Review | Cherry Magic! movie review: Japanese boys’ love drama forgets the humour of its TV original, and is an ordeal to watch
- This Japanese tale, adapted from a manga and TV series, is based on the idea that men who are still virgins when they reach the age of 30 develop magical powers
- Eiji Akaso and Keita Machida star as two men who discover they are in love, in a frustrating tale of social acceptance where the lovers don’t even kiss on screen
1/5 stars
Adapted from a popular boys’ love manga series penned by Yuu Toyota, Cherry Magic! The Movie continues the romantic adventures of Kiyoshi (Eiji Akaso) and Yuichi (Keita Machida) that were first brought to life in TV Tokyo’s hit 2020 drama series.
To give the show its full title, Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! embraces the notion that young men who reach the age of 30 without having sex develop magical powers. In the case of timid office drone Kiyoshi, this manifests as the ability to hear the inner thoughts of anybody he physically touches.
Comedic high jinks take a turn into uncharted romantic territory when Kiyoshi inadvertently makes contact with his popular colleague Yuichi, and discovers that he is in love with him.
Taiki Kazama’s big-screen spin-off picks up as the two young men consummate their feelings for one another, and Kiyoshi discovers, horror of horrors, that he has not only lost his virginity but his magical powers too!
The boys’ love, or yaoi, phenomenon has been around since at least the 1970s – stories of male-on-male romantic relationships targeted mainly at a female audience.