Casts & Crew
Also Directed by Natsuki Seta
Prior to her breaking role in The World of Kanako (2014) and even before she appeared in the Tadaima short film (2013), Nana Komatsu had a first film experience with Shabondama, directed by Seta Natsuki. This short film (runtime is 6’46”) was part of a 18-piece ensemble called Nihon no uta, a compilation of Japanese nursery rhymes and kids songs illustrated by a wide range of directors. The Nihon no uta DVD originally released in November 2010
Based on four early novellas by Noble Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata, this omnibus of four short films are by emerging directors from the second graduating class of the new Graduate School of Film and New Media at Japan’s top art school, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Tokyo Geidai), where famed directors Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi Kurosawa teach.
Upon reaching the train station to death, a dejected soul is informed that he is "lucky" and will have another chance at life. He is placed in the body of a 14-year-old boy named Makoto Kobayashi, who has just committed suicide.
Jun is a university student. She meets high school student Haru. To Jun, Haru looks just like Sachiko who was the girlfriend of her now deceased father. Jun and Haru meet Tokio. Tokio is the grandson of Sachiko and they learn that Sachiko is now deceased. They find an open-reel tape from Sachiko's articles.
In a small rural town, a brother and sister goes missing and there's also a serial killer case involving woman as the victims. Mayu Misono (Aya Omasa) is a sophomore high school student in the town. She is called "Ma-chang". When Mayu Misono was young, she was also kidnapped and locked up. Since that time she has been traumatized and has become indifferent to everything around her. One day, in front Mayu's mansion, her childhood friend Mii-kun (Shota Sometani), who was kidnapped with Mayu, suddenly appears. Ma-chang hugs Mii-kun. Up until now, she has waited for Mii-kun. Mayu has lived in the mansion alone, until a week ago, when she kidnapped two elementary school aged kids and has kept them locked in her mansion. To hide Mayu's crime, the four of them will live together in the mansion. The truth of what happened 10 years ago becomes slowly revealed. The reason Mi-kun tries to protect Mayu, even puts his life at risk, all connects to an unexpected real criminal.
Yoshinaga, a real-estate agent, has a young female customer one day. She asks him to take her to the apartment where she used to live. When he plays a videotape left in that cavant room which shows some signs of its ex-resident, Yoshinaga gets lost in another fantastic world. After a while, Yoshinaga and the girl come back to their respective daily lives... A pop, colorful, yet at times a heartaching road movie, which leads to elsewhere.
