This DVD is Region-Free. Should play on all machines, including PS/2 game consoles.

Disc/Technical Information Dialogue : Japanese Running Time : 104 Mins Series Type : Movie Subtitles : English/Japanese/French Publisher : MAC In-stock : YES (Usually ships within 24hrs)

A child's drawing of a Sun, the Moon and a Mountain becomes Grandma in the same childlike style. Grandma Shige is introduced walking down the street. She stops to admire a neighbor's garden, and starts a conversation with him. The neighbor thinks at first she is praising his flowers, but then disgustedly realizes she is actually praising two caterpillars living on his flowers. She tells the caterpillars to grow up and to become beautiful gaudy butterflies.

Next we meet Mom. Matsuko is a typical housewife. Sometimes she is lazy and generally not very creative. She is introduced cooking curry. Her son complains that that is all they ever eat. They're having curry, same as yesterday, same as last week, and before that.

Now we meet Noboru, the little girl's older brother, and Mr. Takashi Yamada, her Dad. Noboru is complaining about his studies, and asks aloud what it is all for. Mr. Yamada starts lecturing him that studying is not merely to learn what he studies, but also to develop discipline. Except, he gets confused, and starts not only repeating but also contradicting himself. He goes on and on, as the rest of the family despair.

A small bird flies thru, and we follow it outside of the scene, thru some tree branches and as it lands on the credit title of: MY NEIGHBORS, THE YAMADAS

Noboru is reading a manga. He speculates aloud that his life is ordinary because his parents are ordinary. If he had richer and better looking parents, then his life would be much better. Mom overhears him, and objects. She tells him that he could not have been born from different parents. If he had, he would be a different person. But Noboru cannot accept this. He knows HE is HE, and would still be himself under any circumstances. Nonoko overhears this conversation, and comes to realize for the first time in her life that there was a time when she and Noboru where not born, and that her parents had a life before them. So. . .