The erotic novelist Taeko is writing a morbid story of a family destroyed by incest, murder and abuse. Her assistant, Yuji, sets on a mission to uncover the reality of this story, but the reality might be too much to bear.
A young boy with a troubled home life becomes "chosen," and he stumbles into the middle of a great war of yōkai (a class of mythological creatures), where he meets a group of friendly yōkai who become his companions through his journey. Now he must fight to protect his friends and free the world of the yōkai from oppression.
Four Japanese girls, 3 totally inept at the sport, come together to form a curling team in Northern Japan. The town is famous for scallops and curling, and peoples' status in this little fishing village is based on their curling abilities. The girls do little, until a seemingly inept coach teaches them about the game, and about themselves. In the end, they pull it all together to become an adequate team. In the process, they discover the true meaning of friendship, effort, shame and puppy love.
In a Japanese military hospital, a mysterious pandemic strikes and quickly kills seemingly at random. A group of unconnected individuals must come to terms with their own impending deaths, and the fragile absurdity of life.
A diver on the university team must decide which of her two childhood friends she loves, and they're both on the swim team. High school diver Ami and swimmer Keisuke don't exactly get along. Their parents run rival sweets shops and Ami is long-time friends, and maybe more, with Keisuke's freestyle rival Hiroki. Over time, however, hostile words give way to hesitant attraction, leaving Ami torn between Keisuke and Hiroki. With the national championship coming up, the young swimmers are competing for more than the title, but also their hearts.
The movie is centered around five friends as they end up spending the summer of 1962 shackled up together in a tiny studio apartment in Tokyo. The five friends are Eisuke - the manga artist, Shoichi - the singer, Ryuzo - the novelist, Kei - the painter and Yuji – the 5th wheel (?). The friends spend the summer in pursuit of their own ideals of personal freedom - being able to do what they want. In the process of pursuing their dream they learn firsthand that however ideal it may seem, its not as easy as they think.
Ellie and Mako, two delivery sisters, solve various problems from customers! Mako, a newcomer, is bewildered, troubled, and hits a wall as a delivery sister for the first time, but with the help of Ellie, her senior, she gradually grows up.
Follows the ups and downs of four female friends in Tokyo looking for love and trying to cope with the responsibilities in their lives.
A bunch of happy students enjoying themselves at a Christmas party until a sadistic Santa Claus comes and interrupts the festivities. Spruce Green becomes blood red when the plot is different from the naughty children they please.
A rock band writes a song called "Fish Story" that is foretold to save the world. The song exceeds the boundaries of space and time and ties people and their stories together.
Shogo, the arrogant and condescending star of a popular call-in radio-show must temporarily broadcast out of Studio 6, a creepy and dilapidated booth abandoned since its last DJ committed suicide several years ago. Suddenly, Shogo begins receiving disturbing calls, the voice on the line whispers "Liar" over and over. Is the joke on him, has someone discovered the truth about his sinister past, or has the curse of Studio 6 been unleashed again? In this Booth, all sins will be atoned for.
A middle-schooler, Kiho lives alone after her father committed suicide and her mother who has been absorbed in a cult religion disappeared. One day, when Kiho goes to school and sees a sign “School is closed” she decides to find an eternal rest. However, when she goes up to the roof and runs into a strange woman who calls herself as “angel”. The day they spend together might be her last day, but it could be a new door that leads to another day. It makes us pay more attention to how delicate and precious our daily lives are, and discover the true meaning of life.
Hitomi Takagi (Fumika Shimizu) and Akako Honda (Rena Matsui) are members of comedy duo “Akako to Hitomi.” The created the comedy duo about 5 years ago, but they are still not very popular. Everyday, they perform manzai to a regular audience in a corner of a small theater. One day, Hitomi and Akako catch a middle school student trying to steal Hitomi’s bicycle. Since then, their fate as a female comedy duo begins to change.
Mashiro Shibutani and her family live in Imizu, Toyama Prefecture. She spends her days by tending to her father’s bicycle store and taking care of her pet dog. She has a minor mental disability, but it doesn't affect her daily life. One day, she visits a shrine for her older brother's wedding. There, she meets photographer Keiichi Yui who came from Tokyo. Mashiro Shibutani accidentally presses the shutter button on Keiichi’s camera, which he left with her for a short while. Keiichi is fascinated by the pictures which Mashiro took on accident. Because of this, they get closer.
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.
Ken, an AD at an infomercial company, and their program host, Tada, are both suddenly caught up in pro wrestling started by their company president, Sakaguchi. To save the fate of his company, Sakaguchi decides to start a new program, combining pro wrestling and infomercials as he sees something special in Ken's wrestling... Aoi, a coworker and Ken's girlfriend, become troubled by not being able to accept Ken's excitement over his wrestling.
Akako, a shape-shifting goldfish in the form of a coquettish nymphet clad in diaphanous red dresses, naively plays the role of erotic muse and adoring pet for an aging writer seeking greatness. Things quickly get complicated for the odd couple, however, when the writer's deceased former student/lover enters the picture as a ghost and helps Akako realize her own desires, activating her agency and frustrating the one-sided male fantasy the writer is so keen to continue.
28 year old freelance writer Sakura Asuka wakes up tied in a white room. The white room is a protected room located in an isolated ward of a psychiatric hospital. Sakura first became unconscious because of heavy alcohol use and a druge overdose. She’s confined in the single room because of her high risk of committing suicide. Sakura tried to talk to the nurses and doctors but they didn’t listen to her. Under the circumstances another patient Miki, who suffers from an eating disorder, leads her to understand the unknown world. But, Sakura is looking for the way to get back to the real world as soon as possible.
According to an urban legend, a girl named Hikiko Mori was taunted and bullied relentlessly by her classmates, eventually resulting in her accidental death. Holding a grudge against all bullies, her spirit now haunts her former school, slowly gathering the strength to exact vengeance on the living. A group of frightened school girls decide to investigate the rumors further and what they find convinces them that they have to stop the spirit of Hikiko-san before it’s too late
A writer moves to a remote island with his daughter and young son. After settling into their new home, a neighbor arrives to welcome them and give them a breakdown of the local rules; most important: do not go outside when the island's siren starts wailing.
Shiori, a writer living in Osaka, is faced with the end of a relationship as her 40th birthday approaches. She buries herself in her everyday routine, unable to genuinely celebrate even the smallest moments of happiness in her friends’ lives. But as the mundane rhythms of life continue, chance encounters and reunions allow her to confront reality. She crosses path with Saya, an expectant single mother; a man, holding memories of his late girlfriend and finding family warmth; and a childless couple who opted for island life. Through these encounters, Shiori begins to consider what truly matters in her life.
Japan Short films