OCOKA
When it comes to cranking out an endless stream of foolproof, one-sized fits all, bankable live-action movies that are assured the attention of its target market with guaranteed profitability in both first-run theater formats and the straight-to-DVD market, there is nothing like the Japanese movie industry -- the second largest in the world by volume alone -- and its endless stream of stock Manga-based material that the j-movie industry has perfected into turning into movies. That said, enter the world of "shojo manga," or the world of cheesy romantic stories rendered in manga form and geared primarily toward the tastes of young women. (Think an entire genre of never-ending chic comics with wall-to-wall romantic stories lined up to be made into chick-flick romantic high-school comedies.) Now, enter Kazune Kawahara, a shojo manga extraordinaire, who has penned numerous stalwart shojo manga series in the past such as "Ore Mongotari" (My Love Story), in addition to this one -- "High School Debut" (Koko Debyu), among many others.I rather liked this one, and if you are familiar with "Ore Monogotari" you will be familiar with Kawahara's formulaic, albeit unique method of rendering shojo. Kawahara draws heavily upon established fairy tales by juxtaposing contemporary characters and settings onto ancient storylines. In "Ore" it was a veritable retelling of "Beauty and Beast" set in a Japanese high school. In "Koko Debut," it's a veritable Cinderella story of a high school ingenue coming into her own against all odds. The story starts out easily enough with the inimitable Ito Ohno starring as Nagashima Haruna, the star softball pitcher and strikeout queen of her junior high club team. But now, after pitching season after season of no-hitters, she's moved on from her junior high stardom days into the world of high school, where she promises to take on her newfound challenge -- to become a fashionable highschooler who's totally "kawaii" and thus capable of attracting a boyfriend, as she excitedly intones with a do-or-die kind determination, "I'm ready for love!" Unfortunately, as she is quick to find out, such die-hard effort and determination -- although easily achieved in the world of softball where simple pluck and dedication always payed off in spades -- do not necessarily translate into the iffy world of relationships and dating. And despite her pluck and dedication to find a boyfriend in her determined way, she quickly realizes that her choice of gaudy outfits and tacky accessories are actually scaring off all the boys on campus -- regardless of how many hours she puts into standing in the campus circle advertising herself, and no matter how many boys she chases at a full clip as she tackles them in an effort to convince them to date her. At a complete loss and after losing a shoe one afternoon chasing another terrified would-be suitor clear across campus, the answer to all her problems suddenly comes face-to-face -- with missing shoe in hand -- and on bended knee too. (Where have we seen this before?) It's none other than Junpei Mizobata starring as b.m.o.c., Komiyami Yoh, who renders timely assistance to our damsel in distress -- and not a moment too late as Haruna-chan is smitten from the get go! But confused and starry eyed as she is, she doesn't immediately recognize that Yoh-san is the answer to all her problems, i.e., until she discusses it the next morning during homeroom with fellow classmate and bff from Junior High and softball, Mami Takahashi, or "Mami-chan", played by AKB48's Sae Miyazawa. Haruna-chan confides in Mami-chan her frustration. While she feels she's "ready for love," and now being a first year high schooler where she truly believes she can "find love," no boys seems to want to take her up on the offer. "What shall I do?" declares Haruna-chan? No fear. Star softball catcher and Haruna's bff, Mami-chan, has it all figured out. "You see, love, is just like softball, so, if you want to be good at something, you just need to have a coach!" (Specifically, a coach to help her improve her ability to get a man.) With that piece of profound advice, the lightbulbs go off immediately in Haruna's head as her eyes light up, while unbeknownst to all, Yoh-san, suddenly becomes the unwitting target of Haruna's campaign.What follows is only natural in the convoluted, stir-crazy world of shojo manga. After much begging and pleading, Yoh-san relents and agrees to become Haruna-chan's style-maven and relationship coach to help her in her quest for love, all facilitated by Komiyami Yoh's impossibly kawaii younger sister, Komiyami Asami, or "Asami-chan", played by the darling Rina Aizawa.But before Yoh-san can pull a successful 'Pygmalion' on dorky and fashion-confused Haruna, he needs to understand her underlying motivation.
Yoh-san: "Why do you want to be popular so much?"
Haruna-chan: "That's b/c I want to find a boyfriend!"Well of course! Only in the world of Shojo Manga does this make any sense. Nevertheless, without further ado, Yoh-san, as promised, pulls out all the fashion stops and tricks of the trade in order to transform Haruna-chan into an icon of fashion and style. Unfortunately, however, he finds that this is quickly going nowhere, as Haruna-chan is so stuck in her own unique style that she can't simply take to another style and become something she isn't. Yoh-san in his profound teenage wisdom realizes that she simply needs to be nurtured to the point of being able to have more confidence in herself. So instead of trying to put her into a style he likes and envisions for her, he simply gives up and encourages her to wear whatever she normally likes to wear, which is baseball jerseys, t-shirts, boots and blue jeans. In this way, the yoda-like Yoh-san, reorients Haruna-chan's focus from simply copying other's style that she is notoriously unfamiliar and actually uncomfortable with, into just accepting her own style, owning it, and being proud of it. From this psychology, springs forth her own confidence, pluck and charm, that Yoh-san finds himself steadily yet increasingly becoming attracted to. It is hoped that the average viewer of these kind of shojo-manga's -- even in the live-action format -- can recognize such themes and underlying stories. However, as usual, the over-the-top behavior, bizarre antics and childishness of the characters invariably detract and conceal such themes to make them easy to miss. Nevertheless, this shojo managa worked for me.
phoenix 2
Watching this movie was painful. It supposed to be funny, but it felt more like it was forced to. The whole thing seemed fake, not to mention the cinematography that was poor. Probably they tried to make this one look like a real manga, with all the overreaction and the seriously loud and idiotic music used in many scenes. Plus the story had no originality, as all the clichés that could have happened, happened. Now, for the performances, they weren't good. Some of the actors were like performing for a school play rather than a film. Finally, the chemistry between the two actors was, well, nonexistent (you can figure that out easily from the kissing scene). So, because it felt more like a badly made TV movie, 2 out of 10.
