Maiko haaaan!!! (2007)

Director:

Nobuo Mizuta

Writer:

Kankurô Kudô (written by)

Release Date:

16 June 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Kimihiko Onizuka is a salaryman infatuated with maiko (apprentice geisha) and whose greatest goal in life is to play a party game called "yakyuken" with one. |

Plot Keywords:

Exclamation Point In Title | Punctuation In Title

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Sadao Abe	...	Kimihiko Onizuka
Shin'ichi Tsutsumi	...	Kiichiro Naito
Kô Shibasaki	...	Fujiko Osawa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Satoshi Hashimoto
Yûki Himura	...	Camera boy
Shirô Itô	...	Hiromi Suzuki
Katsumi Kiba	...	Genta
Midoriko Kimura	...	Yoshie
Shôko Kirisawa
Kazuki Kitamura	...	Doctor
Kotomi Kyôno	...	Koume
Miki Maya	...	Komatsu
Katsuhisa Namase	...	Senzaki
Keiko Nishi
Yukari Nishio
Wakana Sakai	...	Mamefu
Saori	...	Komako (as Saori Koide)
Kenta Suga	...	Camera boy
Akiko Takase
Yui Tateishi	...	Geisha
Hitoshi Ueki	...	Old Saito
Takayuki Yamada	...	Student on field trip
Kazuko Yoshiyuki	...	Satsuki
Kôji Ôkura	...	Oshita

Directed by
Nobuo Mizuta

Writing credits
Kankurô Kudô		(written by)

Produced by
Nobuyuki Iinuma	....	producer

Original Music by
Tarô Iwashiro

Cinematography by
Osamu Fujiishi

Film Editing by
Seigo Hirasawa

Costume Design by
Sachiko Ito

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masatoshi Kurakata	....	first assistant director

Visual Effects by
Masato Aonuma	....	cg artist: NTT Media Lab
Chieko Kurokawa	....	lead digital compositor: NTT Media Lab
Issei Oda	....	visual effects supervisor
Shinji Ohagi	....	digital compositor: NTT Media Lab
Takeshi Shin	....	visual effects supervisor: NTT Media Lab
Yuki Sugimoto	....	matchmove artist: NTT Media Lab
Kyoko Yamamoto	....	digital compositor: NTT Media Lab

Camera and Electrical Department
Shinichi Chiba	....	steadicam

Production Companies

• Be-Wild
• Maiko Haaaan!!! Seisaku Iinkai
• Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV)
• Otona Keikaku
• S.D.P.
• Toho Company
• VAP
• Yomiuri Newspaper Company
• Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV)

Distributors

• Toho Company (2007) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Viz Pictures (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Mei Ah Entertainment (2009) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Mei Ah Entertainment (2009) (Hong Kong) (video) (VCD)
• Viz Media (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• NTT Media Lab (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Ki/oon Records  soundtrack
• Osaka Film Council  film commission
• Tokyo Laboratory Co. Ltd.  digital intermediate
• Tokyo Laboratory Co. Ltd.  film processing

Runtime:

Japan:120 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Kyoto, Japan

Company:

Be-Wild

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Panel Quiz Attack 25: Episode dated 24 June 2007" (2007)

Could Have Been Really Good, but the Lead Actor Killed It

I'm a huge fan of Japanese comedies. I'm also a huge fan of Kou Shibasaki. Needless to say, I was really excited to see Maiko Haaaan at my earliest convenience. Some extremely positive reviews added fuel to my fire, but that anticipation began to wane within the first 10 minutes of watching this film.

To be frank, the biggest problem is the main actor – Sadao Abe. This guy proves to be extremely annoying with his persistent, hysterical screaming. When I looked up his filmography I got flashbacks of other irritating performances. Remember Ryuji the Unicorn from the excellent "Kamikaze Girls" (2004)? Well, he was easily the most annoying actor in that one. Remember that psycho kid from the great "Uzumaki" (2000)? Well, he was easily the most annoying actor in that film as well. Seriously, they should have found someone else for Maiko Haaaan and ramped down the unnecessary shrieking, because he single-handedly destroys the enjoyability of this film. Kou Shibasaki is great as always, but she's got nothing to work with here.

Another big negative is the script, which is shamelessly weak. The greatest strength of Japanese comedies is the scriptwriting. Trust me, no country outside of Japan could come up with "Survive Style 5" (2004). Maiko Haaaan is reminiscent of Wong Jing's Hong Kong comedies that use cheap hysterical behavior for comedy. Just pump your lead actor full of caffeine and have him scream and jump around. It simply doesn't work that well. Now, there are a few funny moments to be had (like the ramen noodle sponsored baseball game), but for the most part it ranges between cringeworthy and mediocre.

Listen, there are a bunch of much better Japanese comedies out there to see before this one: "Swing Girls" (2004), "Kamikaze Girls" (2004), "Survive Style 5" (2004), "Happiness of the Katakuris" (2001), "What Did the Lady Forget?" (1937), "Sukeban Boy" (2006), "Ohayo" (1959), the "Trick" television series, "Cutie Honey" (2004), "Bubble Fiction" (2007), "Warm Water Under the Red Bridge" (2001), "Karaoke Terror" (2003), "Crazy Lips" (2000), and "Adrenaline Drive" (1999) to name but a few.