Today I’m going to explain a Japanese fantasy mystery film
called “Sakurada Reset”. Spoilers ahead!!
The premise of the movie is set
in a small town somewhere in Japan
called Sakurada. While at first glance, it looks
nothing special, the reality is quite different.
Half of the residents of the town have some kind
of unique ability; some can talk to animals,
some can teleport, while very few can even see the
future. These abilities can only exist inside of
the town because as soon as the residents step
out, they forget about their past lives.
The protagonist of the movie is a high school boy
named Kei Asai. He has one of the rarest abilities
to remember everything he has ever seen. Kei is
friends with a girl from his class named Haruki.
She has the power to reset time back to three
days. Kei and Haruki frequently work together to
use their powers for good and help people.
On the morning of September seventeen,
Kei is on his way to school. A kind girl named
Minami wishes him a good morning and cycles away.
Seconds later, she gets hit by a van and is
on the verge of death. Haruki sees this and
asks Kei when the last reset was. When he gives
her a green light, she uses her abilities to go
two days in the past to September fifteen.
After using the power, no one other than Kei can
remember what happened. Hence, he tells Haruki
everything about Minami’s accident. However,
since they cannot forcefully change the present,
Kei thinks of a different plan. He goes to meet
a guy named Tomoki who has the ability to talk
to anyone telepathically. September seventeen
arrives again and a few seconds before Minami’s
accident takes place, Tomoki telepathically
asks her to stop. She does so and is saved
without anyone doing anything significant.
Sakurada Reset Part 1 Watch Online
Then, Kei and Haruki meet on the roof,
happy that they were able to help someone,
even though Minami doesn’t know it. They save
the current time in Haruki’s phone which means
they cannot reset past this time in the
future which ensures Minami is safe.
To manage the powers and
protect the people of Sakurada,
an organization called the Administration club is
formed. It holds the records of every person in
the town and their abilities and uses them
when necessary for the town’s benefit.
In the following scene, we are introduced
to Eri, a girl who has the ability to steal
other people’s power but cannot use it. She
used to be one of Kei’s classmates and used
to treat him like a hero. Long ago, he helped
her get rid of her abusive father. However,
they grew apart with time and Eri still holds
a grudge against Kei for neglecting her.
That day, she meets an employee from the
Administration club who wants her help to
steal an old man’s power. When Eri hesitates,
the employee asks her if she wants to be better
than Kei and manipulates her into doing it.
Kei and Haruki work for a lower branch of the
administration club called the service club.
The help they provide to people is authorized by
this club. Later that day, Kei goes to meet
the manager of the service club. He is told
about an old man named Sasano whose power was
recently stolen by Eri. The club appoints him
to meet Sasano and help him somehow.
In the following scene, Kei and Sasano
are together. He reveals that could
enter into any picture for ten minutes
before Eri stole his powers. But for his
power to work, one must tear the picture
right in front of where it was taken.
After the meeting, Kei gets a call from the
manager who tells him that someone very important
from the administration bureau wants to meet him
and Haruki urgently. Kei is confused because
he doesn’t remember being acquainted with
anyone from the administration club.
Still, the next day, he and Haruki arrive
in front of the club’s special quarter. They
are welcomed by a mysterious man who refuses
to answer any questions. He politely brings him
inside the building that looks like a maze.
Haruka is asked to stay in the waiting room until
Kei meets the important person since the person
can only see one of them at a time.
They oblige and Kei makes his way to the
inner quarter. The VIP turns out to be a
seventy-year-old woman. She claims that
she doesn’t have a name and requests him to call
her the witch. She has the rarest ability to see
the future which is why she has been trapped in
the building for the past fifty-one years.
The administration doesn’t want someone with
such a dangerous ability to live in society
but they also cannot let her go away and lose an
asset to the town. Hence, they have been receiving
her help to predict the future of the town
while simultaneously keeping her captive.
A flashback shows us little Kei returning home
from school one day. A stranger hands him a phone,
urging him to talk to someone. The person on
the phone is none-other than the witch. She
invites him to her town, knowing that his fate
is to help its people. Kei obliged and never
returned home to his parents since that day.
Before the two can take the conversation further,
the guard interrupts them. Kei is asked to leave
while the witch goes to talk to Haruki.
Then, we see the old woman asking Haruki
how much she loves Kei. Haru replies that
even if he has no limbs, no senses, and
no thoughts, she would still love him.
To Kei’s surprise, he meets Eri outside the
quarters. She says she wants to steal Haruki’s
power next. Kei tries to ask her why but they
are interrupted when Haruki returns. Before Kei
can save her, he is held back by a girl named
Murase. She has the ability to make things,
feelings, and thoughts disappear at will
and can kill Kei with a single trick.
Holding him hostage, the girls steal Haruki’s
power. Before walking away, Murase orders Kei
to make a detailed map of the witch’s lodge,
in turn for the power to be returned.
After the incident, Kei and Haruki return
to the manager’s office and meet their old
friend Sakagami. His power is that he can
transfer one person’s ability to another.
Since Kei remembers how Haruki used her powers,
they hope they can transfer the knowledge from Kei
to Haruki. They go through the procedure but when
Haruki tries to reset, the powers don’t work.
Later, Kei and Haruki are returning home when she
asks him if their relationship is going to change
now that she cannot help him anymore.
Kei says he doesn’t know which hurts
Haruki since she is in love with him.
After dropping her off, Kei goes to meet
the manager yet again and asks him how he
knows Murase. The manager is shocked but
reveals that he used to be best friends with
Murase’s elder brother who died in a traffic
accident. A flashback shows us that Murase, the
manager, and their friend had barged into the
administration’s headquarters, threatening to blow
up the building if they didn’t help them resurrect
Murase’s brother. But as expected, the help
never came and Murase became vengeful. Currently,
her mission is to steal the power from the witch
and take over the administration club with a more
inclusive organization. This is why she wanted
a detailed map of the witch’s special lodge.
Somewhere else, the old man Sasano tears a
picture of his lover from fifty years earlier.
When the picture comes to life, it is
revealed that the woman in the picture
is the witch. She was taken away from him
by the administration bureau which ended
their relationship but none of them have
stopped loving each other even now.
Sasano tells the young witch that he misses her
but she doesn’t know how the older version of
herself feels about him. She looks at his future
and comments that they will need Kei’s help.
At home, Kei is doing his best to
make the map as accurate as possible.
Suddenly, he comes to a realization that if
Murase is about to steal the witch’s power,
the witch must already know it since she can see
the future. Then, he remembers how Murase and Eri
were right outside the lodge when he and Haruki
visited the witch. This means they are being
lured into or tipped by the witch herself. She
plans to use the girls to escape captivity.
Upon focusing deeper, Kei also sees that the books
arranged on Sasano’s shelf are exactly the same as
one in the lodge. The next day, Kei goes to meet
him and asks him if he is hiding something.
Sasano reveals that he was tipped about Kei
through one of the pictures of the witch
and that is why he wanted to meet him. In
reality, his power was never stolen because he
wasn’t wearing glasses when Eri tried to steal it.
Sasano doesn’t know how but he has a feeling Kei
will help him and the witch reunite.
He gives Kei a picture of the witch and
asks him to meet her. Kei and Haruki go
to the beach the picture was taken and
enter it. The young witch sees Kei’s future
and figures out everything that is going on.
She confirms that she manipulated Eri and Murase
against the administration so they can help her
escape. On September nineteen at 9:18 pm, they
will come face to face with her older self.
The group has to do something right then
to save the witch and help her escape.
After returning to the school, Kei and Haruki
meet Murase and give her the map. However,
they refuse to keep their end of the deal
until tomorrow since it will be three days
after the last reset which means Haruki
won’t be able to change the past again.
Kei has decided to help the witch but not by
hurting or deceiving Murase. He gathers Sasano,
Haruki, and two of his other friends and makes
an elaborate plan to execute the next night.
At exactly 9:18 pm, Murase and Eri manipulate the
guard and make him take them inside the lodge.
Using the map she reaches the witch’s room.
All this time, Sasano has been behind them,
taking pictures of every
open gate for later use.
When there is only one door left to be opened, Kei
stops Murase and tells her that the administration
club won’t be defeated with this method.
She extends her hand, threatening to kill him but
Kei doesn’t stop. He asks Haruki to reset which
makes Eri laugh, knowing that Haruki cannot use
her power until she gives them back. Suddenly, Kei
asks Murase to persuade Eri to return the power
and deliberately gets killed using her hand.
Murase is shocked because she never meant to
hurt anyone. She breaks down crying and screaming
at Kei’s death. The only way for her to reverse
what she did is by resetting time. She asks Eri
to return Haruki, her power. When Eri refuses,
she is also manipulated mentally.
In the end, Haruki gets her ability back.
Before she resets time, Sasano gives the
polaroid pictures he just took to Murase.
That way, she will not forget what happened when
the time goes back to September seventeen.
In the following scene, Kei and Haruki are on
the rooftop, and the date is September seventeen
again. Haruki doesn’t remember what
happened for the past two days,
so Kei explains everything from their meeting
with the witch to her power being stolen.
She asks Kei if their relationship will
change if she were to actually lose her power.
This time, Kei answers that he would put
his life at risk to bring her power back
if something like that happened.
In the following montage,
we see Kei reliving everything he did for the
past two days. When he goes to meet the witch,
he finds Murase outside with the polaroid
pictures she was given. She regrets what she did
and promises to let the two be this time. Inside,
Kei secretly keeps a bunch of polaroids inside the
witch’s pocket without the guard noticing. The
pictures are of the open gates of the facility.
The next day, she tears them one after another
and runs away through the open gates.
In the last scene, Kei is by the road when
a car stops in front of him. Sasano and the
witch are inside, having already reunited with
each other. They plan to go outside the city and
leave their powers behind. The movie ends
as Kei and the witch thank each other.
Thanks you.
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