Obscure Japanese Film #161 Michiyo Kogure Ikuko (Michiyo Kogure) is a young woman happily married to Tsunehiko (Seizaburo Kawazu), a banke...
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Asakusa no yoru / 浅草の夜 (‘Asakusa at Night’, 1954)
Obscure Japanese Film #156 Ayako Wakao and Machiko Kyo Setsuko (Machiko Kyo) is a dancer at a theatre in Asakusa, where she’s been havin...
The Idiot (白痴, Akira Kurosawa, 1951)
A pure soul is destroyed by the selfishness and duplicity of the post-war society in Kurosawa’s snowbound adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel.
Anata no Yoru ga Aketera (あなたの夜が明けたら)
Anata no Yoru ga Aketera (あなたの夜が明けたら), translated on the cover as After Sunrise, Haru Harukawa Collection is a collection of shorts by, obviously Harukawa Haru. Some of these…
Nightshade Flower (夜来香, Kon Ichikawa, 1951)
A couple who met briefly in Manchuria are reunited in Kobe but find their joy short-lived amid the vagaries of the post-war society in Kon Ichikawa’s tragic romance.
Thousand and One Nights (千夜、一夜, Nao Kubota, 2022)
Two women are united by the search for answers in the disappearances of their husbands but take very different paths in Nao Kubota’s melancholy tale of unanswerable longing.
All the Long Nights (夜明けのすべて, Sho Miyake, 2024)
Mismatched colleagues struggling amid contemporary corporate culture find unexpected solidarity in Sho Miyake’s gentle human drama.
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 5 (雨夜の月)
In my fevered anticipation for The Moon on a Rainy Night, Volume 1 coming from Kodansha next week, I was thrilled to have the newest volume of the…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月)
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月) is absolute perfection. It was so good, that the moment I finished it, I started from the beginning and read it again.…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 4 ( 雨夜の月)
Well, wow. A whole lot of story happened in this volume. First, Saki finds Kanon’s former best friend – the one Kanon feel betrayed her – and learns…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 2 ( 雨夜の月)
In Volume 1, we met Saki, a high school student who plays piano, and her classmate (and piano teacher’s daughter), Kanon, who is hard of hearing. Kanon is…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 6 (雨夜の月)
Do you remember Morinaga Milk’s series Girl Friends? It was an incredibly popular and influential Yuri manga in the early 2010s, so more than a decade ago. The…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 3 ( 雨夜の月)
2022 has been an absolute celebration of amazing Yuri manga licenses and releases. Almost everything I wanted to have been licensed has been. Of the two remaining that…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 8 (雨夜の月)
Volume 7 of Kuzushiro’s school life drama, finished up the school festival arc and, while it had its fair share of maid costumes and cat-eared girls, it also…
白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 2
In Volume 1, we met Shirakawa Junko and Kuroda Kayo two high-spec, elites in an international sales department, who are natural enemies. They don’t just fight…in fact, they…
白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 3
In Volume 1 we met Shirakawa, top of her department in her office and Kuroda, a promising up-and-comer who threatens to take everything Shirakawa has built. They briefly…
白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 1
Content warning: The plot here is 100% manipulation, violence and sexual violence. Shirakawa Junko is beloved in her office. The younger employees look up to her with deep…
Horimiya – 10 – Pure White Snow
First of all, I’d like to simply make the observation that for a show called Horimiya, which is short for Hori-san to Miyamura-kun, there sure hasn’t been a lot…
Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月)
Saki loves piano. Or does she? She loves taking lessons with her teacher, she’s sure of that. But her teacher is leaving… In Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月),…
Mashiroiro Symphony -Love is Pure White-
Mashiroiro Symphony is a galge that has the tried-and-true premise of an all-girls school becoming mixed. It’s somewhat different from most executions of this however, in that it…
365 Nights (三百六十五夜, Kon Ichikawa, 1948)
A noble architect’s life is ruined by an obsessive stalker in Kon Ichikawa’s stylish though improbably post-war melodrama.
Dead Angle (白昼の死角, Toru Murakawa, 1979)
A narcissistic conman takes ironic revenge on the post-war society in Toru Murakawa’s nihilistic crime drama.
Nemurenu Yoru no Chiisana Ohanashi
Here's a charming all-ages OVA from 1992, Nemurenu Yoru no Chiisana Ohanashi (Little Stories for Sleepless Nights ). It's based on a column...
The aquatope on white sand – 17 – Pure bliss
Who could have predicted that one of the most fun, heartwarming, and overwhelmingly joyful episodes of Aquatope would come after Gama Gama closed down? After Kukuru reached détente with Kaoru…
Between the White Key and the Black Key (白鍵と黒鍵の間に, Masanori Tominaga, 2023)
A jaded bar musician is confronted by his younger, more idealistic self in 1980s Ginza in Masanori Tominaga’s surrealistic adaptation of the memoirs of jazz musician Hiroshi Minami.
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.
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Confessions and Rejections - How to Japanese - September 2022
The Great White Tower (白い巨塔, Satsuo Yamamoto, 1966)
The medical system is just another corporate body filled with egotistical salarymen and dangerously narcissistic careerists in Satsuo Yamamoto’s tense political drama
All the Long Nights 夜明けのすべて (2024) Director: Sho Miyake [Nippon Connection 2024 / Japan Cuts 2024]
Beautifully depicted, workmates suffering in silence with mental and physical conditions feel the warmth of human connection in director Sho Miyake’s All the Long Nights 夜明けのすべて (2024)…
Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai – Episode 5 – Yoru and the “Antis”
Episode impressions of Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai Episode 5 as the girls pulled an all-nighter to create a 2nd music video. You might be wondering what caused…
Wolves of the Night (夜の狼, Yoichi Ushihara, 1958)
A heartless yakuza becomes conflicted on being confronted with the consequences of his actions in Yoichi Ushihara’s slice of Nikkatsu Noir.
The Bride with White Hair (白髮魔女傳, Ronny Yu, 1993)
The world proves too corrupt for star-crossed lovers from rival clans in Ronny Yu’s gothic wuxia fable.
Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru – 01
「Encounter」 Erotic exorcisms and crime scenes.
Remembering Every Night/全ての夜を思い出す
In 2017, director Kiyohara Yui released her first feature film, Our House (私たちの家), and established herself as a talent to watch. Though that film at times felt a…
Hiru to Yoru no Oishii Jikan – Manga Review
This was a really important read for me, but also quite a difficult one. I’d heartily recommend it to everyone though!
Yoru no Hana / Night Flower by Mizuno Hideo
A friend of mine turned me onto a series of lectures about manga and so I am currently listening “Shojo Manga: The Power and Influence of Girls’ Comics,”…
Rainbow Over the Pacific (夜明けの二人, Yoshitaro Nomura, 1968)
An unserious man begins to grow up while chasing love in Hawaii in a cheerful if ultimately downbeat musical celebration of the centenary of Japanese migration to Hawaii.
Episode #54 – Night and Fog in Japan (日本の夜と霧)
In the final episode of the season, Kota of the Against Japanism podcast brings his extensive knowledge of Japanese politics and the Japanese left-wing to bear in this…
Repast (めし, Mikio Naruse, 1951)
An unhappily married woman fed up with the drudgery of her existence considers other options but finally concludes there are none in Naruse’s bleak melodrama
Brief Thoughts On: Luger Code 1951
Luger Code 1951 is an alternate history action anime with design work by Medaka Box creator Akira Akatsuki.
Anime Taste Testing: Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru
You know what my problem with this first episode was? Basically everything.
Magic, Magi, and the Mundane – Mahou Tsukai no Yoru
There is a mansion on top of the hill, and within it live two witches.
Seto Kaiba, Blue-Eyes White Dragon Get Colorized Pure Silver Coins from APMEX
It must be grating for Seto Kaiba to know that Yugi’s and Joey’s faces wound up on real currency before his own. But he can rest assured that…
Review: Witch on the Holy Night / Mahoutsukai no Yoru / Mahoyo
A decade after it came out, Mahoutsukai no Yoru is finally translated. But is it any good?
Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai – Episode 3 – The Outcast Heroine
Episode impressions of Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai Episode 3 as Mei, known as Kimura, has joined the team, one member is left. Yes, it’s Yoru’s childhood friend,…
NightS Manga Review
Yakuza, mechanics, and others fall in love… oh, and some high school kids, but who cares about them?
APMEX Adds Pure Silver Blue-Eyes White Dragon TCG, Yami Yugi Game Flip Coins
APMEX knows that Yu-Gi-Oh! fans love Blue-Eyes White Dragon very much, so the American retailer of precious metal products has returned to give Seto Kaiba’s signature monster another…
Intolerance (空白, Keisuke Yoshida, 2021)
A angry old man struggling to accept his daughter’s death is forced to reassess his relationships in Keisuke Yoshida’s intense social drama.
Oni to Yoake Yuzikiyo (鬼と夜明け 夕月夜)
While shopping in random bookstores in Japan at the end of last year I kept seeing book,s with girls in school uniforms wielding swords. I did that thing…
Remembering Every Night (すべての夜を思いだす, Yui Kiyohara, 2022)
A series of women wander around Tama New Town each searching for something in Yui Kiyohara’s wistful drama.
New Moomin 37/52 - The Bell That Rings On Moonlit Nights (月夜になる鐘) (1972) (English subtitles)
On moonlit nights, Moominvalley's bell tolls mysteriously, and the culprit seems even stranger, leaving leaves behind. When everyone tries to take the bell down to figure out who…