I’ll be explaining the Japanese mystery-thriller movie “Honor Student” today. Beware of spoilers! A little Japanese town’s Ichikawa high school is where the narrative begins. The senior students are receiving their most recent test results in the classroom. Miyamoto Asuka, a kind but academically inept student, is one of the participants. She receives a score of 0 despite the fact that the test was the easiest one thus far. Yoshida, who is Asuka’s lover, sees the silver lining and affirms that zero is Asuka’s fortunate number. The teacher reprimands them because she knows Asuka’s future is grim if she doesn’t start studying. After that, Asuka has to take another history test, which she dreads.
The first query asks her to identify a landmark that is renowned for granting wishes in exchange for a coin. Even though she doesn’t know the answer, she fills in the blank spot with the name of an arbitrary location, Gachiemo. Bright light can be seen outside the window just as she writes the person’s name down on the paper. Unexpectedly, a peculiar route of jungle appears somewhere in the city. She and Yoshida come over the path the next day as they are walking to school. They are curious because they don’t recall it being there before today. The pair decides to investigate it after allowing curiosity to win.
After a short distance, they come across a shrine whose name they are unable to pronounce. Asuka tosses a coin and hopes to score 100 in the upcoming exam. Without giving the exploration any more thought, the two then return to school. Asuka receives a score of five out of a possible one hundred in the results of the previous exam. She snarls at herself for having faith in the power of the shrine. On that day, the class will take another test on global politics. They are asked who the current prime minister of Japan is in the first question. As Asuka is at a loss for words, she chooses to write Yoshida’s name on the piece of paper rather than leaving it blank. After that, she can’t answer any of the questions, so she instead takes a nap.
Asuka and Yoshida stay around at her residence after school. As soon as they enter, they hear her parents yelling at each other. Although her mother is having an affair with a younger guy, her father, a salesman, is likely to lose his job. Yoshida is taken to Asuka’s chamber after she instructs him to ignore them. He sees empty dishes and plates outside a door on the way. Asuka has a twin brother named Keisuke, it turns out. Even in primary school, he used to excel in academics. In every test, he never received anything less than a perfect score. But that was before he failed the high school entrance exam one day.
He was the top scorer, therefore the defeat was particularly painful for him. He has been sequestered in his room ever since. He is constantly playing games on the computer and doesn’t interact with anyone. After speaking about her brother, Asuka pouts. Yoshida goes to the shop to get them food so that she can feel better. Their instruction is grading the test papers elsewhere. Both the shrine and the teacher’s spectacles abruptly begin to light. Afterwards, Asuka phones Yoshida and inquires as to why things are taking so long. Yoshida says he won’t be able to hang around today because he is quite busy. She receives a text message from a classmate shortly after the call informing her that Yoshida is in huge trouble.
It turns out that he has been chosen to lead Japan as prime minister. On social media, the interviews in which he poses as the prime minister are very popular. Asuka still doesn’t understand how her boyfriend, who went to the grocery shop, changed into the prime minister as she leaves for school the following day. The school is also hearing a number of additional reports regarding missing presidents from various nations. When the teacher arrives with the graded papers, he gives Asuka hers while grinning broadly. Unexpectedly, she passed the test with flying colours despite leaving the majority of the questions blank.
When she looks closer, she sees that Yoshida was appointed prime minister as a result of her exam answer. Similar to how the leaders of other nations are disappearing, she left all the other questions unanswered. She received her desire from the shrine, but not in the way she expected. Now, the world will adjust to reflect her responses in order for her to receive all possible points. She searches online for all the correct responses and records them on the exam paper to atone for her error. Thankfully, the strategy is successful, and Yoshida is let go on his first day of work. Instantaneously, all of the presidents from around the world are located, and everything return to normal.
The following test is then due. Asuka is less anxious this time since if she makes a mistake on a maths test, little will change. Yoshida sees Asuka once again after school and explains to her why he was let go. Before disclosing the truth about her odd power, Asuka soothes him. Yoshida challenges her to submit writing as evidence since he doesn’t believe her. A tower in the middle of the town begins to tremble before she can stop it. This is as a result of a maths test error she made. As soon as they notice the error, the couple dashes to the teacher’s chamber and fixes it, returning the tower to its normal shape. Even the TV experts are unable to explain what led to the building to collapse.
Asuka and Yoshida visit the location of the former shrine on their way home. Yet by this point, it has entirely disappeared. They are unable to look for the name again since they cannot recall it. Asuka must now work hard to learn and correctly answer all the questions if she wants to save the world. She settles down to study that evening, determined to do her best, but after a short while she nods off. The next scene shows Asuka and Yoshida waiting outside the teacher’s room for him to grade the most recent test papers. Asuka receives the predicted full marks, but she hopes she won’t have a major impact on the world.
Her father is ecstatic to see her when she gets home since he just closed the greatest transaction of his career. In the last test, Asuka unintentionally noted that tap water is the most important source of energy. This increased the need for water purifiers, which in turn increased her father’s wealth. After watching her father smile, she briefly experiences panic but decides to maintain the status quo for the time being. During that day, a number of riots are reported to be occurring worldwide over water. Asuka immediately fixes the answer sheet and returns the universe to normal as things spiral out of control. She suddenly has the bright notion to use her influence to end her parents’ divorce.
The name of the astronaut who is about to embark on a lengthy space mission is asked of her in the following test. The following day, she writes down the name of her mother’s boyfriend and sends him into space. He splits up with her mother as a result. After his departure, she begins to concentrate on her family and her husband. The quality of Asuka’s life was perfect. Her twin brother Keisuke is the only person she needs to assist right now. She states in the subsequent exam that her brother would appear and greet everyone good morning. Keisuke doesn’t emerge from his room as she had anticipated since their father enters and coerces him into leaving.
The family fights a lot over this. It is discovered that her mother has been texting other men and that her father has once more been threatened with being fired. Asuka ultimately realises that using the power to solve her problems will only be a temporary solution. She begins genuinely attempting to communicate with her sibling. She sits outside his door every day and studies aloud as he is still a brilliant student. Keisuke is bothered by the faults she makes, but he doesn’t correct her for a few days. Later, she tries skipping a maths problem because it is too challenging one day. For the first time, Keisuke communicates with her and shows her the solution.
Asuka begins studying more diligently as a result of her brother’s advice, even though they only communicate via a closed door. With time, her father begins to study books written for salespeople and puts more effort into his business. Also, her mother purges all of her lover’s phone numbers to prioritise her family. A week later, Asuka completes an exam on her own and receives all A’s. She rushes to Keisuke to tell him the good news, but he still won’t open the door. Asuka and her dad are having breakfast at the table the next morning. Keisuke unexpectedly appears downstairs and welcomes them. In addition, he apologises to his father for giving up and vows to change for the best going forward.
The first test paper is discovered by Asuka and Yoshida one day while they are walking to school. Since she received a score of only five out of one hundred, she had torn it. The entrance to the shrine is suddenly formed when she assembles the pieces. She doesn’t realise that her first response was about a wish-granting shrine called Gachiemo until later. That must have caused the shrine to appear. The couple soon visits the shrine and pleads for the request to be reversed and for everything to return to normal. When nothing changes after they wait for something to happen, they become disappointed. The teacher takes yet another test at school, this one covering global geography and population.
Asuka suddenly recalls that the temple only granted her request as a result of her offering a penny. She will need to return the coin if she wants to grant the desire again. She finishes the test fast and rushes to return it. The coin, though, is secured in a locked container. She almost succeeds in removing it by using a stick. Keisuke and his parents are discussing his future in another location. He is glad that the break is now over and is looking forward to the future. His mother regrets having caused her husband so much stress. The family reconciles its disagreements in a single session.
Asuka’s teacher is simultaneously grading the most recent test as we watch. When he finally gets to Asuka’s paper, she received her normal 100. She unintentionally throws the coin back into the chest at the same time. The coin suddenly casts a brilliant light on her. No one is in front of the shrine a few seconds later. In fact, it appears as though every person in the entire city, nation, and globe had vanished without a trace. Asuka failed to correctly answer the last question on the most recent test, as seen in the last scene. What is the population of the entire planet today? Human existence ends as a result of Asuka leaving it blank.
Here movie ends.
THANK-YOU.
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