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 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 and ...

. The cast includes Juri Ueno, Yuta Hiraoka, Shihori Kanjiya, Yuika Motokariya 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 Juri Ueno.

Plot

A class of schoolgirls are bored during their summer make-up class. When the school

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

leaves to perform at a baseball game without their

bento A is a Japanese-style single-portion take-out or home-packed meal, often for lunch, typically including rice and packaged in a box with a lid (often a segmented box with different parts of the meal placed in different sections). Outside Japa ...

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. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

. 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 sells her family's

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

and buys a used tenor saxophone. While practicing, she discovers Takuo playing his keyboard and they share a short duet. 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 Eurasia and North America. It is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinct odor. Etymology The common name and specific epithet, ''matsutake'', i ...

mushrooms, but are attacked by a boar; one of the girls accidentally kills it and they claim reward money, as the boar had been destroying crops. With the money, the girls buy cheap, but damaged, instruments, and the two rockers convince their overly affectionate 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, 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 is in fact an amateur student himself. Embarrassed, Mr. Ozawa pleads with Nakamura to keep it a secret before quitting the festival performance with the girls in shame. 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 due to debris on the tracks. Initially disappointed by the news, the band decides to play in the train anyway. At that moment, their teacher Ms. Itami arrives in a bus and informs them that another band has cancelled due to the snow and rushes them to the festival. The Swing Girls rush onstage just in time and perform their set, impressing the audience including their classmates, Ms. Itami, and Mr. Ozawa.

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. * Juri Ueno 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 (whi ...

) * Yuta Hiraoka as Takuo Nakamura (

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

) * Shihori Kanjiya as Yoshie Saito (

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

) * Yuika Motokariya as Kaori Sekiguchi (

Trombone The trombone (, 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 lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

) * Yukari Toyoshima as Naomi Tanaka (

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

) * Kana Sekine as Hiromi Watanabe (

Electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

) * Fumiko Mizuta as Yuka Yamamoto (

Electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

) * 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 Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

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

Baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") 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 saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

) * 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''. References 1983 births Japanese idols Japanese women pop singers People from Obihiro Living people 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-centur ...

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)

Tomoko Suzuki's Family

* Yasumi Suzuki, Father of Tomoko:

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'' (200 ...

* Sanae Suzuki, Mother of Tomoko: Eriko Watanabe * Aki Suzuki, Tomoko's sister: Rina Kanako * Tomoko's grandmother, Mie Suzuki: Mutsuko Sakura

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. ...

* Music Teacher Yayoi Itami: Miho Shiraishi * Dr. Kubota: Makoto Takarai * General Manager of Brass Band Club: Issei Takahashi * Baseball Club Member Inoue: Seiji Fukushi * Chie Iwasa: Mayuko Iwasa

Other

* Bus driver: Jiro Sato * 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 * Yamaha Music Class Student Masumi (Wood Bass):

Naomi Nishida is a Japanese 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 ...

* 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" 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 the ...

(rehearsal song). * "

In the Mood "In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by Americans, 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 re ...

" by Joe Garland (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 "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

(the first song played at the concert finale). * "Mexican Flyer" by Ken Woodman (the second song). It is featured in Space Channel 5, 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 his New Orleans Gang. Brunswick Records released it on February 28, 1936 on the 78rpm record format, with "It's Been So Long" a ...

" 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". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

(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 on August 16, 1967. In April 1968, it topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed p ...

" 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 b ...

" by

Bert Kaempfert Bert Kaempfert (born ; 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 music for a number of well-kno ...

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, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

(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 entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

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-drama films 2000s Japanese films 2004 musical films