Crystal Kay to star in the film Hakken to Kokken no Ma ni

Crystal Kay is in her barely used acting bag, as she is set to star in the film Hakken to Kokken no Ma ni, which translates as ‘Between the Black and White Keys’. She plays a jazz singer, so this is hardly a stretch for her. But at least it’s a role in something. Crystal being Black, fluent in Japanese and able to sing is why she got this role. It’s probably the same reason she got to role of the Leading Player in Pippin. I’m not mad at it. I think Crystal and her team would be silly to not capitalise on these niche roles that only she and very few others in Japan could play. But Crystal’s team needs to do more to get Crystal roles where her being Black and able to speak English aren’t casting factors. I’m not even gonna add ‘sing’, because the way Japan don’t care about sing-

Lemme not.

For how frequently Crystal has been doing acting workshops and self tapes for the past few years to get this acting thing off the ground, she has so few acting credits to her name. Only very recently did we see her get a voice acting gig in the mobile game Wild Hearts. And prior to this there were odd roles here and there. But why is she yet to have a prominent role in a J-drama? And how in the hell is she not voicing Ariel in the Japanese version of The Little Mermaid!? *RuPaul’s Drag Race style jump cut of me saying ‘Crystal’s team needs to do more to get Crystal roles where her being Black and able to speak English aren’t casting factors’* A Black Ariel, voiced by a Black and Japanese singer would have been amazing. And Disney coulda done some cool stuff by having Halle and Crystal meet during the press tour, which could have spun off into a music collaboration down the line.

Gurl. Fire the whole management and marketing team.

It is nice to see a follow through from one project to the next. Crystal Kay’s Start Again EP was very jazz driven. So for her to feature in a film and sing jazz is a good connecting of dots – even if this film is months out and will not release until October. And the Start Again EP had zero marketing behind it, so I doubt anybody other than us knew she even put the damn thing out. But still. Microscopic victories.

I’m keen to see how the film does and is received, because jazz has long had an incredibly strong and consistent presence in Japanese music. So I do wonder if audiences will be receptive to Hakken to Kokken no Ma ni’s focus on it. The prominence of jazz in Japanese music and how it happened is something which has long fascinated me.

It would absolutely make sense that this film would also have a soundtrack which features songs from Crystal Kay – but watch this not be the case. And watch there be no other projects from Crystal released around October when Hakken to Kokken no Ma ni premieres, when it would be the PERFECT time for her to put out either a follow up to I Sing a follow-up to Shining.

Hakken to Kokken no Ma ni doesn’t have this insanely popular cast, which I think it perhaps should have. But it does star Sosuke Ikematsu in the leading role. Crystal Kay may have few acting credits to her name, but Sosuke’s credits are stacked. His first ever role was in The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise at the age of 13, and he has stayed working consistently since. Two of his most recent projects are the ever popular Crayon Shin-chan and the Shin Kamen Rider film, which went a lil’ viral earlier this year. So hopefully Sosuke will draw some audiences.

Hakken to Kokken no Ma ni releases in Japan on October 6, 2023.