It was revealed on September 30th that the live-action film adaptation of the popular web manga "True Beauty", starring model Koki, will be released in two parts in 2025. The first part, "True Beauty Before", is scheduled to be released on March 20th, 2025, and the second part, "True Beauty After", on May 1st of the same year. The film tells the story of a girl who changes her life with makeup and pursues her love and dreams over the course of nine years. A teaser visual and a special trailer have been released, showing Koki,'s shocking bare face and her goddess makeup look side by side.
"True Beauty" is a Korean web manga created by yaongyi, which has been serialized on LINE Manga since 2018 and has been ranked number one in readership for 46 consecutive months, and was ranked number one in the 2021 annual ranking (female edition). The beautiful character depictions, which take advantage of the full-color vertical scrolling characteristic of Webtoons, have become a hot topic among Japan's Gen Z, and the series has been simultaneously distributed in 10 languages around the world, with a total of 6.4 billion views (as of March 2024).
The protagonist, Reina Tanigawa, is bullied at school for her plain and unattractive appearance, and ends up skipping school. However, her fateful encounter with makeup changes her dramatically, and after learning the techniques from scratch and working hard, she transforms into a "goddess" that everyone looks at. Reina is determined to break away from her past self and start a perfect life anew, but an unexpected accident causes her classmate Shun to see through her secret without makeup, and a turbulent development unfolds. Based on the original work with 223 chapters, the film incorporates original Japanese elements and depicts the story of Reina, who carved out her life with makeup, chasing "love" and "dreams" over the nine years from high school to adulthood in two parts.
Koki, who plays the main character Reina, who lives a perfect school life as a "goddess" that everyone admires, but has a secret about her makeup-free appearance that she can't tell anyone, made her modeling debut in 2018 when she appeared on the cover of "ELLE JAPON". Her first overseas film appearance, "Touch", is scheduled to be released in Japan on January 24th next year. Koki, who has not shown her face much until now, will show off her makeup-free appearance like a different person in this film. Furthermore, she embodies the character of a horror-loving "otaku" with attention to detail, from the way she makes facial expressions to the way she wears her glasses, showing a new side of herself.
Actor Watanabe Keisuke plays the role of Kanda Shun, a cool and mysterious genius who is one of the classmates competing for Reina, and Tsuna Hironaga plays the role of Igarashi Yu, a passionate classmate who dreams of becoming a singer and has a feud with Shun, and is captivated by Reina. Tsuna will be training hard to sing and play the guitar, and will be performing songs in the film.
The director will be Hoshino Kazunari, who has worked on films such as "Team Batista FINAL: Portrait of Cerberus" (2014), and the script will be written by Suzuki Sumire, a 20-year-old college student who won the "30th Fuji TV Young Scenario Award" at the youngest age ever at 14. The film will be distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Comments from the cast are as follows.
◇Comment from Koki, (who plays Tanigawa Reina):
I loved the original manga and read it, so I was very nervous to be able to play Tanigawa Reina, but I was also happy. Reina undergoes a dramatic transformation with makeup, but in the film I showed off my bare face, which everyone would normally want to hide. I challenged myself to do many new things in this film, such as comical acting and making funny faces. I hope you will share Reina's excitement and thrills.
◇Comment from Watanabe Keisuke (role of Kanda Shun)
I felt some pressure playing the role of Kanda Shun, but the original author said, "It's like you jumped out of the original," so I felt more confident and realized that what I've done was not wrong. It's a coming-of-age film, a love story, and a human drama about human growth. Please look forward to it.
◇Comment from Tsunaga Hironaga (role of Igarashi Yu)
Igarashi Yu, the character I played, is an aspiring singer, a man who pursues love, friendship, and his dreams head-on. This is probably one of the coolest characters I've ever played. I trained hard on singing and guitar for this movie. I'll never forget the feeling I got when I sang in front of so many people in the climax scene. With the utmost respect for the original work, I paid a lot of attention to the visuals and played the role in my own way, to bring out the charm of Yu to the fullest. I hope that after watching the movie, everyone's thoughts about dreams, love, and friendship will improve, and that this work will give them a little push in life.
◇Comment from the original author, yaongyi
When I heard that it would be made into a movie in Japan, it really felt like a dream. I had the opportunity to visit the filming site, and all three actors were very stylish, fashionable, and looked just like the manga characters, so the casting was too perfect. Also, while adding some original Japanese fun, the story perfectly expresses the original work, and I think it will be even more interesting than the original (laughs). I was very surprised that Suzuki Sumire was able to write such a wonderful script despite being only 20 years old. I think it will be a great movie that will satisfy all the fans of the original work, so please look forward to it.
