Set in an extremely near-future Tokyo, a group of final year high-school students face up to a society increasingly using surveillance, and the constant natural threat of a calamitous earthquake. For some, their political awakening happens without them even realising it. Happyend is the first feature from Japanese-American writer/director Neo Sora.
The opening of Happyend contains on-screen statements which seem in opposition to the film’s title; “The systems that define people are crumbling in Tokyo. Something big is about to change.”
The change we see, however, comes on a small scale, at the hands of a group of graduating high-school students – including friends since childhood Yuta (Hayato Kurihara) and Kou (Yukito Hidaka). The two pull a prank on their school principal who, in his anger, calls the incident an act of terrorism and employs an AI surveillance system in school to patrol students’ behaviour. It’s the trigger for opposition from some students to the school’s regime, mirrored in wider society by a Prime Minister who is introducing measures which curtail and monitor the movement of the population in general. Led by student activist Fumi (Kirara Inori), Kou becomes involved with the mutineers and feels himself drifting away from his childhood friend as he becomes more politically aware.
The young cast are largely first-time actors, and there is a vibrancy to their performances that is highly realistic. It would not be surprising if several of them go on to successful acting careers in the future.
A modern soundtrack using music from Sea Cucumber, original compositions from Lia Ouyang Rusliand a performance from DJ ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U (Yousuke Yukimatsu) all bring an upbeat tone to events, tying together the feeling that standing up for a principle is a Good Thing, and that friendship is hugely important at this stage in life.
And so while Happyend is a coming-of-age and self-awareness tale in those almost-but-not-quite adult moments of our lives, it’s also a film which highlights the prevailing homogeneity of Japan. The students who are not naturalised Japanese citizens are, on occasion, treated differently both in school and when stopped by the police on the streets. Kou is a Zainichi Korean, descended from Korean residents of Japan who immigrated there before 1945 when Korea was under Japanese rule. Kou is therefore not officially Japanese, even though he has the right to reside. Also in the group are students who have one Japanese parent and one from another country (Chinese, or African American for example), and these are the students who appear to be the most politically active, whereas the majority of the Japanese students are shown complying with the rulings from above. It’s definitely a comment on Japanese society as a whole from writer/director Neo Sora, himself a product of Japanese and American parents and brought up between the two countries.
Happyend manages to be a film about the joys of youthful friendship while also asking what it is like maturing into an adult in a growing surveillance society and with the constant threat of a major natural disaster looming. Does it have a happy end? Well, there’s only one way to find out …
Happyend is released in UK and Irish cinemas on 19th September 2025.
Set in an extremely near-future Tokyo, a group of final year high-school students face up to a society increasingly using surveillance, and the constant natural threat of a calamitous earthquake. For some, their political awakening happens without them even realising it. Happyend is the first feature from Japanese-American writer/director Neo Sora.
The opening of Happyend contains on-screen statements which seem in opposition to the film’s title; “The systems that define people are crumbling in Tokyo. Something big is about to change.”
The change we see, however, comes on a small scale, at the hands of a group of graduating high-school students – including friends since childhood Yuta (Hayato Kurihara) and Kou (Yukito Hidaka). The two pull a prank on their school principal who, in his anger, calls the incident an act of terrorism and employs an AI surveillance system in school to patrol students’ behaviour. It’s the trigger for opposition from some students to the school’s regime, mirrored in wider society by a Prime Minister who is introducing measures which curtail and monitor the movement of the population in general. Led by student activist Fumi (Kirara Inori), Kou becomes involved with the mutineers and feels himself drifting away from his childhood friend as he becomes more politically aware.
The young cast are largely first-time actors, and there is a vibrancy to their performances that is highly realistic. It would not be surprising if several of them go on to successful acting careers in the future.
A modern soundtrack using music from Sea Cucumber, original compositions from Lia Ouyang Rusli and a performance from DJ ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U (Yousuke Yukimatsu) all bring an upbeat tone to events, tying together the feeling that standing up for a principle is a Good Thing, and that friendship is hugely important at this stage in life.
And so while Happyend is a coming-of-age and self-awareness tale in those almost-but-not-quite adult moments of our lives, it’s also a film which highlights the prevailing homogeneity of Japan. The students who are not naturalised Japanese citizens are, on occasion, treated differently both in school and when stopped by the police on the streets. Kou is a Zainichi Korean, descended from Korean residents of Japan who immigrated there before 1945 when Korea was under Japanese rule. Kou is therefore not officially Japanese, even though he has the right to reside. Also in the group are students who have one Japanese parent and one from another country (Chinese, or African American for example), and these are the students who appear to be the most politically active, whereas the majority of the Japanese students are shown complying with the rulings from above. It’s definitely a comment on Japanese society as a whole from writer/director Neo Sora, himself a product of Japanese and American parents and brought up between the two countries.
Happyend manages to be a film about the joys of youthful friendship while also asking what it is like maturing into an adult in a growing surveillance society and with the constant threat of a major natural disaster looming. Does it have a happy end? Well, there’s only one way to find out …
Happyend is released in UK and Irish cinemas on 19th September 2025.
Share this:
Like this:
Discover more from The Movie Isle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.