Japan's suicide rate is nearly twice that of the U.S. and three times that of the U.K., with the number of people taking their own lives each year only recently dipping below 30,000. It is also the leading cause of death among Japanese in their teens and 20s. Why this should be so in a society so orderly, safe and prosperous is often put down to cultural and historical factors, such as all those samurai, fictional and real, cutting their stomachs and being rather admired for it.
Of course, it's not that simple (a lot of those samurai were forced to take a sword to themselves). Instead, youth suicide is a multifaceted problem that defies easy solution, especially when, as is often the case, it is an act of impulse, with warning signs missed or dismissed by parents, teachers and other responsible adults.
Kazuya Konaka's fantasy drama "Seki Seki Ren Ren (Deep Red Love)" struck me as a film that might open a few eyes, young and not-so-young, to the causes and consequences. Not a solution, that is, but a start.