The story revolves around a broken-hearted girl who runs away from Japan to Taiwan, and a young Taiwanese man in a rock band. A time-limited romance starts up between the girl who must leave Taiwan in three months and the man who has never kept a relationship more than three months. The feature debut work of Japanese director Toyoharu Kitamura stars Vic Chou of the music group F4, Yuki Kato, half Japanese and half Taiwanese actress from “Fish Story”, and Hao Lei from “The Fourth Portrait” and “Summer Palace”. Part of the film was shot in Shiga Prefecture.
Wu Qifeng is a cool rock band lead singer who is unable to get into a relationship longer than three months. His band mates, Da Dou (Huang Deng Hui), Xiao Ji (Li Bo En) and Ah Yan (Chen Shan) from Monkey Electric Boy Band are his closest pals. This seem to fit well with his lifestyle since he is used to living without emotional baggage nor any intent of going out of his way to please other people.
In Japan, Mikan receives a marriage proposal from her boyfriend of three years but she opts to refuse the proposal and break up with him, then takes advantage of an employment opportunity at an office in Shanghai, China. Since Mikan is unable to communicate well in Mandarin, she is required to attend a 3-month mandarin language studies in Taiwan. Mikan accepts the offer and heads to Taiwan with her friend.
During Mikan’s first night at Taiwan, she gets together with some friends at an open bar and ends up drunk and rowdy. That same evening, The Monkey Electric Boy Band is performing at the open bar when Mikan suddenly walks up the stage and pulls off the power source. To make matters worse, she insults Qifeng’s performing skills and smashes his guitar.
The following day, Mikan and Qifeng happened to ride on the same bus and found themselves stranded. Although both had a terrible first impression, they engage in small chats and soon realize they share a rather liberated mindset. Qifeng and Mikan ends up inking a date contract for the next 90 days specifying they must date exclusively during the contract term and separate at the end of the contract.
Although the couple gets to live the fun part of dating with no strings attached, they soon encounter the downside of cohabiting with a person with very different housekeeping habits. They also gradually develop genuine feelings for each other, with Mikan ending up hurt and leaving behind Qifeng after seeing him with another woman.
As Mikan’s language studies end, she lands the job at Shanghai and meets new colleagues and business contacts. Back in Taiwan, Qifeng slowly changes his manner of dressing and even learns to tidy up his place.
Both Mikan and Qifeng long for each other but both are too proud to admit their true feelings. Incidentally, they both separately discover message left for each other, indicating they are both open to giving their relationship another chance after a year, considering they still like each other. Is it too late to give their love a chance now that they are oceans apart?
This is an unusual romantic comedy and it will likely prove a hit amongst the teenage fans of its heartthrob local star Vic Chou and the romance that ensues between himself and Kato.
The story is a tale of two sides. A Japanese girl Sakurada decides to visit a foreign country with a friend after going through a painful break-up. They choose to visit Taiwan for a few months and soon after arriving she chances upon a local rock band led by Wu Qifeng (Chou). The pair is an unlikely couple as there is an unpleasant chemistry in the air due to Sakurada's despising of Wu's disheveled, yet, striking looks. That and a low tolerance to alcohol results in a less-than romantic first meet as she crashes the bands' gig in her own dramatic performance.
Later on, they run into each other again, but this time there's nowhere to run; they're stuck on a bus together. They discover the softer side of each other through a fight and a bicycle ride. Soon comes the realization that Wu, having never dated anyone for longer than three months, could be an ideal match for Sakurada, who only has 3 months in the country. It might seem like destiny is at play here, but they are total opposites in reality.
Here Wu is seen with a decadent, unkempt appearance, unlike Chou's usually well-groomed look. This sets the stage for an altogether different impression from the way his fans know him best.
The film's theme song, of the same name, has been sung by many, but Chou offers a different vibe as he belts it out for all to hear while fashioning an outrageous pink suit and some ludicrous dance moves. Chou's performance is hilarious while Kato's is slightly over the top and amateurish in places.
The movie has a lot of humor and certainly an original style. Its zany game-show style actually works well for the film, on a weird level. Jokes aside, the satire is supported by an earnest thespian substance that keeps the audience grounded with the weight of a slightly serious undertone added into the ridiculous mixture.
Unfortunately this doesn't always have the desired result as it leaves a false air about the film, where we're not sure if what we're hearing is realistic or just put in place for comedy effect. As most of the humor is local, foreigners watching the film may find that some of the jokes go over their heads, and a few are also lost in translation. But this shouldn't necessarily put you off watching it, though it may help if you have knowledge of Taiwanese pop culture.
