{"rewrite":{"id":"r_3a471540a687a733a108c375","clusterId":"c_3b966578419e8aa1e1784d26","slug":"director-yuki-kobayashi-wraps-filming-on-the-sugar-baby","model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"Director Yuki Kobayashi Wraps Filming on 'The Sugar Baby'","summary":"Director Yuki Kobayashi has completed filming on his first feature film in five years, 'The Sugar Baby', set in Kabukicho. The film stars Midori Nagatsuki as a girl who takes money from men and Kojin Serizawa as the man she targets. Kobayashi stated the film is not a direct adaptation of the 'Itadaki Girls Riri-chan' incident.","whyItMatters":"Kobayashi's return to feature filmmaking after five years tackles the real-world social dynamics of Kabukicho through a fictional, allegorical lens rather than a docudrama.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eDirector Yuki Kobayashi has wrapped filming on \u0026#39;The Sugar Baby\u0026#39;, his first feature film in five years. The movie is set in Kabukicho but builds the location from scratch in Yokohama, Gotemba, and Utsunomiya as a symbolic space for modern Japanese desires and loneliness. Kobayashi emphasized the film is not a docudrama of the \u0026#39;Itadaki Girls Riri-chan\u0026#39; incident, though he has been confronting that subject matter for years. He described the film as \u0026#39;a prayer for the loneliness and frustration contained within it.\u0026#39;\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMidori Nagatsuki plays Juri, a girl who lives by taking money from men, and Kojin Serizawa plays Masaru, the middle-aged man whose heart and money she takes. Nagatsuki said she believed only she could play the role. Serizawa recalled feeling guilt reading the script, as if he had read something he should not have. Filming began April 22.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Director Yuki Kobayashi has wrapped filming on 'The Sugar Baby', his first feature in five years. The film stars Midori Nagatsuki and Kojin Serizawa in a story set in Kabukicho that is not a direct adaptation of the 'Itadaki Girls' incident.","twitterPost":"Director Yuki Kobayashi has wrapped filming on 'The Sugar Baby', his first feature in five years. The film stars Midori Nagatsuki and Kojin Serizawa in a Kabukicho-set story that is not a docudrama of the 'Itadaki Girls' incident.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"Director Yuki Kobayashi has wrapped filming on 'The Sugar Baby', his first feature film in five years. The movie stars Midori Nagatsuki as a girl who takes money from men and Kojin Serizawa as her target, set in a symbolic version of Kabukicho. Kobayashi emphasized the film is not a direct adaptation of the 'Itadaki Girls Riri-chan' incident.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Cinema Today\",\"url\":\"https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0155381\",\"title\":\"Director Yuki Kobayashi's First Feature Film in Five Years, 'THE SUGAR BABY', Wraps Filming! Depicting the Reality of Kabukicho\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4286,"outputTokens":683,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1781701562,"createdAt":"2026-06-17T13:01:21.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-06-17T13:04:57.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-17T13:04:57.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_3b966578419e8aa1e1784d26","canonicalTitle":"小林勇貴監督、5年振りの長編復帰作『THE SUGAR BABY』クランクアップ！　歌舞伎町のリアルを描く","representativeArticleId":"a_79bf3191d4cc90c4aa2330a3","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"THE SUGAR BABY\"],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[\"小林勇貴\"],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"other\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-06-17T12:25:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-06-17T12:25:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-17T13:04:57.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Cinema Today","url":"https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0155381","title":"小林勇貴監督、5年振りの長編復帰作『THE SUGAR BABY』クランクアップ！　歌舞伎町のリアルを描く"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["THE SUGAR BABY"],"studios":[],"people":["小林勇貴"],"type":"news","domain":"other","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":["Director Yuki Kobayashi wrapped filming on 'The Sugar Baby', his first feature film in five years.","The film is set in Kabukicho but was built from scratch in Yokohama, Gotemba, and Utsunomiya.","Midori Nagatsuki plays Juri, a girl who lives by taking money from men, and Kojin Serizawa plays Masaru, the man she targets.","Kobayashi said the film is not a direct adaptation of the 'Itadaki Girls Riri-chan' incident.","Filming began April 22."]}