Tattoo Irezumi Ari TATTOO<刺青>あり (1982), by director Banmei Takahashi, is a fairly follow-the-line biopic of a real-life bank robber where the women dominate this character study.
Mar 4, 2025 • Subscribe
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DOOR ドア (1988) Remaster Director: Banmei Takahashi
The 2023 Halloween review is of the Blu-ray Release of the Remaster of Banmei Takahashi’s criminally underseen 1980’s stalk-and-home-invade cult classic “DOOR” as brought to…
Door (Banmei Takahashi, 1988)
A housewife finds herself unsafe in the domestic space while stalked by a persistent salesman in Banmei Takahashi’s home invasion thriller.
DOOR II: TOKYO DIARY ドア 2 (1991) Remaster Director: Banmei Takahashi
DOOR II: TOKYO DIARY ドア 2 (1991), directed by Banmei Takahashi, uses extreme S&M to explore alienation and loneliness in 90s Japan. Repellent in concept, but artfully composed and…
Door II: Tokyo Diary (Banmei Takahashi, 1991)
A sequel in name only, Banmei Takahashi’s Door II: Tokyo Diary has almost nothing to do with his previous film Door, the title was apparently tacked on at…
Nomad (烈火青春, Patrick Tam, 1982)
Aimless youth longs for exile in pre-Handover Hong Kong in Patrick Tam’s New Wave classic.
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Banmei Takahashi revives the turbulent times of the 70s as he depicts 50 years on the run of the fugitive Satoshi Kirishima and finds a rich and moving…
I Am Kirishima (桐島です, Banmei Takahashi, 2025)
A former revolutionary’s life on the run ends in victorious tragedy in Banmei Takahashi’s dramatisation of the life of Banmei Takahashi.
Irezumi
By Tim Wilmot. By the mid-1970s, the decline of the Japanese studio system had led to the rise of pinku eiga, low-budget soft porn movies that were targeted at a…
Irezumi (1966) review
“Masamura delivers a phenomenal narrative, a true post-war classic.”
Dougram: A Short Interview with Director Takahashi Ryosuke
This interview is from the 1983 August edition of OUT with a brief word from Takahashi Ryosuke on his, at the time, recently completed series Fang of the…
Maria Naganawa as Platelets 長縄 まりあ
'Cells At Work' Seiyuu cosplay as their 'Cells At Work' characters. Credits: TikTok @aniplex_official
Always Human by Ari North
Some years back, I received an email about a comic on Webtoons that I might find interesting. And indeed, when I had a chance to check out Always…
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Everyone is lining up for the new manga pulse. Those people are suckers though. We won’t turn them away or refuse to take their money. We’re just letting…
ULTIMATE SUEHIRO MARUO TATTOO?
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Video Game Tattoo Con 2023 Review: I Now Want a Tattoo
So this weekend was a little bit of a new one for me for a couple of reasons. One was the fact that this was the first year…
Woman of Design (その場所に女ありて, Hideo Suzuki, 1962)
Post-war women find themselves constrained by a relentlessly patriarchal society in Hideo Suzuki’s workplace melodrama
Manga Pulse 551: Imaginary Tattoo
Doesn’t it feel like we’ve all been here before? Have we gotten stuck on the old treadmill of time? Perhaps it’s a leak from the hourglass of the…
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Movie Review: The Thing (1982)
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Final Yamato novelization, 1982/83
The last movie of the original production years was released in March 1983, accompanied by no fewer than four different novelizations from three different publishers. Over time, the…
Arrow Video to Release “Irezumi” by Yasuzo Masumura!
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Art-chitecture: Taboo-Tattoo chapter one
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10 Tattoo-Friendly Onsen in Kansai
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5 Tattoo-Friendly Onsens In Tokyo
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Melting Sounds ほとぼりメルトサウンズ Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
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Is どこにありますか? more polite than どこですか? #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Evidence #29 - Animage Vol. 54 (December 1982)
Download PDF Here! (Size: 376mb) When it comes to anime magazine collecting, Animage seems to be the top tier in any anime…
Crusher Joe, Macross, Mars, Otaku no Video, Space Adventure Cobra
The Shootout (凶弾, Toru Murakawa, 1982)
A trio of teenage boys end up on the run after an altercation with a needlessly authoritarian police officer in Toru Murakawa’s empathetic social drama.
36 Deadly Styles (Hong Kong/Taiwan, 1982)
Colleen Wanglund reviews Joseph Kuo's martial arts movie 36 Deadly Styles.
Melting Sounds ほとぼりメルトサウンズ Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022] Rewrite
Melting Sounds is a wonderfully incisive yet offbeat MOOSIC LAB film concerned with mortality and human connections. Higashi’s light touch delivers a profound, cute, and deeply humanistic pae…
Spider Lilies (刺青, Zero Chou, 2007)
Two women connected by childhood tragedy struggle to overcome their respective anxieties in Zero Chou’s ethereal reflection on love and the legacy of trauma
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Wang Bing turns his camera on the mostly young workers in the textile factories of Zhili.
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…
What Happened to Our Nest Egg!? (老後の資金がありません!, Tetsu Maeda, 2021)
A middle-aged woman fears for her family’s financial future in Tetsu Maeda’s warmhearted comedy.
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Evidence #27: My Anime Magazine (1982, Vol.12)
Well, I am once again late for my own celebration... Download .pdf HERE! (Total Size: 309 mb) …
Crusher Joe, Fang of the Sun Dougram, Macross, Riding Bean, Space Adventure Cobra
Space Cobra (1982) | Retro Anime Recommendations #animeshorts #retroanime
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あっためて vs あたためて #learnjapanese
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The Tales of Kurashiki 蔵のある街 (2025) Director: Emiko Hiramatsu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]
The Tales of Kurashiki 蔵のある街 (2025) is a celebration of the beautiful historic city by director Emiko Hiramatsu who sets a youth story in her hometown and delivers…
入りませんか? vs 入ります? #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
The Meaning of a Shark Tattoo in One Piece
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Tattoo removal in Japan is common due to stigma. Learn about costs, methods, and where to go if you're considering getting a tattoo removed.