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Kirai Kirai Kirai
Movie

Kirai Kirai Kirai

1960 • Unknown

Woke Score
1
out of 10

Plot

Overall Series Review

Kirai Kirai Kirai (1960) is a Japanese comedy, often categorized as a 'salaryman slapstick comedy,' focusing on a traditional business and family dynamic. The plot follows the president of a large parent company who attempts to reform his prodigal son by forcing him into a low-level job within one of his six subsidiary companies. The central conflict is a generational and character-driven battle for merit and respect within a large, hierarchical corporate structure. The narrative's focus is on the male protagonist's transformation from a 'playboy' to a responsible individual through labor and familial expectation. The film's 1960s Japanese setting and genre strongly orient it around normative social and business structures of the time. The themes are strictly secular—family succession, corporate loyalty, and personal responsibility—and contain none of the core political or social ideological lenses that define the modern 'woke' framework. The film's conflict is purely traditional and universal: a father trying to instill character and work ethic in a wayward son.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

Characters are judged entirely by their merit, or lack of merit, specifically the prodigal son’s failure to live up to a professional standard. The casting is entirely authentic to the film’s Japanese setting. No themes of intersectional hierarchy, racial antagonism, or vilification based on immutable characteristics are present.

Oikophobia1/10

The film’s genre is a comedy that satirizes the Japanese corporate environment but does not fundamentally demonize the nation, its history, or its core institutions. The story relies on the structure of the family and the company as the necessary framework for the protagonist’s character development. The core theme is the preservation of institutional and familial legacy.

Feminism1/10

The male protagonist’s journey to responsibility and professionalism is the central narrative focus. The women in the film occupy traditional 1960s Japanese social roles as supportive figures or love interests, reflecting a complementary dynamic. The narrative contains no elements of the 'Girl Boss' trope, emasculation of men, or anti-natalist messaging. Masculinity is protective and necessary for corporate succession.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative adheres to a normative structure, centering on the male-female dynamics inherent in the corporate and familial setting. There is a complete absence of alternative sexual ideologies, deconstruction of the nuclear family structure, or exploration of gender theory. Sexuality is private and traditional.

Anti-Theism1/10

The film is a secular comedy focused on business and family life. Religion is not a factor in the plot or character motivation. The moral framework is one of practical responsibility, business ethics, and familial duty, acknowledging a higher moral law in the form of honor and duty, not subjective 'power dynamics.' There is no hostility toward or focus on religion.