K-Drama 
The story is simple and funny. Two girls with polar opposite personalities meet each other and slowly become friends as they face problems in modern day Japan. Nothing special really, but it leaves you with a smile on your face.
The acting was okay. This is my first time seeing Anna Tsuchiya act and she is a natural, but there was some flaws in her performance. However I loved Ichigo as a character. She acted tough, but you can see the real her. This was also my first time seeing Fukada Kyoko in a role as well and she was okay, but I feel that she probably has more talent. Her character Momoko is the realist even to the point it is cruel. I respected her character even when I didn't see eye to eye.
The music was great and it match the movie vibe. Overall, good movie. I would definitely watch it again. Any fans of Yankee dramas she see this. There is no turf wars, but it is still cool.
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I've watched this movie two times and I loved it on both times. It's my favorite movie. Well one of my favorite movies. Anyway first time watching this movie I laughed my ass off all the time starting from the first seconds. Same with second time.
This is a typical Japanese movie with a silly story and not-so-good-but-not-bad-either acting, but isn't that the reason why we love Japanese movies/dramas? For me it is.
The chemistry between two main actresses is good. Not the best but it's good. I love the cast. Fukada Kyoko is an amazing actress but her acting wasn't the best in this movie...
Okay I'm making no sense anymore...
But,
Watch the movie and see if you'll like it or not.
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Set in a small, rural town that's bounded by closeness where every thing you need is right there (Jusco in this case) and every one probably knows each other. This setting represents the reality for the two leads. A reality that they wish reject.
Momoko rejects through her love for lolita fashion. It represents a fantasy world—a means of escape. Ichiko (real name Ichigo) rejects this through being a yanki and a member of a biker gang. It represents a different identity, even changing her name from strawberry (Ichigo) to another one as she hates it—a rejection, a means of escape. This all shows a desertion. An exile in to their own worlds by two different, almost outcast young girls.
Living in a tightly knotted community, being different sticks out. And they certainly do. But they don't like that. This unity and conformity does not approve of their different-ness. And it's this different-ness that actually brings them together.
Momoko, who sees herself as always being calm even seeing animals die, has found happiness in seeing her friend happy. She tells her friend: If it makes you happy, take it. A yanki, belonging in a gang rejects conformity and chooses to live for herself.
In a way, the comedic aspects and sometimes random parts of the film is a mockery of their reality, the one they choose to reject. It acts, in a way, the fantasy world they choose to escape to—just like Himiko and her legend, just like Roccoco.
In their wishes to escape to their own world, they give up having friends (in school/in their gang), a partner (romantically) but this desire for escape brings them instead, to each other.
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This review may contain spoilers
“i felt like crying when i saw her delight. I, who coldly watched animals die?”
Imagine if Kick-Ass was set in Japan in 2004 with alternative fashion girls who don't kill yet it still packs all the humor and the single best message about female friendships.I know I might be in the minority on this, but I genuinely believe this movie is queer coded just not in the way most people think. I believe Momoko is aromantic, and Ichigo is her soulmate in the most healthy toxic queer way possible. When Ichigo says, “Giving you my coat means my life is in your hands,” you can feel the level of emotional connection on a spiritual plane. That spiritual weight is why I think the Buddha statue motif is used so heavily throughout the fight scene. We get to see all those base layers Momoko uses to protect herself peeled back when she’s literally covered in blood and dropped into water, as if she is being reborn.
This film does an amazing job of capturing what it means to be an alternative woman in the most beautiful way, while remaining completely hilarious. The comedic beats crack you up like when Ichigo is fucking Momoko up, I literally laughed my ass off. I really enjoyed how music and silence are used throughout the scene. We don't get many scenes packed with crowds, which allows the two of them to truly occupy the space as who they are: Ichigo, who defies typical expectations of womanhood, and Momoko, who confines herself to hyper femininity and isolates herself as an outsider. Watching Momoko open her closed off world and genuinely begin to care about someone is so rewarding to see.
I love the juxtaposition of their vibes versus their outward appearances, and how their personalities are so distinct yet fundamentally similar. I love seeing alternative subcultures represented in different ways, and the color grading of this movie is unmatched.
While I wasn't entirely feeling the first few minutes of the film, it sneaks up on you. The scene right after Momoko gives her the cabbage literally looks like she’s running into the light. As the movie continues, the light is always centered on Momoko while everyone else remains in darkness, or she walks into the light alone. By the end, the light shines on her alongside everyone else because she is human just like them.
We constantly see the lighting shift again within the last thirty minutes of the movie, especially when the light is fresh in the morning and she is showing the dress and herself centered in that early morning fog. But when she almost dies, she is being reborn in the darkness of her mother's womb. During the final fight scene, we watch her transform into a new woman as her polished white layers get covered in blood and dirty water.
Key Highlights & Symbolic Themes:
The Craft & Dedication: I love how Momoko claims “labor isn’t suited for me,” yet she works tirelessly to embroider those life changing words onto the jacket. She spends days ensuring every stitch is perfect, completely ignoring her basic needs like eating, sleeping, or school because nothing else matters.
Vulnerability: When Ichigo says “I know I said women shouldn’t cry in public and Momoko says to her "but out here, it’s just us.” We see Ichigo finally let go and be sad when she is with Momoko. These words are something Momoko would have never said before because she truly never cared to get to know Ichigo even when we get Ichigo backstory its all through Momoko summary bc she couldn't be bothered. We see Momoko ask Ichigo whats wrong and actively showing that she is Ichigo friend even before she realized.
Unconditional Loyalty: Momoko risks everything she built for herself for her friend, because Ichigo was the person who helped build her up. She started to truly recognize how much her and Ichigo are connected and know that if Momoko was in danger she would go through hell and earth to find and protect her. Ichigo literally says: "Next to her, you sheep are worth nothing."
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