Sairi Ito
Twenty-five-year-old Momo has friends. Her parents live some distance away, but they sometimes get together to dine out. She dates an acceptable guy, and they share drinks at home. She apologizes to unreasonable clients over the phone at work and hones her ability to keep things civil with coworkers at drinks after work. This perfectly ordinary life means Momo doesn't immediately notice a nagging feeling: "I want to die." For her, it's a phrase she must never say aloud. One summer, unable to bear the thought of the coming Monday, Momo takes a day off from work. She begins to visit other people who struggle with thoughts of suicide, but have discovered alternatives and choose to live instead. She connects with these "Papagenos" through social media. Over the course of her difficult journey, Momo herself begins to discover other choices beyond death.
A man is on the run in Tokyo. People sometimes see him wandering the streets at night holding a mysterious basket. But those unfortunate enough to peek inside, end up X-rayed into a smoldering pile of bones… A couple of days earlier, a UFO allegedly crashes in the outskirts of the city and the FBI have reason to believe the man is actually carrying with him a dangerous alien species that immediately needs to be taken to the US, cause… well, didn’t you see MEN IN BLACK? Aliens are America’s mojo! The thing is, they’re not too Tokyo-savvy and they need someone that knows the city inside-out. Enter Mariko, half-time merry bartender, half-time badass detective. It’s a little bit outside of her ballpark – usually pretty light on extraterrestrial investigations – but she accepts. Beats listening to the mishappenings of her colorful clientele of punk-rockers, gigolos, down-on-their-luck ninjas and ‘the Lethal Twins’, two middle-aged ladies who used to be professional killers.
Satoru Matsudo moves to Tokyo in hopes of becoming an actor. He has trouble breaking into the industry, but his luck begins to change when he finds an airplane ticket belonging to a talent agency CEO. Time passes, and Satoru makes a name for himself as an actor. He gets a call from America. Hoping it is a Hollywood offer, he instead hears about his estranged older brother.
A four-part film done in the unique style of each director, Matusbayashi Urara gives a portrayal of a struggling actress named Machiko who lives in Kamata. Machiko is the central axis of the movie as the film comically depicts what it means to be a "woman" and an "actress" in society through showing the patterns of life as conducted by her and the people that surround her.
Asakusa Midori wants to create an anime, but she's too disheartened to make that first step by herself. By pure chance, she meets Mizusaki Tsubame, an up-and-coming socialite secretly dreaming of becoming an animator. Together with Midori's money-loving best friend Kanamori Sayaka, the energetic trio slowly work towards making their "ultimate world" a reality!
Nagata works as a writer and director for theater company Oroka. His work has not received positive responses and ticket sales has not increased. Making things worse, his relationship with the theatrical troupe is not good. Nagata feels lonely. One day, he sees a woman named Saki on the street. She is wearing the same sneakers as he is. Nagata talks to her. Saki is a university student and she dreams of becoming an actress. Nagata and Saki fall in love.
Shiro runs the pension "Love Is Pink" ("Koi wa Momoiro") with the help of his daughter Haru.
Set at the Hotel Royal, situated in the marshland of Hokkaido, Japan, and follows the guests, the family that runs the hotel, and the hotel's staff. Masayo Tanaka is the only child of the family that runs Hotel Royal. She failed to enter an arts school and she now works at the hotel. She does not show her emotions to anyone.
Single father Kenichi has raised his daughter Miki alone for the past ten years, from when she attended nursery school until her graduation from elementary school. Kenichi is currently 30 years old. His wife Tomoko died at a young age and he has raised Miki alone since that time. While raising his daughter alone, he has encountered various problems.
Periods are depicted as pink, heart-shaped sentient beings that harass women on a monthly basis, delivering awful gut punches, but also offering a shoulder to cry on.
This is a film about female escorts who are living life as best they can. Kana Yamada makes her feature directorial debut, adapting her own stage play. Sairi Ito stars as the protagonist, Kanou.
18-year-old Urano Suzu marries Hojo Shusaku and moves from Eba City to Kure City in Hiroshima Prefecture in the middle of the Pacific War. As Japan slides into a war it cannot get out of, the townspeople go on with their “ordinary” lives. Supplies are short, and family and friends get sent to the battlefield. Suzu and the Hojo family battle such anxieties as they try to live positively.
Wako Taira (Eri Tokunaga) is 31-years-old. She works part-time at a cinema close to her home. Her boyfriend is Fu-kun and they have lived together for 3 years. She has never thought of breaking up with her boyfriend, considering her age. One day, she meets high school student Yumeaki Iko. She can't resist him. Wako Taira has an affair with Yumeaki Iko.
Enokida Trading Post is a second-hand shop run by Yojiro Enokida , whose personal mantra is, "Anything but garbage. We take it all." The shop serves as a gathering place for employees and regular customers, who come with troubles in hand. One summer day, part of the shop's sign falls down. Yojiro thinks this is a sign that something spectacular is about to happen, and indeed their problems take on lives of their own from that day onward.
College student Asako falls in love at first sight with Baku after meeting at a photography exhibit. Romance sparks between the two but doesn't last long when Baku suddenly disappears from her life. Two years later, she spots a man that bears a striking resemblance to him. Even though it is only his physical similarities to Baku that attracted her to him, she doesn't say so and starts dating the soft-spoken young man called Ryohei.
Seemingly perfect from the outside, Shinkai Akira was exhausted from worrying too much about how to be perfect. Nemoto Kousei is amicable and popular with women, but he trusts no one and views everything with a cold heart. The two of them, who became unable to live instinctively like animals, meet by chance at a craft beer bar after work and gradually become close enough to fight and tell each other how they really feel. Due to their encounter, even while getting hurt, they begin to try to be themselves and start taking a step forward.
Story depicts the conflicts and growth of families who live at co-operative houses. Nana Igarashi is 35-years-old and works as a diving instructor. She is married to Daiki who is 32-years-old and works at a toy company. They live in a small apartment, while saving up to buy a house. They enjoy their life. Nana and Daiki decide to buy a co-operative house. They also try to have a baby. Nana and Daiki realize it isn't easy to have baby.
Rumi Kizaki enrols in a nursing program because she failed to enter a university. However, she does not want to become a nurse because she believes that she will not make a good nurse. While Rumi ponders over what to do, she continues her training in nursing. Along the way, Rumi meets new people and discovers new things about herself.
Why did an abused solitary boy become a murderer? A sad but powerful gut-wrenching drama portraying the destiny of humans seeking love, starting up-and-coming actor Yuma Nakayama.
An incident is talked about all over Japan. The case involves the Doizaki couple that killed their 15-year-old daughter and hid her body under their house for 16 years. One day, housewife Toshiko Hagitani visits Shigeko Maehata who works for a small editing company. Toshiko tells Shigeko that her 12-year-old son Hitoshi might have a special ability to see other people's memories. She pulls out a picture drawn by Hitoshi. The picture has a girl with a grey colored face lying in a house that has a bat shaped weather vane on its roof. The picture seems to depict the incident involving the Doizaki couple. Shigeko decides to do some research, but Hitoshi dies in a car accident. Meanwhile, the attorney for the Doizaki couple tells their second daughter Seiko that the couple has cut off all ties with her. Around that time, a female high student is confined.
High school student Yuki Hase (Kento Yamazaki) wants to become close with classmate Kaori Fujimiya (Haruna Kawaguchi) who is alway by herself. Kaori Fujimiya refuses to become close with Yuki Hase, because she forgets her friends every new Monday. Even though Kaori tells Yuki why she doesn't want to become friends, Yuki still wants to become close to her.
Born in a small town in Japan, a young girl named Ai is sent to a cult commune by her religious maniac mother and lives there for seven long years. After the cult is exposed by the police, Ai starts a new stage of life, going to a normal school for the first time, but she can’t find her place to fit in there. Ai drops out from the school and society, spending her life living with a rock-bottom delinquent family full of gangsters and call girls. In a strange twist of fate she finds herself back in a new and normal life, living with a middle-class family, but her troubled life continues to follow her into more deep and seedy paths.
Six directors picked a favorite song by Japanese punk rock band "The Blue Hearts" and made a short film inspired by the song.
Childhood best friends. Cousins. Housemates. Coworkers. Eight stories of unrequited love, eight sets of people who weren't meant to be together. Several short films put together under the common theme of One Sided Love: ***My Nickname is Butatchi ***Something Blue ***Asahan no Yuge ***Kataomoi Supairaru ***Usotsuki no Koi ***Ibu no Okurimono ***Radio Personality ***Boku no Sabotin
Different people and five different families are acting out various scenarios, scripts and what-ifs. First there is the four Suzuki family members, who are not, sitting around a table in isolation. Then there is the unveiling of a will and what happens when it is read out, there are the sisters who are at it against each other, then there is the funeral that does not go according to plan and more.
A popular high school teacher concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body.
Seven girls from the institute experiment, together with their teacher, a strange phenomenon when they are on their way to a camping area.
Sanae is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her mother and six-year-old sister. She has not recently been able to be open with her fisherman grandfather. Sanae is awoken by the sound of hard rain one night. As she dozes, the rain changes into the flow of the river and she finds herself lying in a fishing boat when she opens her eyes. She hears, from far away, the strains of a harmonica which her grandpa loves... Next morning Sanae is informed that her grandfather has passed away. Frictions are revealed between Sanae and those around her. In her confused state, she runs out of the house leaving for the river where her grandpa's boat is moored...
Here is a drama whose setting is a branch school in a mountain village threatened with closing, where the teacher Aiko and her six students live out their lives. The straightforward and unabashed spirit of the children and the love of Aiko for her students bring back fond memories of our childhood, when even trifling things were often a source of happiness. A branch school deep in the Japanese countryside. In the classroom are one teacher and one pupil. But one day, the idea is proposed of students coming for a study stay in the mountain village. The teacher is shocked that no one had informed her of these plans, and the student is confused about how his life up to now will change.In the midst of this confusion a reception is held to welcome the schoolchildren coming for a stay in the village.
High School student Sayuri is falling in love with Yui, the daughter of her father's fiancee.
