For the sake of ease, please use the following form to provide the information:
- Code: Select all
[b]Novel Name (in original language)[/b]:
[b]Novel Name (in English)[/b]:
[b]Author[/b]:
[b]Language First Published In[/b]:
[b]Year First Published[/b]:
[b]Brief Plot Summary[/b]:
[b]Copies Sold[/b]:
[b]Has the Novel Been Adapted to Other Media?[/b]:
[b]Other Information[/b]:
Novel Name (in original language): 15歳で (15-sai de)
Novel Name (in English): When We Were 15 (official English title), At the Age of 15 (direct translation of Japanese title)
Author: Takashi Morita
Language First Published In: Japanese
Year First Published: 1937
Brief Plot Summary: The novel focuses on Miyako Honda and Yuriko Sakaguchi, two 15 year olds attending an unnamed all-girls boarding school. As the two find themselves growing closer romantically, they also find themselves surrounded by people who do not want them to be themselves. The rumours and threats by both their fellow classmates and teachers eventually lead to one of them making a decision that she will never be able to undo.
Copies Sold: Est. 13 million
Has the Novel Been Adapted to Other Media?: Yes, When We Were 15 has been adapted several times. Unless stated otherwise, all adaptions use the same title as the novel:
- 1967: The novel was first adapted in 1967 as a Japanese-language film starring Risa Kuramochi and Haruka Uesugi as Miyako and Yuriko. This adaption is widely considered the most accurate to the original novel.
- 1980: An English-language film adaption was released in 1980 starring Kagami Toyoda and Saki Anami as Miyako and Yuriko.
- 1988: The novel was used as the basis for the Japanese-language television drama The Love Between Us, which aired for 24 episodes on RTV (now National Network) in 1988 and starred singer Eri Kanagaki as Miyako and Reiko Enoki as Yuriko
- 1996: A second Japanese-language film adaption was released in 1996 starring Miya Matsushima and Yukiko Kamio as Miyako and Yuriko.
- 2008: An English-language remake of The Love Between Us aired for 24 episodes on National Network in honour of the 20th anniversary of the original drama and starred Sakiko Uchida and Ayame Yamana as Miyako and Yuriko.
- 2020: A second English-language film adaption was released in 2020 starring Kayoko Torii and Naru Han as Miyako and Yuriko.
Other Information: When We Were 15 is the only novel by Takashi Morita to be first published in Japanese, all other works by him were first published in English. Morita desired to avoid any controversy over the novel's themes by making it available in a language that, at the time, was only spoken by 22% of the population. He would later translate the novel into English, publishing it in 1960. The novel would eventually be published in Gandoor's third official language, Russian, in 1988, four years after Morita passed away at the age of 91.