Zero-to-hero movies, usually about athletes or musicians or other folks engaged in something competitive and cinematic (baseball, yes; darts, no), are a staple of the film business in Japan. One reason: Audiences here admire gaman — the perseverance the protagonists display in pursuit of their group or individual goals. Another reason: They enjoy a good cry and these films reliably deliver, usually with a final heart-warming, tear-wrenching triumph.
Masahide Ichii's "Bring on the Melody!" is among the latest in this sub-genre. Based on a teen mystery novel series by Sei Hatsuno that has already launched a manga and TV anime, the film starts naively formulaic, as though Ichii, who also wrote the script, somehow hadn't heard that some of his tropes were gray-bearded cliches.
The film largely drops the mystery plots of the novels, but keeps its focus squarely on a universal truth: Being a high school hero — the one who makes the big play on the field or hits the high note in the big concert — sounds wonderful in the abstract, but can be terrifying in the moment. And what if you're not the hero type to begin with but instead an ordinary, if unusually persistent, teenage girl?