Japanese Movie 2018
Perfect World (Japanese Movie Review & Summary)
Perfect World poster
- Genre: Romance, Disability, Psychological: Coming to terms with Disability
- Date Released: 2018
- Origin: Japan; Based from a manga of the same title by Rie Aruga
- Film: 102 minutes
Cast:
- Hana Sugisaki as Tsugumi Kawana
- Takanori Iwata as Itsuki Ayukawa
- Kenta Suga as Hirotako Koreda (HS Friend)
- Sei Ashina as Aoi Nagasawa (Carer)
- Aya Omasa as Miki (Ex-girlfriend)
- Magi as Tsuyoshi Watanabe (Itsuki’s friend and workmate)
- Kazue Ito (Kawana’s mother)
- Mantaro Koichi (Kawana’s Father)
- Naomi Zaizen (Itsuki’s mother)
This is such a cute movie with a heart. It is heart-warming and authentic with a happy ending, yey.
Kawana works for Cranberries, an Interior Design company. She suddenly became aware via her officemate of a handsome young architect named Itsuki Ayukawa.
She told her office mates that she knew of him. He was her senpai in high school.
Her office mates told her that she must come to their dinner party and get reacquainted with her senpai.
When she saw him, she realised that he was as handsome as she remembered.
He was her first love. She regretted not telling him that she liked him.
She was just coming from the loo when she found her senpai almost crawling on the floor to his waiting wheelchair. She was stunned.
Though it was shocking, Kawana liked her senpai. He was still the same cheerful guy as before.
She later found out how he ended up in a wheelchair. He told her himself.
Apparently, He was in his third-year college when he met an accident. He was run over by a car, which severed his spine. He tried many operations to correct it but nothing worked.
The side effect of this paralysis was that he can’t feel anything from the waist down and because of that he gets bumps and bruises in his lower half and he does not feel it until he gets feverish and end up in hospital once again.
It was at this point that he became quite close to Kawana. She visited him in the hospital and ended up completing his portfolio.
She later found out that because of his accident he broke up with Miki, his high school sweetheart.
It was a high school reunion, where Kawana and Itsuki attended. They met their high school friends, Koreda and even Miki.
Miki and Itsuki had a heart to heart. Miki told him that she was getting married. Miki was very emotional.
Kawana overheard part of the conversation and when Miki was leaving, she went after her.
Miki explained to Kawana that despite what people may think, it was not her who ended the relationship with Itsuki. It was him who dumped her and would not change his mind.
It was Kawana’s turn to have a heart to heart with Itsuki. She told him honestly that she likes him and to stop feeling sorry for himself.
She sort of kidnaps him and took him where Miki was going to be married. Itsuki was grateful to Kawana afterwards because he had a chance to finally let go of his feelings and guilt about Miki and Miki, herself, appreciated it.
Kawana and Itsuki finally got together. He said that having met her again, he started being happy again. This happiness did not last long because Kawana’s parents found out about Itsuki’s disability.
This feeling of discomfort from the parents was exacerbated by Kawana ending up in the hospital herself because of a broken leg.
She was so tired and over-worked as well as stressed by her parents’ disapproval of her relationship with Itsuki that when they were in a train station, a man bumped into her sending her flying into the train track with Itsuki looking helplessly as he can’t save her.
Kawana’s father had a man-to-man chat with Itsuki. He begged the younger guy to break up with his daughter. To break up and allow Kawana to live a freer life with normalcy and not be saddled with Itsuki’s disability.
Itsuki met Kawana and told her that when she leaves the hospital, he will take her out on a date.
They went to an amusement park. They had a lovely magical time. They were at the summit of a Ferris’ wheel when he told her that they should break up.
He said that as much as he likes being with her, he had always envisaged his life after the accident to live alone and concentrate on his job.
Kawana can’t really force him to hold on to her so they broke up and life has to go on, although less bright and less exciting.
She later got the news that her father had a stroke. She went home and looked after him.
His father is a different person. He now understands the other side of the spectrum. He told her that it was because of him that Itsuki broke up with her. But what she does now or whatever she decides, it would be solely up to her.
Kawana returned back to Tokyo (?) after receiving a phone call from Nagasawa, Itsuki’s carer, who said that Itsuki was currently undergoing a very complicated life and death surgery.
When she got to the hospital, Nagasawa gave her a letter from Itsuki.
It was a very moving scene when she was reading the letter.
A month or so later, she was standing in front of their high school looking at the sakura tree she used to stand under to paint while secretly watching the young Itsuki played basketball.
She was wistfully…
When someone started talking to her. It was Itsuki. He was still in a wheelchair. I love this part of the film. It did not make the lead get better and walk, common to romance dramas. (I have to admit though that I did want that to happen!)
Anyway, he asked her to marry him and she said yes.
Their church wedding was attended by their friends and families and well-wishers.
I love this movie. Hana is such a versatile actress and Iwata is adorable.