I have blossomed 25 times, and now I slowly approach my 26th. A blossom is not merely a fleeting moment of beauty, but a vital cycle in a plant’s life, a rhythm of survival and renewal. Yet for humans, we will eventually reach our final blossom: a fleeting moment when life fades, ending in an instant. Death is inevitable, so when our time comes and we reflect on the path that led to those final moments, will we look back with regret or with fulfilment? For Akutsu, who is serving a life sentence in prison, that reflection begins when a balsam flower starts speaking to him. A talking balsam becomes a symbol of youth, or of someone nearing death.
The Last Blossom uses this framing device to explore Akutsu’s past life with Nana and her newborn son, Kensuke. Akutsu is a member of the Yakuza, and while he loves Nana and regards Kensuke as his own child, he keeps them at a distance, fearing that other Yakuza might target them if they were to marry. This detachment from the ones he loves lingers with him until his deathbed. He reflects on small but profound regrets: failing to say he loved them, failing to be there when Nana needed him most. The balsam plant berates Akutsu for this inaction, declaring his life pathetic, ending up in prison and dying alone.
Is that accurate, though? While this is a yakuza film, it feels closer to the works of Takeshi Kitano, such as Hana-bi and Kikujiro, than to those of Kinji Fukasaku, like Battles Without Honour or Humanity. No yakuza activity plays out on screen: there are no shady drug deals, no firearms purchased in preparation for a gang war, and no old men declaring that a finger should be cut off for forgiveness. Instead, The Last Blossom carries a tenderness, a romance narrative that happens to feature a member of the yakuza. Like Kikujiro, the film explores the idea of found family, and similar to Hana-bi, it reveals the lengths one will go for the people they love.
Akutsu may be a yakuza, but every action he takes in this film is meant to benefit the ones he loves, even if it means becoming vilified. A common idea that has shaped my life is that parents sacrifice for those they love, and that their child will always come first. While I cannot personally relate to being a yakuza, I can relate to the notion of putting loved ones above one’s own happiness or even life itself. This narrative thread left me with tears in my eyes, as I pondered the sacrifices my own mother has made to give me the life I have.
The Last Blossom’s narrative is an emotional wonder, with the cast elevating it to remarkable heights. Junki Tozuka and Hikari Mitsushima, as young Akutsu and Nana respectively, deliver tour de force performances, breathing life into their characters. Scenes such as their playful recreation of Stand by Me, using a microwave ding and the sound of tape ripped from boxes, are filled with heart-filled charm, later re-incorporated to gut-wrenching effect. The older versions of these characters, voiced by Kaoru Kobayashi and Yoshiko Miyazaki, are equally impressive and wholly believable as aged-up portrayals.
One performance that may go underappreciated but is a true scene stealer is Pierre Taki as the balsam flower. His delivery provides much of the film’s comedic energy, while also grounding its heartfelt themes and allowing them to blossom into the earth-shattering conclusion that, in conjunction with the film’s immaculate score (easily one of the best of the year), unleashed a flood of tears from my eyes, so many that I thought I might create a tsunami in the cinema. Which is no small feat, as I am made of steel.
The emotion is perfectly captured within the animation. While the character designs are simple, they deliver where it counts, expressing emotion. A single look carries so much drama that at times I felt as though I were watching a live-action film. Baku Kinoshita did an incredible job with the character designs, which complement the beautifully detailed background work. Akutsu and Nana’s apartment, as well as the town they live in, feel like characters in their own right. Even the film’s colour palette is softly vibrant, looking incredible throughout. The Last Blossom is Clap’s third feature, and they are three for three in terms of animation quality, bringing Kazuya Konomoto’s wonderful script to life and is splendidly directed by Baku Kinoshita.
While it is up to the audience to decide whether Akutsu’s life was pathetic, ending as it does in a cold prison cell, for me, to declare it pathetic is to insult the true sacrifice he made to ensure the ones he loved were alive and happy. The Last Blossom is a gut-wrenching masterpiece: a beautifully told and visually striking epic that compelled me to contemplate my own life. It will stand as a magnum opus alongside Hana bi and Kikujiro, a once-in-a-lifetime work of art.
★★★★★
Screened as part of Scotland Loves Anime 2025 and Coming Soon to UK Cinemas / Junki Tozuka, Hikari Mitsushima, Kaoru Kobayashi, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Pierre Taki / Dir: Baku Kinoshita / Anime Limited / 12
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