The encyclopedia of flowers that the tutor constantly reads was an idea of Yusaku Matsuda. There were some doubts about the things and props his character could use in the movie. The actor discovered the book on the set and thought it would be cute.
In the press conferences the director Yoshimitsu Morita felt so confident and reliant about the movie that declared "I think I am a real genius and this movie will score at the 1st position in Kinema Junpo".
Actually, after the successful release, the film ended 1st of the magazine Kinema Junpo's poll The Best Ten Movies of the Year.
In the original novel of Yohei Honma, the family's residence is located in a nameless city, but the director Yoshimitsu Morita moved it to Tokyo.
The novel also finishes with a more hopeless and dark ending. The director decided to use a more ambiguous one.
The climatic chaotic dinner, where the members of the family fight with each other and the tutor Yoshimoto, caused a big impact for the japanese audiences at the time and is usually named as one of the most memorable moments of 80s japanese cinema.
At the beginning of the production, the cast and crew felt intimidated by Yusaku Matsuda, well known by his troubled and unpredictable temper, but he was actually very polite and kind with everybody.