Hikaru Saiki

This is the question posited by director Nakamura Yutaro at the start of his latest film, a series of vignettes that bleed into each other. Memories? dreams? Whatever they are, they belong to highschooler Hikari who, along with a friend named Yujiro, get involved with an emotionally unstable man named Takaya. Flash-forward a decade or so and they are all 20-somethings bumbling around on New Year’s Eve night. Hikari has picked up an admirer, Kotaro, while Takaya is shacked up with a young woman named Anzu. A tumultuous night together leads to a quarrel and a truly bizarre New Year’s Day. It’s not a straightforward experience as we surf through these experiences and question whether they are imagined but the feeling of airy freedom and endless possibilities at the end is pleasant.

While Tamaki’s partner Sui was away for the summer, she consumed a watermelon seed and began growing a watermelon in her body. They make a promise to eat the ripe watermelon together.

School girl Miyuri Obara is bullied mercilessly but finds relief in an unexpected friendship with Tsumugi. Yet even as Miyuri's life turns around there's a lingering suggestion that something is not quite right.