The raw emotions of young love are captured in alternately ecstatic and frustrating fashion in Drowning Love, based on George Asakura's eponymous manga series.

A story we've seen from Japan a thousand times: Pretty girl transfer student from Tokyo to Hicksville falls for the brooding bad boy in class. It treats this middle school romance as if it's a little more mature than it is. What sets it apart are some of the directorial choices in editing and sound. There are some over-the-top drama moments that would kill the film if they weren't normalized by the weirdness of the overall. Almost every scene in the film is accompanied by a different piece of music. Some good, some not so good, but they all act strongly, not in the background, in shaping the emotion of the scene. And the director uses the emotion, or intensity, of the music to shape her film editing. It's not subtle, and I don't think I've seen anything like it before--at least to the extent that the whole film follows this pattern, scene after scene. _Drowning Love_ doesn't seem to care much about being a film as much as being a Live Action adaptation of a manga (which I haven't read). The director (I learned after the fact and it made perfect sense) is a 20-something young woman. It's like "Hey! One of us actually did this instead of some pervy old man!" and may explain some of the music video/video game aspects of the presentation. There's one big problem with it. Well, two. The first is: it doesn't really make sense. The second is: it starts off as a typical teen romance…

Drowning Love, adapted from George Asakura’s manga, explores an intense and mature love story between two teenagers, brought to life through strong performances, especially by Nana Komatsu. While emotionally captivating, the film feels tonally mismatched with its characters’ young ages and includes some implausible plot points. Despite minor flaws, the story offers a powerful message about love, protection, and the strength it takes to let go. Read the full review here: (Indonesian version : alunauwie.com)

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