This fifteenth entry of the series is one of the most beloved by fans and also one of the finest entries. This chapter was the second appearance of Lily (Ruriko Asaoka) the most recurring Madonna in the series whose first appearance was in the eleventh entry “Tora san´s Forget me Not” and would appear in the series four times more, including this one and last year 50th anniversary´s film, “Tora san, Wish you were here”, having five total appearances throughout the series.
This installment begins as a road movie with Tora travelling through Hokkaido in company of a discontented salary man (Eiji Funakoshi) who searchs for a lost love from the past. In their journey, Tora runs into Lily and the spark that lighted their fire in the eleventh film, burns again giving them a second chance.Lily joins them in their trip, however, Lily and Tora have a disagreement and they split again, to later meet each other again in Tora´s hometown where they reconcile, bringing hope to Tora´s family, making everyone believe that this time, Tora will finally settle down.
Many madonnas returned to the series in more than one chapter, but Lily was the one that was closer to settle down her relationship with Tora. They had similar personalities and similar ways of life, and although they were separated most of the time, they seemed to have an invisible link that always brought them back together. In this film Yoji Yamada wanted to bring some redemption for our hero giving him a second chance, giving him the opportunity to ruin things by himself. Is a really comic entry, but also heartwarming, sad and funny. We laugh and suffer with the characters and we feel the love disappointment as it were our own. Yamada manages to keep a high quality product that after 15 films doesn´t feel weary or repetitive, specially when he is following the same formula, however he does it in a mastery way that only geniuses are able to do.
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