🌸 Housenka (2025): Cast, Plot, Release Date & A Haunting Yakuza Tale of Memory, Revenge, and Blooming Tragedy

Boxofficehype
Jul 8
2 min read

Housenka (2025) — A Haunting Yakuza Elegy Told Through Memory and Blooming Flowers

What if the last moments of your life were narrated not by a person, but by a flower?

Coming to theaters across Japan on October 10, 2025, Housenka is a poignant, genre-blending original anime film from the creators of Odd Taxi. Directed and written by Baku Kinoshita, with co-writer Kazuya Konomoto, Housenka offers a contemplative story about life, love, regret, and an unexpected shot at redemption—told through the lens of a dying yakuza and the surreal voice of a talking balsam flower.

🥀 The Story: A Life Remembered, A Love Reclaimed

In the present day, Akutsu (voiced by Kaoru Kobayashi) is an elderly inmate, resigned to die alone in a prison cell after a lifetime sentence. But just as death looms, an unusual companion appears—a housenka flower (touch-me-not), capable of human speech. With uncanny wisdom and an empathetic tone, the flower guides Akutsu through the memories of his most precious and painful summer.

The story transports us back to 1986, a humid season in a forgotten seaside town. A younger Akutsu, a low-level yakuza, is taken in by his older gang brother Tsutsumi and finds himself sharing a small apartment with a woman named Nana (Hikari Mitsushima) and her son Kensuke. With housenka flowers blooming in the garden and fireworks lighting up the night sky, a makeshift family forms. Happiness, though brief, feels real.

But peace is a luxury not afforded to men like Akutsu. Faced with an impossible debt and no escape, he and Tsutsumi hatch a high-stakes plan: a heist to steal 300 million yen from their own syndicate. For Akutsu, it’s not just a desperate gamble—it’s a last chance at freedom, love, and perhaps redemption.

“Now that we have no way out, we have a chance for a major turnaround.”

🎬 Creative Powerhouse Behind the Film

Housenka reunites the creative team behind the acclaimed anime Odd Taxi, known for its dark humor, layered storytelling, and emotional depth. With Baku Kinoshita in the director’s chair and Kazuya Konomoto co-writing the screenplay, the film promises a mix of surrealism, melancholia, and sharp human insight.

The visuals are delicately hand-crafted, with direction and animation led by Mugi Kinoshita, and concept art by Michinoku Tōge. The musical score, composed by Cero and Akira Taira, blends traditional Japanese sounds with ambient emotion to complement the film’s dreamlike pacing.

🌸 Cast Highlights

Kaoru Kobayashi as Akutsu
Hikari Mitsushima as Nana
Yoshiko Miyazaki
Junki Tozuka
Souma Saito, Hiroki Yasumoto, Pierre Taki, and more

💭 Themes: A Flower, A Firework, A Farewell

Housenka isn’t just a yakuza story—it’s a poetic meditation on memory, forgiveness, and the fragility of life. The housenka flower—delicate, easily bruised, and quick to scatter its seeds—serves as a perfect metaphor for the impermanence of love, youth, and freedom. As Akutsu retraces the steps of his former self, audiences are invited to ask: Can one moment of tenderness rewrite a lifetime of mistakes?