Story

Kosuke’s old apartment building is soon to be destroyed. Kosuke (voice of Mutsumi Tamura) and a couple of friends go to visit the abandoned building, and to see if the rumours about it being haunted by a ghost are true. While there, they run into their classmate, Natsume (voice of Asami Seto), who used to live with Kosuke and his family. They are soon joined by 2 more classmates.

Embarrassed at being found there, Natsume tells everyone about Noppo (voice of Ayumu Murase), another young person who used to live in the building. They all set off to search for him.

When Natsume falls, something strange happens and the group find themselves in the same apartment building, only now it’s adrift at sea and their city is nowhere to be found.

Unable to figure out what’s happened to them or how they’re going to get back, the group must find a way to work together and to strengthen friendships in order to survive.

As the group encounters different buildings from their past, also adrift at sea, they venture out to find food and water but find much more than that in the form of powerful memories. The children are forced to face and process these memories, and ultimately learn to move on.

Themes

Family breakdown; death of a loved one; the challenges of maintaining childhood friendships through the tween years; jealousy; loss; letting go of the past.

Violence

Drifting Home has some violence. For example:

• Boys shove each other down.
• Natsume shoves a girl to the ground when she won’t return a camera. Natsume then shoves Kosuke as well.
• Natsume falls off a building. Kosuke tries to grab her but she slips and falls anyway.
• Natsume trips on a box, lands on broken glass and bleeds from her knee.
• Kosuke throws things at a vending machine while yelling at Natsume. She then joins in attempting to break the vending machine while yelling at him as well.
• Kosuke gets slammed with a table and knocked down.
• Buildings crash into each other being propelled by waves. The group repeatedly falls down, is knocked around and must cling onto things.
• A character falls off the roof. Natsume manages to swing her to safety, but the girl bashes her head when she lands on the floor and is unconscious for days.
• Natsume slices her hands on a metal rod while trying not to fall into the sea.
• A character grabs Natsume’s hand, squeezing her injury hard and yelling at her, saying that everything is her fault.
• Natsume has a flashback to when she was little and her parents were fighting. When her father got aggressive and grabbed her mother, Natsume tried to help her but her father shoved her down.
• Two characters fight, calling each other names and grabbing each other’s hair.
• When the apartment building begins to sink, Noppo shoves Kosuke onto a raft and roughly pushes it away.
• A Ferris wheel is about to snap apart as ropes and wires strain. Everyone struggles to keep it connected to the apartment building and two boys nearly fall off the edge.
• Natsume slaps Kosuke and then the two of them push, shove and wrestle each other.

Sexual references

Drifting home has some sexual references. For example, one character appears to have a crush on Kosuke.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Drifting Home has some use of substances. For example, an older character briefly smokes.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is no nudity and sexual activity in Drifting Home.

Product placement

The following product is mentioned but not shown in Drifting Home: McDonald's.

Coarse language

Drifting Home has some coarse language and name-calling.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Drifting Home is an English-dubbed, coming-of-age, anime movie, containing lots of over-the-top melodrama and an unusual plot. The film will most likely be enjoyed by tweens, teens and general anime fans.

The main messages from Drifting Home are that eventually you have to let go of the past in order to embrace the future; that everything changes; and that even through heartache and struggle, the most powerful friendships will find a way to survive.

Values in Drifting Home that you could reinforce with your children include responsibility, friendship, compassion, loyalty, determination and hope.

Drifting Home could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues. For example:

• Being unkind to others and refusing to apologise, even if you know you’re wrong.
• How parental disagreements can effect children.
• Children going off without telling parents where they are headed or when they will be back.
• Refusing to talk about feelings and bottling up your emotions.