Teenager Confronts Adult Sexuality

I watched this film as a fan of Wataya Risa's writing and especially her novel Install. She wrote it while still a teenager herself, and later won the prestigious Akutagawa award for her novel Keritai Senaka (The Back I Want To Kick). When Asako is lying on her back on the boy's bed, the book you can see beside her with the blue cover is Keritai Senaka.

The film did well in capturing some of the strengths of the novel: the surreal, dreamy quality; the absurd storyline; and the humorous character interaction. In many scenes we get the pervading sense of children being surrounded by reminders of adult sexuality, which seem to them to come from a strange and unknown world. Asako, a 17- year-old virgin, is uncomfortable with society's expectation that she will be sexually active, as evidenced by her discomfort with the lacy panties and bras featured colorfully in both the film and the novel. The adults in the novel, both parents and teachers, seem to wield their sexuality as weapons of influence and intimidation. Notably, there is the female teacher who is having an affair with a male student, and the boy's stepmother, who makes him uncomfortable with her questions and flaunting of her womanly body. The precocious elementary-school boy, impersonating a married housewife/prostitute, is very funny, and his acting is flawless.

The weakness of this film is the slow pacing. There were numerous overly long interludes with repetitive music playing and nothing much happening. During these moments I was often tempted to pause it and go do something else. It should have been more tightly edited, even if it would have resulted in a shorter film. Since the novel itself was so short, rather than the usual impression of a long book being ruthlessly cut for film, you have the feeling that a short story was stretched out to fill a feature-length movie, without much original content added.

The reason I personally like both the novel and the film is that I do think it's possible to reset your life ("Install" yourself) by unconventional means, having new experiences that allow you to start over, feeling okay about life again. I think this story has a message of hope, delivered in a humorous way, for people overwhelmed by apathy towards the chore of everyday life.

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An adult taking advantage of a child.

Maybe I would have liked it more had I watched it when I was younger, but as a 23 year old myself all I see is a confused youth being taken advantage of by an authority figure. Imagine this has the genders been reversed. I am usually very into onee-san romances like Anago, second love, etc. Though I'm not a fan of it I don't really mind student teacher romances either. But in Majo no Jouken, somehow the relationship felt predatory. Usually I prefer if the younger guys pursue first. In this one all I see is an adult misguiding a teenager. Maybe if the boy seemed more aware, of if the female teacher showed some restraint. This is not a good Ane-romance.

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Subtleties and body language

At first I was wondering what is the purpose of the drama. It really feels like there is no point in the drama. But it is surprisingly engaging. And the direction is beautiful with subtle nuances. The best part of the drama are all the actors. The drama is filled with veterans. It is a master class in acting. Especially since even the best of jdramas have at least some level of overacting. Here it was just perfect. Great actors disappeared in scenes where they were not the focus yet in the next scenes their your could feel their presence. Emotions were expressed with subtleties. Inner conflict portrayed through body language. It's a must watch but only if you're into seeing good acting. (It's not plot heavy). And if you're not paying attention it might feel empty.

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