Happy Family Planning

Original title: Akarui kazoku keikaku

Episode aired Apr 5, 2004
TV-MA
23m

IMDb RATING

8.4/10

594

YOUR RATING

Animation Drama Horror Mystery Thriller

Three Internet buddies form a pact to meet and commit suicide together. But as these poor souls bungle their numerous kamikaze attempts, they become close to each other.Three Internet buddies form a pact to meet and commit suicide together. But as these poor souls bungle their numerous kamikaze attempts, they become close to each other.Three Internet buddies form a pact to meet and commit suicide together. But as these poor souls bungle their numerous kamikaze attempts, they become close to each other.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.4/10

594

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos

Top cast8

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Mîna Tominaga

Kamome
(voice)

Yasunori Matsumoto

Zebra
(voice)

Kiyoshi Kawakubo

Fuyubachi
(voice)

Ryûji Saikachi

Old Man
(voice)

Stephanie Sheh

Kamome
(English version)
(voice)
(as Lulu Chiang)

Patrick Seitz

Zebra
(English version)
(voice)

Doug Stone

Fuyubachi
(English version)
(voice)

William Frederick Knight

Old Man
(English version)
(voice)
(as William Frederick)

User reviews1

8.4594

Featured reviews

10alexdmcintosh

Plays you like a fiddle

Outstanding episode, and certainly the one that stuck with me long after the end of the show.

You'd be fine for choosing Double Lips as the best of the series, but that one is just sort of a re-skinned Perfect Blue. Happy Family Planning plays on the viewers' biases to show how numb we are becoming to others that you don't notice the truth until it is abstractly revealed at the end. Even a horrifying moment early in the plot involving a train ends in a punchline you could see being a reality soon.

It tells an unconventional story that walks a tricky tonal tight-rope to show how even in the darkest places people find joy, redemption, and yes, even a family. It'll linger in your mind for a long while.

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
In the UK, the 80-second sequence where the trio attempts to hang themselves was removed by BBC censors.

Quotes
[first lines]
[on an Internet blog]
Zebra: Did you wait long?
Fuyubachi: Waiting can be fun... BTW, where's Kamome?
Zebra: Said she's going to bed for the big day tomorrow...
[Two strangers, both wearing a distinctive Maromi bag, come across and recognize each other]