I’m a casual fan of J-movies which are usually hit and miss for me. I do like their penchant for adapting mangas into movies as well instead of sticking with the longer dorama format. I’ve been keeping an eye out for this movie since it was announced last year but the holiday crush late last year let this one slip by until now. The J-movie The Liar and His Lover starring Sato Takeru and Ohara Sakurako was released last December and did relatively well at the box office. It’s based on the award-winning shoujo manga Kanojo Wa Uso Wo Aishisugiteru カノジョは嘘を愛しすぎてる which translates to The Girl Who Loved Lies. The manga is by famed shoujo manga writer Aoki Kotomi (青木琴美) who I have a mostly hate plus mild fascination with. She totally traumatized me when I stumbled across her first manga awhile back called Boku wa Imōto ni Koi o Suru 僕は妹に恋をする which means I am in Love with My Sister. Yes, you can say I totally threw myself into the fire with that title giving the story away, but in my defense this manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shoujo manga in 2008 and I seriously thought there was a twist! Like, they are not siblings. To my horror not only did the two leads turn out to be real blood siblings, they are fraternal twins! Boku wa Imōto ni Koi o Suru became a movie with Matsumoto Jun and Eikura Nana, who look nothing alike and the incest was totally toned down there. I was ready to write Aoki off until she redeemed herself with the spin-off manga I Give My First Love to You (僕の初恋をキミに捧ぐ Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu) which has no incest and is actually really lovely and sad and later became a movie with Okada Masaki and Inoue Mao. Anyhoo, I’ve heard good things about The Liar and his Lover, a love story between a 25 year old sound engineer with a band called Crude Play and a 16 year old high school student and aspiring singer. This movie trailer looks so good I’m all excited now. Bonus points for no incest even if there is a lot of lying. Continue reading →