The best Jun Murakami’s movies of 2021

In a seaside town where very little happens, middle school students Keisuke Isobe and Koume Satou live a rather dull life. But when Koume's crush breaks her heart, their situation becomes quite unordinary. She starts a "no-strings-attached" relationship with Keisuke, whom she had previously rejected, both finding solace in the other in order to fill the emotional voids in their lives. However, being "friends with benefits" becomes complicated when real feelings begin to develop, as the consequences of their relationship start to take their toll on those around them and themselves. Umibe no Onnanoko takes a harsh look at love, relationships, and the emotional price that will be paid as the result of a decision made between two teenagers.

Shinichi Tsuda, a Naoki Prize winning author, is working to publish his newest story. It revolves around Tsuyama, a driver for a call girl business in Toyama Prefecture, who comes across a mysterious counterfeit bill and has his life targeted by underworld kingpin Kurata. Is his story fact or fiction? His editor, Nahomi Torikai, decides to verify whether his latest work is mere fiction based on real-life experiences. She looks into a family that vanished, a post office worker who went missing, a shady load of cash, the whereabouts of the doves, and the fateful encounter from that night... A series of shocking facts are revealed from Tsuda’s stories. Why did the counterfeit money end up in Tsuda’s hands? What is the “ending” that Tsuda wished to portray?

Set in 2020 in the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo, the story revolves around Hachi, a boy who fled to the Japanese capital from his hometown of Fukushima and now lives away from society as an illegal drug dealer.