''A Gentle Breeze in the Village'', also known as , is a Japanese

slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Fusako Kuramochi is a Japanese manga artist. While still in high school, she made her professional debut with , published in the Autumn 1972 issue of ''Bessatsu Margaret''. She won the magazine's gold medal for amateur manga artists. Afterwards, Kuramochi stud ...

. It was serialized in the magazine ''Chorus'' from 1994 to 2000. The manga won the 20th

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

in 1996. It was made into a movie in 2007, directed by

Nobuhiro Yamashita is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Aichi Prefecture, Yamashita attended Osaka University of Arts where he worked on Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's ''Kichiku Dai Enkai''. His graduation film ''Hazy Life'', took the Off Theatre Competition Grand ...

and starring Kaho. It was released on July 24, 2007.

Plot summary

One of six students in a combined primary and junior high school, Soyo Migita ( Kaho) is the most senior pupil. For her, school is a joyful experience with an extended family of loving little brothers and sisters, but her days as the tallest and oldest student are soon to be over. Hiromi Osawa (

Masaki Okada is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his roles as Sekime Kyogo in the drama ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi e'' and as Takuma Kakinouchi in the 2009 film '' I Give My First Love to You''. Filmography Films * ''The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck ...

), a cool boy from Tokyo, arrives in the village. Attracted to him, Soyo tries to ignore the feelings that begin to occupy her heart and mind. However, she soon surrenders to her passion and learns to act upon her newfound emotions.

Main characters

; ; :A boy who came from Tokyo and became Soyo's first classmate. He later becomes her boyfriend. He has a very good sense of fashion. ; :One grade younger than Soyo and her best friend. She wants to be a manga illustrator. She uses Hiromi as a model for the male character in her story. ; :One grade younger than Soyo and her best friend. His house is a store. ; :Mother of Soyo.

Film

The film was shown at the

2007 Toronto International Film Festival The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival was a 32nd annual film festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It ran from September 6, 2007 to September 15, 2007. The lineup consisted of 349 films from 55 countries, selected from 4156 submissio ...

during the Contemporary World Cinema programme. It was later shown at the 28th Yokohama Film Festival. ''Tennen Kokekkō'' was ranked as the 2007 Asahi Best Ten Film Festival Number 1, 2007 Japan Movie Best Ten Number 2, and as the 2007

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

Japan Movie Best Ten Number 2. Kaho has won two new actress awards from this film, including the Best New Actress award.

Cast

* Kaho as Soyo Migita *

as Hiromi Osawa * Erisa Yanagi as Ibuki Taura *

Shoko Fujimura is a Japanese speed skater. She was born in Hokkaido. She competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where she placed 15th in the 3000 meters and 10th in the 5000 meters The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance runni ...

as Atsuko Yamabe *

Yui Natsukawa is a Japanese actress. She co-starred with Hiroshi Abe in the 2006 Japanese drama Kekkon Dekinai Otoko and in Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2008 film '' Still Walking''. Filmography Film * ''Sora ga Konnani Aoi Wake ga Nai'' (1993) - Kaoru Aoki * ''Yoru ...

as Itoko Migita * Kōichi Satō as Atsuko's Father

Staff

*Director:

*Filming: Tatsuto Kondō *Music:

Rei Harakami was a Japanese record producer from Hiroshima. He was based in Kyoto. He was one half of the duo Yanokami Yanokami (stylized as yanokami) was a Japanese music duo consisting of Akiko Yano and Rei Harakami. History Yanokami was formed by Akiko ...

*Theme song: "''Kotoba wa Sankaku Kokoro wa Shikaku''" by Kururi

Filming location

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

References

External links

Official Live-action film Site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentle Breeze In The Village, A 1994 manga 2007 films Live-action films based on manga Films directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita Films set in Shimane Prefecture 2000s Japanese films 2000s Japanese-language films Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo) Manga adapted into films Romance anime and manga Shōjo manga Shueisha franchises Shueisha manga Slice of life anime and manga