The Legend of the Stardust Brothers

Shinga (Shinga Kubota) and Kan (Kan Takagi) are the singers in rival pop bands, until the mysterious Minami (Kiyohiko Ozaki) of Atomic Promotion signs them up as a pop duo to be called the Stardust Brothers. Although they can't stand each other initially, they jump at the massive amount of money on offer, and after only a week with the company, they are superstars with the #1 pop song on the charts! But fame can be fickle, and soon enough Minami is approached to raise up another artist, Karuo (Issay), the son of a powerful politician, and Shinga and Kan are yesterday's news. But Karuo has designs on Marimo (Kyoko Togawa), the young girl who first led the fan club of the Stardust Brothers and then became a pop star herself, and Karuo is used to getting what he wants....

This was an early film by director Makoto Tezuka, son of legendary Osamu Tezuka, when he was only 22 years old. Despite his youth, the film hangs together quite well, with plenty of nods to pop music of the era and an enthusiastic and energetic cast. A bit of slapstick here and an odd monochrome framing device add to the fun; the occasional homophobia-as-laugh-getter hasn't aged well, however. Overall, though, the film has its moments and the flavor of the Japanese pop culture in the mid-1980s is quite entertaining.