Live Action Adaptation

**Spoiler warning!**

This page contains major spoilers for the My Boy in Blue film adaptation. Read at your own discretion!

## Details

### Genres

Drama
 Romance
 Comedy

### Distributors

Shochiku (Theatrical release, Japan)
 Shochiku International Sales & Licensing (World-wide release)

### Production Companies

J Storm
 Kinoshita Group
 Kôdansha
 Nippon Television Network (NTV)
 STVradio Broadcasting
 Sapporo Television Broadcasting Company
 Shochiku
 The Fool
 Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV)

## Staff

### Writers

Maki Miyoshi (source material)
 Nami Yoshikawa

### Producers

Shingo Sekine
 Takeshi Udaka
 Satoko Ishida
 Naoaki Kitajima

## Additional Information

### Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$7,278,360

The live action adaptation of *My Boy in Blue* (PとJK, *P to JK*, known in the west as *Policeman and Me*), was released in 2017. It features Tao Tsuchiya and Kazuya Kamenashi in the main roles as Kako Motoya and Kota Sagano, and Mahiro Takasugi (as Heisuke Okami), Tina Tamashiro (as Mikado Yaguchi) and Daigo Nishihita (as Jiro Nagakura) in supporting roles. The film has been available for streaming on Japanese *Netflix*.

## Plot

The unconventional couple, Kako Motoya, a high school student, and Kota Sagano, a police officer, meet at a singles' mixer inteded for adults, after Kako and her best friend Mikado Yaguchi sneak in, pretending to be 22-year-old college students. Kako and Kota are quick to notice how easily they get along with each other, but their blooming romance seemingly gets halted once Kota finds out about Kako's real age. This does not bother him for long though, as after Kako saves him from getting hit with a skateboard by one of the local delinquents, Heisuke Okami, Kota ends up proposing to Kako seemingly on a whim, as this allows the two to keep seeing each other without getting into trouble.

After some time, Kako's parents give their concent to the marriage, and Kako and Kota's shared life can start. However, it does not take long before Kota's workaholism starts to cause small troubles for the pair.

At school, Kako is happy to inform Mikado about her marriage, and the two, alongside their dear friend Jiro Nagakura, spend their days relatively carefree, until Heisuke returns to school. Being protective of Kako, Mikado and Jiro are quick to start avoiding Heisuke, but Kako is left somewhat curious about the boy who accidentally hit her.

Whilst she is visting the police box where Kota works, one of Kota's co-workers, Shuichi Yamamoto, shows Kako an old photo of Kota, which she proceeds to put as her phone wallpaper. He also tells Kako about the death of Kota's father.
 When Kako then goes out grocery shopping, she runs into someone dressed as a teddy bear handing out tissues. This person ends up being Heisuke, who apologizes to Kako for hitting her. The two end up becoming friends with one another, which worries Kota, who does not want Kako to interact with Heisuke. The two bicker about it, but are quick to set aside their differences.

At school, Kako has managed to influence her friends into accepting Heisuke into the group, and he starts having more and more fun with them. However, he also feels it necessary to drop out in order to support his mother, as she is having financial problems and being blackmailed by her alcoholic boyfriend, who abuses Heisuke. Kota catches wind of this, but is unable to do anything about it, as Heisuke claims there is nothing wrong. It is not until later, when Heisuke's neighbours make noise complaints, that Kota and his co-worker, Fumi Komori, manage to gather up enough proof of misconduct to be able to take Heisuke's abuser into questioning. Later that same day, Heisuke is also visited by his worried friends, who help him clean up the apartment that had been made a mess.

At some point, Kako accidentally drops her phone, revealing her wallpaper image to Heisuke. However, he does not realize that it is a picture of Kota, instead assuming that it is someone else, as the person in the photo is clearly their age. Later on, when Kota comes to visit Kako at the school festival, Heisuke notices that Kako's boyfriend in her wallpaper looks an awful lot like Kota. Once he finds out that Kota has no younger relatives, he is forced to believe that Kako's boyfriend and Kota are in fact the same person.

Throughout the movie, Kako and Kota are shown bickering with one another about Kota only focusing on his job and not living in the moment. This all escalates during the school festival, as Kako gets kidnapped by Heisuke's former gang. Whilst saving Kako, Kota ends up getting stabbed, which shocks Kako to the point that she proceeds to break off the marriage, blaming herself for getting him hurt despite knowing that Kota does not treasure himself enough and would sacrifice himself for her. The time the pair spend apart makes them reflect on their previous behaviour, and so, at the end of the film, the two are reunited and rekindle their marriage.

## Adaptation Details

The movie adapts bits from arcs 1-2, which are included in volumes 1-4. Moreover, the film had an alternative ending, as the manga was not finished at the time of the production of the film (or its release).
 The chapters that have been adapted (at least partially) are (volume 1;) Case. 1, Case. 2, Case. 3, Case. 4, (volume 2;) Case. 5, Case. 7, (volume 3;) Case. 8, Case. 9, Case. 11, (Volume 4;) Case. 12, Case. 13, and Case. 14. Big portions of these chapters have been left out or moved to a different place in the story to better fit the narrative of the film.

## Adaptation Differences

There are multiple differences between the adaptation and the original manga. The following is a list of these things:

* Most of Kako and Kota's interactions from volume 1 have been left out, or take place after the proposal. This means that their marriage feels even more rushed than it does in the original work, as the film only takes a bit over 16 minutes before Kota already proposes for the first time.
* The conflict of the film (Kota always acting like a police officer) does not exist in the original manga. Instead, it is actually a running gag within the series that the police officers are like completely different people on-duty versus off-duty.
	+ Relating to this, Kota's schedule is never an issue for Kako in the original manga, however, in the movie, she is troubled over how busy Kota always is. As a matter of fact, in the manga it is Kota who takes more issue over not being able to spend much time with Kako. She, however, explains to him that she was perfectly aware that things were going to be this way when she agreed to marry him.
* Kako, Mikado and Jiro seem to be equally as close to one another in the film adaptation. Whether or not Mikado and Jiro are childhood friends is never revealed, however, Jiro and Kako are clearly closer friends than they are in the manga.
* In the live action, it is officer Yamamoto who shows Kako the picture of teenaged Kota, not Kaoru.
	+ Similarly, it is also he who first mentions the death of Kota's father, not Fumi. He then also proceeds to tell Kako about it, instead of Kota.
* Unlike in the manga, Kota never saves Heisuke from Akari's abusive boyfriend. Instead, this issue gets solved off-screen.
	+ That being said, he and Fumi go visit Heisuke after getting noise complaints from neighbours, and they take the man into questioning.
* Heisuke never confesses his feelings for Kako. He does, however, hug her, perhaps implying some sort of romantic interest in her.
* Jiro's bunny suit has been changed into a teddy bear suit.
	+ It is also no longer Jiro's suit, as in the live action it is Heisuke's part-time job uniform.
* In the film it is Kota who lives alone in the Sagano residence, not Kaoru. Because of this it can be assumed that unlike in the manga, where Kota had moved to Oto from another city, in the film, Oto has been Kota's homecity since childhood.
* Kako and Kaoru never meet in the live action film. As a matter of fact, Kaoru is only shown in a flashback sequence at the end of the film.
* Kaoru's fiancé, who remained unnamed in the manga, is called James in the film. Whether or not he is French is unclear.
* Kako's parents have names in the live action film as well- they are called Seiichi and Yoko Motoya.
* Unlike in the manga, where Jiro not knowing about Kako and Kota's relationship is a running gag that holds out all the way to the last chapter, in the film adaptation, Jiro might actually know about Kako and Kota, as evidenced by his reaction to her going back to see Kota at the end of the film.
* Like mentioned before, the ending of the film is different from how the second arc of the manga ended.

## Characters

More information on the characters can be found here.

### Main Characters

The main characters of Policeman and Me are Kako Motoya and Kota Sagano.

### Side Characters

The side characters of Policeman and Me are Heisuke Okami, Mikado Yaguchi and Jiro Nagakura. Other side characters of importance are Kako's parents, named Yoko and Suiichi Motoya in the film, and officers Fumi Komori and Shuichi Yamamoto.

### Background Characters

The background characters of Policeman and Me are Akari Okami, her boyfriend, Kaoru Sagano, Lt. Junta Sagano, Mikado's sister and the group of delinquents that Heisuke is involved with.

## Gallery

* Policeman and Me DVD Box Cover
* Policeman and Me Poster
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