Girls Drive: The Wild Ride of AKB48's Recent Feature Film (Review/Thoughts)
Taking a look at the 2023 coming-of-age movie, featuring members of the popular idol unit
Whenever I take interest in live action adaptations/media from Japan, the reason is usually because someone I’m already familiar with has been casted in it. Whether it’s a musician I’m a big fan of such as Hoshino Gen or someone like Hanazawa Kana taking an extended stab at on-camera acting, it definitely helps to be familiar with a certain person in these films or TV shows, in order to really feel the need to check it out.\
And me being a Japanese idol fan for the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a good handful of talents — some of which I discovered through these shows/movies — try their hand at live action acting; examples being Nogizaka46’s Matsumura Sayuri in OshiBudo, Kamimura Hinano (Hinatazaka46) and Noguchi Iori (=LOVE) playing Serufu and Purin in the Do-It-Yourself adaptation, as well as Nogizaka’s Yoda Yuuki and LINKL PLANET’s Ishikawa Erika + Ishida Yuka being featured in the Gunpla/plastic model-focused series Ryousangata Riko. And heck, I’ve had my eyes set on watching the upcoming Oshi no Ko live action drama after I heard that my first =LOVE oshi, Saito Nagisa, would be taking on the role of Hoshino Ruby.
I’ve talked about this when I wrote a post about idols pursuing the voice acting career route, but it is fascinating to see these people take on various jobs, apart from their usual tasks with singing and dancing. Especially idols who are still currently active, I think it allows for them to be exposed to a different area of the entertainment industry, as well as tap into a potential skill and an experience like that may even lead them to further look into acting after their idoling days (plus, it gives us fans more opportunities to support our favorites, as well as more content to take in lol).
The movie we’ll be talking about today deals with both of the aforementioned points I made. While I’ve never really been an actual AKB48 fan, I’ve always liked Oguri Yui, ever since she took a photo with a seiyuu favorite of mine and someone who almost has the same name as her (Ogura Yui). And after hearing that she played a main character in a recent AKB-produced (?) film, alongside some of her fellow group members, I had the urge to watch it and see what it was all about. Another reason why is because an AKB48 fan and Yui oshi actually subbed the entire movie, so big thanks to @yuiyuihan for providing the translations!
So let’s just get started and jump right in!
(spoilers ahead)
« synopsis »
Girls Drive (ガールズドライブ) is a Japanese coming-of-age film, directed by Miyaoka Taro and released in November 2023. The story takes place in the countryside area of Shizuoka and follows Minami Koharu (played by Oguri Yui), a third year high school student who has devoted her entire middle + high school life to competing in track. However, as she participates in the qualifier for her final tournament, Koharu ends up zoning out and missing the start of the race, leading to her disqualification from the competition and a tough end to her youth running career.
Shortly after, Koharu calls into Yokosuka Hiromi’s popular radio show, in an effort to get things off her chest and to seek some advice for the worries she’s been dealing with. She reveals the true reasoning for her mistake during the track meet, which takes a turn for the worse when Yokosuka laughs and makes fun of Koharu live on air, turning her into a public laughingstock. Koharu realizes that this is not how she wants to spend the last summer of her high school life, and alongside three other girls dealing with similar adolescent problems in Yuka (Yamauchi Mizuki), Rena (Kuranoo Narumi) and Ayumi (Yamazaki Sora), they all take the leap of traveling to the big city of Tokyo, in order to fulfill their individual goals.
(info sources: Girls Drive Official Website, MyDramaList)
« thoughts »
A Road-Trip for the Ages
I think it’s worth pointing out that I essentially came into this film blind; I didn’t really read the synopsis, nor did I even look at the specific genre of Girls Drive. This turned out to be, probably, the most entertaining approach towards this movie, because holy moly, how it begins was an absolute doozy.
Continuing from the synopsis: Koharu, now experiencing the sheer embarrassment from Yokosuka exposing her situation on the live radio waves, goes to her school’s rooftop and contemplates ending it all. There, she sees a fellow student and the school’s idol, Yuka, who is going through her own struggles involving a messy break-up. So messy to the point that she was shown wielding and pointing a revolver gun (a fake one) at her ex from afar, in which you can probably imagine her feelings and what she wanted to achieve here. The two start conversating, and through their somewhat related problems, Yuka suggests that she and Koharu head to the big city of Tokyo, in order to seek revenge and kill Yokosuka.
…keep in mind that we are only fifteen minutes into this film, and this is how it is being set up (lol). Add on the fact that the other two main characters, Rena and Ayumi, essentially barge into this story with little to no prior relation to Koharu or Yuka… this movie certainly starts off pretty fast and throws you a bunch of information in a short amount of time, which can feel a bit jarring at first. Especially when you hear these absolutely insane proposals that the characters don’t give much thought to, such as winging a road trip to Tokyo with no money and people you’re barely familiar with, or- ya know, a plot for literal murder.
While it may seem like I’m being critical about the way Girls Drive begins, I didn’t necessarily see it as ‘bad’, especially after my second go-around with this film. I honestly do believe it does a good job of setting the tone for what you’re about to watch, and through all these wildly absurd moments and impromptu situations, you can quickly tell that this is a movie that (mostly***) doesn’t take itself seriously and frankly, nor should you.
This is emphasized with many of the jokes, gags and even pop culture references that are shown while these girls get to know each other and embark on a sudden road trip. Whether it’s the scene at the beginning where Koharu didn’t even bat an eye and just started talking to Yuka like normal while she was holding what looked like a real, dangerous weapon in her hand; Yuka getting so annoyed by Rena’s talkative and bright personality that she pulls out her fake revolver and points it at Rena in pure anger; and heck, even the film’s take on the currently relevant and overused concept of the multiverse… the jokes are most certainly dumb and I even rolled my eyes at some of them (especially during the last one I listed off).
But at the same time, BECAUSE they establish this ridiculous tone right from the jump, it makes it easier to not take this film so seriously and it does end up making these more humorous moments hit, including ones shown throughout the rest of the movie… if it wasn’t obvious enough, I’m no film critic so I don’t know if this is an actual logical way of looking at it, but it’s definitely one where it made the movie significantly more enjoyable to take in.
And alongside its comedic nature, Girls Drive does express a ‘coming-of-age’ story through a few interesting and neat ideas. We’re introduced to this pretty early on, as we see these four girls desperately wanting to make the most out of their waning time as high schoolers. And in order to do that, they all take a massive leap into the unknown and go on a fun road trip, from their mountainous and forest-filled hometown of Shizuoka to the hustle-and-bustle of Tokyo. This specific aspect of the movie, I thought, was executed pretty nicely. I think we’ve all seen the narrative concept of a bunch of country bumpkins traversing through new environments and encountering many good and bad things in their journey, and that’s exactly what happens with Koharu, Yuka, Rena and Ayumi.
And other than doing the usual tourist-y activities like trying out different delicacies and playing around at the beach, the whole ‘road trip’ plot does, for the most part, intertwine with the characters’ motives and dilemmas pretty well. Not only in Koharu’s case where she wants to get revenge on Yokosuka, but with Rena trying to further pursue her social media influencer dream in a bigger city (and doing so in *very* questionable ways) or Ayumi being curious about a peculiar phenomenon that’s been on her mind; while it might not be as intricate or thought-provoking as other similar films and stories, the way they establish an actual purpose for this road trip, especially in an individual sense, was done well and good enough for me personally.
And going back to the idea of discovering or experiencing brand new things along the way, there were moments and conflicts during the girls’ trip where they give off a fairly serious tone at first but then ends up being the setup to a whole comedic/jokey punchline. One instance of this is when Yuka splits up from the rest of the girls after a rift between the group arises, and instead tags along with a trio of odd and (purposefully) cliche-looking guys they met while in Odawara. The three dudes bring Yuka to their workplace to hang out which then leads to them pressuring her, an underage teenager, to drink alcohol. As she starts to become more and more uncomfortable, she attempts to get out of this situation until one of the guys swoops by and stops her from leaving. Tensions rise, as one would expect, until it’s revealed that the three guys are actually hair stylists and just wanted to turn Yuka into one of their tacky haircut models.
Again, this definitely adds to the absurd and comical tone of this movie; plus these kinds of scenes were entertaining enough to get a chuckle out of me. However, I do think they ‘overused’ this tactic in some cases, especially when certain serious messages or morals they were trying to convey just ended up being ruined by a dumb joke. *major spoilers ahead* I was most bothered by this at the end of the film, following Koharu’s attempt at killing Yokosuka and the group being detained for their actions. After Koharu’s parents did the whole ‘gomenasai’ routine, they essentially laughed off this whole situation, with Koharu’s mom even pointing out that she probably would’ve done the same thing if that happened to her when she was a teen. I know I’m slightly countering what I said earlier, and I get that they wanted to end this movie off on a happy note, but c’mon. You are a parent that has a kid who literally could have murdered a guy, and that’s how you want to teach this lesson? *end of spoilers*
On the contrary, I will give them credit for reflecting on the whole conundrum with younger kids not knowing how to express anxious feelings towards their parents and ask for help, and parents not knowing how to deal with or comfort their children when they’re going through said emotions, earlier on in the film (will expand on this later). I get that. But I just feel like in the few times where the movie ACTUALLY takes a moment to comment on these genuine ideas like teen angst, growing up, and becoming more connected to your own family members, it’s a little odd when it suddenly switches back into comedy mode, acting as if this entire thing wasn’t a huge deal or anything (and the fact that Koharu got off scot-free is just wild lol). But I digress.
The Core Four & A Meaningful Representation of Adolescence
Speaking of characters, let’s talk a little bit more about them!
In terms of personalities, our main characters are pretty standard for a group of young teens in a youth-focused film. Koharu is your average good-mannered, heavily ambitious high school athlete; Yuka’s the beautiful, popular girl that everyone looked up to and has had some run-ins with romance; Rena’s got an incredibly bright and upbeat personality that fits her aspirations with becoming internet famous; while Ayumi’s more on the quiet and slightly odd side of things. Looking at this, I can’t *completely* compare this group to ones shown in other similar movies, a la The Breakfast Club, but I am heavily reminded of those varied casts of teenage characters when I describe the likes of these four girls.
And just like some of those other coming-of-age films, the cast does end up becoming a lot more interesting as the movie progresses, especially as they start to bond and develop relationships with each other. Their individual personalities are far from being alike (and a couple of them even clash with each other, i.e. Yuka and Rena), but what it boils down to is that they all have very similar problems and obstacles they’re dealing with in their teenage lives, whether it be feeling like a weird outcast in society or other people putting them down for liking/enjoying certain things.
I’d say my favorite character and- I guess, character development would be Yuka’s. If I’m being honest, hers was the only one that they actually expanded on and felt meaningful to me, as she started off being self-centered, too prideful and stubborn about her previous break-up, to the point where it negatively affected the dynamic between these four girls. But as shown later, Yuka would express her true feelings of sadness and feeling lost after ending a relationship that meant a lot to her, and how it didn’t help that her parents, whom she puts a lot of trust in, simply told her that romance isn’t a big deal and to just forget about it.
I’m sure there are people who will think this is just your average, and maybe even cliche, teenager emotions. And while I can understand that perspective, I honestly thought they still pulled off that kind of message pretty well here. Not only in regards to Yuka but also with a person like Rena who is incredibly passionate about following her own dreams despite the naysayers; me being someone who’s on the younger side and has had a variety of positive + negative thoughts about aspirations, what people think of myself, being scared of what the future holds and so on, throughout these past few years… again, maybe it’s because of my age but I genuinely did sympathize with these characters a good amount due to many of these issues being present in my own life.
And even in a more broad sense, I thought it was interesting to see Koharu’s backstory and the whole reason she messed up at the track qualifier; all because of what happened to her favorite idol group and how they’ve given her a ton of motivation to succeed at her athletic activities. And it is intriguing to think that this was possibly a slight reflection of, or nod towards, the overall idol fandom — especially AKB48 fans, given this movie stars members of that group — and how much joy, inspiration and determination people have gained from those who sing and dance on stage (or even just a prominent figure in general). Some may think putting a ton of time and money into being an idol fan is ridiculous but there is a genuine appreciation that people have for these entertainers, to the point where it can change people’s lives. And as an idol fan myself and having experienced a sliver of that type of love and respect for idols, I can totally imagine people emotionally connecting with Koharu’s character, even in a silly movie like this.
A Really Solid and Entertaining Cast
I always love talking about the actors and actresses whenever I review live action stuff, and the people featured in Girls Drive are certainly an interesting bunch worth discussing.
As I just mentioned, the four main characters were played by currently active members of the AKB48 idol group. And again, I don’t follow them that much, so other than knowing a liiiittle bit about Oguri Yui, this cast was completely new to me.
And to be honest, I thought their acting performances were solid, for the most part. Were there some parts and lines that felt forced, sure. But despite not knowing anything about the real life personalities of Yui, Narumi, Mizuki and Sora, I genuinely thought they fit their characters pretty well and were able to convey them in a nice fashion. Even from just briefly watching clips of these four being themselves in random AKB-related videos or their SHOWROOM streams, I could tell that Yui’s pretty calm and friendly like Koharu, or that Narumi has a positive and bright personality that’s similar to Rena. Plus, the fact that they do work together under the same idol group, with Yui and Narumi even being in the same team/unit (Team 8) since 2014, I thought they exerted a clear chemistry and familiarity with each other that worked pretty well throughout this movie.
Although there are a couple things that I had iffy opinions on. For one… Yui’s performance definitely felt the weakest out of the four. In no way am I trying to berate or say that she’s a bad actress when discussing this but there were times where it felt like her acting was noticeably stiff. I don’t think it was *that* prevalent, nor did it ‘ruin the movie’ or anything. Plus, I will give her the benefit of the doubt since Koharu is a character that had a more proper demeanor and someone who seemingly would get nervous when participating in reckless behavior. But even then, I just couldn’t help but to think that some of Yui’s line deliveries felt a bit off and kiiinda mildly exaggerated.
Another thing I can’t help but to complain about was the execution of some of the gags/jokes. More specifically the scenes that showed them having conversations about random stuff in the car, such as what kind of movies they like or the areas they want to visit while in Tokyo… the girls were saying these lines so fast in succession that it was like they were doing some sort of manzai comedy routine rather than having the flow of a natural conversation. As a result, these jokes fell flat and some didn’t even make sense, such as that one part where Rena mentions that Disneyland is in Chiba and Ayumi then replying that DisneySea is located in Saitama… that was it. That was the end of the conversation. Maybe there wasn’t supposed to be a joke there, but it seemed like they were heading for a clever punchline until there ended up not being one… look, I get that I’m being a bit nit-picky here, and maybe I just don’t understand it because I’m a foreigner, but it was pretty damn noticeable and something I had to bring up (lol).
The Movie’s (Possible) Comedic Influence
Speaking of manzai, a couple of the supporting characters were interestingly portrayed by actual Japanese comedians like Yoshida Oolongta (of the ‘Flamingo’ trio) playing Koharu’s father and Suzuki Q-taro (from the ‘Hiking Walking’ duo) as KOZI; both of which had amusing acting performances, especially from Q-taro. Really, the reason why I’m emphasizing this is it seemed like this movie incorporated that manzai style of comedy a lot, whether or not it was intentional. Not only through what I’ve already mentioned before but throughout the part of the film where Yuka is separated from the other three, they literally wrote a joke where Koharu mentioned in a weirdly specific way that Neptune, a real four-person comedy trio, was funnier when they were originally a trio. These constant manzai-esque gags were so apparent that I had to look up who Neptune was, and what do you know, AKB48 has had a connection with that group in the past.
I guess only now am I noticing this as a fan of certain popular units, but it seems like a lot of idol-focused variety shows or events feature hosts who are well-known comedians. Example being =LOVE’s Kimi wa =LOVE wo Aiseru ka! being hosted by the comedy duo Sissone, or Chuei of Nagarehoshi☆ MCing a recent Takane no Nadeshiko fan meeting. Do I think it’s neat that these idol groups are- sort of, embracing comedians more, even in their movies? Sure, they seem like really personable people, as well as good actors to pair with the main characters. But do I think they may have leaned too heavy in that manzai comedy style with the movie’s jokes? …yes. And again, I know my opinion doesn’t exactly hold much weight since I’m not from Japan, nor am I familiar with manzai, but solely looking at it from my point of view, a good handful of the comedic moments in this film just did not land.
« conclusion »
You might be thinking to yourself, “al, you contradicted your own points, like, five times in this review. what the hell, dude”.
And yes, I will admit that I kinda *did* do the opposite of what I told you all to do at the beginning of my thoughts. Obviously not all films are perfect and there were certainly some odd aspects of it that I couldn’t help but to question. But in the grand scheme of things, none of what I went hard at really ruined this movie and the enjoyment I had while watching it.
No question was there a lot to like about this movie. Genuinely enjoyable and hilarious at times with a touch of emotional + surprisingly relatable moments. A great cast of characters that was quite fun to follow around and learn more about. Supporting roles who were all entertaining in their own right, and may have even elevated the comedic tone of this movie even further. The extremely polished visual presentation of the movie and pleasant representation of road-tripping throughout certain prefectures. And heck, I’m just happy that I got another opportunity to watch a bunch of idols act in a live action piece of media. While you may have to watch it through a specific lens and endure a few dicey moments here and there, Girls Drive is simply just a fun, well-produced movie and I think that’s the main thing to take away from it.
On that note, I would assume that movies or TV shows that include idols in the cast don’t necessarily get the best rep, considering the idols in question still have a great sense of amateurism when it comes to acting and/or the fact that some may have the expectations that they’re about to watch another cheap-looking production that these young entertainers were given to work on and for their fans to indulge in. But no, that’s really not the case here, as it was actually decently written and visually, it looks really good. I will consider, though, that Girls Drive may have been primarily targeted/promoted towards the AKB fanbase, but even other people — like myself, who doesn’t know much about or follow this group at all — can still find this film to be amusing and just something to get a good chuckle out of.
Rating: Would recommend watching!
If you got to this point of the review, I just want to say thank you! This review was a few months in the making, and I’m really glad that I was finally able to finish it. Like I alluded to earlier, I always try to find ways to watch these movies or TV shows that feature idols in the cast and being able to stumble upon a good one with Girls Drive was fantastic. And while I don’t follow the AKB48 group that much, I can clearly tell they have some really talented ladies in it and it was cool to be introduced to the likes of Yuiyui, Zukkii, Naruchan, Sorara, as well as Kubo Hinano/Chanhina!
Lastly, if you’re interested in another review I did on an idol-related live action project, definitely go check out my thoughts on last year’s OshiBudo drama which featured ex-Nogizaka46 member Matsumura Sayuri, as well as the girls from @onefive!
Thanks for reading!! :D
-al