I have never been a fan of drama movies; in fact the first thing that brought me to the Asian genre was action and kungfu movies. But since the last few months I decided to give a chance to Asian drama movies, maybe they also have something different from those US cliché movies that I love to hate so much. To my surprise I have been really impressed by Korean drama, I still hardly believe that some titles really touched me in a way that no movies have ever done. In my opinion those who really master the drama genre are the Koreans, with great movies such as Il Mare, Christmas in August and Failan just to name a few. I didn't have the chance to see a lot of Japanese drama, but I decided to give a chance to Aprils Story just to see if they can compete against the Koreans.

I remember a Japanese movie that I have seen a few years ago called "Swallowtail Butterfly", I was not really impressed by the movie but a lot of people that I know really loved it. I was really surprised when I saw that April Story was also directed by the same director: Shunji Iwai. But April Story and Swallow Tail are very different, even if both share a very beautiful cinematography, Swallowtail is a lot darker that Aprils Story which is a drama with some subtitle humor, about a young girl who tries to fit into her new situation. The story is very simple, believable and especially fun to follow. The only down side of the story is in my opinion the ending…I wanted more! It would have been great to know what will happen to the characters. The movie is also really short, about 1H5 min, but it stills a great story and even with the short ending I found it very enjoyable and heart cheerful.

The movie really focuses on only one character, which is Nireno, played marvelously by Takako Matsu. There's a great deal of development for that character and even if the movie doesn't give a lot of screen time to other secondary characters, we are never bored to watch that small girl trying so hard to fit into her new life. It's true that the character was not really original, stereotyped as the beautiful girl who is very shy and doesn't have a lot of friends. But I think that was a strong point of the character, in the sense that the story would not have worked the same way with a girl who would have had a strong attitude toward the life.

Expecting a typical drama, I was really surprised with the humor in the movie, it also ended up being my favorite aspect of the whole movie. But wait, don't expect April Story to be a comedy or you will miss the whole point; the humor is there to only create a balance between the dramatic and comedy aspect of the story. The humor is very light and subtle, in fact very simple and typical Japanese humor. The drama part was also very simple, but it was not the type of love story that tries every trick in the book to make you cry. Instead it developed on the theme that life can be sometime hard but great things can happen when you least expect it.

As much as it can surprise you with the great scenery or by his cheerful story, April Story is a really beautiful movie that has a lot to offer. Maybe those who cant live without bloody action will probably have a good sleep but if you are attracted by this kind of movie, be sure to not miss it.