Shizuku Miyama aims to become a doctor and follow in the footsteps of her father, Katsumi. “I want to make him proud,” she thinks. But when Katsumi expresses his disapproval toward his daughter becoming a doctor, Shizuku rebels and attends med school anyway on a scholarship. She makes it to her first year of residency where together with 4 other same-year interns she is assigned to the front lines of emergency medicine at the hospital’s critical care center. With only 6 months of medical practice behind them, these five interns lack sufficient life-saving skills, but through daily contact with experienced colleagues and contact with patients, find themselves maturing into full-fledged doctors and adults under the unforgiving life or death pressures of the emergency room.

Yukiko, Seiko, Yoko and Takako are the most improbable group of friends given the fact that they work in very different industries and live in different worlds. Yukiko is a fashion maven devoted to expressing her individuality through clothes. But she’s pushing 30 now, and is beginning to acknowledge the pressure to dress appropriately for her age. Seiko has been promoted to a managerial position but finds herself having to constantly do battle with her elder male subordinates. Yoko fantasizes about marrying a gorgeously handsome company freshman 12 years her junior. Takako is a devoted single mother whose hard daily effort more than compensates for a father role.

Do you have a teacher you will never forget?
An ordinary looking school and a typical classroom. So many students have passed through it over the years; as have many battle-scarred teachers. A message on the blackboard embodies three dramatic periods in Japan’s postmodern history. There was the time just after World War II, the economic miracle that followed, and the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami. Viewed from three fascinating and iconoclastic teachers living through these three revolutionary milestones moments, here is a story that drives at the heart of education. What did these children learn? What were the adults able to impart to them? What does it mean to be Japanese? And what are the hopes and dreams of people of all ages?

A modern retelling of the classic 1887 Francis Burnett story, The Little Princess, about a precocious young girl of wealthy upbringing who one day finds her life turned upside down and all her privileges taken away when the family goes bankrupt. Cast into the role of a penniless servant, Seira fights on, never losing her pride, cheer nor compassion come whatever adverse circumstances. An inspirational and timeless story sure to be the purest and most heroic told this year.