Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (2021) Review

In combat sports like MMA and boxing, making weight is crucial. Entire events are dedicated to weigh-ins to ensure competitors meet their weight requirements. Achieving the right weight takes dedication, careful calorie counting, and maintaining a calorie deficit or surplus. You may wonder what any of this has to do with Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko—a film that’s neither about fighting nor weight gain or loss. Yet in the film’s opening, Nikuko is noted to weigh 67 kg, which is 6 kg more than former UFC fighter and pro-wrestler Ronda Rousey. This detail stands out, as Nikuko’s size is presented much more exaggerated compared to someone like Ronda.

Lady Nikuko is a larger-than-life woman, both in size and personality, struggling to make her way through life as she’s repeatedly scammed by untrustworthy men. She and her 11-year-old daughter, Kikuko, have moved from town to town and now live on a boat in a seaside village. Kikuko often feels embarrassed by her mother; she even associates food with her, worrying about getting bigger herself. However, over the course of the film, the two begin to learn more about each other and grow to understand one another on a deeper level.

I hesitate to make declarations about a film, but Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko comes across as fatphobic. It feels like it was made by filmmakers who have little understanding or empathy for larger individuals. As a larger person myself, I’ve experienced hurtful jokes that stick with me to this day—like when people would shout “Run, Fatboy, Run” at me, thinking it was funny to quote a movie title as an insult. So when the filmmakers compare Nikuko to Totoro, it feels offensive. Many other jokes in the film exist solely to degrade Nikuko, such as the exaggerated way she eats French toast.

This pattern continues for much of the film’s runtime, which is disappointing because Nikuko is portrayed as a mother who has done everything she can to give her daughter, Kikuko, a normal life, despite their unusual circumstances. Nikuko should be the film’s main character, but instead, she’s secondary to her daughter, Kikuko, who initially comes across as ungrateful and is only moved to understand her mother after other characters tell her how she “should” feel. Many of Kikuko’s frustrations seem to come from her inability to take responsibility; she blames others for enabling negative behaviours. It’s also hard to connect with a character who only sees her mother as an embarrassing figure due to her size.

Studio 4°C animated Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, and the animation is the film’s strongest asset—it truly is gorgeous. There are several scenes showing detailed shots of people cutting and preparing meat, then grilling it for dinner. These scenes are visually stunning, even making the food look tantalizingly delicious. While some of Nikuko’s movements are exaggerated to the point of discomfort, the animators have succeeded in making her body language feel genuine and lifelike.

Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko isn’t a terrible film, but it is off-putting. Its fatphobic elements make it difficult to feel invested in the story, as it’s hard to connect with a character who is embarrassed by her mother for her size or with a mother who, at 67 kg, is portrayed as though she moves like a seal.