Obscure Japanese Film #109 Mariko Okada Toho’s first feature film in full colour concerns the Ishii family, who live in the rural area of ...
Apr 11, 2024 • Subscribe
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The End of the Pale Hour (明け方の若者たち, Hana Matsumoto, 2021)
Dejected youngsters flounder amid the ruins of the salaryman dream in Hana Matsumoto’s youthful drama.
Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 8 (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ )
A few weeks ago, I reviewed HabuCore F, the 10-years-later epilogue to a series Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード), which I described as “a gonzo battle/school manga series.” I…
Hana no Asuka-gumi! ∞Infinity, Volume 9 (花のあすか組! ∞インフィニティ)
Once again, we come to the end of the longest-running girl-gang manga series. I say “again,” because this series has ended several times before. This first time when…
Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 7 (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ)
Buckle in, folks, today’s review is going to be a lot of expository commentary for a payoff that may seems small to you, but is hella powerful to…
Our House わたしたちの家 (2018) Dir: Yui Kiyohara
Our House わたしたちの家 (2018), by director Yui Kiyohara, is a good mood piece about a house that connects two sets of female characters together even though they never really meet.
Hana Monogatari, Volume 3 (はなものがたり)
In Volume 1 we met Hanayo, an older woman, newly widowed and Yoshiko, a woman of similar age who opens Hanayo’s eyes to many things, including the pleasure…
Hana Monogatari, Volume 2 (はなものがたり)
In Volume 1, we met Hanayo, a woman whose husband has passed away, leaving her both free to do whatever she wants and confused as to what that…
Hana Monogatari, Volume 1 (はなものがたり)
Hana Monogatari, Volume 1 (はなものがたり) by shwinn, is one of my new favorite series ever. Hanayo’s husband has been dead for 49 days, so her mourning period is…
Along the Sea (海辺の彼女たち, Akio Fujimoto, 2020)
A migrant worker from Vietnam is faced with her lack of possibility after discovering she is pregnant while living undocumented in Fujimoto’s unflinching social drama
Yakuza Graveyard (やくざの墓場 くちなしの花, Kinji Fukasaku, 1976)
A maverick cop finds himself sympathising with noble yakuza when confronted by entrenched corruption in Kinji Fukasaku’s jitsuroku-esque gangster drama.
August in the Water (水の中の八月, Sogo Ishii, 1995)
How does the world, or perhaps the cosmos, attempt to communicate with us? As Douglas Adams once did, August in the Water (水の中の八月, Mizu no naka no Hachigatsu)…
Bara no ki ni bara no hana saku / 薔薇の木にバラの花咲く / (‘Roses Bloom on the Rose Bush’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #136 Ayako Wakao Rieko Sumi and Ayako Wakao Reiko (Ayako Wakao) is a senior university student majoring in English w...
Children of the Beehive: What Happened Next (その後の蜂の巣の子供たち, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1951)
In an interesting piece of meta docufiction, Hiroshi Shimizu revisits the Beehive a few years later to find out how the orphans live now.
Kono Naka ni Hotori, Imouto ga Iru! この中に1人、妹がいる!
Mikadono Shougo, son to a rich and powerful company chairman, has to attend school to find a girl he is serious on before he can inherit the company.…
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…
Our Huff and Puff Journey (私たちのハァハァ, Daigo Matsui, 2015)
Four high school girls make an impulsive decision to bike to Tokyo from Kyushu to see their favourite band in Daigo Matsui’s teen drama.
Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 3 (できそこないの姫君たち)
In Volume 1, otaku and class loner Kurokawa Kaede is thrown together with school princess, Fujishiro Nanaki. In time-honored fashion, Fujishiro gives a radical makeover to the girl…
Yo no Naka no Kemono
A protective father still reeling from the loss of his wife just wants to be a hero in tonight’s show and tell, but is threatened to be upstaged-…
Ninja Girl (シュシュシュの娘, Yu Irie, 2021)
An ordinary young woman gains the courage to stand up to injustice after discovering her ninja heritage in Yu Irie’s absurdist political satire
Judai no seiten / 十代の性典 (‘Teenage Sex Book’, 1953)
Obscure Japanese Film #114 Ayako Wakao When high school student Fusae (Yoko Minamida) is excused from PE one day due to having her perio...
Fallen Blossoms (花ちりぬ, Tamizo Ishida, 1938)
Troubled geisha find themselves engulfed by oncoming revolution in Tamizo Ishida incendiary drama.
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園)
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Kalanchoe (カランコエの花, Shun Nakagawa, 2017)
The truth is, most people genuinely mean well but they often make mistakes. They make them because they don’t think things through, fail to consider perspectives outside of…
Casting Blossoms to the Sky (この空の花 長岡花火物語, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2012)
An emotionally arrested journalist begins to reconnect with the past through wartime stories of Nagaoka in Obayashi’s compassionate plea for a kinder future
Yuri Manga: Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 2 (できそこないの姫君たち)
Last spring I took a look at a pleasant “opposites attract” school life Yuri romance by Ajiichi. In Volume 1, we met otaku Kurokawa Kaede and fashionable Fujishiro…
KALANCHOE カランコエの花 (2017) Dir: Shun Nakagawa
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Dekisokonai Hime-tachi, Volume 4 (できそこないの姫君たち)
Fujishiro Nanaki, having been ostracized by her group of fashionable and popular girls, has found acceptance with the “nerd” group, Kurokawa’s friends Izumi and Iroha. Together th…
A Dangerous Age / 続十代の性典 / Zoku judai no seiten (1953)
Obscure Japanese Film #118 Ayako Wakao The Japanese title of this film (which translates as ‘Teenage Sex Diary Sequel’) is somewhat misl...
A Hole of My Own Making / /自分の穴の中で / Jibun no ana no nakade (1955)
Obscure Japanese Film #134 Rentaro Mikuni, Mie Kitahara and Jukichi Uno Tamiko (Mie Kitahara) is a young woman living at home with her s...
傘の下、ふたり
Author & Artist: ぢゅん子 (Junko)Released March 2012 by Kaiohsha’s Gush ComicsGenre: Drama, Romance
Nibiiro no Hako no Naka de Review
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While Yet a Wife / 妻の日の愛のかたみに / Tsuma no hi no ai no katamini (1965)
Obscure Japanese Film #141 Ayako Wakao Chieko (Ayako Wakao) and Kitahara (Eiji Funakoshi) are country schoolteachers who get married and a...
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Along the Sea 海辺の彼女たち Dir: Akio Fujimoto (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
A riveting look at the migrant experience through the travails of three Vietnamese women in Japan who travel along the sea to where they hope will be a…
Tsugaru Lacquer Girl (バカ塗りの娘, Keiko Tsuruoka, 2023)
A young woman finds herself frustrated by outdated gender norms in her desire to take over the family lacquerware business in Keiko Tsuruoka’s gentle rural drama
Prison Boss (獄中の顔役, Yasuo Furuhata, 1968)
A noble-hearted gangster finds himself at odds with an increasingly corrupt society in Furuhata’s manly yakuza drama
Doing Time (刑務所の中, Yoichi Sai, 2002)
A mild-mannered middle-aged man sent to prison for a firearms violation treats his time inside as an anthropological expedition in Yoichi Sai’s quirky dramedy.
Song of the Flower Basket (花籠の歌, Heinosuke Gosho, 1937)
The daughter of a tonkatsu shop finds herself with an overabundance of suitors in Heinosuke Gosho’s generally cheerful yet occasionally dark melodrama.
Somebody’s Flowers 誰かの花 (2022) Director: Yusuke Okada
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Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 2
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She is me, I am her (ワタシの中の彼女, Mayu Nakamura, 2022)
A gentle sense of haunting echoes through four tales of pandemic-era Tokyo in Mayu Nakamura’s ethereal anthology.
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Jigoku-no-Hanazono: Office Royale (地獄の花園, Kazuaki Seki, 2021) [Fantasia 2021]
Office ladies go to war in Kazuaki Seki’s anarchic, Bakarhythm-scripted transposition of the yankee manga to the world of the OL
VICE SQUAD (1953) – The Real “Dragnet”
VICE SQUAD (1953) is a sharply-directed, fast-paced black-and-white crime thriller that follows a full shift in a day’s work for a police captain in the Vice Squad…
Album review: 新世界の弟子たち (New World Disciples) by desert sand feels warm at night
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Nizo Yamamoto (1953-2023)
The background artist Nizo Yamamoto, who died on 19th August, spent his whole life working in the Japanese animation sector. Born in Nagasaki, he developed an interest in…
Here Because of You (君たちがいて僕がいた, Ryuichi Takamori, 1964)
Post-war teens take on injustice in the form of a problematic parent at their school in Ryuichi Takamori’s cheerful youth movie.
Firing The Lighter Gun (ピストルライター の撃ち方, Kohei Sanada, 2022)
Residents of a moribund town on the edge of a nuclear exclusion zone find themselves trapped in existential purgatory in Kohei Sanada’s bleak indie drama.
君たちはどう生きるか/The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki and his team are undoubtedly masters of their craft. It’s been ten years since Miyazaki directed a film (the wonderful, if divisive, The Wind Rises). This…
Hana no Asuka Gumi (1987)
4 months since my last post on here, yeet!!! *dabs* Anyways I'd like to present you all with a subbed version of the 1st Hana no Asuka…
