Director- Satoko Yokohama.This is the first work I have seen of hers.The premise is quite interesting and enjoyable, with how the lead actress, Komai Ren, acts so superbly. The plot revolves around her journey toward self-confidence.The protagonist is someone who struggles to speak publicly and frequently mispronounces words. This hinders her school social life and makes her feel left out. This leads her to explore getting a job in a maid cafe as it forces her out of her comfort zone and helps her improve.The film explores the maid cafe quite well and shows us the incidents that take place there, excellently. The film also aptly explores the negative connotations associated with working in such a field of business.There is also a subplot about her playing a shamisen, a traditional three-stringed Japanese musical instrument, in her childhood. This is used to show us how she has still not moved on from her mother's death. The mother died when the protagonist was quite young, and hence, she doesn't remember much about her mother. She dreams about the past time when her mother was alive, but always watches her from afar. As the film goes on, she manages to muster up courage and interact with her mother.The shamisen is also used to show us that even though one might be similar to another, there still exists an individuality, from the example of the grandmother and the protagonist, as both play the shamisen quite differently.The playing of the shamisen gives the audience an interest in wanting to explore more works performed on it. The film also combines the duo of playing the shamisen and working in a maid cafe quite well.Overall, this is a good feel-good watch that gives us a few aspects to think about.
Director- Satoko Yokohama.This is the first work I have seen of hers.The premise is quite interesting and enjoyable, with how the lead actress, Komai Ren, acts so superbly. The plot revolves around her journey toward self-confidence.The protagonist is someone who struggles to speak publicly and frequently mispronounces words. This hinders her school social life and makes her feel left out. This leads her to explore getting a job in a maid cafe as it forces her out of her comfort zone and helps her improve.The film explores the maid cafe quite well and shows us the incidents that take place there, excellently. The film also aptly explores the negative connotations associated with working in such a field of business.There is also a subplot about her playing a shamisen, a traditional three-stringed Japanese musical instrument, in her childhood. This is used to show us how she has still not moved on from her mother's death. The mother died when the protagonist was quite young, and hence, she doesn't remember much about her mother. She dreams about the past time when her mother was alive, but always watches her from afar. As the film goes on, she manages to muster up courage and interact with her mother.The shamisen is also used to show us that even though one might be similar to another, there still exists an individuality, from the example of the grandmother and the protagonist, as both play the shamisen quite differently.The playing of the shamisen gives the audience an interest in wanting to explore more works performed on it. The film also combines the duo of playing the shamisen and working in a maid cafe quite well.Overall, this is a good feel-good watch that gives us a few aspects to think about.
