The best Mikako Ichikawa’s romance movies

Arata Kaizaki is 27-years-old and unemployed. He quit his prior job after working for the company for 3 months. Arata Kaizaki decides to take part in a research program. He takes medication that makes him look younger and he is to attend high school for a year. There, he falls in love with female high school student Chizuru Hishiro.

When two souls find one another, nothing can tear them apart. Widower Takumi lives a quiet life with his six-year-old son Yuji after the loss of wife and mother Mio. Yuji unfailingly remembers her promise to him: "I'll be with you again in a year's time, when the rains come." On the first anniversary of her passing, Takumi and Yuji are taking a walk in the woods when they come across a woman sheltering from a monsoon downpour.

During spring, 2nd year university student Izumi Kudo (Kasumi Arimura) receives a phone call from Takashi Hayama (Jun Matsumoto). Takashi Hayama was her adviser/teacher at her high school drama club. He asks her on the phone to take part in a graduation performance. Back in high school, Takashi Hayama helped her cope with her difficulties school life. She also held feelings for Takeshi, but tried to forget about him. Now, for the first time in a year they will meet again. Izumi still has feelings for him and Takashi also has mixed feelings for Izumi.

An introverted schoolgirl falls in love and starts a relationship with one of her classmates. Set in a small seaside town in Japan, the love of her life eventually leaves her for her boyfriend in Tokyo. Kayako Kirishima of the third year at a high school feels a sense of isolation in school life and vague admiration and uneasiness in the future. One day she makes friends with Endō who is isolated from her surroundings because she remained in the same class for another year. Kayako is strongly attracted by Endō who shows her a world that she didn't know.

Nojima Satoshi is a photographer whose job depends on his friend Shingo, a model, who in turn is in a middle of a career crisis. Nojima wants to photograph scenery, but is held back because he feels obligated to stay back with his friend. His neighbor, Nanao, works at a flower shop, has dedicated her life to her job and isn't involved in any romance. They have never met, however, they're aware of each other's presence through the sound each makes in their daily lives through the thin wall. Each character is the story is going through some sort of struggle - either with their identity, their career, or their love life. In a fast-paced society, it feels like there is never enough time to stop and recognize things that are most important in one's life. Through twists and turns, they gradually realize their true desires, and on the road to reach their goals, their paths somehow intersects, in this believable modern-day fairy-tale.