Synopsis

Fourteen year old girl, Akari, lives in Hakodate, Hokkaido. When her good-natured mother who never would forget to put on a happy face is suddenly hospitalized with cancer, she gives Akari a puppy which becomes her companion as Akari has to tend the house alone. She names the dog, ‘Socks’ as its white paws seemed like it was wearing them. One day, Akari’s mother tells her to make ten promises to the puppy and soon afterwards passes away. To make matters worse, Akari’s father who is a doctor has to move to Sapporo while her boyfriend, Susumu leaves for France to pursue his classic guitar training. Father’s job banned all pets from living in the employees’ residence, but seeing how lonely Akari was, father decides to give up his well-paying job. Time passes and Susumu returns from his studies abroad while Akari too graduates from college and leaves for a job at a zoo located in a city far from home. ‘Socks’ is now old and facing death, but no before he plays a bridge role between Akari and Susumu falling in love. The moving story of a girl and her loyal dog friend is brought to life by the delicate direction of Motoki Katsuhide who is famous for *Kitaro* and the beautiful tunes made by Korean film music composer, Cho Sung-woo. (Chun Jin-su)

Director

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  • Motoki Katsuhide
  • Born in 1963. After graduating from Waseda University, Motoki joined Shochiku in 1987 and worked as an assistant director under filmmakers such as Keisuke Kinoshita. He also studied for a year in the United States. He made his directorial debut in 1997 with *Tenamonya Shōsha* and later directed the traditional comedy series *Nakkashibōzu Chiri* at Shochiku. In 2007, he achieved great success with *Kitaro*.