Sakiko sighed. “Just read the subtitles, Maruko. That’s the whole story.”
Desperate, Maruko raided the closet in her grandparents’ room. Buried under a badminton set with no net and a box of sparklers that had gotten wet, she found it: a black plastic VHS tape with a peeling white label. In faded pen, it read: “Le Ballon Rouge (1960) – French. NO DUB. Jp Sub.”
Her grandfather grinned. “Ah. Le Ballon Rouge.”
Her sister rolled her eyes, but smiled. “You’re such a weird kid, Maruko.” Chibi Maruko Chan Japanese Subtitle
Post-credits scene: The next day, Maruko tries to make her own silent film with a red beach ball and her little brother, Nagoro. Nagoro pops the ball with a stick. Maruko chases him around the yard, screaming. The Japanese subtitle that would appear, if one existed, reads simply: 「姉妹愛は複雑です。」(“Sisterly love is complicated.”)
Nine-year-old Maruko Sakura discovers a dusty VHS tape of a French art film her grandfather bought by mistake. With no dub and only dense Japanese subtitles she can barely read, she becomes obsessed with decoding the story, leading her to a profound, funny, and surprisingly emotional summer afternoon. The summer sun beat down on the roof of the Sakura house like a taiko drum. Cicadas screamed. Maruko, wearing her iconic yellow hat and a sweat stain on her red shirt, lay sprawled on the tatami mats, groaning.
(“The boy does not cry. But the world has become a little darker.”) Sakiko sighed
“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever read,” Maruko whispered, sniffling. “Worse than when I dropped my last piece of natto.”
Everyone stared.
The film continued. The cruel boys broke the balloon. The red skin shriveled on the cobblestones. Maruko’s eyes widened. Her lower lip trembled. Buried under a badminton set with no net
A little boy with a red balloon walked across a grey, lonely Parisian street. There was no sound but a lonely trumpet. And then, the Japanese subtitles appeared at the bottom of the screen.
Silence. Even the cicadas stopped.