Mitsue Banzai

Nitobe and Sakamoto are childhood friends who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. The themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’ lives.

Hozumi is a doctor and he is friends with manga artist Soeda. They both like Asako who works at a tropical fish shop. Hozumi eventually gives up Asako for his friend Soeda. Soeda and Asako decide to get married, but, after they get married, Soeda dates another woman and abuses Asako. He even pushes Asako to have an affair with Hozumi. Hozumi still has feelings for Asako, but his love changes to hatred.

Mitsue returns to Japan after the disillusionment of a work opportunity in Singapore. Resuming her past life, she treads between friendships with a former lover and a new co-worker, while finding her footing despite being constantly on the move. A sense of alienation follows her from city to city as the young urbanite looks for novelty and adventure, but struggles to find a place to call home. Through beautiful vignettes of Mitsue’s encounters with familiar faces as well as strangers, this gentle drama invites us to dwell on the stops one makes in a journey of self-discovery.