Fantastic Girls

In the 1980s, Ayuko (Yuki Mio) is a high school girl who moves to Okayama from Tokyo, transferring to a local school. But getting used to this new school is not easy for her: The other girls find her mannerisms and accent strange and begin to mock and tease her. She feels unwelcome and fears she is about to become the subject of a bullying campaign. But a fellow student named Takemi (Adachi Rika) soon steps in help… Ayuko spends her free time drawing comic strips featuring her “boyfriend.” Takemi takes an interest in these, and eventually the two girls become very close friends. But what brought them together could eventually cause them to part – the two have a bitter dispute over a matter at the heart of the comic...and eventually part. Now, 30 years later, Ayuko (now played by Shirahane Yuri) has become a celebrated professional manga artist. She is invited to return to her old high school to speak to the students. But, at the event, she is suddenly reunited with Takemi (now played by Kei Aran), who has gone on to become a teacher at the school. Will their friendship rekindle after all this time? “Fantastic Girls” is a 2015 Japanese movie that was directed by Akiko Ohku.