Summary: Sayaka (Kasumi Arimura) was a loner in primary school, but finally makes friends when she enters middle school – since then, she has passed her days making up for lost time, cutting classes and going out with the girls. By high school, it is clear that Sayaka’s future prospects are bleak, and she enrols in a cram school run by Tsubota (Atsushi Ito). With his encouragement, she decides to aim high and commits to apply for entry to Keio – an elite university. Will she ever get to Keio? Will she convince her family and teachers to take her seriously?

Based on Nobutaka Tsubota’s breakthrough novel and true story, How a Teen Girl Went From Academic Absurdity to an Elite University in One Amazing Year, this movie adaptation not only explores the transformative experiences of a high school girl, but also shows how she inspired her family and friends to change for the better.

Hello guys! Never thought that I would find myself doing a movie review but here I am, at 3AM, actually doing it. I could not help myself anyway, I have just finished watching it and my tears are still fresh so I think that I really should do this, so that I will remember such a nice movie. Alright, so obviously, as you can see, it is a japanese movie. Honestly speaking, I have been wanting to watch this movie ever since I saw the trailer during my last holidays, so I tried to download it but I could not. Maybe it was the connection, and then I tried this time too, but I still could not download it so I was like, to hell with downloading it, let's just watch it online! And so I did. 

This movie reminds me so much of the time when I tried hard during my SPM days. So you can say that I am really, really, really feeling this movie that I could not help myself but to cry. I saw myself in Sayaka Chan, the protagonist in the movie. The fact that she used to play around so much and never studied, but when a sudden motivation got into her, and how hard she tried to achieve her goals after that, it is just very... I don't really know how to express it to be honest. It was not the part where she used to play around so much that can relate me, it was the part where she felt like giving up sometimes and how she did not trust herself but tried to fight those feelings and moved forward. I bet we all were like that during our high school days, because I was. Although it was one of my hardest moments, I kind of missed it, I missed my high school days. I swear, I will always do. I also miss the people there. I admit that sometimes I tell myself that I want to go back to those days, it was the best moment of my life anyway, but then if I could, I would have to go through those hard days again, which I would not want to experience that again as well. So the only thing that I can do right now is to appreciate those moments and keep moving forward. Now I bet you can tell the reasons why I keep trying to score high, even at the university I am currently in. 

It is because everyone (my family especially) expects so much from me. The hope of the family, they said. What a pressure, right? But just like Tsubota Sensei said in the movie, “The only way to overcome pressure is to be confident.” What he means is, do not give up, keep moving forward and never let the pressure stop you. They are the truth alright? When you have pressure, your head will start to hurt and then you won't be, or do not want to study anymore, but if you fight for it and immediately think of the reasons why you are studying and what you are trying to achieve, it will help you! This is what I have been doing all these time. I used to weep and kept reading and memorizing at the same time even if I knew that I could not take it anymore. You see, I really forced myself in studying because I wanted to get good grades as well. It was one of those days where I could not forget.

Wow, I think I have gone too far and talked about myself more than the movie. Anyway! It is a really, really nice movie and everyone should watch it! It can be a source of motivation for you guys, trust me! Oh, when you see a friend studying so hard, do not ever say something that will affect his/her motivation! This is very important, seriously. Do not be a bad influence to others, because if you want to be lazy, just be lazy alone and do not drag others into your lazy mode because I have experienced this and it affected me terribly but thankfully I tried to ignore it and kept studying. And by the way, congratulations to those who have finally got admitted in the university that they want, all the best for you guys!

P/S: If I become a teacher in the future, I will take some time and will definitely let my students watch this great movie.