Love Like the Falling Petals: Sakura, young love and drama

Love Like the Falling Petals, also known as Sakura no Yona Boku no Koibito, follows the love story between a hairdresser and an aspiring photographer. The promise of a long and bright future together fades away as a twist of fate changes everything. Directed by Yoshihiro Fukagawa, who is also known for directing Patisserie Coin De Rue and Wolf Girl.

Directed by: Yoshihiro Fukagawa
Written by: Tomoko Yoshida
Based on the novel Sakura no Yona Boku no Koibito by Keisuke Uyama.

Genres: Sentimental, Emotional, Romantic
Rating: 12+

Started airing: March 24^th 2022
Total Length: 129 minutes

A story about Haruto, a young man who’d given up on his dream of becoming a photographer, and Misaki, a determined young hairstylist. The two falls in love and Haruto finds himself inspired by the way Misaki pursues her goals, making him pursue his own dream of becoming a photographer again. Suddenly Misaki falls ill and is diagnosed with ‘Fast-Forward Syndrome’, a disease which makes her age ten times faster than normal. This cruel twist of fate rapidly changes the once so vibrant woman Haruto fell in love with into a frail old lady. The two struggle to deal with all this entails.

What hurdles will they have to overcome to enjoy the rest of their time together? And how will they deal with the emotional, physical and mental struggles they face?

SCORE: 70/100

Overall Love Like the Falling Petals, is definitely a movie I’d recommend for anyone who loves stories that will move you, to both tears and sometimes even laughter. The story starts off as a light-hearted love story, but changes once Misaki falls ill and is diagnosed with a progeroid syndrome.

Although her specific progeroid syndrome, called ‘Fast-Forward Syndrome’, doesn’t actually exist, the anguish it causes Misaki and those surrounding her does feel quite real. After all, there are plenty of diseases and syndromes that chip away at someone’s body and mind, so it’s not hard to relate to their situation. Because of this, it doesn’t feel that farfetched, despite the fiction of it all.

The movie is very emotional and you’ll be wiping away quite a few tears as the story unfolds. When it comes to the music, lighting and surroundings the set-up of each scene fits well with the story and moments within it.

Each of the characters in this film deals with the situation differently, also based on what information they had at the time. You can see and feel the love and concern they share for one another and how helpless those who love Misaki feel about her situation. Their desperation to find a cure and ultimately to help her as much as they can is really well portrayed.

Want to know more about Love Like the Falling Petals? Keep reading!

Storyline

Love Like the Falling Petals begins with a brief glance into the future, narrated by Haruto, which will make a lot more sense once you’ve watched the entire movie. Then we see the beginning of their story, how Haruto and Misaki met, how they fell in love and how their story unfolds.

Haruto is quite awkward and shy and he meets the passionate and spirited Misaki by chance, after getting a coupon for a free haircut. He tells her that he’s a photographer, but in reality he has given up on his dream. After an accident gives him the opportunity to go on a date with Misaki, he comes clean and tells her about his lie. Misaki inspires him to pick up where he left off and pursue his dream of becoming a professional photographer.

Their love story is quite awkward and adorable at the start, with some dramatic and clumsy moments as well. The text messages they send back and forth are shown on screen, in between scenes of them together, which helps tell their story and gives insight into them as a couple and how they communicate.

Once Misaki has received her diagnosis life changes for her and those around her. She starts deteriorating rather quickly and gives up on a lot of things she used to love. Although this story has both heart-warming and heart-breaking moments, it is definitely very emotional. The circumstances Misaki and Haruto face are hard and incredibly painful.

Despite the emotional tone, it is definitely a beautiful movie to watch. While it doesn’t end on a cheerful note, it also doesn’t end in despair, just sadness. Although if you stick around until the very end, after the credits, there is a brief fun moment hidden away for you there.

Characters

The movie centres around Haruto, portrayed by Kento Nakajima (also active in the idol group Sexy Zone), and Misaki, portrayed by Honoka Matsumoto. These two are the main focus of the story, but there are other well-played characters as well. Misaki’s brother Takashi, played by Kento Nagayama, and his girlfriend Ayano, played by Yuki Sakurai, are vital parts of the story as well.

Both Misaki and Haruto have a few moments where they seem overly animated. Especially Misaki was a bit of a hothead at times, but in a way that seems slightly over the top. Her emotions seem to take over quite suddenly at times and although those moments were brief, they did surprise me a bit. As the story progresses, and she gets her diagnosis, it makes sense for her to lash out at those around her as she tries to process what is happening to her.

The relationship between her and her brother was quite relatable in a lot of ways. He’s a typical overprotective brother, who has grown into a father-role after their parents have passed. The helplessness he feels and his desperation to help his sister get better are well portrayed in this film.

Ayano’s role, as Misaki’s future sister in law, changes from that of a sort of fun older sister to somewhat of a caretaker, once Misaki starts to deteriorate. Ayano clearly cares for Misaki and tries to make the best of the situation and support Misaki and Takashi as well as she can.

The relationships between Haruto and his boss and coworkers also get some attention in the story, although some get more screen time than others. His boss in particular is quite a character, but in a way that he’s basically a bully to Haruto.

Overall the characters were portrayed well by the cast of actors. Although Misaki in particular seemed a bit too spirited at times, it didn’t take away from the story itself.

Cinematography

When it comes to the set-up of the scenes they were well thought out, the lighting and surroundings fit the story. However there were very few times when Misaki’s ageing face was shown. This was probably intended to help it make more of an impact, but just seeing a body in a hoodie and pants instead of a face made it feel a bit distant.

The animations of the cherry tree in-between parts of the movie, meant to indicate the passing of time, weren’t quite what I’d expected. It was close to realistic, but not close enough and a bit distracting. Real shots of cherry blossom trees with falling petals would’ve probably fit better with this kind of film.

Music

The theme song 永遠 (Eien) by Mr.Children has quite a sentimental tone to it, which fits well with the movie. It is fitting that it is sung by men since quite a few parts of the story are narrated by Haruto. Mr.Children are a pop-rock band, often referred to as “Misu-Chiru”, consisting of Kenichi Tahara, Hideya Suzuki, Kazutoshi Sakurai and Keisuke Nakagawa. The band released their first single in 1993 and their songs have won several awards. Some of their well-known songs are innocent world and sign.