Ano hana ga saku oka de, kimi to mata deaetara

Yuri is a troubled teenaged girl in modern Japan. She is ashamed over her poverty but refuses to go to college. After an argument with her mother she faints and finds herself in 1945 wartime Japan, and meets a sensitive young man named Akira, who she discovers has volunteered as a kamikaze pilot.

The plot is far fetched, but convincingly acted by an excellent cast and is surprisingly gripping and quite moving. The overall production quality and direction are very good for a low budget drama. The contrast between the beauty of old Japan and the grimness of much modern Japan is well captured by the setting and cinematography.

Overall, well worth seeking out of you are looking for a romantic drama with a twist.

This Japanese fantasy romance is inspired by the novel "Ano Hana ga Saku Oka de, Kimi to mata Deaetara," authored by Natsue Shiomi in 2016. It presents a poignant love story between a contemporary high school girl and a soldier from the year 1945. The fluidity of the storytelling captivates the audience, compelling them to engage with the unfolding events.

The tale commences when Yuri, a high school student, has a disagreement with her mother and decides to flee, ultimately seeking refuge for the night in an abandoned World War II bomb shelter. Upon awakening, she discovers that her surroundings have transformed into a bygone era. Overcome by dehydration, she collapses and is rescued by a soldier named Akira. He brings her to a restaurant owned by Tsuru, where a group of soldiers congregates for their meals. It soon dawns on Yuri that she has inexplicably traveled back to 1945, where the soldiers, including Akira, are all kamikaze volunteers. Tsuru, believing that Yuri has lost her family, offers her a place to stay and work at the restaurant, to which she consents, marking the beginning of her life in this historical period. Aware of the impending fate that awaits the soldiers, Yuri attempts to convince them to abandon their mission, but they remain steadfast in their belief that they will prevail. Akira takes Yuri to a hill adorned with lilies to help her find solace. As time progresses, Yuri and Akira develop a deepening affection for one another, yet the date of Akira's mission looms ever closer.

The film is enhanced by the vibrant cinematography of Yoichi Narita, the eloquent dialogues crafted by Natsue Shiomi, and the captivating performances of Haruka Fukuhara as Yuri Kano and Koshi Mizukami as Akira Sakuma, making it a truly enjoyable experience.

There were too many questionable settings throughout the movie. Not liking the main actress didn't help (no matter what, she always plays the same character like Jake Johnson so it gets annoying), but the rest of the cast kind of made it up. The concept was very interesting, but it wasn't a well developed realistic/believable piece. It particularly bothered me when the girl called Akira by his name only, without -san at the end. That alone seemed very unreal for the time being, and isolated this movie from other WWII movies I've watched. She was supposed to be a "smart one", but she didn't act like well educated one.