Demekin (2017)

Demekin reminded me of High and Low series, and not because Yamada Yuki was the lead of the movie. The story was packed with action scenes, fighing and blood. The vibe was a bit strange at first, but you get used to it. The plot begins with the two boys playing around and then it just narrates the journey of the main character and how he became the leader of a gang. So, for a gang-action-fighting movie, this one was good. However, the story itself was just okay. I guess the visuals and the performances were those that supported this movie rather than the plot line. So seven out of ten.

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I honestly don't know what it is about Demekin that feels a bit superficial tbh. Something about the relationships is very surface level but it's entertaining for the most part. It was mostly about friendship between the two main leads but I felt like they were not very expressive toward each other in the right way, they kept saying a bunch of stuff but you don't feel their bond. They just didn't do it right imo so it just fell flat on the whole. Over Drive with Mackenyu suffers from the same but at least the way Over Drive is made is very entertaining and especially Mackenyu not only sold me on his character but you see that love hate thing going on in his eyes, so you feel it too. But Demekin was very trite and even annoying in places. But the final showdown that was done well and so is the violence and most of the action so like I said, it's not terrible either but you won't be missing anything if you didn't watch it.

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Yamada Yuki in another movie about gangs. He seems to have an affinity for this type of movies ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This reminded me a lot of High & Low in its vibe because Masaki & Atsunari didn't start a gang to do evil things or whatever but simply to have friends and never to get bullied again and be cool and stuff. Kinda naive - a bit at least - but at the same time, it was going well for them until another gang decided to invade their territory.

And that was when it got brutal. The attack on Atsunari (Yamada Yuki) was... yikes, especially the second one in the hospital because it was so unexpected and the raw brutality of it chilling. I think that this was the most cold blooded thing I've seen in a while.

My favorite thing was the friendship between Masaki & Atsunari, their loyalty to each other. And Atsunari's relationship with Aki. When Atsunari decided not to attend high school because he couldn't let his girlfriend work while he was going to school, that was honestly so touching. I also loved that Aki wasn't all set up against Atsunari being in a gang, she pretty much accepted all the guys as their extended family, annoying but lovable. Aki was truly awesome and her and Atsunari's love so genuine!

And the thing was, this movie was about very poor people. Atsunari was working in a ramen shop, Aki at a gas station, they were 17 and they already started a family, doing their best to support each other with no education and a low income. But they never let it get them down.

So, a good action movie with some nice Yamada Yuki whump for a good measure! Nice!

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