An eccentric photographer finds a new sense of purpose following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Ryota Nakano’s warmhearted drama.
Feb 20, 2024 • Subscribe
More like this
Ryota Suzui Character Profile
This post is for the character Ryota Suzui from the Anime Kakegurui. The post will be updated as more information is added and more content created for the…
Miku Nakano was the last quintuplet...
In an interview, creator of quintessential quintuplets Negi Haruba said that Miku was the last girl created after the other 4 Then quintessential quintuplets is a manga turned anime…
A Family (ヤクザと家族 The Family, Michihito Fujii, 2020)
“No one can survive as a yakuza in this world” according to another orphaned son playing the long game of a crime adjacent existence in Michihito Fujii’s melancholy…
Retake (リテイク, Kota Nakano, 2023)
A diffident teenage boy finds himself editing in real time in Kota Nakano’s movie-making summer holiday movie.
Shock Wave 2 (拆彈專家2, Herman Yau, 2020)
A HK bomb disposal officer finds himself putting out the fires of his own explosive resentment in a thematic sequel to Herman Yau’s high octane action drama
Bi-Weekly Booty: Miku Nakano from The Quintessential Quintuplets!
What happens when you have five butts that are all the same? Which one do you end up picking? Just go for the girl in the headphones! The…
星屑家族
Hoshikuzu Kazoku is a two-volume graphic novel set in an alternate universe where parents are required to obtain a license to raise children. To qualify for a license,…
Ju-On: Origins 呪怨: 呪いの家 Director: Sho Miyake (2020)
Ju-On: Origins 呪怨: 呪いの家 Director: Sho Miyake (2020) is a largely forgettable entry in the horror franchise.
My home away from home – Nakano City, Nagano
Seeing as I no longer live there, I feel like I can comfortably write a little about where I was living during my two years in Japan, and…
Shoplifters / 万引き家族
Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters is a revelation, the culmination of years of study on a particular theme, a movie that brings together all of the director’s strengths and, for…
Kamata Prelude (蒲田前奏曲, Ryutaro Nakagawa, Mayu Akiyama, Yuka Yasukawa, Hirobumi Watanabe, 2020)
Prominent and promising indie directors explore the realities of being a woman and an actress in contemporary Japan in this four-part omnibus
Shuu Sugita【杉田柊】Sakuga MAD
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN7w2YEV9DU I discovered this song a couple days ago and was immediately compelled to do something with it. Sugita's career could be better represented by a longer MAD…
She's the ideal woman😅甲斐田 裕子
Yūko Kaida can play all kinds of ideal women...
THEボビーBOOK 平田敏夫とのインタビュー
『THEボビーBOOK』より平田敏夫監督が『ボビーに首ったけ』を語る。
Pure TokyoScope Podcast 119: Nakano Broadway, the Hard Way! An Otaku Coffee Break!
Patrick Macias and Matt Alt bring you pop culture from Japan!
The Stormy Family (台風家族, Masahide Ichii, 2019)
Siblings fail to find a sense of solidarity reuniting 10 years after their parents robbed a bank and disappeared in Masahide Ichii’s darkly comic drama
The Adventurers (1995) 大冒險家 Director: Ringo Lam
The Adventurers (1995) 大冒險家, by director Ringo Lam, is an action-packed globe-trotting adventure starring Andy Lau, but most of the fire comes from his female co-stars, Rosamund Kwan…
The Third Will / 女系家族 / Nyokei kazoku (1963)
Obscure Japanese Film #117 Ayako Wakao This Daiei production was an attempt to repeat the success of the company’s 1961 film, A Woman’s ...
Uniformity With God’s Will In Anime #6: Ryota Hiiraga/Joseph Bartrich
I apologize if this week’s edition of Uniformity With God’s Will In Anime seems like a repeat in theme of the second one, especially considering the characters’ circumstances.…
Gaga (哈勇家, Laha Mebow, 2022)
An indigenous family finds its relationships strained when the oldest son decides to run for mayor in Laha Mebow’s warmhearted dramedy.
Yoshimichi Kameda【亀田祥倫】Sakuga MAD
I seriously can't wait for Yaiba. 99.9 has had my heart in a chokehold since 2019, so I'm glad to finally be using it. Kameda seemed like the ideal…
Seiyuu Highlights: Rie Tanaka 田中 理恵
She's more than just your typical onee-sama in the Seiyuu industry. Rie Tanaka proves that you can be a middle-ages woman, yet still young and hip enough to…
“I was happy to just work with Yuasa” – Satoshi Nakano interview
Interview with animator and character designer Satoshi Nakano about his work on Pokemon and Masaaki Yuasa's Inu-Oh
Interview: Gundam Evolution Game Producer Kazuya Maruyama and Battle Director Ryota Hogaki
Kazuya Maruyama and Ryota Hogaki promised that the Gundam Evolution game will go in a new direction not previously seen in Gundam video games before.
Machine as a Hero? Unfolding Japanese Mecha-Anime Talk by Fujitsu Ryota
The good folks at the Japan Foundation London and Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival have got in touch to tell us about a online talk they'...
Lying to Mom / 鈴木家の嘘
(Warning: not exactly spoilers, but this review does include some detailed info about the latter half of the film.) Japanese cinema of the last 20 years (and much…
Reclaim (一家之主, CJ Wang, 2022)
A disillusioned middle-aged woman begins to reclaim her sense of self while trying to repair her fracturing family in CJ Wang’s touching family drama.
Seiyuu Highlights: Kenjiro Tsuda 津田 健次郎
With such a indistinguishably cool, deep, smooth voice like a hot knife through butter, there's no question as to why he was, and still currently, the most highly…
2020 the Anime: Japan Sinks-2020
Greetings, fabulous people of the Internet! Hanime on Anime here, and some part of me wants to remember 2020 before moving on with the new year. And what…
Chilli Laugh Story (闔家辣, Coba Cheng, 2022)
An attempt to monetise mum’s chilli sauce places a strain on the family unit in Coba Cheng’s pandemic era New Year comedy.
September 1923 (福田村事件, Tatsuya Mori, 2023)
Hysteria leads to tragic consequences in Tatsuya Mori’s narrative debut
An important PSA from Tomokazu Sugita 杉田 智和
Gintama may have ended a long time ago but Gintoki's wisdoms still forever live rent-free in our minds.
Piano Concert featuring Anime and Games Music by Kikuchi Ryota in London and Birmingham
The good folks from the Japan Foundation London have sent us details of a piano concert by Kikuchi Ryota. The pianist is popular on YouTube ...
The End of Summer (小早川家の秋, Yasujiro Ozu, 1961)
A small family become increasingly exasperated with the happy-go-lucky patriarch’s inconsiderate and irresponsible behaviour in Yasujiro Ozu’s penultimate film.
Royal Warriors 皇家戰士 (1986) Dir: David Chung
Royal Warriors 皇家戰士 (1986), by director David Chung, is a good action movie starring Michelle Yeoh that benefits from a focussed story that centres on a cycle of…
A Holy Family (神人之家, Elvis Lu, 2022)
Documentarian Elvis Lu (The Shepherds) turns the camera on his own devoutly religious Taoist family on returning home after many years away.
Yes, Madam! 皇家師姐 (1985) Director: Corey Yuen
Yes, Madam! 皇家師姐 (1985), by director Corey Yuen, is the foundational film in the Girls-with-Guns action subgenre and it gets the right balance of strong female heroes in…
Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ)
In my recent conversation on with the folks at Manga Mavericks about My Alcoholic Escape From Reality (a conversation that will go up on their Patreon later this…
*Guest Post* 2020 the Anime: Japan Sinks-2020
Greetings, fabulous people of the Internet! Hanime on Anime here, and some part of me wants to remember 2020 before moving on with the new year. And what…
A Dedicated Life (全身小説家, Kazuo Hara, 1994)
Kazuo Hara attempts to understand enigmatic author Mitsuharu Inoue as he follows him through the final months of his life
All About My Sisters (家庭錄像, Wang Qiong, 2021)
Wang Qiong’s often raw doc explores the destructive legacies of the One Child Policy and entrenched patriarchy through the lens of her own complicated family
Kōji Nanke (南家こうじ): Anime’s Eclectic Musical Poet
Animation and music, when crafted and combined well, make for an exhilarating duo. Innumerable cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, in particular, relied on the visuals…
Summer 2020: The Restart
Take 2. Summer 2020 is going to be a recovery period for most of us out there. While the succeeding seasons is going to consist of many readjustments,…
DECA-DENCE, Fruits Basket, The God of High School, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, APPARE-RANMAN!
The Anime Of 2020
What is a GOAT if not an AOTY? Yup, that’s right, the goat is the animal of the year! And in the meanwhile, let’s look at 2020’s anime!
Blade of the Immortal, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, DECA-DENCE, Dorohedoro
The Journalist (2020) review
A highly relevant narrative that succeeds in underlining the importance of fighting against a-moral system of media manipulation.
Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 4 (山田と加瀬さん。)
As you age, one of the absolutely weirdest things is watching the people you knew as children growing up, maturing, starting their own lives. You never know what…
Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 2 (山田と加瀬さん)
Happy anniversary to Takashima Hiromi-sensei for 10 years of Kase-san and Yamada. Who could have imagined that, when the series debuted in 2010 in Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari,…
Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 3 ( 山田と加瀬さん。)
Kase-san and Yamada moved to Tokyo last spring. Now winter is ahead of them and they are settling in, mostly. As Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 3 ( 山田と加瀬さん。)…
Faraway Family (彼方の家族, Taro Kawasaki & Eisuke Sakauchi, 2023)
A teenage boy struggling with grief and loneliness gains a new perspective after bonding with another lonely young man in Taro Kawasaki & Eisuke Sakauchi’s indie drama.
Brief History of a Family (家庭简史, Lin Jianjie, 2024)
Disappointed parents of the One Child Policy turn their attentions to a surrogate son in Lin Jianjie’s intense social drama.