The Grave of Sleeping Love / Gouging Out Days of Yore - On Creation, Commerce, Myself, and the Film 'Nemurubaka' -

A long time ago, there was another Japanese film that personally gripped me with the same kind of emotion.
It was 'Look Back' which became a huge topic for a while.

Both are based on manga, and of course, I felt that sensation calmly when reading the original manga works as well,
but because I am a person who draws manga myself, I had somehow accepted it with a detached, bird's-eye view of the creative process when it came to 'manga',
but having it reconstructed in a completely different medium as a film, and being struck by it continuously on the big screen and with the loud sound of a theater where there was no escape,
I felt that I had been shaken in a way that was truly helpless.

While 'Look Back' gouges into you as Tatsuki Fujimoto's
'a story about manga artists drawn by a manga artist',
I felt that 'Nemurubaka' was Masakazu Ishiguro's
'a story where people in various positions ask themselves what they want to become and why they are doing what they are doing'.

Apart from that core,
as a film by director Yugo Sakamoto that I watched on the first screening of the release date, March 20, 2025,
I would like to write about this Japanese film 'Nemurubaka', which struck me with its overwhelming perfection,
about this story including the original work,
about Ruka Kujirai and Yuzumi Irimasu,
and about what exactly gouged into me,
among other things.

[*I have divided this into sections that touch on the details of the film and sections for those who have not yet seen it. By tapping the headings from the second one onwards in the table of contents, you can jump directly there and avoid the so-called 'spoilers'.

[*This section contains so-called 'spoilers'*]

🎸 The relationship between the two and the gouging emotions of the story itself, contained in the insert song 'Nemurubaka'

Right now,
listening to the song 'Nemurubaka' on the soundtrack I bought and chewing on the lyrics,
I am crying over and over again,
it really is
all packed in here, it truly has become the 'theme song', hasn't it..

[I will add a cushion here again, but
from here on I will touch on the film's structure and the details of the work itself
▽▽]

Come to think of it, I was wondering in the beginning if it had passed the Eirin rating..?
But,
after the development and depiction that made me forget such things,
the moment 'A' (*in the film, [A. or human,])
began to sing as Ruka Kujirai, the title appeared in large letters.

'Nemurubaka'.I had already started crying uncontrollably, as if a dam had broken.

In the original work too,
it was the scene where Irimasu-chan's feelings and the feelings of Ruka-senpai, who must have been going around and around because she went/had gone beyond the wall, were all released,
and it was the part I was looking forward to the most when I heard about the live-action film adaptation, but they showed it so overwhelmingly..

And as a film original, the former Peatmoss members were there too.
They, too, must have been holding onto feelings of going around and around, questioning their own lives up to that point and from then on, unlike Ruka who was able to go to a distant world alone due to talent, luck, and chance,
and that
Ruka on stage
spoke out 'their name', Peatmoss,
as part of an important song that an artist who now boasts tremendous popularity plays in public,
how unbearable that must have been.

The three of them started playing with all their might, as if their respective instruments were there on the spot, just like in the days of yore.
I think that sound must have reached Ruka-senpai too..
Everything, everything,
the Peatmoss era wasn't just a 'past where we couldn't become anything' that had passed,
she dragged what is here now onto the stage.
'Please be rewarded..'
I think to myself how much they were rewarded.

That part where Irimasu-chan says'Wow, Senpai! Senpai!! Senpai'was also
Kubo-chan's acting was just so good.. My crying was shifted up another gear.
(Nogizaka, or rather the Sakamichi groups, really have many talented people..
(It was also a scene that strongly struck me that Shiori Kubo is an idol, but also a first-class actor.

When I chew on the lyrics of 'Nemurubaka',
I think that Ruka-senpai was always
throwing those feelings at the sleeping Irimasu-chan..

From Irimasu-chan's perspective, Ruka-senpai might look like an amazing person who, unlike her, is doing what she wants and moving forward,
but Ruka-senpai is Ruka-senpai, in the midst of a fog where she has no choice but to keep piercing the wall,
and even when the wall opens, she can't grasp the right answer as to whether it's really okay or if that's what she wanted to do,
and of course, knowing that Irimasu-chan couldn't answer that,
still, that important thing,
to her most important person,
to Irimasu-chan,
I think she kept throwing it at her.

Around here, really,
as the feelings of 'someone who has moved forward without being able to see what's ahead, even if they seem to have grasped something with what they want to do',
and as the conclusion (as a story) of the relationship between Ruka-senpai and Irimasu-chan,
there really were so many things I couldn't hold onto.

The last scene, which ended in silence in the original work.
The 'ex-boyfriend' that the junior asks about became a 'lover' in the film,
and the relationship between the two was further emphasized by the line 'I wonder about that'.

..I only learned for the first time by seeing several X posts about the film adaptation that Ishiguro-san of the original work only ever says things like 'I draw it as a friendship, but I wonder if it looks romantic' (*I left X back when it was Twitter),
no,
it's a bit impossible, or ratherIshiguro-san definitely draws it 'with that intention', right..is all I can say, given that there are too many constructions that suggest otherwise.

Well, I suppose if I had to say, it feels like they are navigating social media skillfully by intentionally keeping things vague, as being explicit—whether as an attack or as praise—tends to bring all sorts of complications these days.
(I also saw the phrase 'manga therapy that makes you realize your own sense of distance might be like that,' so perhaps the person themselves is also 'vaguely aware it's love, but unable or unwilling to state it clearly.')

In the beginning of the original work, when she stands up from having her lap used as a pillow and he looks at Irie-chan's underwear, saying, 'It's empty to make a long-term investment with no future in sight,' or something like that—
As dialogue, it's probably meant to be about music, and the underwear shot is just a so-called 'fan service scene'—
But I can't help but feel that it also includes something like, 'Since we're both women, this is how it will be from here on out'...

I wish that someday they would meet again and properly face each other's feelings, but as a work, that final scene is the conclusion of the story.
I read that the director, Mr. Sakamoto, spoke about his own works, saying, 'Baby Assassins is eternal, while Nemurubaka is finite, each having its own merits,' and—
I just went, 'Wowwwwwww...'

If you aren't familiar with the 'Baby Assassins' series and you liked 'Nemurubaka,' I highly recommend you check it out.
Baby Assassins is the breakout work of director Yugo Sakamoto, who also wrote the script himself, and the world-building, expression, and character portrayals are incredibly superb.
It's framed as the daily life of two laid-back female assassins, but there is so much more to it than that.
After three movies and a TV drama series, it was a story that reached a horizon that made me feel like I was going to faint.
(No, they never explicitly called it love either, but I felt that if it's something of that magnitude, it doesn't necessarily need a name.)

I hope you can enjoy the 'eternity' of those two, Chisato Sugimoto and Mahiro Fukagawa—
And the overwhelming, authentic action as a film.
(I've also written a few articles on it personally, so please check those out after watching... ▽)

Returning to the topic of Nemurubaka,
I learned this time that it's connected to this work, so I actually read Mr. Ishiguro's other work, 'Kyoko to Tousan,' for the first time. It's a story about Luka-senpai's family, and it really increases the resolution of various things.
If you haven't read it either, I highly recommend it. It was even on a 77-yen sale for a limited time.
(When I looked at an e-book site thinking I'd just buy it normally, several of the author's past works were like that due to the movie adaptation, so I ended up buying the short story collection too.)

🍤
Now,
From here on, some random thoughts on the movie.

The tempura bowl scene at the beginning—it had been a while since I read the original, so I had forgotten, and while watching, I thought this was original to the movie,
Even though I was trembling, thinking, 'This is so Irie...!!'But when I bought the new edition and re-read it, it was just normally in the original work. (

But that just goes to show how brilliant the character portrayal was, so everything was really great...
I'm originally more of a fan of live-action adaptations of manga than anime, so it was an even more satisfying movie experience.
(Note: There are articles where I touch on that a bit and include things from when I bought the Nemurubaka movie ticket card, so if you'd like, please read at least the relevant parts later ▽)

The scene where Irie-chan spills the rice cooker was also great, with the sense of catastrophe dialed up... Well, it's not great for Luka-senpai, though (and for Irie-chan too).

I've touched on the goodness of Kubo-chan's Irie a few times already, but Yuna Taira's Luka-senpai goes without saying.
I feel that the realization of that Luka-senpai accounted for a significant portion of this movie's success.
It was as if her way of digesting the role to play a living, breathing Luka Kujirai, rather than just tracing the original, was truly superb...
Also,
The live performance scene—I can only use this word I've been repeating,
It was overwhelming, just overwhelming...!!
The movie was so good, and Luka-senpai was so good,
I ended up buying the 7,500-yen hoodie from the movie merchandise after watching it...
(I had only bought the pamphlet and stickers before going in, and I had initially passed on the hoodie, thinking it was really nice but a bit expensive... but after watching, I just slipped into buying it.)

Ito's Rider belt, which looked quite big in the trailer—when I re-read it, the design was actually quite faithful, or rather,
I wish they had sold [🌟Glowing! Sounding! DX Transformation Belt🌟] as merchandise too (though that would be troublesome).

But still, Kohei Higuchi's voice and face are just too good...
He co-starred with Atsuki Mashiko, also from the Super Sentai series, in the late-night BL drama 'Taikan Yoho' that was recently rebroadcast, and both of them had such explosive visuals (©Baby Assassins) that I was just thinking how beautiful the picture looked.

Along with the movie release, Taguchi and Ito also came as guests with the director on Kubo-chan's Nogizaka All Night Nippon,
And during the talk, I remembered that Keito Tsuna was Melt, right...? and was startled. Ryusoul Cool...
(This one was also from the Super Sentai series on both sides.)
(Kohaku Shida is quietly in the movie, so what does it mean that there are three Sentai alumni, or rather, two of them are from Donbrothers?)

I was able to listen to the episode where Kubo-chan came on Taira-san's radio, but I missed it when Amihira (apparently that's what they call the two of them together ☻) came on that one...
I know rights issues are difficult, but I wonder if things like this could be included as audio bonuses when the movie is released on home media.

💝
By the way,
I mentioned the BL drama earlier, and maybe it's because of genre demand, but as was the case with that work, when it's between men, it's usually stated quite straightforwardly that it is [Love].
But,
When it's between women, it feels like Japanese creative dramas very often leave the relationship vague, in a so-called 'yuri' way.

I've always wondered what causes this, as I feel that even in real society, the ratio of men who openly declare themselves homosexual or have same-sex partners is higher.
And then, suddenly,
I thought this time that maybe the weight of 'marriage' is also a factor.

The number of Japanese dramas that depict GL straightforwardly as love is increasing, and recently 'Call Me by No Name' was incredibly good, but—

(Come to think of it, the two leads here are also from the Super Sentai series (Maka Ozaki x Mio Kudo).)

For example, even here, the wall of "marriage" existed as a symbol of the closed-off future of the two's relationship.
Personally, I recently read Tomoko Yamashita's manga 'Ikoku Nikki,' and a similar weight existed for the two characters who were in a romantic relationship as women.
I suppose I came to think of it because I've been encountering such expressions one after another.

In contrast, I have the impression that for men, the idea that "there is no need to hide that we love each other" is more easily brought to the forefront.
Perhaps that is because of the difference in the futures they seek...
(Also, this might be a slight digression, but even now, there may be aspects where it is relatively easier for men to live together even if they are not in a marital relationship. Relatively speaking, that is. Strictly speaking.)

It's not as if women only seek marriage when they fall in love. That's not what I'm talking about.
"The weight of the fact thatthat precious promise is not permittedin the future with this person and these feelings," or something like that...

Of course, it's not something that can be divided by gender, and I think what kind of feelings or what one seeks is different for everyone, regardless of gender.
However,
I feel that in both creative works and real society, the way there are "differences" might be a trend that sometimes happens...

To put it simply, regarding the aspect of eternity in Chisato and Mahiro from 'Baby Assassins,' I think it's also because it's a nameless relationship,
and because they aren't vowing a future as lovers, I think that's part of it too.

I think one of the themes of 'Nemurubaka' is that "you can't stay like this forever,"
and it's not just about "what you want to do/what you want to become,"
but I strongly felt that this also applied to the relationship between Ruka-senpai and Irusu-chan.
What I've talked about so far
is also a story that returns to that point...

🎸🍺

(※Just to be clear. I am not particularly a proponent of love-supremacy.
It's just that
if you fall in love, you should be able to talk about it preciously, and it shouldn't matter if you vow a future with that most important person, yet I have always felt the weight of how much that is socially obstructed by gender...)

🎸🍺
Before talking about love, regarding the "finitude" of Ruka-senpai and Irusu-chan,
I was also deeply moved by the interpretation in this article, so I will quote it. Please take a look...▽

✒✑📚Nemurubaka gouges out my own half-life -Creation, Commerce, and Myself-

Now,
a story about being gouged out by my personal experiences so far.
I thought about categorizing it,
but since I will also touch upon the outcome of Ruka-senpai and Peat Moss, I will include it here.
It will be quite long and deep, so please take your time after a break.

As I mentioned at the beginning, after watchingthe film 'Look Back',I didn't just go home; for several days,
I was in a state of shock. I was gouged out in a truly deep, deep place.
(I talk about the details at great length in the corresponding article, so please read it when you have time...▽)

Perhaps the reason I was able to hold back somewhat with 'Nemurubaka' is that the main story is about people doing music, so the field wasn't directly related to me as someone who draws manga.
Even so,
after watching it, apart from the incredible quality of the work, I am left holding many things and remembering many things because of the parts that were gouged out. Let me talk a little about that.

As I mentioned in the previous article, I have been drawing manga on my own for a long time.
Just like in the story, there was a choice to be made at the timing just before entering society as a university student.
Should I aim to draw manga as a profession, or should I make expression my life's work while working "normally"?

I am sure that holding onto the idea that "my manga is niche and not suited for commerce" was a kind of defensive wall.
Separate from the wall that appeared just like Ruka-senpai, I built another layer of wall myself.

However,
my first submission ended up winning a prize in a commercial magazine.
I remember very well being wrapped in the feeling that, to borrow Ruka-senpai's words,
"Huh, it's softer than I thought,"
and this was, of course, not out of contempt, just like the senior.
It was a confusion of having a door suddenly open and being invited into a wall I thought I had to pierce through blindly,
fear,
and the feeling that I had no choice but to move forward.
It was a jumbled mix of those feelings.

What lay ahead was even more confusion than when I was piercing the wall.
And unlike Ruka-senpai, I was unable to leave a mark in the commercial world.
After going through various things and making a fresh start, I received another opportunity at a different publisher, but even there...

Even so, if I had thrown everything away and jumped in like the senior, perhaps it would have been different.
At the time, I lived in the countryside, and a junior who let me stay at their place whenever I went to Tokyo kept saying, "Come to Tokyo...!"
And even after some time had passed, they said, "If you had been more resourceful, I think things would have been completely different by now, in any form..."
And now I think that was truly the case.
I think now that I was unable to leave my safe zone because I used my own excuses as shackles,
and I was unable to jump far beyond the door that had been opened for me.

I still continue to draw manga on my own even now.
The weekly creative manga serialization I started three years ago is still continuing.
When I watched Look Back, I asked myself if I was able to "keep drawing," which was also a theme of the work, and I wondered why I was so gouged out at the time of Look Back,
but now I realize that
perhaps that was what it was all about.

Of course, commerce is not everything.
But
I made "excuses" and didn't go, even though I might have been able to open doors that would have led me further.
I don't even know if I could have actually made it.

Even if Ruka-senpai's terrorism seemed like a critique of commerce, that was surely the "beyond" she was aiming for in the end.
That said, it wasn't as if I could be satisfied with lukewarm water without testing my own potential within the "useless cycle".
It was precisely because there was a view to be seen beyond that she could loudly proclaim her origins, leave scars, and disappear.

In reality, Ruka-senpai is achieving great success in commerce.
That is by no means something to mock or feel guilty about regarding selling out or whatever.
It is something you can only think and do after seeing that view.
There must have been countless people saved by her singing voice, which they only came to know because she went out into the commercial world and sold.

I find myself thinking again about where one is heading when one continues to create.
What Masakazu Ishiguro depicted in 'Nemurubaka' is exactly that.

Do you stay without taking a step forward, saying things like Ito did—things that sound like you understand, but might actually be true?
Or, even if you are crushed someday, if you can go beyond the wall, do you go?

It inevitably becomes a story about manga, but for example, when an author who debuted by drawing unique manga at a type of award that accepts a wide range of expressions, like Kodansha's Afternoon Four Seasons Award, starts drawing what you might call "best-selling" works in their serialization, they are sometimes told they have been "poisoned by commerce".
I think that happens quite often in any industry.
Even Tatsuki Fujimoto of Look Back, who has been a genius author with an incredibly sharp style since his debut, has condensed the wisdom of developing as a commercial product and being accepted and "selling" to many people in his generally big hit 'Chainsaw Man'.
It is easy to dismiss this as being commercialized, but making talent a profession and selling it is not "easy"; it is the result of many professionals gathering and "pouring their heart and soul into making it happen".
The words of Arahaya-san and Uruma-san from OT Records in Nemurubaka may seem too "commercialist," but they are nothing less than the professional work of "selling" a piece of art.
(For example, the fact that developments like the announcement and film adaptation of a minimum-target work like Look Back were permitted was also because he is an author who achieved great results with Chainsaw Man. Honestly, I feel that even that manga and film were received by the general public who came in through Chainsaw Man with impressions like "I guess people who like it will like it..." (though, of course, it is a commercial work that also quietly includes setups that remind one of a certain major social incident..

The scene where Pete Moss visits the head office in the movie.
..I mentioned Kodansha earlier, but I also won my first award at a Kodansha magazine called Magazine Z, which no longer exists.
I remembered that day when I went to Tokyo to greet my editor so vividly.
Previously, on the Gokokuji episode of Junji Takada's street-walking program 'Jun Sanpo', they stopped by Kodansha, and I felt incredibly nostalgic, thinking, 'Oh, it's still there without moving.'
Even though I had never been to the company in that scene of the movie, the sense of reminiscence as an experience was overwhelming.
..I also went alone as a candidate like Ruka-senpai in the original work, so I didn't have the experience of being a member who went that far and was blocked like in the movie. (It was a thought that made me want to scratch my head in imagination. I have seen some comments that it hits harder for people with band experience, and I wonder if there were people who remembered such a past..)

After watching the movie, I have the old version of Nemurubaka in digital format, so I stopped by a bookstore thinking I wanted to buy the new edition as a paper book since it was a good opportunity.
Among the countless works lined up, stacked, and advertised on the sales floor,
my own work was nowhere to be found,
and even though it was far too late, I was struck by a feeling as if the bottom of my stomach was being gouged out.
But,
I was gouged again, thinking that if I had taken that step, I might have grasped such a future.
This is not a story about counting chickens before they hatch,
but a story to myself about whether I was able to take that step or not.

As I will touch upon in a later section, the"useless cycle"
that appeared in Nemurubaka is by no means a word to mock others, but aself-admonition
isn't it?
To varying degrees, just like the people at Nakazaki's senior's shop who praised each other within the "artist" circle,
I think Ruka and the others, who were in the midst of popularity after gaining fans in the indies, also felt strongly that they were actually the same.
You might think, "Unlike the former, the latter actually captured people who like their music...", but in the end, I end up thinking that that small world is the limit, and that they can't go beyond it..
It is actually very grateful, to the point where it would be rude to call it a small world,
and that is why, while I could clearly point out the self-proclaimed artists' mutual praise by using the strong word "useless cycle,"I felt very strongly in that sequence of scenes that it was difficult to say such things about the world surrounded by one's own fans.

I also had a time when I was doing doujinshi, and people who read it through secondary creation liked not only because they were fans of the original work, but also liked my creative expression itself, and followed me to my original creations, and those people are truly grateful and still precious to me today.
But, no matter what,
while that is something to be grateful for, it is something that happens within the "circle of people who affirm my work" no matter what I do.
To put it further, that world is also a world of circulation where you do what you like and people who like it feel the demand.

Even if there are various intentions and things that can be said,
"selling in commerce" is a completely different, huge world,
and it is also an order-of-magnitude "evaluation" that you can receive for what you can do,
and no matter what world it is, it is also a completely different, large, large horizon that you might be able to reach as one guideline while doing what you want to do.

There were people I interacted with during my university days,
and there were many who later made their commercial debut, or who were already doing such work at that time.
Some gave up early and returned to their parents' homes. But it is also a view that you can see after going there and moving even once.

There were people who were professional assistants since that time and drew skillful lines themselves, and when I peeked at their recent status on social media to see if they had debuted since then,
it looked like they were selling themselves in adult doujinshi, and I just thought, 'I see...'
(※Of course, it really depends on what that person wants to do, and I am talking here purely about the line of commerce without any other intentions, just in case..

There were many people around me at that time who could "draw," but
it wasn't about whether commerce was good or bad; the people who tried to go/could go were limited.
I am deeply reflecting on the fact that the wall there was not like the objective statements such as "you can't easily make a commercial debut," but rather the aspect of what I myself wanted to do was the strongest.

While kneading the deep, deep wounds that have been gouged out, I continue to smolder, continuing my personal manga serialization simply because it is something I want to keep doing myself.
I wonder what I want to do. I wonder what I can do.

There are many, many experiences I have gained, people I have met, and places I have been because I have walked the life I have now.
There is no 'if' in life.
Even so.

I shouldn't have been aiming for commerce to draw manga.
I have been doing it because I like the act of continuing to express myself.
Even so.

On the submission site AlphaPolis, where I am currently serializing personally, I am also publishing past works for free.
I even think that perhaps the story manga and such that I put my passion into during my secondary creation days were drawn more solidly as individual works (※If you are interested in that area,【Melonbooks Kansuiro】search for it, etc... I have quietly left them in an e-book distribution format set so you can read them for the price of a tip).
Even so,
it is also an accumulation of what kind of manga I draw.
It is also one form of the present beyond the accumulation.
If you would like, when you have time.

My recent places for dissemination are this AlphaPolis and note.
I originally liked writing, so I am indebted to note like this.
I think the reason why there is often a gap until publication due to draft maturation is actually because of the selfish smoldering of 'what's the point of writing here instead of drawing manga...',
but I noticed that one more person has added my story called 'Kamisama no Fune', which I have been serializing recently, to their favorites,
and I don't know where they came from (I also advertise it on my app game profile, etc..), so I think it would be nice if there were things that could be returned while enjoying life properly, not just smoldering like that.

When the door to commerce opened and I was fighting near the entrance, if I couldn't get results with manga, I would be completely crushed and have tunnel vision,
and there was a period when I couldn't even draw that manga...

'Nemurubaka' was an experience that allowed me to bathe in so much goodness, both as a manga and as a film, and at the same time,
perhaps for many others as well,
at the very least for me personally,
this is also a record of having harbored such feelings.

🎤
..I read an article by a current idol who had been left with so much to carry by Nemurubaka.
Though it seemed to be written in a rambling way, that is precisely why
I felt it was a piece of writing overflowing with so many things from both sides of the wall.

▲▲The section premised on so-called 'spoilers' ends here.▲▲

【※From here on is what is known as 'spoiler-free'▽※There are parts that touch on the content of the work for the sake of introduction】

🎸Who does it gouge out?

Now,
I have almost said everything there is to say in the previous section (I'm surprised it's already reached 10,000 characters..),
but from here on, I would like to write an introduction to the work for those who have not yet read or watched it.

First, please take a look at the official movie trailer.

This film is a story about two university students, Ruka Kujirai and Yumi Irimasu,
looking at each other and their respective futures.

While there are many who may not be in this situation due to individual circumstances, the era of being a university student is one that many people will likely experience.
It is a strange and unique period, squeezed by invisible time limits that seem free, between the time until high school when you were basically under the protection of your parents, and the time you go out into society as an 'adult'.
For those who struggled desperately like Ruka-senpai,
and for those like Irimasu who didn't know what to do / or even what they wanted to do in the first place,
it was a story that held things that would gouge out everything, everything.

While following the original work, the various choices and reconstructions made when fitting it into the film's runtime and transferring it to a different medium were also brilliant, and live-action adaptations are worth watching for this aspect as well..
I also read a few impressions from people who watched it without having read the original work, and it seemed to have struck a chord in many ways as a single Japanese film.

Since it is also a story about people who do music, there are many live performance scenes in the film, and these are overwhelming as well..
Please, by all means, see it on the big screen with the big sound of a theater.

Since it is being released during the competitive spring break season, I can't help but feel that the number of screenings and the scale of the screens are a bit unfortunate right from the start, but I hope it becomes a hit..

If you are planning to watch it at TOHO Cinemas, it seems that if you install the official TOHO app and purchase from the link below, something will come my way, so if you'd like..▽

The store rating for the TOHO app itself was quite bad, so I didn't install it when I watched 'Senpai wa Otokonoko' last month, but I received guidance from the staff at the merchandise register, and when I actually installed it, perhaps it had been updated, but there was no particular inconvenience.
If you buy seats through this, you can get a chance to win discount coupons for merchandise and food, so if you have the chance, please do so.
(I thought I had already bought a Mubi-chike card for Nemurubaka, but the flow of using the Mubi-chike when purchasing after selecting seats in the app was fine!)

♲
Yes,
I talked in quite some detail in the spoiler section, intertwining the film's development with my own experiences,
but regarding the term [Da-Cycle] (useless cycle), which seems to have become an internet meme originating from this work.
If that is the case, there may be people who only know this word in general, so I would like to touch on it a little here as well.

This word 'Da-Cycle' is
by no means a 'word to mock others',
but rather a 'self-admonition'.
is what it is.

In the original work, Iryu-chan used it to mock the worthless crowd on the internet, and Ruka-senpai made a face like she had bitten into a bitter bug, but
in the film, it is stated directly as“I really don't want you to use it that way.”(*It seems this was Director Sakamoto's idea, but Ishiguro-san, the author of the original work, also spoke about it exactly like that in the pamphlet interview.)

This story is
not for the type of person who would be labeled a so-called “wannabe,” someone who says, “I wanted to be something once, but I couldn't do anything,”
but in a sense,
I think it is a story that hits hardest for those who carry a past or present where they feel, “I am (was) doing what I want to do while stumbling in the dark, but because I caught a glimpse of what lies ahead / what lies beyond the wall of commerce, I am still...”

In that process, you may sometimes grasp a world where you are evaluated in a certain place.
However, that is a very, very small world, even if it is a grateful “world where people say they like my expression,” and not something to be taken lightly.

That does not mean, of course, that commerce is superior or everything.
But it is a place that transmits to an incredible breadth, a scale incomparable to the aforementioned world, and naturally, to an order of magnitude more people who likely don't even know you, let alone like you.

In that sense, is it okay to stay forever in “a small cycle where people praise you”?
It is a word of
self-admonitionfelt by those who continue to pierce the wall with no answer that lies beyond such self-questioning.

Regarding this, I have written about many things in the previous section of this article while weaving in the world I have seen myself.
Because I touch upon various aspects of the story's conclusion, I have included it in that so-called “spoiler section.”
For those who skipped to here using the table of contents, please do read that as well after watching.

Internet meme-ification is likely used mockingly, as mentioned above, for low-level cycles where people praise each other in narrow evaluations, or where low quality beats low quality like Iryu-chan, but
for those who only knew the word and thought it meant that,
I am adding this just to ask you to reconsider that perception.

(For example, groups of the type “Creators, let's gather and improve each other!”—I was invited to one when I created a creative account before and took a peek, but it was a very dangerous place in many ways, so I quietly distanced myself.
But that doesn't mean it's safe if you leave it, or that I'm using it as material to talk about how that place is,
that's not what I'm talking about..
There were people on note who wrote articles like that, citing Nemurubaka, saying things like “cut the bad cycle,” but
I really felt,“I really don't want you to use it that way..”
..

In the work, it was a concept that Ruka-senpai brought up at first as a word to describe such gatherings, so it might be easy to cause misunderstandings.
But then, why was there that reaction to Iryu-chan's words and actions afterward?
What has Ruka-senpai been carrying throughout the story?
If you follow the original manga and the film properly, it should naturally come across..

❀

For one thing, there is a good article from 2019 regarding the original work, so I will add it as a recommendation.
(*Since it is a consideration that touches heavily on the conclusion of the story, please read it after reading/watching Nemurubaka.)

In this article, the “bad cycle” is touched upon deeply after properly accepting its meaning.
I felt deeply moved that it is something that reaches those who truly understand.

By the way, I wondered what other articles this person has written, but this article itself is 6 years old, note updates stopped at that time, and there was a link to X, but that account was gone..
I talked about various old stories in the previous section, but sometimes I face the reality that even if I suddenly search for how someone who used to draw amazing works even as an amateur is doing now, I can no longer see anything on the internet,
and just because that person is gone (..no, actually, I can't even say anything about that..),
at least it doesn't mean their work never existed,
but
I was wrapped in indescribable thoughts.
(I do keep my Twitter account, and there is a link to note in my bio, but I wonder if I have also become a “person who disappeared” to those who don't follow that far..

🎸Bonus❀ LaLaport Yokohama Outing Diary and Shibuya Nemurubaka Costume Exhibition

From here on is an outing diary for the film opportunity, so please feel free to read.
First, a commemorative photo of my personal customary creative character “my child” for the film expedition.

I had applied for time off to match the release date, but since they gave me consecutive holidays starting from the day before (since my workplace is in Tokyo, I usually go straight after a night shift), I thought I could watch it nearby, but
recently, outings for movies have been accompanied by the fun of traveling far, so I thought, “If I'm going to do it, I might as well,” and when I looked it up, there was a screening at TOHO Cinemas LaLaport Yokohama that was just right in terms of distance and time, so I headed there this time.

..Actually, this movie theater is a place with deep personal memories for me.
I strongly remember going to see the earliest screening of the movie 'Rebellion' 11 years ago, having my emotions completely shattered in an unbelievable way, and walking the path to the station to wait for the first train while looking up at the moon in the night sky and thinking about so many things.
It has been since then that I last visited..
The sight of the bridge leading to LaLaport after getting off at Kamoi Station might have changed since then, but it was a scene that somehow brought back those days so vividly..

I assume the inside of the theater has been renovated, so it's not the same structure as it was back then, right..? That's just a vague thought.
It seems I didn't take as many photos back then as I do now, so even looking back through my photos, I couldn't confirm what it looked like around that time.
For example, I'm pretty sure the merchandise area didn't look like it does now.

'Rebellion' was an outrageous movie released as a completely new work after the main story of the famous work 'Madoka Magica'. I also wrote a heartfelt article on the 11th anniversary of the rebellion last year, so please take a look. ▽
(I also included a Homura-Ann story manga I drew personally.

🇯🇵
By the way, the release date for Nemurubaka was a Thursday, wasn't it?
Movie release dates are usually on weekends or at least Fridays.
But this day was a holiday.

In other words, there were so many people..!
Since my current job doesn't follow a standard calendar and involves night shifts, I can usually go out leisurely on weekday afternoons if I'm awake, but I experienced a massive crowd of people for the first time in a while without that benefit.

The post-movie treat of dining out was also, well, everywhere was lined up, and even when I went to the food court thinking it might be okay, there were huge lines just to pay.
It seemed like there was one in the attached Ito-Yokado, so I went there, but although I could have ordered, the seats were completely full.
I wandered around LaLaport and eventually returned near TOHO Cinemas, and ate tonkatsu atSaboten, where I could secure a seat even if I had to wait a little.

It had been a long time since I visited LaLaport, and I walked around leisurely looking at various shops, but as expected, it was a bad day with many people.
But you know,
I wanted to bathe in Nemurubaka as soon as possible, so going out was the right decision.

I also stopped by a FamilyMart behind the station that I don't usually go to because I had to drop off a large package, and there I encountered a Sumikko Gurashi lottery that was almost down to the last prize.
(*Although I decided to pass on it that day to calm down, I ended up buying it later. (It had been put in the back once new products came in, and it was like a coincidence that it was kept there so it wouldn't be sold until I asked. (With the A-prize chocolate fondue machine and even the Tokage-chan plushie remaining, just these three items including the last Shirokuma-san plushie were worth the price..!

There were many things, including shops I learned about for the first time behind the station and such 'nice to meet you' moments nearby.
I was reminded once again that movie expeditions always come with many joys.

🗼
Oh, that's right, while I was letting the draft mature, I had an opportunity to go to Shibuya for a health checkup at work.
They were just holding the Nemurubaka costume exhibition..! (*Unfortunately, it has ended by the time this article is published (I'm sorry.
I didn't go to Shibuya aiming for that, so this was also a coincidence.

It was held at two locations, Tower Records and Cine Quinto, so I went to both.
The exhibition itself, as well as the journey there and visiting each floor of Tower Records for the first time in a while, was fun..
Cine Quinto was also screening 'Bad Summer', and I was so interested in that that I thought about watching it (or rather, since Nemurubaka was also being screened, I thought about repeating it (due to my night shift cycle, it would be tough if I didn't return relatively early, so I decided to use the time for a Shibuya stroll instead of watching a movie that would take a long time..

(Speaking of coincidences, the Zique Ax Shibuya takeover was also happening now, and when I reached Center-Gai, Kenshi Yonezu was playing at full volume, and I wondered what was going on..

On this day, I also had the opportunity to be showered with incredibly good merchandise love at the Disney Store, which I happened to see and stop by while walking around.

(*I love Monsters, Inc., so I peeked in to see if they had anything, but they barely had any merchandise for it. However, they had piles of cute goods from other works, so I picked a few and went to the register, where the clerk started a conversation from there.
Me: "I barely managed to find Mike's on the 3rd floor..."
Clerk: "Oh, the cleaner!"
Me: "Yes, that's it...!"
I was impressed that she was so well-informed and clearly had a love for both Disney and her workplace...)

Since I was shopping, I installed the store's official app, but since I didn't think I'd come that often, I registered as a regular member. However, she recommended upgrading to a premium membership, which comes with various perks for shopping, saying, "You can get a coupon back right here and use it immediately...!" so I ended up upgrading.
But because of how the system works, it was the right choice with no downside, and thanks to her, I was able to have a doubly or triply enjoyable shopping experience (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*。

(...The various Pokemon Centers used to be like that, but... every time I go to Pokemon Center Shibuya, I get the feeling that "(...maybe the staff doesn't know that much about Pokemon...??)"
(The other day, when I asked about a product I couldn't find, the clerk looked at the search results on their terminal and said, "I don't know if I should say this, but it's on Mercari, so you could try buying it there..." which shocked me... It's not about whether you should say it or not; it's not something a clerk should say about their own company's products inside the store... A certain clerk at Pokemon Center Shibuya...)

(*To avoid making it sound like I'm just praising one and bashing the other, I'll add that Nintendo TOKYO, which is adjacent to the Pokemon Center, offers a fun shopping experience that rivals the Disney Store I mentioned earlier, including the staff...! (In the end, it might still sound like I'm praising and bashing, but I'm following up with an example of a Nintendo-affiliated store...)

✍
Anyway
I digressed (and I had so much more I wanted to write about my outing that day), but since this is an extra to the Nemurubaka article, I'll get back on track and finish it up.

Following up on the fun shopping experience I mentioned earlier,
how should I put it,
even if just making and selling something is enough to make it work,
I found myself thinking about what they really wanted to do to deliver it—to deliver it far and wide.
...things like that.

For those who only read this spoiler-free section,
I would be happy if you read the story I wrote in the spoiler section after watching the film.
It is my story, and it is also the story of the core of the work 'Nemurubaka'...

While I was letting the draft mature, the official making-of video was released the other day, so I will end by citing that.
Thank you for reading.

(Even in the behind-the-scenes footage, you can see Hirai-san's extraordinary athletic ability in the kick by Luka-senpai, which has more dynamism than in the actual film...)