‘The Last Blossom’ Director on Why a Plant Was the Perfect Counterpart for a Former Yakuza

GKIDS continues its hot streak of bringing anime films, from unknowns to household-name favorites, to the big screen. Its upcoming film, The Last Blossom , by ODDTAXI creators Baku Kinoshita and Kazuya Konomoto , is coming to theaters in North America for two nights only at the end of August, and it’s bringing all the heartbreak.

The Last Blossom follows Akutsu ( Junki Tozuka ), a former yakuza spending the twilight years of his life behind bars. His only companion is Hōsenka, a smart-mouthed, sarcastic talking plant growing out of a rusted tin can, who has the worst bedside manner as Akutsu reminisces about his life. Key among his memories is the found family he once had with a woman he never told he loved, and her child, whom he gave everything to help rear. And the many mistakes and regrets he made along the way. But along their trip down memory lane, the two discover there’s no shelf life on redemption.

In the lead-up to the film’s release, io9 interviewed Kinoshita about how his film debut extends and diverges from his claim to fame in ODDTAXI , his affinity for yakuza storytelling, and how the film’s titular plant became a perfect narrative foil for its sunsetting hero.

For those who weren’t there at the time, ODDTAXI ‘s release was an aptly odd one in a sea of killer shows like Ranking of Kings , Sonny Boy , 86 Eighty-Six , Jujutsu Kaisen , and Attack on Titan jockeying for Anime of the Year in 2022. For starters, it looked like nothing fans had really seen before. Plus, its dramedy blend of storytelling, told from the perspectives of a bursting cast of anthropomorphic animals all tied to a walrus taxi driver and a yakuza murder plot, made its intrigue all the more engrossing—especially as Kinoshita’s directorial debut anime series.

Despite fans flocking to theaters to see The Last Blossom , expecting it to echo ODDTAXI ‘s vibes, Kinoshita never set out to make the film similar to ODDTAXI in any way.

“As a creative, we have to always explore new territories,” Kinoshita said. “That is the policy I set for myself. It’s not like I go, ‘Oh, ODDTAXI did so well,’ that I went in that same direction.”

One distinct difference between the two works is the breadth of its cast. While ODDTAXI thrives on a rotating ensemble, each adding their own texture to city nightlife, The Last Blossom , by contrast, has five characters at the heart of its story. Shorter stories begat a smaller cast of characters, which Kinoshita says helped him tell a deep story focused solely on depicting “the beauty of life,” even if that life is rife with reminders of his past regrets. Another key difference is the animation studios.

Bringing Kinoshita and writer Konomoto’s The Last Blossom to life is Studio CLAP .