...

All About Lily Chou-Chou|

by Puvanamanjari Manoharan
Who Is Lily Chou-Chou?
Lily Chou-Chou is a fictional musical
artist created by Shunji Iwai for his
2001 film “All About Lily Chou-Chou”

The film follows two middle students

Yūichi Hasumi and Shūsuke Hoshino,
and the progression of their
relationship throughout middle
school. The film shows us how the
main characters grow as they face
problems in their family and endure a
hostile high school environment. In
the film, Lily Chou-Chou is shown to
be a popular musical artist with a
cult-like following, and throughout
the film, we are shown how the
characters in the film find solace in
her music and the other effects it
has on them.

I
In the film, Yuichi creates
and runs a fansite and
online chatroom dedicated to
Lily Chou-Chou called
“Lilyholic”. On this
chatroom, he would post
under the name Philia. The
online chatroom and the
messages between the users
are integral plot points
throughout the film.

Yuichi’s love for Lily Chou-

Chou and the comfort he
receives from her music,
depicts the ability of music
to save and give meaning to
the lives of youth,
especially those who
experience various types of
pain in their lives.
Bringing Lily Chou-Chou to life
The script for the film The soundtrack for the film gives birth to the
“All About Lily Chou- character Lily Chou Chou, through the film’s
Chou” was adapted from soundtrack album “Kokyu” featuring nine tracks.
an online novel written Lily Chou-Chou was created by Shunji Iwai with the
by the director Shunji help of producer Takeshi Kobayashi (who has
Iwai in a real-life previously worked on one of Iwai’s films) and
version of the chatroom
singer Ayako Mori (years before she debuted as an
“Lilyholic”, which went
live one year prior to artist under the name Salyu).
the release of the film. The songs that are used for the
In the chatroom, Shunji film are supposed to be the
plays out the story of
songs in the album which Lily
the entire film through
releases in the film. Although
chat messages between
two users, Philia and Lily is not really a character
Blue Cat. Readers of the in the film using music that
online novel were also seems like it is made by Lily
able to interact with herself makes it seem like she
the messages sent by the exits, blurring the lines of
characters. The online reality.
chatroom can still be
accessed to this very
day and allows users to
interact with the chat.
Questions
1. If you were a regular user on Lilyholic what would your username be?
2. What do you think of Lily Chou-Chou's music?
3. Do you have any questions about the presentation?
...Thank you|