Sweet Rain Theories

*** SUSPEND ***
NOT for anyone who HASN’T watched the movie.
FOR anyone who have watched and are itching to piece the pieces together.
*** PROCEED ***

1. Akatsu (Ishida Takuya) is Kazue’s son
This is not a theory, it is a canon fact of the film. The first story 1988 focuses on young Fujiki Kazue, second story 2008 on her son Akatsu and third 2033 on old Fujiki Kazue.

Clues include:
1. Akatsu and young Kazue bear some facial similarity.
2. Both Akatsu and Kazue have a coin tossing habit.
3. Both Akatsu’s mum and Kazue are singers.
4. Akatsu is abandoned by his mum and Fujiki abandoned her son.
5. Akatsu likes music (he owns an mp3) but reacts violently to hearing Fujiki’s “Sunny Day” on radio.
6. Old Kazue’s grandson is picked up by a man who runs “Akatsu’s Delivery Service”.

2. The Older Yakuza (Ken Mitsuishi) is Kazue’s husband
There isn’t much to account for this theory unless its the fact that the Yakuza had a woman he was intimate with and that he (like Kazue’s husband) died in a car accident. However, this assumption is inconsistent with the canon timeline because the trigger for Kazue’s abandonment of her son is the death of her husband. Which means Akatsu’s father and Kazue’s husband is already dead.

3. The Music Producer (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) is Kazue’s husband
There isn’t much to back this theory up either. There was a prolonged pause and zooming in on his face on Kazue’s CD cover and the fact that he was crazy about her voice. But is pure speculation and Kazue’s husband remains a nameless figure.

4. Chiba loved Kazue
This is quite straightforward. He probably didn’t. He went about his business in a strictly professional albeit slightly confounded manner. He was always objective (e.g. the gangster case) not very much emotionally invested.

5. Kazue loved Chiba
Quite likely. She was certainly attracted to him at first. But for how long and how much is debatable.

The Realist Intepretation:
1. Chiba was just a fleeting encounter.
2. The lyrics of Sunny Day are addressed to Kazue’s invisible husband.
3. She met him after becoming a singer at the turning point of her life.
4. She loved him and hoped for a “Sunny Day” with him.

The Romanticist Intepretation:
1. The time she met Chiba marks the turning point in her life.
2. She tosses a coin which says she won’t see him again but her luck became better.
3 The first thing old Kazue asked was “Are you a Shinigami?”, NOT “What’s your name?” or “Are you Chiba’s son?”
4. Kazue and Chiba witnessed the “Sunny Day” together in the end.

6. The Purpose of Kazue’s life
1. To become a singer
2. To have loved and lost
3. To leave progeny (she tends to bring ill fate to her loved ones)
4. To witness the “Sunny Day” with Chiba