Happy Weekend.
I hope you are well!
This is the first in a two-part trailer post. The next one comes tomorrow!
What is released in Japan this weekend?
And, the Baton Was Passed 
そして、バトンは渡された 「Soshite, Baton wa Watasareta」
Release Date: October 29th, 2021
Duration: 137 mins.
Director: Tetsu Maeda
Writer: Hiroshi Hashimoto (Screenplay), Maiko Seo (Original Novel),
Starring: Mei Nagano, Kei Tanaka, Satomi Ishihara, Yuko Ando, Kurumi Inagaki,
Synopsis: Yuko Morimiya (Mei Nagano) is a high schooler living with her stepfather Morimiya (Kei Tanaka) after her free-spirited mother has departed. This isn’t the first time her mother has remarried and Yuko has had four surnames in her life. Despite being so far removed from Morimiya, he loves her a lot and she spends her day enjoying her cooking and practising the piano hard for a performance.
Yukyu yori no ai datsu damu shin jidai 
悠久よりの愛 脱ダム新時代 「Yukyu yori no ai datsu damu shin jidai」
Release Date: October 29th, 2021
Duration: 78 mins.
Director: Satoshi Kaneko
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: If you want a documentary on dams in Japan, this is your bag, as it examines the pros and cons of the structures, of which there are more than 2,700 across the country. Questions over the efficacy in a time of climate catastrophes such as guerrilla rainstorms are asked, as well as examinations over their impact on water flow and ecosystems.
If You Were There / The place was always a destination 
場所はいつも旅先だった 「Basho wa itsumo tabisakidatta」
Release Date: October 29th, 2021
Duration: 78 mins.
Director: Yataro Matsuura
Writer: N/A
Starring: Kenya Nakao, Haruka Kodama, Takato Nagata, Naoko Okamoto, Takuma Zaiki,
Synopsis: This is the first documentary directed by Yataro Matsuura, a writer, bookstore owner, and former editor-in-chief of the magazine Kurashi no Techo. We see some of the sights that Matsuura saw as he travelled to five countries and six cities around the world.
Sing a Bit of Harmony 
アイの歌声を聴かせて 「Ai no Utagoe o Kikasete」
Release Date: October 29th, 2021
Duration: 70 mins
Director: Yasuhiro Yoshiura
Writer: Yasuhiro Yoshiura, Ichiro Okouchi (Screenplay), Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Original Creator)
Starring: Haruka Fukuhara (Satomi Amano), Tao Tsuchiya (Shion Ashimori), Asuka Kudo (Touma), Kazuyuki Okitsu (Gocchan), Mikako Komatsu (Aya),
Animation Production: J.C. Staff
Synopsis: Shion is a new transfer at Keibu High School. Athletic and outgoing, she wins people over quite easily but she has one particular person she wants to make happy: a loner named Satomi. How will she do it? By serenading her at various moments! It turns out that Shion is an AI and her goal is to bring Satomi “happiness” but she is still in the testing phase, hence the strangeness. However, Satomi and her childhood friend Toma, an engineering geek, also fall in with the new student alongside school beauty queen Gocchan, the strong-willed Aya, and judo club member “Thunder,” and this gang get involved in some serious chaos thanks to Shion!
Adazakura 
徒桜 「Adazakura」
Release Date: October 29th, 2021
Duration: 93 mins.
Director: Shintaro Hatanaka
Writer: Shintaro Hatanaka (Screenplay),
Starring: Kenya Nakao, Haruka Kodama, Takato Nagata, Naoko Okamoto, Takuma Zaiki,
Synopsis: Fukuoka, present day. A story of first love occurs when a high school student named Mari confesses her feelings to classmate Ippei during the summer break. Akira has been Ippei’s friend since childhood but he has feelings for Mari so he hides them to make sure she is happy as the two begin to date. However, when Ippei undergoes a strange shift in mental attitude, he switches Mari and Akira’s existences and begins to treat one as the other…