If you want to read my review of The 8-Year Engagement, read this post. In 八年越しの花嫁, Hisashi and Mai are scheduled to get married. But, before the long-awaited date, she has a sudden illness and falls into a coma. Years later, she wakes up with no memory of him.
Hisashi Nakahara (Takeru Sato) is a mechanic who loves his work and met Mai drinking with friends. He wasn’t having the best of nights. But, there was a connection between them.
“Sorry for ruining the mood. But, I’m not very good at this.”
Mai Nakahara (Tao Tsuchiya) always wanted to be a cook and always worked in restaurants. Hisashi’s shy manner caught her attention when they met for the first time.
“This is happening so fast. I don’t believe. It’s scary. But I’m happy.”
Before the long-awaited wedding date could arrive, Mai began to inexplicably experience severe headaches, memory loss and hallucinations. So, she was rushed to hospital.
The 8-Year Engagement: japanese movie review
Before the test results could be ready, no one could know what was happening to Mai’s brain. Therefore, she was sedated to calm down.
“you must be scared. But, that’s not our Mai.”
Mai had a sudden and unexpected loss of heart function, and was fortunately resuscitated. But, she fell into a coma.
“She could stay like this forever.”
Together with Mai’s parents, Hisashi did what he could to balance his daily life between home, work and the hospital, every morning, which was a 2-hour trip away.
After a month of daily visits to the hospital, Hisashi had the idea of recording short videos on his own cell phone.
“This is the 34th morning since Mai went to sleep.”
Hisashi’s idea was to send the videos to Mai’s cell phone, so she could have fun when she woke up.
Hisashi overcame everything he could. The worst days. The worst years. Even her parents tried to free him from the burden
Eventually, Mai woke up and began rehab. However, one thing she didn’t seem to be able to recover, the short-term memory that involved Hisashi and all the passion they had experienced.
The 8-Year Engagement review: Anti-NMDA-R Encephalitis
You may be wondering: what was Mai Nakahara’s disease? Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is an autoimmune disease that attacks the brain.
Anti-N-metil-D-aspartato appears, in most cases, in young women, associated with the ovary and, to a lesser extent, associated with testicular tumors, in men.
Symptoms involve headaches, seizures, psychiatric changes (hallucinations) and short-term memory loss, which made Mai forget about Higashi’s existence.
Why you should watch The 8-Year Engagement
I won’t leave The 8-Year Engagement ending explained or a download link here, but it is one of the most incredible stories of human devotion I have ever seen.
And one of the best performances by Tao Tsuchiya, my second favorite Japanese actress. Takeru Sato also puts on a show.
The 8-Year Engagement trailer
I really feel that you will like this one. So I decided to do this 8 Nen Goshi no Hanayome review. Go ahead, immerse yourself in the story, the environment and the soundtrack.
And come back later to tell me what you think in the comments. This Japanese movie is based on the true story of Mai Nakahara and Hisashi Nakahara.
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