of the training involves learning English-language commands, so as to not confuse Quill when other people around him are talking in Japanese. He fails the final examination after not listening to Quill's warnings on obstacles, but they begin to work more cohesively for Watanabe to obtain his guide dog owner license. Quill moves in with Watanabe's family and works with his master for two years. Then one day, Watanabe is confined to the hospital when his diabetes takes its turn for the worse, resulting in kidney failure. Quill is returned to the training center, where he works as a demonstration dog for two years before finally reuniting with Watanabe. Their walk, however, is their final one, as Watanabe dies a few days later. Quill's third parting occurs after visiting Watanabe's funeral. Quill no longer works as a guide dog; instead, he becomes the center's demonstration dog for seven years before he is reunited with the Nii family. He lives a happy and peaceful life for a year, but one day, while playing at the backyard, he falls off a step and breaks several bones. As they look over a dying Quill throughout the night, the couple thank him and tell him to tell those in heaven who he is. Quill passes away at the age of 12 years, 25 days. Cast Kaoru Kobayashi as Mitsuru Watanabe, the middle-aged blind master of Quill Kippei Shiina as Satoru Tawada, the trainer of Quill Kazu Matsuda as Etsuo Watanabe, the stubborn son of Watanabe Yukika Sakuratani as Mitsuko Watanabe, the daughter of Watanabe and the narrator of the story Keiko Toda as Watanabe's wife Teruyuki Kagawa as Isamu Nii, the male puppy walker of Quill Shinobu Terajima as Mitsuko Nii, the female puppy walker of Quill Hiroko Natori as Ren Mito, the first owner of Quill and the litter he was born with Mamoru Miyano For the role of Quill, a Labrador named "Rafie" portrayed him throughout most of the film. "Chibichibiku" played the puppy Quill, "Beat" was three-month-old Quill and "Yuma" portrayed an elderly Quill, with a CG version portraying his accident toward the end of the film. Soundtrack The film's soundtrack, composed and recorded by the Kuricorder Quartet, consists of simple recorders mixed with acoustic instruments. The soundtrack album was released on March 10, 2004. Box officeQuill was a commercial success becoming the 21st highest-grossing film in Japan of 2004 earning