A feminist novel that faced repeated rejections for adaptation in South Korea will be released as a Netflix film in Japan this December.
On October 8, Netflix announced that the film My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend will be exclusively released worldwide on December 3. Nagano Mei stars in the lead role, while Daisei Kido, known for the Netflix series First Love Hatsukoi, will play the male lead, Haruki Kimura. The film is directed and written by Keiichi Kobayashi.
The original work is a novel of the same name by author Min Ji-hyung, published in May 2019. It tells the story of a couple who reunite after seven years apart, exploring the differing perspectives on gender and society between a woman who has become a feminist and a man who sees himself as a kind and gentle person. In 2021, it was serialized as a webtoon on Kakao and has been translated and published in six countries, including Japan, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Russia.
Min attempted to adapt the work for film in South Korea but faced repeated rejections due to concerns that it could offend some audiences. In 2021, during the webtoon serialization, she received severe personal attacks, leading to a police investigation that identified the perpetrator.
The novel is narrated from the first-person perspective of a male character. Min explained that the term 'crazy' is not a judgment from the author but a device to reflect the male character's perception of his girlfriend's changes.
The novel was translated into Japanese in 2022 and sold over 10,000 copies. The Economist described it as one of the Korean feminist novels that have influenced Japanese women, alongside Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, while the Asahi Shimbun praised it as a new benchmark for feminism.
This film marks Nagano Mei's return to the screen. Weekly Bunshun reported last April that Nagano was involved in an extramarital affair with actor Keita Tanaka, which both parties denied. Following the report, Nagano voluntarily withdrew from her role in the NHK historical drama Toyotomi Brothers! in May, and nine advertising companies subsequently removed her images and videos.
In December of last year, Netflix announced Nagano as the lead for the film. A page for the upcoming release is also available on Korean Netflix under the original title My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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