Second generation Japanese-Canadians stake their hopes on baseball in Yuya Ishii’s historical drama.
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The Asian Angel (アジアの天使, Yuya Ishii, 2021)
The lonely souls of Japan and Korea are brought together by angelic intervention in Yuya Ishii’s wistful drama


The Moon (月, Yuya Ishii, 2023)
A writer overwhelmed with grief takes a job at a care home, but it is shocked by what she finds in Yuya Ishii’s hard-hitting drama.
Murakami in the Asahi Shimbun – 日記から – 1982
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…


A Madder Red (茜色に焼かれる, Yuya Ishii, 2021)
A single mother and her son face the myriad injustices of the modern society with dignity and grace in Yuya Ishii’s quietly seething pandemic-era social 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)…


OreImo: The Fall of Vancouver
Each season, we at Classy seek to bring you the best analysis of the classiest anime. This season, we have decided that there is no better way to…
Comic Update: 金曜日の天使
Original Post Was surprised that so many people liked the last comic. Well sorry guys! I’M GONNA RUN THIS SHIT INTO THE GROUND. (Don’t worry, there’s only one…


Hello! Junichi (ハロー!純一, Katsuhito Ishii, Kanoko Kawaguchi, Atsushi Yoshioka, 2014)
A collection of confused nine-year-olds decides the best way to solve all their problems is to start a band in Ishii, Kawaguchi, and Yoshioka’s charming family film.


Japan Stories それぞれの日本
A beautifully written patchwork of stories of contemporary Japan each of which focuses on and mainly revolves around one person with associated minor characters who, though obviously less…


Seven Weeks (野のなななのか, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2014)
“A death is a history” in Obayashi’s intensely moving tale of the interconnectedness of all things, love, death, war, and memory.


My Anniversaries (オレの記念日, Kim Sungwoong, 2022)
Documentarian Kim Sungwoong follows the relentlessly cheerful Shoji Sakurai who spent 29 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.


Love’s Whirlpool 愛の渦 Director: Daisuke Miura (2014)
Love’s Whirlpool 愛の渦 Director: Daisuke Miura (2014) is a strong drama unafraid to look to look fully at the desire for sex and how it affects different people.


What Would Mogami Asahi Do?
From season to season we’re showered with idol shows: students in idol clubs, aspiring idols, idols who do sports, and idols trying to balance work and school. This…


Willful Murder (日本の熱い日々 謀殺・下山事件, Kei Kumai, 1981)
A dogged reporter comes to the conclusion an industrialist was murdered but cannot say by whom in Kei Kumai’s searing exploration of the occupation and the economic miracle.
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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


Manga: Guardian of the Witch by Asahi Sakano
This series, Guardian of the Witch by Sakano Asahi, had a lot of promise and potential. It was good in the beginning, but the story tap...


Family of Strangers (閉鎖病棟 それぞれの朝, Hideyuki Hirayama, 2019)
A collection of patients at a psychiatric clinic eventually find new strength to accept themselves through mutual solidarity Hirayama’s empathetic social drama
Katsuhito Ishii as Animator
By Tom Wilmot. For those clued up on modern Japanese cinema, the name Katsuhito Ishii is sure to ring a bell. Renowned for his surreal imagery and off-kilter…


The Road (大路朝天, Zhang Zanbo, 2015)
The building of a highway in provincial Hunan exposes the corruptions and hypocrisies at the heart of the modern society in Zhang’s unflinching documentary


The Many Faces of Chika またの日の知華 (2005) Dir: Kazuo Hara, Producer/Writer: Sachiko Kobayashi
The Many Faces of Chika またの日の知華 (2005) Dir: Kazuo Hara, Producer/Writer: Sachiko Kobayashi


Funky Forest: The First Contact (ナイスの森 The First Contact, Katsuhito Ishii & Hajime Ishimine & Shunichiro Miki, 2005)
“Thinking is too scary, so I’ll forget about it” according to one young woman in this surreal series of sequitur skits
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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Episode #87 (S11E7) – 100 Yen Love [百円の恋] (2014)
Film fan and podcaster Sam Inglis joins the show today to discuss Masaharu Take’s boxing romance, 100 Yen Love. We break down the story, discuss some of its…


Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2024
A Preview of the Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2024 – September 26th to October 06th – will screen HAPPYEND, Super Happy Forever, Living in Two…


Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2021
A Preview of the Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2020


Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2023
A Preview of the Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2022 – September 28th to October 08th – will screen MONSTER, EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, UNDERCURRENT, THE…


Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2022
A Preview of the Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2022


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…


Party 7 (Katsuhito Ishii, 2000)
A series of strange events bring a collection of lonely souls to Hotel New Mexico in Katsuhito Ishii’s zany crime comedy.


The Great Protector (2014)
This is another example of great Chinese drama. I personally rank this below the Disguiser but it’s on top end of my list still. This drama is ……


Darkness in the Light (日本の黒い夏ー冤罪, Kei Kumai, 2001)
Idealistic teen reporters have some questions to ask of mass media and the police in Kei Kumai’s true life drama.


The Sunday Runoff (決戦は日曜日, Yuichiro Sakashita, 2021)
A naive woman asked to stand for political office in her father’s place finds herself conflicted by the depth of corruption she discovers in Yuichiro Sakashita’s political satire.


The Box Man (箱男, Gakuryu Ishii, 2024)
Those who obsess over the Box Man, become the Box Man, in Gakuryu Ishii’s adaptation of the Kobo Abe novel.
The Creators of FGO Babylonia #04: Toshimasa Ishii
As explained in an earlier post, it’s not that uncommon to find production-related people climbing to a higher position such as episode director or even series director. Even…


Touching the Skin of Eeriness 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“Touching the Skin of Eeriness” turns from coming-of-age drama to supernatural mystery and is packed full of absorbing physical performances. 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi…


Touching the Skin of Eeriness 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“Touching the Skin of Eeriness” turns from coming-of-age drama to supernatural mystery and is packed full of absorbing physical performances. 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi…


Yuya Fungami Speeds Into All-Star Battle R
Yuya Fungami from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's fourth part, Diamond is Unbreakable, will be playable in All-Star Battle R.


AOTY 2014
Thought I’d throw this up on here instead of twitlonger. For me, 2014 means it either first screened in 2014 (so no Kaguya-hime) or it finished broadcasting in…
Renai Flops - Episode 1 - Aoi Runs Into Asahi
Asahi heard his fortune included a corner, but it didn't say anything about toast and creamy thighs. Renai Flops - Episode 1
OSMcast! Godzilla (2014 Movie) 5-26-2014
I GUESS you could see it in 3D but we didn’t! So. Podcast. Gozilla. 2014. What else is there to say? Well a bunch actually as this is a pretty packed…


Seven Days War (ぼくらの七日間戦争, Hiroshi Sugawara, 1988)
Oppressed teens rebel against the constraints of the Bubble-era society in Hiroshi Sugawara’s anarchic Kadokawa teen movie.


True Mothers (朝が来る, Naomi Kawase, 2020)
Adoptive parents face a moment of crisis after receiving a message from a woman claiming to be their son’s birth mother in Kawase’s hugely empathetic family drama
Student Podcast Episode 21 - 1907 Vancouver Riots (Part 1)
In the Meiji at 150 Student Podcast, UBC students discuss aspects of Japanese culture they research in class. In this episode, a student introduces research she conducted on…
Student Podcast Episode 22 - 1907 Vancouver Riots (Part 2)
In the Meiji at 150 Student Podcast, UBC students discuss aspects of Japanese culture they research in class. In this episode, two students introduce research they conducted on…
Asahi Graph Magazine (12/1999) – Interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino
The following is a translation from the December 1999 issue of Asahi Graph magazine. It has been slightly edited for clarity and readability. The interview is conducted by…
Koudou Ryou no Seizana Hibi, Volume 1 (黄道寮の星座な日々)
One again, this review comes with a story. I was standing in Animate in Shibuya and saw a book I had been meaning to read for a while,…


Drifting Flowers, Flowing Days (この日々が凪いだら, Yutaka Tsunemachi, 2023)
Two young people experience a crisis of youth after discovering their apartment block is to be torn down in Yutaka Tsunemachi’s indie drama.
Koudou Ryou no Seizana Hibi, Volume 2 (黄道寮の星座な日々)
In Volume 1, a young woman is sent to the Zodiac Dormitory by her sister with the admonition to “Take care of Alice.” And so, in Koudou Ryou…
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![Background image for Gunshi Kanbei [2014]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220613/1655135578.37751.66941.jpg)
Gunshi Kanbei [2014]
Gunshi Kanbei is NHK’s 53rd taiga drama. This one portrays the life of Kuroda Kanbei.