Iki mo Dekinai Natsu (2012)

A 19-year-old girl burdened by a cruel destiny, a mother tormented by a tragic past, and a 41-year-old man living in atonement, and a relationship that brings strength in dark times. ‘Iki mo Dekinai Natsu’ is as much a social drama as it is a story about friendship, parents and children, and about what makes a family. Takei plays said girl who learns that her mother never recorded her birth in their family register. While falling into despair after finding out the secret about her birth yet wholeheartedly trying to live to regain ‘herself’, she happens to run into a former journalist (Eguchi) who is suffering from a deep scar in his heart himself. Although they could be father and daughter, they start to form a bond that could be described as friendship... or, between the lines, something more? During this "breathless summer", they go through a number of things that will stay in their hearts forever.