Spoilers will fly away.

I know it’s been just under a minute since I mentioned this feature’s director. This one is a new film yet so particularly familiar that I can’t help but think I’ve seen this concept in an anime before. You might think I’m doing the film wrong by giving away its main premise, but it’s actually so ludicrous that the audience can’t help but in on the joke right away. Don’t worry, the fact you know does actually make it funnier to anticipate the oncoming scenes. Get your nets ready.

POPRAN (2022) is written and directed by Shinichiro Ueda. Mysterious sightings of a strange creature called a Skyfish have been happening around Tokyo. Alas, it’s by no means strange… Men’s genitalia seems to have decided to vacate their current abode and fly off into the sunset. For Tagami (Yoji Minagawa) this couldn’t happen in a worst moment. He’s the CEO of a large manga distributor, he’s sacrificed plenty of personal relationships in his life to get to where he is. To reclaim what he lacks, he will have revisit his past and reconnect with people he left behind.

This comedy contains plenty of fall-down laughing scenarios but it’s also surprisingly sentimental. In a subtle sleight of hand (must not write pun joke here) the comedy has a layer of drama and self growth. The not-so-subtle implication is that what makes us what we are is far more than just the physical. Tagami’s hunt for his manhood is actually his attempt to regain what really matters to him. I particularly appreciated how not everyone he faces again forgives him and not everything lost can be regained.

Highly recommended. There’s a few possible mini-arcs that seem meant to go somewhere that we don’t see again, but it’s a solid piece of both entertainment and a little heart warming nostalgia. In a comedy that has you both fall down laughing and hiding back a tear, the drama is never overdone and some life lessons you can only learn by failing them. Worth at least a watch if not more.

That will do for now.