It may not be The Crying Game but "Crying Girl" (Nakigao, in Japanese) from Amuse Soft Entertainment has its fair share of crying. In fact, it’s almost ALL crying. One after another, 11 minor female celebs shed real tears as they recount some of the worst days of their lives.
The "11 stories of people crying in earnest", as the DVD’s tag line states, include some that really don’t seem so terrible but instead reflect the rigors of being an up & coming model in Japan’s fiercely competitive "idol" culture:
- Marika, who was yelled at by her manager.
- Risa, who had been jilted by her boyfriend.
- Nana, who saw a bad picture of herself in a magazine.
- Shiho, who cried when her boyfriend said goodbye.
- Mai, who cried "touching the loneliness of the city".
- Yutaka, who has a friend with cancer who’s engaged to be married.
If the Crying Girl DVD was being marketed in the Western World, it would certainly be aimed at women who can sympathize, empathize and ultimately feel catharsis through sharing the sad recollections of the 11 women on the DVD.
But that’s not the case – Crying Girl, which will be available at Amazon Japan from March 26th, appears to be aimed at Japanese men.
This is a tricky concept, but it seems that men in Japan need to have their "conquering instinct" stoked up, and the way to do this is by watching beautiful women cry. Yep, in a nutshell: men feel stronger after experiencing the weakness of women. Try expressing that select philosophical nugget over here and you’ll earn yourself a swift kick in the, er, nutshells.
But hey – Japan is a different culture and Crying Girl just underlines that fact. What’s that? Oh, the Crying Girl DVD will cost you 2,940 yen (discounted to 2,176 yen, about $24), tax included. Knock yourself (and ONLY yourself) out.
