Casting Blossoms to the Sky and the Long Farewell to Obayashi

Over the past few months I've been watching the films of Nobuhiko Obayashi. This was prompted by the refrain of various respected cinephiles that his films deepened their relationship with cinema. Thirteen films in I can confirm that they weren't exaggerating - working through this man's filmography has felt like a cinematic bildungsroman. I'm writing about Casting Blossoms to the Sky because it's…