Daisuke Yamamoto

The words I promised to Kin-ichi Motegi,'This is the first and last. I tell you everything about Fishmans without telling a lie.'" The friends who made the sound of Fishmans devoted their lives to music. Shinji Sato's way of life is packed in this movie for nearly three hours.

Nana is 19 and lives in a corner of Tokyo. Her birth mother and Marin, a girl the same age who she loves, were the only people she could trust. Nana confronts them in her yearning for love, but the world does not give it to her. With her whole life ahead of her, Nana struggles, suffers, and begins a search for the true meaning of love.

There are a boy and a girl: they're called names such as "fag" and "transman" by their classmates. Their real names are Mikio and Tokiko. One day, Tokiko moves and leaves the school. Ten years later, she comes back to the town and meets Mikio again. Their reunion re-starts their time, which had been at a standstill and the story goes toward the end of their past.

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.

Shoutaro suddenly says he might quit university and take over his family's bicycle shop, and returns to his hometown. Shoutaro's best friend, Yosuke, and his girlfriend, Kyoko, are at a loss as to what to do. The film is a fresh take on an ordinary scene in Tokyo. The fuzzy pain of a man and a woman who have lost their best friend and their lover is expressed in a refreshing and poignant way. The director's skill in giving life to the bicycle as a prop and letting it tell the story of Shotaro's existence and the delicate relationship between Kyoko and Yosuke shines through.