A shy new kid at school falls for the most popular girl in his class: It’s a standard enough premise for a seishun eiga (teen movie) since every other protagonist in this enduringly popular Japanese film genre can be called “shy,” particularly when it comes to matters of the heart.

Ryuichi Hiroki’s “The Sickness Unto Love,” which is based on Yuki Shasendo’s novel of the same Japanese title that became a social media sensation, begins with this conventional premise. However, the film turns it into something more compellingly multilayered and universal, reflecting both the darker reaches of the internet and the eternal volatility of young love, in which agony follows ecstasy.

Hiroki brings his unique visual lyricism to this material, building on his past work as a romance genre master, including the 2009 hit “April Bride” and 2013’s “Crying 100 Times: Every Raindrop Falls.” Working with cinematographer and frequent collaborator Atsuhiro Nabeshima, he keeps his camera at a discreet remove to create an atmosphere of watchful calm — as well as youthful freedom and grace when his two principals are riding bicycles together. (Hiroki can summon this mood in other ways, but has a particular affinity for bikes, which he captures in motion with silky tracking shots.)