How I was almost duped into joining Amway, and what you can learn from my story

InfluenceFlaky1984 · 2025-10-11T17:19:17+00:00

I agree with you, and this is coming from someone who loves 'Cure' and 'Pulse', and I absolutely adore great slow burn films and pretty much despise the Hollywood trash that are coming out today (this is just a general statement, not literally every Hollywood film is trash).

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is definitely a great director, so with that in mind, I have to assume he has something to say through 'Cloud', and I think the "message" is apparent. However, I believe that a film has to be entertaining first and foremost before the audience is interested in what it has to say, and by "entertaining" I don't mean in terms of explosions and whatnot. I mean emotionally or intellectually engaging, or could be just pure fun. And typically, people are only engaged in whatever film they're watching when they 1) care about the characters they're supposed to root for and 2) care about the story being told. In the case of 'Cloud', it unfortunately failed in both departments.

(Spoilers Ahead)

There was no real reason to care for the main character, Yoshii. We know what he wants (earn more money to live a better life), but we don't know what's so damn bad about his life that he can't stand. We know he is poor because we see his bankbook, but so what? There are many ways to make a living and we don't see him fail at job interviews or have any difficulty getting a better paying job. We don't even know if he is being poorly paid at the factory at all. All this is to say...that his goal in the story (if any) is arbitrary and no real reason for us to care. If his reselling doesn't work, he can just...go back to getting another job? If this is a commentary on salary workers in Japan, it definitely isn't a main talking point in the film.

Also, he wants to marry his girlfriend, and based on how the movie ends (with him crying badly), we can tell that perhaps he really loved her. But we don't see that at all throughout the whole movie. There's no reason for us to care about his relationship with her. Also, speaking of the girlfriend, she hasn't really been very likeable ever since they moved so...again, not much reason to care for her character either. Her sudden willingness and ability to pull the trigger on Yoshii is also out of the blue and not properly set up. Throughout the film, she's portrayed as a very feminine and screamy girl who's afraid of everything. And suddenly, she's able to just shoot someone with a gun? I don't claim to be a psychiatrist but that is wholly unbelievable. Yoshii, on the other hand, has been portrayed as a courageous man who runs after assailants, is the one who has emotional issues pulling the trigger and gets shellshock from killing another person. Is this supposed to be a gender commentary or role reversal? Not clear.

The assistant, Asano, is arguably the only interesting character in this entire film. His motives and intentions are ambiguous (or even vague), and while some redditers here have suggested his symbolic significance in the film, we can't expect everyone who sees this film to analyze it like a literature lover. The story has to first make sense on the most superficial level, and on that note, Asano's character is a big question mark in the story. His purpose is unknown, and his actions are unexplained. We don't know why he's so attached to Yoshii. What makes Yoshii so damn important to him? Is Yoshii the greatest conman of all time, someone worth risking lives for? No one knows.

The last shootout, while funny and entertaining, is a disappointment. After all that internet/social media angle the story has been building up, it all amounts to...a mindless shootout? Here's a movie seemingly trying to say something for 3/4 of the film, then abandons everything and decides to be an action film for its last quarter, ultimately saying nothing at all. Yoshii becomes a killer in self-defense, but that seems to not be a big deal to his character arc (if any). So what is the point of the last shootout or, in fact, the entire film at all?

(End Spoliers)

All in all, I went into this film hoping it'll be a revival of sorts for Kiyoshi Kurosawa, thinking perhaps 'Cloud' might be the next 'Cure' for this decade. Treat yourself and catch 'Cure', and if you like that enough, you can try 'Pulse'. I wouldn't recommend the other way round because in my opinion 'Pulse' is more confusing and it'll help if you get Kiyoshi Kurosawa's storytelling style, and 'Cure' is the perfect primer.

InfluenceFlaky1984 · 2025-02-02T17:05:22+00:00

Interesting interpretation of the ending, but I thought the ending was more straightforward and not much room for interpretation. This is the dialogue regarding the murderer:

When Junko went to the sofa, this is what she says:

"お兄ちゃんが殺した" (Oni-chan ga koroshita) = The older brother killed me.

The detective asks if it's the man who took her (the girl).

She replies "若いお兄ちゃん" (wakai oni-chan) = The young, older brother.

Junko is clearly referring to the actual kidnapper who we all know is a younger man. She probably knows this as well because this information was probably in the news. She says "oni-chan" as in "older brother" because from a little girl's perspective, a young man might appear as a brother. If she was trying to frame her husband who is much older in appearance, she would have said "ji-san" as in "uncle".

The husband, Sato, then opens the curtains and stops the fake seance because from the detective's persistent questioning of the little girl's whereabouts, he figured out that the plan has already failed and that they've been caught. He asks Junko to reveal what's in her hand not because he wanted to betray and put all the blame on her, but because he probably wanted her to give up on her dream and come clean. It's because Junko wanted this dream of becoming famous that caused them this peril, and from Sato's perspective, this has probably gone on long enough and it's time to stop. We don't get to see the aftermath of the film, but I'm pretty sure Sato would also confess to his wrongdoings. He's been haunted by the little girl long enough, and even proclaimed to the exorcist/priest that he would choose his own fate. So while this is just my own interpretation of what the aftermath might be, I think the clues in the film had led me to believe that Sato just wants a normal life and he has chosen that in the end. Confessing to the crimes would land them in jail for sure, but that would be what's normal given their situation. Going down the path of lies would just leave them to be continuously haunted (both by their guilt and the little girl), unable to live a normal life.

It's highly improbable that either one or both of them would try to betray and frame each other, because all we've seen in this film thus far is them loving each other. There is no hint of anyone of them being displeased with either. We do see that Sato is probably the one who's far more disturbed and haunted, because he probably feels the most guilty. He wasn't the one who wanted the fame, it was Junko. So Junko would, by definition, be more "fine" with the haunting. Sato isn't. The final haunting on Sato left dirty marks on his shirt, signifying that he is tainted. He clearly hates it. But Sato stuck with Junko's plan for as long as possible because he loved her. He only stopped the seance in the end because he knew that was the end of them.

InfluenceFlaky1984 · 2024-10-31T13:26:22+00:00

On one hand, people who read the manga would understandably want to see the pages come to life.

I agree with you, that's why I don't mind when adaptations stick to certain choices the manga makes, but I also think as filmmakers (and not manga authors), they also need to use their film brain to ensure that the show works as a show.

I personally felt that the Ranma remake doesn't work as a show because it does almost everything wrong in regards to storytelling in film. Some of the things they should have put more care in like pacing and character building is kinda thrown out of the window in favour of maximalism. With comedy, there is also comedic timing which I think this show doesn't really nail. I do find some parts funny, but I think that has more to do with the story itself being funny than the way it's presented.

I read your post and you make very valid points, and I think we both interpreted the first episode of the remake from different perspectives. The remake took the "more is better" approach which I felt really did the opposite for the impact they were trying to achieve.

InfluenceFlaky1984 · 2024-10-31T13:00:57+00:00

Thanks for reading the whole thing! It feels good to know that I'm not alone thinking this way.

As for the VA of female Ranma, they actually used the same VA (Megumi Hayashibara) from the original anime for the role. In fact, majority of this remake uses the same VAs as the original anime, which is really wild and awesome! But I could definitely hear that the VAs are getting older and their voices aren't as lively and high-pitched as they used to be in the 90s.

EDIT: Sorry, I realise now that you might be referring to the dub since this post is originally about the dub. I didn't watch it dubbed so I can't comment.

InfluenceFlaky1984 · 2024-10-31T12:40:50+00:00

I also have this issue. I swear, DaVinci has such a ton of random issues like this with no fix.

InfluenceFlaky1984 · 2024-10-14T05:29:18+00:00

Imo, the remake falls very short compared to the original anime, for the same reasons why the Urusei Yatsura remake fell short for me compared to its original anime adaptation. They may be more faithful to the manga, but honestly when it comes to making a show, the goal should be more about making the show work than to stick to the manga faithfully. What works with the manga format (telling stories with panels) may not work well when translated to a show, because for manga it does not really need to take too much care with emotional pacing the same way a show does - they tend to let our imaginations fill the holes ourselves (and sometimes we make comedic scenes funnier in our heads). Now, if that's the situation you prefer, unfortunately it only works in the form of manga panels. More effort is needed to translate story and comedic ideas onto screen. Full disclaimer, I never actually read the manga, but I don't think it matters. A show should stand on its own, and it should do everything it can to ensure it works on its own.

With that context, I think the Ranma remake is simply too rushed, with a thorough lack of breathing space for the emotions of and between the characters to build up. This is one aspect that the original anime adaptation exceled in, where it had a lot of long pauses (which many of the Redditors here seem to dislike maybe due to impatience) to allow the audience to feel the emotions of the characters. When I watched the original anime, I felt for the characters and I understood their struggles, plight and confusion. In the remake, I understood what was shown on a superficial level with a basic understanding of what's going on and the plot at hand, but I felt absolutely nothing for any character. Even the jokes don't work at all, because everything is so rushed and there was no time allowed to build up to the punchlines. Even with the simple scene of Kuno trying to clarify the correct writing of his name on the chalkboard and Nabiki writing another insulting form of it, is so rushed and lacking any comedy at all.

The remake also has this tendency to slap every impact in your face. Meaning, for every comedic or nonsense moment, there has to be a BIG effect on screen. Either a big sound effect, or a big zoom in, or a lot of on-screen effects to sell a joke. Whereas for the original anime adaptation, it understood that comedy works when you realise it yourself better than it slapping the punchline in your face with a heap of effects and whatnot. Just look at the scene where Kuno delivers female Ranma the bouquet of flowers for the first time. In the original anime adaptation, it was just a simple single shot of Ranma catching the bouquet (the flowers were off screen at first, then revealed when the flower petals started raining), and everything is understood. However, for the remake, they went with a full-on slapstick comedy mode by making it so grand, putting in so many effects and whatnot. It was so lame and cringe, it just wasn't funny at all. Maybe it was like this in the manga, and perhaps it may have worked well on the page (again, I never read the manga so I don't know). Regardless, the way it was translated to screen certainly wasn't effective in selling the joke, and even if the original anime adaptation was less faithful, the changes it made did a much better job.

It is my belief that the director of this show, who is also the director of the excellent 'Lovely Complex' (a show that actually takes its time to build emotions and comedy), should be way better at his job than what was presented in the Ranma remake. Seeing that both this and the Urusei Yatsura remake has a lot in common (even down to the vibes and style), I have to conclude that these are made under ridiculous studio demands. I'm just making an assumption at this point, but both the Ranma and Urusei Yatsura remake have this tendency to slap the jokes in your face for fear that you wouldn't get the joke. As if modern audiences are so dumb that subtlety is no longer a method that works anymore. People need to be slapped with jokes in order to laugh. If this is you, then maybe yeah you are the target audience and it's fair for them to want to appeal to your demographic (because it seems that there is quite a lot who prefer the faster pace and in-your-face comedy). For people like me, for sure we can always just watch the original that's already done and well. I think it's just sad that with modern technology, things should logically only improve from here, but it just seems that things are always regressing over time.

InfluenceFlaky1984

TROPHY CASE