Sukitomo (I Like Tomo – スキトモ), the LGBT+-themed romantic drama and shounen-ai film by Japanese filmmaker Mitshuhiro Mihara, portrays that confusing time of youth in which relationships become imprecise and the balance between love becomes precarious. , friendship and family are broken.
The film, from 2007, proposes an unusual love triangle between the serious and responsible young man Aoi Tomokazu, a member of a boxing team and who is in his third year of university, Yoshiko Saitō, his best friend and two years younger, whom he sees as a little brother - although he feels something more for him than a simple friendship - and Tomokazu's sister, Aoi Misao (Komatsu Airi), who is also romantically attracted to Tomokazu and is jealous of his relationship with Yoshiki.
After his performance in 'Boys Love', of the same film genre, Takumi Saitō, star of the 'Prince of Tennis' musicals, now in the role of Aoi Tomokazu, continues in this film challenging perceptions of love, friendship and the sexuality. As in 'Boys Love', Saito acts alongside Aiba Hiroki, one of the co-stars of 'Prince of Tennis', the latter playing Yoshiko Saitō.
Released on January 13, 2007, the film was screened for the first time at the 16th Rainbow Reel Tokyo, an LGBT-themed film festival held annually in the Japanese capital, 'Sukimoto' tells us the evolution of relationship, from childhood to early youth, between the future boxer and the boy Yoshiki, who was hit by a truck while playing with Tomokazu and suffered an injury to his right leg.
This injury never fully heals and consequently he limps when he walks, a fact for which he believes Tomokazu feels guilty and treats him well for it. Yoshiki must deal not only with Misao's attempts to keep him away from his brother, but also with his own conflicting feelings.
The role played by Takumi Saitō is coherent in embodying the role of the young man so busy in boxing that he has not realized the attraction that Yoshiki and Misao feel towards him. I like his performance in this movie. I've seen some of his other work, but I really admire his art after watching 'Sukimoto'.
Hiroki Aiba also achieves naturalness playing the disabled friend in love with his best friend and neighbor, and Airi Komatsu as the 14-year-old sister who is jealous of her brother's relationship with Yoshiki, since she also has loving feelings for him.
Also convincing is the performance of Mizuki Tsuruoka in the role of Arisa Andō, Misao's best friend, who, despite her young age, has been able to understand not only Misao's loving attraction towards her brother, something she considers unhealthy, but also Yoshiki's love for Tomokazu.
The title of the film, which addresses themes such as friendship, love, family and fraternal relationships, is a play on words; «suki» (スキ), which translated from the Japanese language means "to like", and «tomo» (トモ), which refers to the name of the main character. Therefore, the name of the work could be literally translated as "I like Tomo."
With the production of Kawashiro Kazumi and Kataoka Masahiro, the director called on the award-winning Japanese photographer and director of photography Ashizawa Akiko to translate the script written by Kanasugi Hiroko into images.