Mizuiro no Rakuen 水色の楽園

There is no denying that the main movie will have left quite a lot, if not all quite disappointed, or angry, or just around sad because Shishunki Gokko just had to be a typical Japanese yuri movie! And by that I mean no happy end here! Sure they tried to make it ambiguous with that last scene at the library where it looked like Takane had come back to Mika to hopefully patch things up but still, the last act of the movie just didn’t sit well for all of us!

That being said, Shishunki Gokko separates itself from the crowd by doing what has never been done before. It gave us medicine to heal the wounds provided by the main movie in the form of a spin off that is all about Takane and Mika! No other character, and I mean no other character is in this short spin off! Actually, it’s not that short, being just over 30min long!

It’s basically Takane and Mika’s date that they spend at school for some reason. I am inclined to believe that this was because they didn’t get the time to have fun at the pool during the school activities from the main movie so they decided to sneak in when the school is closed so that they could have all the fun they wanted but didn’t get to have.

I believe that I mentioned this too in the main movie review but I still cannot place where this date takes place in the whole timeline. There are some things that come before the movie’s events, then there is those that should take place after some of the movie’s events and then there is those that only make sense after the movie’s events so I am really lost!

If anyone manages to figure out exactly where this ‘Ocean-blue Paradise’ day takes place in the grand scheme of things, please do let me know. That being said, let’s follow our lovely girls as they have all kinds of fun without any interferences!

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

No matter what we viewers might think about this special, to Takane it was a date with Mika! Like just look at how happy she is waiting for Mika to show up! She is kind of anxious too, just like how a person waiting for their date would be like, all fidgety and stuff, yet the grin on their faces couldn’t disappear no matter what!

Actually it’s in these first scenes that my mind got wandering! We know that by the end of the movie Takane and Mika had graduated from junior high and would soon be in High School. So I got to thinking, why did Takane and Mika come in their uniforms even though it wasn’t a school day? If they were still students then they did not have to rely on their uniforms to save them in case they stumbled into someone at school. And so I thought that what if this actually takes place after the movie when these two aren’t students anymore? They would need the uniforms then to cover for them and save them from a lot of questions and suspicion were they to be caught!

Also the two look so happy and so alive that this could only either have taken place before the events of the movie, when they were still so lively like this, or after the movie when the two have come to terms with their feelings for one another. Yes, I think that Mika felt something for Takane but hadn’t really been forced to think more of those feelings until Takane broke and revealed the hidden layers and feelings. I believe that in the movie, after the pool scene, Mika was more mad at Takane for the insinuation that Mika and Namie were involved rather than the fact that Takane had virtually raped her. This might explain why Mika cried her eyes out in Namie’s bathroom. I also believe that Mika kissed Namie as a way to confirm her feelings than her loving Namie more than as an idol. The only times we have seen someone who has been in Mika’s position confront their assailant so soon after was if they realised that they actually loved that person in return. In the art room when the two said their goodbyes, Mika’s tears were all that needed to be said when the teacher showed up and asked her about Takane.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

The next telling scene was the piano scene! When watching this scene I implore you to turn up the volume to 11 and listen very carefully! I can say with certainty that Takane kissed Mika (on the cheek) two times in that scene!!! And don’t get me started on their position and closeness! The mika we saw in the movie was very wary and only started to get that physical with Mika when shit started to hit the fan, and by that I mean when Namie got into the picture and Takane’s inner green-eyed monster began to surface!

And as if to support this, there is that scene that ran side by side with the piano scene where the two are laying on the gym floor and they are caressing each other’s faces and touching each other’s hair like they were already going steady or something! Both the movie Takane and the movie Mika weren’t this physical with one another. The fact that Mika didn’t give one of those looks of hers like she is studying Takane’s behaviour with suspicion is also another point supporting this date taking place after the movie.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Right after the piano scene, the two finally go to change into their swim suits and do what they had come to do in the first place, have fun at the pool. The changing room scene is another that needs to be discussed! Okay get this, as the two start to un-dress, they turn to each other. Their smiles disappear, suddenly they are serious. They take off their shirts as they study one another doing so. Funny thing is that Mika looked more than Takane did, Takane is supposed to be the lesbian here, remember. Any way they take off their shirts and with a smile, for some reason, Takane extends her hand to Mika, asking for Mika’s hand.

Like, who holds hands in a situation like that!?! Any way Mika gives her hand to Takane who takes a hold of it. She plays with Mika’s fingers and then again, her smile disappears! This time Mika’s studious look returns as she look at Takane and their joined hands. Meanwhile Takane is massaging Mika’s fingers still, her fingers move up Mika’s hand. She makes eye contact with Mika. These two are half-naked and alone in the changing room. Takane is seducing the hell out of Mika by playing with her fingers! She is making eyes at her too! Like, someone please shoot me now! There is no way that these two were only friends at this moment! No frikking way! If there was a fic that followed the movie after Takane returns to Mika, it would be like this! Takane would be seducing the life out of Mika, until Mika finally gets over that scary scene of Takane out of her head and lets Takane through to real second base!

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

At the pool the two have all the fun in the world that they would have ever wanted. All that hand holding, all those scenes that make me want to scream out chants of ‘Now Kiss’ every other minute! My goodness, ‘Ocean-blue Paradise’ indeed! I just can’t see this taking place before the movie! These two were acting like people already in a relationship do. Sure I know how Japanese girls are very attached even when they aren’t that close of friends but this, this is just beyond that! There is these looks that separate Takane and Mika from the usual! Most especially Takane but we can already expect that from her. It’s Mika that is the mystery.

If this indeed did take place after the movie and the story is consistent, then there should have been some memory jogging when they were in water and Takane was just about ready to kiss Mika! Unless it’s a product of bad writing that we see in some movies where events that should be referenced later are forgotten about, then  Mika should have had a reaction to their closeness. But then again that would only work if she was that disturbed by Takane’s action back in the movie. If Mika didn’t think that badly of her, and really I think the movie wanted to tell us that she did not seeing as she had gone right back to Takane to talk and patch things up the next day, then her lack of reaction is A-okay and this still is happening after the movie.

 
 
 

The next scene worth discussing is the one that comes after the pool scene after they have changed back into their uniforms and Takane is drying Mika’s hair. The two are discussing cutting hair when Takane says that she thinks short hair would fit Mika nicely. Mika says that Takane would look better with short hair than her to which Takane says that she might try it out. Seeing as Mika was like the world to Takane, if this had happened before, or anywhere within the movie’s time-line, we should have seen a short-haired Takane at some point but we did not. There is no way that Takane would have passed up an opportunity to please Mika. So I am taking that fact as support for this taking place after the movie.

I mean look at the side dash on my blog right now at the Image of the Day! That’s Takane with short hair right there! OMG, could this mean that there is a sequel in the works!?!! Der Japan, I love you!!

Okay, I apologise but that isn’t actually the case, I think. Miki Honoka cut her hair for a different movie where she plays a ghost love from the past. But still, I couldn’t help it when these two things happened at the same time. And that Miki, she really looks awesome with short hair. Go visit her twitter and feast ur eyes at how awesome she looks!

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

And then came the final scene on the school rooftop as the sun set. Yeah, those two spent the whole day together, alone in an empty school! The must have been hungry! Too bad we never got to see them go to eat in a fancy restaurant, hit the movies, and go to a sleep over for that kiss that would have sealed the deal. But really, beggars can’t be choosers, am I right!

Anyway the two are enjoying, um, the sunset sky I guess, and they have this final and serious talk which was mostly about their future, we,, about their High School. This was a very confusing scene for me. I really need subs to fully understand. Or if anyone understands it please do share your insight but I will just go with my comprehension of the scene for now. My bi-understanding is what makes me hesitant to fully label this as taking place after the movie. There are mixed meanings that I picked up.

It’s mostly Takane who does the talking. seemed afraid for some reason to tell Mika of her future plans and when she did, Mika’s silent reaction kind of scared me for a while. Takane tells Mika that she is going through with her plan of getting into an Art College and becoming an artist. Mika is very quite at the beginning and I am waiting for the movie to finally take the drama route after being a train of fluff until this point. Didn’t help that before the talk, Takane watched Mika with those serious looks of hers we know very well from the main movie. Those looks filled with blinding love! At first I even thought that she was going to confess her love for Mika by the way she was stalling but she did not. All the more ammo I need for my argument of this taking place after the movie! I mean there is no need for confessions now if Mika already knows Takane loves her, am I right!

Still though, the way Takane said it seemed like she hadn’t done any art classes to that point because she actually says that she is thinking of starting to take art lessons and get into an Arts College (High School, not University). This is what places a dilemma in my theory. This can only be before the movie events because in the main movie Takane was already doing art, she was already good enough meaning she had been at it for a while, so…

Anyway it was cute the way she seemed like she was seeking approval from Mika. Who lets someone decide their future for them like that! Anyway Mika says she thinks is a great idea, a lovely idea even. Takane is very relieved to hear that. Mika then starts acting a bit suspicious. Takane asks what’s wrong to which Mika says that actually, she too was thinking of doing that! And right there I am like, wait a damn minute, what does she mean? Is Mika also into art? From what I remember she was more into literature in the main movie. Are those two majors connected? Thinking of it, literature is a kind of art isn’t it? Or maybe Mika just wanted to go to the same High School as Takane and that was what she was implying?

Ahhhhh!

But then Takane starts saying something that just turned the possibility of this taking place before the movie, completely over its head as she told of the time that she decided onto this path for her future.

She says that it was ‘that’ moment she had decided. Mika would write fiction books and Takane would do the illustrations for said books. So I guess Mika is still into writing but what is that moment that Takane was referring to? And speaking of these two doing jobs that complement each other, if you remember from the main movie Namie actually touched upon this when she suggested the exact same thing that mika would write her stories and that her friend the artist (talking about Takane) would do the illustrations. Most of you probably already know but Japanese fiction books have illustrations within them to go with the story. There are not a lit, probably 1-3 in every chapter so an artists could make money just doing those, or book covers. If Takane and Mika were to go that route, there is nothing standing in the way of their future together. Too perfect actually when you think about it.

Takane also talks about asking Mika to be her model for her paintings but the way she says it gets lost on me. It sounds like it’s in past tense, and sometimes I think it’s a would have been, or some kind of dream, like there is two possibilities. She is talking in the past tense and referring to the events from the movie or a dream she had that was exactly like the events from the movie! Meaning that the movie was just a dream that Takane had and it telling it to Mika now meaning that those events didn’t actually happen and this is the real world whereas the other was just a dream?!!

And there we have a third option to add to the list! That option being that the movie did actually happen and that this is the actual timeline where Takane and Mika acknowledge each other’s feelings and everything is right with the world! Like, I so did not see that coming! This is actually the best possible theory of the three and the favourite for me!

Anyway going back to the scene, Takane says something again that confuses me all over again. She says that she did what she wanted to do. I read that as that she means the events of the movie meaning that they actually happened which means that they actually are in the future of the events of the movie?!! She also says that thinking of it now, it was at the time, that it was then that she…(leaving the gaps to mean it was when she realised her feelings for Mika)! The only ‘moment’ I can’t think of are the happenings of the movie!!

Ahhhh, my brain can’t take anymore!

Takane smiles and laughs as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders then leans over to Mika and rests her head on an embarrassed Mika’s shoulder! This was so telling! Mika did not ask what Takane was referring to meaning that she knew exactly what Mika was talking about. Her embarrassed reaction and that smile that broke out on her face was of someone who knew and accepted what Takane was implying. Then they share those looks again that are reserved just for people that are on the same wave-length, in their own plane of existence! They look into each other’s eyes, they then nod at each each other in some secret understanding! Takane returns to resting her head on Mika’s shoulder as the two smile radiantly and blissfully! They continue sneaking looks into each other’s eyes and smiling with glee like they were the cutest couple to ever exist!

I swear to God…

Nothing is said ever again and the short ends with them playing still at the darkening rooftop. This dear Readers, this will cure each and all wounds you suffered from watching the main movie! In fact some of you might even forget about that movie ever existing completely! I too am this close to thinking of it as just Takane’s nightmare and this side story being the real movie!

I can’t thank the director enough for this! No other has had the thought of healing their victims after butchering them with the generics of the main movie! This here is what the world should be! It’s like the writer giving us an alternate happy ending or the events after as fanfiction but this time in movie form!

Not sure about you all but I am feeling great right now and actually I am loving the main movie much much more! Looks like my quandary is over! Shishunki Gokko was a great movie and is one for the books also one to recommend but only if it is accompanied by ‘Mizuiro no Rakuen’, after all, this is the real movie whereas Shishunki Gokko is actually Takane’s nightmare! But you need the nightmare to fully appreciate this short side story that should have been released on Bluray too! Why wasn’t there a Bluray?!! They should have put the Making Of that was on the Bluray on this DVD that already had the Making Of of the Photo Book! Makes more sense, right? But again, beggars can’t be choosers!

See ya.

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Ocean-blue Paradise

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