“We Are Family: The Weekend Promise” - About those disappointing mascots in Japan...

Jason's journey to visit 56 different soccer teams is
more than just a stadium tour.

It is a grand journey of self-discovery,
re-perceiving the world through the five senses and listening to one's own inner voice.

It is, quite literally, a case of 'throw away your books and get out into the streets.'

The smoke from flares, the smell of old toilets, being doused in beer,
the roar of the crowd, security pat-downs, the vibration of the stadium,

the information gained through these five senses is
never recorded on a wiki,
never posted on social media,
but is raw data unique to Jason, obtained from firsthand experience.

Relying on these sensations, Jason
derives his own 'correct answers' while
storing everything up to the end of a black hole
in his 'Jason brain',
and filing away the chaos of existence.

He is not deceived
by the abstraction of words.

To that end, he does not compromise on what is important.

That is, to feel with the body before understanding with the head.

His heart is his sensor; if it beats faster, he goes,
first raising options based on physical sensation.

These are not his mom and dad's choices,
nor are they Germany's choices,
but choices that Jason himself has turned into rules.

What makes this film stand out even more is
that it depicts not just his process of choosing soccer teams,
but also his journey of self-reflection alongside his family.

He breaks out of the framework set by his family and society,
and by trusting his own senses,
he grows into a new version of himself.

At the same time,

his mom, dad, and family
show deep empathy and growth,
much like how Tom Cruise learned so much from his brother played by Dustin Hoffman in 'Rain Man',
with the relationship between the protector and the protected becoming reversed.

Dad's line, 'Switching from offense to defense!', is symbolic.

It is more than just a moving human drama.

While reaffirming the importance of human senses and intuition,
which are the source of every spectrum and are being lost in modern society,
it is also a work that makes us rethink
the concept of inclusion for each individual,
and how we act.

[A final note to Jason]

Those 'disappointing' mascots are actually called 'yuru-chara' in Japan,
and they're quite popular!