Kasumi Arimura to star in "Biri Gyaru" movie adaptation

By kevin on November 13, 2014 at 6:13am EST

Actress Kasumi Arimura (21) is set to star in Nobuhiro Doi’s Biri Gyaru, a movie adaptation of Nobutaka Tsubota’s breakthough novel “Gakunen Biri no Gyaru ga Ichinen de Hensachi o Yonjuu Agete Keio Daigaku ni Gen’eki Goukaku Shita Hanashi” which went on to sell over 550,000 copies.

Tsubota is a teacher who based his novel on the experiences of one of his pupils, a 2nd-year high school student named Sayaka Kondo with blonde hair and an affinity for “gyaru” fashion. Kondo made it through middle school and her first two years of high school without paying any attention to her studies, which led to her being near the bottom of her class. However, a lecturer at a cram school recognized her intelligence was far above average in spite of her outward image and helped her get set on the path of academics. Within one year, she had her sights set on getting accepted to Keio University, one of Japan’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning.

Here’s a promotional video for the original novel featuring the cover model Ren Ishikawa as Sayaka:

Playing a blonde “gyaru” marks a departure for Arimura, who’s generally had an innocent schoolgirl image throughout her career. She was reportedly nervous about playing this kind of role at first, but was put at ease when she read the original novel and screenplay, recognizing that unlike the stereotypical image of a “gyaru”, Sayaka is completely earnest and straight-forward. She also noted that this is more than a story about a girl trying to get into university, but is also about her personal growth and relationships with the people in her life.

The film begins with Sayaka struggling mightily as a second-year high school student with the apparent scholastic aptitude of a 4th-grader. Over the summer, she has an informal meeting with Mr. Tsubota at cram school and begins to work hard on her studies afterward in order to follow through on a promise. Armed with her own inborn positivity and the support of her family, Sayaka becomes doggedly determined to get accepted to Keio University.

Filming of “Biri Gyaru” begins in January 2015 with a nationwide release planned for sometime later in the year.

Source: Eiga.com