If the poster art for Koji Kawano’s Love My Life featuring the two main characters about to kiss didn’t clue you in, the first scene of them exchanging a piece of hard candy back and forth between their mouths should. It is in fact a lesbian romantic drama based on a manga by Ebine Yamaji. The film focuses mostly on a girl named Ichiko (Rei Yoshii) and her relationship with girlfriend Eri (Asami Imajuku) as they deal both with typical relationship issues and the added stresses of being lesbians in an intolerant society. Nothing too earth-shattering here; it’s just a saccharine sweet tale of young love and minor hardships with an upbeat theme.

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Ichiko Izumiya (Rei Yoshii) is a happy 18-year-old girl who works at a record store. When her mother died she was raised by her loving father. One day Ichiko meets and falls in love with another girl named Eri Kishima (Asami Imajuku). The two begin a relationship, and when Ichiko finally decides to tell her father, he has a secret of his own to reveal.

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In 19-year-old Tokyo Visual Arts College student Tomoko Fukai‘s directorial debut, Umeda Yuko no Kokuhaku (Yuko Umeda’s Confession), she wanted to tell a story that draws from her own experiences and the experiences of her friends to make it as realistic as possible.

In the film, 20-year-old TVA graduate Remi Yakihiro plays Yuko, a young woman who works at a gyūdon (beef bowl) shop by day and a sexy cabaret club by night. Yuko hates to lose and has an unyielding spirit. She believes men are good-for-nothing creatures but that doesn’t keep her from dating them—a lot of them. In fact she even keeps a journal in which she rates each of her conquests accordingly. However, one day she begins obsessing over a specific intellectual-looking man named Yamada (Kikujiro Honda) who’s been coming into her gyūdon shop. And what’s worse, he seems to be immune to her favorite sexy pose.

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Oh time slip, you cheapest of plot devices. No need to explain the science behind it or worry about grandfather paradoxes. Just “slip” back in time and let the hijinx commence. Following in the time-traveling footsteps of movies like Metro ni Notte and Tokyo Girl is Takashi Kubota‘s Yesterdays, starring Takashi Tsukamoto (Battle Royale, Blue Spring).

The story involves a young man named Satoshi who’s been bouncing around between part-time jobs in recent years because he stubbornly refuses to follow the same path as his father (Jun Kunimura). After 3 years without contact Satoshi receives the news that his dad has cancer and doesn’t have much longer to live. When he visits, his father has one final request—that Satoshi find a former lover named Mio Miyama that he hasn’t seen in 32 years. With only a sketchbook full of drawings to go on, Satoshi eventually finds his dad’s old apartment. However, when he steps through the door he also steps back in time and meets Akihiko (Asahi Uchida) who is actually his father at the age of 22. By interacting with the young version of Akihiko and his then girlfriend Mio (Natsuki Harada), Satoshi eventually discovers that he had more in common with his father than he ever knew.

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A young man (Takashi Tsukamoto) visits his dying father (Jun Kunimura) who has a special request. He wants his son to find a former lover before he dies. While looking for her the son goes through a time slip and meets a young version of his father (Asahi Uchida), and through their interaction he begins to understand his father in a way he never could before. Opening in Japan on November 1, 2008.

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