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Three Toho Classics and the Work of Sci-Fi Illustrator Shigeru Komatsuzaki
I’d heard of Japanese science fiction illustrator Shigeru Komatsuzaki before, since he’s mentioned in Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa (Wesleyan University Press,…
Manga Review – Chow Down Champs / Super Food Bowl
Chow Down Champs Super Food Bowl 大食い甲子園 (Oogui Koushien) TSUCHIYAMA Shigeru Seinen – Sports 3 Volumes of 6 Volumes (complete) Media Do (NIHONBUNGEISHA) Summary: Fifteen years ago, Momotaro…
Manga Review – Battles of the Wandering Chef
Battles of the Wandering Chef 包丁無宿勝負旅 (Houchou Mushuku Shoubu Tabi) TSUCHIYAMA Shigeru (story/art), TAGAWA Yasuyuki (drafting cooperation) Seinen – Sports 2 Volumes of 4 Volumes (complete) Me…
Manga Review – Bakumeshi! / Food Explosion!
Bakumeshi! Food Explosion! ばくめし! TSUCHIYAMA Shigeru Seinen – Adventure, slice-of-life 3 Volume of 6 Volumes (complete) Torico / Media Do (NIHONBUNGEISHA) Summary: It is said that there’…
Terror of Yakuza (沖縄やくざ戦争, AKA Okinawa Yakuza War, Sadao Nakajima, 1976)
A recently released foot soldier is caught between his psychotic boss, an amoral underling, and the encroaching mainland yakuza in Nakajima’s jitsuroku gangster picture
RPG Review: Final Fantasy 7 Remake
This is a Cloti shipping zone Well finally that they ported FF7R to PC and there was a sale I decided to buckle down to play the last…
Mama wa Idol (1987) [Drama Review]
Mama wa Idol; or, Woman of the House It’s tough being a mother! Well, I guess we could say that Miho Nakayama went meta way before John...
The History of Tatsunoko – 5 – Maturities
If one single work were to sum up Tatsunoko’s entire production, it would probably be Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. By far the studio’s most iconic series, it was…
Typhoon Club (1985) by Shinji Somai
A group of teenagers are trapped at their rural school during a typhoon in this adolescent drama. Girlfriends Yasuko and Yumi; their friends Midori and Michiko (Yuka Onishi),…
Flesh Pier (女体桟橋, Teruo Ishii, 1958)
An undercover cop’s mission to crack a trafficking is disrupted when he runs into an an old flame in Teruo Ishii’s early B-movie noir
250th Review: Hell’s Garden: Office Royale (2021) [Film Review]
Hell’s Garden: Office Royale; or, The Art of Delinquent War Your problem is you don't know what you are missing. Dignity. Your fighting...
Crest of Betrayal (忠臣蔵外伝 四谷怪談, Kinji Fukasaku, 1994)
An ambitious samurai finds himself corrupted by the times in which he lives in Fukasaku’s etherial fusion of Yotsuya Kaidan and the Chushingura
Mother (おかあさん, Mikio Naruse, 1952)
A teenage girl struggles to understand her self-sacrificing mother in Mikio Naruse’s subversive take on the hahamono
Fukumoto Tries to Write a Girl Protagonist: Yamima no Mamiya
Two years ago, I found out about Akagi author Fukumoto Nobuyuki’s newest mahjong manga: Yamima no Mamiya, also known as Yami-Mahjong Fighter: Mamiya. Set 20 years after Akagi…
GeGeGe no Kitaro (2007) – Episode 46
Every decade Toei reboots the GeGeGe franchise, and every iteration has had its own distinct visual style. Here’s another episode of our joint project with Skeweds Translations on…
New Rock and Happy End – Origins of Japanese Rock
Japanese Rock and Pop music has, through the 21st century, become an undoubtedly global phenomenon with genres like J-Pop, J-Rock reaching
The New Morning of Billy the Kid (ビリィ★ザ★キッドの新しい夜明け, Naoto Yamakawa, 1986)
A collection of pop culture icons attempt to safeguard a cafe bar/live house from an assault by savage gangsters in Yamakawa’s anarchic post-modern satire
Happy Halloween with GeGeGe no Kitaro & Dororon Enma-kun
GeGeGe no Kitaro – episodes 01-22 Because I watch every episode many times to check for typos and such before releasing it, batch releases can be a real…
This Is Where I Came In...
I just had the pleasure of editing the Blu-ray version of episode 58 of Yawara! - the last one I had never touched (or seen) before -…
Death Note, Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Black Jack, Shin Chan, Shigeru
I’m Flash! (Toshiaki Toyoda, 2012)
A conflicted cult leader experiences an existential crisis after meeting a mysterious woman in a bar in Toshiaki Toyoda’s Okinawan drama
Closet (クローゼット, Takehiro Shindo, 2020)
An emotionally repressed young man begins to overcome a crisis of masculinity while working as a sleep companion in Shindo’s empathetic indie drama
Sensou Douwa: Kiku-chan to Ookami
Sensou Douwa ( War Fables or War Tales ) was a series of TV specials by Shin-Ei Animation that ran annually from 2002 to 2009. In…
Wedding Peach, Cool Cool Bye, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Fire Emblem, Maison Ikkoku
![Featured image for Jigoku-no-Hanazono: Office Royale (地獄の花園, Kazuaki Seki, 2021) [Fantasia 2021]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20210909/1631146394.21046.47019.jpg)
Jigoku-no-Hanazono: Office Royale (地獄の花園, Kazuaki Seki, 2021) [Fantasia 2021]
Office ladies go to war in Kazuaki Seki’s anarchic, Bakarhythm-scripted transposition of the yankee manga to the world of the OL
Robinson’s Garden (ロビンソンの庭, Masashi Yamamoto, 1987)
A young woman attempts to escape society by rewilding an industrial estate but discovers the land may not want her in Yamamoto’s ethereal drama
Kenka Ramen
A manga about Yoshitsune, the leader of a biker gang, who ends up taking over his father's ramen shop in order to stop the local yakuza from buying…
Destiny’s Son (斬る, Kenji Misumi, 1962)
A wandering son finds himself in the middle of intrigue on learning the sad secrets of his birth in Kenji Misumi’s elliptical, elegiac tale of death and the…
The Story of a Man Among Men (修羅の群れ, Kosaku Yamashita, 1984)
An intensely noble gangster attempts to preserve yakuza idealism in the turbulence of the mid-20th century in Kosaku Yamashita’s ninkyo eiga throwback
Dead Sushi (2012) by Noboru Iguchi
The sushi bites back in this horror comedy from writer-director Noboru Iguchi. Keiko (Rina Takeda) is dismissed from her father’s sushi restaurant after failing to meet his high…
The Third Shadow Warrior (第三の影武者, Umetsugu Inoue, 1963)
A peasant dreaming of samurai glory finds himself sacrificing his identity in service of a false lord in Umetsugu Inoue’s dark existential drama
Graveyard of Honor (仁義の墓場, Kinji Fukasaku, 1975)
A renegade gangster slowly implodes amid the turbulent winds of the post-war era in Kinji Fukasaku’s anarchic take on the life of Rikio Ishikawa
Hashire! Shiroi Ookami
Orphan hasn't done a critter feature in a while, so we're quite chuffed to present the first English-subtitled version of the 1990 movie Has...
![Featured image for MAMORU OSHII book review [fiction] Part 21, YUBAE SAKUSEN](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220423/1650709484.35082.63649.jpg)
MAMORU OSHII book review [fiction] Part 21, YUBAE SAKUSEN
----- There're some Mamoru Oshii book lists on the Internet, but they don't have detailed explanations about the contents. My Mamoru Oshii book collection is far from complete,…
Call Me Tonight
Pink Noise was a series of unrelated OVAs issues by C.Moon, the "adult" label of Bandai Visual. It consisted of four titles: Call Me Tonight...
Review: Tono Monogatari by Shigeru Mizuki
Shigeru Mizuki’s Tono Monogatari has a complicated lineage. During Japan’s rapid modernization in the early 20th century, a man named Kunio Yanagita set out to preserve Japan’s cultural h…
Pick of the Week: Penguins, Legends and Childhood Friends
SEAN: Given that it turns out Manga Bookshelf are top-tier futurists, I’m tempted to pick March Comes in Like a Lion, but that will have to wait for…
The nascent OVA
Over at Heisei Etranger, Austin’s posted a new interview translation which deserves a read. It covers a short mid-eighties conversation in Animage with Shigeru Watanabe, planner of Dallos (19…
Birth of the OAV: Talking Dallos and the Emerging Rental Market with Shigeru Watanabe
In this mid-80s Animage interview with Shigeru Watanabe, he talks about the reception of the first OAV Dallos and the emerging home video rental market.
324 – Creator Cross Section 7 – Shigeru Tsuchiyama
On this episode Seamus discusses the penultimate volume of Ôoku: The Inner Chambers and dakazu learns about Miki Yakata’s breast cancer recovery in 27-sai no Nyugan Diary! Then…
![Featured image for MAMORU OSHII book review [nonfiction] Part 41, Ein Brief von den Hunden](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220423/1650709479.35086.63658.jpg)
MAMORU OSHII book review [nonfiction] Part 41, Ein Brief von den Hunden
----- There're some Mamoru Oshii book lists on the Internet, but they don't have detailed explanations about the contents. My Mamoru Oshii book collection is far from complete,…
Happy Halloween from Kitaro, Akuma-kun, and Dororon Enma-kun!
While knocking on the front doors of strangers and sticking your fist into a shared bowl of candy might not be the move this year, you can always…
Devil Boy, Dororo, Dororo, Dororon Enma-kun, GeGeGe no Kitaro
Kitaro
A manga about the last survivor of the ghost tribe, Kitaro, and his adventures dealing with Japanese yokai. Continue reading →
![Featured image for MAMORU OSHII book review [fiction] Part 11, RAINY DOGS](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220423/1650709478.35084.63669.jpg)
MAMORU OSHII book review [fiction] Part 11, RAINY DOGS
----- There're some Mamoru Oshii book lists on the Internet, but they don't have detailed explanations about the contents. My Mamoru Oshii book collection is far from complete,…
Sensou Douwa: Tako ni Natta Okaasan
Sensou Douwa ( War Tales or War Fables ) was a series of TV specials by Shin-Ei Animation that ran annually from 2002 to 2009. In…
Sensou Douwa: The Boy and the Sea Turtle
Sensou Douwa ( War Tales or War Fables ) was a series of TV specials by Shin-Ei Animation that ran annually from 2002 to 2009. In…
Nora, Noramimi, Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki, Blade of the Immortal, Boku no Boukuugou
The Decade in Review: The Japanese Industry
I said I wouldn’t be updating this blog for a while, but I remembered that I was working on a two-post "decade in review" which I had star...
In This Corner of the World, Macross, Sailor Moon Crystal, Space Adventure Cobra, Blood Blockade Battlefront
Ai… Shirisomeshi Koro ni…
The sequel to Manga Michi. Follows Michio Maga and Shigeru Saino as manga artists living at the famous Tokiwa-sō in Osamu Tezuka's former housing. Continue reading →
Love Live! April Fool’s “CYaZALEA☆Kiss”: References and In-Jokes
This year’s April Fool’s brought out one of the best things ever from Love Live!: the “announcement” of a new 80s-style action anime called CYaZALEA☆Kiss. But the Love…
Shigeru Watanabe and Fans Reminisce About Royal Space Force on Japanese Twitter
Former Bandai Visual producer Shigeru Watanabe shares some previously unseen production documents and stories about Royal Space Force with the fans. Also no, the featured image doesn’t make…
Best Underrated Japanese Dramas of This Decade (2010-2020)
Here is my list of the best japanese dramas of the last decade 2010s. You probably missed some of these since most of them go under the radar…
GYO: Tokyo Fish Attack, Himawari, Jinsei - Life Consulting, Shigeru
Kitaro: The Trial of Kitaro
By Shigeru Mizuki. Released in Japan as “Gegege no Kitaro” by Kodansha and Shogakukan, serialized in various magazines. Released in North America by Drawn & Quarterly. Translated by…