Japanese
distributor Pony Canyon has released a new trailer and visual
for “ The Last Blossom ( Housenka ),” a new
original animated film from the acclaimed creative duo of Baku
Kinoshita and Kadzuya Konomoto, known for their work on the hit anime “Odd
Taxi.” The video confirms that the film will be released in Japanese
theaters in fall 2025, and reveals that the band CERO will be composing the
film’s score.
Additionally,
it was announced that "The Last Blossom" will be part of the Feature
Film Competition at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, one
of the most prestigious events in the field, taking place from June 8 to 14 in
Annecy, France. It's
worth noting that the film had already been featured at the 2023 edition as
part of the Work in Progress program, generating high expectations ever since.
Voice cast
- Kaoru Kobayashi and Junki
Tozuka will play the protagonist Akutsu , in his old age and youth,
respectively.
- Kaoru Kobayashi: During the filming of Akutsu,
I was alone with Pierre-kun. Even after returning home, I couldn't
disconnect from the role; I remember my mind was foggy and I felt
extremely exhausted. The next day, during another shoot, I told
Pierre-kun about this, and he told me he'd walked back from Akasaka to
Shibuya after filming. I guess it was his way of cooling off. It was a
recording session filled with satisfaction, exhaustion, and excitement.
- Junki Tozuka: Housenka is a story that made
me wish my own life could be one I could call happy at heart. Akutsu, so
human and endearing, made me love him deeply, and his world, painted by
animation, moved me to the very end. Without thinking too much, I
surrendered to the Akutsu before me, clumsy, direct, and full of
humanity. Kaoru Kobayashi-san's voice and emotional nuances helped me
imagine the young Akutsu, and Hikari Mitsushima-san's careful way of
conveying the words truly made me feel a connection during the recording.
I'm not very used to acting as a voice actor, so seeing the final result
caused me some trepidation, but I was so excited that I forgot about that
fear. I want to get it out to the public as soon as possible; it's a
must-see film.
- Hikari Mitsushima and Yoshiko
Miyazaki play Nana Nagata , Akutsu's partner, also in two different moments.
- Hikaru Mitsushima: It was a play that made my
chest tighten. Watching it, I remembered the words of a senpai who once
said, "I don't feel lonely because I have memories of having
loved." The story of Akutsu, the silent and clumsy protagonist,
isn't flashy, but it was deeply moving. I was happy to be able to play
Nana, who is also clumsy and charming.
- Yoshiko Miyazaki: Unless one is reincarnated in
another world, the only thing one can do is live to the fullest with what
one has in the present. Being loved in that way makes you want to give
everything you have to keep going. To trust, to entrust yourself, to look
ahead. Even if we can do little, this is how human beings have continued
to connect their lives.
- Eccentric actor and musician
Pierre Taki will
lend his voice to the talking flower Housenka.
- Pierre Taki: Is it really there? Or isn't
it? I had the pleasure of playing this strange character: a talking
Housenka flower. I'm grateful to have had that luxurious experience of
filming alone alongside Kaoru Kobayashi-san.
Production team
- Baku Kinoshita ( Odd Taxi )
is in charge of directing the feature film at CLAP studios
( Pompo: The Cinéphile, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes ).
- The director commented: "How
beautiful is the blue of the sky? And the color of leaves bathed in
sunlight? What is the meaning of thinking about others?" I wanted to
return to the origin and express the lifeblood of living beings that
inhabit a world full of beauty, fragility, and happiness, and how all of
this affects us. I hope many people can see it.
- Kadzuya Konomoto ( Odd Taxi )
is in charge of writing and supervising the scripts.
- The screenwriter commented: Even in a life without redemption, there is the freedom to pray. We don't know if those prayers will come, but even so, one desires to believe. Housenka is a story where a flower silently enters the emptiness of a homeless man and his partner, causing words that had been left unspoken to sprout. For this flower to bloom, there were many silences and a single prayer. I hope the small certainty that sprouts after that long silence and prayer leaves a seed in your heart as well.
- Michinoku Toge is credited as
responsible for the concept art.
- The band CERO will compose the original music.
Synopsis
of The Last Blossom
"Autumn
2023. Akutsu, an elderly man sentenced to life imprisonment, awaits death alone
in his cell. A talking housenka flower tells him, 'What a rotten life you had.'
Akutsu then begins to reflect on his past. Summer 1986. Akutsu lived with Nana
and her son Kensuke in a modest apartment with a garden full of housenkas. This
is the story of a dying yakuza's last, victorious night, and the tale of his
family, told by a flower that blooms in prison."
