Sōra is a high school student who is basically invisible at school. He is friends with Chūya, who is an unpredictable character that often surprises those around him. Sōra and Chūya both have feelings for the same classmate, Kio Machida. The Machida girl refuses to come to class, because she doesn't want to dye her naturally brown hair black. Their school has unreasonable school rules, especially about uniforms, which include requiring all students to have black hair. Sōra and Chūya decide to stand up to change their school's black school rules so that Machida won’t have to repeat a year of school from missing too many classes.
Acting
Serena Motola's stubborn silence speaks volumes.
Writing
Turns hair dye into genuine political metaphor.
Director
Shintaro Sugawara
Shori Sato
Sōra Onoda
Kaito Takahashi
Chūya Tsukioka
Serena Motola
Kio Machida
Juri Tanaka
Michiro Matsumoto
Yumena Yanai
Kirari Kamaisaka
Mayu Hotta
Kotone Miike
Yo Aoi
Keita Nanaura
Rintaro Mizusawa
Takeshi Urushido
Riko Narumi
Minami Tamogami
Yuki Katayama
Minako Otawa
Junki Tozuka
Bunya Tsukioka
Hidetoshi Hoshida
Yutaka Teshirogi
Maki Sakai
Mari Machida
Ken Mitsuishi
Toshio Inoue
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Japan's 'black school rules' are real — thousands of students have been forced to dye naturally non-black hair, sparking actual lawsuits and ministry interventions.
The title's Japanese word 'kuro' means both 'black' and 'dark' — the film plays on whether the rules themselves are the true darkness.
JP
