Kodomo wa Wakatte Agenai Deluxe Edition Blu-ray

Director Shuichi Okita, known for The Chef of South Polar and A Story of Yonosuke, adapts Retto Tajima’s acclaimed, manga-award favourite Kodomo wa Wakatte Agenai. Swimming, calligraphy, a girl meeting a boy, anime fandom, family, an unexpected detective, the search for a real father and a former religious leader combine in an unlikely coming-of-age story that brought colour to the summer of 2021. Moka Kamishiraishi and Kanata Hosoda lead an ensemble including Yudai Chiba, Kanji Furutachi, Yuki Saito and Etsushi Toyokawa.

Minami and Mojikun hit it off through an unexpected encounter. When a mysterious talisman suddenly arrives for Minami, they decide to search for her biological father, who disappeared when she was very young. With help from Mojikun’s feminine-looking older brother Meidai, who works as a detective, they quickly track down Tomomitsu Waragaya. Keeping the visit a secret from her current family, Minami goes to meet him—but what awaits her?

The deluxe edition comes in a three-sided outer case with a booklet that explores the film through still photographs, the director’s production notes and setting materials for its fictional anime, Magical Plastering Girl Buffalo KOTEKO. The video extras offer more than seventy minutes of additional material, including promotional spots and the complete approximately eight-minute KOTEKO animation, presented in full for the first time.

An event collection covers the completion screening, the advance-release appearance at Theatre Shinjuku, the nationwide-release appearance and the KOTEKO talk event. The making-of documentary Summer 2019 follows the production behind the scenes during its midsummer shoot. Five deleted scenes, collected as Five Scenes We Could Not Show You That Summer, reveal further moments absent from the feature.