is a 2019

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Hideki Takeuchi, based on the 1980s

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series of the same name written and illustrated by

Mineo Maya Maya Mineo (Japanese: 魔夜峰央 ''Mineo Maya'', born 4 March 1953) is a Japanese mangaka. His series ''Patalliro!'' is one of the best-selling and the longest-running shōjo manga of all time. Life Maya was born in Niigata. He made his deb ...

. It was released to critical acclaim and received 12 nominations at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize, taking home the Director of the Year, Screenplay of the Year, and Best Film Editing. It also won the

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan. The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanes ...

. With a gross of $32.8 million it was the 13th highest-grossing film of 2019 in Japan.

Plot

In present-day Saitama, Aimi's parents are driving her to her engagement ceremony. Aimi's parents are upset that Aimi plans to move to Tokyo after the marriage because residents of Tokyo have long looked down on residents of Saitama. To avoid arguing, they pass the time by listening to the radio, which is playing a supposedly historical drama about Saitama's fight for independence from Tokyo. The radio drama unfolds as Momomi, the son of the Tokyo governor, finds his social status at school threatened by the arrival of Rei Asama, a handsome male student who has been living in America. Unusually for a sophisticated Tokyo elite, Asama helps the scholarship students from Saitama, who live in poor conditions in a hut located off the main campus grounds. Momomi falls in love with Rei, but Rei is revealed to be a secret agent of Saitama sent to help achieve independence from Tokyo by infiltrating the Tokyo elite. Rei's true identity is discovered by Momomi's family butler, and Rei flees to return to Saitama and join the independence movement. Momomi joins him after discovering a plot by Tokyo elites to destroy the Saitama resistance. After Rei finds out the identity of his own father and leads the Saitama forces to a final confrontation with Tokyo forces at the provincial border, Rei and Momomi reveal Momomi's father's plot, removing him from power and achieving independence for Saitama.

Cast

Fumi Nikaido is a Japanese actress and fashion model. Career Starting as a model in Naha, Okinawa, Nikaidō made her film debut in 2009 in ''Toad's Oil'', directed by Kōji Yakusho. She and Shota Sometani received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best You ...

as Momomi Dannoura *

Gackt , better known by his mononymous stage name Gackt (stylized as GACKT), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Born in Okinawa, Japan, to a Ryukyuan family, Gackt learned the piano at a young age and was raise ...

as Rei Asami *

Yusuke Iseya is a Japanese actor, director, artist, and businessman. Career Iseya co-starred with Arata Iura, Yui Natsukawa, and Susumu Terajima in Hirokazu Koreeda's ''Distance''. He appeared in Takashi Miike's '' 13 Assassins''. He has also appeared in f ...

as Sho Akutsu *

Masaki Kyomoto is a Japanese actor, singer song writer, and guitarist. He is famous for playing the role of Ryu on the television jidaigeki Hissatsu series. He has appeared in films and television series including ''Legend of the Eight Samurai'', '' Sukeban D ...

as Duke Saitama *

Kumiko Takeda is a Japanese actress. Personal life Takeda was married to an American from 2000 until divorcing in 2016. She currently lives with her daughter in San Diego. Filmography * ''Shuffle (film), Shuffle'' (1981) - Girl in playground * ''High Teen ...

as Aimi's mother *

Haruka Shimazaki is a Japanese actress, singer, and former member of the Japanese idol group AKB48. Her supposed apathetic attitude toward idol fans led to the popularity of the buzzword in Japanese media. Since graduating from AKB48 in 2016, Shimazaki has work ...

as Aimi Sugawara

Box office

In the opening weekend it topped the Japanese box office with $2.33 million. The film had grossed $32.8 million in Japan by May 2019. By the end of 2019, the film had grossed , making it the eighth highest-grossing domestic film of 2019 in Japan and the 13th highest-grossing film of 2019 overall in Japan.

Critical reception

It was released to critical acclaim as received most (12) nominations at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize, and won for Director of the Year, Screenplay of the Year, and Best Film Editing, as well won for the

. In a 4⁄5 review in ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', Mark Schilling praised the film for taking a Japan-specific story and making it appealing to international viewers, and singled out lead actress Nikaido's ability to move between serious and humorous moments in her performance of Momori Dannoura.

References

External links

* at

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

(in English) * at

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

International Licensing (in English) * {{Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film 2010s high school films 2010s satirical films 2019 films 2019 LGBT-related films Alternate history manga Films about adolescence Films about couples Films about discrimination Films set in Chiba Prefecture Films set in Gunma Prefecture Films set in Ibaraki Prefecture Films set in Saitama Prefecture Films set in Tokyo Gay-related films Japanese alternate history films Japanese high school films Japanese LGBT-related films Japanese satirical films 2010s Japanese-language films LGBT-related coming-of-age films LGBT-related romantic comedy films LGBT-related satirical films Live-action films based on manga Manga adapted into films Toei Company films 2010s Japanese films