Hope – Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain (2016)

Ichinose Ayumu dreamt of becoming a professional shogi player, but his father passed away when he was a high school student. After graduating from high school, he does not go on to university. He works part-time in order to support the household while pursuing his dream. However, he keeps failing the test to be a professional shogi player. Because under 23 is the age limit for the tests, this is the last chance for Ayumu who is now 22. But on the day before the test, his mother collapses from overwork and is hospitalised. Ayumu fails the test again and spends all his time despondently on his part-time job. Worried about him, his mother asks an acquaintance to arrange for her son to take the last stage of an employment test at a general trading company. It is to work as an intern for one month. His performance will be taken into consideration to determine whether he will be employed. Appreciating his mother’s thoughts, Ayumu starts his internship even though he doubts that he will make the cut. But he has insufficient social exposure and academic qualifications and is quickly given negative labels by his boss and peers. Ayumu has no choice but to compete. If he runs away from this, he will truly become a person with nothing.