Colour me surprised! The movie was lovely.

I avoided Strobe Edge, the manga and the movie like a plague because the premise sounded like something I would want nothing to do with. But the cinematography of the movie seemed sweet (which was really really great) and my best friend wanted to give it a shot so, we watched it.

I’m really glad that we did. The premise wasn’t misleading, the story really was about tangled relationships of a group of high schoolers but the execution was nothing like I feared. The characters communicated. It was so refreshing. They were all acting like adults and communicating their problems and there weren’t a single character I disliked. I could symphatize with them and always understand the reasoning behind their actions. I really liked our heroine and her positivity. It didn’t feel fake, she felt like someone I would love to be friends with in real life. Same goes for the lovable hero, who is like a unicorn.

Also this movie was one of the rare instances where I could feel the attraction between the leads. Their romance was believable and it made me giddy. I found myself rooting for them not because they were the hero and heroine of the story, but because I really wanted them together. Most of the time we have to take the heroine’s word for her feelings towards the hero. But in this movie, I could see and feel it. I loved it so much.

The dialog in the movie was really well written. I don’t know if it was the director’s skills but the scenes were natural and felt real. It’s not only thanks to the dialog though. There were some artistic choices that helped with this sense of realism. The movie was mostly made of diegetic sounds, which are sounds that are only present in the scene itself and not an outside song playing in the background. I’m not a film buff, so the only other example I can think of is the movie Before Sunrise and its sequels. It made everything feel more grounded and real.

I feel like, the director really cared for the movie. I don’t know much about him (definitely going to check out his other works) but he could easily went the way of filming it like any other shoujo manga adaptation. I’m not saying this because I don’t respect the works of other shoujo adaptation movie directors, because I do. But I felt like, he put just an extra effort and it showed. I don’t know.

I really liked this movie, and definitely going to rewatch it in the future and if you are having second thoughts because of the premise, I suggest you to still give it a shot.

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