A heartwarming (and breaking) drama about healing from abuse and trauma

Trigger warning for abuse scenes!

This movie broke my heart (and kind of bandaged it towards the end)! It tells the healing journey of a girl from years of psychological and physical abuse. Of course, the path isn't smooth, and ghosts of past experiences continued to haunt Kiko when she thought her life was going well. The story isn't told in a linear manner and keeps flitting between Kiko's past and present, but that didn't bother me as much. It actually kept me curious.

Sugisaki Hana and Shison Jun portrayed the main roles well, and I cried buckets with what happened to Anko. He deserved so much better! I thought Anko's mother's reaction to his secret was realistic enough, and the events afterward were preventable. But who knows how long Anko has been burdened by his problems? Kiko and Ai's mothers were unbelievable. I wish I could give every character a hug - specifically those who listened to the whale cries.

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