is a Japanese 2004

teen comedy A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people. In general, these type of programs focus primarily on characters between 11 and 19 years of age and routinely feature characters inv ...

film directed and co-written by

Shinobu Yaguchi is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He specializes in feel-good "zero to hero" films, where a group of people take up an unlikely activity, face a number of obstacles, but finally succeed. His film ''Waterboys'' was particularly succe ...

. The plot follows a group of inept high school girls who form a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

. The cast includes

Juri Ueno is a Japanese actress. She first gained recognition in the 2005 film ''Swing Girls'' where she was a recipient of Newcomer of the Year prize at the Japanese Academy Awards. Ueno achieved mainstream success for playing the titular role in the live ...

, Yuta Hiraoka,

Shihori Kanjiya is a Japanese actress. She is nicknamed , , and . Kanjiya dropped out from Otsuma Women's University. Filmography TV series Films Dubbing *'' Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons'', Duan (Shu Qi) *'' Journey to the West: The Demons ...

Yuika Motokariya is a Japanese actress. She is signed with the Stardust Promotion agency. Filmography Dramas * '' 3 nen B gumi Kinpachi sensei Season 6'' (2001) * ''Satokibi Batake no Uta'' (2003) * '' Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu'' (2004) * ''Fight'' (2 ...

and Yukari Toyashima. The film ranked 8th at the Japanese box office in 2004, and won seven prizes at 28th Japan Academy Prize, including "Most Popular Film" and "Newcomer of the Year" for Yuta Hiraoka and

Plot

A class of schoolgirls are bored during their summer make-up class. When the school brass band leaves to perform at a baseball game without their

bento A is the Japanese cuisine, Japanese iteration of a single-portion take-out or home-packed meal, often for lunch. Outside Japan, it is common in other East and Southeast Asian culinary styles, especially within Chinese cuisine, Chinese, Korean c ...

lunches, Tomoko and the other girls persuade their math teacher, Mr. Ozawa, to let them deliver the lunches. On the train, the girls fall asleep after eating one of the lunches and miss their stop. They walk back to deliver the lunches to the band, but they have spoiled in the summer heat, and all but their cymbal player, Takuo Nakamura, who missed out on his meal, becomes sick. Takuo holds an audition for band replacements to play at an upcoming baseball game. Only three girls audition: two former members of a punk band, and the shy Kaori Sekiguchi. Takuo confronts the other girls, threatening to turn them in for the food poisoning in if they do not join. The girls have no musical experience and clown around with their instruments, except for Kaori. As they are several members short of a brass band, Takuo decides to turn the group into a

and perform

swing jazz Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

. The girls train hard for the performance. Kaori's talent inspires the others, and they come to enjoy playing. However, on the day before the game, just as the girls have become confident, the brass band members recover and the girls are devastated. As the new school year begins, Tomoko buys a saxophone and discovers Takuo playing his keyboard. The members of the swing band gather at school and decide to buy their own instruments. The girls get supermarket jobs to earn money, but Tomoko and several others lose their wages when a cooking demonstration gets out of hand, triggering the store's fire sprinkler system. The remaining girls spend a day picking

matsutake , ''Tricholoma matsutake'', is a species of choice edible mycorrhizal mushroom that grows in East Asia, Europe, and North America. It is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinct spicy-aromatic odor. Etymology The common name and specifi ...

mushrooms, but are attacked by a boar; they kill it and claim reward money, as the boar had been destroying crops. With the money, the girls buy cheap damaged instruments, and the two rockers convince their ex-boyfriends, who operate a wrecking yard, to repair them. The group, now dubbed Swing Girls, play their first public show; the performance goes badly, but Kaori is given advice by an anonymous jazz fan. When the group approach him, he runs away. They chase him to his home and discover that he is Mr. Ozawa, who possesses an extensive collection of jazz records. Assuming he is an expert saxophonist player, they convince him to lead the band. The band's skills improve and they record an audition tape for a music festival. They leave Tomoko in charge of the tape, but she sends it too late and the band is rejected. Tomoko is too embarrassed to tell the others. Nakamura discovers that Mr. Ozawa is not really a professional saxophonist, and he quits, embarrassed. On the train to the music festival, Tomoko confesses that the band have no place at the festival, and the train is halted by snow. However, their teacher Ms. Itami informs them that another band has cancelled due to the snow and rushes them to the festival by bus. The Swing Girls rush onstage just in time and perform their set, impressing the crowd.

Cast

The Swing Girls and a boy Orchestra

It consists of 16 female students and 1 male student in the first year of Yamakawa High School, a total of 17 students. The band's official name is Swing Girls and a Boy and is also known as Swing Girls for short. *

as Tomoko Suzuki (

Tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

) * Yuta Hiraoka as Takuo Nakamura (

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

) *

as Yoshie Saito (

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

) *

as Kaori Sekiguchi (

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

) * Yukari Toyoshima as Naomi Tanaka (

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

) * Kana Sekine as Hiromi Watanabe (

Electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

) * Fumiko Mizuta as Yuka Yamamoto (

Electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck The ...

) * Masae Nemoto as Akemi Otsu (Tenor saxophone) * Asuka (Asuka Yamaguchi) as Chika Kubo (

Alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

) *

Chise Nakamura is a former Japanese actress and gravure idol from Fukuoka, Fukuoka. She retired from the entertainment industry in August 2019. Filmography Movie roles * Emiko Okamura (Alto Saxophone) in Swing Girls (2004) * OneChanbara (film) (2008) TV r ...

as Emiko Okamura (Alto saxophone) * Madoka Matsuda as Yumiko Shimizu (

Baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

) * Mutsumi Kanazaki as Rie Ishikawa (Trumpet) *

Nagisa Abe is a Japanese singer and actress who had a minor role in the 2004 movie ''Swing Girls is a Japanese 2004 teen comedy film directed and co-written by Shinobu Yaguchi. The plot follows a group of inept high school girls who form a big band. ...

as Reiko Shimoda (Trumpet) * Misa Nagashima as Misato Miyazaki (Trumpet) * Eri Maehara as Kayo Yoshida (Trombone) * Natsuki Nakaza as Miho Kinoshita (Trombone) * Natsuko Tatsumi as Yoko Kobayashi (Trombone)

Tomako Suzuki's Family

* Yasumi Suzuki, Father of Tomako:

Fumiyo Kohinata is a Japanese actor. Filmography Film * '' Begging for Love'' (1998) * '' Give It All'' (1998) * '' Ring 2'' (1999) - Dr. Kawajiri * '' Audition'' (1999) - Television producer * ''Minna no Ie'' (2001) * '' Turn'' (2001) * '' Dark Water'' (2002 ...

* Sanae Suzuki, Mother of To,ako: Eriko Watanabe * Aki Suzuki, Tomako's sister: Rina Kanako * Tomoko's grandmother, Mie Suzuki:

Mutsuko Sakura was a Japanese actress. Her hobby was golf. She started work at Shochiku in 1950, and played supporting roles in some of Yasujirō Ozu's films. She was a constant in Japanese film and TV drama for half of the 20th century. Selected filmograp ...

Yamakawa High School

* Tadahiko Ozawa, Math Teacher:

Naoto Takenaka is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director from Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, affiliated with From First Production. He is married to idol singer and actress Midori Kinouchi. He is also known as the voice of Samuel L. Jac ...

* Music Teacher Yayoi Itami:

Miho Shiraishi is a Japanese actress from Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Filmography Film * ''Shiroi Fune'' (2002) * '' Swing Girls'' (2004) ''as Yayoi Itami'' * ''Densha Otoko'' (2005) ''cameo'' * ''The Harimaya Bridge'' (2009) ''as Kayo Takeuchi'' * ''Halfway ...

* Dr. Kubota: Makoto Takarai * General Manager of Brass Band Club: Issei Takahashi * Baseball Club Member Inoue: Seiji Fukushi * Chie Iwasa:

Mayuko Iwasa is a Japanese former entertainer, model, and actress. She is represented by Platinum Production. Among numerous other television and film appearances, she played the lead role in the film adaptation of Kaoruko Himeno's novel '. Career Iwasa was ...

Other

* Bus driver:

Jiro Sato was a Japanese tennis player. He was ranked World No. 3 in 1933, but committed suicide in the Strait of Malacca during his trip to the Davis Cup in 1934. He received worldwide fame in Wimbledon 1932, when he beat the defending champion Sidney ...

* Bento shop: Noyuki Mori shimo * Cherry Television Announcer: Yuko Takeda ( Fuji TV Announcer ) * Mr. Sasaki, a classmate of the telephone network: Nakazawa Tsuki (voice appearance) * Old Woman: Yasuko Mori * Musical instrument shop clerk: Norika Eguchi * Supermarket Manager Takahashi: Hana Kino * Super Floor Chief Okamura: Koji Okura * Supermarket customers demanding discount stickers: Sayuri Ito * Takashi, brother of brother duo: Hidekazu Mashima * Yusuke Mikami, brother of brother duo: Makoto Mikami * Wife in front of the park: Mari Hayashida * Karaoke Box Clerk Ito: Yu Tokui * Pachinko parlor manager: Tanaka Keiko * Pachinko parlor guest: Satoshi Sakata * Pachinko parlor guest: Reo Yamaguchi * Yamaha Music Class Teacher Mori shimo (trombone):

Kei Tani (born Yasuo Watanabe (渡部泰雄, Watanabe Yasuo) ; 22 February 1932 – 11 September 2010) was a Japanese comedian, actor and musician. Born in Tokyo, he learned to play the trombone and, while a student at Chuo University, began playing in ...

* Yamaha Music Class Student Masumi (Wood Bass):

Naomi Nishida is an actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival and at the 25th Hochi Film Award for her performance in ''Nabbie's Love''. Personal life She married a Japanese shoe designer in 2005, and gave birth to ...

* Satoshi Tanimoto, Student of Yamaha Music Class ( Electronic Piano ): Kazuhiro Tanimoto * Train Conductor: Yuji Kogata * Train passengers: Hiroshi Kishimoto * Music Hall Moderator: Daikichi Sugawara (Note: In the DVD-version with English subtitles the credits adds the names of actors randomly i.e. the sequence of persons shown does not match the name below.)

Staff

* Writer/Director: Shinobu Yaguchi * Producers: Chihiro Kameyama, Nonari Shimatani, Ryuichi Mori * Executive Producer: Shoji Masui * Projects: Kazuyuki Seki, Masamichi Fujiwara, Takehiko Chino * Producers: Daisuke Sekiguchi, Shintaro Horikawa * Advertising Producer: Erika Harada * Script cooperation: Junko Yaguchi (Wife of Director Yaguchi) * Music: Mickey Yoshino, Hiroshi Kishimoto * Recording Engineer: Masumi Hamamoto * Band Direction: Reo Yamaguchi * Photo: Takahide Shibaso * Lighting: Tatsuya Nagata * Sound: Kodo Gun * Art: Norihiro Isoda * Editing: Miyajima Ryuji * Supporting Director: Shozo Katashima * Line Producer: Tatsuya Mmoshi * Producer: Yuko Maemura * Assistant Director: Yuichi Naruse, Man Sugita, Kako Araki * Animal Trainer: Kazuo Numata * Language instruction: Hidekazu Mashima, Sayuri Ito (mainly in Mashima's absence) * Production: Fuji TV, Altamila Pictures, Toho, Dentsu

Music

* "

Take the A Train A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...

" by

Billy Strayhorn William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take ...

(rehearsal song). * "

In the Mood "In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. "In the Mood" is based on the composition "Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was released by E ...

" by

Joe Garland Joseph Copeland Garland (August 15, 1903, Norfolk, Virginia – April 21, 1977, Teaneck, New Jersey) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger, best known for writing "In the Mood". Garland studied music at Shaw University and t ...

(song for the first performance and later for audition tape). * " Comin Thro' the Rye" (the first song played at the second performance). * "Make Her Mine" by Eric Leese (the second song). * "

Moonlight Serenade "Moonlight Serenade" is an American swing ballad composed by Glenn Miller with subsequent lyrics by Mitchell Parish. It was an immediate phenomenon when released in May 1939 as an instrumental arrangement, though it had been adopted and perfo ...

" by Mitchel Parish /

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

(the first song played at the concert finale). * "Mexican Flyer" by

Ken Woodman Ken (Kenny) Woodman was a British composer and trumpeter. He was famous for the song "Town Talk", which was used as the theme song for Paul Kaye's shows on the pirate radio station Radio London, and later as the theme song for Jimmy Young ...

(the second song). It is featured in

Space Channel 5 ''Space Channel 5'' is a music video game developed by Sega AM9 and published by parent company Sega. Originally released for the Dreamcast (1999 in Japan, 2000 worldwide), it was later ported to the PlayStation 2 (2002 in Europe, 2003 in Japan ...

, which Tomoko's little sister plays early on in the movie. * "

Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" is a 1936 song, with music and lyrics by Louis Prima, who first recorded it with the New Orleans Gang. Brunswick Records released it on February 28, 1936 on the 78rpm record format, with "It's Been So Long" as th ...

" by Loise Prima performed by

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

(the third song). *"

What a wonderful world "What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. It topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poor ...

" by Robert Thiele (aka "George Douglas") and George David Weiss (shown as movie credits). Performed by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

(The song in mushroom picking forest). *"Recollection" by Kohsuke Mine. *"

L-O-V-E "L-O-V-E" is a song written by Bert Kaempfert and Milt Gabler, recorded by Nat King Cole for his 1965 studio album '' L-O-V-E''. Composition and background The song was composed by Bert Kaempfert with lyrics by Milt Gabler, and produced by Lee ...

" by

Bert Kaempfert Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the musi ...

Milt Gabler Milton Gabler (May 20, 1911 – July 20, 2001) was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century. These included being the first person to deal in record reissues, the first to sel ...

performed by

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

(the general film tune at the end).

Release

''Swing Girls'' was released in Japan on September 11, 2004 where it was distributed by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

Awards

* 28th Japan Academy Awards (The largest number of award-winning films in the same year) ** Outstanding Work Award ** Best Director: Fumi yasushi Yaguchi ** Best Screenplay: Fumi yasushi Yaguchi ** Best Music: Mickey Yoshino / Hiroshi Kishimoto ** Best Recording: Hiromido Gun ** Best Editor: Ryuji Miyajima ** Best New Actor (rookie): Juri Ueno, Yuta Hiraoka ** Topic Award: Work Category * The 26th Yokohama Film Festival ** The 10 Best Japanese Movies: 4th ** Japan Film Individual Award ** Best Screenplay: Fumi yasushi Yaguchi ** Photography Award: Takahide Shibaso ("Swing Girls", "Need to Take a Deep Breath", "Yingyance") ** Best Newcomer: Juri Ueno (Swing Girls, Jose, The Tiger and the Fish, Chillsok Summer) * The 14th Japan Film Critics Awards: Award for Best Film * The 78th Kinema Shunpo Best Japanese Movie Ten: No.7 * The 47th Blue Ribbon Award: Best Japanese Film * The 46th Japan Record Awards Planning Award: SWING GIRLS & Mickey Yoshino et al. ("SWING GIRLS" ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK/ Universal Music Co., Ltd.) * The 19th Japan Gold Disc Awards Soundtrack Album of the Year: SWING GIRLS/Mickey Yoshino (Swing Girls Original Soundtrack/Universal Music) * The 2nd Japan Film and Television Recording Association Recording Award: Encouragement Award * 29th E'Randall Awards Producer Encouragement Award: Shoji Masui * The 59th Mainichi Film Competition Sponici Grand Prix Rookie of the Year: Juri Ueno ("Chillsok No Natsu", "Swing Girls") * The 14th Tokyo Sports Film Awards NewComer Award (Nominated): Juri Ueno

Footnotes

; References

Bibliography

External links

* * *
Swing Girls
' at JFDB * {{Shinobu Yaguchi 2004 films 2000s musical comedy-drama films Films directed by Shinobu Yaguchi Films set in Yamagata Prefecture Japanese musical films Japanese high school films 2000s Japanese-language films Jazz films Japanese comedy-drama films Toho films 2004 comedy films 2004 drama films 2000s Japanese films