Maeda Atsuko is a Japanese actress and singer who was born on July 10, 1991, in Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan. She joined the all-female J-pop group AKB48 at age 14 and debuted with the act’s first group – Team A – in December 2005. She went on to graduate from AKB48 in August 2012 and also released a number of solo hit singles. She made her movie bow in the 2007 film “How to Become Myself” and has since starred in a range of hit movies, including “The Complex” in 2013, “Before We Vanish” and “The Last Shot in the Bar” (both 2017) and the more recent “Remain in Twilight” (2021).

Maeda Atsuko

Akiko (Tokiwa Takako) is a middle-aged woman who lives in an unassuming old home with her university student daughter Chinatsu (Yoshida Mizuki). They are happy, despite their modest surroundings, and are always happy to share a joke and make one another laugh. Chinatsu dreams of becoming a successful novelist, and hopes that her university education will help her achieve this.

But Chinatsu’s plans hit an obstacle when she is given an assignment she does not enjoy – writing about her first love. Her first relationship, with Mitsuteru Kawayanagi (Okudaira Daikane), ended in sourness, and she would prefer never to think about it again for the rest of her days. But when she meets Mitsuteru Kawayanagi again, she is once again inspired to resume writing. However, both women are in for a shock when Akiko finds a doctor’s note that suggests Chinatsu may have breast cancer. The note requires Chinatsu to return to the hospital for a re-examination. Tensions rise as the fateful day approaches. Does joy – or tragedy – lay in wait for these two women?

“The Lump in My Heart” is a 2023 Japanese movie that was directed by Shingo Matsumura.

The Lump in My Heart

Takada (Matsuda Ryuhei) is the perpetually tired but loyal driver and karate-proficient companion of an unnamed hard-boiled private detective (played by Oizumi Yo) – a university dropout who has a reputation for taking up cases the police won’t touch.

One day, Takada receives a request to find a missing woman, and he and the detective agree to take the case. Their investigation leads them to a mysterious, seedy business owned by Mari Misaki (Keiko Kitagawa) – and with dark, underworld connections.

Mari Misaki and the detective have crossed paths before, but she has now become the lover of a gangland chief named Jinya Kitashiro (Lily Franky), ostensibly a local business leader. She appears to retain feelings for the detective, but is all as it seems?

Soon, gangland thugs are on the detective and Takada’s trail – while the crime-busting duo tries to get to bottom of the ever-more-unorthodox missing persons case.

This film is the third and final movie based on the “Susukino Detective” series of books by the novelist Naomi Azuma, and was the second sequel to “Phone Call to the Bar.”

“The Last Shot in the Bar” is a 2011 Japanese crime movie that was directed by Teruyuki Yoshida.

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