Some university students choose their major to satisfy an intellectual itch or improve their career prospects, but for others it’s out of a simple desire to understand the world. That appears to be the case with Horigai (Yui Sakuma), a garrulous 22-year-old virgin who’s always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, and seems incapable of understanding what makes people tick.
“You’re ignorant about others ... zero imagination,” jeers a fellow student, not inaccurately, on learning that Horigai has landed a job as a child welfare caseworker. Naturally, she’s a sociology major.
Ryohei Yoshino’s “Eternally Younger Than Those Idiots” follows this red-haired naif through a belated coming of age, facilitated by her relationships with people whose problems and emotional baggage are weightier than her own.