03/07/1999
Veteran filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi rounds out the second of his two trilogies about his hometown of Onomichi with this film about the budding relationship between a young lad and an eccentric old man. Fifth-grader Yuta (Takuro Atsugi) is a typical city child looking forward to a summer of reading comic books and playing video games. Instead, he is bundled off to his grandparent's house on the Inland Sea. His grandfather, Yuta's parents explain, has been acting strangely as of late -- he eats the offerings in the family altar and once tried to lead attendants at a funeral in a rousing round of calisthenics. Since his mother and father are swamped with work, and his elder sister (Nana Sano) is studying for college entrance exams, Yuta has been asked to look after Grandpa. The old man takes Yuta on a tour of Onomichi, regaling him with 70 years of its history. Along the way, Grandpa slips in and out of the past, increasingly unable to discern between the two.
Takuro Atsuki
as Yuta Ooi
Keiju Kobayashi
as Kenshiro Ooi
Kin Sugai
as Yuta's grandmother
Kyūsaku Shimada
as Masahiro Ooi
Miyuki Matsuda
as Kaori Ooi
Nanami Sano
as Erika Ooi
Kanae Katsuno
as Mikari Kobayashi
Hikari Ishida
as Yumi Shina
Aoi Miyazaki
as Tama Kobayashi
Katsuya Koiso
as Octopus boy
Shinya Yamamoto
as Harunosuke (azuki shop owner)
Wakaba Irie
as Mikari's mother
Koichi Ueda
as Shrine priest
Yasufumi Hayashi
as Teacher with mole
Ryo Amamiya
as Videographer at funeral
Bengal
as Man at table
Toshie Negishi
as Woman at table
Mickey Curtis
as Shrine worker
Hitoshi Ōmae
as Shrine worker
Shin'ya Ohwada
as Chief mourner
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