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Takashi Miike’s second phase of filmmaking, the one mostly dealing with manga adaptations, has been at its best when the Japanese master was able to make films that function as a collage of different ideas. “Ai to Makoto”, the manga by Ikki Kajiwara and Takumi Nagayasu the film is based on, gave Miike a perfect opportunity to produce a movie in that style, as it includes elements of 70s exploitation, musical and anime/manga aesthetics, to name a few. Let us take things from the beginning though.

The anime intro begins in 1961, when a skiing accident introduces the aristocrat Ai to the punk Makoto. 11 years later, and in live-action mode, the two meet again, when Ai, a senior in a prestigious high school, stumbles upon Makoto as he fights the members of a Tokyo gang on his own. Makoto emerges victorious, after the first musical act of the film,...

Director: Takashi Miike. Review: Adam Wing. I don’t know what it is that draws Takashi Miike to projects but you could never accuse the man of being one-dimensional. In the past three years alone he has directed two samurai movies, a superhero film and a farcical children’s adventure. He has two movies scheduled for release next year and three films from 2012 that have yet to see the light of day on western shores. For Love’s Sake – a fascinating blend of High School Musical, Crows Zero and West Side Story – is the first to hit UK shelves, courtesy of Third Window Films. In 2001 Miike directed one of my favourite movies, a quirky zombie musical called The Happiness of the Katakuris. Combining elements of Kim Jee-Woon’s The Quiet Family and Christmas favourite The Sound of Music, Katakuris was an offbeat masterpiece infused with claymation set pieces, twisted humour and karaoke singalongs.

For Love’s Sake aka Ai to makoto aka The Legend of Love & Sincerity

Written by Takayuki Takuma, Ikki Kajiwara, Takumi Nagayasu,

Directed by Takashi Miike

Japan, 2012 Fantasia imdb

This year, Fantasia pulled out all the stops to kick off the Festival with a bang – several bangs. They unveiled a new interactive screen that displays pictures from films playing in the festival with capsule reviews in English and French, logos of sponsors and recent random tweets that mention FantasiaFest. It can become a bit of an infinite “Meow” loop, but it is still very cool.

To mark the fact that a Japanese film was chosen as the official opening film for the festival, the local Japanese consulate sent a representative and (better still) sponsored a Japanese dance and an awe-inspiring Japanese drum performance. When I say that it was a percussive assault, I mean that in the most complimentary way.

Over the past two years, director Takashi Miike has hosted a series of live interview events to help promote upcoming movies. On Wednesday, he hosted one for his own movie, Ai to Makoto at Billboard Live Tokyo in Roppongi. Satoshi Tsumabuki and Takumi Saitoh were in attendance and participated in a frank talk about the film. This new special video featuring Emi Takei singing as her character, Ai Saotome, premiered in the lobby during the event.

The film is based on Ikki Kajiwara and Takumi Nagayasu’s “Ai to Makoto” manga. It’s actually the fourth film adaptation of the series, but the first in 36 years.

Takei’s character, Ai, is the kind-hearted daughter of a wealthy family who falls in love with a dirt poor juvenile delinquent named Makoto Taiga (Tsumabuki). Saitoh plays Iwashimizu, an honor student who’s in love with Ai and persistent about professing it.

The film incorporates action,...

Ai To Makoto! Japanese genre legend director Takashi Miike is still on a roll, churning out film after film after film these days. Up next for him is Ai To Makoto, or The Legend of Love & Sincerity, apparently some adaptation of a manga that looks very... colorful. Twitch posted the first teaser trailer and while it's short, and features just a few quick glimpses of footage, it's considerably interesting, to say the least. Is this a musical? I'm not even sure, but apparently it's a love between two high school students. One, the troubled Makoto Taiga, is played by Satoshi Tsumabuki; and the pure, sweet Ai Satome is played by Emi Takei. Watch the teaser for Takashi Miike's Ai To Makoto or The Legend of Love & Sincerity, via Twitch: Ai To Makoto is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Takumi Nagayasu. It was adapted...