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Dryads in a Snow Valley (風の波紋, Shigeru Kobayashi, 2015)
“You can’t live here alone” a older woman admits having long left the village and returning only to visit her parents’ graves to be shocked by its ongoing…
Review: 1921 (2021)
1921 1921 China, 2021, colour/b&w, 2.35:1, 135 mins. Director: Huang Jianxin 黄建新. Associate director: Zheng Dasheng 郑大圣. Rating: 5/10. Celebration of the centenary of the CPC’s founding is…
Whirlpool of Flesh (おんなの渦と淵と流れ, Ko Nakahira, 1964)
A intellectual professor and his wounded wife find themselves trapped in a toxic marriage after returning from Manchuria in Ko Nakahira’s fatalistic drama
Paradise of Solitude (孤独な楽園, Ikki Katashima, 2024)
A blocked writer and a introverted young woman discover unexpected connection through accidental epistolary communication in Ikki Katashima’s poetic drama.
As Birth Rates Plummet, Japan’s PM Regrets Couples Have Fewer Chances to Hook Up
The PM also lamented the dip in omiai, traditional Japanese matchmaking services, and said the government should do...something.
Ai sureba koso / 愛すればこそ / (‘Only If You Love’, 1955)
Obscure Japanese Film #166 Isuzu Yamada This omnibus film comprised of three stories was an independent venture co-produced by two compani...
Tsuyoshi Shikkari Shinasai: Tsuyoshi no Time Machine de Shikkari Shinasai
My Discord colleagues in the Inka kairetsu have a dismissive term for the vast bulk of anime that is neither outstanding nor outstandingly ...
Sailor Moon, Akai Hayate, Gakkou no Yuurei, GeGeGe no Kitaro, Graduation
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 5
By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga…
Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume 4
More ghostly doings in Japanese schools. Gakkou no Yuurei ( School Ghosts) , volume 4, is much like volume 3: six segments of about the sa...
X-Men, Hand Maid May, Macross Plus, First Loves, Fruits Basket
Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume 3
Let's start out 2025 on a scary note, 'cause it's gonna be a scary year. Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume 3, features more supernatu...
Monkey Magic, Iron Virgin Jun, Kujibiki Unbalance, Macross, B.B. Fish
The Tragedy of 1 / 一の悲劇
I assume most people reading this blog know who Ellery Queen is, but for who don’t, he (actually the joint pseudonym for two cousins) is on...
534 – Manben Machinations 3 – Takao Saito, Shigeru Mizuki, Osamu Tezuka
This week we return to Naoki Urasawa's television show, Manben! We watch the episodes on Takao Saito, Shigeru Mizuki, and Osamu Tezuka! We also discuss Dragon Ball Daima,…
Harvestella OST
Rating : 81/100 In the year 2000, a man named Kaz Ayabe and his team at the company Millennium Kitchen released an...interesting game for the PlayStation that was…
Japan’s PM Worn Down Because No One Loves Him
Japan's Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru says he can hardly sleep and no one even compliments him in the papers.
Turnabout Memories - Part 14
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
Karas, Mobile Suit Gundam, Rewrite, Shigeru, Sword Art Online
Moonlight Whispers (月光の囁き, Akihiko Shiota, 1999)
A pair of teenagers find themselves in an accidentally sado-masochistic relationship without the ability to understand what exists between them in Shiota’s unconventional teen romance.
Hiroshima (ひろしま, Hideo Sekigawa, 1953)
During the post-war occupation of Japan which lasted until 1952, the censorship regulations which replaced those of the militarist era perhaps ironically made it more or less impossible…
Science Fiction Art on Page and Screen from Jules Verne to Jack Kirby
I read H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine (1895) recently and began reading Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and I got to wondering when the genre…
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 4
By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga…
Yokai: The Art of Shigeru Mizuki Artbook Review
Although nominally an artbook, this might be just as easily described as a collection of folklore.
Portrait of the Psychopath as a Young Man (Aoki Honoo v2)
Aoki Honoo is a one-shot OVA from 1989, based on a six-volume manga by Yanagasawa Kimio, a prolific mangaka who is almost unknown in the…
The Inferno (地獄, Tatsumi Kumashiro, 1979)
No one can escape from their sins according to the ominous voiceover that opens Tatsumi Kumashiro’s loose reimagining of Nobuo Nakagawa’s Jigoku, The Inferno (地獄, Jigoku). Then again,…
The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty (憲兵とバラバラ死美人, Kyotaro Namiki, 1957)
A top investigator finds himself swimming against the tide when investigating the discovery of woman’s torso at the barracks in Kyotaro Namiki’s ghostly procedural.
Pick of the Week: Female Leads and Cool… Guys?
MICHELLE: I'm quite interested in two debuts this week. Diary of a Female Lead and The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All both appeal…
Ushiro no Hyakutaro
Ushiro no Hyakutaro ( Hyakutaro Behind or Hyakutaro in Back ) is a two-volume OVA from 1991. Based on a eight-volume manga by Tsunada Jir...
Galaxy Express 999, The Twelve Kingdoms, Bite me!, Girl from Phantasia, Fruits Basket
Shigeru Ishiba: Fun facts to know and yell
The flow of time made it inevitable; sooner or later, a member of the Yamato generation would eventually rise to the height of political power. That has now…
Kitarou Tanjou: GeGeGe no Nazo
Plot: A completely new feature-length animation commemorating the 100th anniversary of Shigeru Mizuki’s birth. The story of Kitaro’s father is revealed for the first time. Set in the…
Will Japan’s New PM Pass Marriage Equality for LGBTQ People?
A majority in Japan support passing marriage equality. Will new PM Ishiba Shigeru move on this and other social issues?
Otaku in Chief
How will Shigeru Ishiba becoming Prime Minister impact Japan’s pop culture?
Shinobi no Mono 2: Revenge (1963) review
Satsuo Yamamoto reveals the frailty and replaceability of the capitalistic father in an engaging way.
513 – Ooku: The Inner Chambers part 3
On this episode we talk about anime remakes, Isekai Mou Kaeritai, Kufuku na Bokura, and more! Then we continue to trek into Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku: The Inner Chambers…
Topsy-Turvy Land
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
Anime & the Economic Miracle | The History of Animation & Japan
With the release of Astro Boy in 1963 Anime in Japan experienced an unparalleled boom period. This coincided with the Japanese Economic Miracle, a time in which Japan…
Zero (零戦燃ゆ, Toshio Masuda, 1984)
The Zero Fighter has taken on a kind of mythic existence in a romanticised vision of warfare, yet as Toshio Masuda’s Zero (零戦燃ゆ零戦燃ゆ, Zerosen moyu) implies its time…
Mystery of the Glowing Eye
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
Graveyard Kitaro, Spooky Kitaro, Spooky Kitaro, Gegege no Kitarou (1985), Doraemon
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 3
By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga…
Keiko Yoshinari - Asu e no Yuuki
Rating : 95/100 Man, I really shouldnt have put this off for so long. I mentioned in my previous Natsume review that during 2016-2020, I was neck deep…
Break Down That Wall / その壁を砕け / Sono kabe o kudake (1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #108 Izumi Ashikawa and Yuji Odaka in foreground Saburo (Yuji Odaka) is a young Tokyo garage mechanic who has been w...
RPG Review: Final Fantasy VII ~Rebirth~
Cloud is about to have the ultimate yaoi battle…inside his head. ::extremely one-winged angel voice:: YAOI VIBES ⚠️ This Post Contains Spoilers for FF7 Rebirth ⚠️
The Mad Mermaid
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
Tokarev (トカレフ, Junji Sakamoto, 1994)
The discovery of a pistol concealed under a vending machine provokes a prolonged crisis of power and masculinity in Junji Sakamoto’s tense psychological drama.
Yakuza Hooligans (893 愚連隊, Sadao Nakajima, 1966)
A gang of petty criminals get in over their heads while working with the yakuza in Sadao Nakajima’s ironic crime movie.
A Story from Echigo / 越後つついし親不知 / Echigo Tsutsuishi Oyashirazu (1964)
Obscure Japanese Film #107 Rentaro Mikuni and Yoshiko Sakuma In 1930s Japan, Gonsuke (Rentaro Mikuni) is working at a sake brewery in Fushim...
492 – One Shot 72 – Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths
This week we talk about X-Men '97, The End of Evangelion, The Three-Body Problem, Fujou wo Nuguu Hito, and more! Then we discuss how war is bad with…
Review: Leap (2020)
Leap 夺冠 Hong Kong/China, 2020, colour, 2.35:1, 134 mins. Director: Chen Kexin 陈可辛 [Peter Chan]. Rating: 8/10. Celebration of women’s volleyball in China’s modern development is shaded by…
Shroud of Snow / 雪の喪章 / Yuki no mosho (1967)
Obscure Japanese Film #105 Ayako Wakao The story begins in 1930 in Kanazawa, a city located on the west coast of Japan’s main island…
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 2
By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga…
Nonnonba by Mizuki Shigeru
The back of this manga describes itself as a “poetic memoir,” though I feel like the term semi-autobiographical might also apply. It’s basically the lightly fictionalized story of…
Angry Rice Wives (大コメ騒動, Katsuhide Motoki, 2021)
Village women start a small revolution over the increasing price of rice in Katsuhide Motoki’s historical drama.
Criminal Woman: Killing Melody (前科おんな殺し節, Atsushi Mihori, 1973)
Former cellmates band together to take out a duplicitous yakuza in Atsushi Mihori’s expertly crafted slice of pinky violence