The creative team behind one of anime’s most acclaimed mystery shows is finally making the leap to original feature films. Ahead of its limited U.S. theatrical release next month, Polygon is exclusively debuting a new trailer and two key visuals for The Last Blossom, the first original feature film from Odd Taxi director Baku Kinoshita and writer Kazuya Konomoto.

Produced by Studio CLAP (Pompo: The Cinephile), The Last Blossom arrives in U.S. theaters for a special two-night event hosted by GKIDS on Aug. 30 and 31, in Japanese with English subtitles. The film centers on former yakuza Akutsu, who is serving a life sentence after an unremarkable career in organized crime. As he nears the end of his life, his only companion is an irreverent flower growing from a discarded can inside his prison cell. Through conversations with the unusual bloom, Akutsu revisits the defining moments of his life, including the woman he loved, the family he found, and the child he would sacrifice everything to protect. All the while, the film asks whether redemption is still possible after a lifetime of mistakes — even at the end of one’s life.

It is a markedly different approach from the creators' breakout television success. Where Odd Taxi hid a tightly wound crime mystery beneath conversations between anthropomorphic animals, The Last Blossom trades urban intrigue for a deeply human story about memory, regret, and redemption. The film's painterly animation and shifting timelines are front and center, as are its striking contrasts between the bleak confines of prison and the warmth of the memories that continue to haunt its protagonist.

The new artwork presents these two sides of the same story. One poster bathes the film's mysterious flower in bright daylight alongside a fluttering butterfly, while its companion image casts that same blossom in the gloomy darkness of a prison cell, growing from a battered tomato can beneath the bars of a window. Together, they capture the emotional duality at the heart of The Last Blossom: a story caught between hope and regret, memory and reality, and the life one imagines versus the one actually lived.

The newly released minute-long trailer expands on those ideas, introducing audiences to Akutsu as he reflects on the choices that defined his life. Rather than emphasizing crime or action, the preview leans into quiet conversations, fleeting memories, and Studio CLAP's painterly visuals, hinting at an intimate character drama about found family and sacrifice. The talking flower also presents an element of magical realism that blends naturally with the film's meditations on aging and guilt, constantly challenging Akutsu to confront his past through the people who shaped it. Studio CLAP's expressive character animation and richly textured backgrounds give those memories a dreamlike quality, suggesting a film less interested in action than emotional reckoning.

The Last Blossom has already begun building momentum on the festival circuit following its initial release in Japan last year. The film premiered in competition for Best Feature at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival earlier this year before making its North American debut during Japan Cuts at Japan Society in New York.

The voice cast features Kaoru Kobayashi and Junki Tozuka as the younger and older versions of Akutsu, while Hikari Mitsushima and Yoshiko Miyazaki serve as the younger and older voices of Nana Nagata. They are joined by Pierre Taki, who voices the mysterious Housenka flower, as well as Natsuki Hanae, Hiroki Yasumoto, Soma Saito, Hideaki Murata, and Kouta Nakayama.

For Kinoshita and Konomoto, The Last Blossom also represents an important creative milestone. Although the pair became internationally known through Odd Taxi, The Last Blossom marks their first original feature-length collaboration, giving them a larger canvas to explore character-driven storytelling that made their original TV series resonate with audiences. Backed by Studio CLAP — whose previous films, like The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes and Pompo: The Cinephile, have earned praise for their distinctive visual style and emotional sincerity — the project is easily one of the year's most understated original anime films worth seeing on the big screen.

GKIDS will bring The Last Blossom to theaters nationwide for two nights only on Aug. 30 and 31. With its acclaimed festival debut, celebrated creative team, and emotionally charged trailer, the film looks poised to be one of the standout anime theatrical releases of the summer.