Institute History
Description
In a dilapidated, junk-filled mansion on the edge of town live two eccentric old ladies, Miss Ude (Plum) and Miss Kame (Turtle). The two women are twins, but they are hardly identical, as Miss Kame dresses and lives in the traditional Japanese manner, while her sister has adopted a more European style. One thing they can agree on is their fondness for trash, which borders on total obsession. Every day Miss Kame collects rubbish from the streets and brings it home to Miss Ume, who carefully catalogues it in her sketchbook.
One night, however, a screaming, shadowy figure follows an unraveled ball of red yarn back to the twins' house and shatters their carefully organized lives. The noisy wraith turns out to be a little girl who obsessively knits and then destroys a red sweater, never achieving the perfection that she seeks. Unsure of what else to do with this knitting dervish, the sisters let the girl stay in the mansion and name her Aminaoshi ("to reknit"). Greedy little Aminaoshi quickly becomes the center of attention in the household, although her epic series of battles with several fearsome Junk Monsters escape the sisters' attention.
As the chaotically jumbled mansion empties, Miss Ume and Miss Kame are forced to revisit the series of events that led them to their cloistered, cluttered lifestyle. Meanwhile, Aminaoshi finishes her sweater and bests the Junk Monsters, paving the way for a cataclysmic turn of events. After the smoke clears (literally), such diverse subjects as family, romance, and the tradition of Japanese 'found child' fairy tales have been explored and exploded. Miss Kame and Miss Ume's sixty-year search for companionship and happiness is over, but their lives are just beginning.