In “Maiko Haaan!!!” self confessed Otaku, Kimihiko Onizuka, holds a life long obsession with the Geisha. He runs a Geisha fansite in his free time, when he’s not busy working for the Suzuya Ramen Company. He even dates co-worker, Fujiko Osawa (Kou Shibaski), because he believes she is from Kyoto, the epicenter of Geisha culture. Onizuka’s life takes a quick upturn when the Suzuya Ramen Co. transfers him to their Kyoto branch. Onizuka believes he can finally frequent the tea houses in Kyoto, where the Geisha work their particular form of art and entertainment.

Once in Kyoto, Onizuka is in for a rude awakening of sorts. When he tries to enter one of the tea houses, he learns that newcomers are not admitted into their establishments. His exuberance has now turned into despair. But, things quickly look up again for Onizuka when he spots a picture of familiar man walking into a famous Kyoto tea house. That man is none other than the President of Suzuya Ramen, Suzuki Taikai.

Kimihiko Onizuka works his magic to butter up to the company president and attempts to use him to gain entrance into the exclusive Kyoto teahouses. Unfortunately for Kimihiko Onizuka, the President of Suzuya Ramen tells him in no uncertain terms that the only way he would vouch for him at the tea house is if he can make the company lots of money. Thus, begins Kimihiko Onizuka’s quest to increase the fortunes of Suzuya Ramen and gain entrance into the exclusive world of the Kyoto teahouses.

Visually, if you like the bright pop art looks found in Tetsuya Nakashima’s films (Kamikaze Girls / Memories of Matsuko) or the bright gloss of Mika Ninagawa’s Sakuran, than you will likely find yourself happily immersed in the world of “Maiko Haaan!!!” Not only does the film feature ultra bright colors, but there’s also a tasteful amount CGI graphics used in the film. My favorite would be the 3-D kanji characters that rotated above Kimihiko Onizuka, while he was chatting on a instant messaging program with his apple laptop.

The movie certainly thrives while embellishing on its own eccentricities, throwing at you unexpected Broadway like musical sequences, shamisen accompanied Geisha dances, ramen making skits, CGI enhanced baseball moments, and that seriously wacky sense of humor. Credit for this can go to writer/actor Kankuro Kudo who wrote the script for “Maiko Haaan!!!” But, everything is not perfect in “Maiko Haaan!!!” land.

Somewhere during the movie’s halfway point, a geisha that Kimihiko Onizuka wanted to marry, Komako (Saori Koide), revealed her insecurities to Onizuka and the fact that she never ventured outside of the secluded world of the Geisha. This could have led to more hilarious and even touching moments with Onizuka introducing Komako to the modern world of Japan, but sadly that’s not the direction the movie went.

Instead, the movie revealed a tangled love story, involving four characters, two of whom may or may not hold blood ties. With the advent of this new angle, the movie started to drag as the storyline became more somber. The wackiness from the first half was downplayed in favor of a more familiar (i.e. bland) love story. Accompanying this shift, the soundtrack’s upbeat jazz score shifted to a more mellow and sparse sound. Boo.

While, “Maiko Haaan!!!” is a quirky Japanese film that will have you laughing out loud (if you like Otaku flavored humor), the movie’s second half turned out to be less compelling and even a bit a drag. Because of this shift in tone, the movie’s runtime seemed longer than its actual 120 minutes. With that stated, if you crave an off-beat comedy or have a general interest in Japanese pop-culture you should check out “Maiko Haaan!!!” There’s lots of fun to be had, just a little bit less than what the the opening portions of the film leads you to believe. (Even the quintessential Otaku, Takayuki Yamada aka Train Man, appears for a brief cameo running through the streets of Kyoto looking for his classmates).