Apr 7, 2021
While gender-fluid characters populate the plotlines of manga and anime series, there’s still a lack of representation in mainstream Japanese media. One Yomiuri TV drama hopes to bring a little more color to what has been a largely binary palette.”
Based on “My Androgynous Boyfriend,” a manga series by the artist Tamekou, “Colorful Love: My Androgynous Boyfriend” centers on rookie manga editor Wako (Ai Yoshikawa) and her relationship with Meguru, whom she rescued from bullies while at high school together. Often mistaken for a woman, Meguru enjoys wearing makeup and dressing in a genderless style.
Playing the part of Meguru is 19-year-old actor Rihito Itagaki, who won praise for his performances in the film “The Promised Neverland” last year and the TV series “Kamen Rider Zi-O.” Like his co-star Yoshikawa, “Colorful Love” marks his first lead role in a drama.
Jan. 8
Scripted by Kaori Tanimoto, the film simplifies the history of the riots, airbrushing out male participation. It does, however, highlight the real bravery of the female protestors, who fought not only ingrained sexism, but also the deep poverty that put their families at risk of starvation.
The perky score and broad gags are familiar from the many TV and film
jidaigeki (period dramas) that try to brighten up an often-grim past, as are the teary developments that appear in the film’s latter, more serious scenes.
The film’s heroine is Ito Matsuura (Mao Inoue), a woman whose kindhearted fisherman husband (Takahiro Miura) leaves with other village men to work in the rich fishing grounds off Hokkaido and Sakhalin, then partially a Japanese colony. Left to fend for themselves, Ito and the other fishermen’s wives lug heavy bales of rice to the shore for transfer to waiting boats. Their daily wages are barely enough to buy rice. Then the price of this key staple starts risi