I have seen a few movies by this director, this one is one of his best. This movie portrays a group of friends and classmates. There is Ito, unfortunate gay in love with his straight friend Yoshida. Kanbara is so called 'funny guy'. Shimizu is Yoshida's insecure girlfriend. Aihara is a rape victim, Yoshida somewhat falls for her. And there are the minor characters, like Ito's divorced parents, male and female bullies among the classmates. Bullying was showed really well, felt very real, especially among the girls. There are no saints among the characters, all main characters are doing stupid or even nasty things. They aren't evil, they are indeed awkward and confused, sometimes it makes you cringe. Movie is a little long and for a moment I was worried it doesn't go anywhere, but in the end all motives were tidyly closed. It felt like real Japan, it felt like real troubled youngsters.