Hikaru Ippei and Naoe Kiichi co-star for the first time in 44 years in "60th Birthday High Schooler"

It was revealed on May 28th that Hikaru Ippei (61), who played the role of Shiino Hajime in the second series of the school drama "3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi Sensei" (1980-81) broadcast on TBS, will star in the movie "Kanreki Koukousei" (directed by Kawasaki Minoru, to be released on June 27th), which will also feature Naoe Kiichi (62), who played Kato, who became a hot topic in the second series of "3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi Sensei," nicknamed "the rotten orange." This will be the first time the two have worked together in 44 years since "Kinpachi Sensei."

"Kanreki High School Student" is a movie produced by Mami Hase, an ordinary person who won a lucky bag at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi's "Lucky Bag" for a plan to have director Minoru Kawasaki make a movie for about 5 million yen, after miraculously winning the prize for the second time in 2024, following "Meg Lion" in 2019. This is the latest work by director Kawasaki, the "master of stupid movies," who has worked on many popular works such as "Squid Wrestler" (2004), "Everything Except Japan Sinks" (2006), and "Earth Defense Widow" (2014), and is billed as a "new youth school movie" that pays love and homage to the youth school dramas produced in the 1960s and 1980s, such as "What is Youth?" (1965), "Fly Out! Youth" (1972), "3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi Sensei" (1979-), and "School Wars" (1984).

Naoe plays Ito, a former classmate of Shiina (Hikaru), a "60-year-old high school student" who has repeated the same year 42 times, at Seiun Gakuen. As former "3B" classmates, they are said to have a great chemistry together. Regarding his appearance, Naoe commented, "I never thought I would co-star with Hajime (Hikaru)! It's been 44 years since Kinpachi (although we actually met in Kinpachi Final (2011)). Our characters were also classmates at the time, so I played the role with the feeling of meeting a real classmate. We had a quick drink during filming and were able to talk for the first time in a long time at the wrap-up party, which was very moving! We both realized that we are in good health now. I can't say Ippei! It's my real name, Taniguchi! (Hikaru's real name is Taniguchi Ichiro) or Hajime! Let's both keep working hard! Oh! The movie is also interesting, in the style of Director Kawasaki!"

The official visual, official trailer, additional cast members, and new stills were all released at once. In addition to Naoe, the additional cast members include Yasumasa Ishida as the young, passionate teacher, Mr. Nonoyama, Sara Tokari as the Madonna English teacher, Ms. Akiko, as well as Nobuyoshi Morii from the 70s boy idol group "Big Mammoth," "Showa era radio star" Tsuruko Shofutei, and Satoshi Furuya from "Ultraman."

In this visual, Shiina (Hikaru) in a school uniform is in the center with the sunset as the background, and her former classmate Ito (Naoe) is looking at her with a gentle gaze. The accompanying catchphrases are "A veteran high school student at 60? What does it mean to be 42 as a person?!" and "A youth movie for the young people of the Reiwa era! This is our starting line!"

In the released trailer, we see Shiina, a middle-aged man who has appeared 42 times in class 3B at Hoshizora Gakuen, where the young, passionate teacher, Mr. Nonoyama, has been assigned. Nonoyama encourages Shiina to join the soccer club, but Shiina refuses. Meanwhile, Nonoyama is so enthusiastic about education that he punishes bad students with Tekken, and school violence is commonplace. He also recommends that male students who are having trouble with love send love letters instead of emails. Meanwhile, Ito, a former classmate of Shiina, causes a violent incident at school and barricades himself in the broadcasting room. He shouts, "I'm not a rotten tangerine!" Furthermore, Shiina makes a proposal to Mr. Nonoyama. It was a man's promise that if Mr. Nonoyama can stop 1,000 shots, Shiina will boldly join the soccer club. What will be the outcome of the soccer showdown between Mr. Nonoyama and Shiina?