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Mamiya Kyoudai (2006)

Release Date: May 13, 2006

Director: Morita Yoshimitsu

Cast: Sasaki Kuranosuke, Muga Tsukagi, Miyuki Nakajima, Erika Sawajiri, Hiromi Iwasaki, Anzai Miyoko, Ryuta Sato

     Mamiya Kyoudai ( 「間宮兄弟」) is a classic comedy about love and family. As the story begins, two brothers are living together in a spacious apartment in downtown Tokyo and working 9-to-5 jobs. In other words, they have evolved beyond the part-timer/student lifestyle of the typical post-adolescent otaku into something resembling adulthood. Adulthood, however, as imagined by a hobby-mad, work-allergic boy.

     Akinobu is a taster in a beer-bottling plant (Sasaki Kuranosuke), Tetsunobu (Muga Tsukagi) is a handyman at an elementary school. Their apartment is a crowded, but immaculately maintained shrine to their various interests, from comics and crossword puzzles to paper airplanes. In the evening they sit, side by side, to watch Yokohama Baystars games, ball caps on their heads and clipboards in hand. Or they watch rented DVDs, with tubs of popcorn on their laps and expressions of rapture on their faces. After these and other amusements, they retire to their futons to sleep like babes until the next busy day. What a paradise -- if you happen to be 12 years old.

    Akinobu and Tetsunobu, however, are both past 30, with a normal, if frustrated, interest in the opposite sex. Thus Tetsunobu's proposal that they hold a "curry party" for two women of their acquaintance: Kuzuhara sensei (Takako Tokiwa), an attractive, if gawky, teacher at Tetsunobu's school, and Naomi-chan (Erika Sawajiri), an excruciatingly cute clerk at the video shop the boys patronize -- and whom Akinobu is head over heels for.

    Amazingly, both say yes, and even more amazingly, the party is a huge success. Their guests like not only their curry (thoughtfully, the brothers prepare three varieties), but the game of Monopoly they play after dinner. What a refreshing change from the usual digital whatever! The brothers begin to dream impossible dreams. That is, the serpent of desire enters their presexual Eden.

    But not so suddenly -- or fatally. First, the brothers visit their mother (singer Miyuki Nakajima) and grandparents in the Shizuoka countryside. This involves a trip on another of their obsessions -- the shinkansen -- and indulgence in their favorite beverages: beer for Akinobu, kohi gyunyu (coffee-flavored milk) for Tetsunobu. Mom turns out to be an eccentric free spirit who heartily approves of their lifestyle choices, including their brideless condition. In other words, the apples don't fall far from the bent maternal tree.

    Back in Tokyo, however, complications await. Akinobu's senior at the bottling plant is scheming to divorce his saintly wife and marry his sharp-tongued mistress -- and recruits Akinobu as a reluctant ally. Then Tetsunobu is sweet-talked into a sleazy club -- and is bilked out of 100,000 yen.

    Meanwhile, Kuzuhara sensei is being ardently wooed by a male teacher, while Naomi remains doggedly loyal to an indifferent baseball-player boyfriend, despite the disapproval of her wacky-but-cute sister (Keiko Kitagawa). In other words, the brothers seem likely to lose, not only paradise, but their respective Eves.

    Based on a novel by Kaori Ekuni, Morita's script works these and other story threads into the semblance of a plot. The outcome, however, is seldom in doubt. Morita is a benevolent god to his cinematic creations, and his audience, otaku or not, would not have it any other way. In a society where adult life is too often a slog through a workaholic purgatory, the Mamiya's Eden looks awfully tempting. Who needs sex when you've got hotels on Park Place?

[from JapanTimes.com]

Buy "Mamiya Kyoudai" on DVD @ YesAsia

Yumi Honma

     I'm not entirely sure as to how EXACTLY Yumi will be portrayed in the movie but according to Keiko's blog, Yumi is a fun and energetic girl who is always talking and sending text messages on her phone. Apparently she loves to accessories because Keiko calls her additions a little eccentric. ^_~ She is the younger sister of Naomi (Erika Sawajiri).






 

Rip Slyme + ♪♫ Hey Brother ♫♪

   Rip Slyme is a Japanese old school hip-hop group that consists of four MCs: Ryo-Z, IImari, Pes, Su, and DJ Fumiya. You might recognize Ryo-Z and IImari as members of the Teriyaki Boyz, who perform the theme song "Tokyo Drift" for Keiko's Hollywood movie. The members of Rip Slyme wrote and composed "Hey, Brother" specifically for Mamiya Kyoudai. This happy go lucky song reflects the situations of the awkward Mamiya brothers.




Rip Slyme- Hey Brother

01. Hey Brother (watch the PV)
02. Hey Brother (poetry reading by Sasaki Kuranosuke and Muga Tsukagi)
03. Hey Brother (classical ver.)
04. Hey Brother (instrumental)

Buy @ Japan Listen