Overview: Near-future Tokyo. Kou, through the help of his high school best friend, finds a surprising way to express his mounting frustration at the insidious forces of commercialism that are forcing out the neighbors he cares most about. Initially inspired by a prank that the writer-director Neo Sora (The Chicken, 2020) had pulled on him in his childhood, a sense of warm nostalgia and cold, material reality intermingle to tell a tale set in the not-so-distant future about disappearing spaces and the forces of policing and gentrification that drills this process forward.

Genres: Drama Science Fiction

Overview: Shimada, a former Self-Defense Force member, suffers from severe PTSD following the loss of a comrade in a firefight in war-torn South Sudan, a tragedy covered up by the government. Shining a light into Shimada's solitary life in illegal arms manufacturing is a job as an apprentice at a traditional Japanese fireworks factory. There he begins crafting fireworks alongside the master artisan and fellow craftsmen who embrace fireworks that illuminate people's peaceful lives. Yet, parallel to Shimada's journey, his comrades-in-arms with unresolved feelings team up on radical acts to expose the government's cover-up, escalating tensions and pulling Shimada back into the darkness he thought he'd left behind.

Genres: Drama Thriller