Shodo Girls!!

Shodo Girls!! (2010)

書道ガールズ!! わたしたちの甲子園

Based on a true story, Shodo Girls tells a tale of hope and community spirit where youth and vigour meet age and wisdom to overcome the towns struggle to remain on the map.

Date of release
2010-05-15
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (2)
Runtime
2h 1m
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Director
Ryuichi Inomata

Casting

Interesting facts

Shodo Girls: Watashitachi no Koshien is a 2010 Japanese film. This film is based on the story behind the Shodō Performance Kōshien, a performance calligraphy competition in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Directed by Ryuichi Inomata, this film stars actress Riko Narumi as the head of the school's calligraphy club. Set in Shikokuchuo, a town famous for its calligraphy paper, Shodo Girls tells the story of three high school girls who revived the depression-battered town by organizing a performance calligraphy competition.

Production

On 27 August 2009, Nippon Television's "Zoom-in!!Super" program featured a segment regarding Shikokuchuo High School's Shodo Performance Koshien competition. The performance calligraphy competition consists of six-people groups who draw calligraphy while dancing to the background music. This segment received a respectable viewership rating of 10%, despite the segment being only 9 minutes long.

It was revealed that the director Ryuichi Inomata will be in charge of the film. He previously directed the 2007 film A Tale of Mari and Three Puppies. Riko Narumi, who also starred in the 2010 film Bushido Sixteen, was also revealed as the main cast member of the yet-unnamed film. The film is fully supported by Shikokuchuo city. The film title, Shodo Girls, was later announced in the New Year's Day 2010 "Zoom-in" special program.

Supporting cast members were subsequently announced on 23 January 2010. Nanami Sakuraba, who voiced the female lead of the film Summer Wars, stars as the vice-president of the calligraphy club. Actress Rio Yamashita, the lead actress of the film Mahōtsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto, plays the role of the main character's rival whose mother had been hospitalized.

The filming for Shodo Girls began on 18 January 2010 in Shikokuchuo, the town that this film is set in.

Filming was then moved to an indoor stadium located in Menumaundo Park in Kumagaya, Saitama on 26 March 2010. Riko Narumi had trouble with the large calligraphy brush, which weighs 20 kg. She revealed that she had been practicing performance calligraphy for over the past year, and she added that she was "impressed" when she saw a recording of an actual calligraphy performance.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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