The best Yōta Kawase’s drama movies

Fashion model Haruka is faints during the shoot due to food restrictions. On the way back, she hears the voice of the butcher Anharu with whom, she realises, she shares the gift of telepathy. Haruka is frightened but she gradually resolves the situation with Anharu. Haruka and Anharu, both of whom are married. eventually grow closer.

Based on a manga written by Tatsuhiko Yamagami, the story is set in a former seaport town Uobuka, where 6 former criminals were sent to live there by the government, with the intention of re-socialising them. Aside from the few who know about the project, the general townsfolk has no idea of the former convicts' identities. Tsukisue is the pleasant and efficient municipal official put in charge of the programme. As he slowly learns about their past, a body is discovered.

After a happily married couple running a hot spring resort are awakened to their sadomasochistic desires, their relationship will never be the same.

What lasts longer, the time before birth or the time after death? In the 1990's, Kenjo dies in a terrorist gas attack. His girlfriend Haruka is killed by a man she meets as a street prostitute. In 2002, Kenji and Haruka who should already be dead, meet again and a new story begins.

After the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, a troupe of female sumo wrestlers arrive in Tokyo.

Thirteen years after abandoning his wife and two sons by stepping out for a pack of cigarettes and never returning, deadbeat gambler Masato dies of stomach cancer. At his funeral, a motley crew of fellow mahjong players, pachinko parlor employees and former drinking buddies gather to pay their respects and tell stories, revealing aspects of Masato’s life that complicate his sons’ resentment towards him.

Set towards the end of World War II, Nomura (Masatoshi Nagase) is a writer who is in despair. A woman works in bar and is a former prostitute. Many years ago, her father sold her to a brothel due to the family's severe financial hardships. The writer and the woman then agree to live as husband and wife until the war ends. The woman doesn't feel sexual pleasures due to her past, while the man lusts for the woman's body. Meanwhile, Ohira (Jun Murakami) fought for Japan in China. He participated in unconscionable acts against civilians in the name of war. He returns to Japan with only one arm. Ohira then begins to prey on innocent women.

Atsushi is a journalist specializing in writing about adult film actresses. He meets Hanako, who seems different to other adult film stars and soon a relationship develops. Meanwhile, Hanako’s younger sister, Asuka, arrives to stay and falls in love after a chance meeting at a club.

Momoko is nervous but enthusiastic about joining the movie company she has longed for. However, she was late from the first day and was struck by Reiko, a female employee who is famous for her talent. On the other hand, the president liked Momoko and took care of it. But it was an adult filmmaking company! Although she was worried about the gap with the company she had envisioned, she was excited to have her seniors teach her work, and she was further exposed to the passion of the people involved and grew up every day.

Naomi (Makoto Nishiyama), who returned to a small town because her adoptive father was about to die, met her brother-in-law, Hiroyuki (Hideyuki Kamada), again. Both of them have a history of becoming a man and woman, and Naomi feels an uncontrollable feeling for Hiroyuki. After that, she reunited with her childhood friend Yoshio (Yuya Matsuura) who also returned to the town....

Michitaro Sano’s wife passed away 18 years ago. Since her death, he has lived with his daughter Yumiko at their home. Now, Michitaro retires from his work. Yumiko though tells him to start doing housework. Michitaro is also surprised to learn that Yumiko has a boyfriend and is considering marriage. Michitaro is unsure how to handle his sudden abundance of free time. He then attends a local radio calisthenics group session.

Set in 1945 at the end of World War II. Saku (Kento Nagayama) arrives on Kakeromajima as the head of navy special forces. He is admired by the children on the island and he is interested in learning the island song as well as drinking with his men. Toe (Hikari Mitsushima) is an elementary school teacher on Kakeromajima and she has feelings for Saku.

The film tells the story of Aiko, a 35-year-old mute woman who works in a bowling alley, and her brief romance with Yoshioka, a younger man who works as a postal carrier. The two meet when Aiko accidentally knocks Yoshioka off his bicycle, and they have a sexual encounter soon after. Aiko begins preparing lunchboxes and giving them to Yoshioka at his workplace as a way of expressing affection, which she cannot do verbally.

A young bioarchaeologist Yukisuke is attracted to a girl Koyomi, who runs a small stand of taiyaki pastry that he often buys. Koyomi is hospitalized, however, by a car accident on a rainy day after they go out together, and wakes up with short term memory loss, where she cannot remember anything beyond the present day. Yukisuke tries to live close to her as before but the lack of collective memory starts to stagger him.

A high-school girl who lives in a rural town in Japan struggles to define her own way in life. To help her impoverished family she works as a video fetish performer which leads to problems for her and her family with a criminal underworld.

Yuriko is a miserable house wife forced to live under the emotional and physical abuse of her husband until a criminal breaks in and sets her free.

Five suicidal people meet on the Internet and form a 'suicide group'. They arrange to meet at one of the member's homes to spend their last hours together.

A girl became an adult at the Akemi bar. Having been kicked out by her family and lacking a social circle, a girl walks alone in the city. A wife and a husband who are bar owners take her under their wings just as if she is one of their own. This girl offers her wiles and love to customers. The regular customers of the bar like her, which helps her gain confidence and have hope again.

“Hana-Dama”—a flower in the wasteland. This flower is a symbol of earthly desires and every human is overwhelmed by desire and their rationality collapses wherever the flower is in bloom. And even today, the “Hana-Dama” continues to blossom profusely somewhere in the world. The story is set in a film theater, the facility keeps on closing one after another during recent years. The last day has come to a film theater which has been maintained by a film-loving owner, the staff, and their unique audiences. The symbol of human desire, “Hana-Dama,” blossoms at the theater and instigates people’s erratic behavior. Upon facing its closure, tremendous chaos that will be noted in the history of Japanese film takes place within this film theater.