The live-action movie adaptation of Fukakouryoku no I LOVE YOU has revealed its two leads and locked in its Japanese release date. The film's official website and official X account launched alongside a teaser visual featuring the pair who will bring Mizuki Hoshino's hit shojo romance to the big screen.
Kota Nomura stars as Saku Wataya, the ace of the basketball team. Juri Kosaka co-stars as Sena Kodama, the peace-loving heroine who has carried a one-sided crush on Saku since middle school. The two headline the film as its lead couple, and both shared comments on the casting through the film's official account.
The movie is directed by Yuka Yasukawa, who also handled the 2025 live-action adaptation of My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999. The screenplay comes from Haruka Okita, whose credits include And Yet, You Are So Sweet and Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, two other shojo manga adaptations. It is a creative team built entirely out of filmmakers with recent shojo adaptation experience, which signals the production is aiming squarely at the manga's existing readership rather than reworking the story for a general audience.
The announcement arrived with the launch of the film's official website and official X account, which debuted a teaser visual built around the two leads in character. Margaret has been one of Shueisha's flagship shojo magazines for decades, and Fukakouryoku no I LOVE YOU has become one of its current standard-bearers — the kind of serialization numbers that make a live-action adaptation a question of when, not if.
What is Fukakouryoku no I LOVE YOU about?
Fukakouryoku no I LOVE YOU is based on the romance shojo manga by Mizuki Hoshino, which has been serialized in Shueisha's Margaret magazine since August 2023. Nine collected volumes have been released so far, with more than 1.8 million copies in print. The title is also rendered in English as "Unavoidable I Love You," a nod to the force-of-nature pull between its two leads.
The story revolves around the secret relationship between Saku Wataya and Sena Kodama. Sena, who had an unrequited crush on Saku since middle school, finally confesses her feelings to him in order to put an end to her hopeless love once and for all. Instead of the rejection she braced for, Saku answers with an unexpected proposal: "Want to try dating on a trial basis?" Once they start dating, however, the cool basketball ace turns into a possessive, overly intense boyfriend — and keeping the relationship secret gets harder by the day. The film's official account is leaning into exactly that angle, teasing a romance with an overly affectionate boyfriend that is equal parts sweet and hard to look away from.
The Fukakouryoku no I LOVE YOU live-action movie opens in theaters in Japan on March 5, 2027.
Sources: official website of Fukakouryoku no I LOVE YOU and official X account of Fukakouryoku no I LOVE YOU
