Popular reviews

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  Review by reibureibu ★★★★ 2

  Things you can get for 100¥
  ▹ Sensu fan
  ▹ Tenugui (hand towel)
  ▹ Cute stationery
  ▹ Food-themed smartphone case
  ▹ Gacha capsule
  ▹ Goldfish drawstring pouch
  ▹ One of 300 flavors of KitKat

  Things you can't get for 100¥
  ▹ A job
  ▹ Motivation
  ▹ Self-esteem
  ▹ Selflessness
  ▹ Mom's approval
  ▹ Purpose
  ▹ Your dignity back

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  Review by AshCrow ★★★★

  Stand Up and Fight!

  • Japanuary 2022 #17 🇯🇵

  100 Yen entsprich momentan ca. 0,77 €, wieviel Liebe es dafür gibt kann man sich vielleicht denken. Aber vielleicht sollte man auch gar nicht erst irgendwelche Liebe erwarten, das Leben fickt dich schließlich jeden Tag, das muss fürs erste reichen.

  Und reichen tut es auch Ichiko. Die mit Anfang 30 noch nichts in ihrem Leben auf die Reihe bekommen hat, Zuhause, in ihrem alten Kinderzimmer wohnt und den ganzen Tag mit Rauchen, Zocken und Junk-Food verbringt. Nachdem sie von ihren Eltern auf die Straße gesetzt wurde versauert sie in einem 100-Yen-Shop wo übergriffige Kollegen und merkwürdige Kunden ihr das Leben schwer machen. Sie kennt weder das selbstbestimmte Leben noch hat sie…

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  Review by Arsaib Gilbert ★★★★ 10

  [Favorites—2010s]

  Gone are the days when, at least in movies, slackers were primarily lovable misfits trying to find their way through high school or college. Perhaps it reflects society in general, but more and more we’ve seen onscreen people well into their twenties and thirties who exhibit many of the same apathetic personality traits and characteristics. In Japan, more specifically, the “lost generation,” born out of the country’s post-bubble malaise, has received its share of cinematic portraits, with the dry comedies of Yamashita Nobuhiro arguably serving as the standard-bearer of sorts.

  The passive-aggressive protagonist of Take Masaharu’s engaging comedy-drama, 100 Yen Love (Hyakuen no koi), wouldn’t look out of place in a Yamashita film; in fact, she could be seen as an older, and considerably more hopeless, version of the titular character in Tamako in Moratorium (2013).

  [Please read the full review @ Yam Magazine]

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  Review by Jeremy Kinney ★★★½ 3

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  I quite liked this. As if a typical mainstream Japanese boxing flick was written by Jim Jarmusch. The only thing that holds it back from true greatness for me is that it's a tad unnecessarily rapey and the man she's involved with (or wants to be) is a total douche that I didn't want her to have anything to do with.

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  Review by Grant McLanaghan ★★★★

  I bet if you watched this – like me – without knowing anything about the plot, you’d never in a million years guess how it develops.

  The story follows Ichiko (Sakura Ando), an absolute mess of a human being; a chronically shy, lazy slob who can barely string two words together. Fed up with living in close vicinity to her volatile sister, she leaves the family home and gets a job at a convenience store, where she becomes fascinated by a not-all-there customer dubbed Banana Man, on account of all the bananas (and nothing else) he buys.

  So far so comedic-hang-out-movie (and that’s absolutely *not* a criticism). It takes a while but we start to realise that Ichiko has buried…

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  Review by 城十郎 ★★★★★ 2

  この拳で世界をつらぬけ

  Oh how I miss the ヤマザキイチゴスペシャル！ Cheap and delicious. I knew at this moment that I related more with the main character, Ichiko, than I initially thought. This is one of the most original stories I've ever seen that not one scene ever feels out of place despite switching among drama, comedy, and action seemlessly. Everything flows together where you're hooked during every scene. This has to be the best film about boxing that I've had the pleasure of viewing, and I'll certainly be coming back for seconds. As more time goes by, the more I want to get into boxing.

  The biggest praise I can give this is that for once, the characters actually have a reason to…

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  Review by Dave Jackson ★★★★½

  While often actor "transformations" scream falsity and award-baiting, Sakura Ando's transformation in 100 Yen Love is truly something special. Utterly, shockingly believable. Ando begins the film practically unrecognisable and ends the film equally unrecognisable but in an entirely different way. I think part of why the shift works so well is that the film is so brutally unsentimental. It doesn't offer the easy answers we want. Ando evolves, but she still lives in a 100 yen universe by the end of the film. It is not total and utter darkness. While there's no sense of unrealistic fantasies being met or even hope, there is stoicism and achievement. There were a few moments that I initially thought delved too far into…

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  Review by ashokk ★★★★

  Heartwarming Tragicomedy❤️👌

  Transformation from a depressed woman to a boxer.
  Stunning performance from sakura ando👏👏

  Highly recommended💯

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  Review by Pachinko Pop ★★★½ 3

  The transformation Sakura Ando goes through in this movie is incredible. I know it’s partially movie magic — hair & makeup, wardrobe, etc. but it’s also thanks to a very strong performance, gradually shifting from practically catatonically depressed to a strong-willed fighter. I knew her from LOVE EXPOSURE and SHOPLIFTERS, two very different roles, and this further reinforces my feelings that she is a great actor. The movie is not a breeze, with its 2hr runtime, several character lows including a really rough rape scene, and a grueling boxing match at the end. It is super engaging though, especially thanks to Ando’s stellar performance.

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  Review by Angelina ★★★½

  TW: Rape

  Why are you acting cute? I'll kill you
  Me to myself 😅

  The transformation Ichiko goes through is one of my favourite in films. It's the one where the girl doesn't change her style or her hair or she just put make up on, but a true transformation from the inside.

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  Review by Michael Dang ★★★

  Right after completing high school, you could say I became a slacker. Watched movies/tv shows, played games and generally do nothing more until I slept around 6 am and woke up around 4 pm because my mom would be home and I didn't want her to know I'm a lazy piece of shit which to be honest I was at the time. So following this journey of a 32-year-old female slacker that turns her life around after getting involved with a boxer and getting into boxing, it hit home. Apart from the fact I didn't take boxing and instead got myself a job and got my shit together.

  100 Yen Love, is a slow paced but slightly feel good film.…

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  Review by ZombAid ★★★★

  AngrY
  HungrY

  Getting by, day by day, is a plague when you don't know where to put yourself. Becoming aimless in this unfocused society isn't too difficult to achieve, when leisure activities can cover your mind perfectly well until sleeping time. That something is amiss doesn't bother too much until a certain breaking point. The point of complete loneliness. The moment everyone starts to abuse you and take the last bit of self preservation out of you. Harden your knuckles and pull up the tights. Life is coming now with its full force at you and you have to defend yourself.

  With a wonderful Sakura Ando, that plausible takes on the lead as the slacker that has to grow, and a documentary style that captures the snippets of life in some emphatic pictures, makes this a wonderful and honest portrait about a woman at a ropes end.
  A movie that speaks to my core.