I'll meet my dream. The problem of bullying and school violence is quite relevant and not new to Japanese cinema. However, unlike most other similar films, Taisuke Kawamura (Bedroom Neighbors, Today You Sparkle Kira-kun, Princess Jellyfish) focused not so much on love triangles and rivalries as on youthful envy and addiction. At the center of the story are five outcast girls: the taciturn Narumi Katase, the fat Hazuki Azawa, the nerd Tamaki Kishimoto, the errand girl Azusa Nishihara and the jackass Mika. They are completely different, but they get an unexpected chance to unite their joint efforts and prove themselves. What will happen and how much will turn the world of each of the heroes?
Despite the promising beginning and intriguing plot, the film, in my opinion, lacked good acting. Most of the actors’ emotions, especially crying, looked completely unnatural and strained. Only the game of Ishia Anna stood out, who embodied the role of the main character Azusa on the screen. Certain claims to the script part of the film. The dialogues were often naive and frank. The same applies to the behavior of the heroes in some moments. Overall, the film left a pleasant impression.
The personal drama of each of the characters is transmitted too superficially, in the most general terms, and is revealed only in the last half hour of viewing. The main attention of the creators of “Maiden Step” focused on the problem of the relationship of the main character Azusa with girls from the support group. The street dance club and the support group study in the same class, which means that conflict cannot be avoided. However, at the very peak of these contradictions comes the denouement, which does not follow from the logic of the development of the plot. In only a few fragments, the writers outline the personal dramas of Narumi, Hazuki, Tamaki and Miki – the other rogue girls, which I think needed to be revealed in more detail. The drama of the film is clearly suffering.
Like all recent works by Taisuke Kawamura, the film has a clear youth orientation, hence excessive emotionality, and some inconsistency. With enviable constancy, the director alternates dramatic moments with comedic ones, entangling relations into a real tangle, which he does not quite succeed in unraveling - emotions and reactions of the characters are too naive. You can watch this movie once, though.
6 out of 10