Fujipacific Music

Set in a high school in Nishi-Izu slated to close next spring, the story follows members of the school’s broadcasting club as they face their “final summer.” It quietly captures their everyday moments as they try to leave something behind—an imprint of youth, memory, and time. Originally composed as the main theme for Kikujiro (1999), Joe Hisaishi’s timeless piece “Summer” has long been cherished in Japan as the soundtrack of nostalgic summer memories. Now, this beloved masterpiece is reimagined as a short film.

Suzuki Shizuka is an office lady at a conglomerate who is hypnotized at a local amusement park and left under the spell. Now she is compelled to sing and dance whenever she hears any melody whatsoever. She heads back to the hypnotist for relief, but he is nowhere to be found. So Shizuka sets off on a journey around Japan to find him and break the spell.

Trapped in her anemic career and love relationship, a 30-year-old TV commercial director returns to her countryside home in the company of a free-spirited friend. In a bittersweet reunion with an alienated family, her childhood memories of freedom and yearnings creep in the dreamlike blue hour, transcending into a lyricism of self-realization – at once whimsical, agonizing and yet hopeful.