You’re Not Normal, Either 
まともじゃないのは君も一緒 「Matomo Janai no wa Kimi mo Issho」
Release Date: March 19th, 2021
Duration: 98 mins.
Director: Koji Maeda
Writer: Ryo Takada (Script),
Starring: Ryo Narita, Kaya Kiyohara, Kotaro Koizumi, Yuki Kura, Rika Izumi, Mai Ohtani, Kasumi Yamaya,
Yasuomi Ono (Ryo Narita) is a handsome and kind-hearted math teacher at a cram school in Yokohama. He is a pro at prime numbers but perplexed by people. Despite initial interest, the ladies never stick around as he is confused over courtship and late in learning their love cues and lately he is beginning to worry about becoming a lonely old bachelor.
In steps one of his students, 18-year-old Kasumi Akimoto (Kaya Kiyohara), to help. She’s not normal either. She is above her gossipy school friends. She dreams of being an educator who can change society. Before that, out of pity, she has Yasuomi to deal with.
As dodgy as their pairing sounds, the film reverses the character’s power dynamics and goes screwball as, Kasumi takes on the role of teacher and, despite being more conscious of the world of romance, she shows no softness. She is arrogant, scolding, strict, and hard headed. She’s also not interested in Yasuomi.
Her response is, “You’re subnormal so just do what I say,” and she begins pairing him up with ladies.
Farce ensues as the nerdy numbers man is given a makeover and tries to become a natural charmer under the tough tutelage of a schemer and You’re Not Normal, Either! proves to be a hilarious screwball comedy as it draws from the perfect pairing of Ryo Narita and Kaya Kiyohara. The repartee between the leads dazzles with wit and exquisite comic timing as, in classic screwball fashion, Kasumi comes to dominate Yasuomi in long dialogue duels where she delivers withering precision-strike post-date put-downs nailing his unworldly character.
Little does Yasuomi suspect, however, that a change comes to Kasumi’s campaign when she learns of the forthcoming marriage of her romantic ideal, an educational speaker (Kotaro Koizumi) who inspires her, and it becomes a plot to wreck his relationship by getting Yasuomi to steal the bride-to-be, Minako (Rika Izumi), the daughter of a hotel magnate, whom they scrupulously research and unscrupulously target.
Comedy continues as Kasumi becomes increasingly exasperated with Yasuomi’s struggles to shed his true self in their dishonest venture but she changes her tune when he tries to pick up Minako and wins the woman’s heart by giving up pretences. His honesty about trying to be normal proves to be a hit with a woman who has her pre-wedding doubts and a vein of jealousy in the younger woman who discovers self-doubt.
This about face of friends falling for each other is rote for romance stories. It feels earned here since Kiyohara and Narita have great chemistry and their characters feel like they grow close, but the film establishes a really good sense of rivalry between Kasumi and Minako in showing the gulf between how adolescents and adults get along while addressing the universal concern of loneliness.
If Yasuomi’s fear of being old and alone kicks off this comedy, consideration of Minako’s misgivings about marriage makes the film’s second half more contemplative and melancholy as serious conversations based on both character’s plights about having to conform to expectation and not being authentic to themselves and finding someone who accepts them. These conversations work because Narita and Rika Izumi act with doleful eyes and sad sighs in their conversations and it makes their characters feel sad and also like they are bonding. Thus, when Kasumi’s arranged “coincidental meetings” in bars and bookshops happen, their faces light up and a convincing touch of romance is seen. Their chemistry is such that there is a magnetic pull to each other and the restraint these two good-natured souls have is palpable in their walks together. You sense that a simple hug would change their fates.
It is heart-aching acting to watch and a sympathy for their shared isolation grows. So too, for Kasumi, who develops it in her growing understanding for Yasuomi and Minako and adult emotions. These are two people whom she looked down upon until she began listening to their talks and she drops her adolescent arrogance while reconsidering her own romantic aspirations with a realisation that adults often compromise themselves in order to appear normal.
Thus, from its farcical beginnings, the film reaches a mature ending where everyone is faced with choosing what normal means for them in romantic terms. Isolation and disappointment for some, lies and duplicity for others. Kasumi and Yasuomi certainly stop worrying about the perceptions of others and there is a newfound respect between them.
The film successfully pivots into more serious territory from behind the laughs because the cast give deep performances that make their heightened comedy very amusing and then convincing as people trying to find happiness in connecting with others and themselves.
