The film also stars Megumi Han as Beaver, Natsuki Hanae as Japan, Yuichiro Umehara as Yasuyuki aka "Toughboy", Megumi Nakajima as Julie, Sumire Morohoshi as Marie, Hiroshi Kamiya as Koichi, Maaya Sakamoto as Maria and Kōichi Yamadera as Mr. Fujiyama.
The film was released July 22nd, 2021 in theaters in Japan and on Netflix globally. It also has a light novel and manga adaptation, both of which are licensed by Yen Press for English publication.
This film provides examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Everyone calls Yui "Cherry" as in the English name of sakura which is cherry blossom. Yuki is also known as "Smile" online. Overlaps with Only Known by Their Nickname when it comes to Cherry's friends, Beaver and Japan, as well as Beaver's rival Toughboy.
- Arc Words: Sakura. It's not only Cherry's real name, but the album Mr. Fujiyama looks for is called Yamazakura. Sakura Fujiyama is also the name of Mr. Fujiyama's late wife who also happened to sing the record he's looking for. Finally, Yamazakura can translate to both "mountain cherry blossoms"—also known as sakura leaves—and "buck teeth".
- Character Catchphrase: Smile's "Smile. For. Me!"
- Crash-Into Hello: Cherry and Smile initially meet when a skateboarding Beaver crashes into both of them and knocks them to the ground together.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Cherry admits he wears headphones so that other people won’t try to talk to him.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: The dial of the clock in the elderly care center, bearing a picture of fireworks over the old record plant, turns out to be an intact copy of Sakura Fujiyama’s vinyl record. This ends up saving the day, since Smile had accidentally broken what they'd thought was the only copy.
- Ironic Nickname: Yuki is known as Smile, but ironically hides her mouth behind a surgical mask because she’s embarrassed about her buck teeth.
- Kissing Discretion Shot: In The Stinger, a kiss between Cherry and Smile is shown through their shadows on the stage floor as they watch the fireworks.
- Love Confession: Cherry recites his haikus about Smile from the festival stage and declares his love for her.
- Luminescent Blush: Cherry’s whole body turns pink whenever he’s embarrassed.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Smile is horrified and remorseful after she accidentally shatters the vinyl record Mr. Fujiyama was searching for.
- No Antagonist: The problems in the story aren’t caused by anyone being "bad", but rather by characters having weaknesses and doubts that make them unsure of how to deal with challenging circumstances.
- Plot Parallel: The story of Mr. Fujiyama and his wife has a lot of similarities with Cherry and Smile: Mr. Fujiyama's wife was an idol singer that also had buck teeth, they both fall in love under similar circumstances as Cherry and Smile.
- Shipper on Deck: Once it’s clear Smile and Cherry like each other, their friends start showing their support for them. Beaver and Toughboy even spray paint one of Cherry’s poems on road signs, encouraging him to confess his feelings to Smile.
- So You Were Saying...?: Cherry is interrupted when he tries to tell Smile he will be moving away in August and he doesn’t finish his statement when she prompts him. She later finds out when his mother stops by the care center is talking to one of the employees.
- Tragic Keepsake: In a way, the “Yamazakura” record is one for Mr. Fujiyama as it’s his late wife’s record and he wants to listen to it one last time. Because the record is so rare, he has been having a hard time locating it.
