The Mamiya Brothers (Mamiya Kyodai) review

At first blush, Yoshimitsu Morita’s The Mamiya Brothers may seem like a goofy comedy about two hopeless otakus desperately trying to pick up chicks. And while that’s partially true, it’s actually a sincere story of two well meaning, yet emotionally stunted brothers who try to break free from the bubble they’ve created for themselves over the years and catch up on some of the socialization they missed in a youth spent joined at the hip. The trouble, however, is that their particular bubble offers a lot of comfort and protection from an unforgiving world full of complicated notions like cruelty, infidelity, and heartbreak—none of which they’ve ever had to experience while leaning on each other.

Aside from the complete lack of experience in relationships, the brothers lead seemingly well-adjusted lives. Akinobu (Kuranosuke Sasaki) works at a beer plant helping to develop new products and Tetsunobu (Muga Tsukaji) works diligently as an elementary school handyman. It becomes clear pretty quickly that both are very good at their jobs and are always professional while doing them. In the evenings they pass their time by meticulously keeping score of Yokohama Bay Stars games and then watching several DVDs rented from the local video store—preferably checked out by their favorite clerk, the young and adorable Naomi (Erika Sawajiri), whom Akinobu has a crush on.

One day the brothers decide to host a curry party with the ulterior motive of possibly setting Akinobu up with Naomi. Tetsunobu also suggests inviting his co-worker, a shy but very attractive teacher named Yoriko (Takako Tokiwa). The idea is that if things don’t work out with Naomi, Akinobu has a second chance to hit it off with Yoriko. And as a side-benefit Naomi might not be scared to show up if she knows a female teacher is coming. The plan goes off without a hitch, as Yoriko and Naomi not only show up, but enjoy themselves for the most part. They even end up playing Monopoly together, which Yoriko can never seem to lose because she coyly flashes the boys some skin whenever she wants to make a completely lopsided property trade.

Of course, considering he already knows her the obvious progression here would be for Tetsunobu to pursue Yoriko as his brother pursues Naomi, but he keeps reiterating the fact that he doesn’t date co-workers. It seems like an odd rule for someone that’s never even had the opportunity to date anyone, co-worker or not, but he seems determined to stick to his guns. It’s also possible that he ruled her out to protect himself from rejection, as it’s later revealed—sadly, too late—that he actually might have feelings for her after all.

Unlike most otaku comedies, it’s not as if Akinobu and Tetsunobu are totally oblivious to their social status. In fact they’re both keenly aware of how they appear to girls to the point of paranoia. They painstakingly choose DVDs that don’t seem “threatening” to Naomi (i.e., no romance) and they’re always careful to present their parties as strictly friendly events so as not to appear as perverts. At times Tetsunobu also seems a bit uncomfortable around Naomi’s brash younger sister Yumi (Keiko Kitagawa), perhaps afraid that she’s the type of girl to make fun of him—but she never does, and actually becomes one of his biggest supporters. She even makes a custom ringtone for his cell phone for her incoming calls (this bit becomes particularly important at the end—custom photo to go with it?). His awkward relationship with Yumi highlights one of the main problems the brothers have throughout the film. They never seem to realize exactly where they stand with any of the girls, whether it’s just a chance at a good friendship or an actual romance. And every time things don’t go as planned or things get too “complicated” they retreat back to their old habits, completely forgetting about the girls until the next goofy social gathering they have planned.

The film skillfully hints at how the brothers ended up clinging to their current lifestyle through interactions with their eccentric, child-like mother. Junko Mamiya, played appropriately by the eternally youthful singer/songwriter Miyuki Nakajima, is a doting parent that supports everything her two sons choose to do with their lives. In fact, when it’s hinted that they’re not popular she seems completely shocked by this news before eventually regrouping and expressing that it’s perfectly fine to not be popular. In a particularly illuminating scene we discover that the brothers’ father died when they were of junior high school age. As the scene shifts between a childish beach scene from their childhoods to a childish beach scene as adults it becomes clear that these boys stopped socially developing at that exact point in time, having only their mother to draw from. Although still meant to be humorous, scenes like this bring a sense of realism and maybe a degree of sadness to Akinobu and Tetsunobu that keeps them from being simple cartoonish characters for the audience to laugh at. Instead, we root for them just as their friends and family do.

Ultimately, the girls are not left without blame in all of this, however, as they seem to latch on to the wrong type of guys. Naomi’s baseball player boyfriend has no free time and seems to value her only for sex and doing his laundry. Meanwhile, Yoriko is coming to grips to the fact that she’s not much more than a booty call for the teacher she’s been dating recently. In a private moment Yoriko even admits to Naomi she’s in a “dead-end” relationship. Perhaps in a perfect world both sides would change their approach a bit and meet somewhere in the middle, but unfortunately it’s not a perfect world and people don’t always make the right choices at the right times.

While there aren’t many belly laughs to be had in “The Mamiya Brothers”, it is consistently funny, charming, and the characters have a surprising level of depth. Tetsunobu and Akinobu are in fact self-aware even if they bumble their way through matters of love. Besides, doesn’t everyone mess up in that department at one point or another? And even when things aren’t working out, Yoriko, Naomi, and Yumi are all very likable characters with genuinely kind hearts. In the end this one ended up being a bit more dramatic and introspective than I initially expected, but that turned out to be a nice surprise. Definitely a fun movie worth a look.

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Availability: Japanese distributor Asmik Ace Entertainment released "The Mamiya Brothers" on R2 DVD on October 10, 2006. For full specs, see this link.

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