Hana Yori Dango Final

Hana Yori Dango Final
Poster advertising this film in Singapore
Directed by	Yasuharu Ishii
Produced by	Katsuaki Setoguchi
Written by	Mikio Satake Yoko Kamio
Based on	Boys Over Flowers by Yoko Kamio
Starring	Mao Inoue Jun Matsumoto Shun Oguri Shota Matsuda Tsuyoshi Abe
Narrated by	Mao Inoue
Music by	Arashi Aiko Kousuke Yamashita
Cinematography	Toshiyasu Yamanaka
Distributed by	Toho Company Ltd.
Release dates	June 28, 2008 (2008-06-28) (Japan)
Running time	131 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥7.750 billion[1]

Hana Yori Dango Final is a 2008 Japanese film, directed by Yasuharu Ishii, and starring Mao Inoue and Jun Matsumoto. The film is the last chapter of the Hana Yori Dango trilogy in Japan, based on Japanese shōjo manga series, Hana Yori Dango (花より男子), written by Yoko Kamio.

Hana Yori Dango Final was released in Japan on June 28, 2008 and was subsequently released in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.^[2]

Plot

Tsukasa Dōmyōji (Jun Matsumoto) and Tsukushi Makino (Mao Inoue) are driving through Nevada. Weeks prior, Tsukasa announced to the world that he was engaged to Tsukushi. He released an embarrassing picture of her eating noodles, angering her. As a result of the announcement, Tsukushi's family become targets of media attention.

Soon after, Tsukushi’s parents formally met with Kaede Dōmyōji (Mariko Kaga), Tsukasa’s mother, to discuss the wedding. Kaede presented Tsukushi with a tiara which grants endless love to the owner and her partner. At the Hotel Volver, the couple are about to kiss when a man crashes through the window and seizes the tiara. Tsukasa pursues the thief with Tsukushi far behind, but the thief manages to escape. Tsukushi and Tsukasa return to their room, where they notice that the window has been fixed. The staff claim they heard no disturbance, even though Tsukasa and the thief have created chaos throughout the hotel. After some investigation, Tsukasa's secretary Nishida (David Itō) informs him that the thief may be in Las Vegas. Tsukasa and Tsukushi secretly plan to go there.

Rui (Shun Oguri) phones Shizuka Tōdō (Mayumi Sada) just before her wedding. He states that he has many things to move on from. Tsukasa visits Rui to inform him of his plans. Rui asks why he did not contact Sōjirō Nishikado (Shota Matsuda) or Akira Mimasaka (Tsuyoshi Abe) instead, but Tsukasa tells him that they are busy.

Tsukushi and Tsukasa finally arrive in Las Vegas. They check into a motel before going to a casino, a location where Nishida told them the thief might be. They meet Shigeru Okawahara (Natsuki Katō), who reveals that she is seeing Kazu Kaburagi (Naohito Fujiki), the heir of a large company that owns the hotel where the tiara was stolen. Tsukasa questions Kaburagi; he says that he was told to pretend nothing happened at the Hotel- in return for his cooperation, five million USD was deposited into his account. Kaburagi claims he does not know the thief.

Back at the motel, Akira calls Tsukasa and informs him that the tiara will go on the black market in Hong Kong. Tsukushi and Tsukasa then plan to head there before Kaburagi arrives, saying that he heard about the auction. He gives them the five million to help them get the tiara back. Tsukushi and Tsukasa gamble the money at the roulette table in order to pay Kuburagi back. As the wheel is spinning, the two notice the thief and Tsukasa chases him by jumping over the table, causing the ball to land next to the winning space. The thief gets away and Tsukushi is thrown out of the casino for refusing to hand over the money. Outside, she reunites with Tsukasa and the rest of F4, who Tsukasa has called.

The five fly to Hong Kong in a private jet for the auction. They win the tiara back but Tsukushi sees Rui talking to the thief. She tells Tsukasa, but he does not believe her and the two fight. The next day, Tsukushi boards the private jet, finding Tsukasa already there. They are still on bad terms. A flight attendant serves them spiked champagne, the two pass out and the thief steals the tiara again.

They awake on an island where they wait for help. They realize that their wild goose chase around the world is similar to the story behind the tiara. After talking with Kaburagi about why he divorced his wife, Tsukushi asks Tsukasa what his dream is. He points at her. Just as Tsukushi is about to tell her dream in return, a helicopter arrives to pick them up. They arrive at an estate and confront the man who they saw at the auction. He reveals that the tiara plot is a ruse by their Tsukushi's parents to ensure that their marriage would be happy. Everyone involved was part of the act. They finally marry in Ebisu, Tokyo.

One year later, Sōjirō is a renowned tea master releasing a book, Akira is meeting with his fellow underground men, and Tsukasa and Tsukushi are back on the uninhabited island. As they write "Love" on the beach, Tsukasa asks Tsukushi what her dream is; she places her hand over her stomach and says that it has come true. Overjoyed, Tsukasa listens to her stomach. Meanwhile, Rui has finally moved on from Shizuka as he places a picture of Tsukushi and F4 on his windowsill.

Cast

Production

Filming

In August 2007, TBS announced that the Hana Yori Dango adaptation in Japan would end with a film. Filming was scheduled to take place overseas for about two months from January 2008 onwards. It was also announced that the series' chief director Yasuharu Ishii would return to direct the film, and the original manga artist Yoko Kamio would help Mikio Satake (the pen name of actor Takayuki Takuma) with the screenwriting.^[3][4]

Mao Inoue and Jun Matsumoto had traveled to Hong Kong from February 11 to 16, 2008 and then to Las Vegas on February 19; finishing on February 29, 2008. The cast had traveled 25,000 kilometers (approx. 16,000 miles) in between the two locations.^[5]

Music

It was announced on May 2, 2008 that Jun Matsumoto's band Arashi would provide the movie's theme song, as they have also provided the theme songs for two previous television drama adaptations. Japanese singer Aiko was also to provide the insert song to the movie. Though the insert song was referred to as "Tsukushi's Theme Song" at the time of the announcement, it is officially titled "KissHug".^[6]

Release

Promotion

After a special press conference for the movie was held at the Nippon Budokan on June 23, 2008, it was announced that TBS was going to air a one-hour special on June 27, 2008 at 10:00 JST. The special consisted of a mini-episode, filmed before the press conference, that took place just before the story line of the movie, and a semi-live broadcast with Arashi performing the Hana Yori Dango theme song medley and the movie's primary cast members making an appearance as their respective characters.^[7]

When the movie was released in theaters, Mao Inoue and the cast of F4 flew in a Boeing 737-500 to visit Sapporo, Nagoya and Fukuoka on July 12, 2008 and Osaka and Tokyo on July 13, 2008 to meet with fans. Such a campaign was a first for a Japanese film.^[8]

Theatrical run

The film opened on 400 screens across Japan. In the movie's first five days since its release, it was watched by approximately 1.35 million people, grossing more than 1.6 billion Japanese yen.^[8] It stayed at number one at the Japanese box office for three consecutive weekends^{[9][10][11][12]} and stayed in the top ten for ten weekends.^[13]

DVD release

A month after the DVD release, the DVD achieved the second-highest opening week sales in Japanese movie history, ranking second on the list of 2008's top box office hits.^[1] It sold 13,000 copies in its fourth week since release, making it also its fourth consecutive week as the number one Japanese live-action film. Additionally, by selling a total of 308,000 then, it became the third best-selling Japanese live-action movie DVD of all time.^[14]

According to Oricon, Hana Yori Dango Final was the best-selling movie DVD for the first half of 2009 and the second best-selling DVD in the general DVD category.^[15] By the end of 2009, it sold a total of 358,172 copies, ranking as the fourth best-selling DVD in the Oricon general DVD category and the second best-selling movie DVD after Ponyo.^[16]

Awards and nominations

See also

• Boys Over Flowers
• Hana Yori Dango
• Hana Yori Dango Returns

References

External links

• Official Movie Website (Japanese)
• Hana Yori Dango Final at the Internet Movie Database