The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi (1979) Review

This is a comedy by Nobuhiko Obayashi that is based on the fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi created by Seishi Yokomizo. I have no familiarity with the character at all but there have been numerous TV and film adaptations done on him, and in fact, the main actor who plays Kindaichi, Ikko Furuya, had played him previously in a TV show and would go on to play as him in subsequent movies.
The film itself is pretty oddball, it jumps around quite a bit and at first, I was a little confused about what was going on, and throughout there's bits of nonsense and randomness scattered about, which do at times provide some good laughs. And it even at times gets a little meta, including Yokimozo playing himself in a cameo, where he gets royalties and says he didn't want to be in the movie.

The story itself is, of course, a detective mystery where Kindaichi has been urged to solve a case that was left unsolved in a book about his cases. It is fun to watch unfold and has some interesting little twists, though as the film does like to jump about and gets a bit jumbly, you could get a little lost, but it all wraps up well towards the end.

What makes this film really stand out though, is the aftermath of the case being solved.
The last 10 minutes of this film blew me away, I can't really reveal anything but it definitely takes and turn and I love it.

Overall, the film's rather unhinged approach may prove to be off-putting for some. But I found it to be a very fun detective comedy, and that ending really brings it up a level. ***1/2

Take Me Away! (1978) Review

Take Me Away! is a film by Nobuhiko Obayashi starring the Golden Combi 70s Idol film stars
Momoe Yamaguchi and Tomokazu Miura. It's pretty much a romantic fluff piece with the basic story of girl meets boy abroad, she has to leave him behind, and then there's some conflict and a happy resolution. It's a very shallow film that follows all the usual general tropes without adding anything new, but it's still rather cute in places, even if the character motivations could be rather questionable.

The film is quite well shot, and Obayashi incorporates a couple offbeat elements here and there, though it's very sparingly. It does, however, a recurring song and theme throughout that is linked to the characters, a trope that Obayashi has a used a few of his films before.
Although the opening bars to the song are exactly the same as Fly Me to the Moon.

Overall, I found the film somewhat enjoyable, it rushes about it at times and is a very basic run-of-the-mill romantic film, but it has some charm and I particularly liked the first 30 minutes or so.
Not sure how much I'd necessarily recommend it,  maybe if you really like your smulchzy romance films, other than that , this one's that's more for the Obayashi completionists. **1/2