Chonmage Purin / ちょんまげぷりん

#4 FIVE-STAR review

Summer, 2010, Japanese movie that stars Ryo Nishikido-kun as Kijima Yasube, a samurai from the Edo period 180 years ago who ends up in modern-day Tokyo after praying for a better job before a Buddha statue in his country hamlet.

Yes, its based on another Manga turned anime, but that's entirely beside the point as this happened to be one of them that I appreciated being turned into live-action stuff ~ what's more, I super appreciate the fact that they chose RYO-san to play the part of the confused but dutiful samurai!

Baby boy who stole the show (Fuku Suzuki as Tomoya Yusa) and his single mother are on their way to work/school when Yusa notices a samurai standing stiff in front of a convenience store near their apartment building, and while the mother seems somewhat alarmed by what she sees, it isn't enough to send her screaming for the police and instead, she takes hold of her adorable son's hand and encourages him to be on his way.

After school/work, they return to the apartment when Yusa decides its time to play hide & seek without telling his mother - and as she is darting about the parking lot looking for him, she encounters the samurai - still dazed and slightly pissed off about his confusing circumstances.

Baby boy creeps up behind them under the cover of a box, and when he jumps out yelling 'Boo!', the samurai does what any samurai would do - he draws his sword, aiming it at the wide-eyed boy's throat.

Yusa wants a playmate, and the samurai looks to be a great catch, so he's delighted when his okāsan decides to take in the bewildered and obviously lost or homeless, young man who must have hit his head and now thinks he's a samurai from the Edo period.

In exchange for room & board, Samurai Kijima Yasube offers to play the role of 'Josei' or woman by doing the housework, cooking, and taking care of kawaii baby boy, Yusa.

There was a funny scene when the phone rings while he's cleaning house, but aside from that, Yasube seemed not to find the 'future' all that shocking, which disappointed me, but not to such an extent that I didn't want to watch the rest of this absolutely FABULOUS show!

Right away, Yasube makes himself useful by taking up pastry making, for which he turns out to be a natural, and he ends up in a contest that pits him and Yusa against other dad/child teams in creating a fantastic cake based on a design of their choosing.




Yasube ends up leaving the Josei role to work in a bakery run by one of the judges of the contest, breaking both Yusa and his mother's hearts.

In between, though, he spent quality time with them both, learning more about the future from the woman while also instilling some of his staunch mentality on the baby boy.


Toward the end of the story, he encounters some bad guys, and since he's promised not to unsheathe his sword and risk going to jail, Yasube decides on an unconventional way to put the bad guys to rest.


It was beyond HOT stuff, I must admit.

The inevitable occurs toward the end, and it even made me cry, but the ENDING isn't a sad one, so don't despair!

Highly recommend this one if you haven't already watched Chonmage Purin!