Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005)

Always: Sunset on Third Street is a Japanese movie directed by Takashi Yamazaki and based on a long-running manga by Ryohei Saigan. It was released by Toho in Japan on November 5, 2005.

In the film, Maki Horikita plays a girl named Mutsuko who travels to Tokyo to get a job at a major automotive company, but instead ends up working at a small, family-owned car repair shop. The Suzukis’ young son Ippei takes a shine to Mutsuko and starts thinking of her as an older sister.

Other Tokyo citizens are also striving to make a name for themselves in post-war Tokyo. A former exotic dancer named Hiromi (Koyuki) starts up a sake bar. When a young boy named Junnosuke (Kenta Suga) is left in her care, she leaves him with struggling writer Chagawa (Hidetaka Yoshioka).

Unfortunately, Chagawa is only able to generate interest in his children’s adventure stories, but this suits Junnosuke just fine and he begins to respect his new caretaker more and more. Junnosuke eventually starts to write his own stories and befriends Ippei of the Suzuki family who becomes interested in reading his futuristic sci-fi tales.

“Always” was followed by Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 in 2007