Movie Review: No Longer Heroine (Heroine Shikkaku)

No Longer Heroine: Hatori Matsuzaki (Mirei Kiritani) is a female high school student. She has a crush on her childhood friend Rita Terasaka (Kento Yamazaki) and believes he will eventually choose her as her heroine, but Rita Terasaka begins dating Miho Adachi. Meanwhile, the most popular male student, Kosuke Hiromitsu (Kentaro Sakaguchi) takes an interest in Hatori Matsuzaki.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)

Review: I rarely watch any Japanese movies, not because I don't like them, but it is more to me not knowing which movie is good. I noticed that a lot of Japanese movies were adapted from manga or anime, and the movies are often executed with the same humour and cheekiness like in the manga and anime. It made their movies more fun to watch. Kudos to Tea for making a post about this movie on her blog, she is the reason I found out about this.

No Longer Heroine centres around four high school students, Hatori, Rita, Hiromitsu and Adachi. Hatori and Rita had been best friends since childhood, their friendship starting with Hatori saving Rita from involving in a fight. Rita was pretty much a loner, with no other obvious friends than Hatori, and his mother abandoned him when he was young. Ever since that, Hatori had made it her life mission to always be by Rita's side, to be his heroine because she had labelled Rita as the hero.

But her plan to become Rita's heroine backfired before she even managed to confess her feelings, for Rita got into a relationship with Adachi, another loner girl. The parts where Hatori realised that she could no longer be the heroine was funny though, the way the scenes were made. It was definitely manga style. Hatori has a really cute face, and when she made faces or when her voice somehow became manly, it was still cute. I can't get over how funny it was when she said Na-ka-ji-maaaaaaaa loudly (Nakajima is a friend that was always around Hatori, listening to Hatori's daily talks about Rita).

Shortly after being upset that she could not become Rita's heroine, Hatori met Hiromitsu, a popular guy in their school. Let me take a breathe, because I'm still not over how adorable Hiromitsu is. His smiles are like sunshine, very radiant and very sweet. And those dimples. And his eyes. And the mole under his eye. And─ okay, maybe I'll spare the details about Hiromitsu since I'm reviewing the movie, not the boy. Oops.

Only on Hatori and Hiromitsu's second time meeting, Hiromitsu managed to steal a kiss from Hatori. It was so cute oh god someone hold me please Hatori was furious because she had saved her first kiss for Rita, only for it to be taken away by someone she barely even know. The days after that was no longer that happy for Hatori because of Rita's relationship with Adachi. There came a day, not long before summer holiday, where Adachi met Hatori and told her to take care of Rita while she was gone for a while somewhere.

Hatori was of course delighted for the news of Adachi's short absence, but Nakajima told her to stop seeing Rita for a while. Nakajima made Hatori agree to a plan, where she was supposedly to stay away from Rita and he himself contacted her. But the plan failed because Rita did not contact her. One of the days where Hatori felt lonely, Hiromitsu found her and they went out for a walk together. It was really sweet and Hiromitsu is so boyfriend material. But Hatori missed Rita so much that she made a call for Rita, asking him to go to the firework festival, without actually realising it.

Rita agreed and so they went there together, both wearing yukata. Yukata is really cute, I'm really hoping to be able to try one someday! On the festival, of course, the two bumped with Hiromitsu. Gosh, Hiromitsu in a white yukata looked so handsome, I couldn't stop squealing. You can almost see the spark going on between Rita and Hiromitsu. The boys hated each other. When Hatori went to the toilet for a while, Hiromitsu talked some senses into Rita, before leaving. When Hatori returned, she was surprised to find Rita alone. And somehow, she ended up confessing her feelings to Rita, and Rita kissed her.

When I thought that everything is going to be alright, it seemed that Rita was still confused about his own feelings. And right when he was going to say something, Adachi came back. Rita promised Hatori that he would clarify his real feelings on the next day. But in the end, Rita chose Adachi instead. Feeling torn, Hatori tried to make a call to Hiromitsu, but ended the call quickly, thinking that it was ridiculous to call for him. She cried on her own, and not long after that, Hiromitsu found her. After her call, he had ran over to look for her, not even caring that it was raining. He was there to comfort her. Best scene ever because the way Hiromitsu hugged Hatori as she cried was really sweet. They started to spend a lot of time together since then, Hatori slowly forgetting Rita.

There was a class trip to somewhere snowy, and Hatori decided that she wanted to confess to Hiromitsu on his birthday. She was excited for it, but when Nakajima asked her if she was going to regret it or not, her thoughts started to jumble up again. It turns out that Rita's mother was actually there, and Hatori was scared it might hurt him, so she pulled Rita away, not even realising she held his hand. They parted when Hiromitsu and Adachi came, Hiromitsu realising something, and Rita going to Adachi's side because she was sick.

On the day Hatori was going to confess to Hiromitsu, she accidentally got on the same elevator with Rita. They stopped on a floor, and was met by the stunning view of the dusk sky. The orange and pink sky was meaningful to them, because they grew up constantly watching the sky together. Hatori left then, and as the elevator's door slowly closed, Rita took a picture of it. He did not managed to get Hatori's picture, but only the view of the elevator closed. As he went through his phone gallery, he realised that there were a lot of Hatori's pictures in it.

Hatori and Hiromitsu sneaked out for a date on a Ferris wheel ride, and at the same time, Rita went to Adachi's room. Rita heard Adachi bad-mouthing Hatori, and he barged in the room expecting Adachi to be speaking with someone, but slowly realising that Adachi was only talking to the mirror. Talk about being creepy, who wouldn't be surprised to find a girl talking to a mirror? Adachi then admitted that she had faked her sickness in order to keep Rita by her side. She could not bear lying anymore, so she decided to let him go, despite saying that she would not forgive him. Rita soon realised that he was actually in love with Hatori all along.

On the other hand, Hatori was inside the Ferris wheel with Hiromitsu. As she was trying to confess to Hiromitsu, she too realised that she had never forgotten Rita after all. So she told her real feelings, how she is in love with Rita, and it was no surprise that Hiromitsu said he understood. He let her go, and she wished for him to get a girl that is better than her, because he deserves someone good.

In the middle of Hatori and Rita's search for each other, Rita accidentally run into his mother. Hatori found about it from Nakajima who saw Rita leaving with the woman, and she became scared. She ran and ran and saw Rita sitting dangerously on the metal railings of a tower. She had thought that he was going to jump and started to freak out. But she met him up there, and was relieved to know that he was okay. The two finally confessed and hugged and kissed, and it was beautiful.

At first, I was upset that Hatori did not end up with Hiromitsu, I was rooting for them! But then I realised that it was better for Hatori to be with Rita. He had nothing, but Hatori accepted him for who he is. They were meant for each other even from the start. And yes, Hiromitsu deserves someone better ♡ Can we just have a sequel where Hiromitsu finally finds someone for him?

This looks more like a rant instead of a review... Oh well, this movie is definitely a worth watch. If you have watched or planning to watch No Longer Heroine, do leave a comment on your thoughts about it!

Till next time ♡ Love, Aera