It was announced on December 3rd that actress Mei Nagano will be starring in the Netflix film "My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend" (directed by Keiichi Kobayashi). To prepare for the role, she will be cutting her long hair and taking on a new look. The film will be released in 2026.
The original work is a novel of the same name by Min Ji-hyun. When it was published in Korea, the impact of the title and the storyline that depicts the realities of people living in modern times caused a great stir, and it became an instant hit. When the Japanese translation was released, it was quickly reprinted and became a hot topic in Japan as well.
Nagano plays the role of a madly beloved "girlfriend" who becomes a feminist after a certain incident. Seven years after their breakup, the story carefully depicts the "present" through the reunion of "her" and "me," who has now become a feminist, and the subsequent conflicts and realities of their relationship.
◇Comment from Director Keiichi Kobayashi
I am pleased to announce that "My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend," based on the novel by Min Ji-hyun, will be adapted into a film. I was approached by Netflix and first wrote the plot about three years ago. From there, I worked with producer Kei Haruna on a trial and error process to write the script, and now we are finally moving forward with filming. The characters I had in my head are about to become a reality.
Min Ji-hyun's original work may seem radical at first glance, even from the title, but it is a work that will make you gasp in surprise. It also made me realize the shortcomings of my own multifaceted values. I would like to carefully create this work together with lead actress Mei Nagano, the cast, and staff so that I can share this important feeling with everyone, and perhaps even make them chuckle.
◇Comment from original author Min Ji-hyun
Boy meets girl. For a long time, this is how most romances began. But now, some women no longer fall in love that way. "My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend" is a story of intense love between a man who still believes in "that" kind of love and a woman who can no longer accept those rules.
In fact, I started writing this novel with the thought, "Am I the only one who feels this way?" However, as I met readers from various countries, including Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia, who have read the book, I began to realize that this is by no means "my story alone."
In Korea, where this novel was first published, there were concerns that some people might find the story offensive, so it was difficult to move forward with its adaptation into a film. The fact that this story has now been adapted into a film in Japan first is an experience that has surprised and made me grateful, as it has made me realize that there are people beyond our borders who continue to ask the same questions. I look forward with excitement to seeing what questions this story, reborn in a new form as a film, will pose to women and men around the world.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the producers at Netflix who selected this work, to director Mei Nagano who breathes new life into this story as "her."
This work was not written with the intention of saying, "Love between men and women is no longer possible in this day and age." Rather, it is a work that I would like to propose that we think together about what we should talk about and what questions we should share in order to love each other better, to realize a love that does not require the sacrifice or "endurance" of one party. I hope you will enjoy this film, which is engraved with the reality of "love today" more than any other work.
