Complete [J-Movie] Little DJ: Chiisana koi no monogatari

Title: Little DJ　小さな恋の物語

Title (Romaji): Little DJ: Chiisana koi no monogatari

Title (English): Little DJ

Broadcast date: December 15, 2007

Synopsis

Her hero is Taro (Ryonosuke Kamiki), a 12-year-old into baseball and radio, especially "Music Express," a song-request show. Sound quaint? But it is 1977 and a small town in Hokkaido, a more innocent, pure-hearted time and place, we are told. Taro, however, has a blood disease that lands him in the hospital where his aunt is a nurse. Rounds of tests, transfusions and injections sap his spirit, despite the kindness and dedication of his young doctor (Shigeyuki Sato) and the doc's hospital-director father (Yoshio Harada).

The latter, a music buff who broadcasts classics over the hospital's PA system, asks Taro to relieve him as DJ — and soon the boy is ensconced in the hospital director's well-stocked library-cum-studio, spinning popular J-Pop tunes. The Candies, anyone?

He also becomes acquainted with Tamaki (Mayuko Fukuda), a girl he first calls "the mummy" because of her bandages and full body cast — she was injured in a traffic accident. He later changes his tune when she is revealed as a cute 13-year-old — for him, an older woman.

We can see what's coming, can't we? Young love buds and blooms. Meanwhile, Taro's PA program (called, imitatively, "Sound Express") becomes a hit with the staff and patients, including Tamaki, though Taro's three adult roommates are not all enthralled. Inevitably, Tamaki heals and leaves, while Taro stays — and weakens. I won't spoil the third act for you, though you can write it yourself if you've seen more than one Japanese hospital melodrama. Also, the film's framing device — with a present-day Tamaki (Ryoko Hirosue) as a reminiscing radio producer — doesn't telegraph the ending so much as announce it.

Cast

Ryunosuke Kamiki as Taro Takano

Mayuko Fukuda as Tamaki

Ryoko Hirosue as Tamaki (adult)

Shigeyuki Totsugi as Taro Takasaki

Eri Murakawa as Kanae

Katsuya Kobayashi as Makoto Ozaki

Yoshio Harada as Yuji Takasaki

Ken Ishiguro as Masahiko Takano

Ken Mitsuishi as Yuki

Naomi Nishida as Hiroko Takano

Yutaka Matsushige as Suteji

Kento Kaku as Shuhei Yuki

Yasuko Mori as Tae

Taro Omiya

Sanae Miyata

Porche Okite