The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star

The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star (or known simply as Road to the Agency Star) is a 2003 English-language Bangladeshi-Japanese musical adventure film starring Nana Mizuki, Usha Khanna, Mamoru Miyano, and Eriko Sato. It was directed by Noriko Matsumiya as her directorial debut, and the story was written by Naoko Takeuchi (the artist who behind the Sailor Moon franchise) and Shakib Panna. This film was based on the 1998 musical novella The Attraction Adventure of Yoko Takashima by Michelle Miyano. This film is also known inside Japan as The Attraction Adventure of Yoko Takashima: Start! Her Performance for the New Star (高島陽子の魅力：スタート！ 新星のパフォーマンス).

Jointly produced by the Bangladeshi Super Talkie International and the Japan Media Group, it was premiered on the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and then finally released generally at Japan in November 28, 2003. It was became a commercially successful film from Super Talkie International with over $150 million gross against the budget of $15.4 million, making the film one of the highest grossing films from Starchild. Critics received the film its positive to mixed reviews, as well as the voice actress and singer Nana Mizuki's miraculous performance and the film's storyline and characters, as well as from her fans, but critized for the visuals. It is considered to be the successor to the 1997 TV series The Adventures of Aya. It received a sequel called Starlight Optimization, released in December 2004 in Japan.

The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004. In 2014, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for listing in its National Film Registry for "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". On late September 2018, the official Nana Mizuki community, S.C. NANA NET, became the current copyright owner for the film, while 20th Century Studios has their rights to the film in the United States.

Synopsis
18-year old Yoko Takashima must become a "agency star" by singing and dancing, along with her partner Emiko Hayashi. Their purpose is to defeat the Parade Raiders whose are trying to kill the hearts of New York.

Plot
''New York City, 7:45 AM. People love to see the famous stars on the Times Square of New York. They liked their performances of the history of music, but they wanted to see the live again. But the one girl who travelled to the USA but she thought that her jewelery and treasure are missing...''

In New York, Yoko Takashima, a 18-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who goes to United States for her vacation with her parents Sultana and Hiroto, arrived for the dance training. However, Yoko thoughts that her jewellery and treasure box she got are in her home. Her parents think that Yoko forgot to pick-up them. To get her new one, Yoko went to the musician center and met its manager Jose Barker about her actions. She begins her dance and sing training to become a newcomer. Her parents think that they will cheer for her.

After she finished, Yoko found that Sultana feels bad about the theater audience. She and Hiroto make sure that Sultana will feel well, and they went to the hotel. Later, another singer called Emiko Hayashi met Yoko Takashima at her room, and says that she lost her treasure and jewellery which she agrees. Her father Hiroto thinks that they will get her first prize if they finished. Yoko Takashima and Emiko Hayashi work together for the first time as YokoEmi, and as before they switch to their school idol uniforms in the theater's changing toom, they should use: a knight one, a magic one, or a idol one. They use idol one, and the announcer says the contest will start in ten minutes. Thus starts their YokoEmi stardom adventure.

The staff at the theater told Yoko and Emiko should not to do something bad, and started singing their first song. Yoko amd Emiko were happy that they got landed on their role of idol singers, and their parents cheered at them for theid debut, calling them "the newest idol duo". Yoko and Emiko said "good night" to each other and told that they will meet each other again, as well as their parents, in late night.

Later on, Parade Raiders, the anti-entertainment organization, are planning about its murder to Yoko Takashima and Emiko Hayashi, whose became idol singers a while ago. They hated them because they don't want people to do a "dance", and said that the Parade Raiders will raid the entire Times Square by shooting all of people's hearts. One member said that they should not shoot people, but to kill the theater's staff.

In the late morning, Yoko wakes up and gets ready for her next training, but her parents warned her about the unknown terrorists are going to raid the Times Square by invading its buildings and steal them. Yoko then called Emiko about its invading, and she gets shocked about them.

As Parade Raiders managed to raid the Times Square, they ruined peolpe's hearts by killing them instead of the theater's staff. And before they kill the police, they stopped the Raiders, by putting the "THIS IS A STRONG CRIME SCENE, DO NOT ENTER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE" banner, and started cleaning its roads and buildings up. The policeman said that everything is going to be okay and cleared out from the attackers short. The Parade Raiders leader Mangla Hamala angered because of the police.

Yoko Takashima's parents saw the breaking news that something went wrong within Manhattan city, and called her and Emiko in honor to stop them. To keep the Parade Raiders out from the city, Yoko and Emiko, after wore their idol outfits along with her friends, must fight against the Parade Raiders, as well as its leader, Mangla Hamala (played by Rajesh Kumar). Yoko and Emiko quickly defeated him with their bats, and the Parade Raiders are abolished for good (by sending them to the jail).

At the end of the movie, Yoko and her parents and friends are looking for the next trip on the ship, as the sun sets. They are saying goodbyes to the people they saved until their next adventure starts...

Cast
The entire cast of characters according to the ending credits of the film:


 * as Yoko Takashima and Misato Miyazaki
 * Usha Khanna as Sultana Takashima, Yoko's mother
 * as Hiroto Takashima, Yoko's father
 * Eriko Sato (credited as Erika Sato) as Emiko Hayashi, Yoko's best friend
 * Mariya Takeuchi as Subaru Kinoshima
 * Inori Ishaque as Haruko Oshima
 * Shakib Khan as Susumu Oshima, Haruko's uncle
 * Inori Minase as Yuko Hayashi, a child star from the theatre
 * Sumar Aka as Vikram Razi, an Indian executive in-charge of the agency
 * Nana Patekar as Jahami Khan
 * Kaori Kumi as Oko Komatsu
 * Crystal Stainton as James Synchell, an young announcer for dancing challenge (voice-over)
 * Jack Matterson as Chuck Johnson
 * Ichika Naegi as Inori Razi, Vikram's daughter
 * Rajesh Kumar as Mangla Hamala, the Parade Raiders' leader
 * Hibiki Miyasaki as Emiko Shednam
 * Hiromi Ito as Nang-Kum Jueng
 * Artonia Olivier as Linna Miyamoto
 * Yuko Oshima (AKB48) as Anna Miyamoto
 * Alice Caseline as Emma Drecker
 * as a man in Yoko Takashima's flashback
 * Lauren Misker as a woman in Yoko Takashima's flashback
 * Yui Ogura as Riko Takashima, Yoko's daughter
 * Kimmy Katkar as Josh Barker, the agency manager

Production
The production development started on December 2001 when Naoko Takeuchi asked the staff members at Starchild to make the movie version of Michelle Miyano's novella The Attraction Adventure of Yoko Takashima. But because this novel was a Bangla-Japanese co-production, she chose the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation staff to make their own.

Announcement
The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star was announced on the 2002 Kyiv International Film Festival, hosted by Robert O'Don and Kitty Carlisle, on late 2002, when Nana Mizuki arrived to Ukraine, and was so happy when her first film Perfect Blue: Conflict (with Yuri Tomoko) was so successful, and she wanted her next one. She moved from Japan to Ukraine for her film announcement. The film was completed in a year later.

Storyline
The Volume 2 of Nana's Magazine had the early stages of The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star where the story is being written as revised version from Michelle Miyano's novella. Michelle said that her novella will be continued to have its spin-offs, after she finished revising it.

Naoko Takeuchi and the Bangladeshi writer Shakib Panna together worked to revise the novella's storyline on late 2002 at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation to make the Japanese adaptation of The Adventures of Aya, but Starchild wanted them to have a big deal for Nana Mizuki. In doing so, the adaptation became The Adventures of Yoko. Nana Mizuki said quote for her magazine:

"I believe that I thought my story is being made by the producers of my film. The Japan Media Group hired me to do my best to my fans, and I was excited for getting my role for Yoko! I throught that my dreams made me so happy that I came here to America! That was fantastic!"

Casting
During early March 2002, the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation wanted an Japanese actress Kokoro Minajima to cast her role as Yoko Takashima, but due to her ongoing conflicts with her film The Genius Eagle, they wanted Nana Mizuki to cast instead. BFDC also wanted Super Talkie International to start their co-production operation with Starchild to join Usha Khanna, Mamoru Miyano, and Eriko Sato to cast their film roles, thus starting their stardom. Also, the casting director Salim Ahmed wanted someone to join the film as their cameo roles' appearance. One year later, Kokoro Minajima died from a accident.

Nana Mizuki's role for Yoko Takashima became her another breakout character behind the Naruto character Hinata Hyuga, ahead the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha character Fate T. Harlaown, ahead Maximum Blue: The Magical Rolling Girl main character Aoi Kimoto/Maximum Blue, and ahead Persona 5 character Ann Takamaki/Panther.

Music & Sounds
A Swedish composer Ericka Johannson (better known as Ericka Holland), who was the music composer for the 2000 Swedish film The Phantom Minder, performed its music for the film. These are released on December 1, 2003 as Road to the Agency Star: Original Soundtrack from the Musical Movie. There are also some songs in the film which were sung by Nana Mizuki and Erika Sato on this soundtrack. Some of its songs were covered in English by Yumi Kawamura, who did some theme songs for Fire Emblem and Persona series.

The film's ending theme is "Koishiteru..." (My Promise in Love...) by Nana Mizuki, who played her lead role for the film. This song is included on her eighth single "still in the groove" and third album DREAM SKiPPER. She even used her song "What cheer?", which also from her album, for the film's final scene (final battle against the Evil Entertainment Overlord). "My Promise in Love..." was also used as the trailer song for the 2019 Friends Forever mini-special The Dylan and Patricia's Eternal Love with King Records and Walt Disney Records. Its sound effects were provided by Noriko Sato (Sunrise Sound Services) and Saeko Inagaki (Boston City Sound Studios).

Home media
The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star saw its first VHS release when Raymond Benelux recorded ilegally at the theater for VHS on 2003 with French voiceover. It made its official release on VHS and DVD on October 6, 2004 by 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment. It was released again in November 27 of the same year, as "Road to the Agency Star: Collector's Edition"

In 2011, it was released again on DVD, as well as Blu-ray Disc, by 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment. However, it was received a horrible restoration (blue-tinting and shaking) from Newport Laboratory Center. It was released again in 2018, but by S.C. NANA NET, as the 2018 release got a outstanding restoration from Raymond Laboratories.

Reception and Reviews
The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star met its generally positive reviews after its intial release on October 27 and was a commercially success.

On December 2003, the film was on top of London International Productions' "Twenty-Five Best Foreign Films of the Year 2003" list. On 2009, Romi Park Productions marked Road to the Agency Star as "its best show in both Japan and Bangladesh". In Laura Bailey's interview on 2014, she said that Road to the Agency Star is her favorite film.

On 2012, Mitsuru Kirijo Productions made its review, reciting the film "how Naoko should made her own film". In this review, a French filmmaker Tara Reybolds (known better as Mitsuru Kirijo) talks about a difference between Yoko's performance and Bangladeshi film songs, and wishes to watch this film again in the future.

Enhanced version
The enhanced and revised version with missing material footage was made in late 2019 as The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star -re:ATTRACTION- by Kohmi Hirose Entertainment and Project Dreamin' Believers in association with Perfect Story Media. This version was directed by Noriko's her younger sister Patricia Matsumiya and produced by Minako Arisato and Kohmi Hirose, but due to an ongoing COVID-19 pandamic at the United States, they released as a direct-to-video and web video instead. It was released on November 27, 2020 as a DVD/Blu-ray Disc by Project Dreamin' Believers in Japan, and Perfect Story Media in the United States.

English redubbing
On February 7, 2023, both Detective Prince Multimedia, Nana Mizuki Office USA, and Atlus U.S.A. announced that a new English dub would be made for this film, with Erika Harlacher voicing the main character instead of Nana Mizuki, as she is not feeling for her come back to voice her, while Yumi Kawamura voicing Emiko Hayashi in redub. The redubbing was done D.Clever Productions, and will be released as a part of 20th anniversary DVD/4K/Blu-ray.

Release in Bangladesh
Due to being co-produced by Super Talkie International and Japan Media Group, The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star was released in Bangladesh by S.S. Productions Limited on December 9, 2003 with Bengali subtitles. This was available only as its 35mm print. Shabana translated its entire texts in the Bengali language for its subtitles, which the Bengali people understand.

Release in United Kingdom
Midnight Film Distributors, one of the British distributors for the foreign films, edited the film to alter the scenes, as well as the music, opening note, and ending credits. They released the film on January 21, 2004, which was Nana Mizuki's 24th birthday, in the United Kingdom.

Awards
Despite being a Bangladeshi-Japanese film, The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star received many nominations and won few awards worldwide. The song from her 2003 album DREAM SKiPPER also received a nomination from the 47th Annual Grammy Awards.

76th Academy Awards

 * Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Bangladesh) - The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star
 * Academy Award for Best Sound Editing - Noriko Sato and Saeko Inagaki

61st Golden Globe Awards

 * Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical - Nana Mizuki

4th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards

 * Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film - The Adventures of Yoko: Road to the Agency Star

47th Annual Grammy Awards

 * Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance - Nana Mizuki - "What cheer?"

2004 MTV Movie Awards

 * MTV Movie Award for Best Action Sequence - The Battle Between YokoEmi and Parade Raiders

61st Golden Globe Awards

 * Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture - Eriko Sato

Media
"Her music is your way to remember the agency star."

- Japanese tagline

"She goes our for her trip for passionate performance!"

- English tagline

Reviews
"The most rhythmic film ever made in the history of Bangladeshi film industry!"

- The Daily Ittefaq, reciting its review for the film

"Marvelous? Rhythmic? Hmmmm... It's not enough to make our epic film, but we know that making our most prolific films are pretty much the same. However, we will try our best to make the next The Adventures of Yoko film..."

- Noriko Matsumiya, reviewing the film

Film
"We are not terrorists... We are the idols!"

- Yoko Takashima

"Let's start our idol time, Yoko!"

- Emiko Hayashi