Vengeful ghosts in Japanese cinema usually originate from some kind of injustice. Generally, they’ve met a bad end through no real fault of their own while the person who killed them continues to p…
Dec 24, 2024 • Subscribe
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Snake Woman’s Curse (怪談蛇女, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1968)
A venal landlord is haunted by the legacy of feudal injustice in Nakagawa’s eerie Meiji-era ghost story
The Pit of Death (怪談おとし穴, Koji Shima, 1968)
An ambitious salaryman murders his lover to marry the boss’ daughter only to find himself haunted by his transgression in Koji Shima’s eerie horror noir.
夏物語
夏物語、 川上 未映子、文藝春秋、 2019 Summer Story, Mieko Kawakami, Bungeishunju, 2019 [Since I first read this book, an English translation has been published by Europa Press as Breasts and…
The Pit of Death / 怪談おとし穴 / Kaidan otoshiana (aka ‘The Ghostly Trap’, 1968)
Obscure Japanese Film #147 Mikio Narita Kuramoto (Mikio Narita) is an ambitious salaryman working at a company based in a tower block sa...
Monster (怪物, Hirokazu Koreeda, 2023)
Gossip and petty prejudice give rise to a series of “misunderstandings” in Koreeda’s probing drama.
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Episode #79 (S10E8) – Kwaidan [怪談] (1965)
Podcaster Mike Lund visits the show to discuss Kwaidan, an adaptation of four of Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese ghost stories. We discuss our favorite stories from this anthology, some…
Kitanhana Monogatari (綺譚花物語)
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing a book on Yuri history in Taiwan by Baihe novelist 楊雙子 Yáng Shuāngzǐ. Today I am reviewing the…
The Weald (杣人物語, Naomi Kawase, 1997)
Naomi Kawase takes to the mountains hearing the stories of the ageing villagers as they meditate on loss, loneliness, and regret.
The Ghosts of Kagami Pond (怪談鏡ケ淵, Masaki Mori, 1959)
The ambitious manager of a kimono store gets a gets a ghostly comeuppance in Masaki Mori’s B-movie kaidan
The Ghost of the Hunchback (怪談せむし男, Hajime Sato, 1965)
Morally compromised citizens of post-war Japan find themselves trapped in the purgatorial hell of a creepy old mansion in Hajime Sato’s gothic romp
April Story (四月物語, Shunji Iwai, 1998)
A diffident young woman begins to step into herself while chasing love under the blossoming cherry trees of Tokyo in Shunji Iwai’s impossibly charming drama.
An Osaka Story (大阪物語, Kozaburo Yoshimura, 1957)
A man who tries to escape his poverty ends up imprisoning himself in Kozaburo Yoshimura’s tragicomedy
A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness (悲愁物語, Seijun Suzuki, 1977)
An aspiring golfer begins to lose her sense of identity after being picked up as a brand ambassador in Seijun Suzuki’s surreal consumerist satire.
Lumberjack the Monster (怪物の木こり, Takashi Miike, 2023)
Could being a psychopath actually be better? It might be an attractive thought for some, the absolute freedom of living without emotional or moral constraint. Emotion is after…
Retro Anime Review: Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma (1989)
Review of Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma (1989) directed by Takashi Anno #anime #retroanime #horroranime #80sanime #animeova #manga
Uraroji Romanya Monogatari (裏路地浪漫屋物語)
Uraroji Romanya Monogatari (裏路地浪漫屋物語) is a collection of Yuri stories by creator Kumosuzume. It’s a nice collection, with a variety of tones. The title story tells of a…
Crest of Betrayal (忠臣蔵外伝 四谷怪談, Kinji Fukasaku, 1994)
An ambitious samurai finds himself corrupted by the times in which he lives in Fukasaku’s etherial fusion of Yotsuya Kaidan and the Chushingura
Story of a Blind Woman /女めくら物語 / Onna mekura monogatari (1965)
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Tale of Japanese Burglars (にっぽん泥棒物語, Satsuo Yamamoto, 1965)
A former burglar finds himself conflicted on realising only he can prevent a miscarriage of justice in Satsuo Yamamoto’s ironic tale of post-war moral confusion
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The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8 (8日で死んだ怪獣の12日の物語, Shunji Iwai, 2020) [Fantasia 2021]
Takumi Saito plays a version of himself raising “capsule kaiju” as means of combatting Covid helplessness in Iwai’s whimsical pandemic drama
YOTSUYA KAIDAN 四谷怪談 (1949) + NIJI OTOKO (THE RAINBOW MAN) 虹男 (1949)
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Monster 怪物 (2023) Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]
Monster 怪物 (2023), by director Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a Rashomon-like story about how misapprehension can cause problems and hide people’s suffering. [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]…
Lovely Little Ai (愛ちゃん物語♡, Ohno Candice Mana, 2021)
A lonely young woman struggling to escape her father’s obsessive control after bonding with a maternal neighbour in Ohno Candice Mana’s whimsical drama
The Living Koheiji (怪異談 生きてゐる小平次, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1982)
An irresolvable love triangle between childhood friends seems set to echo through eternity in Nobuo Nakagawa’s haunting final feature.
The Curse of Minky Momo
My computer crashed 110 times trying to edit this video. Kenny lauderdale (me) breaks down this genre defining series & talks about the history surrounding the most famous…
The Curse of Avoiding Dislike
I’m reading the latest English volume (Volume 10 as of this posting) of Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie and there was a part in this volume that’s absolutely…
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Kizumonogatari -Koyomi Vamp- (傷物語 -こよみヴァンプ-, Tatsuya Oishi, 2023) [Fantasia 2024]
A young man walks into an empty subway station already ominously strewn with blood and finds there the corpse of a woman shorn of her limbs. The corpse…
Blood of the Wise, Blood of the Fool
We often want to go back home, but where is home now? As we live, cities change, the mighty of yesterday fall, new players rise, and unthinkable things…
Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
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Kowabana Encyclopedia: Curse of the Pilgrim
Found in: Kowabana 26: Oden Special: A hodgepodge of horror Who the pilgrim was, exactly, remains unknown, but the curse The post Kowabana Encyclopedia: Curse of the Pilgrim…
Review: The Curse of Turandot (2021)
The Curse of Turandot 图兰朵 魔咒缘起 China, 2021, colour, 2.35:1, 110 mins. Director: Zheng Xiaolong 郑晓龙. Rating: 5/10. Splashy costume drama looks good but is let down by…
The Swordwoman's Curse
Black Clover becomes a cartoon, We Never Learn takes a dark twist, and Kohaku makes a big sacrifice. My Hero Academia 243 - 5:28Beast Children 16 - 22:54Mission: Yozakura…
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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
The Curse of the Modern Anime Fan
Internet Pitstop and I talk about anime's growing popularity globally. We discuss how it was like for us to bring Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and Pokemon games to school, seeing…
Nanami: The Inferno of First Love (1968) review
“Hani’s narrative is not only be the best film of Susumu Hani, but also one of the best films of the sixties.”
Kageki Shoujo!! – 07 – The Curse of “Never”
Summer Break is upon Kouka’s hundredth class, but Ai’s version of giddiness over getting to spend it at Sarasa’s is somewhat tempered by how the semester ended: with…
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Do you ever feel like you can be a little over ambitious? You know, making all of these great plans and not following through with them? I went…
The Popular Anime Curse
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Ashes of Gold: The Sequel Curse Strikes Again
J. Elle’s Wings of Ebony was one of my favorite books of 2021. As someone who loved it, I would naturally want to read its sequel, Ashes of…
Kageyama Tobio - The Curse of a Genius (Haikyuu!!)
#haikyuu #kageyamatobio #anime Haikyuu has some of the realest characters I have ever seen. The progression in these characters have been amazing. This is Kageyama's story as I…
Blood+ One Night Kiss: The Drop of Blood for the Future of Grasshopper
Not too long ago I got done with Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked. The licensed game is based on the anime series with hip hop ascetics in a samurai tale.…
Case 72 – The Dolphin Curse
We are joined by Matt of OverMangaCast to go over one of the longer cases we’ve had as we cover most of Volume 23 with The Cruise Ship…
The Cycle of the Spiral Curse – Uzumaki Episode 4 Review
The third episode was disappointing. I began to think that Uzumaki lost its chance to be good. However, after seeing the fourth and final episode, I now think…
The Rising of the Shield Hero #8: Curse Shield Review
Overall Rating: 8.3/10 Plot/Story: 8/10 Animation/Design: 8/10 Characters: 8.5/10 Music: 8.5/10 Action/Fights: 8.5/10 Synopsis Team Naofumi, once again, ends up in a village that needs saving. The …
The GLORIO Chat Episode 155: The Curse of Kenjiro Tsuda
Metallic Rouge is bad but should we blame prolific voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda? Will Sengoku Youko be the one to break the curse?
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As the Underworld brother’s full parentage is revealed, our story’s characters converge at the crossroads. This is a review for Ousama Ranking Episode 17.
Curse of Kudan Remastered Coming “Soon” to the West
In June 2020 it was announced that Folklore of Kudan, which will be known as Curse of Kudan in the West, developed by Sukera Sparo, would get a…
Haru’s Curse Review
TheOASG reviews Haru's Curse, a manga where after Haru's untimely death, the fiancé and sister decide to date to overcome a difficult loss.