Haikara-san Here Comes Miss Modern Part One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Haikara-san Here Comes Miss Modern Part One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2018

A certain #metoo element runs through Haikara san: Here Comes Miss Modern, though more with regard to female empowerment and “I’m not going to take this any more” sensibilities than outright sexual harassment. Interestingly, then, it’s perhaps salient to note that this first half of a two part feature film series actually stems from a now long ago manga and subsequent television series which were popular during an era flush with another female empowerment movement, namely “women’s liberation”. It’s actually a bit odd for Haikara san: Here Comes Miss Modern to be experiencing a “rebirth” of sorts literally decades after its first flowering, but perhaps surprisingly, the story’s sweet, unaffected aspects help to deliver a pleasing entertainment that will appeal especially to young girls who don’t like society telling them how to behave or what’s “appropriate” for them.

Taking place during the epochal Taisho Era, and with hints of global calamities like World War I lurking in the background, Haikara san: Here Comes Miss Modern follows the adventures of the tomboyish Benio Hanamura, who attends a “prep” school of sorts where she’s being schooled to become a wife and mother, in a society that still emphasized arranged marriages. Benio of course is having none of it, except that the young soldier her father has told her will be her husband actually catches her eye before she even knows about the “arrangement”. Anyone who has seen any “star-crossed lover” anime will probably know the general trajectory of this tale (even if this first half ends on a kind of cliffhanger), but the characters here are quite distinctive and the overall ambience rather sweet and heartfelt.

Haikara-san Here Comes Miss Modern Part One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Haikara san: Here Comes Miss Modern is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Right Stuf with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This 2017 production looks excellent in high definition, with clear and well defined line detail and an appealing if not especially boisterous palette. Beniro tends to wear a lot of purples and pinks, and even her hair has a kind of violet tint to it, and that blue-red end of the spectrum probably pops the most distinctively throughout the presentation. Some of the backgrounds can tend to be a little underdeveloped, and as with many anime facial features tend to kind of come and go willy nilly at times. There are a few stylistic conceits that crop up interstitially at times, but on the whole this offering tends to be largely "realistic", with few outré elements like chibi and the like.

Note: Right Stuf provided an advance check disc for the purposes of this review which is reportedly the same as the retail final version. When I receive the retail final version if I find any significant differences, I'll update the review at that time.

Haikara-san Here Comes Miss Modern Part One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Haikara san: Here Comes Miss Modern features LPCM 5.1 tracks in both Japanese and English, along with an LPCM 2.0 track in Japanese. While the film doesn't really have a lot of showy sonics, the surround tracks definitely open up the proceedings courtesy of a lot of outdoor scenes where ambient environmental sounds are nicely placed to create an immersive atmosphere. Dialogue and score are also rendered clearly and cleanly without any problems on both surround tracks.

Haikara-san Here Comes Miss Modern Part One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promotional Trailer (1080p; 1:32)

Haikara-san Here Comes Miss Modern Part One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's nothing especially innovative or impressively distinctive about Haikara san: Here Comes Miss Modern, but the story here will no doubt appeal especially to young girls who still believe in true love, not to mention questioning authority, and there's an undeniably sweet and authentic emotionalism suffusing the film. Technical merits are solid, and even without much in the way of supplements, Haikara san: Here Comes Miss Modern comes Recommended.