Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
A story of three escort girls living in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. They work at the same escort service while feeling lonely in their urban lives.
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.
17-year-old high school students struggle and grow up while facing the life and death of animals.
The story of young Ahmed Tarfi might as well be the story of the Sahrawi people’s difficulties, and particularly those of the youth. The Sahrawi people are divided by a wall of more than 2000 km in length. This Moroccan wall is not only a defensive position for the occupying power, but it is also an obstacle for the cultural and social development of the original population, and also a wall of emotions and disappointments. The story of Ahmed Tarfi, despite being fictional, could very well be the story of thousands of young Sahrawis.
Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla arises near Nagoya and the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.
Mika works as a nurse by day; by night she entertains covetous men at a girls' bar. Shinji is blind in one eye and ekes out a living as a construction worker. Young and grown-up at the same time, they both lead a lonely existence, but somehow their paths keep miraculously crossing under the Tokyo sky.
In a dysfunctional family where the mother is a heroin addict and prostitute, beaten by her son, and the father is an ex-TV reporter, sleeping with his daughter and filming his son being beaten up, ‘Q’, a complete stranger enters the bizarre family, changing their lives for the better, finding a balance in their disturbing natures.
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.
The time spent between professional Shogi player Kiriyama and his three stories helps to heal his wounds. As he prepares to secure another win in an upcoming tournament, the father who left the three sisters appears and disturbs the peace.
Near the end of World War II, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he cannot maintain control of the city. After much contemplation Choltitz decides to ignore his orders, enraging the Germans and giving hope to various resistance factions that the city will be liberated. Choltitz, along with Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling, helps a resistance leader organize his forces.
As a child, Ono Tsubasa saw a Shirato baseball game on TV and was amazed at the Trumpet player in the band playing. Now, in order to play the Trumpet, she enters Shirato High School. There, she meets Yamada Daisuke, a catcher for the baseball team. With each others support, they go towards their dream of playing at Koushien.
Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will face his greatest challenge ever when the cost of honor is life itself.
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.
Two couple of friends, one very rich, the other almost homeless, decide to go on Holiday. Julie, a single mother, joins them too. Once at seaside, it starts a complicate love cross among them that will involve also a transsexual, a jealous brother, a Latin Lover and another nervous stressed couple. Not to mention about the daughter of one of them that is secretly in Chicago with one of her father's employees... At the end of the summer, all of them will join the same party...
A middle school teacher's life is thrown into turmoil when dozens of students dye their hair gold and his girlfriend suddenly proposes marriage, triggering a media frenzy and government intervention, forcing him to team up with the student mastermind behind the hair trend to navigate the chaos and confront his own journey from a jaded, reluctant adult to a mature, responsible one.
The winds of change blow as a family grapples with unemployment, alienation, mistrust and a lack of communication. When a Japanese salaryman loses his job to outsourcing to China, it's simply the beginning of a series of shattering incidents, leading to the implosion of the family unit.
Yoshie is a member of the theatre club in high school. Due to her older sister Keiko, Yoshie begins acting in a indie film with her friend Akari and theatre club president Aki. Their sadistic director Naomi pushes them psychologically and their relationship begins to change.
Making pizza and going to the amusement park with the family are important to Selma on her father's birthday. But the day doesn't turn out that way, as her father doesn't turn up.