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.
Auto-tagged Akagi
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
Auto-tagged Shigeru
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.
Auto-tagged Mirai
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.
Auto-tagged Karas
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.
Auto-tagged Shigeru
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
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.
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.
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 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 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…
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 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.
Auto-tagged Sumiko
Women and Miso Soup / 女と味噌汁 / Onna to misoshiru (1968)
Obscure Japanese Film #139 Junko Ikeuchi Chikako (Junko Ikeuchi) is a geisha who works under the name of Temari. Such an occupation gives ...
Auto-tagged Colorful
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
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.
Auto-tagged Sumiko
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.
Auto-tagged Shigeru
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...
Auto-tagged Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, The Wind Rises
The Wind Blows Twice (風ふたゝび, Shiro Toyoda, 1952)
Following the failure of her marriage, a young woman finds herself caught between two suitors in Shiro Toyoda’s gentle romantic melodrama.
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
The Woman in the Rumour (噂の女, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)
A mother and daughter find themselves deceived by the same man, each hemmed in by realities which cannot be altered in Kenji Mizoguchi’s touching melodrama.
She Came for Love / 女が愛して憎むとき / Onna ga aishite nikumu toki (‘When a Woman Loves and Hates’, 1963)
Obscure Japanese Film #138 Ayako Wakao Toshiko (Ayako Wakao) is the madam of a bar in Osaka who tries to keep her private life private and...
Auto-tagged Colorful
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.
Mahou Tsukai Tai
Long time ago, I decided to give Mahou Tsukai Tai the skip because I thought this was going to be another one of those magical girl series directly…
Jojune: Golden Wind: Episodes 18 & 19-The Road to Venice and White Album
While this episode picks up from a critical moment in the 「Baby Face」 battle, the highlight for this daily review will be a confrontation with a certain hotheaded…
Auto-tagged White Album
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…
Conflagration (1958) review
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.
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 1 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
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…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 5 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
With more than two decades of reading, I am still absolutely amazed at the high quality of Yuri manga we have gotten in the last few years –…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 3 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
In Volume 1, we met Nomoto Yuki, a contractor in an office. She finds society’s expectations for women confining and stress-cooks to relax. We then met Kasuga-san, her…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 2 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
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…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 4 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
There are so many reasons that Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 4 (作りたい女と食べたい女) is an amazing volume of manga, that I’m hard pressed to pick one thing.…
A Hen in the Wind (風の中の牝鶏, Yasujiro Ozu, 1948)
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…
Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita, Volume 1 (女ともだちと結婚してみた。)
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People are complex systems. Relationships are complex systems made up of complex systems. Even with clear boundaries, even when sex is not an issue, relationships get messy when…
Recommending Yankee Reppu-tai
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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Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (作りたい女と食べたい女), the NHK live-action drama, may well be the very best adaptation from a manga I have ever seen in any media. Nomoto…
Record of a Woman Doctor (女医の記録, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1941)
A doctor gains a new perspective on life after being sent to a remote rural village in Hiroshi Shimizu’s gentle social drama.
Anime’s Invisible Aces: Michiya Kato And CYCLONE GRAPHICS
What does BEASTARS‘ opening sequence have in common with other iconic intros like DRIFTERS and Tatami Galaxy, the filmography of geniuses like Satoshi Kon and Tatsuya Oishi, plus…
Sue to Tai-Chan / Sue & Tai-Chan (Vol 1) by Konami Kanata
I picked up this manga at an amazing used bookstore in Connecticut. It comes from the same author of Chi’s Sweet Home and Fuku Fuku: Kitten Tales. I…
The Deer King (鹿の王 ユナと約束の旅, Masashi Ando & Masayuki Miyaji, 2021)
A lone survivor comes to represent both salvation and destruction in Ando & Miyaji’s fantasy adventure.
Auto-tagged The Deer King
Ikemen Onna to Hakoiri Musume, Volume 1 (イケメン女と箱入り娘)
Ikemen Onna to Hakoiri Musume, Volume 1 (イケメン女と箱入り娘) is written by Mochi_Au_Lait, and drawn by majoccoid for REX Comics, one of Ichijinsha’s other imprints. Honestly, I think both…
Yuri Doujinshi: Yuricon Tabemono to Joshiben (ユリコン 食べ物と女子編)
What do you get when a bunch of the best adult-life Yuri artists get together and explore random themes, then collect them together into anthology doujinshi? You get…