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28-Mar-2024
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ICHIKO – The Painful but Triumphant Journey of Self Discovery

     The tests of life deal with different people differently and as history and time have proved, some emerge survivors and some are destroyed. This theme is dealt with very efficiently in both books and movies and one such example is the 2014 Japanese sports based film 100 Yen Love. It tells the story of Ichiko played by Sakura Ando who is a thirty two year old woman who is a sloppy and lazy person. She has no aim in life and lives with her parents helping out with their bento stand. She seems to hide behind her frizzy hair and baggy clothes and lives a life that does not intrude with anyone else’s. The return of her sister after a divorce and a heated argument that she gets into with Ichiko results in the latter leaving their home and setting up a new life. 

       Ichiko, forced from the incognito life of her home is forced to fend for herself and finds herself a job in a 100 Yen store. She finds herself an apartment and even a boyfriend in a boxer called Yuri. She is drawn to the gym where he trains and finds herself fascinated by the sport. Through a series of mistakes and wrong decisions and even a brutal rape, we find Ichiko shedding off her slovenly and lazy approach to life as she takes on boxing with a passion. The director Masaharu Take treats Ichiko without judgement and what the viewer is left with is the feeling of having watched a beautiful butterfly emerge from the chrysalis.  There is nothing similar between the Ichiko we see at the beginning  

and Ichiko, the boxer in the end. Sakura Ando has managed to do full justice to these two extreme selves and it seems as if even physically she is able to bring about a change. The movie takes the audience through a series of emotional highs and lows to the zenith that is the victory in the boxing ring.

       Unlike most movies or even books on a similar theme, 100 Yen Love does not show a single event that motivates the protagonist into change. It is a series of problems and disappointments that motivate Ichiko to take hold of a life that is rudderless. It is a long process of self-discovery where she realizes the strength within. It in many ways symbolizes the Japanese never say die attitude and also embodies in a fashion the achievement oriented attitude of the country.  Although a sluggish, lazy and simply non motivated person, once Ichiko realizes that she hold within herself a hereto undiscovered strength, there is nothing stopping her till she is able to climb the pinnacle of success. The film is so well directed and Ichiko so overwhelmingly portrayed, that the audience rise and fall in the ebb of her life. In a country where very few women exist in the public sphere especially in top jobs, 100 Yen Love is a remarkable saga of an amazing journey towards selfhood.

         The movie and the acting of its lead character won 

a lot of attention and the movie won the Japanese Cinema Splash Award at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival. It was selected as the Japanese Entry for the 88th Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Film category but was not nominated. It has been screened at several festivals all over the world and has won much international acclaim. The movie by choosing the very non feminine sport of boxing, has managed to break through a stereotype in a very effective manner. For most viewers, Ichiko is an inspiration, a woman who feels motivated to change her ineffective way of life and achieve success through sheer hard work and perseverance. It is a movie that should not be missed and is one of the best of the recent Japanese movies. Fight Ichiko’s battles on an emotional level and emerge a winner when the curtain falls!