Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2011

Ready for another extravaganza of overacting, hyper-vivid colors, loopy jokes and teen melodrama? Well, then, it must be another feature-length, live-action film based on a popular manga. Serialized from 2003-2008, High School Debut was a huge hit as a girls’ comic, with about six million (!) volumes in print. The big-screen treatment treads over the familiar ground of wacky jokes, kids trying to be cool, and unrequited love. Haruna (Ito Ono) was a successful athlete in junior high but decides to leave that tomboy image behind and become a glamour hammer hip kid in senior high school. The problem is, she doesn’t know how to do it, so she enlists the help of uber-cool upperclassman Yo (Junpei Mizobata). His one condition: “Don’t fall in love with me.” Um, you can guess the rest. The jokes are silly but the overall energy makes this an enjoyable diversion for the genre. (101 min)