Sin-Gone Irony

Takashi Hirai is the 17th Abbot of Hoshu-ji, a temple in the Omuro School of Shingon Buddhism. Hirai leads a busy life as he also teaches in the Japanese Literature Department at a women’s university. Unexpected for a priest, Hirai’s easy-going, dynamic, and seemingly random personality often upsets others. Yet, his sheer charisma attracts an unwavering faith from his students, the university faculty, and the supporters of his temple.

Matsui works at an IT company and collaborates with Hirai on university-related projects. Showing his business acumen, he’s also a good consultant, watching over and taking care of his subordinate Izumioka, who makes one mistake after another.

Masaharu Shinmura, a freelance designer and Hirai’s friend, works as Matsui’s contractor and teaches design in Hirai’s university seminar.

Shinmura’s son Hinata meets Hirai for the first time on a hot summer afternoon with the sun scorching the campus. Hinata has come as his father’s assistant for a photoshoot of the campus.
“So, you’re Hinata. You know how to fight?”

Hirai’s first words puzzle Hinata, as they are far from a proper greeting. Hirai is not like anyone Hinata has ever met.

At the same time, Hirai immediately perceives that Hinata suffers from ADHD. So the priest invites Hinata often to his temple and home, while still keeping enough distance to give Hinata room to grow. For Hinata, the world is such a hard place to live. Slowly but surely, Hirai shows Hinata a way to survive without forcing him to change his identity. This will greatly affect Hinata’s future.

Kanna Aizawa, an aspiring actress, despises herself because of her own negative thinking. Perhaps that’s why she never wins a role despite all her acting auditions. Living with her boyfriend Ryo, who daily harasses her, makes Kanna even more introverted. In an audition, film producer Kon sees through her inferiority complex and tries to help Kanna liberate herself from what’s weighing her down. Thanks to the time they spend together in acting lessons, her dark side and her desire to free herself from the current situation work themselves out, and her life begins to change.

Meanwhile, Hinata often skips class, spending a saccharine, lazy time at his favorite café. There, he is reunited with a female university student Kanade Konno, who now works part-time at the café. At first, they hate each other. But thanks to the pushy café owner’s plot to set them up, they get closer day by day.

Kanade is Hinata’s first love. And Hirai is the only adult who can communicate with Hinata through a shared connection. These two dissimilar figures cast a soft light on Hinata’s world, which transforms from a living hell to a place of change.

Just when Hinata starts to feel a slight hope, Hirai suddenly passes away, and Hinata loses the new guiding principle in life. Devastated and desperate, he wanders about in the dusk. Kanade tries to reach Hinata but gets no answer. Running through the twilight in search of him, she’s worried for his physical and mental safety. Finally finding Hinata, Kanade mourns with the young man, helps him process the loss, and supports him. With Kanade by his side, Hinata moves toward the future again with a determination to make a testament to Hirai’s life, thus fulfilling a promise he’d made to the priest.

With his ADHD and his barely suppressed frustration, Hinata’s life has always been a struggle. The film documents how Hirai created interweaving connections amongst key individuals in the young Hinata’s life.