ADULTHOOD FRIENDS

OTONANAJIMI

By Hiroto TAKAHASHI

TOEI COMPANY, LTD. - as SALES All rights, World

Romance - Completed 2023

Kaede and Haru are the best friends for 20 years. Because of Kaede’s motherly kindness, Haru is unaware that Kaede has secretly pined for him. Taking this as a chance, another childhood friend, Iori dates with Kaede, making Haru reconsider his true feelings for her, but he has a reason to hold back.

    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • Romance, Comedy
    • Countries
    • JAPAN
    • Languages
    • JAPANESE
    • Budget
    • 1 - 3 M$
    • Duration
    • 113 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Hiroto TAKAHASHI
    • Writer(s)
    • Erika YOSHIDA
    • Producer(s)
    • Takeshi TANIGUCHI, Yugo TAOMOTO, Natsuki YAJIKA
    • Synopsis
    •  Haru Aoyama and Kaede Kagaya have been best friends and neighbors since they were 4 years old. So, when they both set out as 24-year-olds to live adult lives, they cannot help but rent apartments next to each other. Kaede has been nurturing a romantic love for Haru now for 20 years, but Haru is completely unaware of her feelings, and instead leans on her maturity and help as something of a surrogate mother. Meanwhile, two other childhood friends, Iori and Mio, watch with irritation from the sidelines.

       When Kaede confides in them that she is giving up on Haru, it creates an opening for Iori who offers to step in and be the adult male partner she has longed for, confessing that he has secretly pined for her all along. Seeing Kaede and Iori getting close finally ignites discomfort in Haru who is slowly becoming aware of how much he really likes Kaede, but resists in order to keep a pledge he made to Kaede’s dying mother years ago that he would protect her daughter for life.

       Will 20 years of unrequited and suppressed feelings finally surface in the form of adult romance? Or are these two fated to remain “childhood friends” forever?