Marcus Luis V.

Glindro October 9, 2019

COMM 10/B1

I. Reaction Paper
As a celebration of the Philippines-Japan friendship month, a group of
schools in Baguio city and Japanese foundations held the EIGASAI 2019 or
known locally as the Baguio Japanese Film Festival. The movies that the
class watched are some of the entries of Japanese schools to the Grand Prix
films at Eiga world cup for high school students. The three films are
Sisyrinchium (2018), Dreams: To be Continued (2017) and All for your smile
(2015). The films cover different captivating storyline each with their own
unique style of storytelling and cinematography to capture the audience’s
interest and humor at the same time.
The first film is “All for your smile” and it tells a story about a shy high
school student who really hates the environment he is in. He is the type of
student who has his own world during class and is always by himself until he
noticed the depression of the girl that he likes. He notices that she is not
smiling anymore and is always sad. Because of that, he gained the courage
to join the talent show just to make her smile. At first, he does not know
what ace he will do, until he met another student willing also to join the
talent show. The two then decided to do a comedy act so that they can have
the chance to make to girl smile. The story ended as they pursue the act. As
a shy and introverted high school student, it took a lot of courage and
determination to do that kind of action for someone. I find this story very
sweet because I somehow understand what he is going through. It is like
you are battling your ego and crossing your limits just to see that girl smile
again.
“Sisyrinchium” is the second film we watched, Sisyrinchium is a small
type of flower that is a great complement to other flowers during gardening.
This resembles the protagonist of the film, Miyako Goto who have always
observed that her hard work is always being overshadowed by someone
else. She always feels that someone is always stealing the spotlight for all
the deeds that she has done. The story took a wild curve of events as her
best friend took the credit for something that Miyako Goto worked hard
doing. The story came to an end as she ended her deep relationship with her
best friend. The ending of this short film is sad for me, but I think it is
relatable these days that you should not be afraid or feel bad to cut toxic
relationships because even though it hurts, it will set you free. This is
evident in the ending of the film because for the first time, she does now
Marcus Luis V. Glindro October 9, 2019
COMM 10/B1

want to be overshadowed anymore and she wanted now to bloom all by

herself and getting the credit she deserves a long time ago.
Finally, the last film was the “Dreams: To be continued” and it tells the
story of a girl named Erika who is fond of writing novels and is a crucial
member of the literary department in her school. She was stunned one day
as she knew that she will write the story of a role-playing presentation with
Teito, the boy she really likes, being one of the protagonists. Erika is
somehow worried because when she is writing, she could not always write to
the end, most of her works noticed by her best friend does not always have
an ending. Erika and her friends had a hard time finishing the task but, in
the end, she used her interactions with Teito as her inspiration in finishing
the story for the first time. The sad thing about the film is that, Erika
watched Teito being with someone else.
As I have observed throughout the three films, there is always an
“inspiration” of the protagonist. When I say inspiration, from the technical
definition of the word itself, it is like a driving force for you to achieve your
goals and it is anything that pushes you to be at your best just like how the
boy in film “All for your smile” gained the courage to do the comedy act, how
Miyako Goto of “Sisyrinchium” became determined to be free from the
shadows of others and how Erika from the short movie “Dreams: To be
Continued” finish the story she is writing with the help of Teito inspiring her.
Another thing that I have observed is how they portray the scenes and their
way of telling the story, it is very synonymous to the characters in “Anime”.
Animes are animation shows from Japan with complex plots and are like
cartoons from other countries. The basis of mine for saying that is because,
some of the actions of the characters from the three films are exaggerated
and they tend to focus on details of the individuals and the environment.
Overall, I really enjoyed the three films because I find it amusing and we
had a glimpse of the Japanese cultures in schools. If there is something that
I have learned from the films, it is to always have something to hope for,
always be inspired because that will be your driving force and your reason to
push through your goals and achieve it someday. As what they say in Japan,
頑張ってください! (Ganbatte kudasai) which means “Do your best!”.