochi Yugo) and
Satonaka Yuki (
Jesse) still at odds with
Sakuragi Tatsuya (
Morimoto Shintaro) and his group and the head of a rival school,
Majima Kaito (
Iwamoto Hikaru), out to prove himself as the strongest of all the schools by taking
Tatsuya down.
The girls have to deal with the fact that the current class president for the 1st branch of Cattleya,
Kunesono Yuka (
Kato Rena), is unhappy with their return and is intent on proving herself to be superior.
Shingyoji Fumie (
Shimazaki Haruka) meanwhile has to decide if she will go study abroad or not.
The movie pretty much picks up where the TV series left off. This works out as there is a lot being crammed into it so having to deal with major character changes would have made it too bulky. Not that it is completely free of that with the glut of new characters thrown in. This also means some roles end up rather small, like for
Noguchi Satoshi (
Tanaka Juri),
Terakawa Maya (
Kyomoto Taiga) and
Tokumune Sayuri (
Mitsumune Kaoru), compared to the TV series.
As much as I love
Tatsunami Shohei (
Takaki Yuya) and I am glad to see
Koba Junichi (
Miyata Toshiya) actually do something, their love-triangle subplot went absolutely nowhere. In the end it really just added some comic relief, which might have been necessary as the TV comic relief duo,
Makoto and
Yuki had their roles switched. But the subplot still did not avoid feeling like fluff.
Makoto and
Yuki benefited from the movie in the fact that they finally got a bit of focus which they lacked in the TV series. And it helped that their plot was not wrapped up at the start but closer to the end. Though it was also one of those things in the movie that would have had more impact if more time was spent developing it.
I was honestly expecting
Majima Kenji (
Tamamori Yuta) to play a larger role, yet I did not mind what I got with him. Though it was rather cheesy near the end even by my standards with his connection with
Sakuragi Ren (
Uchi Hiroki). And he does broody well, which was 90% of the role right there.
But it was good for
Kaito to have an older brother as it gave us some parallels between him and
Tatsuya. And that was rather useful as there was not a lot time to spend on the new characters the movie introduced. But on the same token it is hard to feel much of anything for
Kaito because he does not stand well as a character in his own right.
And I was quite happy to find out what happened with
Tatsuya's brother,
Ren. While it was not something I was expecting it fits with the character type of delinquents with hearts of gold that the main male characters of this drama fall into.
To be honest I was mostly bored with the girls' plot. They basically retreaded what was already done with the first group of girls in the TV series, or at least the first couple of episodes worth as they did not spend much time on these characters outside of
Fumie and
Yuka. Though
Kyoka Saya (
Oba Mina) at least got to do something with being the one with the actual rivalry with
Yuka.
Fumie's plot line about deciding to go study abroad though was good though. Especially since it reflects on how she has grown as a character with her decision tying into her choice being one that she could only choose now after her experiences with the boys from Bakada.
I think they found a good way to end things for the series by keeping things open. They are only second year students so one would assume that they would continue on as they have been until graduation. And by having
Fumie leave so the love triangle will remain unsolved actually works rather well. But mainly because romantic angst and this series does not feel like a good mix and again there was more than enough going on in the movie any more would have probably just weakened it more.
I am not sure if the series warranted a movie but I am glad to have it though I think it would have done well as a SP instead. I am quite glad to have an answer about
Tatsuya's brother's death and I do not mind having the romance plot be left completely open ended.
It is a bit of a mess with all the plot lines that are going on in it but it keeps it from dragging on the other hand. I also would not recommend watching this unless you have watched the TV series first. I think a viewer new to the series would easily become lost.
