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The Boy Inside (王様とボク), is a 2012 Japanese drama film directed and written by Tetsu Maeda. It is Maeda's thirteenth film. The plot centers on a boy named Morio who has the IQ of a 6-year-old and his childhood friend who tries to get him to fit into the society. This film is based on the manga with same name by Yamada Naito. The movie was released in Japan on September 22, 2012.

Plot
The story involves of three boys. They were all friends since they’re little. One day, something which changed their entire life had happened. One of the boys called Morio, a six-year-old boy, fell from the swing when they were playing. He remained unconscious for about 12 years in a hospital. Morio’s friends and family tried to escape from the tragedy and forget about this accident. The other two boys, Mikihiko and Tomonari, had grown up and nearly forgot about Morio. Finally, Morio woke up and regained consciousness suddnenly. However, Morio’s intelligence quotient stayed at 6 years old. Mikihiko decided to help Morio to catch up with the society. Therefore, Mikihiko had to sacrifice a lot of things in order to spend time and look after Morio, for instance, he broke up with his girlfriend Kie, quitted university and his free time etc. Nevertheless, Mikihiko failed to let Morio became accustomed to the society because Morio still had a childish and naive heart. Morio came back to the hospital and Mikihiko continued to live his own life at the end. Eventually, Mikihiko realised that everyone, even the ones who are childish as Morio could not escape from the reality of growing up and has to face the world which was ugly as sin.

Manga
This movie is adapted from a Japanese manga with the same name, “The Boy Inside”, created by Yamada Naito, who writes in both Japan and France. The manga was first published in 1992 in Weekly Young Sunday (Shogakukan) and reissued in 1997 and was announced to be released in the form of movie in September 2012.

Theme
“After being hurt and getting lost, we become adults.”, wrote on the movie's promotional poster. The film talks about various difficulties each teenager faces when they are about to turn to an adult. It focuses on the emotional struggles of teenage life.

It is believed that each teenager has a period of time which they experience the feeling of confusion and reluctance to be a grown up. They refuse to become an adult because they know being an adult is different. Like those young friends of Morio in the film, they refused to make friends with Mikihiko, since he’s an adult. They regard adults as devils and are not willing to let Morio go with Mikihiko when they are having party.

This is a struggle occurs inside every teen/child's heart. They don't understand an adult's way of life which is always fully scheduled with work and social life, but not genuine fun and innocent games. They try their best to fight with the changes when they grow up. But it is hard because sometimes life would leave you no choice but to follow the mainstream. Even though you are not willing to, one day you will find yourself engaged in the adult's life, like Morio in the film. Though he only possess the mind of a 6-year-old, he eventually took off his “crown”, his party hat, indicating giving up of his childhood.

Also, it is awkward for Mikihiko to try his best to make contact with Morio after he woke up. This implies that the grown-ups are often eager to search for the innocence once they had but the fact is they always fail to do so as they have lost in the huge wheel of adults’affairs.

Cast

 * Masaki Suda as Morio: Actor from Osaka Prefecture, born in February 21, 1993. He has played more than 25 movies, drama series and TV Movies. He acted as Morio in this film. When Morio was six, he fell from a swing then remained unconscious for 12 years.


 * Tori Matsuzaka as Mikihiko: Actor from Kanagawa who debouts in 2009. He has participated in about 22 programmes. He also got the 2013 (36th) Japan Academy Prize. He played as Mikihiko in this movie. He is a high school senior student and a friend of Morio and Tomonari. He took care of Morio after Morio woke up.


 * Fumi Nikaido as Kie: Actress from Okinawa Prefecture who was born at September 21, 1994. She was originally modelling for teen magazines, then debuted as an actress in 2009. She acts as Kie in the movie, who is the girlfriend of Morio.


 * Hiroki Aiba as Tomonari


 * Masataka Nakagauchi as Jun (Kie's older brother)
 * Miyuki Matsuda as Keiko Mitsui (Tomonari's mother)

Soundtrack
The theme song of the movie is"ours~ Our Footprints" (『ours～ボクらの足跡～』 ) by Good Coming.