ring wandering

Ring Wandering

Directed by Masakazu Kaneko
Japan | 2021 | Narrative
104 minutes

Sosuke is an aspiring manga artist, though for the moment he’s stuck doing heavy labor on construction jobs in central Tokyo. At the same time, he is trying to finish his manga about the battle of a hunter and a Japanese wolf taking place during the Russo-Japanese war. He is struggling, however, particularly in drawing the animal, since no one has seen one for over a century. One day, while digging during his work, he accidentally uncovers a partial canine skull, which he thinks might be from the particular wolf. He sneaks into the site during the night to search for more bones, but instead stumbles upon a distraught young woman who is searching for her lost dog, and treats Sosuke as some kind of curiosity. After much verbal back and forth, he agrees to help her, but Midori sprains her ankle and Sosuke has to carry her home. They pass through the gates of a shrine, and a different Tokyo awaits Sosuke on the other side, which he soon realizes is from another timeline altogether.