Missions of Love

When you're dealing with a familiar concept, it helps if you can offer something fresh. Take time travel. Done to death, yet the "Back To The Future" movies gave it an entertaining new spin. This little rom-com isn't quite at that exalted level of innovation, yet it's done with wit, warmth and intelligence. Our introverted heroine Yukina ( Tina Tamashiro ) is a web novelist swayed by her fans into adding romance to her work. The problem is that she's never been in love, so she decides to "simulate" romance with the most popular boy in her school. The "missions" of the title concern certain amorous tasks which she thinks will add up to "love". Hence mission #1 is holding hands, #2 is a hug and so on, with kissing playing a part of course. Naturally, we KNOW that her research experiment will not remain strictly logical. So will the script be clever enough to transcend this cliche ? The answer is YES. Based on a manga, there are assorted bits of animation & typically Japanese cuteness which I love, & Yukina's "assistant" is fun. Blackmail, vampires, a love-struck cousin & a writing rival add spice to the mix. The cast are uniformly good, with TT another lanky model ( a la Nana Komatsu ) with real potential. Both photography & direction are good & ditto the finale. The movie is also quite chaste, which suits the material well because anything raunchy would've been jarring. An occasional surprise adds to the satisfaction I think you'll feel come the end credits, & make sure you don't skip them.