Ninako Kinoshita has never been in love until an encounter with the school's most popular boy, Ren Ichinose, leads the two to befriending each other. Ren's patient and kind personality is a far cry from his unapproachable idol status at school, and soon Ninako falls in love with him. However, she must cope with the fact that he already has a long-time girlfriend.
Acting
Kasumi Arimura's face does EVERYTHING
Cinematography
Fireworks scene belongs in a museum
Direction
Hiroki makes restraint feel explosive
Director
Ryuichi Hiroki
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hiroki specializes in 'passive protagonists'—Ninako never chases, only receives, which infuriates Western viewers but captures Japanese emotional restraint perfectly.
Sota Fukushi was 22 playing high schooler Ren; his actual awkwardness in romance scenes was reportedly because he'd never done a kiss scene before.
JP
