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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Be With You


Mio Aio's death leaves her husband Takumi and six year-old son Yuji to fend for themselves. Takumi is congenitally disorganized, suffers occasional fainting spells, and fears that his health compromised his dead wife's happiness. Yuji overhears relatives speculate that his own difficult delivery compromised Mio's health, and blames himself for his mother's death. Mio had left Yuji a picture book; in the book, Mio departs for a celestial body she calls "the Archive Star" but reappears in Japan during the following year's rainy season; turning the pages, Yuji eagerly awaits her return.

On a walk in the forest outside their house, Takumi and Yuji find a woman sheltered from the rain, and immediately accept her as Mio. She has no memory or sense of identity; she comes home to live with the father and son anyway. This new Mio asks Taku how they met and fell in love, and he recounts a tale of years of missed chances, beginning in high school and ending when she encouraged their marriage years later. As the rainy season draws to a close, Yuji discovers the "time capsule" he hid with his mother before her death. Mio's diary is inside, and its version of the Mio-Taku romance holds the answers to the mystery.

The famous Okinawan alternative rock band Orange Range sang the theme song to this movie called Hana. It was the top selling single of 2005. Be with You has also be made into a one-volume manga, written by Yoko Iino (飯野 陽子 Iino Yōko?) and illustrated by Sai Kawashima (川島 彩 Kawashima Sai?).




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