Film REVIEW #SLA: The Last Blossom (2025) - ★★★★★

Mix Up Theatre (Stewart)
29 minutes ago
2 min read

Part of Scotland Loves Anime Festival

Director: Baku Kinoshita

Writer: Kazuya Konomoto

Starring: Kaoru Kobayashi, Junki Tozuka, Hikari Mitsushima, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Pierre Taki.

Genre: Animation, Drama

A dying prisoner reflects on his final summer of freedom in 1986, when he lived with a woman and her son surrounded by Housenka flowers. As death approaches, one of these flowers guides him through memories of his past as a yakuza.

Matthew (Age 15) - ★★★★★

"The Last Blossom is a beautiful, tragic film about the life of the main character Akutsu. The film is told through flashbacks Akutsu has as he lays dying in prison, discussing his life with a talking balsam flower, who berates him over the fact that his fear that getting close to those he loved would put them in danger meant that he never told them how he truly felt, leaving him alone in a prison cell for 30 years. Akutsu refutes this, but it is up to us to decide if he truly wasted his life, or if his sacrifice was worth it to ensure the safety of those he cared for. The scene where Akutsu manages to "turn it around" was truly masterful, signalling both a continuation of Akutsu's love for his family and the end of his life. The Last Blossom's ending is both tragic and beautiful, as Nana, the woman Akutsu loved, finds out that he loved her back, but only after years of wondering. The Last Blossom truly is a beautiful and heartfelt story about the struggle to provide for your family and the things you are willing to sacrifice for their happiness."

Have you seen it?

Like this? Try these!....