is a 2006 Japanese

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

and

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film based on the novel written by

Takuji Ichikawa is a Japanese novelist. Ichikawa's bestsellers include (2003), (2003) and (2004). His works are also adapted for Japanese films such as ''Be with You'' (2004), '' Heavenly Forest'' (2006), and Japanese TV series ''14 Months'' (2003). The 20 ...

. It was also released as a manga. The film was directed by Takehiko Shinjo, and focuses on the relationship that evolves between a photographer named Makoto, and two of his female university classmates, Shizuru and Miyuki.

Plot

Makoto, a freshman on his first day at university, meets a cute girl named Shizuru. Makoto is normally shy around people, but is attracted to Shizuru for her childlike appearance and behavior. Shizuru wants to be with Makoto, so she develops an interest in his hobby of photography. The two spend time together taking photos in a nearby forest. However, Makoto soon develops stronger feelings for another student named Miyuki, who is beautiful and more well developed. Shizuru, seeing this, hints to Makoto that she will grow up to be a beautiful woman, and he will be sorry for not picking her. One day, she tells Makoto that she wants to take a photo of them kissing in the forest as a present for her birthday, which they do. After this, Shizuru unexpectedly leaves school and is not heard from again for two years. Makoto receives a letter asking him to come to New York to see Shizuru's debut photography exhibit. By then Makoto has broken up with Miyuki because he has decided he really loves Shizuru, and will wait for her to return. When he arrives in New York, he is greeted by Miyuki, and finds out that Shizuru was hiding a disease from him, and has died. Apparently when she fell in love with Makoto, and started eating more to "grow up" for him, she accelerated her disease. He goes to the exhibit and sees many photos of himself, and a huge photo of Shizuru all grown up and beautiful, as she had foretold. There is also the photo of the two of them kissing in the forest, with a caption saying that this was her one true love.

Cast

Aoi Miyazaki is a Japanese actress. She is known for her roles in ''Nana'' and '' Virgin Snow''. Career Miyazaki started working in the entertainment industry at the age of four. Initially she appeared mostly in commercials, magazine advertisements, and a ...

as Shizuru Satonaka *

Hiroshi Tamaki is a Japanese actor, singer, and model from Nagoya, Japan. When he was still in high school, he was discovered by a talent agent while out shopping with friends. He made his debut in the drama ''Am I Weird?'' (私ってへん？ ''Watashitte Hen ...

as Makoto Segawa *

Meisa Kuroki Satsuki Shimabukuro (Japanese: 島袋さつき, ''Shimabukuro Satsuki'', b. 28 May 1988 in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan), better known by her stage name Meisa Kuroki (Japanese: 黒木メイサ, ''Kuroki Meisa''), is a Japanese actress, model an ...

as Miyuki Toyama *Misa Uehara as Saki Inoue *

Munetaka Aoki is a Japanese actor. He played Sanosuke Sagara in the live action adaptation of the manga and anime series ''Rurouni Kenshin''. He is married to Japanese actress and model Yūka. Filmography Film *''Battle Royale II'' (2003) *''Fly, Daddy, F ...

as Ryo Shirohama *

Keisuke Koide is a Japanese actor who starred in Kwak Jae-yong's film ''Cyborg She'' and in ''Koizora''. Career In 2017, Koide admitted to drinking alcohol and having sex with a 17-year-old girl after allegations were published in ''Friday''. He was suspend ...

as Kyohei Sekiguchi * Asae Ōnishi as Yuka Yaguchi

Soundtrack

The film's theme song, "

Ren'ai Shashin is the 13th single by Japanese singer Ai Otsuka, released on the Avex Trax label. It is also her third and final single released in 2006. The ballad was used as the theme song of the movie ''Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru''. The title of the movie was ...

" (Love Photo), is a ballad sung by

Ai Otsuka is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit "Sakuranbo", which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks. A piano player ...

. The title of the movie was taken from the lyrics of the song. The single was released by Ai Otsuka on October 25, 2006. In its first week of sales, the single debuted at number 2, being Otsuka's highest debut sales of the year with 77,570 copies sold. The song also won the "Best Video From A Film" and "Best Pop Video" awards at the

MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2007 Hosted by Misaki Ito and Hidehiko Ishizuka, the awards show took place at the Saitama Super Arena before a live audience of 12,000 screaming music fans. The 6th annual show premiered live on MTV, Saturday May 26 to over 6.6 million homes in Japan ...

Reception

''Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru'' earned US$5,311,676 at the Japanese box office.

References

External links

* * *
''Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru'' at the Japanese Film Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heavenly Forest 2006 films Japanese romantic drama films Toei Company films 2006 romantic drama films Films directed by Takehiko Shinjō Films based on Japanese novels Films scored by Yoshihiro Ike Japanese films set in New York City 2000s Japanese films Foreign films set in the United States