Ozu's college comedies were getting more serious, as the title of this film attests. Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? uses the Depression-era/school-days motif (and many of its splendid devices) to "press into new regions...There is some hilarious comedy, but also considerable cruelty. There is pathos but also pain..." (David Bordwell). It opens with a riotous cheerleading sequence in a montage that hints at the military nature of school drills; later, when a line of men compare watches, we see there's a short jump from school to the life of a salaryman. The story concerns four college classmates as they graduate and seek work. One, Horino, becomes a tycoon on the death of his father, and the other three must turn to him for jobs. This puts a strain on their friendship that increases when Saiki, the most lackluster of the four, feels he must deliver his fiancée (Kinuyo Tanaka) to Horino in order to protect his job.