FIRST KISS Press Notes and Photo Gallery From Toho For Time Travel Romance

Source: Toho Co., Ltd.
Official Site: https://1stkiss-movie.toho.co.jp/ (Japan)

A SciFi JAPAN EXCLUSIVE

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains plot details for an upcoming film.

Toho Co., Ltd. has provided information and photos from their new fantasy romance movie FIRST KISS (ファーストキス　1ST KISS, Fāsuto Kisu 1ST KISS), which opens in Japanese cinemas on February 7, 2025.

INTRODUCTION

A masterpiece spun by a master of love stories.

Yuji Sakamoto wrote an original screenplay for the film WE MADE A BEAUTIFUL BOUQUET (花束みたいな恋をした, Hanataba Mitaina Koi o Shita, 2021) which became a huge hit, grossing 3.8 billion yen. The universal love story of young people resonated with people of all ages and became a social phenomenon. Next, hois screenplay for MONSTER (怪物, Kaibutsu, 2023) won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the first time a Japanese film has won that award. For his latest work, Sakamoto has teamed up with director Ayuko Tsukahara, whose hit film LAST MILE (ラストマイル, Rasuto Mairu, 2024) is still fresh in the minds of Japanese moviegoers. This is the ultimate collaboration between two of the most popular creators today!

What if a wife who lost her husband in an accident travels back in time by chance, meets her husband "once again" in his younger days, and falls in love "once again"...?

The cast iis headed by Takako Matsu, who is no stranger to world of Yuji Sakamoto with credits in the writer's TV series' QUARTET (カルテット, Karutetto, 2017) and MY DEAR EXES (大豆田とわ子と三人の元夫 , Omameda Towako to Sannin no Motootto, 2021) as the wife Kanna, and Hokuto Matsumura, who is a member of the popular group SixTONES and has shown extraordinary talent as an actor, winning the Newcomer of the Year Award and Topic Award (Actor category) at the 46th Japan Academy Awards, as the deceased husband Kakeru. Other actors with unique personalities and talents, including Lily Franky (BAD CITY), Riho Yoshioka (FUKUSHIMA 50), and Nana Mori (THE PARADES), will each witness the love story of the couple from their own perspectives.

Based on a "miracle" that would never happen in an ordinary life, this is a love story that will deeply shake people's views on love and marriage, and will be remembered for a lifetime.

STORY

After fifteen years of marriage, Kanna Suzuri's husband Kakeru dies in an accident. He had tried to rescue a child and was hit by the train.

Their relationship had been in a slump for a long time. They slept in separate bedrooms and hardly ever spoke to each other. If Kakeru had lived, the couple would have soon divorced.

Kanna starts to enjoy her second life...

One day, while driving on a highway in Tokyo, Kanna is in an accident. Afterwards, she arrives at the hotel where she had first met Kakeru. Her confusion grows when she sees Kakeru, looking just as he did 15 years ago. Somehow she has travled through time.

Looking at her husband in his younger days, when they first met, she thinks:

"I really did love him."

And knowing that, fifteen years later, he will die in an accident, she decides she must save him.

Kanna can only travel from the present to the date when she met him so she tries to change the past in various ways so that Kakeru will not die. All of her attempts fail.

Through her trials, Kakeru discovers that Kanna is time travelling and he will die in 15 years. He chooses not to avoid his death, but to change how he lives his remaining days with Kanna.

"What is a life with the one you love?"

Deep, simple questions with no answers that everyone faces in life.

This is a heart-wrenching love story that questions the meaning of these things.

DETAILS

Release Date: February 7, 2025 (Japan)
Japanese Release Information: Roadshow at Toho Theaters Nationwide

■ Cast

Kanna Suzuri: Takako Matsu　
Kakeru Suzuri: Hokuto Matsumura
Riho Yoshioka　
Nana Mori
YOU　
Pistol Takehara 　
Daisuke Matsuda　
Masanari Wada　
Keiichi Suzuki　
Misuzu Kanno
Lily Franky

■ Staff

Director: Ayuko Tsukahara
Screenplay: Yuji Sakamoto
Planning/Producer: Kenji Yamada

About Toho Co. Ltd.

Toho Company provides high-quality entertainment to a wide range of customers through its film production, distribution, and exhibition business, which is solidly supported by its real estate business including the Shinjuku Toho Building and Hibiya Chante, animation production, DVD software production and sales, and TOHO Cinemas' efforts to expand its network of multiplex cinemas. Among these, "Godzilla," which has been around since 1954, is Toho's flagship IP that has many fans around the world and has been loved for many years.