Year: 2021
Runtime: 108 mins
Language: Japanese
Director: Atsushi Ueda
Two junior high school students, Keisuke Isobe and Koume Satou, find themselves in a casual relationship after Koume experiences heartbreak. Seeking comfort and a way to cope with emotional vulnerabilities, she begins a "no-strings-attached" relationship with Keisuke, a boy she had previously rejected. Their connection offers solace and unexpectedly changes their otherwise ordinary lives.
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Read the complete plot breakdown of A Girl on the Shore (2021), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
After Misaki, an upperclassman, forces Koume Sato to give him fellatio on their first date, she uses Keisuke Isobe as a rebound and asks him to take her virginity. The two enter into a casual sex relationship, and although Isobe liked Koume in the seventh grade, she does not reciprocate feelings for him. Since Isobe’s parents are not home often, Koume spends time at his house reading manga, listening to music, and sexually experimenting with Isobe. Haunted by his brother’s suicide, Isobe also continues his brother’s anime blog. When Koume receives a camera as a present, Isobe gives her an extra SD card he found, on which she discovers pictures of a girl on the shore and later deletes them from his computer out of jealousy. This causes Isobe to ignore her and Koume realizes she likes him. However, he breaks up with her out of boredom. Shota Kashima—the school’s top baseball player and Koume’s childhood friend—confronts Isobe after rumors spread of their relationship. Isobe provokes Kashima, and when Kashima rushes him, they fall over a bannister.
Kashima injures his leg, forcing him to be unable to compete in a prefectural tournament. Koume hangs out with Misaki and his friends, but leaves after he tries to get her to smoke cannabis and force her to kiss him. Koume visits Isobe at his house, they have sex, and he tells her of his intention to commit suicide. Koume writes a letter for him and buys a copy of Happy End’s album containing the song “Gather the Wind” (which she had heard at his house), planning to give them to him at their school festival. Isobe attacks Masaki and his friend, calling the police on them so they can find the illegal cannabis in their bags. On the day of their school festival—Isobe’s birthday as well as the day his brother committed suicide—Koume requests “Gather The Wind” to be played, but finds that Isobe has not been to school in three days. Koume desperately searches for Isobe during a storm, but does not find him at home, only a sticky note saying “sorry”. When she sees a cheerful Isobe a week later, he tells her that he met the girl in the pictures and got her email address, aiming to get into her high school. Koume confesses her feelings to him and asks him out, but he declines. In high school, Koume obtains a boyfriend, whom she kisses. On her way home, she meets Kashima, who reveals that he still has feelings for her. On the shore, she exclaims that she found what she was looking for: “something bigger than everything else, the sea!”
Last Updated: September 01, 2025 at 10:10
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