L’été de la sorcière

A withdrawn junior-high girl of mixed British-Japanese heritage who stops attending school and spends a formative month at her grandmother's rural home.

An English-born widow living in the Japanese countryside, whom Mai and her mother call "the Witch of the West"; she teaches Mai that becoming a witch means learning to decide everything for herself.

Also of mixed heritage, she works and manages the household while worrying over her daughter's refusal to attend school.

Working away in another city on a temporary assignment, he later proposes that the family relocate and live together again.

A brusque neighbor whose clash with Mai over a favorite spot near the grandmother's house turns out to conceal real kindness underneath.