People Who Talk to Plushies Are Kind (2023)

Creating a portrait of sensitive teens and their concerns, Kaneko Yurina’s adaptation of Omae Ao’s novel takes us into the midst of the Plushy Club at a university. It is a place packed with furry and comforting friends whom the club members talk to in order to relay their anxieties and fears. Male student Nanamori and female students Shiraki, and Mugito are the latest club intake, each wrestling with issues such as love, masculinity and femininity, fear of others and sexism in society. Adapted from the novel Nuigurumi to Shaberu Hito wa Yasashi (ぬいぐるみとしゃべる人はやさしい) by Omae Ao (大前粟生).