A stoical ronin’s peaceful life is disrupted by a face from the past in Kazuya Shiraishi’s elegantly lensed period drama.
Jul 25, 2024 • Subscribe
More like this
Last of the Wolves (孤狼の血 LEVEL2, Kazuya Shiraishi, 2021)
No longer an earnest rookie, a corrupted Hioka attempts to keep the peace in Heisei Hiroshima in Kazuya Shirashi’s Blood of Wolves followup.
![Featured image for Bushido (2024) review [Camera Japan Festival]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240930/1727702624.90962.131910.jpg)
Bushido (2024) review [Camera Japan Festival]
Kazuya Shiraishi proves that the frame of the samurai and the Edo society can still be utilized to deliver refreshing narratives.
Lesson in Murder (死刑にいたる病, Kazuya Shiraishi, 2022)
A diffident student falls under the spell of a manipulative serial killer in Kazuya Shirashi’s intense mystery drama.
![Featured image for House of Sayuri (サユリ, Koji Shiraishi, 2024) [Fantasia 2024]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240807/1723073393.88365.128610.jpg)
House of Sayuri (サユリ, Koji Shiraishi, 2024) [Fantasia 2024]
An excited family discover the perils of buying a “used” home in Koji Shiraishi anarchic haunted house horror House of Sayuri
![Featured image for Sayuri サユリ (2024) Director: Koji Shiraishi [Chicago Japanese Film Collective 2024]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20241114/1731618224.93304.134732.jpg)
Sayuri サユリ (2024) Director: Koji Shiraishi [Chicago Japanese Film Collective 2024]
Director Koji Shiraishi subverts J-Horror tropes he helped create with his comedy-horror Sayuri サユリ (2024) where a grandmother/grandson duo fight the titular ghost for control of a house. [Chicago…
![Featured image for An Interview with Kazuya Shiraishi, Director of “Last of the Wolves” [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20210920/1632154994.21708.47791.jpg)
An Interview with Kazuya Shiraishi, Director of “Last of the Wolves” [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]
An Interview done with Kazuya Shiraishi, Director of “Last of the Wolves,” as part of the New York Asian Film Festival 2021!
Samurai Wolf 2: Hell Cut (牙狼之介 地獄斬り, Hideo Gosha, 1967)
Kiba is again confronted with the duplicities of late Meiji society after being pulled into intrigue at a disused mine in Hideo Gosha’s striking chanbara.
![Featured image for Last of the Wolves 孤狼の血 LEVEL2 Director: Kazuya Shiraishi (2021) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20210815/1629019394.19406.45087.jpg)
Last of the Wolves 孤狼の血 LEVEL2 Director: Kazuya Shiraishi (2021) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]
Last of the Wolves 孤狼の血 LEVEL2 Director: Kazuya Shiraishi (2021) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]
![Featured image for Lesson in Murder 死刑にいたる病 Director: Kazuya Shiraishi [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220726/1658833140.40524.70313.jpg)
Lesson in Murder 死刑にいたる病 Director: Kazuya Shiraishi [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]
Lesson in Murder is a fine Kazuya Shiraishi production that adapts a novel for the big screen. Although slow, the performances will enrapture viewers. Lesson in Murder 死刑にいたる病 Director: Kazuya Shir…
Bushido Explained by Alexander Bennett
Bushido Explained offers a good primer to how samurai thought across Japan’s different time periods. As the subtitle of the book states, it is a new interpretation for…
Single8 (Kazuya Konaka, 2023)
Teens inspired by Star Wars set out to make their own sci-fi epic in Kazuya Konaka’s nostalgic homage to a lost era of DIY filmmaking.
Haruka Shiraishi - Michi no Kanata
Rating : 74/100 As of today, Ive gotten through quite a few Fire Emblem games, with varying degrees of completion. Ive played the NES Switch port of Fire…
Kill! (斬る, Kihachi Okamoto, 1968)
An ambitious farmer and former samurai turned wandering yakuza are swept into intrigue when seven samurai arrive to bump off a corrupt lord in Kihachi Okamoto’s absurdist jidaigeki.
Wicked Priest 2: Ballad of Murder (極悪坊主 人斬り数え唄, Takashi Harada, 1968)
The Wicked Priest returns for a second adventure but once again finds himself confronted with imperfect paternity
Wicked Priest 3: A Killer’s Pilgrimage (極悪坊主 念仏人斬り旅, Takashi Harada, 1969)
Three years on from his arrest at the end of the previous film, Shinkai returns for more lecherous adventures across Japan.
Wild Adapter by Minekura Kazuya
I have disappointed a HUGE number of my friends by not loving Saiyuki. I have one friend, in particular, who is so hopeful that I will eventually love…
A Weather Report (胴鳴り, Yu Kajino, 2024)
A successful television writer is confronted with the mistakes of his past when the teenage daughter he abandoned before birth suddenly tracks him down in Yu Kajino’s indie…
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…
Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back (極悪坊主 念仏三段斬り, Takashi Harada, 1970)
Shinkai finds himself embroiled in a local river worker dispute after returning home to hold a memorial service for his mother in the fourth instalment of the Wicked…
The Book of Bushido by Antony Cummins
The Book of Bushido by Antony Cummins summarizes the landscape of bushido history and thought. Cummins touches on the contradictions found in the various writings that form bushido.…
How to Live a Samurai Life: Bushido
Bushido is the code of conduct for the samurai. It isn’t a written code. Rather, it was taught through example and through stories. As with any ideal, few…
Belonging (とりつくしま, Kahori Higashi, 2024)
The recently deceased watch over their loved ones from the vantage point of a familiar object in Kahori Higashi’s wistful drama.
Shall We Date: Demon’s Bond – Kazuya
Intro: Shortly after meeting Kazuya, this is one of Yukina’s first impressions of him, and it’s pretty accurate to his personality and their relationship. Kazuya rarely shows too…
Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 22 - Ruka Kisses Kazuya
Ruka insisted on kissing her nominal boyfriend. Her deep kisses were not nominal! Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 22
SHIRAISHI Koji Thanks Fans for SAYURI’s Amazing Win
A huge congratulations to SHIRAISHI Koji for House of Sayuri winning the CJFC 2024 Audience Award ! The director shared a…
お湯割り
In the newsletter this month I wrote about 角ハイ (kakuhai). This is a combination of 角瓶 (kakubin), Suntory’s flagship whiskey, and ハイボール (highball), a mixed drink made from…
Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 28 - Ruka Explains Cringy Kazuya
Ruka succinctly explained why Kazuya has such a broken brain when dealing with pretty girls. But he's extra cringy! Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 28
Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 14 - Chizuru High-Fives Kazuya
Chizuru invited Kazuya on a date after their hired date. She needed to blast some balls at the batting cage. Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 14.
Third Seat by the Window Episode 7: Bushido is Bollocks
Buggy and Chris are joined by Niente de Nada to discuss samurai, samurai fiction, and why everything you know about Bushido is a lie.
Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 36 [END] - Chizuru Cries into Kazuya
Chizuru finally openly mourned her grandmother in front of Kazuya. Naturally, the coward did not hug her back. Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 36 [END]
Kazuya Mishima in Smash Ultimate: I Sensed This Coming
I’ve been going a little hog wild with the Smash Bros. DLC posts lately, devoting entries to Goro, Kerrigan, and Nightmare just in the past couple weeks. But…
Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 29 - Chizuru Kazuya on Bullet Train
Chizuru's movie started principal photography, and circumstances put her and Kazuya on a hot springs trip. Alone! Kanojo, Okarishimasu - Episode 29
Punk Samurai (パンク侍、斬られて候, Gakuryu Ishii, 2018)
The arrival of a chaotic ronin spreading tales of a weird cult results in a battle between “monkeys and idiots” in Gakuryu Ishii’s irreverent jidaigeki comedy.
傘の下、ふたり
Author & Artist: ぢゅん子 (Junko)Released March 2012 by Kaiohsha’s Gush ComicsGenre: Drama, Romance
Bi-Weekly Booty: Urara Shiraishi from Yamada and the Seven Witches!
They may switch bodies, but that ass doesn’t lie! The Bi-Weekly Booty is Urara Shiraishi from Yamada and the Seven Witches!
Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible – 02 – Scent of a Shiraishi
Another con of Shiraishi’s lack of presence is that his P.E. partner will lose track of him when he’s running unless he announces when he’s finishing. On the…
![Featured image for Inch Forward 走れない人の走り方 (2024) Director: Su Yu-chun [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240508/1715177129.83849.123013.jpg)
Inch Forward 走れない人の走り方 (2024) Director: Su Yu-chun [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Inch Forward 走れない人の走り方 (2024) Director: Su Yu-chun [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
となりのメタラーさん
Author & Artist: マミタ (Mamita)Released April 2020 by Tokuma Shoten Publishing’s Chara ComicsGenre: Romance, Drama
帰り道 ~The long road home~
Myself;Yourself concerns a city boy and the country girl. Both are people who grew up in the same place but went separate ways just before the edge of…
Playing Tekken and Preventing Tekken: Thoughts on Kazuya Matchups in Smash Ultimate
I like watching Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments, but it’s only over the past year that I’ve started watching individual streamers more—chalk it up to a pandemic. During…
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.
Playing Tekken and Preventing Tekken: Thoughts on Kazuya Matchups in Smash Ultimate
Kazuya Mishima has been released as Smash Ultimate DLC, and the general consensus (whether you like his inclusion or not) is that Kazuya plays like he was pulled…
"How Much Are You Worth?": The Multiple Continues of Kazuya Minakura's Bus Gamer
Like many successful mangaka, Kazuya Minekura's career & legacy is defined mostly by a single work: Saiyuki , her purposefully loose reinter...
Maria Naganawa as Platelets 長縄 まりあ
'Cells At Work' Seiyuu cosplay as their 'Cells At Work' characters. Credits: TikTok @aniplex_official
Fallen Blossoms (花ちりぬ, Tamizo Ishida, 1938)
Troubled geisha find themselves engulfed by oncoming revolution in Tamizo Ishida incendiary drama.
Fire Festival (火まつり, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1985)
A proud mountain man goes to great lengths to hold back the tides of modernity in Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s poetic fable
Haru to Midori, Volume 3 (春とみどり)
Haru is a lonely woman. She’s never really moved on with her life, even as she has lived it. There was once a girl who had meant something…
How to Japanese Podcast – S02E08 – Roomshare.jp and のり弁
Living with Japanese roommates in Tokyo was the highlight of my time in Japan. I found those roommates on the website Roomshare.jp, a great site that I introduce…