Failed film adaptation The extraordinary popularity of the manga of the same name gave rise to an enviable wave of film adaptations of the work of Kaoru Tada, which over the past two decades have been released eight: in Taiwan, Korea and Japan, both in anime format and a series, a full-length film. I did not pass by Minoru Mizoguchi, who, by the way, is a good friend of the husband of the writer who died early and has previously produced many variations of Mischievous Kiss. It was his turn to sit in the director’s chair. The original manga featured Naoka and Kotoko's relationship in high school and beyond, but the manga remained unfinished as Tada died in an accident in 1999. This allowed the young director to finish the script, which, however, did not benefit the film itself. Mizoguchi has released three stories of difficult relationships between classmates Aihara Kotoko and Irie Naoki. “Senior school” is the first of them (in the history of the plot) – however, not the best in execution, which did not prevent the removal of two more full-length sequels. Interestingly, the first came the second part of the trilogy – “Campus”, and only after almost a year the viewer was able to get acquainted with the beginning.
A clumsy but cute girl from Class F (for the dumbest) falls hopelessly in love with the first guy at Naoko School from Class A (for geniuses). Naoko is beautiful, good at sports and much smarter. And he is very confident, ignorant, values his popularity and does not like upstarts. Because of this, he absolutely does not pay attention to the long and hopelessly in love with him Kotoko. Despite all the efforts, the girl only gets disdainful looks of her beloved and laughs of everyone around. But Aihara does not give up and, thanks to strong will, decides to prove that she is not so hopeless.
Among the obvious drawbacks of the film, which immediately catches the eye - a very low quality of the actors, and primarily Raina Vis, who played the main character. Her endless curvatures and gestures inadvertently did cause a smile, but only because they were absolutely out of place. Ayhara Kotoko’s behavior is more like a one-year-old child, even if the specificity of the manga implies excessive expression of characters. The same can be said about Kant Sato, whose performance was static throughout the film. Therefore, the possibility of at least some “chemistry” between the main characters is absolutely not believed. The character of Noriko - Naoki's mother - constantly unnerved, so he came out template and clumsy, as if from low-grade morning "kitchen" series.
It is a pity that Minoru Mizoguchi did not pay much attention to the relationship between the brothers, Kotoko and her father, focusing solely on the development of the main couple. Very little space is given to Ayhara’s classmates. It is incomprehensible appearance in the plot and a longtime friend of the boys, since she absolutely no development in the plot does not bring, and with anyone except the younger Irie in contact. It is worth saying that the director did not bring anything new to the story of “Mischievous Kiss”, going in some way even to its primitivization. A house that is collapsing... from a jackhammer, a girl who adores everything pink... The film clearly lacks ambition, some spark. Adaptation to the wide screen involves a certain author's idea, a grand plan with its own zest, which in this case was not at all. It was not enough to take a widely popular manga and eat it to pay off mediocre play and raw script. At one point, the story seemed to me not so much funny as sad. Just watch the movie and you’ll know what’s wrong with it. If you are interested in anything similar in the plot - I recommend the best released in the same year film by Ryuichi Hiroki "Wolf and the Black Prince".
5 out of 10