The best Akiko Kikuchi’s movies

Every night, Master (Kaoru Kobayashi) is busy with customers at the restaurant he runs. He has a worried face, looking at the funerary urn which someone left at his restaurant. His customers also talk about the funerary urn.

While a gang of high school girls randomly beats lone men at night, the photo of a young woman who has been declared missing is used to design a template which is painted on each wall of a small suburban town.

Satoshi, who is a high school junior, is doing something against the rules. He is forming a band. Joining him is Rin. They nonetheless perform at the school's cultural festival live in front of their fellow students. There is a mishap and Satoshi travels back in time to the moment when he met Rin.

Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior has taken on his increasingly distant family and resolve his own long-simmering resentments. Evocative of classic Ozu, this gorgeously wrought epic family portrait explores the tenderness and trappings of familial bonds.

Mari is exhausted by life in the city and opens up a shop selling snow cones in the small town of Nishiizu where she grew up. The simple flavors of her cold desserts soothe the emotional wounds of her customers and Mari comes to terms with herself by spending time with a young woman with a scarred face.

Disappointed by the news that the object of her affection is getting married, Takako quits her job suddenly. She soon receives an offer from her uncle Satoru, who asks for her to come help run his bookstore in Jinbocho; a district of Tokyo with an exceedingly high concentration of book stores, publishing companies, and distribution warehouses. Thus begins her everyday life at Morisaki Bookstore, where she absorbs the unique atmosphere and meets various quirky customers. Takako hadn’t read many novels in her life, but she finds herself being gradually drawn into the world of secondhand books. As summer turns to fall and winter in Jinbocho, Takako experiences personal growth through introspection and her newfound love of books.

High school student, Yo, lived with her father, Nao, after her mother, Sachiyo, left the family when she was very young. However, their life together came to an end and they started a new life as a family of four with her father's second marriage partner, Miko, and her stepdaughter, four-year-old Hinata. She confides in Riku, who belongs to the same art club as Yo, about her confusion about this new life. Yo, who has been developing curiosity for her biological mother, Sachiyo, promises to go with Riku to Sachiyo's art exhibition.

Midori Mantani and Masao Minamisawa are both 28-years-old. They have dated for 4 years, but their relationship seems to be just going through the motions. They think about breaking up. At that time, Midori becomes pregnant. Midori and Masao decide to marry. While preparing for their wedding, they become more familiar with each other's background. Midori Mantani grew up with parents who ran an iron factory in a provincial city that didn't offer much in terms of culture. Unlike Midori, Masao Minamisawa grew up in Tokyo and his family was wealthy. His father worked as a photographer and his mother was a doctor. He now works as a web designer. The couple begin to have a better understanding of each other.