J-Wednesdays 水曜日だ！: Best 3 Japanese Romance Movies.

If a person talks about Japanese romance movies, definitely, the movie 'Koizora' will be on the top of their list of favorites. I, too, love that movie. Most of my friends who do not watch Japanese/Korean films heavily like me, had actually watched Koizora as their first Japanese romance movie. My first Japanese romance movie though was Lovely Complex, which is from a manga, and also one of my favorite stories of all time. I even consider it as the number one in my list. Now, I've talked about top listers when it comes to Japanese romance movies. These two, however, do not make my list of the best three Japanese Romance Movies. 

The criteria that I used in choosing the 'Best 3 Japanese Romance Movies' is first and the most obvious: it should have a love story. Second is that it should not have another version, either a version in another country, a drama series version, anime, or manga version. However, it could have another version but it should be the first one. Lastly and the most important of all, it should suit my taste.

In truth, I actually have four movies in mind that would fit my criteria, but the last movie that didn't make it in the cut is Hanamizuki. Ikuta Toma and Yui Aragaki starred in that film, and that was the main reason I got interested in the movie. I found it touching and beautiful, but I just don't think that it broke the record of the other three movies that I love.

Let us start with the 3rd place.

Photo taken from Wikipedia

I have watched this when I was still in high school, and I was just started to get into Japanese pop culture back then. Yui was so popular among those non-Japanese people who loves Japanese pop culture. I also like Yui and her music, that's why I watched this film. This movie is called Taiyou no Uta, which means 'a song to the sun.' Yui's character in this movie has XP, a disease that does not allow her to be exposed to sunlight. The girl lives his life the other way around, awake in the evening and asleep in the daylight. She makes music and performs at a park during late hours. One day, she falls in love with a guy who didn't know about her illness at first. 

When I first watched this, I fell in love with the soundtrack. 'Goodbye days,' 'Skyline,' and 'It's Happy Line' (all by Yui) are one of those timeless songs that I can play over and over again. That's why I think that Yui is the perfect fit for the role. The bitter-sweet love story between the two lead characters was also heartwarming; one would definitely cry a river upon watching this. The soundtrack also adds to the emotions that one would feel while getting into the movie. This is definitely one of my all time favorites.

On to the second place.

'Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru,' or 'Heavenly Forest' is the second in my top 3 list. The movie is about a girl who falls in love with a guy who loves photography. The girl also develops an interest in photography because of her attachment to the guy. They met in college, and they bonded together through photography. However, there's something about the girl that the guy doesn't know yet.. Again, like the first movie that I've introduced, this made me cry like a baby. I wonder why these Japanese romance-drama movies do that to me every single time? There's just something about the silent vibe that these Japanese romance-drama movies that triggers my emotions all the time.

This movie was actually based from a novel by Takuji Ichikawa. I still have a copy of this movie, and when I opened it just a few minutes ago, I decided that I shall watch this again. I also watched this when I was still in high school, and I thought back then that it was the most amazing romance story that I've encountered in my life. I still believe that it is though.

Now for the first place.

A collage of screenshots that I made for my post in Tumblr when I was having a withdrawal from the film. I just love it too much.

First place goes to 'Tenshi no Koi' or 'My Rainy Days.' It's basically a love story between a male college professor and a beautiful high school student. Despite both of the baggages that these two people have, they fell in love. I was and still am not a fan of teacher-student relationships in movies but this movie really made me adore their relationship. It's one of those films that was able to change my perspective on things. I think that this movie is almost a perfect one. The cinematography is so nice, and as I said before, the silent vibe of Japanese films was still present in this one. The characters were so believable, and every character (even side characters) has a story to tell. The thing, however, that I love the most about this film is the soundtrack. Unlike Taiyou no Uta, there are no musicians in this film. However, I still love the ambience that the soundtrack gives off while it plays in the movie. I even have a copy of all the soundtracks that was used in this movie.

Overall, I really love this film and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to everyone I know.

So, that was the three movies that I consider the best among the rest. There are movies that I also like but doesn't fit the criteria like Bokura ga Ita (live-action), The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (live-action), etc. I also recommend watching those movies that I've mentioned above, which is Koizora, Hanamizuki, and Lovely Complex (live-action).