, also known as ''Beyond the Memories'', is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series by

Ryo Ikuemi is a Japanese shōjo manga artist. She writes mainly for ''Margaret'', where she debuted in 1979 at age 15 with ''Maggie''. In 1993, her high school romance ''Pops'' was adapted as an OVA by Madhouse. She received the 2000 Shogakukan Manga Awa ...

. It won the 2009

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially ...

for ''shōjo''. Kanna and Roku's story arcs (acts 2, 6, and 10) were adapted into a

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

film in 2013.

Plot

The series is told in ten vignettes from different characters. * Act 1: Yuma * Act 2: Kanna * Act 3: Hiroki * Act 4: Ai * Act 5: Ichie * Act 6: Roku * Act 7: Momoka * Act 8: Nene * Act 9: Asami * Act 10: Kanna

Characters

; :Kanna works in the movie advertising company, Melon Works. While cheerful and friendly, Kanna uses her optimism to hide her true feelings. When she was 15 years old, her childhood friend and crush was killed in a car accident, which she feels guilty about. She appears in acts 2, 4, 5, 7, and 10. ; :Roku is an editor at the publishing company, Pleasure, and is very kind and easygoing. During a school trip from when he was in 4th grade, he accidentally pushed his classmate, Nozomi Kakanouchi, onto the road, where she got run over by a car. He remains guilty over causing her death, but learns to fully accept and cope when visiting her death site with her older sister, Manami. He feels drawn towards Kanna because of their similar experiences, and keeps an eye out for her. He appears in act 6, 8, and 10.

Live-action film adaptation

''Kiyoku Yawaku'' was adapted into a theatrical film released on December 26, 2013. The film was produced by C&I Entertainment, 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 ...

and starred Masami Nagasawa and

Masaki Okada is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his roles as Sekime Kyogo in the drama '' Hanazakari no Kimitachi e'' and as Takuma Kakinouchi in the 2009 film '' I Give My First Love to You''. Filmography Films * ''The Foreign Duck, the Native Duc ...

. "Kagerō" by

Kazuyoshi Saito is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Making his professional debut in 1993, Saito's popularity exploded in 2007 after 15 years in the music industry. He is also one-half of the rock duo Mannish Boys with Tatsuya Nakamura and a member of the super ...

served as the theme song for the movie. ''Kiyoku Yawaku'' was screened as part of the 17th annual Japanese Film Festival in Melbourne,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It premiered on October 18, 2013, via the Tokyo International Film Festival and had its theatrical release in Japan on October 26, 2013.

Cast

* Masami Nagasawa as Kanna Seto *

as Roku Akazawa * Haru as Asami Kawaguchi *

Aoi Nakamura is a Japanese photomodel and actor. He belongs to the talent agency LesPros Entertainment. History Nakamura Aoi entered the entertainment industry when he won the Grand Prix at the final round of the 18th '' Junon'' Superboy Contest held in No ...

as Toshikuni Mayama *

Yuki Furukawa is a Japanese actor, supermodel, guitarist and break dancer. He gained popularity as Naoki Irie in the 2013 television series '' Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo'' and its sequel, ''Mischievous Kiss 2: Love in Okinawa''. Personal life Furukawa wa ...

as Kiyomasa Komine *Kaoru Hirata as Momoka Senke *Ryosei Tayama as bar master *Toshihiro Wada as Yanagihara *

Megumi is a Japanese feminine given name. In Japanese, the word megumi means "blessing; grace." Possible writings While the word megumi means blessing and can be written using that kanji, it may also be spelled using other kanji, such as the kanji f ...

as Chikako Nobara *

Chizuru Ikewaki is a Japanese actress. Career Ikewaki was given a Best New Talent award at the 2000 Yokohama Film Festival for her performance in '' Osaka Story''. She appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2012 television drama ''Penance Penance is any act or a ...

as Aimi Sakuraba (Kakinouchi) *

Kengo Kora is a Japanese actor. Career Kora has gained recognition for his roles in films such as Shinji Aoyama's '' Sad Vacation'', Yukio Ninagawa's ''Snakes and Earrings'', Tran Anh Hung's '' Norwegian Wood'', Ryuichi Hiroki's ''The Egoists'', Yoshihir ...

as Kazue Haruta *Aiyu Otaki as Mutsumi Sakuraba

Reception

''Kiyoku Yawaku'' opened at seventh place in the Japanese box office, raking in takings of 86 million yen in its opening weekend. Despite its below-average box office performance, Chizuru Ikewaki won the "Best Actress" award for her role in ''Kiyoku Yawaku'' at the 6th Tama Film Awards in Japan. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics outside of its home country. The Society for Film criticised the long runtime and large number of subplots, whilst saying that overall "Despite these minor reservations, Beyond The Memories stands out as a moving, attractive and thought-provoking film" with particular praise going towards Shinjo's direction. The AU Review praised the film, saying "It is well worth a watch because it is a sweet story without too much clutter from love triangles and jealousy. What sets the film apart is that it's a love story with where the two main characters are filled with a pain they are trying to hide from the world", awarding it three and a half stars out of five.

References

External links

* * {{Takehiko Shinjō 2004 manga Films directed by Takehiko Shinjō Live-action films based on manga Manga adapted into films Shōjo manga Shueisha franchises Shueisha manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo) Films scored by Yoshihiro Ike Japanese romantic comedy films