Summer Vacation 1999 (1988 Film)

Summer Vacation 1999 (Japanese: １９９９年の夏休み, Romaji: 1999 - Nen no natsu yasumi) is a Japanese film directed by Shusuke Kaneko and released on March 26, 1988. The runtime is 90 minutes.

Poster of Summer Vacation 1999 featuring the cast — Promotional artwork for Summer Vacation 1999.

Production and Crew

The film was directed by Shusuke Kaneko from a screenplay written by Rio Kishida and Moto Hagio. Production was managed by Naoya Narita and Yutaka Okada, with cinematography handled by Kenji Takama. A notable production characteristic is that although the story is set in a Japanese boys' school, all the characters are played by female actors.

Plot

An empty Japanese boys' school during summer vacation houses only three students: junior Norio and seniors Kazuhiko and Naoto, who lack families to return to. A dark atmosphere pervades due to the suicide of classmate Yu three months prior. Norio blames Kazuhiko for Yu's death because Yu loved Kazuhiko, leading to cruelty from Kazuhiko and recurring nightmares. This tension intensifies with the early arrival of Kaoru, a student who bears a striking physical resemblance to Yu.

Cast

Eri Miyajima as Yu / Kaoru
Tomoko Otakara as Kazuhiko
Miyuki Nakano as Naoto
Eri Fukatsu as Norio
Masaaki Maeda as Narration
Hiromi Murata as Voice of Naoto
Nozomu Sasaki as Voice of Kazuhiko
Minami Takayama as Voice of Kaoru