I have seen this short about 4 times in the last month. Coming across it by sheer accident (I saw a trailer for We Are Little Zombies and was curious what the director had done previous), this has resonated with me very strongly.

The plot is literally just about 4 Japanese schoolgirls who put goldfish in a school pool. That’s it.

Somehow this film goes deeper. The story from director Makoto Nagahisa heads towards a coming-of-age tale, but he ends up with a short film that tackles friendship, consumerism, and existentialism.

I am very much looking forwards to his full length feature, We Are Little Zombies, which should be out at some point this year.

Here is the synopsis:

The film tells the true story of 400 fish that were found in a high school pool in Saitama, Japan, and the four fifteen-year-old girls who put them there.