Marika Ito

The directorial debut of Makoto Ueda, the award-winning writer of such films as Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, River, Night is Short Walk on Girl, etc

It is the year 1988. Yamabuki is an eight-year-old little boy growing up in a traditional family where every family member has problems and secrets they try to hide from each other. The father runs a failing construction company and has an intimate relationship with another woman. The mother is struggling with severe depression, as she cannot cope with the death of her youngest child. The grandfather, who used to be a construction engineer, hopes to start building an amusement park, but to no avail. The grandmother runs a small store where she sells items of forged origin. The sister is fed up with the lies of her predecessors and is looking for a way to run away from home. In the midst of all this chaos, Yamabuki has started to find solace in patting an imaginary dog.

Barefoot and her friends decide to make a samurai movie, gather a unique cast and staff for the production, and try to screen it at their school festival.

Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you're the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it's not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It's reading your opponent, the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling? At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrols, she's gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!