
Acting
Yuya Yagira is a Japanese actor. In 2004, he became the youngest winner of the Best Actor award in the history of the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of 12-year-old Akira in the highly acclaimed "Nobody Knows".

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima’s intro piece is a fantastic abstraction to soak up with the eyes. Masaaki Yuasa, of MIND GAME and CAT SOUP fame, brings his distinctive and deceptively simple graphic style and dream-state logic to the table with “Happy Machine,” his spin on a child’s earliest year. Shinji Kimura’s spookier “Deathtic 4,” meanwhile, seems to tap into the creepier corners of a child’s imagination and open up a toybox full of dark delights. Hideki Futamura’s “Limit Cycle” conjures up a vision of virtual reality, while Yuji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" and "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe use understated realism for very surreal purposes. And Shoji Kawamori, with “Shanghai Dragon,” takes the tropes and conventions of traditional anime out for very fun joyride.

Recently graduated from high school, 17-year-old Shiro decides to put off college and work at a gas station instead. Shy and introspective, Shiro understands he is at a turning point of his life, but is unsure of what lies ahead. Though his parents disapprove of his decision, he has the support of his flower child grandmother who declares that a gas station is a romantic place for life's drifters. Surely enough, soon a new co-worker, college student Noriko, drifts into Shiro's life. He falls headfirst into a bittersweet first love that ushers him into the world of adulthood.

Three men, born in 1987, are from the yutori ("relaxed") generation, and they continue their attempts at finding love, friendship, and success. Masakazu Sakama stopped working for a large company and took over his family business, but it's not doing well. Kazutoyo Yamaji is a sweet and sincere man. He works as an elementary school teacher, but he doesn't have experience in romantic relationships. For 11 years, Maribu Michigami took the college entrance exam for the university he wanted to attend. He finally made it and attended the school. After graduation, his launched his own business in China, but that failed. He now supports himself working part-time jobs.

An adolescent human drama of high school students who are troubled with their own concerns but gradually find a method of survival through Hotai Club.

The horror-thriller follows a group of teenagers dealing with the disappearance of one of them, Yuki, at an amusement park's haunted house. On a rainy day 10 years later, Yuki inexplicably returns. However, no sooner is she united with her former friends than she collapses, and the group rushes Yuki to a nearby hospital. But after checking in, they discover that things are not quite as they seem at the medical center. As the night wears on, the group sinks deeper and deeper into the events from a decade ago that led to Yuki's disappearance.

An old swordsman, his former comrade and a young braggart are hired by prostitutes to track down bandits who mutilated one of the women.

A young child is obsessed with learning about and drawing fish. The child seems a little odd, but if you are understanding and supportive you will be cheering in the end.


Keito Myose (Yuya Yagira) and Yuichi Saeki (Masato Yano) were involved in a horrible case when they were young. They are now all grown up, but still suffering from that incident. At night, Keito and Yuichi meet again. A woman who is an acquaintance of Keito is killed in Keito's room. While the police investigates, a detective tells him "... you know Yuichi Saeki is a suspect and is on the country's most wanted list..."

