Japanese TV networks and other makers of films for the masses have developed a formula for megasuccess: Produce a movie that is essentially a superspecial of a popular TV drama series. "Hero," which revived a smash-hit 2001 series about a punkish public prosecutor, was of this mold — and become the highest-grossing Japanese film of 2007, with a box office take of ¥8.15 billion.
"Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers)," a film based on Yoko Kamio's best-selling shojo manga (girls' comic) series, with 58 million copies sold in paperback, and a popular TBS drama series broadcast from 2005 to 2007, may not attain heights of "Hero," but it is certain to be one of the big hits of the summer. Think "Sex and the City," Japanese style.
Similar to its American counterpart, "Hana Yori Dango" is a fantasy of the contemporary good life whose heroine is resolutely non-PC — particularly in her taste in men. Its differences, however, are stark. Instead of being sophisticated, sexually experienced and on the far side of 30, like Carrie Bradshaw and her pals in "Sex," Tsukushi Makino (Mao Inoue) is a naive and virginal, if spunky, girl, which means she fits the basic profile of hundreds of other Japanese teen-drama heroines.