Oppai barê (2009)

Director:

Eiichiro Hasumi

Writers:

Munenori Mizuno (based on the novel by)
Yoshikazu Okada (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 April 2009 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy

Cast

Haruka Ayase	...	Mikako Terashima
Munetaka Aoki	...	Kazuki Jo
Toru Nakamura	...	Kenji Horiuchi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Seiji Fukushi	...	Mikako's ex-boyfriend
Masaki Honjô	...	Kengo Sugiura
Yoshie Ichige	...	Wife of Mikako's mentor
Takuya Ishida	...	Senior on volleyball team
Haruki Kimura	...	Ikuo Hirata
Ryûichirô Megumi	...	Taku Eguchi
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Head Coach
Suzuka Ohgo	...	Mikako Terashima - high school
Yoshihiro Tachibana	...	Yoshiki Jo
Hiromasa Taguchi	...	Coach of men's volleyball team
Kent Takahashi	...	Yasuo Kusunoki
Takuya Yoshihara	...	Kohei Iwasaki

Also Known As:

Oppai Volleyball (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:102 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA

Company:

Avex Entertainment

How to inspire your (male) students to work hard, or not!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Be careful how you make your promises. How do you encourage and inspire a group of students (boys) into working hard towards a goal, whose only focus in life is the size of the female chest? By promising them to show them yours, of course! That's exactly the kind of promise the main character Mikako Terashima (Haruka Ayase) has made to her students, albeit not willingly and intentionally, if they win a volleyball match, hence the movie title translated to English: Breast Volleyball. You see, as a young and inexperienced teacher on her first day at her new school, she is put in charge of the boys' volleyball team, but unknown to her is that these boys have no interest to play "ball", except the female kind.

And if this leads you to think this film is risqué, you are wrong. The film is funny (my favorite: downhill on a bicycle and wheelchair trying to hit the "magic" 80mph!) and touching and inspiring in other parts, but Haruka Ayase fails to show the acting range she has in Cyborg Girl (Boku no kanojo wa saibôgu), then again, this story does not have the range or depth either. Nevertheless, we can identify clearly with the dilemma and predicament Mikako faces in front of her students, peers and superiors, and cheering for the underdog to win at the competition. Breasts (of Haruka Ayase) or no breasts, it is a delightful 102 minutes to watch...leaving the cinema thinking of my French teacher in high school and one of her blouses....