ALWAYS Sunset on 3-chome

Directed by
Keiichiro Moriya
 Written by
Ryohei Nishigishi (Original Manga Version)
 Music by
 Budget

ALWAYS Sunset on 3-chome (Best known as ALWAYS Sunset on Third Street) is a 2005 toho drama film.

## Plot

In the spring of 1959 , Suzuki Auto is located in the downtown area of Tokyo, 3rd street in Yuhashi. There collective employment train ride to Aomori from collective employment Rokushi in (Mutsuko) is coming. Six (six) are familiar properly, but in fact Rokushi which had been expected to either be able to work for large companies, was disappointed secretly to the small of the old-fashioned downtown factory Suzuki Auto.

Ryunosuke Chagawa, the owner of the candy shop "Chagawa Shoten", is a novelist. Chagawa keeps a strange child, Junnosuke Furuyuki, from a beautiful shop owner Hiromi Ishizaki of the izakaya “Yamafuji” with drunken force. The two people start living together.

## Cast

* Maki Horikita as Mutsuko Hoshino, the apprentice
* Hidetaka Yoshioka as Ryunosuke Chagawa, the writer
* Shinichi Tsutsumi as Norifumi Suzuki, the mechanic
* Koyuki as Hiromi Ishizaki, sake bar owner
* Hiroko Yakushimaru as Tomoe Suzuki, the mechanic's wife
* Kazuki Koshimizu as Ippei Suzuki, the mechanic's son
* Kenta Suga as Junnosuke Furuyuki, the abandoned boy

## Staff

* Director/Screenplay/ VFX : Takashi Yamazaki
* Original: Ryohei Nishigishi
* Screenplay: Ryota Furusawa
* Photo: Kozo Shibasaki
* Lighting: Kenichi Mizuno
* Art: Anri Kamijo
* VFX Director: Kiyoko Shibuya
* Recording: Hitoshi Tsurumaki
* Edit: Ryuji Miyajima
* Theme song: D-51 " ALWAYS "

## Titles

* Always: Sunset on Third Street (Worldwide Title)
* ALWAYS Sunset on 3-chome (Original Japanese Poster Title)
* ALWAYS Sanchome Sunset (Untold Japanese Release title)

## Production

Unlike many historical plays, there are many people who know about the time in 1959 , which is the near past, but there was also concern that Yamazaki himself would not know because he was not born  . Director Yamazaki watched a number of Showa 30s movies for reference  . I liked for a long time, Yasujiro Ozu "of little early so , such as the" comedyaimed at  . Also, since the original manga is a stack of short episodes, it will be out of place in the live-action as it is.It becomes a movie without a ball  . To avoid that, he refers to the story of " Love Actuary, " which allows multiple stories to be played simultaneously in a group play  .

Initially I thought that this film could be filmed on location, but there was no place where the atmosphere of 1958 remained in a wide range that could be used in movies, but I searched all over Japan  . As a result, the set and CG were used for filming, and it cost a lot of money for a little human story that occurs on the street corner  .

On December 2, 2004, a press conference was held at Toho Studio to announce the production of this work  . After the conference, an elaborate set of cityscapes with a total construction cost of 400 million yen will be presented  . As a director, it was great to have a fine set made by the art department, but [ post production ] CG that suits those sets, whether it is necessary to make a long shot of the cityscape and also a member of the CG team Yamazaki was also afraid  . At first, I was uncomfortable with the set shooting because it made me feel like a lie, but due to the efforts of the lighting department, for example, in the summer scene Director Yamazaki himself seems to be shooting outside during the midsummer day. It became  .

To 1958 time travel to the staff of the actual city and the scenery taken with the intention that location in the field, ignoring the restrictions on the set shooting  . For example, if the camera moves out of the set, the crane moves and you can see the back of the set, the ceiling of the set is reflected, but the defect will be corrected later with CG, Yamazaki said OK  . Therefore , according to Kinema Junpo , this work is a video that does not feel the limit of set shooting  .

This film was shown on October 24, 2005 as a special invitation work for the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival  .

### Production Committee

* Nippon Television Network
* ROBOT
* Shogakukan
* Bop
* Toho
* Dentsu
* Yomiuri TV broadcast
* Yomiuri Shimbun
* White team
* IMAGICA
* Sapporo TV Broadcast
* Miyagi Television Broadcast
* Chukyo TV broadcasting
* Hiroshima TV Broadcast
* Fukuoka Broadcasting

### Abe Showa planning

Since entering the Heisei era, Shuji Abe has spoken every time he wants to make a movie in Showa, especially in the Showa 30's when he was a boy  . It was called "Abe's Showa Project" at the robot's in- house planning meeting  . The symbol of "Abe's Showa Project" is the Tokyo Tower under construction that I saw when I was young  . Abe wanted the audience of the movie to relive the excitement and excitement of seeing Tokyo Tower gradually expanding into the sky  .

Received a hint from Ryohei Nishigishi from another producer , " Sunset on 3-chome "  . But was a favorite cartoon of old friends for Abe, "Sunset on Third Street" is graphic novelbecause it is not a [live-action] movie seemed to be difficult  .

With a nostalgic boom reminiscent of the Showa era, it was said that it would not be possible to deal with the Showa era from now  . Also, the baby-boom generation who was most likely to be interested in "Tokyo Tower under construction" was also the youngest generation to come to the theater  . Therefore, "Abe's Showa Project", which has no market, was strongly opposed  . However, Abe's result was that the baby-boom generation did not come to the movie theater, and the movie that the baby-boom generation really wanted to see was not made. I thought positively that it would succeed if I made a movie that would be carried  . There were many negative opinions around, but with the support of Executive Producer Seiji Okuda of Nippon Television , we were able to move to the next stage  .

### Director

2002, VFX "that specializes in white sets belonging to the" Takashi Yamazaki supervision and robot of Shuji Abe is teamed, SF action movie " Returner were fabricated."  . "Returner" has a good reputation, and was expected to take the next work from Takeshi Kaneshiro , who is the leading actor  .

Various projects were considered as the third movie directed by Yamazaki, including the sequel to "Returner", but at that time, Abe, who was the president of the robot , made a Showamovie from the beginning of Ryohei Nishigishi 's " Sunset in 3-chome " The idea came out  . Director Yamazaki loved Ryohei Nishigishi's manga, and also had a desire to make a movie of humanity one day  . When doing humanity things on the stage of the present age, it is inevitable to get shy, but "Sunset at Sanchome" set in the 1955's, when it seems that people can usually do things, is a good plan [objectively] It seemed to me, but it wasn't an active plan I chose  .

It was known to Abe that Director Yamazaki was reluctant  , but Yamazaki's VFX technology was absolutely necessary for "Abe's Showa Project"  . Abe cites that James Cameronfilmed " Titanic " after " Terminator ", and Yamaguchi had two science fiction movies, " Juvenile " and "Returner," which continued from his debut. He persuaded that such a movie would be labeled as "SF movie director"  . In addition, he scolded Yamazaki's VFX technology, saying, "I can express anything that is a fantasy, but I can't reproduce the one that actually exists?"  . In the end, Director Yamazaki, who answered “I can,” decided to participate in the story-making process of the project  . Abe states that it is also important for movie producers to guide the creators to the task of "dislike" to the feeling of "willing to do it voluntarily"  .

Even at the time the movie was completed, Yamazaki couldn't help but think that he [VFX-man and film director] often directed himself to "Sunset on Sanchome"

### Pilot version

While there are still many negative and negative opinions within the robot company, Hideki Abe, while the executive producer and Yamazaki are in the process of making a story , the two created a pilot version for presentation to the investors  . The pilot version had two purposes  . The first was to confirm how much the VFX technology can reproduce the scenery of 1958  . The second was to tell investors that the movie had a story that moved the audience  . That's why the pilot version needed a simple story  . Because not Kume until set in the budget of convenience, Tokyo Koganei City in the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum borrowed the building, was taken to use the 20 actors  . The pilot version of 3 minutes and 30 seconds cost 20 million yen  . MovieIt was a big adventure for Abe for the 20 million yen when he wasn't standing  . However, the people who didn't get the point even though they were explained in the plan saying "Toden runs in front of the Tokyo Tower under construction" turned to a favorist to hit an avalanche when they saw the pilot version  ..

### Title

There were many opinions that supported the original movie title "Sunset in 3-chome" including director Yamazaki  , but the title was set to "ALWAYS" and the subtitle was "Sunset in 3-chome" by the executive producer Shuji Abe .  . Abe, who also has experience as a copywriter, places importance on the title, which is the first point of contact between the movie and the audience  . "ALWAYS" contains the message of this movie such as "things that will never change, things that should never change", in addition to the merit of character strength and the comfort of sound . Although it was a Japanese movie and was set in 1959, he also found that the mismatch of the English title was interesting  .

However, movie critic and radio DJ Limestar Utamaru pointed out that the addition of the English title was nostalgic, like the name of a coffee shop in the countryside, and called this nomenclature the " **Yamazaki Method.** " It's silly  .

### Long-cut one-cut

At the meeting just before the shoot, Hideshi Abe's executive producer suddenly suggested to Director Yamazaki and his staff to take a long, one- shot shot of the opening scene until the title was displayed  . The opening scene is as follows. Ippei flies a model airplane from the back alley of 3-chome  . The model airplane flies to the main street where Toden runs . Tokyo Tower  , which is under construction, ahead of the Toden train running away . The movie title is then displayed  . Many staff were planning to cut and shoot  . The back alley set at 3-chome is an indoor studio [ Toho Studio ] in Tokyo , and the main street set is an outdoor open set in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, so many people denied Abe's proposal  .

However, this difficult problem of Abe was solved by director Yamazaki and each staff member by narrowing down their wisdom and making a model airplane CG  . "Scene where model airplane flies between roofs of houses ( VFX )" is sandwiched between "scenery of alley where Ippei flies model airplane (indoor studio)" and "scene of main street (outdoor open set)" As a result, it has been a long-running one-cut [because the model plane is always visible  . Although he didn't give much importance to Abe's proposal, Yamazaki said that the opening scene was most impressive when the movie was completed  .

### SL

A steam locomotive is required in the Ueno station scene, but it was not filmed at the Oigawa Railway , which is used in many movies and dramas  . In 1958, the Joban Line was used on the largest steam locomotives C62 and D51 , while the steam locomotive of the Oigawa Railway is small  . For the location, we used C62 2 ( Hitachi ), which is dynamically preservedat the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum in Kyoto (at that time)  . However, since the C62 that was in Ueno was made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries , the manufacturer's plate has been changed  .

### Movie reality

During the shooting of the scene where Chagawa completely disassembled the TV that the Suzuki family had just bought and the electronics store took over , Shuji Abe's executive producer noticed that the vacuum tube of the disassembled TV was a used one, and a new one. Since he disassembled the TV, he ordered that the parts must be new  . In addition, at the time of 1958, flies were flying everywhere, so I added them in CG  .

The Daihatsu Midget , which the president of Suzuki Auto rides , started production in 1957 (Showa 32), so it is strange to think that it is tattered like a movie from the reality of reality . Also, considering that the streets of Sanchome have been restored from the burned fields after the war, they should look newer  . However, according to Abe, because what is required of the movie audience is the "good old era nostalgia", art (to show deliberately old -aging is more subjected to) come nicely  . Abe calls the world view of this film, which is the reality of a movie rather than the reality of reality, a "1/1 model" that makes it look more real than the real.

## Opening

Kinema Junpo 's Yoshio Kakeo says that the original manga " Sunset on the Third Street " is a well-known but not an explosive bestseller because it is a long-term serialization, and it is the image of the 7th batter who is astringent in the magazine " Big Comic Original ". However, fans of the original manga are supposed to be older men, and I did not think that older men would hit because they are the least visited group  . However, according to a survey by Toho conducted in the movie Nippei 2 , the ratio of spectators to men and women of this work is 57 to 43, 37% in the 40s, 22% in the 50s, 15.6% in the 20s and 30 in the order of age. The generation was 14.5%, which was significantly different from Kakeo's expectations  . The motivation for viewing was "because it looks interesting", "because it was set in the 1955's"  .

It was released on 271 screens nationwide  , and in the national weekend box office results on November 5th and 6th, 2005 ( box news agency ), spectator mobilization was 160,423 people, box office revenue of 211.84 million yen. The first appearance in the lead  . Shuji Abe's executive producer was expecting box office revenue of 300 million yen in the first week  . On the 12th and 13th of the second week of the public release, the box office revenue was 216 million yen over the previous weekend, keeping the lead  . Word- of- mouth conveys the reputation of this work, which is reflected in figures such as 100.1% compared to the previous week of the second week  . On the 9th day of the release, the cumulative box office revenue amounted to over 660 million yen  . Naofumi Komai of movie .com predicted that box office revenue could reach 2 billion yen in the end  . Kinema Junpo's Yoshio Kakeo is expected to be 2 billion yen and expects 2.5 billion yen  . Even on the 19th and 20th of November, the third week after the release, he achieved V3  . On the 26th and 27th of November, the fourth week of publication, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire], but the total box office revenue exceeds 1.5 billion yen  . On the 3rd and 4th of December, the fifth week of the public release, the cumulative box office revenue approaches 2 billion yen  . On December 19, the cumulative box office revenue will reach 2.2 billion yen  . It was decided to extend the screening at over 200 movie theaters nationwide, and it was a long-run screening over the year  . It was ranked in the top 10 until January 7th and 8th, 2006, the 10th week of publication  . The final box office revenue was 3.23 billion yen  . Audience mobilization is 2.84 million  .

## Series

Main Article: ***Always: Sunset on Third Street***

### Sequel

***ALWAYS Sunset on 3-chome 2*** (ALWAYS sequel, 3 chome sunset)

## Extra information

the film was originally, co-written and directed by the Japanese filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, based on Ryōhei Saigan's long-running manga Sanchōme no Yūhi. It was chosen as Best Film at the Japan Academy Prize ceremony. The film eventually spawned two sequels, Always Zoku Sanchōme no Yūhi (2007) and Always Sanchōme no Yūhi '64 (2012).