From ODDTAXI Director Baku Kinoshita and Writer Kazuya Konomoto,
produced by Studio CLAP
GKIDS, the Academy Award®-winning producer and distributor of acclaimed and artist-driven animation from around the world, announced today it has acquired all rights for North America to The Last Blossom, the first original feature-length anime film directed by Baku Kinoshita (ODDTAXI) and animated by CLAP Animation Studio, who previously released Pompo the Cinéphile with GKIDS in North American theatres. The animated feature will be released in theatres for two nights only in Japanese with English subtitles from August 30th and 31st.
The Last Blossom held its world premiere as a selection for Best Feature at Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2025. The film recently announced its US premiere within North America’s largest Japanese film festival, JAPAN CUTS, hosted by Japan Society in New York on June 3rd.
Known as HOUSENKA in Japan, the film was released in Japan in October 2025 and stars Kaoru Kobayashi as Akutsu (Younger), Junki Tozuka as Akutsu (Older), Hikari Mitsushima as Nana Nagata (Younger), Yoshiko Miyazaki as Nana Nagata (Older), Natsuki Hanae (Kensuke), Hiroki Yasumoto as Tsutsumi, Soma Saito as Wakamatsu, Hideaki Murata as Hayashida, Kouta Nakayama as Konishi, and Pierre Taki as Housenka Flower.
Director & Character Design: Baku Kinoshita
Written by: Kazuya Konomoto
Animation Producer: Kinue Itoh, Matsuo Ryoichiro
Planning & Production: CLAP
Runtime: 90 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
©Kazuya Konomoto /The Last Blossom Production Committee
Synopsis:
Former yakuza Akutsu is serving life in prison after a middling career in the underworld. On the night he lays dying in his cell, he reminisces with his only companion, a smart-mouthed flower growing out of a can, about the choices that brought him here, the woman he loved, and a child he would give everything to protect. Is redemption out of reach?
From director Baku Kinoshita and writer Kazuya Konomoto, creators of ODDTAXI, and award-winning Studio CLAP (Pompo the Cinephile), THE LAST BLOSSOM is a thrillingly original work from animation’s most inventive new talent. Moving across time and memory, the film is an unforgettable meditation on found family, sacrifice, and the complicated pieces that join together to make a life.