Hikaru Ijūin

Haruo Izawa is 45 years old and the floor chief of the local grocery store “Umeya”. He is highly trusted by Store Manager Ueda and the part-time ladies and the Ohara branch is the only place where he has been working for 25 years. Although he says that he doesn’t fit to be a store manager, he is still concerned about HR and career advancement. That’s why Ueda’s praise "command center" is his only treasure. Besides, he is also a husband of his wife Ritsuko, and a father of two daughters and a son, Koume, Kanako, and Ryota at home. Humor and pathos are said to be only a fine line, but Haruo’s fruitless actions of paying attention to the human relationships and atmosphere and overthinking never stop.. Where is this middle-aged man’s turmoil going??

To protect his family from a mysterious being, a man joins forces with a journalist and an exorcist —but they come to learn what they are dealing with is beyond their imagination.

In this made-in-Japan drama/comedy/gangster movie from director Juzo Itami a star actress, Biwako (played by Nobuko Miyamoto), is the sole witness to a grizzly murder. The cops persuade Biwako to play the bait to catch the killers. Two veteran detectives are assigned to protect her at all times, and as the film progresses the guardians have no choice but to deal with the overly dramatic, hilarious, and sometimes harrowing ups-and-downs of Biwako's life. Beautifully shot and dynamically structured in a way that only the Japanese are capable of, Marutai reminds us that sometimes the most loyal friendships are formed under the darkest circumstances.

Goro's supermarket is not doing well; the rival "Bargains Galore" threatens his business. A chance encounter with Hanako, an energetic woman he knew in grade school, results in big retail and life changes.