In this blog post, we’ll explore why the consumer culture and evolving friendship between the two girls—as portrayed through the aesthetics of knockoffs and Rococo in ‘Momo-ko, the Rebellious Princess’—resonate so deeply with reality, and examine the significance of its visual direction.

Why I Chose This Film

I watched this film with almost no prior knowledge. While the narrative itself doesn’t stray far from the typical coming-of-age or friendship story, its visual elements—such as framing, scene transitions, and the use of animation—give it a distinct feel compared to other films. Thanks to this direction, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen for a single moment.
The two girls are portrayed as characters with distinct and unique personalities. The process by which these characters with completely different personalities get to know each other and become friends was particularly striking. While the characters and situations themselves may be exaggerated or unrealistic, the authenticity of their inner emotions and communication felt very real, making it easy for anyone to relate.
Personally, I prefer relationships where the dynamic isn’t always strictly equal but rather has its ups and downs, and this film captures those fluctuations very well. For example, the scene toward the end of the film where Momoko goes to rescue Ichiko gives the impression that their roles have briefly been reversed, and this can be interpreted as Momoko taking a step out of her own world.
Another reason is that the characters in the film overlapped with parts of my own teenage years. I chose this film because I liked how the characters learn about intimacy and authenticity through friendship and grow as a result.

The Movie’s Plot

While the residents of Shimotsuma are obsessed with knockoffs and cheap goods, Momoko—who loves to wear flowing dresses—stands out as an outsider. Her parents divorced early on, and Momoko decides to live with her unhappy father rather than her mother. Although she has no friends at school, dresses are the most important thing to Momoko. While she says, “I don’t need friends, a boyfriend, or family,” she dreams of sweet and elegant happiness through her dresses.
However, she has been funding her dress purchases through lies and deception, and a crisis strikes when her father—her sole source of income—loses his job. Deciding to raise money by selling the family’s only asset—a fake Versace (a parody of Versace)—Momoko becomes a saleswoman.
Her first customer, Ichiko, is a character with a wild side: professional-level spitting, sudden headbutts, a commando-style outfit, and the aggressive attitude of a scooter gang member. To Momoko, who prides herself on elegance, Ichiko is an unwelcome intruder, but Ichiko hatches a whimsical plan to find an embroidery artisan so she can embroider a design on her commando-style uniform as a token of gratitude to her boss.
The two, who have become allies by chance, go to a pachinko parlor to raise funds, and in the process, Ichiko even falls for her first love. Although they ultimately fail to find an embroidery artisan, they reaffirm their friendship and grow a little bit together.

Interpretations by Others

Film critic Lee Sang-yong interprets this work as reflecting a “Rococo” spirit of the times. The explanation of the Rococo style, presented through Momoko’s narration early in the film—a style often described as lavish yet frivolous and decadent—is presented as the aesthetic the entire film aspires to. Momoko decorates her life by embracing precisely that playful spirit of Rococo.
Momoko’s outfits resemble the style of the Japanese Lolita brand “Baby the Star Shine Bright,” and the money for those clothes comes from her father’s earnings selling counterfeit T-shirts. Her father, a former delinquent, found success by producing knockoffs of brands like “Ver’che,” and the film depicts a modern social landscape where the genuine and the counterfeit are intertwined.
It is also possible to interpret Rococo not merely as a label describing Momoko’s fashion, but as representing the very nature of modern society, where counterfeits and commercial consumption are intertwined. In a society where the boundary between genuine and fake has become meaningless, people willingly consume and enjoy the things they like. In this context, the setting of Shimotsumara is also significant. Located on the outskirts of Tokyo yet featuring a strong rural landscape, this area presents a quintessential rural atmosphere untouched by urban sensibilities, and within it, modern life—a blend of originals and counterfeits—is portrayed.
In the latter half of the film, the scene where Momoko races on a scooter to save Ichiko, and the scene where the truth behind the legend of the female biker “Himiko” is revealed, can be interpreted as examples of how false myths dominate modern life. The moment Ichiko reveals that Himiko is actually a character from her own novel highlights the core of this work, where the boundaries between false myths and real life are blurred.
Ultimately, Momoko gains recognition as a designer by embroidering Baby the Star Shine Bright’s new collection, but she does not immediately dive into society. This is because, for her, happiness lies in remaining a consumer who simply enjoys life. In this regard, the film can also be read as a sensory primer that embodies the sensibilities and authenticity of the consumer generation.

Narrative Analysis

The core narrative can be summarized in a single line: “Two girls with different personalities become friends after various twists and turns.” Satire on luxury goods and consumer culture, as well as the peer culture of Japanese teenagers, are woven throughout this central narrative.
The explanatory scene about the French Rococo era that appears early in the film is structured like a frame narrative, further defining the film’s worldview. The Rococo narrative functions as both Momoko’s personal aesthetic and a device that sets the tone for the entire film.
The film opens in a striking manner with the scene where Momoko goes to rescue Ichiko. This scene is repeated later in the film; the reason for showing the same scene twice can be interpreted as that moment being the decisive turning point when the two characters “truly” become friends. The repeated scene plays a crucial role in the development of their friendship.
Looking at the details, the early part of the film alternates between shots of Momoko going shopping in Tokyo and scenes of the townspeople. Seen through Momoko’s eyes, the residents are portrayed as people accustomed to the “cheap” culture of buying clothes at large supermarkets. Techniques such as subtitles and still shots are used in these scenes, which appear to reflect the director’s background in commercial filmmaking and his intention to focus on the consumer generation.
In short, the film’s narrative unfolds a variety of contemporary themes—such as consumer culture, the blurring of lines between the real and the fake, and the boundaries between fictional narrative and reality—all within the framework of a simple coming-of-age story about friendship. Repetition, exaggeration, and cartoonish imagination are employed as techniques to reveal the nature of the story, and this approach flows consistently throughout the film.

Visual Devices and Early Scenes

Just as Momoko’s family background is introduced through a TV seen at the station, this film repeatedly employs various framing devices. Rather than relying on lengthy narration to explain the backstory, the director uses these visual devices to convey information at a brisk pace.
Momoko was born as a result of her parents’ unusual encounter and experienced their divorce at a young age. Her mother urges her to come with her, but Momoko declares, “I’m going to live with my unlucky dad,” and asks her mother to “be happy.” While parental divorce typically serves as a source of trauma for the protagonist, this film effortlessly dispels that stereotype.
Young Momoko states that “it’s important for everyone to be happy,” and she even confronts head-on the fears that arise when pursuing happiness. Perhaps this is the core message that the director and the two protagonists wish to convey to the audience.

Momoko and Ichiko’s Encounter and the Gradual Narrowing of the Distance Between Them

To raise money for a dress, Momoko places an ad to sell the counterfeit Versace items piled up in her father’s warehouse. Her connection with Ichiko begins when Ichiko sees the ad and comes to visit. Momoko, who loves baby dresses, and Ichiko, a member of a women’s motorcycle gang—though their personalities are polar opposites—gradually grow closer.
The film also illustrates the physical distance between the two characters through its framing. Shortly after they meet, the threshold (or floor) of the house divides the screen, separating the two, but in the reunion scene on the railroad tracks later in the film, Ichiko crosses the tracks to stand in the same space as Momoko. The narrowing of physical distance on screen parallels the narrowing of their psychological distance.
Around the midpoint, there is an imagined scene in which Momoko interrupts a TV talk show panel. On a program addressing the lack of communication between parents and children, Momoko says, “In the end, people are always alone,” but in reality, she wasn’t someone who didn’t need friends—she was simply lost in her own world. It is highly likely that Momoko, who pretended to be at peace, was actually longing for a close relationship.

The Legendary Embroiderer M.R. and the Meaning of the Journey

Ichiko, who was bullied in the past, wants to express her gratitude to Akami-san from the gang who helped make her stronger. To do so, she decides to have a message embroidered on her combat uniform and sets off on a journey with Momoko to find the legendary embroiderer M.R.
During the journey, Ichiko encounters her first love and faces trials, while Momoko meets the CEO of her favorite baby brand. In the end, the two fail to find the legendary embroiderer, so Momoko—whose hobby is embroidery—embroider the phrase “Thank you, Akami-san” instead.
As revealed later in the film, M.R. does not actually exist. It turns out to be a lie Ichiko made up because she wanted to go on an “adventure.” Although this legendary figure appears to be a MacGuffin in the plot, it ultimately becomes a crucial turning point that strengthens their bond.

Transformation, Becoming Alike, and Life Afterward

After completing their journey, Ichiko decides to leave the gang and is subjected to “discipline” as a consequence. Momoko receives a request from the owner of Baby Dress to return a piece of embroidery, but instead of doing so, she rides her motorcycle to help Ichiko. This scene is repeated exactly as it was in the opening, symbolically showing how Momoko is beginning to resemble her friend in both speech and appearance.
The two girls eventually begin to resemble each other, and though they once seemed like polar opposites in personality, they now appear to share the same coming-of-age journey. After the incident, they became best friends; Momoko decided to graduate from Baby and start working, while Ichiko made her debut as a model. Even so, as they occasionally ride their bikes together, Momoko continues to wrestle with her dilemma between her work and the joy of wearing dresses.
This dilemma can be interpreted as a characteristic of the younger generation in Japanese society. While the older generation viewed dedication to work as a life goal, the younger generation places greater importance on the joys of life and has a strong tendency to express their identity through consumer culture. Momoko’s hesitation reflects this era-specific and generational context.

Interpretation as a Coming-of-Age Film

Let’s interpret this film as part of the coming-of-age genre. Coming-of-age films depict the process by which a young person matures into an adult, but here, maturity is not merely a change in age; it includes the process of internal growth that comes from meeting new people and experiencing life events.
In ‘The Delinquent Princess Momoko’, both Momoko and Ichiko are the subjects of this growth. The two meet, influence each other, and mature together. The growing pains they experience at the ambiguous age of seventeen are the film’s central theme, but rather than overly dramatizing that pain, the film portrays it through fairy-tale-like colors and fantastical elements.
It’s interesting to compare this to other works. While some films by Shunji Iwai depict the cruelty of adolescence in extreme ways, this film stands at the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Momoko’s outfits, the mise-en-scène of her room, and fantastical elements like young Momoko’s flight gently cushion the pain of growing up.
Meanwhile, the violence Ichiko experiences during her first love and her attempt to escape the gang is less physical and more a reflection of the social constraints imposed on seventeen-year-olds. When Momoko said, “I don’t need friends,” it wasn’t a genuine expression of extroverted independence, but rather a defensive stance she adopted to protect herself from the fear of being hurt by intimacy.
Ultimately, both were individuals who longed to connect with others, and they seek each other out to form a network of relationships. Even if they lack concrete plans for the future, they gain the possibility of reconciling their personal worlds with the social realm.