Fox in Fuso (2020)

I want to rate this as high as possible... SO FREAKING BAD. but... what the hell was that?
I'm so confused. I actually have no idea how to review this movie because ... no thoughts. Just confusion.

I feel like this movie was supposed to be a part of a series and I missed the first 2 movies.
I feel like this movie was put out like a puzzle and it's up to you to put it all together with ZERO picture to go off of.
I feel like this movie was supposed to be in order but during edit, someone got tired and just dropped random moments together.

Had this movie made any sense to me, it would have been a EASY 10. I just have so many questions.
We were given so many characters and little to no background??

I don't know, it feels like a mess.

EDIT!!!!:

I plan on rewatching this ASAP because I found a different version with better(?) subs and hoping that it will shine a bit better light on everything! Because I really want this to make sense. lol

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3 Useless Foxes & Some Guy™

TLDR; A confusing mess of a story with shallow characters and underdeveloped dynamics salvaged only by the promising concept, endearing actors, and the low-key fantasy setting of the story.

Whump meter: ▲▲◭△△ (quite a bit)

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【spoiler-free】

LIKES:
► Female-centered plot.
► Female villain.
► Unusual and fun outfits.
► Unique premise.
► Nice whimsical feeling and aesthetics.
► Cute romance between the leads.
► Interesting themes.
► Story remains small and doesn't try to do more than it can.

DISLIKES:
► So much love rivalry between the three FLs
► Weak 'strong' women.
► Extremely confusing plot.
► Underdeveloped worldbuilding.
► Underdeveloped characters.
► Underdeveloped everything else.

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【!SPOILERS below!】

►CHARACTERS:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ This movie is both female-focused and female-led, meaning that even though the story ultimately is centered around a man, the focus is mostly on the women around him, including FL, SFL, and TFL, who are sisters/in a sisterhood (not sure since they refer to each other as sisters but they never clarify being related). Unfortunately, though, all three characters are quite lacking in both personality and development. Not only that, their dynamic, which one would naturally think would be an important part of a female-focused plot, is severely one-dimensional and underdeveloped.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I feel like this is worth mentioning by itself as well, that the main conflict between them is that they're all three in love with the same man... This also isn't elaborated upon or developed, so it feels ridiculous at best and flat-out insulting at worst. In the very end, they do seem to have some sisterhood going on, but it was really embarrassing to see three 10/10 immortal sisters trying to kill each other over some guy. 💀

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Then there's the ML, SML, and the antagonist. ML was quite fine. I thought he was cute, and him not being overpowered was quite refreshing for a ML in a fantasy movie/drama (in fact, he needed saving by far the most!!). His dynamic with FL was also kinda endearing, as was his dynamic with a supporting character. SML was honestly just creepy to me. He has a weird dynamic with FL, which seems to tread uncomfortably between that of a brother and that of a lover, so I wasn't a fan.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Finally, we have the villain. She was underwhelming. We don't really get a whole lot of development on her. In fact, she barely appears at all. At the very least, though, her motives weren't because of love, so it could be worse.

►ACTING:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Overall quite fine. I wasn't really expecting stellar acting, and it met my expectations. Whenever there were awkward moments, it felt more like a direction problem than any of the actor's problem, so I don't really have a lot of complaints about them.

►STORY:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Here's where the biggest issue lies. The story is incredibly confusing. It's clear after the very first scene that the drama is more on the slice-of-life, romantic end of fantasy than the epic, and I was really looking forward to that! Unfortunately, with the pacing they took, it felt more like they were aiming for a drama rather than a movie. They dwell on certain things and characters for entirely too long, then skip important parts of context or development for no reason at all. We get so little development on the antagonists, the world, the main characters, basically everything. The only thing that was somewhat decently paced was the love story.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The missing context, narrative structure, and development crippled the story so badly. Without those, it's just characters kinda doing something vaguely in the same thread as the original set-up. It's a real shame, because the synopsis and even the beginning seemed so interesting, yet the movie somehow managed to be both too slow and too rushed at the same time, making it overall just confusing.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Another issue was with the power level of the three FLs. They're supposed to be powerful immortals, and we're shown that even though their power is limited due to circumstances, they can still do quite a bit, yet when actually needed, they seem so pathetic. This inconsistency was especially noticeable with FL. On one hand, she can carry ML on her back from one dimension onto the other, but she can't even break free from some ribbon binding her arms. I'm so confused.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Then there's the original premise, which is vaguely that because the Sun God had disappeared, all the men of the mortal world no longer had emotions. Not only is this portrayed extremely stupidly, but it's also not developed further than this. It's only really brought up in a handful of throwaway scenes. In the end, we don't even get to see what ends up happening to the mortal world. Was the issue fixed? If so, how did men cope with suddenly being able to feel again? We don't know.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Overall, I really think the story seemed very promising and had a lot of potential (it was especially quite unique, with it being female-centered and having a unique setting and all). I believe it would've worked better as a drama of at least 12 episodes where the world, plot, characters, dynamics, and backstory could be (better) developed.

►PRODUCTION:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Overall, quite satisfactory. It doesn't try to be epic, so the CGI use is not as terrible as in other, more ambitious movies/dramas. It's still noticeably low budget in terms of sets, outfits, etc., but of the watchable and not too-noticeable kind. The cinematography, however, was quite nice. It had some really nice shots.

Final Note: I watched it with good subtitles on Viki, so I don't think I was lacking context in terms of bad translations. The story is simply confusing.

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◇ Was it what I was expecting? Not quite.
◆ Did it live up to its potential? Definitely no.
◇ Would I watch it again? Maybe (Despite everything, I still enjoyed it).
◆ Would I recommend it to others? Maybe.

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