Shonen jidai

This is a story of an 11-years-old boy, who went for evacuation, when Tokyo was in danger of Ameircan air-raid, to Toyama, rural village facing Japan sea, until the war ended. However, this movie does not portray horrors or misery of the World War II. The scenes that remind wartime, like air raids, food shortages or military education, are limited though important.

You see boys of particular personalities: a son of a high-ranking official in Tokyo, a poor peasant's son who is the class leader with good study performance and outrageous character, a landowner's son with good study performance and upper hand inclination, a big strong boy with poor study performance, etc. Those typical characters of the gang-age remind your own gang-age memories. In my boyhood, I was sent from my home in a city to my aunt in a village for three months while my parents could not take care of me. In the village school I was odd man out, but I could have some friends, who had in some degree resemblance with the boys in this movie. That was why after watching the movie, I could not help recalling my boyhood in strong nostalgia. Perhaps every grown-up man would find something common in his memory and the movie.