A kid watches another kid get bullied and does nothing. That's the entire story, and it tears you apart because you recognize yourself in every second of it. Shiranpuri refuses to make this comfortable, no grand gesture, no redemption arc, just the weight of a choice not made, sitting in your chest long after it ends.
Boku watches it happen again and again: his classmate Don-chan is picked on by Yaragase and his gang. The other students keep out of it, afraid they could be next, and Boku does the same. Their teacher, Marimo-sensei, even raises the subject of bullying in class, yet never notices that one of her own students is suffering. As the torment grows worse, so does Boku's guilt. He then talks with the owner of an oden stand, who holds that onlookers who fail to act share the blame with the bullies, and Boku is left wondering whether he can end his classmate's misery. Shiranpuri is a drama film about bystanders and complicity, one of four works that each received funding from the 2011 Young Animator Training Project.
