Parents who lose sleep worrying what their teenage kids are getting up to behind closed doors may want to avoid Atsushi Ueda’s “A Girl on the Shore.” Though it’s not as scandalous as Larry Clark’s “Kids,” which jolted 1990s audiences with its lurid depiction of sexed-up teens rampaging around New York, this junior high school drama isn’t afraid to let it all hang out.
Fourteen-year-old Koume Sato (Ruka Ishikawa) is an ordinary schoolgirl living in a dead-end seaside town, who seems to be undergoing her sexual awakening in reverse. After a humiliating rejection by an older student, she embarks on a purely carnal relationship with classmate Keisuke Isobe (Yuzu Aoki), a doleful loner with absent parents and a spacious bedroom that’s perfect for after-school trysts.
Keisuke has confessed feelings for Koume in the past, but she isn’t interested in romance — not initially, at least. Her partner’s willingness to experiment is a bigger draw; before long, they’ve tried every conceivable position, even sneaking off for a quickie in the toilets at school, but are still working up to their first kiss.