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In tearjerker “And So The Baton Is Passed”, an adaptation of the eponymous hit novel by Meiko Seo, director Tetsu Maeda follows the stories of two girls and their stepparents. Yuko (bubbly and very likable Mei Nagano) is a girl who smiles regardless of what the world throws at her. Her doting stepfather Morimiya (Kei Tanaka in a performance that manages to make every scene feel like a J-drama) is an easy-going man who raises the girl after her mother disappeared one day. Miitan (Kurumi Inagaki) is a girl who cries easily, who is told by her new stepmother Rika (Satomi Ishihara in an equally exuberant and ominous performance) to smile whatever happens. One day, the girl’s chocolate-obsessed father Mito (Nao Omori) tells Miitan and Rika that he is moving to Brazil to make the best chocolate in the world. He leaves his daughter and wife to fend for themselves.