, is a 2002 Japanese film directed by Shinichi Sawai, starring Hello! Project Kids,

Morning Musume , formerly and commonly known as and colloquially referred to as , is a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most to ...

, and

Maki Goto is a Japanese singer, lyricist, and former actress. Born and raised in Edogawa, Tokyo, Goto began her musical career in 1999 when she joined Morning Musume as the only third generation member. Her first single with the group, "Love Machine (Mo ...

. The film was given a limited screening on December 14, 2002, where it was screened as a double-feature with ''Mini-Moni the Movie: Okashi na Daibōken!'', a film starring other

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but ...

members.

Plot

Angry at her parents' decision to divorce, Mao Morishita decides to live with her grandfather in the countryside of

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

. Upon settling in her new school, Mao is bullied by Rena and her friends, while her aunt and uncle find her a burden. Meanwhile, Mao's classmate, Chika Nomura, finds an abandoned

shiba inu The is a breed of hunting dog from Japan. A small-to-medium breed, it is the smallest of the six original dog breeds native to Japan. The Shiba Inu was originally bred for hunting. Its name literally translates to "brushwood dog", as it is us ...

puppy in the river, but because her apartment complex does not allow its tenants to keep pets, she decides to take care of him in secret and names him Dan. One day, Mao catches Chika shoplifting a carton of milk for Dan, but she offers to pay for it. While feeding Dan, Mao and Chika learn that Dan is blind and cannot survive on his own. Yayoi, a convenience store worker, finds Chika taking care of Dan and warns her to be careful about getting caught by Tsuneo, her father and the leader of the neighborhood council. Mao and Chika leave Dan at a temple for its god to decide his owner, but Chika decides to go back for him. The girls continue to take care of Dan until he is discovered by Tsuneo. Tsuneo gives Chika one day to find a new owner, otherwise he will have Dan euthanized. With Yayoi and Ms. Nishida's help, Saki Ohkubo's uncle offers to take him in. However, Chika has grown so fond of Dan that she walks to Tochigi Prefecture by herself just to visit him, and when Mao realizes the two are inseparable, she convinces Saki's uncle to let them take him back. After apologizing to Saki, Mao vows that she will try to convince Tsuneo herself. Mao and Yayoi persuade Tsuneo to let them keep Dan at the apartment complex, and he finally relents, adopting him. With help from their friends, Mao, Chika, and Tsuneo begin building a doghouse for Dan at a nearby park, but unfortunately, they are met with protest from the elderly tenants from the apartment complex, who object to keeping Dan. Mao stands up to the group's leader, stating that they should be able to help Dan much like how other dogs help blind humans. With support from the other neighbors, the tenants relent and help build Dan's doghouse. Several days later, Mao is now friends with the girls at her school, including Rena. After school, Wakako comes to visit and tells Mao that the divorce has been finalized. Mao, however, tells her that she has decided to live with her father in

Toyama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Toyama Prefecture has a population of 993,848 (1 January 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,247.61 km2 (1,640.01 sq mi). Toyama Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the ...

after reading his letter, and the two promise each other that they will always be family despite living apart. Mao pays a final visit to Chika and Dan, bidding them farewell. When she and her father leave on the bus as they move out, Mao sees all of the friends she made at Gunma Prefecture sending her off, and she says goodbye to them.

Cast

* Momoko Tsugunaga as , a transfer student from Tokyo *

Saki Shimizu is a Japanese former singer. Her career began in 2002 when she passed the audition for Hello! Project Kids, an all-female teen pop group within Hello! Project. She continued to sing in that group and became a part of two smaller groups compos ...

as , a student from Mao's school who finds Dan *

Natsumi Abe is a Japanese singer and actress, a former member of Morning Musume, and a member of Dream Morning Musume. Biography She was born in Muroran, Hokkaidō, Japan. Career On August 13, 2003, she released her first single, "22 Sai no Watash ...

as , a convenience store employee and Tsuneo's daughter *

Akira Emoto is a Japanese actor. Career In 1999, he won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Dr. Akagi''. He also won the award for best supporting actor at the 7th Hochi Film Award for '' Dotonbori River'' and '' Hearts an ...

as , the leader of the neighborhood council * Kei Yasuda as , a teacher at Mina and Kengo's kindergarten * Mieko Harada as , Mao's mother * Takaaki Enoki as , Mao's father *

Rika Ishikawa , is a Japanese actress and model associated with Hello! Project and best known as a former member of the pop group Morning Musume. She was the leader of the Japanese pop idol trio V-u-den until June 2008. She has performed as a solo singer, a ...

as , Mao's cousin * Keiko Saito as , Chika's mother * Kaori Iida as , the coach of the girls' soccer team *

Hitomi Yoshizawa is a Japanese former singer and actress. In 2000, Yoshizawa debuted as a 4th generation member of the idol girl group Morning Musume and became their leader in 2005 until leaving the group in 2007. Following her departure, Yoshizawa continued to ...

as , the coach of the girls' soccer team *

Maimi Yajima is a Japanese singer and actress. She was a member and the leader of Cute, a girl idol group within Hello! Project. Career Yajima first joined Hello! Project in 2002 as one of the fifteen children chosen from the Hello! Project Kids audi ...

as , a classmate who bullies Mao, but secretly likes dogs * Erika Umeda as , a member of Rena's clique * Chinami Tokunaga as , a member of Rena's clique * Miyabi Natsuyaki as , a member of Rena's clique *

Chisato Okai (born June 21, 1994, in Saitama, Japan) is a former Japanese pop singer, actress, model, and television personality. She first gained recognition when she joined Hello! Project Kids and later became one of the main vocalists of the Japane ...

as , Chika's younger sister *

Megumi Murakami is a Japanese choreographer and former singer and actress. She first gained recognition when she joined Hello! Project Kids and later became the lead vocalist of the girl group Cute until her retirement in 2006. Career 2002–2005: Hello ...

as , Mao's classmate and a member of the soccer team * Makoto Ogawa as , a member of the soccer team *

Risa Niigaki is a Japanese actress and singer. She was a fifth-generation member of the Japanese pop group Morning Musume. She joined Morning Musume in 2001 along with 3 others- Ai Takahashi, Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa. She grew up in Yokohama after mo ...

as , a member of the soccer team *

as , a high school student working at Wakako's company * Asami Konno as , a girl from Tochigi Prefecture who helps Mao when she gets lost * Saki Nakajima as , a girl living in Chika's apartment complex and Mina's friend * Maiha Ishimura as , a girl who helps build Dan's doghouse *

Yurina Kumai is a Japanese model and former singer. Kumai began her career as a member of Hello! Project Kids in 2002. In 2004, she debuted as a member of Berryz Kobo, a girl group associated with the musical collective Hello! Project. During her time with ...

as , a girl who helps build Dan's doghouse

Soundtrack

was released February 14, 2003 under the

Zetima is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

label. The film's theme song, "Ganbacchae!", was performed by

, Hello! Project Kids, and

. It was released separately as a

DVD single A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

on January 29, 2003, as a double

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

with "Hey! Mirai" by Morning Musume.

Awards and accolades

Adaptations

Manga

A manga adaptation written and illustrated by Marimo Shirozawa was serialized in ''

Nakayoshi is a monthly Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga List of manga magazines, magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized ...

'' in 2002. The chapters were later released in one bound volume by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

under the Kodansha Comics Nakayoshi imprint.

References

External links

* {{Nakayoshi 2002 films 2002 manga 2000s Japanese films Hello! Project 2000s Japanese-language films Kodansha manga