The Excitement Of The Do Re Mi Fa Girl -1985 - ... [best] -
At its core, the film is a simple story turned wonderfully upside-down. The plot follows Akiko, a naïve young country girl who travels to a bustling college in Tokyo with one mission: to find Yoshioka, her high school band heartthrob who promised her eternal love. Expecting a romantic reunion, she instead finds a campus in total chaos.
The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl (1985)—also released under the title Bumpkin Soup —is an absurdist, satirical comedy that marks a fascinating early turn in director career. Long before he became a master of J-horror with classics like Cure , Kurosawa delivered this "Godardian" anthropological study on disaffected Japanese youth. Plot & Atmosphere
A campus populace engaged in petty, aimless rebellion, flirting, and bored antics.
(1985)—originally titled Do-re-mi-fa musume no chi wa sawagu (meaning "The Blood of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl Roars") and also known as Bumpkin Soup —stands as one of the most eccentric, rebellious, and fascinating entries in Japanese cinema. Directed by a young Kiyoshi Kurosawa , who would later achieve global fame for chilling masterpieces like Cure (1997) and Pulse (2001), this sophomore feature is a chaotic, genre-bending artifact. The Excitement of the Do Re Mi Fa Girl -1985 - ...
In the sprawling graveyard of 1980s pop culture, certain titles possess a gravitational pull purely through their linguistic rhythm. The Excitement of the Do Re Mi Fa Girl is one such phantom. For decades, cinephiles and city-pop collectors have whispered about a 1985 Japanese or possibly Hong Kong production that vanished between the cracks of VHS and laser disc. Was it a musical? A coming-of-age drama? Or simply a fever dream of synthesizers and sailor uniforms?
For those who think they know Kurosawa only through films like Cure or Pulse , The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl is a delightful shock to the system. It’s a low-budget, high-energy musical comedy that defies easy categorization, serving as a perfect time capsule of a specific kind of artistic freedom from the height of Japan's economic bubble era.
(Japanese: ドレミファ娘の血は騒ぐ, Do-re-mi-fa musume no chi wa sawagu ), also widely known by its alternative English title Bumpkin Soup , is a 1985 avant-garde musical comedy. Directed by the legendary filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa , this sophomore feature serves as a crucial bridge between his early roots in erotic cinema and his later transition into world-renowned J-horror and psychological thrillers. Released on November 3, 1985 , the film subverts standard low-budget audience expectations to create an absurdist, genre-bending commentary on Japanese youth culture, academic pretense, and existential longing. The Evolution of the Production At its core, the film is a simple
The 1985 film (Japanese: Do-re-mi-fa-musume no chi wa sawagu ), also known as Bumpkin Soup , is a surrealist musical comedy directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa . It is widely recognized as one of Kurosawa's early "experimental" works, predating his fame as a master of J-horror (e.g., Cure ). Production & Background
Students who are perpetually bored, horny, or pretending to be revolutionaries .
: A psychology professor (played by Juzo Itami) obsessed with his theory that "shame is a sham," leading to increasingly bizarre and sexual experiments. Style & Reception her high school band heartthrob.
Originally commissioned as a "pink film" (softcore erotic film) for Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno division, it was famously rejected by the studio for being "too weird" and "not a Nikkatsu film" . Kurosawa eventually bought back the rights and reworked the film for independent release through the Director's Company . Kiyoshi Kurosawa Release Year: 1985 Runtime: Approximately 80–82 minutes Genre: Comedy, Musical, Erotic, Experimental Plot Summary
The Do Re Mi Fa Girl's impact went beyond Korea and Japan, as the song gained popularity in other parts of Asia, including China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. The song's universal appeal lay in its ability to transcend language barriers, with listeners from different cultures and backgrounds singing along to the familiar melody. The song's music video, which featured Choi Yu-ri performing the song with a group of dancers, was widely played on MTV and other music channels, further increasing the song's global reach.
The elusive Yoshioa, who has faded from the popular idol of their hometown into a bored, unexceptional student.
She grabbed Yoshi’s hand and dashed into the hallway. The university had transformed. The stern portraits of former deans were vibrating in their frames. Students in the courtyard weren't walking; they were moving in synchronized, jagged bursts of jazz-ercise choreography.
: The story follows Akiko (Yoriko Dôguchi), a naive "country girl" who travels to a Tokyo university to find Minoru, her high school band heartthrob.
