The Face of Jizo [Premium Edition] - Bandai Entertainment

Set in post-war Japan, The Face of Jizo (Chichi to kuraseba, 2004) follows a young woman named Mitsue (Rie Miyazawa) who lives with her caring father Takezo (Yoshio Harada). One day while returning home she gets caught in a thunderstorm and suddenly begins to act terrified. It’s not the actual thunder that scares her, it’s the reminder of a traumatic incident in her past. Mitsue is a Hiroshima survivor and she’s understandably haunted by the memories of that tragic event. The only person she has left for any sort of emotional support now is her dad. However, her dad has been dead for quite some time and speaks to her as a ghost to make sure she’s okay.

One day Mitsue meets a shy but likable young researcher named Kinoshita (Tadanobu Asano) and her dad encourages her to spend more time with him, sensing a possible chance at romance for his emotionally-scarred daughter. She refuses to go through with it though, feeling so much survivor guilt that she truly believes she doesn’t have the right to seek out any sort of romance while everyone she’s ever loved is dead. Now Takezo’s final act in this world will be convincing his daughter that she deserves happiness.

Region 2, NTSC, DVD9, 16:9 letterboxed, 2 discs. Main disc includes audio commentary by director Kazuo Kuroki. Bonus disc includes making-of featurette, press conference footage, trailers, and more. For the Standard Edition, see this link.

Available at the following retailer(s) on June 24, 2005:

• CDJapan
• YesAsia