Family is a clear red thread in Mamoru Hosoda's filmography. Here he explores the trials the family faces when the spoiled four-year-old Kun-chan gets a little sister – Mirai – which can be translated as future (Mirai no Mirai – Mirai from the future). Kun-chan's role as the family's center changes, which he reacts to with extreme jealousy. But one day he discovers that the family's small garden is magical and allows him to travel in both time and space, and through these experiences he slowly comes to an understanding of his new role… The film is obviously based on the director's own experiences as a father of two children, where the youngest child is not entirely coincidentally named Mirai. Although Kun-chan is not the most sympathetic film hero one has seen, the family dynamics are so realistically portrayed and his genuine feeling of being sidelined so clear that it is difficult not to feel for him, as he accuses little Mirai of having stolen his parents' love.
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