A wanderer returns home and finds himself torn between a desire for acceptance and revenge in an early Tai Kato jidaigeki.
Aug 24, 2023 • Subscribe
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Road Warriors (あやめ笠 喧嘩街道, Tai Kato, 1960)
A penniless wander is caught up in intrigue after encountering a woman travelling alone for the purposes of revenge in Tai Kato’s Toei chanbara.
In Search of Mother (瞼の母, Tai Kato, 1962)
A lonely yakuza longs to reconnect with mainstream society by finding the mother who was forced to abandon him in Tai Kato’s hugely moving jidaigeki.
The Blossom and the Sword (日本侠花伝, Tai Kato, 1973)
A young woman defies the expectations of a patriarchal society in resisting the rising militarism of the Taisho society in Tai Kato’s historical epic.
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
Mountain Woman (山女, Takeshi Fukunaga, 2022)
A young woman walks into the mountains to die but unexpectedly discovers what it is to feel truly human in Takeshi Fukunaga’s bleak folk tale.
Eighteen Years in Prison (懲役十八年, Tai Kato, 1967)
A former captain of the kamikaze squad finds himself caught between the contradictions of post-war Japan and the American occupation in Tai Kato’s gangster drama.
My Father’s Tracks (僕と彼女とラリーと, Renpei Tsukamoto, 2021)
A struggling actor rediscovers his sense of purpose on returning to his home town in the wake of his father’s death in Rempei Tsukamoto’s heartwarming drama
Luminous Woman (光る女, Shinji Somai, 1987)
A pure-hearted mountain man descends into the hell of the model capital in search of lost love in Shinji Somai’s surrealist fable.
Supermarket Woman (スーパーの女, Juzo Itami, 1996)
A veteran housewife uses her long experience to save a failing supermarket while standing up for wholesome small-town values in Itami’s post-Bubble farce
Single Woman (单身女人, Lin Xin, 2018)
Documentarian Lin Xin interviews a series of single middle-aged women to hear their views on love, life, and romance in a fiercely patriarchal society
Giants and Toys (1958) review
A classic that, as a critique of capitalism and materialism, has not lost any of its relevance.
Where the Wind Blows (風再起時, Philip Yung, 2022)
Colonialism breeds corruption in Philip Yung’s achingly nostalgic evocation of another Hong Kong.
A New Wind Blows (新しい風, Yutaro Nakamura, 2021)
A collection of Tokyoites have a very weird New Year in Yutaro Nakamura’s ethereal take on imagined futures and misremembered pasts.
New Woman Question and Answer (新女性問答, Yasushi Sasaki, 1939)
Yasushi Sasaki’s surprisingly progressive drama considers the changing place of women in the contemporary society.
Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 3 (百合と声と風纏い)
In Volume 1, we met Matoi, a high school senior with a talent for music and vocals. Surrounded by people her age who are in an out of…
Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 2 (百合と声と風纏い)
In Volume 1, we met Matoi, a high school senior who is a talented songwriter who doesn’t understand love. She meets Yuriko, older by a few years, attractive,…
Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 4 (百合と声と風纏い)
When we met Matoi, she was an uncertain high school student, with a crush on an older woman who had returned to their town. Yuri was a young…
Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 3 (百合と声と風纏い)
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Woman of Tokyo (東京の女, Yasujiro Ozu, 1933)
A loyal sister finds her tremendous sacrifice rejected by an unforgiving and conservative society in Yasujiro Ozu’s silent melodrama
The Cheese & The Worms (チーズとうじ虫, Haruyo Kato, 2005)
Documentarian Haruyo Kato captures the transience of the everyday while while living with her grandmother and terminally ill mother in her rural hometown
Ghost in the Regiment (憲兵と幽霊, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1958)
A treacherous military police officer comes to embody the evils of war in Nobuo Nakagawa’s eerie psychological horror.
The Beauty and the Dragon (美女と怪龍, Kozaburo Yoshimura, 1955)
A clever princess takes advantage of a courtly crisis to save the kingdom and arrange her own marriage in Kozaburo Yoshimura’s adaptation of the well-known kabuki play Narukami.
Blood of Revenge (明治侠客伝 三代目襲名, Tai Kato, 1965)
An earnest yakuza trying to walk a more legitimate path faces off against a thuggish businessman in Tai Kato’s late-Meiji ninkyo eiga.
Review: "The Wind Rises" (風立ちぬ) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki, the founder of “Ghibli” film studios, is the undisputed king of Japanese animation. As the medium increasingly becomes domi...
Dust in the Wind (戀戀風塵, Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1986)
The innocent love of a young couple from the country is gradually eroded by the compromises of city life in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s melancholy youth drama
Grown-ups (わたし達はおとな, Takuya Kato, 2022)
A young couple struggle to reorient their lives while dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in Takuya Kato’s intense relationship drama.
Yuri Manga: Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 1 (百合と声と風纏い)
In Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 1 (百合と声と風纏い) Matoi is a young woman who doesn’t really get love. She can see her sister and her friends…
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A narrative that serenely depicts the possible outcome of a subject’s failure to find, in a post-war landscape, someone to carry the Name-Of-The-Father.
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Because I loved Volume 1 so very much, I ran out immediately after reviewing it, and bought Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 2 (作りたい女と食べたい女) as a digital…
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I am so excited to be able to review this particular book as my first review of 2022! Since I first read this on Comic Walker, I’ve been…
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A wife makes a fateful choice to save her child while her husband is away at war only to be resented for it on his return in an…
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Part of the reason I enjoy watching anime I’m unfamiliar with is the rare occasional discovery of forgotten gems. The Yankee Reppu-tai OVA series is one such forgotten…
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Returning to the "miniature garden."
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Woman of Design (その場所に女ありて, Hideo Suzuki, 1962)
Post-war women find themselves constrained by a relentlessly patriarchal society in Hideo Suzuki’s workplace melodrama
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