[TRANS] Liar × Liar Pamphlet
Liar × Liar
My love rival is…… me?!
An unpredictable love story that begins from a lie
Will it turn into something real?
INTRODUCTION
My younger step-brother fell in love with me pretending to be a JK?!
The real me × younger step-brother × the fake me?!!
A love triangle even though there are only 2 people
A new type of love story!!
Minato, a boring university student with zero experience in love, finds herself living under the same roof as Toru, her new same-aged younger step-brother, when their parents remarry. The relationship between them is strained due to Toru’s playboy antics and they both treat each other coldly. One day, when Minato is asked by her friend to dress up in a highschool uniform in gyaru makeup, she unexpectedly meets Toru…! Minato abruptly lies that she’s someone else, JK [short for ‘jyoshikou’: female highschooler] Mina, and Toru unexpectedly believes her and tries really hard to gain her affection!! Seeing Toru so devoted and different to usual, makes it hard for Minato to say the truth, and she ends up dating Toru as Mina!
The original manga, “Liar × Liar” (Kindaichi Renjyuro / Kodansha “KC Dessert”), has sold over 1,900,000 copies and is a hugely popular manga that ranked in the 2012 “this manga is amazing! Female version” ranking. It’s a long awaited live-action remake of a strange love story that begins with a lie which has captured the hearts of many female readers. A fresh and brilliant cast was chosen in order to not betray the passionate fan’s expectations.
The double-leads are Matsumura Hokuto, a member of SixTONES, who made their CD debut in January 2020 where their debut single became a million-hit in a mere 3 days, and has been making waves with their extraordinary progress. Matsumura has acted in various dramas such as “Perfect World” and “Ichiokuen no Sayonara” and been praised highly for his work as an actor, but it will be his first time to challenge a romance movie, acting as Toru who falls head over heels for Mina, who’s actually his older step-sister Minato in JK disguise! His switches between the “popular cool guy playboy” side in front of Minato, and the “super devoted puppy” side that he only shows to Mina, and it’s sure to make everyone fall in love with him! The heroine Minato & Mina is played by Mori Nana, who first received attention for her appearance in “3-nen A-gumi - Ima kara minasan wa, hitojichi desu- ”, and later made her break as the voice actor for the heroine in box office hit “Tenki no Ko (Weathering with You)”. She’s also been gaining attention for her leading role in drama “Kono koi atatamemasuka?”. Playing both “boring university student Minato” and “JK Mina who’s dearly loved by Toru”, she opens up new ground as the heroine for this movie!
The 2 of them are surrounded by a fresh and grand supporting cast including Koseki Yuuta, Hotta Mayu & Shimekake Ryuuya (Travis Japan/Johnnys Jr).
The director is Yakumo Seiji, a film and CM director known for his works like “Momose, kocchi wo muite” and “Touken Ranbu The Movie”. The screenplay is by Tokunaga Yuuichi, who was awarded Best Scriptwriter in the 43rd Japan Academy Film Awards for “Tonde Saitama”, and had also recently worked on “Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~Tensaitachi no Renai Zunousen”. The theme song is SixTONES’ 4th single, “Boku ga Boku Jyanai Mitai Da”, their first movie theme song. With lyrics depicting hidden feelings and a pop melody, it celebrates the two’s love even further.
This impossible scenario of oneself being their own love rival, “a love triangle even though there’s 2 people”, it’s a love story where you can’t predict how the story will go. All these elements are balanced perfectly together, creating a love story that makes you laugh and cry, with a promise to make your heart flutter. It’s the birth of a new type love story for girls who find regular romance movies to not be enough!
STORY
Toru (Matsumura Hokuto) and Minato (Mori Nana), same age and hate each other’s guts, become step-siblings due to their parent’s remarriage. Minato becomes the older sister, but she’s a boring university student with zero experience in love. On the other hand, Toru is super unfriendly but an ikemen who’s always fooling around with girls. Bearing the brunt from girls who get rejected by her “younger brother”, Minato has always had a terrible time since middle school and her hate towards Toru only grows… They now attend the same university and continue to keep their distance and treat each other coldly.
One day, when helping out her best friend Maki (Hotta Mayu) and dressed up in a highschool uniform with gyaru makeup, she coincidently bumps into Toru… Minato comes up with a lie on the spot that she’s JK Mina, and Toru who believes that, unexpectedly tries really hard to woo her!
She wants to tell him the truth immediately, but Toru is infatuated with Mina, buying her a phone because her “parents are strict and won’t let me have a phone”, and actually cutting off all his relationships with other women as a condition to dating Mina. Seeing Toru’s devotion, Minato finds it difficult to confess the truth and starts dating him as Mina.
After they start dating, Toru’s expressions of love continue to accelerate, hugging her suddenly during dates and wanting to kiss her, and to top it all off, he invests money from his part-time job into an apartment so he can live with Mina.
Through Toru moving out, Minato senses “my chastity is at stake?! This is bad!”, and tries to find a timing to break up, but seeing Toru say “I’m really happy you’re going out with me” with a smile made her heart flutter unconsciously…?! At the same time, she’s confessed to by Karasuma (Koseki Yuta), her childhood friend who she reunited with at her university study circle, and is attracted to him who sees her for who she truly is.
When Minato makes up her mind to break up with Toru, she changes into Mina “for the last time”, and lies to Toru that she’ll be moving overseas because of her parent’s job. Toru cries with “I don’t want to break up. Mina, I like you…”. Pained by his honest feelings, Minato involuntarily moves forward and hugs him.
Minato breaks up with Toru and starts dating Karasuma, but the guilt of hurting Toru continues to gnaw at her… On the other hand, Toru is shocked and depressed after the break up, and stays locked up in his apartment. Hearing about that from Toru’s one and only friend, Katsura (Shimekake Ryuya), Minato once again dons JK Mina’s outfit and runs to Toru.
Will Minato’s lies be exposed? Stay a secret?
And the one last “lie” that’s revealed at the end?!
An unpredictable love story that begins from a lie,
will it turn into something real?
CAST
Hokuto Matsumura / Toru Takatsuki
INTERVIEW
What plans did you come up with to act out the ‘tsun’ [cold] and ‘dere’ [hot] personalities?
I understood Toru’s feelings from the original manga and the script, so rather than acting tsun and dere, I focused on showing a natural reaction to each of the situations he’s in. The original manga gave me lots of hints. I had read it after receiving the offer of Toru’s role, but I thought it’d be a fun movie no matter what part [the scriptwriter chose to include], and I think all of us including me, the cast and staff all went into filming for this project while being huge fans of the original work. So naturally, there was this “let’s do this action like in the manga!” during filming.
What scene was particularly memorable amongst all that?
Personally, I like the scene where Toru (before he moves out) and Minato are bickering in front of their house that “you’re always bare-faced” “just because you like gyaru”. In that short exchange, you’re able to understand the dynamic between them, or rather, what they’re like on the daily. All of the scenes at Toru’s apartment are golden time (ie. recommended), but I have to say, the crying fest between Toru and Mina when they break up is special. I thought it would be the most important scene from when I read the script, and as I thought, it was a tough one.
Breaking up was sad, but it also expressed the complicated feelings of realising Mina’s feelings.
I was so lost, so worried on how to express Toru’s feelings in that scene, that I spent a lot of time thinking about it before filming began. I got close, thinking “is this the correct answer?”, but then I felt like I’d be only imitating that feeling [instead of reacting], and went into filming without thinking about it. The shock of breaking up, and losing his relationship with Mina… in order to express the raw reaction to that, I would hum a song and such to reset my feelings in between takes. Acting that was an uphill battle.
On the other hand, you showed a brilliant smile during the date scenes.
In the date scenes with Mina, I remember Director Yakumo being really excited, saying “that was a great smile! This will get people’s hearts throbbing!”, and filming lots of those scenes. So much so that in the scene at the general shop, I wondered “how else can I express a couple-vibe even more with glasses? (laughs). I was in search of something like the art of “heart throbbing-ness” for those scenes, so I think it turned out to be a very romantic scene.
You were able to experience a wide range of acting from “crying” to “heart throbbing”.
Yes. Like the instructions to express things “heart throbbingly” in the script, there were lots of things written down that I hadn’t seen or even acted out before, so for me, creating those emotions from my own mind, and also reacting to the emotions that Mori Nana-san expressed, became a huge lesson to me. The cast and staff were all new faces to me, but I was able to feel the sense of getting closer to others as we spent more time together. How I approach the script and act has changed through this movie. Above all, I was able to enjoy the filming.
Nana Mori / Minato Takatsuki (Mina)
INTERVIEW
How did you feel when you accepted the offer for Minato’s role?
I was originally a fan of the manga, but I never thought that I’d be acting Minato. I read lots of other manga too, but I felt like there’s something special about “Liar × Liar”… When I accepted the offer, I thought “so this is that ‘something’!” and felt the wheels of fate.
Minato and Mina. Their 180° differing looks are a highlight of this production, but does it feel different when you’re dressed up as Mina?
It’s totally different. In real life, my high school uniform skirt reaches my knees and I’d never worn make up other than for a job. Whenever I saw myself as a gyaru in the mirror, I’d get surprised every time since it looks like someone else (laughs). Scenes with Mina often show her legs, so I tried to stand more properly or try to not slouch. I feel like I felt stronger too for some reason.
Maki’s assistance in transforming from Minato to Mina plays a huge part.
Scenes with Maki-chan were really fun! I’d worked with Hotta (Mayu)-san twice previously, and we were chatting away even when the cameras weren’t rolling, so I was able to act naturally. It felt like we were true besties. It made me want to have a best friend like Maki-chan.
You two were a great pair. There are comedic elements in this work, and Minato’s various facial expressions left an impression.
It’s my first time to act in this rom-com genre, and it was very difficult to work out how to act that. What I studied were Minato’s facial expressions in the original manga. She changes her expression all the time, making a different face in every frame. I think that’s what makes Minato cute, so I photocopied the original manga and stuck it on my script.
Amongst all that comedy, the break up scene with Toru in the middle is a serious one.
The filming for that scene almost felt like I was filming for a different movie. I thought it was a wonderful scene from the moment I read it in the script, and I think these ups and downs are part of what makes the movie interesting. The scenes we had filmed till then were comedic, so there was a different nervousness. Before the shoot, both Matsumura-san and I were both deep in our roles, like we were about to debate. It wasn’t a scene that I could do over and over again, and although there was the pressure to not make a single mistake with my lines, I think I was able to convey the feelings behind her words.
It was a memorable scene that changed the movie from a rom-com into a love story.
You’re right, and since the mood changed instantly, my acting needed to hold up to it. It’s my first time to act a love story like this and I wondered what it’d feel like to cry over someone you love other than family… and that worried me. Watching that scene in the completed film honestly made me think it was a miracle that I was able to express those feelings, on that day, in that shoot. It’s a movie that depicts the bitterness of love in a sparkling way, so I hope the audience will be able to feel “I want to fall in love”.
Yuta Koseki / Shinji Karasuma
COMMENT
An innocent lie leads to another, and those lies turn into love. When I read the original manga, that beautiful situation was incredibly charming and so interesting that I was hooked; it desperately made me want to participate in this movie. Actually, I was thinking about the ‘lies’ that my characters tell and the true feelings that they hide in my acting projects lately, so it felt like destiny to meet with a project that revolved around “lies” and had it in the title too. In the scene where Minato, Toru and I are sitting next to each other and eating a meal, it was both memorable to film and also see on the big screen! It’s a different love triangle to the Minato-Toru-Mina one, but [in the scene] there’s an awkward atmosphere between the 3 of us, while their parents are welcoming me with a smile. A strange atmosphere settles over the dinner table and that was terribly funny. And that moment [in the previous scene] when Minato comes home, Toru standing like a robot by the door made me giggle! White lies told for someone’s sake and lies that hurt them when it was for their sake. There are many lies hidden within the movie. Please enjoy the movie and think about it from the perspectives of each character too.
Mayu Hotta / Maki Noguchi
COMMENT
Above all, I concentrated on having a good tempo in Minato and Maki’s conversations. It showed especially during the goukon [mixer party] scene and it was memorable. Me myself, I hadn’t been involved in many comedy works before, so making big reactions was something new and fun for me. Also, when my fingers were filmed, sending a message to Toru, the staff-san were in stitches seeing me unexpectedly struggle with the flick keyboard, saying “but you’re young~” (laughs). Please watch over that scene kindly (laughs). The words that Maki spin out are convincing, and I was charmed by her personality, thinking how amazing it’d be to have someone filled with so much love around me. Someone who rights your wrongs and speaks honestly to you - how many of such people will you meet in your life? I wanted Maki-chan to be someone like that to Minato and portrayed her in that manner. Their relationship where they’ll ride out the tough times together and laugh together afterwards is truly beautiful.
LIAR × LIAR BEHIND-THE-SCENES STORIES
Spilled secretly by Director Yakumo
NO.1 The ‘other’ side to Maki, Karasuma & Katsura imagined by the Director
●Maki is a don-kei [rice bowl] girl with a future as an entrepreneur? A photographer? Abroad?
When Minato is seeking advice from Maki at the school cafeteria, she’s eating kitsune udon [udon with fried tofu]. On the other hand, Maki who’s listening to Minato seriously is a powerful and lively skinny big-eater, with katsu-don [pork cutlet rice bowl] being her typical order. The food was actually chosen to match their characters; metaphorically kitsune [fox] = shapeshifting, transforming, while katsu = winning, active. In my head, Maki becomes a successful entrepreneur while at university, but she gets sick of it straightaway and changes profession to a photographer. Afterwards, she may emigrate overseas too.
●Karasuma’s future is a an elite at a major construction company!
Karasuma studies architecture and often brings his drawing case to his study circle. Karasuma also appears at the end of the film (in the endroll), and I wondered, what person would he become in the future… so I came up with the idea that he enters a major construction company after graduating. Also, he has his own complex; while he’s able to interact naturally with females since he has a little sister, he can’t bring himself to take the next step when it comes to love.
●The best friend relationship that was able to be shown because it was them
Katsura, which is acted by Shimekake-kun, is Toru’s best friend. Shimekake-kun asked me questions like about the role he plays and how to move in his scenes, and he was able to immediately adjust to the changes we added during rehearsals, so I think he has huge potential as an actor. In the movie, it’s hard to tell if he’s shocked or if he’s helping out with [Toru] moving house (laughs), but he demonstrated the relationship between Toru and Katsura. I don’t have an explanation for it, but there’s a best friend feel just from their appearance, and I think it’s because it was them two Matsumura-kun and Shimekake-kun.
NO.2 Toru’s actions that made hearts flutter came to life like this
In the scene where Toru gives Mina, who’s making omuraisu, a backhug, I directed Matsumura-kun to act as if he was covering Mina’s whole body with his own. Also, when he sees Minato at the school cafeteria and stops in his tracks before turning away, I told him to move like a stray cat in an alleyway who’d run away if you get closer. When Toru sends off Mina from his apartment, I talked to him about showing pure child-like joy, and he acted that fully, waving with both his hands. That was Matsumura-kun’s acting plan. The fact that he was barefoot was cute too.
NO.3 The rhythm and colour that became key in respecting the original manga
The medium is certainly different between a manga and a movie, but something that I wanted to respect in lieu to translating the manga into a movie, was the rhythm and colour. For example, in the comedic scenes where Minato is made fun of because of Toru’s misunderstanding, I considered the original manga’s rhythm in its layout and composed the direction, angles and music along to that. Also, I studied the manga’s colour illustrations and style to use in the movie’s outfits and sets.
NO.4 The amazing things about “Matsumura Hokuto”
that I know because I’m the director!
●He’s strong with retakes
When filming long scenes with multiple angles where he has to produce the same acting again and again, he’ll stop exactly at the right spot, exactly at the right time, exactly at the same pose - I thought, ‘as expected!’ when he was able to do the retakes again and again.
●He doesn’t check the script on set
Matsumura-kun always has his lines memorised, so I’ve never seen him look at his script on set.
●He actually loves being on set
He’d squat next to me and check the monitor and such even for scenes he’s not in, so I felt his desire to learn and his love for the set. In the middle stages of filming, after successfully finishing filming for the hardest crying scene, he said “I want to stay in this atmosphere for a little longer” even though he was done for the day and he stayed behind to watch the filming.
●He can still pull off school uniforms
I had Matsumura-kun acting from his middle school to his university years. He was worried, saying “school uniforms might be a bit difficult now…”, but he pulled it off brilliantly. It suited him so well that we joked “Hokuto-kun could act out elementary-school-aged Toru right?” on set.
●Powerful action when it’s showtime
In the date scene where he hugs Mina and spins her around, it was a scene that I’d thought about but it wasn’t included in the script. When I asked him “can you do it?”, he considered it for a moment before quietly replying “I’ll give it a go”. Seeing him pull it off perfectly was cool. He’s an active actor, an artist, so I wanted to include things with action. I think that date scene demonstrated that.
NO.5 The amazing things about “Mori Nana”
that I know because I’m the director!
●A perfect comedian from head to toe
Her ‘romance’ and ‘comedy’ acting in rom-com’s were unknown to me, but I was surprised at her comedic acting at rehearsals that far exceeded my expectations. It was fun and cute; acting that you could watch forever.
●Going so far that it made people nervous
Hitting her head on the door or banging her foot on the table, in the scenes where she has to put her body on the line, she’ll go all out without any hesitation from the rehearsals, so it actually made me nervous watching her (laughs).
●She’s already like a big actress!
She’s petite, but her acting voice is surprisingly loud! Almost that it shocked me from listening to her (laughs). Since it was a voice that wasn’t like of a young actress, she gave off a “big actress” steeliness.
●The mood-maker on set
She’s actually playing two roles, has lots of lines, and on top of that her preparation time for the wig and gyaru makeup is lengthy. Despite all that, she’s always bright and powerful on set, being the team’s mood-maker.
●A changing love expression
Minato who gets toyed around at the beginning, shaken by her love and guilt towards Toru in the middle, and reaffirms their deep connection at the end; (Mori) Nana-chan’s portrayal of Minato’s changing feelings along with her changing presence moved me. That Nana-chan’s first expression of “love” was the scene with Karasuma. When she’s confessed to in front of her house and when she’s drinking at the izakaya - I was very interested to see how she’d express her feelings when in front of a lovely guy, and it was a very fresh and great expression.
NO.6 Fantastic team work! And there’s more! Behind the scenes stories
The two of them are working together for the first time. When we set up a time for them to meet and go through the script before filming, the two of them got closer as they discussed acting on their roles. They both said that they were shy, but Matsumura-kun acted a little like an older brother on set and actively tried to talk [to Nana-chan]. There was desperateness in his efforts which made it funny, and the staff also teased him. For example, we filmed one of the earlier scenes on the very first day, where Toru comes out of his room and says “you’re in my way” to Minato. I wanted to get a close shot of that with him looking into the camera, and when I said “make it a national treasure (level of coolness) kay”, everyone on set had a laugh too (laughs). Matsumura-kun and Nana-chan are a great combo, and a moment where I felt their compatibility was the scene where they bump into each other at Shibuya station. Maybe because it was an early morning session where we had little chance for NGs, but Matsumura-kun and Nana-chan both said “yesss!” and pumped their fists the moment I said “OK!”. They had fantastic team work. Matsumura-kun completed filming a little earlier, so he wasn’t able to see the through the filming to the very end. That was a real shame… Nana-chan came up with an idea to secretly prepare a message board with messages to Matsumura-kun from all the staff. On his last day of filming, Matsumura-kun was both surprised and happy about it when Nana-chan gave him the message board.
Director: Yakumo Seiji × Stylist: TAKUTY
Crosstalk
Fussing over “gyaru” and “T-shirts”?!
❍Understanding gyaru fashion was necessary for this movie
Yakumo: I originally met TAKUTY (Satoyama Takuto) for an advertisement filming. The “Liar×Liar” project was already in the works by then and I thought that fashion was an important factor of the movie. For the reason being that the original manga was completed around 3 years ago, and of course, the fashion would be different to now. Even the phrase “gyaru”, it’s interpreted differently from then and now. So I thought someone who understood “gyaru fashion” would be nice. TAKUTY had no experience styling movie outfits, but I wanted to bring him on board.
Satoyama: Personally, I love movies so I was interested to work on one. But I learnt that it was a huge undertaking. First, I had to watch over the props department that covered accessories like bags and shoes - something that was totally different to being a stylist and [creating] outfits
Yakumo: I thought it’d be nice if he could be in charge of everything in total, including outfits and accessories, and invited him to be the stylist. But it surprised me when he styled completely different outfits for each scene. It was my first time to spend so much time in fittings (laughs).
❍The collarbone-revealing T-shirts were all customised
Satoyama: It was a whirlwind of rejections (laughs). Even just choosing outfits for Toru, I ended up styling outfits for Hokuto-kun instead of Toru at first, and they kept getting rejected… As we went through discussions and multiple fittings, we settled on a calm palette, like blues and greys for Toru’s outfits, with his pants being a little looser. Something I worked hard on was customising the T-shirts so that they revealed his collarbones.
Yakumo: That was a good move.
Satoyama: I planned for that. When the season changes from summer to autumn, layering up will usually cover up the neck area, but I customised them so that all his T-shirts in general would show his décolletage.
Yakumo: Hokuto-kun’s collarbone and adam’s apple are very charming, so in terms of Toru, utilising that was one of the themes.
❍Styling Minato to hide her legs while Mina shows her legs
Satoyama: At the fittings, all the outfits I prepared for Minato were rejected at first (laughs).
Yakumo: I understand that you want to dress her cutely since it’s Mori Nana-chan, but I wanted to make Minato even plainer than she was in the manga. That’s why we made that contrast where Minato doesn’t show her legs but Mina does.
Satoyama: Minato and Mina. Not showing legs and showing legs. I tried to make them as opposite as possible, varying everything that could be variable.
Yakumo: Out of Minato’s outfits, she suited the overalls in particular, and that became the core of her styling.
Satoyama: And her bags were generally tote bags.
❍Toru and Mina’s hidden item, “matching bracelets”
Satoyama: In regards to the accessories and small props, Minato has absolutely none of them while Mina would wear them. I prepared matching bracelets for Toru and Mina. It’s the setting that they bought it at Spain-zaka Slope when they had their date in Shibuya.
Yakumo: They were wearing their matching bracelets at their amusement park date.
Satoyama: Please watch it again if you missed that (laughs). Mina’s outfit at the amusement park date was a python-print blouse, and although she’s a gyaru, she’s not an oni-gyaru [‘devil gyaru’] like back in our days, but softer, so I created a cute look grounded with earthy tones. The setting is that Mina borrows her clothes from Maki, but to differentiate their looks, Maki is in relaxed pants and off-shoulder tops to set them apart.
Yakumo: Mina shows her legs, but Maki doesn’t. It’s like their top and bottom are reversed.
Satoyama: Yeah. Also, you can’t see it, but Toru’s socks are all different print in each scene (laughs).
Yakumo: It wasn’t shown in the movie (laughs).
❍Karasuma-kun, the polar opposite to Toru, wears neutral rikei boys fashion
Satoyama: In regards to Karasuma-kun, I received a similar suggestion from both Koseki-kun and the director - they wanted a relaxed feeling where the top button is undone. It’s not exactly neutral, but like a rikei [‘science student’, stereotypically boring outfits] boy with a little bit more jazz. That’s why Karasuma-kun’s shirts tend to have different coloured buttons or a pink placket even though it’s a light blue shirt - it’s generally a style where stiff pieces are broken down a little.
Yakumo: Karasuma-kun loves architecture, so we also got him to carry drawings with him.
Satoyama: We got a tube for him to put his drawings in. Also, for Toru’s best friend, Katsura-kun, I put him in bright tops to contrast against cool Toru.
❍Cosplay outfit made from scratch even for a short scene
Satoyama: What was surprisingly difficult was the study circle’s Halloween party scene. The outfits for the president and vice-president cosplaying as Benkei and Ushiwakamaru [historical figures] had to be made from scratch, so that was the most difficult task-wise.
Yakumo: A story on why it was Benkei and Ushiwakamaru is that the vice-president is a cosplay otaku, and president Kawanishi got roped into to dressing as Benkei by him (laughs). Kawanishi himself is a Buddhist fanatic, and since Benkei is a warrior monk, he was persuaded with wishy washy reasoning that it’s Buddhist because he’s a monk.
Satoyama: It was only a very short scene in the movie, but it took lots of effort (laughs).
Yakumo: Including those sort of tasks, how was it to work on a movie for the first time?
Satoyama: Before I started, I thought the movie industry was a scary place with majestic craftsman, but all the staff on this job were young and bright. It was very fun.
ORIGINAL COMIC
Author: Renjuro Kindaichi
INTERVIEW
A love with Toru that begins from a lie told by Minato - how did this idea come to life?
I was actually drawing a different manga which became the foundations of “Liar × Liar”. In “Nikoichi”, which was serialised in Young Gangan, the heroine has a younger step-brother. Just like with Minato, he was an ikemen who always liked his step-sister romantically, and the [editorial] staff-san liked him, so I played around with the idea of if a relationship with a younger-brother were to come true, and hence started on a different manga… Then, “KC Dessert” approached me and I decided to turn that idea into a shoujo manga! Which led to “Liar × Liar”.
It’s your first proper shoujo manga.
It’s always been so, but shoujo manga are difficult! I still have lots to learn. Even during “Liar × Liar”, every month, I worked hard and did everything I could to crank out that “tokimeki”[heart fluttering/exciting] feeling found in shoujo mangas.
That “tokimeki” is undoubtedly translated in the movie too. The tsun and dere gap is a part of Toru’s charm, and in regards to Matsumura Hokuto-san who plays Toru, what portrayal of his left an impression on you?
It’s the crying scene where Mina says she wants to break up and he replies with “I don’t want to break up”. Toru who’s usually so cool is crying like a baby……! The shock of that was something. I knew about everything that was going to happen afterwards, but it even made me as the author, want to cry.
It was a lovely scene where it pains your heart but also conveys their love. It seems like Mori Nana-san, who plays Minato, studied the original manga to create her comical facial expressions.
I was impressed and thought “she’s good!” for all the scenes. She’s got good tempo and the expressions are all refreshing! I’m happy that an actor who is able to aptly depict the funny scenes in a funny way was chosen to play Minato and Mina. Each of her expressions when she has to lie to cover up something were exquisite, and that made her lying scenes memorable. Also, her transformation is levelled-up with a wig, so I can’t blame Toru for not realising. Her image changed completely and she became a lively and cute gyaru; I thought that was amazing.
MESSAGE
Reinterpreting a completed work in a new medium like this is new to me. As the author who’s seen the movie, the one thing I want to say is that I hope many people will watch it! I want to boast to others “they made it so wonderfully!”. For readers of “Liar × Liar”, I hope they can enjoy the story in a new medium; and for people who haven’t read it yet, I hope they can read the manga to enjoy the many episodes that couldn’t fit in the movie. Thank you for this wonderful chance!
STAFF
SCREENPLAY: Yuichi Tokunaga
Reading the original manga, I saw the each of the characters had distinct personalities, the story has twists, and thought that it’d be fun to make a live action of it. The biggest charm of the manga was the strange love triangle between Minato, Toru & Mina. From there, Karasuma-kun comes into the equation, and when I got to the part where the devoted-to-Minato Karasuma-kun gets hurt from Minato’s lingering feelings for Toru, really squeezed at my heart. In the screenplay, I had to cut out a fair amount of the original story to fit the movie playtime, but I worked hard to not change the personality of these lovable characters.
MUSIC: Koji Endo
PRODUCTION NOTE
A love story loved in all eras without any sense of déjà vu
“Apparently everyone has 3 doppelgangers” (One of Minato’s lines). In this story, the love story between Minato and Toru who become step-siblings from their parent’s remarriage, starts from a lie that Minato makes on the spur of the moment. By meeting ‘Mina’, who’s actually Minato dressed up as a highschooler, a love triangle between “me, my younger step-brother and me dressed as a highschooler” begins.
If it truly is a good love story, then it’ll be timeless. The production team began with this belief in mind and started working to breathe life into “Liar × Liar”, a unique and unusual love story.
The original manga was completed in 10 volumes. From the very first volume where Toru meets JK Minato at Shibuya to the ending in volume 10, it was a fairly tough call to decide what to include and which episodes to tell within a 2 hour movie. At the heart of the structure was not “My Sassy Girl” (2001 Korean drama), but a reversed My Sassy Boy.
The popular cool guy who plays around out with girl after girl, changes into a super soft and devoted guy after confessing to “Mina”. The love which began from a lie gets more and more complicated before their true feelings come to surface.
The stars of this double-lead are Matsumura Hokuto and Mori Nana.
Matsumura is not only active as a member of SixTONES, but his work as an actor, such as in the drama “Perfect World”, has also received high praise. A producer for this movie had worked with him previously in “Sakamichi no Apollon” and sensed his potential. He commented, “Back then, I felt his strong intentions towards acting and I wanted to work on another movie with him. I believed he would be able to portray Toru’s tsun and dere sides in a charming way.”
Mori made her big break voicing the heroine of movie “Tenki no Ko (Weathering with You)”, and is a talented actress receiving love calls from movies and dramas alike. They made the offer to Mori, believing that “if it’s Mori, then she’d be able to pull off the difficult task of playing 2 roles, Minato and Mina.”
Also, the pairing of the director and screenplay writer was fresh. With the desire to find a director who was skilled with colourful visual representations, director Yakumo Seiji, known for “Touken Ranbu The Movie” and movie theatre manners commercial “NO MORE eiga dorobou” [No more movie pirating], was chosen. Furthermore, Tokunaga Yuichi came to mind when searching for a scriptwriter who was able to plot the latter half of the love story well. This director and scriptwriter combo is a fresh duo in rom-coms of late.
Both Matsumura and Mori basically had to play 2 roles?!
Creating a character faithful to the original
Matsumura acts as tsun & dere Toru in front of Minato and Mina. Mori acts as university-student Minato and JK Mina. The fact that they’re essentially acting 2 roles was a challenge to both of them.
Matsumura’s acting changes completely from the first half to the second half. He’s a cold guy in front of Minato, but from confessing to Mina and going out with her, he begins to show a completely different side to his initial image. Matsumura would sometimes stir up the fans coolly during SixTONES’ performances, and while that was exhibited in Toru’s tsun side, it seemed like it was difficult for him to express as it was hard to understand what Toru was thinking most of the time in the first half. However, director Yakumo gave him advice that “it’s not coldness but bluntness”, and Matsumura brilliantly portrayed that fine difference. And, just as Matsumura commented, “I like Toru’s ridiculously pure, and almost stupid straightforwardness”, there is a cute side behind that bluntness. For example, when Minato told him to stay 10 metres away from her, he turned away like a robot when he saw her at the school cafeteria. It was a scene that displayed Toru’s serious and cute upright personality in keeping his promises. By the way, it was 2 metres in the original manga, but ever since corona in 2020, a 2 metre distance due to social distancing became the norm, so it was changed to 10 metres in the movie.
In the scenes where Minato turns into JK Mina, it was originally written that she let her hair down and wore makeup, but as the result of trial and error, the movie version went with the bold decision to transform her with a JK school uniform × light brown wig × gyaru makeup. It was such a drastic change that we thought “he really might think she’s someone else…”. Mina dates Toru and continues to lie, and on the other hand, Minato gets closer with Karasuma. The assignment tasked to Mori was tough: to act Minato as a cute but not detestable girl; someone you want to cheer for even though she’s lying. Mori who’s actually a fan of the original manga wanted to express “Minato’s rich emotions, and the lovableness from that richness”, and had photocopied pages of Minato’s expressions and stuck them onto various scenes in her script in order to incorporate the slightly overreactions typical to mangas. Other than that, Minato’s love for castles being slightly amped up, missing the timing to confess her lies, having fun with her best friend Maki & opening her heart in front of Maki etc. - director Yakumo added all these ideas and made Minato the ultimate loveable character.
Right in the middle of Shibuya! A daring shoot to film at Shibuya scramble/dates at National Treasure castles too!
The first scene in the manga at Shibuya scramble crossing, where Toru bumps into JK Mina, is an important scene where their love story begins from a lie. Even with a tight shooting schedule, director Yakumo strongly wanted to “film it at the real place”. And 2 days was all that he was given to shoot it. He only received permission to film on the streets between midnight till 7am. However, he could only use around the 2 hours after the sun rose. And he only had 1 camera plus limited staff. Within those constraints, he had to run rehearsals and also position the extras. Director Yakumo went into the shoot thinking about how to best film it efficiently and used detailed movements to create continuity. Except, it was very rainy during summer last year and it rained on the first day, and they had to simulate their acting and movements under umbrellas. Thanks to that, most cuts were completed in one take when did filming on another day. Of course, the scenes related to Minato falling down after bumping into each other is a reproduction of the original manga’s composition. By the way, the green train carriage (Aogaeru Tourist Information Centre) in Hachiko Square was relocated the following week, so we were miraculously able to capture a Shibuya icon from the early 2000s. Famous Shibuya stops and new spots were chosen for Toru and Mina’s date scenes. Catching the ‘current’ sight of Shibuya which continues to develop and filling the screen with an overflowing sense of realism, as if you’re walking right down those streets, is what’s special about this movie. Other than that, the keeps of Inuyama Castle (a National Treasure) in Aichi are also featured in the latter half of the movie. “Liar × Liar” is actually the first project to receive permission to film at Inuyama Castle.
Matsumura’s real tears at the story’s turning point
Mori’s perfect reactions to create comedy
In addition to the short filming schedule of 3 weeks, the long rainy season over summer 2020 and coronavirus countermeasures only added to their burden, but it was a set with a sense of unity, centred around Matsumura, Mori & director Yakumo.
At the mid-point in July, the filming had reached filming for the key scene in the film. Toru who cries “I don’t want to break up…” when Mina suggests that, and Mina who is pained by his honest feelings. It was a painful breakup scene. As if contradicting that pain, a beautiful ray of sun shines through the apartment and on that day, Matsumura cried again and again. Director Yakumo was surprised at Matsumura’s acting, commenting “I shot it from various angle, but he was crying hard in every cut”. He cried so much by the end of filming that he couldn’t speak.
Director Yakumo also added, “He never complained about being tired or that it was rough, it didn’t even show in his mannerisms. Matsumura Hokuto is a presence that even male staff love.” Matsumura’s sincere attitude showed even under the pressure of being the lead, raising the morale of the staff and spurred them work hard to “get every bit of Toru on camera!”. Thanks to that, expressions of Matsumura we hadn’t seen before are captured within this movie.
On the other hand, Mori has to react as Minato and Mina while the guilt of lying to Toru eats away at her; it’s an important position in the rom-com. She watched and studied rom-coms before filming and it was a new challenge to her. Just as director Yakumo revealed, “it wasn’t just comedic, but very detailed acting that you could watch forever”, Mori’s acting which was “based on the original manga’s expressions”, such as her reaction when she was confessed to, how she acted when she almost got kissed, getting angry at herself for being love-struck in front of Toru…. They were all exquisitely executed and made the viewer giggle. It really is the birth of a new generation comedian!
MUSIC
THEME SONG: SixTONES
“Boku ga Boku Jyanai Mitai da”