Fure Fure Girl has the typical Japanese high school setting that talks about the struggles the students face and ultimately triumph over all the adversities that they face. Aragaki Yui is the main lead as Momoyama Momoka, a dreamy 2nd year high school girl that loves romantic novels but does not know how to fall in love in real life. One day, while reading her romantic novel while walking out to the school gate, she was accidentally hit by an errant baseball. In the process, she fell in love with the perpetrator. Wanting to cheer him on, she decided to join the cheering team which is almost disbanded due to a lack of members. Together with the vice-leader, they managed to form a cheering team but in the process, learn the art of cheering as well as the meaning behind cheering sincerely and not asking anything back.
I would have to say this topic of a cheering team will be quite foreign to those who does not know the Japanese culture. These cheering teams are more prevalent in baseball matches where they lead the whole school as one to cheer for their team. You may find similar video clips on the web with regards to cheering team.
However, besides the possible unfamiliarity of a cheering team, I thought the movie fell short as well. No doubt this zero to hero theme is tried and tested, for example movies like Swing Girls & Water Boys, Fure Fure Girl seems to deliver less. More emphasis was placed on the cheers which isn't a bad thing, but I thought it was slightly draggy at the end of the movie. In terms of acting-wise, although it was decent, the cast somehow did not manage to pull me into the movie, which was disappointing in that aspect.
Give it a try, but I believe they are better choices if you're looking for this genre of Japanese movies.
