In the year 2014, Japan has collapsed economically and thus its people emigrated in large numbers and settled in other parts of the world. In a corner in Asia, there is a little street called Mallepa, a big melting pot where Asians such as Hongkongers, Taiwanese and Japanese live together. It was a place where people fought for order, food and freedom. It was there where Shou (Gackt), raised as an orphan and Kei (Hyde), who could live forever, met and became the best of friends. However, they were unable to escape from the fight for power involving gangs of different ethnicity on the street of Mallepa…

Last fall, over 3 million people were brought to tears by the movie Koizora. The original story of Koizora, by the author Mika, was popularized on the cell phone novel site, Mahou no Land, and since then has been turned into a novel, a movie, and now a drama. The highly popular movie will be turned into a drama, which follows the life of a normal higschool girl who experiences many unbelievably sad events, but through it all proving that love conquers all, and this true love story remains unchanged from the movie. Not only does it simply portray the first love of the highschoolers, it shows the warmth from the family, the importance of life, the bonds with friends, and the common happenings of teens, and through it all Mika and Hiro’s love story gets unwound.

Directed by Hagishima Tatsuya, Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai (a.k.a. Calling You) is based on the same-titled light novel series by popular writer Otsuichi. Like Otsuichi’s Waiting in the Dark, which was also recently adapted for the big screen, Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai revolves around two lonely young people who find each other in an uncommon manner. The film’s strengths lie in its haunting, empathetic story and genuinely affecting performances from young leads Narumi Riko and Koide Keisuke. At only 15 years old, Narumi Riko has established herself as one of Japan’s best young actresses, already with seven years of acting experience under her belt and a maturity that belies her age. The beautiful actress has found both popularity and acclaim with her many television outings, as well as subtle performances in films like Shindo and How to Become Myself. Koide is also a familiar face to audiences, having appeared in many popular youth films and dramas like Pacchigi!, Linda Linda Linda, and Nodame Cantabile, and he takes on his first leading film role in Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai.

Shy, quiet, and unsure of herself, Aihara Ryo (Narumi Riko) doesn’t quite fit in anywhere. Though she wants to make friends, she has trouble speaking up and holding a normal conversation like everyone else. It seems that whenever she talks, the words just don’t come out correctly. Gradually, Ryo has gotten used to living life in silence as a lonely and introverted student. With no one to talk to, Ryo also has no need for a cell phone. Longing for friends to talk to, she creates a cell phone in her mind for imaginary phone conversations, and much to her surprise, one day Shinya (Koide Keisuke) picks up on the other side. For the first time in her life, Ryo has found someone she can talk to.

Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro hardly seems the ideal companion for little Masao who is determined to travel long distances to see the mother he has never met. Their excursion to the cycle races is the first of a series of adventures for the unlikely pair which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and odd ball characters to meet along the way.

A young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.

The sleepy mining town of Joban is slowly heading for the hills, so town leader Yoshimoto decides to start a Hawaiian Centre amongst the coal mines to attract tourists. As a further gimmick, local girls will give hula performances.

He hires dance teacher Madoka from Tokyo, and goes about recruiting dancers, but most of the girls balk when they realize hula involves hip shaking and mid-riff baring.

The motley bunch that remains consists of sassy Kimiko, her star-struck friend Sanae, mousy Shoko, and big-boned Sayuri.

None of the girls can dance, Madoka isn’t all that interested in teaching, and many of the townspeople are less than happy about this newfangled hula business.

The whole idea seems destined for failure, but when Madoka sees the girls’ fighting spirit, she becomes determined to teach them how to hula.

Yuuta Takemoto is a poor college student who lives in a dilapidated apartment building with his two friends, Shinobu Morita and Takumi Mayama.

This live action movie adaptation chronicles the students’ story as they struggle through life and love.

begins as Domyoji holds an extravagant press conference to announce his wedding to Makino the following spring. The press is playing her up like a modern-day Cinderella and everything seems to be going well. Later, the families offer congratulations to the couple. Even Domyoji’s mother—who was formerly vehemently opposed to the relationship and tried desperately to break them up at every opportunity—is suddenly happy for them. She even offers Makino a family heirloom: a tiara worth 10 billion yen (about $95 million USD) called “Smile of Venus”. 

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While peeping up girls’ skirts at a local shopping mall, Onizuka meets a girl who agrees to go out on a date with him. Onizuka’s attempt to sleep with her fails when her current “boyfriend”, her teacher, shows up at the love hotel they are in and asks her to return to him. The teacher is old and unattractive, but has enough influence over her that she leaps from a second story window and lands in his arms.

Onizuka, seeing this display of a teacher’s power over girls, decides to become one himself. In his quest, he discovers three important things:

1. He has a conscience and a sense of morality. This means taking advantage of impressionable schoolgirls is out… but their unusually attractive mothers are a different matter.
2. He enjoys teaching and most of the time, he teaches life lessons rather than schoolwork.
3. He hates the systems of traditional education, especially when they have grown ignorant and condescending to students and their needs.

With these realizations, he sets out to become the greatest teacher ever, using his own brand of philosophy and the ability to do nearly anything when under enough pressure. He is hired as a long-shot teacher by a privately operated school to tame a class that has driven one teacher to a mysterious death, one to nervous breakdown, and one to joining a cult. He embarks on a mission of self-discovery by breaking through to each student one by one, and helping each student to overcome their problems and learn to genuinely enjoy life.