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Before “Tuna Fish“, Mana Yasuda had shot a number of films, all of which exhibited a similar delightfulness and easygoing atmosphere. “Just a Drop of Magic”, a 53-minute movie that is addressed to children for the most part, is a distinct sample.

“Just a Drop of Magic” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

Mew is a very beautiful young witch who has been taking lessons in magic from Cyla, although she is probably his worst student. Mew’s magic allows her to tell who loves whom, but it is an ability that has led her to jealousy, since she has not yet found love herself. One day, a young boy named Kenta appears on the park, and is really sad since his parents are fighting again. Cyla tries to soothe the boy but it is at that moment that a frustrated Mew decides to unleash her full...

Mana Yasuda is a Japanese movie director and scriptwriter, member of the Japan Writers Guild. She started her career making 8mm films at the Kobe University Cinema Club. After she graduated from Kobe University, Yasuda worked for Panasonic for 10 years. In 2006, she directed and scripted her first commercial film; “The Switch to Happiness”, in which Juri Ueno and Kenji Sawada played the main roles. For this film, Yasuda received:

– Special woman Director Award at the 16th Japanese Movie Critics Award

– Best Script Award at the 2nd Osaka Cinema Festival.

After giving birth to a baby boy in 2006, Yasuda mainly worked on script-writing. During these years, there were many dramas with Yasuda’s script:

– “Yasashii Hana (A Tender Flower)”

– “Osaka Loop-line part2 Ashiharabashi Station — Dadada yuute Don”( Broadcasted on Kansai Television Co. Ltd.)

participated in the National Arts Festival by Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Yasuda came back to filming with...

Combining elements of promotion, educational documentary and coming-of-age film is definitely not an easy task, but Mana Yasuda seems to have managed just that, ending up with a truly delightful production.

Minami is a cheerful yet clumsy college girl, who, at a whim, decides to go to Wakayama, in order to attend an onsite research study at Kindai University Aquaculture Research Institute, titled Full-cycle Aquaculture of Pacific Bluefin Tuna. The institute’s goal is to come up with a complete and sustainable method of farming Blue Fin tuna, in order to prevent its extinction from the seas and to counter overfishing. Her three classmates are pretty serious about their reasons for being there, and the same applies to the head Professor and Sudo, an assistant who is in charge of the newcomers’ training. This however, does not apply to Minami, who, despite her always happy-go-lucky behaviour, finds herself over her head,...