Gender-bending comedy certainly exists in Japanese films, though it may not be mainstream. In Yosuke Fujita's "Fuku-chan of FukuFuku Flats" ("Fukufukuso no Fukuchan," 2014), popular female TV comedian Miyuki Oshima starred as a male house painter who becomes allergic to the opposite sex after being jilted by the girl of his dreams. She played the hero, quite convincingly, as a shy, ordinary guy.

Based on a novel by Maiko Seo, Masahide Ichii's "Our Meal for Tomorrow" is another offbeat romantic drama that also audaciously bends gender roles, but in the personalities of its two principals, not in its casting. (The English title that makes it sound like a foodie movie is a direct translation from the Japanese.)

This is more unusual in local romantic dramas than a woman in painter's overalls or a guy in a dress. Typically the male object of the heroine's affection ticks most or all of the boxes for stereotypical otokorashisa (manliness). Not so with Ryota Hayama (Yuto Nakajima), who may be a hot-looking high school student (Nakajima is a member of the popular boy band Hey! Say! Jump), but is a brooding, sensitive loner as the film begins. Then a girl in his class, Koharu Uemura (Yuko Araki), matter-of-factly asks him to partner with her in a girl-boy sack race for the upcoming sports day. He is the only guy left, it seems. Forced into comically close proximity by their race prep, Hayama and Uemura (who never call each other by their first names), become confidants and more.