Moshidora (film)

Moshi Kōkō Yakyū no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no "Management" o Yondara (もし高校野球の女子マネージャーがドラッカーの『マネジメント』を読んだら), or Moshidora (もしドラ) for short, is a 2011 Japanese live-action film directed by Makoto Tanaka which was released in Japanese cinemas on 4 June 2011. It is based on the bestselling book of the same name and followed a preceding anime series also of the same name.

Story
The movie is about Minami Kawashima (played by Atsuko Maeda), a high school girl who becomes the manager of her school's baseball team in place of her hospitalized friend, Yuki Miyata (Haruna Kawaguchi). She tries to lead the team to the National High School Baseball Championship by learning strategies from the business book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices by Peter Drucker, which she mistakenly bought.

Cast

 * Atsuko Maeda as Minami Kawashima (川島 みなみ), the team assistant
 * Koji Seto as Keiichirō Asano (浅野 慶一郎), the baseball team's ace pitcher
 * Minami Minegishi as Ayano Hōjō (北条 文乃), the team's scorekeeper
 * Sosuke Ikematsu as Jirō Kashiwagi (柏木 次郎), the team's catcher
 * Haruna Kawaguchi as Yuki Miyata (宮田 夕紀), Minami's childhood friend
 * Yo Oizumi as Makoto Kachi (加地 誠), the team's coach
 * Hiroshi Oizumi as the manager
 * Hiroki Suzuki as Masayoshi Nikai
 * Yukito Nishii as Yunosuke Sakurai

Development
Moshidora was first announced on 13 December 2010, together with the main cast. The main character would be played by Atsuko Maeda in her first lead film role. Although the book was modeled on her fellow AKB48 member Minami Minegishi, Atsuko Maeda was chosen because she had more acting experience. Minami Minegishi will also star in the film as a supporting character.

Music
Moshidora's theme song was announced to be the song "Everyday, Kachūsha", sung by idol group AKB48. The lyrics of this song was written by Yasushi Akimoto, and the music was composed by Yoshimasa Inoue.

Box office
Moshidora was first released in Japanese cinemas on 4 June 2011. It debuted in the 4th position at the Japanese box office with a total gross of US$2,232,675 in its debut weekend.

Soundtrack disc
The original soundtrack for the film Moshidora was released on 1 June 2011 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

Official visual book
An official visual book of the Moshidora film was released on 28 May 2011. It contains photographs of the making of the film.