Hasebe Yu has dreams of becoming a big singing star but she doesn't have any connections, and meanwhile, her mom has been nagging at her to do something with her life - but not showbiz.
At a hopeless audition she meets Nagasawa Nao; afterwards, they hop on Nao's motorcycle and head to a bar called (what else?) Girl's Box. Saito Michi works here as a dancing bartender and in a very pivotal plot point, she slithers around in almost a few inches of clothing.
We find out that the place is run by Akimono Naomi (I think they call her Mama, which is fitting), who hires Yu on the spot to wait tables, but from the outset, clearly Yu is not tough enough to rebuke the shameless advances of the male clientele. She practices her slapping technique on a very willing group of test subjects until she gets it just right.
Nao then takes Yu upstairs where we meet Aiko, who has been slaving away making beef stew.
Hoshii Nanase (Nacchan) storms out with her guitar and says that she'd rather chop her own head off than choke down any more of Aiko's food. This upsets Aiko, who pouts and does some mock karate moves in a fit of defensiveness (and believe me, Aiko fans, this has to be the cutest damn thing that has EVER been filmed).
Yu follows after Nacchan and finds her writing "Dawn is standing on my back" (in the hopes that no one will ever hear it) in some industrial park area. Nacchan expresses that she hates everything and everyone and that the bar should be called "Garbage Box".
Model Saaya Irie plays Mama's estranged daughter who breaks into the bar after hours and breaks a bunch of liquor bottles and glasses. Upon finding the mess, the girls think on their feet and decide to hold BEER DAY instead of their usual fare.
Aiko carries an umbrella in this scene to avoid the abundant amount of beer flying around. Even though everyone else seems to be having a great time being hosed down with beer, Aiko apparently says that she can't even stand the smell. It's pretty evident that Aiko would be the last one in the room to do a keg stand.
Mama (apparently going for a world record in drinking and cigarette-smoking) collapses from having one drink too many and gets herself hospitalized for almost the whole rest of the movie. As most people aren't hospitalized just for blacking out, she apparently has Plot-Advancing-Disease (aka Movie Illness). This causes a slick-lookin' dude to show up at the bar and say, "I've just bought the place and movie-cliché law requires me to turn it into a pachinko parlor."
The girls use this crisitunity to advertise a big show at the bar in an effort to rally community support. When the show doesn't quite live up to the racy ad campaign (the flyer sports a stylized drawing of three naked dancing girls), a couple of guys get upset and start a huge bar brawl. Yu screams at everybody to stop fighting but no one can hear her. She eventually gets a microphone and sings the first verse of "standing on my back" and, as everyone takes notice of Yu's wonderful husky singing voice -- and the happenin' new song -- the fight suddenly stops.
A producer in the crowd raises an eyebrow and has the girls form a group called Kingyo. They need a song to promote themselves, and it turns out that Mama once recorded a song called Lovers High. Saaya somehow gets a copy of the tape and gives it to Nacchan, who gives it to Yu, who plays it for the group, and they are captivated by it.
Saaya admits to her mother that she's given away the Lovers High tape and instead of getting upset, this gives Mama the oomph to reconcile with Saaya and get her lazy self out of the hospital and back to business. Upon her return, she confirms that the bar will indeed be sold and the girls, sullen as ever, decide to hold one last blowout.
Yu's mom shows up and scolds her for working in showbiz. Yu stands up for herself and states that she's found a home at Girl's Box and wouldn't have it any other way.
The last night arrives and everybody shows up for the party, including Yu's mom. In attendance are a couple of suits from the music industry who are hoping to discover a new talent. The curtain comes up for Yu's performance but for a number of reasons she has lost the will to sing. She paraphrases her speech to mom and basically says, "it's gonna suck when this place closes because you've all been so good to me". The crowd, clearly unaware of the impending closure, says "ehh?"
After an extremely long soul-search on Yu's part, everybody finally begs her to sing instead of standing there for the rest of her life. Even 14-year-old Saaya can see that Yu is dead in the water and Nacchan stares at her like she's trying to start Yu on fire just to get some entertainment going. Eventually (finally!) Yu sings the introduction to Lovers High.
Nacchan, having graduated from the acoustic guitar, hits a play button on a sequencer and starts the 'real' version of the song, and Aiko and Nao join her on stage to finish the song.
Then, (SPOILER ALERT) everyone is graphically executed and the bar gets burned to the ground.
Actually, I'll give you three guesses what really happens and the first two don't count. Does the bar actually close its doors forever? Well, everybody smiles until their face hurts (to the point that it even hurts my own face), so I'm guessing that it doesn't.
I've left out a surprising number of details which you'll just have to see for yourself, like: What's up with Yu's little brother? Does Nagasawa get into several hilarious sparring matches with an overzealous fan? Who ends up producing Kingyo, and do they get a record contract?
COMING THIS WEEKEND (I do hope): you've read the plot, so read my review of the Girls Box Movie.