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Baku Kinoshita's The Last Blossom Gives Plants a Voice

ODDTAXI creator Baku Kinoshita returns to Anime Expo with his newest creation, The Last Blossom. The story follows an elderly yakuza man and a talking Housenka flower who retells the man's story before he arrived in prison. As a bit of fun, Kinoshita brought a talking flower toy that repeats whatever it's told. Hirofumi Itō (Producer from HI Production) and Ryoichiro Matsuo (Producer from Studio CLAP) also came onstage alongside Kinoshita to talk more about the movie.

This marks the second time the ODDTAXI duo, Kinoshita and Ito, have been to California. Fans who didn't get to see them now have the special opportunity to learn more about The Last Blossom. Having expected only ODDTAXI fans to show up, they were pleasantly surprised that curious minds also came to the panel.

Diving into a Q&A session, Kinoshita explained how the movie came about. He and Kazuya Konomoto (scriptwriter for ODDTAXI) continued to be friends after their last project together, so he wanted to work with him again. “The dialogue in The Last Blossom is what brings the story along, and I thought he was the perfect person for that.”

”I went to Director Kinoshita and asked if we should do something together. We decided to bring this to Ito-san and see where this project would go,” added Matsuo. ”Since this is an original title, we thought it was a challenge to bring to life in Japan. We went to Ito-san because he was a producer on ODDTAXI and The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes. I thought Kinoshita-san would be reassured to have Ito-san on the project.”

As a special treat, the guests and Pony Canyon showed the first eight minutes of the film, fitting for the Fourth of July, as a scene of fireworks played for most of the introduction. The film lightly touches on Akutsu's family life and how the flower and Akutsu first met. There wasn't too much dialogue within those eight minutes, which emphasized the calm and weight of silence in the movie. The track from cero is a mix of lo-fi hip-hop with soft vocals, which feels very familiar to the quieter moments in ODDTAXI.

In a similar vein, the idea for the talking flower originally came from his previous work involving talking animals, and he thought it would be more interesting to have a talking plant. “Konomoto demands a very high quality for dialogue, and that's where the idea of a more talkative plant came from,” shared Kinoshita.

“He (the flower) is central to the story, and he's surprisingly wise. His role is to be your narrator as you watch. Part of the way, he might cause some trouble, but you experience the movie through him.” Kinoshita emphasized that during the limited time they have at Anime Expo, he wants the audience to enjoy and get a taste of how the story starts.

As another treat for the audience, Matsuo announced they would be showing the official trailer for the movie, which provided more story than the previous teaser. The movie will release on October 10, 2025, in Japan, while the US release date is still to be announced. But that's not all; they included one more never-before-seen key visual with Nana and Akutsu sitting on their porch. Ito commented that Director Kinoshita put a lot of thought and consideration into the visuals and the film itself.

“This movie doesn't have any battles or special attack moves, but it is a title with an important message and a universal message. Please watch it in theaters,” closed Ito.