“So, you’re searching for yourself?”

“No.”

“Rather, I don’t want to search for myself. Even if I don’t search for myself…I have no choice but to be here. 

I’m just running away.”

I love these types of ‘finding yourself’ films. It reminds me about life, and its never-ending discoveries. And on how there are so many ways to deal with our problems. Well, there will always be challenges and the ways we chose to resolve them may not necessarily be the best way at all times…We all need a little nudge, inspiration and loved ones to help make it a little better:)

Yu Aoi plays Suzuko in One Million Yen Girl, a 21 year-old girl who due to an unfortunate event, had decided to leave home to seek answers to her life. Broke, all alone and with no special work skills, she thus embarked on a new journey of her life, afraid but determined to earn that one million yen that she thought might bring some answers to her problems.

Will earning that one million yen bring some closure to her problems? Or, will setting big goals in life bring meaning to our issues?

Meanwhile, running in parallel with Suzuko’s journey, her young brother, Takuya, tries to deal with his problem of being bullied over and over again in school. He’s isolated, weak and unpopular. What kept Takuya going on was the inspiration that his big sis gave him – smart, defiant and fiercely independent, he hope to grow up strong like his dear sister.

The thing is, unbeknownst to Takuya, Suzuko is in fact running away from her own set of issues. Real deep ones at that. And while she is at it, she unwittingly inspires her younger brother to stand up for himself who is living a nightmarish life in school; he can easily quit, but he gritted his teeth and held on.

Takuya thinks that his sister is brave and independent while in reality, she didn’t know what to do with her life – she took the easy way out by running away. From everything. Takuya is being bullied every day in school but his sister thinks that he is strong in the sense that he can face life’s harsh realities while holding his ground.

The ironic thing is, Suzuko feels that she can’t go back to where things once were due to her past, and Takuya wants to get out of his ‘normal’ life as much as possible. Both of them wished to escape from their current reality. The beauty of the story lies in the fact that the siblings’ different coping mechanisms towards hardships in life were inspired by each other, unknowingly. They lived off one another’s life experiences and saw each other as strong, though they are despairing inside.

In the end, it was Suzuko’s bravery and independence that inspired Takuya to make a stand for himself amongst the many bigger boys and it was the younger brother’s stoic nature that inspired her to finally return home and face her problems squarely, just like what her little brother did in the face of trouble.

We all try to escape from reality sometimes, and sometimes all we need is to look closer at what we already have to get us on the road to happiness. Or that one million yen.

Watch the trailer here: