Review | 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days movie review: Greg Hsu, Kaya Kiyohara play young lovers in conventional yet effective romance

Greg Hsu stars as a Taiwanese video-game developer who embarks on a spot of soul-searching in Japan and reflects on a former Japanese girlfriend

There are precious few surprises on offer here, but this simple tale of a young man exploring his first love’s homeland proves surprisingly effective

Reading Time:2 minutes

Kaya Kiyohara and Greg Hsu in a still from 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days (category I; Mandarin, Japanese), directed by Michihito Fujii.

Published: 5:15pm, 2 Apr 2024

3.5/5 stars

There is something refreshingly conventional about The Parades director Michihito Fujii’s romantic drama 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days, despite its needlessly clumsy title.

At a time when the genre has become a convoluted mess of high-concept notions looking to reinvent the adolescent love story, this simple tale of a young man exploring his first love’s homeland proves surprisingly effective.

The only curve ball in Fujii’s nostalgia-fuelled tale is that his contemplative protagonist hails from Taiwan, which provides the setting for the film’s numerous flashbacks.

Greg Hsu Kuang-han (Marry My Dead Body) plays Jimmy, a successful video-game developer who suffers a cataclysmic falling out with his Japanese partners. Instead of heading home, he chooses to embark on a spot of soul-searching, travelling to a variety of picturesque tourist spots that he recognises from his favourite anime and films, such as Slam Dunk and Love Letter.

We also learn that, 18 years earlier, Jimmy had a Japanese girlfriend, Ami (Kaya Kiyohara), when working at a karaoke bar in his hometown, Tainan.

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