My junior high and high school are the graduation schools of actor Ryu Chishu, known as the father of Japan. My house is also close to Ryu Chishu's birthplace, and I have a strange connection with Ryu Chishu in that my birth year and the year I entered junior high school are exactly 100 years apart. It's a story I'd like to brag about, but it's a little sad that none of my classmates know about it.

I believe that cultural arts such as movies and theater have the power to change the hearts of those who come into contact with them. When I was a teenager, I was moved by the theater works of my generation and had a dream of making a movie while I was still in my teens. Not knowing what to do or how to start, I worked desperately, tried and failed, and struggled, but I gradually took it into shape.

As a result, I was able to get the directors and people involved in the films I appeared in, "midorinozawameki" (directed by Natsuto Aimi) and "Techno Brothers" (directed by Watanabe Hirofumi), to participate in the project, and a luxurious cast including Ryu Chishu's grandson Ryu Kenzo, Kumamoto native Kora Kengo, Ozawa Mayu, and Nakajima Runa were confirmed to appear. We were also able to take on the challenge of filming with the support and cooperation of many people, including the cast selected through auditions, our senior students at high school, our drama club friends, and local businesses and organizations.

We hope that this film will inspire people in a new way and reaffirm the power of film.

MESSAGE　ÝANAGI Asuna

In Japan, the number of children who are unable to attend school for various reasons continues to rise. Director Asuna Yanagi was one of them.

These children have lost the ability to think and judge for themselves, instead basing their decisions on the reactions of adults. We hear more and more about young people who are so anxious about how others perceive them that they hide what they truly love, struggle to speak honestly with others, and can no longer protect their own feelings.

This film is imbued with the desire to convey the importance of living by one’s own values—not by the expectations of parents or the need to please friends, but by being able to say, “I love what I love.” It is a cry of encouragement to the young people who will shape the future and reminds them that going to school isn’t everything.