A place, somewhere, that bears a strong resemblance in history and environment to Japan. Its return to prosperity after defeat in war is due to a certain law, a pillar of the state. This is the Special Law for the Maintenance of National Prosperity. 24 hours before this capsule is to bring about death, an official of the Ministry of Health and Welfare brings a letter announcing impending death, an ikigami. Those who receive this ikigami letter have 24 hours of absolute freedom to do anything and everything they want. Kengo Fujimoto has made his way through university and taken a job with the Ministry. His work now is delivering these ikigami letters. Dear Citizen: Thank you for your loyalty. You've no doubt noticed that the world is a troubled place. People are apathetic, lazy, unmotivated. You've probably asked yourself WHY ISN"T ANYTHING BEING DONE TO STOP THIS SYSTEMATIC DECLINE? Rest assured that measures are being taken. Beginning immediately, we will randomly select a different citizen each who will be killed within 24 hours of notification. We believe this will help remind all people how precious life is and how important it is to be a productive, active member of society. Thank you for your continued attention and your cooperation and participation...

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  Matsuda Shota (Kengo Fujimoto)

  Main Role

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  Yuta Kanai (Tsubasa Tanabe)

  Main Role

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  Yamada Takayuki (Satoshi Iizuka)

  Main Role

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  Igawa Haruka (Dr. Kondo)

  Supporting Role

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  Narumi Riko (Sakura Izuka)

  Supporting Role

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  Sano Kazuma (Takizawa Naoki)

  Supporting Role

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  Joe's Weekend Movie Suggestions

  MDL User SayItAintSoJoe recommends 3 movies you should watch this weekend...

  • Nov 23, 2012

• Jan 9, 2012 1 of 1 episodes seen

  bennyost
  9 of 10 people found this review helpful
  Other reviews by this user
  • Overall  9
  • Story  9
  • Acting/Cast  10
  • Music  10
  • Rewatch Value  9

  An incredibly sad movie with a controversial story and great acting by Matsuda Shota, Yamada Takayuki and Yuta Kanai who also shows his singing skills. If you like stories of George Orwell you shall watch this movie because it can also be catagorized as dystopia. It is really interesting to see how people can change when they know that their life is soon to be over. You have to read between the lines to understand the deep thoughts and the criticism on the economy hidden in this story.

  report I found this review Helpful Not Helpful
• Jun 9, 2012 1 of 1 episodes seen

  biniBningPunkista
  6 of 7 people found this review helpful
  Other reviews by this user
  • Overall  10
  • Story  10
  • Acting/Cast  10
  • Music  10
  • Rewatch Value  10

  A Shota Matsuda film with a dark aura for the trailer. I thought it was going to be another one of those psychological movie type that Japanese are so fond of, but I was proved wrong. The movie made me cry for the sentimental moments shown through out the film. This questions were left with me too:
  
  If you have only 24 hours to live, what will you do with your remaining hours?
  
  If death comes knocking at your door step, what would you do?
  
  The main character, Kengo Fujimoto (Shota) was one of the "Ikigami" bearers. An Ikigami is a notice, sent by a messenger to the person who only has 24 hours to live as issued by the government. This law was done to prosper the country by lowering crime, death rate and increasing productiveness. It was meant to sacrifice a handful of innocent or not so innocent people, but nonetheless, these people are picked randomly, given an Ikigami notice then die after 24 hours through a capsule that was injected to the citizens during the preschool age acting as a time bomb. The story revolves around the people that Kengo gives the notices to, he somehow ends up following these people and disregard his agency's rules.
  
  With a scene starting off with a violent act, the ending was pretty much unexpected. It was beyond my imagination that Ikigami would turn out like this. The film should be watched by many to learn more about the essence of life and living.
  
  I love the soundtrack, the story line, the actors, everything about the film was great. The flow of the story was very simple and yet it leaves you thinking at the same time. For the theme song entitled SIGNPOST which was also sang in one of the scenes of the movie was incredible. The thought and lyrics of the song was something that has to be listened to carefully (or read in our part for those who can't understand Japanese). read more

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  Battle Royale

  Both are futuristic,death oriented,concerned about the society and the youth.

  reportRecommended by shadowdancer
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  Shinigami no Seido

  They both show stories of people right before their death and they're both AMAZING!!!

  reportRecommended by SayItAintSoJoe