Waruboro
Matsuda Shota and Aragaki Yui take audiences back to rough-and-tumble high school days in their new film Waruboro. Based on Gets Itaya’s autobiographical novel, this brawling youth film about love, friendship, and fisticuffs is set in the 1980s, and Matsuda Shota and company have the hairstyles to prove it. Rising to fame after Hana Yori Dango, Matsuda took supporting gigs in 2006’s A Cheerful Gang Turns the Earth and A Long Walk, and he gets his first leading film role here as a rebellious juvenile delinquent. Matsuda’s Ko-chan crosses paths with girl-next-door Yamada, played by current it-girl Aragaki Yui who won Best New Performer accolades at the 50th Blue Ribbon Awards for her impressive 2007 trifecta of Waruboro, Koizora, and Koisuru Madori (which incidentally co-starred Matsuda Shota’s brother, Matsuda Ryuhei). Directed by Sumida Yasushi, Waruboro also features up-and-coming heartthrobs Kimura Ryo and Seiji Fukushi from Nodame Cantabile and D-BOYS members Kaji Masaki and Shirota Yu (The Prince of Tennis).