Pieta in the Toilet

Sonoda Hiroshi is a young artist who works as a (window) cleaner to make ends meet. He has stomach cancer, but when the story starts he does not know that and when he finds out, at first he doesn’t want to do anything about it. The role of Hiroshi is played by Noda Yojiro, the Japanese pop star and vocalist/guitarist/composer for the popular band Radwimps. This is Noda's first acting experience, but he obviously brings his rockstar charisma with him.
The story about the dying young artist is based on the diary kept by the famous comic strip/manga artist Tezuka Osamu in the last weeks of his life. Tezuka also died of stomach cancer, but not at a very young age (61). The filmmaker calls Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, among other things, the 'God of Manga'. Tezuka fought for his life, but Hiroshi would prefer to give up on life straight away. However, the schoolgirl Mai believes in him and his art and won’t give up on him.