International Comic/Manga School Contest 2022 Storyboard Category Storyboard Text 2 (Courtesy of BookLive)

Theme: Journey

◆ Characters, personalities, and relationships

  • Boy (12 years old)
    Has a childhood friend (girl) who has been with him since birth. Not wanting to be separated from the girl who, all of a sudden, is going to move away, he plans and executes a getaway trip.
  • Girl (12 years old)
    Has a childhood friend (boy) who has been with her since birth. Her parents decided to move out of town, separating her from her friend.
  • Dog
    A dog that they were both feeding in secret from their parents. He is affectionate to both of them.

◆ Script

★Girl's house★
Things are hectic as preparations for the move take place.

Looking out the window, the girl has tears running down her face.
The boy is watching her from outside.
The dog at his feet, looking up into the boy's face.

★A little later - in the attic of the boy's house.★
A boy writes something on a piece of paper, illuminated by the light of a lamp, with a determined expression on his face.
The dog peeks at it from the side, tail wagging.
Boy: Good luck tomorrow, okay?

★The next day, in front of the girl's house★
The truck is packed and loaded and the girl's parents are saying their farewells to the adults in the neighborhood.
The girl follows her parents with her eyes red from crying for so long.

The girl looks around, searching for the boy. Tears well up in her eyes as she thinks about the days they spent playing together and the fun memories they had.
When she finally realizes the boy is not there, she finds herself unable to hold it in anymore and cries out loud.
Girl: Why isn't he here!?
Just as her parents were about to put the girl in the car...
the boy's dog and several other dogs came running towards it, barking.

They bark and jump up excitedly onto the adults, creating chaos.
The girl looks surprised at the scene. Her eyes widen when she sees a boy running after the dogs.

Boy: Come on! Let’s go!
Girl: Ok!
The girl grabs the boy's outstretched hand.
The two of them are overjoyed from the being able to see each other, the ones they wanted to see more than anyone else in the world.

In the background the girl's parents are unable to move, surrounded by the excitable dogs running around them.

Holding hands, the two of them continue along the road leading out of town.
They pass by a memorable place where the two of them played together since they were little and reminisce about those days.

While they reminisce, they hear the distant voices of adults looking for them.
The two look at each other, turn off the road, and continue into the forest.

★In the forest★
Sliding down the grass on a sled, the two of them then cross a dilapidated bridge that looks like it was about to collapse, and proceed deeper and deeper into the forest.
After a while, they come across a deep, wide river.

The girl has trouble swimming.
As the boy struggles to find a solution, the grass and trees behind him rustle and shake.

Did they find us!? Just as the pair started to fret...
out comes the boy's dog.

The girl happily hugs the dog.
Seeing this, the boy comes up with the idea, and has the girl ride the dog across the river, which she pulls off successfully.

The boy and the girl walk along, encouraging each other and laughing.
Even though they take breaks every now and then, their pace slows.

As they continue walking, they hear the voices of adults getting closer.
Sensing that the adults are about to catch up to them, they see an old rail trolley in front of them.

The boy hesitates to get on the trolley, unsure of where it will take them as the girl holds onto his sleeve.
The adults are closing in on them.
The boy jumps on first and extends his hand to the girl.
Boy: "Trust me!"
The girl takes the boy's hand, holds it tightly, and climbs into the trolley.
The the trolley gradually accelerates and they pass through the forest and into the wide open blue sky.
Girl: "I wonder how far it goes..."
Boy: "To the future."
And so their journey begins.