Based on Momoko Kouda’s manga series, the 2016 Toronto Japanese Film Festival introduced Tsutomu Hanabusa’s film “No Longer Heroine”. While the film was a major hit when it was first released in Japan back in September 2015, TJFF was honoured to host the film’s North American premiere.
The film focused on Hatori Matsuzaki (Mirei Kiritani), a high school student who was madly in love with her childhood friend, Rita Terasaka (Kento Yamazaki). Hatori had named Rita as the hero of her story, which made her the heroine that was destined to be with him. Her dream shattered when Rita started dating Miho Adachi (Miwako Wagatsuma), a goody-goody girl with a low self-esteem that made Hatori think of her as an ‘unexceptional Plain Jane’. Shocked that she’s no longer the heroine in her own story with Rita, Hatori came up with a series of schemes to break the new couple up and win Rita over despite the advice of her best friend, Kyoko Nakajima (Ayano Fukuda). Unexpectedly, Hatori managed to grab the attention of Kosuke Hiromitsu (Kentaro Sakaguchi), the calm and collected ladies’ man of the school. The film not only featured comedy through Hatori’s schemes and a unique perspective on her life, but it revealed emotions discovered when they experienced the journey that came with finding love.
A unique thing about this film was the protagonist’s perspective. Hatori viewed everything like a story, thinking in heroes, heroines and supporting characters when regarding people in her life. The breaking of the fourth wall was done frequently as Hatori explained to the audience the story she had mapped out for herself and those connected to it. Hatori’s reactions were even theatrical as she lived out her life as if it were a dramatic performance she could watch on stage. Nakajima attempted to anchor Hatori to reality (telling her to react to life instead of fantasizing a reaction) while the man from the high school cafeteria who Hatori called ‘Mister’ (Riki Takehchi), catered to her fantasies whenever he was included while trying to impart some realistic advice to the love-struck Hatori. Throughout her journey with Rita and later Kosuke, Hatori came to realize what it truly meant to be in love as well as what it meant to be a heroine.
As the unknown hero to Hatori’s story, Rita became friends with Hatori ten years ago when she helped him deal with his mother (Mari Hamada) leaving. Inseparable ever since, Rita grew up to be a loner who believed that he’s emotionless and broken while he remained oblivious to the attention he captured from the other girls. Despite his broken loner status, Rita always had Hatori by his side. However, their friendship changed when he started dating Adachi, a girl he was drawn to because he believed she had every trait he didn’t, which fascinated him. Everything truly changed for Rita after he spent a summer away from Hatori. Despite his new outlook on life, Rita found himself stuck in his own forbidden fantasies.
Then there was the unexpected arrival of Kosuke into Hatori’s life. All the school girls vied for Kosuke’s attention but he found himself drawn to Hatori. Since the beginning, Kosuke knew of Hatori’s feelings for Rita yet he continued to pursue her, finding her antics amusing at first before they became endearing in his eyes. At first, Kosuke was there to help Hatori grab Rita’s attention away from Adachi until he wanted Hatori’s attention for himself as he developed feelings for her. To what extent those feelings were had remained a mystery until Kosuke and Hatori ran into his former tutor, Emi (Maryjun Takahashi), who knew more about Kosuke than Hatori realized.
The film also featured special cameos by Akira Nakao, Shingo Yanagisawa and Seiji Rokkaku.
While this film showed great comedic timing thanks to the brilliant performance by Mirei Kiritani, this film truly tugged on the audience’s heartstrings as they witnessed the journey Hatori experienced as she truly found love. Despite the heartbreak that Hatori experienced with her unrequited love for Rita, did she get the happily ever after she wanted with him? Or did Hatori choose to explore the new love that she found in Kosuke, the boy who had proven to have eyes only for her?
Original Title: Hiroin shikkaku
Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa
Writer: Momoko Kôda (manga)
Screenplay: Erika Yoshida
Country of Origin: Japan
Language: Japanese
Length: 112 minutes
Original Release: September 19, 2015
Publication Note:
This was published for AsianWave Magazine.
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