The Strength to Say, Flatly, "The Day It Ends Will Come" / Imanishi Suei Juku "Song Edition"

The problem

Imanishi Suei Juku, a cram school in Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, has been making a new commercial every year since 2011, all built around the tagline "A cram school you'll never forget." The same core team has kept it going for more than ten years: planner and copywriter Takeshi Oishi, director Yoji Tomohisa, Engine producer Daiki Shibahara, and cinematographer Takayuki Shida, working on location with a crew of roughly five or six people. Despite being a commercial aimed at just one region, it has won the TCC Judging Committee Chairperson's Award, as well as Gold, Silver, and Bronze in the Film category of the ACC Awards.

The insight

Every student cramming for exams is thinking the exact same thing: "Just let this be over already!" Memorizing vocabulary, memorizing dates—living through that grinding, narrow routine day after day, a nagging doubt creeps in: "Wait, is this ever actually going to end?" To that anxious, murky feeling, the ad flatly declares, "The day it ends will come," and even goes so far as to reassure students, "We'll make sure it ends properly." You can feel that stance clearly, yet it's delivered in a cool, even tone rather than with forced enthusiasm. That's some impressive brand control.

The idea

The music is by Sekaiichi, led by Kei Iwasaki. The lyrics follow a Fukui high school student on the way to cram school, capturing the scenery they pass and the feelings they carry along the way. Local, Fukui-only details—like spam musubi, the Kuzuryu River bridge, and Fukuisaurus—mix in with the universal anxiety and hope every exam student feels. It all rides on a light, breezy "La La La" melody, before closing with the line, "All right, let's begin class."

What happened

Once you know what goes on behind the scenes of this series, it makes total sense that it turns out so well. The same team of five or six people has spent more than ten years filming the scenery of Fukui, building up the everyday lives of these students little by little—and it's that honest, patient approach that gives every single film its depth.

Afterthought

One more thing: this isn't a documentary (it's carefully directed), but it feels more real than if they'd awkwardly tried to fake a documentary look. There's a lesson in that—beautifully filming someone's natural self isn't the same thing as staging reality. That's all down to the director's skill. Looking forward to seeing what 2024 brings.

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