Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru (Heavenly Forest)

“She used to lie very often. I want to be fooled by her lies just a little longer.”

Casts:

Tamaki Hiroshi as Makoto

Aoi Miyazaki as Shizuru

Review:

First off, Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru literally translates to Just, Loving You however its international title  is Heavenly Forest.

This drama has been in my wish list for a long time and I already started watching this before via the Internet but for some reason, I didn’t continue. We didn’t have Internet connection then and I was still renting somewhere and the connection was just bad. It was only last month that I finally remembered this movie and decided to continue watching it.

It stars my favorite Tamaki Hiroshi (of Nodame Cantabile) as Makoto, a shy and awkward university student who met a strange girl named Shizuru played by the beautiful Aoi Miyazaki. The two became friends and because Makoto likes photography, Shizuru also took up the hobby so she can always be with him. He took landscape pictures while she took pictures of people. Shizuru fell in love with Makoto however he likes another girl named Miyuki.  Shizuru decided that she would like Miyuki too because Makoto likes her and she wanted to support his love. One day, Shizuru told Makoto that she wants to take a photo of them kissing for a competition. Makoto obliges and they went to the forest to take the picture. They had their first kiss. After that, she disappeared from his life.

I totally loved this movie. I mentally cursed myself for forgetting about it for quite sometime.

At start, it may seem like a romantic comedy and basic formulas of previous movies would come to mind. We see Aoi Miyazaki, looking extremely strange, wearing big eyeglasses, talking funny, and walking weird. We know in an instant that she would transform into someone beautiful. When the glasses were taken off, there was no doubt who’s beautiful.

But it’s not just a romantic comedy, it is also has drama, complete with a tearjerker and beautiful ending.

Everything was absolutely likable. The pacing was just right, the cinematography was beautiful, and the characters were a perfect mix. I was even amazed to find out that Miyuki – the girl Makoto likes – who I thought would be going to be a simple character and shallow character actually has layers.

A beautiful movie also got to have a beautiful soundtrack. The song is Renai Shashin and it is performed by Otsuka Ai.

Kudos to Aoi Miyazaki for a great performance. She would totally win everyone’s hearts in this drama. She’s endearing, she’s cute, she’s just absolutely lovable! And her picture at the end, beautiful!

And I found a new respect for Tamaki Hiroshi’s acting. I already love him way before because of his work in my favorite drama but I was wondering if that was just my fangirling side thinking. But in this drama, Tamaki showed a different side of himself. He was great as the confident Chiaki in Nodame Cantabile but he was also compelling in this movie as the shy and awkward Makoto. He’s good in acting awkward! But when the time fast forwards to his present year (out of college already) we see that those awkwardness is already gone and he actually grew up as a mature young man. Well done!

Maybe you’re wandering what’s the quote above is all about. If I reveal it, it would be too much of a spoiler and I don’t want to spoil it because the ending was special and it would be nice if you experience it yourself.

The kiss was uber beautiful and romantic by the way.

Totally recommended!