OUAN603 - Further Development of Story & Characters

I have finalised the overall themes at this point in the project as being a bildungsroman, coming of age, magical realism, mystery, with drama. It is hard to put a genre on something but I these are the best words to describe what the overall intention is with the project and how the story will feel to the audience. The story itself is essentially aimed at all ages, which is something I had decided I wanted from the very start of the project in that I wanted to stay away from dark stories that aren't necessarily accessible or appreciated by all ages and different audience members. However, some themes and the nature of coming of age stories means that more adult themes may be included, not too much to alienate an audience and the story will certainly have a charm that can be appreciated by all ages.

Rough Synopsis of the Plot So Far

The idea I have currently is that the animation segment of the project starts in a dream shared by the four main characters. They are on a bus approaching a forest for a camping trip. During the camping trip they come across a cave and venture inside, whilst they are inside they are swarmed by cicada. The characters are unaware they have shared the same strange dream until the following day. Upon discovery that they all had the same dream on the same night, they decide that they have to work out what it means, and are consequently led down a rabbit hole of events spanning most of their adolescent lives. They decide that they must find out what it means and by try to discover the meaning, but by doing so they are lead down a rabbit hole of events that span most of their adolescent lives. The Children Who Dream About Cicada is a coming of age, magical realism story set in the suburbs and forests of Tokyo, Japan. The story follows four friends; Takahiro Okada, Kazuya Kurogane, Akari Matsuo, Gorō Yoshida.

The questions that remain at this point is 'Why did this happen to them and what is the point?' and 'What does it mean in terms of the story and what is the ultimate resolution?'

The story is full of strange occurrences and events that happen in a variety of mysterious ways, anonymous notes or phone calls, dreams, surrealism, Hallucination, Weather, Lighting-flickering of lamps, lights, bulbs etc, People/Messengers.

Boys : Takahiro Okada / Kazuya Kurogane / Goro Yoshida
Girls : Akari Matsuo

Takahiro Okada - Normal size, intelligent, longer hair, quiet, average appearance 岡田孝宏

Kazuya Kurogane - Large, friendly, short hair, tall 黒金和也

Gorō Yoshida - Intelligent, normal size, stern 吉田五郎

Akari Matsuo - More serious, skeptical, short hair 松尾あかり