And So the Baton Is Passed
A quiet film about chosen family that deserves more than its 5.4 rating
Mei Nagano carries And So the Baton Is Passed as Yuko, a high school student who's been passed between loving stepparents — not abandoned, but deliberately handed off as each adult's life circumstances shifted. It's a premise that sounds like melodrama. The film itself refuses to be one.
Released in October 2021, director Tetsu Maeda's adaptation of Aito Aoyama's award-winning novel builds its power through restraint. There's a scene midway through where Yuko's entire family history gets laid out over a kitchen table conversation — no swelling score, no tears close-up — and it lands harder than any manipulative moment could. That's the film's core trick, and it works.
The IMDb rating sits at 5.4 out of 10, which frankly feels unfair. Hard to say if that reflects a genuine critical consensus or simply the gap between what Western audiences expect from Japanese family drama and what this film is actually doing — which is something quieter and more precise than most people anticipate walking in.
Why the ensemble cast matters more than the plot
What's striking is how deliberately the film avoids the wicked-stepparent cliché and the opposite extreme of saintly self-sacrifice. Each parental figure feels like a fully realized person, not a narrative device.
Kei Tanaka anchors the second storyline as Morimiya, a young salaryman wrestling with his own domestic anxieties as he prepares for marriage. He's doing something quieter than Nagano — a man who doesn't fully understand his own emotional needs until the film forces the question. It could've been thankless work. Instead, Tanaka brings a grounded, slightly bumbling warmth that keeps everything from tipping into sentimentality.
Masachika Ichimura's turn as one of the parental figures is particularly affecting — warm without being saccharine, carrying the specific weight of a man who chose responsibility over convenience. Satomi Ishihara, Nao Omori, Koshi Mizukami, and Kurumi Inagaki fill out the ensemble without ever blurring together.
Mei Nagano's performance is the spine of the whole thing. She plays Yuko as someone who's learned to be grateful without quite knowing how to be vulnerable. The tension between those two states gives the character texture that less careful writing would've flattened. (She'd already built a following through television dramas, so there was real casting intelligence here — not just finding a talented unknown, but finding someone who understood how to carry restraint on screen.)
The source material had already won over Japan
The film is adapted from Aito Aoyama's bestselling novel, which won the 2018 Honda Yumeji Award and took the Book of the Year prize from Da Vinci magazine. That pre-existing fanbase showed up opening weekend — the film performed solidly at the Japanese domestic box office in 2021 — but it doesn't carry a major international awards pedigree.
What's interesting is that the novel's success in Japan didn't automatically translate to Western critical enthusiasm. This is a common pattern with Japanese family dramas: Movie OTT covers titles exactly like this one, films that don't fit neatly into Western genre categories but reward patient viewers who actually seek them out.
The 137-minute runtime is long enough for the emotional architecture to breathe without outstaying its welcome. Maeda doesn't rush the stepfather transitions or compress the emotional weight into dramatic peaks. He lets scenes sit. Conversations meander. That's the whole strategy.
Where to actually watch it right now
And So the Baton Is Passed streams on Prime Video — which is currently your most reliable option for accessing it. If you're already a Prime subscriber, there's no additional cost. Just search the title or browse the Japanese cinema section.
The where-to-watch availability does shift (streaming rights are always negotiated in cycles), so check the widget at the top of this page for current status. Movie OTT tracks real-time availability across Prime Video, Netflix, and regional services, so if the title moves or becomes available elsewhere, you'll find that reflected there before most other aggregators catch up.
What kind of viewer should actually watch this
Here's the honest take: And So the Baton Is Passed is built for viewers who don't need conflict to feel tension. Quiet. Patient. Built on small moments rather than dramatic confrontations.
If you've got a taste for Japanese family drama — think the emotional register of a Hirokazu Kore-eda film, though Maeda's style is distinctly his own — this one earns your two-plus hours. You'll want to watch it when you're not distracted. Not background viewing. The film requires attention, but it's the kind of attention that pays off.
It's not a perfect film. But it's an honest one, and those are rarer than they should be. Movie OTT recommends it especially for viewers drawn to stories about chosen family and the particular weight of secrets parents carry so their children don't have to.
FAQ
Q: Where can I watch And So the Baton Is Passed?
It's streaming on Prime Video. Check the where-to-watch widget on this page or visit movieott.com for the most current platform availability.
Q: Who directed And So the Baton Is Passed?
Tetsu Maeda directed the 2021 film, adapting the screenplay from Aito Aoyama's award-winning novel. The runtime is 137 minutes, and the cast is led by Mei Nagano and Kei Tanaka.
Q: Is it based on a true story?
No — it's based on Aito Aoyama's fiction novel, which won the Honda Yumeji Award in 2018. The story of a girl passed between loving stepparents is fictional, though the emotional terrain feels drawn from real family life.
Q: Why is the IMDb rating so low?
The film holds a 5.4 out of 10, which sits below what viewers who connect with Japanese family drama typically give it. Worth approaching on its own terms rather than letting the score set expectations.
Q: What's it actually about?
Family secrets, the meaning of parenthood, and whether love chosen freely — rather than assigned by biology — can be just as binding. The film takes that question seriously for all 137 minutes.
