Hello Japan, it’s been ages, how have you been? Still struggling with how real you can go with gay content I presume?

After watching the movie of today’s topic, I’ll take that as a yes!

Oh, hi there Serena, it’s been a day!

She of course is the sole reason that I checked out this movie in the first place. It was a coincidence that it turned out to have enough to warrant a post on here! You see, there is more than subtext in this movie so. I am here to write about it.

The struggle mentioned above, comes in effect because Japan is still afraid to go full steam ahead! Only a selected few directors have the balls and if you will notice, they have experience so I guess the fallout for them would not be so catastrophic.

 
 

Anyway, in ICE CREAM FEVER, a cutesy movie that is in style we have seen before, has to interesting duos that were the focus of the story. The first duo is the one that has Motola Serena playing one of the characters – Saho, who is a young and upcoming writer looking for a new inspiration for her book. She stops by an Ice Cream Shop where she steals the heart of one of the employees there – Natsumi, a designer reject who is searching for herself, played by actor Yoshioka Riho.

The other duo has the ‘out there’ signs that tether on blasphemous if you are willing to see beyond the veil! They are Yuu – an office worker who just goes with the flow and then there is the storm that comes into her life in the form of her niece Miwa, a middle schooler who just drops into Yuu’s lap at the anniversary of the death of her mother and consequently, Yuu’s sister.

Natsumi and Saho are all but confirmed gay, well, Natsumi is! Beyond the spoon feeding, any blind person can see that Saho too is taken with Natsumi! She is the one that invites Natsumi to come to her place and make her ice cream and also there is this one time she came to the ice cream shop and was very disappointed that Natsumi was not there. She was all but scrutinizing the place looking for her and looked close to jumping the counter and going to search for her beyond! She should have, then she would have seen that Natsumi was actually present, she was just hiding from Saho after finding out that Saho was a famous writer and she felt super nervous.

They both obviously had a thing for one another, and we do find out later that Saho did have a talk with Natsumi’s friend and co-worker, who all but spilled the beans of Natsumi’s crush on Saho. As for Saho, through this conversation, we learn that she decided to stop looking for long-lasting relationships and now only finds flings that last a few weeks then moves on because she would rather experience the highs of the feeling that be disappointed when things don’t work out. Her reasoning for hurting others is that they will get over it eventually just like seasons switch over. There will be another summer!

Of course, she is young so she does not thing beyond her excuses, what if someone is truly hurt that they can’t get over her? What if they hurt themselves? What if something happens to them? They would not have another summer!

But anyway, even if it was a summer fling, at the very least make it worthwhile, am I right? But poor Natsumi got her heart stollen, then broken, and she did not even get a kiss!

Not that we saw anyway!

It is implied that the two slept together after the ice cream games, as I prefer to call them, but we did not see any of that! Even the kiss that we almost saw did not happen because Saho stopped it! But that was before the games. And like I said, it is implied that the two went all the way that night!

Only, when Natsumi woke up, dressed in a shirt that so belonged to Saho, Saho was nowhere to be seen! She did not even say goodbye! She was gone when Natsumi woke up! Like, can you imagine that feeling? The worst mornings of your life, right after the best night of your life!

And yes, I am giving out to both the movie character and the movie makers for now giving us anything! After seeing the trailer, they obviously used Natsumi and Saho as the selling point, using their non-existent kiss as the draw! Only for it not to happen! And even with that, they still did not leave Natsumi and Saho to enjoy their life together!

It’s too much, you know! Give us a kiss and break out hearts or don’t give us a kiss but don’t beak our hearts! But not giving us a kiss and breaking our hearts as well is just too evil! Pre-2010s evil!

Subversively, the other two are the ones that have a happy ending!

A fun fact about the stories of this movie is that the two are connected but in such an interesting way! We don’t find out how exactly they are connected until towards the end too, which is very clever!

You see, Natsumi and Saho’s story takes place in the past, a year before to be exact, and Natsumi is dumped around the time that Yuu’s sister and Miwa’s mother passed away. Interestingly, when Natsumi went on vacation to get rid of her heartbreak, she went to Yuu’s hometown, where she passed by Yuu and Miwa enjoying ice cream during the funeral after Yuu had gone after Miwa, who had runaway.

But the story of Yuu and Miwa that we follow is in the future, or present, where Yuu is in fact living in Saho’s old apartment! Quite interesting, isn’t it!

One day when coming back from shopping, Yuu finds Miwa seated in front of her door! She is not very happy to see her, especially when it looked like she had run away from home. It was not the case but Yuu just knowing that the girl was looking to stay for a while with her, did not sit well with her.

Yuu’s relationship with her sister ended on a sour note which made her feelings towards Miwa not so pleasant! There was also the fact that her easy-going life was about to be interrupted. Yuu did not like it at all! She tried to get rid of Miwa, getting her a hotel or something but in the end, Miwa managed to talk her way into staying with Yuu.

As for the reason the Miwa showed up to her doorstep out of the blue, after the death of her mother, Miwa wanted to know about her father, a person she had never even seen! She found out through her research that her father was in Shibuya, the city that Yuu was living in. It made more sense to live with her aunt while doing that search. She would be in safe hands, and she got to visit her other family member.

If you have watched enough movies, you know that the father searching is just the background. The real meat will be Yuu and Miwa’s relationship during this search! Yuu would have to get over her resentment for her sister and in extension her niece and learn to be a responsible adult and look after Miwa, who only had her grandparents up until then.

Meanwhile, Miwa too learned that she really did not need to know who her father was! She came to this city looking for a family member she did not know but there was already someone that she knew! She found the family she was looking for but in a different person. The better person!

That is all well and good but why are we talking about these two?

It’s because of some repeat words from Yuu at the end of the movie really! Up to that point, Miwa had been wearing a pair of earrings that were just too elegant for a person that young but in that scene, she decides to take them off. In story, it’s because summer was over, and she would be returning to her grand parents’ where she just couldn’t wear them again. But figuratively, it was her finally coming to terms with the death of her mother and moving on.

In that moment, Yuu realised something. Those earrings belonged to her, once upon a time but her sister loved them so much, she begged Yuu to give them to her. As they were precious, Yuu was reluctant to give them away, but in the end she did, and her sister promised to return the favour. She had asked what Yuu wanted in return then, but we never got an answer.

Back to the present, Yuu is reminded of that moment, and everything clicked into place!

There was a public bath house that Yuu frequented but it was put up for closure because the owner was getting old, and her children had requested she go live with them.

Not wanting to lose that place that meant so much to her and others, Yuu decided to buy the building and continue the business. As it was a small establishment, she would need a close helping hand and there it was, in the form of her niece!

Yuu decides that the gift she wanted in return from her sister would be her daughter Miwa! And I believe the sister meant the same when she gave those earrings to Miwa! She must have known Yuu would get it, that in taking and taking from Yuu, she was giving something as equally precious – Miwa.

It was not just the earrings that her sister took from her, and there was more to Miwa choosing to come to Yuu in the search for her father. Yuu and Miwa’s father were in love and dating but then her sister stole him from her and got pregnant with Miwa! While Yuu might have given the earrings away, she had no choice when it came to her boyfriend.

Her sister I believe wished to apologise for destroying her life, because I doubt Yuu dated after that, given that she was closed off and lived life as she did, so as an apology and to turn her sister back to the land of the living, I believe Miwa was the gift to fix Yuu! Yuu could return to caring about others, have someone in her life and with the same stone, make sure that Miwa was being looked after.

It’s eye-watering stuff!

Yes, I skipped over the part where Yuu disturbingly declared that she would take Miwa as her return gift! Poor Miwa was shocked speechless but in the end they two lived together as the new bath-house owners.

Any who, if you’ve read relevant manga or watched similar anime, you know why I am including these two in this post.

Everything goes!

To summarise, I do like the movie. It’s shot well and I love the actors (Hi Serena). And while Natsumi and Saho didn’t work out, hey, I have been around for a while so I will take the other one!

Also, other nifty detail in this movie is our girl from Followers, KOMI, who plays an upcoming designer, just like her character in Followers!

I love it!

And that’s that, until next time…