Japanese films based on manga (Japanese comics) are so common now that if I were a young Japanese writer ambitious for a big movie payday, I'd skip the scriptwriting classes and learn how to draw.
Manga movie adaptations usually try to stay faithful to the source material, and if the actors are over-caffeinated, it's often because they're doing their damnedest to imitate a cartoon character. Also, since popular manga can go on for thousands of pages, films based on them are typically crammed with characters and story lines to please the manga's fans.
"Suna Dokei (Sands' Chronicle)" is based on Hinako Ashihara's eponymous comic, which ran from 2003 to 2006 and later became a TBS drama series, and the film covers a lot of narrative ground as it follows its heroine, Ann, from her teen years to adulthood.