A finely tuned law enforcement machine springs into action when a young woman is found dead on the last train out of the city in Tsuneo Kobayashi’s documentary-style procedural.
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BLog: Lovers on the Last Train
BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga. Lovers on the Last TrainStory & Art: DayooTranslation: Kat SkarbinecPublisher: Seven Seas EntertainmentRelease Date: Dec 16, 2025…
The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty (憲兵とバラバラ死美人, Kyotaro Namiki, 1957)
A top investigator finds himself swimming against the tide when investigating the discovery of woman’s torso at the barracks in Kyotaro Namiki’s ghostly procedural.
Murder in the Crimson Manor / 紅蓮館の殺人
Murder in the Crimson Manor is lit. Actually, I think it’s just okay, but “Murder in the Crimson Manor is lit” seemed like a snappier opening, and obliques…
Hop on the Last Train with Hakubi.
I think I was looking for something a little melancholy today. 最終電車/Saishuu Densha (Last Train) from Hakubi fit the bill. With its fatalistic lyrics and minimalist music video,…
からだの美
Yōko Ogawa’s 2023 collection からだの美 brings together sixteen short essays on the theme of bodies and physicality. The three primary topics are sports, performing arts, and animals. The…
How to Japanese Podcast – S02E10 – 車検 and 人生初めてのカラオケ
The dreaded 車検 (shaken, car inspection) is an expat’s worst nightmare, but it’s not a reason to not get a car. Driving in the Japanese countryside is absolutely…
The Beauty and the Dragon (美女と怪龍, Kozaburo Yoshimura, 1955)
A clever princess takes advantage of a courtly crisis to save the kingdom and arrange her own marriage in Kozaburo Yoshimura’s adaptation of the well-known kabuki play Narukami.
The Mannequin House Murders / 人形館の殺人
I didn’t like this book at all. I don’t have much more to say about it.
Murder in the Hall of the Eye: The Book / 眼球堂の殺人 ~The Book~
Eye see you, heheheh… The best way I can describe Murder in the Hall of the Eye is “discount Hiroshi Mori .” Which on one hand…
The Faceless Dead (行旅死亡人, Kishu Izuchi, 2009)
If you suddenly got a phone call one day to tell you that someone with your name living at your address had been taken ill, how would you…
House on Fire (火宅の人, Kinji Fukasaku, 1986)
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Post #145|The Last Train Manga Review
The last train is a Yaoi/boyslove manga. Guys this manga is something you can read start to finish in 15 minutes flat and not only that but it…
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) December ED (12月の歌) - The Candy Train (お菓子の汽車)
Sung by (歌): Kyōko Ishige (石毛恭子) Lyrics (作詞): Yaso Saijō (西條八十) Composition and Arrangement (作曲・編曲): Teruyuki Noda (野田暉行) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this record!
The Butterfly Murder Case / 蝶々殺人事件
While Kousuke Kindaichi is by far Seishi Yokomizo ’s most famous fictional detective, he is not the only one. Yokomizo also wrote many book...
Death Within the Evil Eye / 魔眼の匣の殺人
It’s difficult to succeed genius. Chrono Cross isn’t as good as Chrono Trigger , Bioshock 2 isn’t as good as Bioshock , and National Treas...
Shuuen no Virche 終遠のヴィルシュ -ErroR:salvation- Review / Summary
Ceres is a woman who brings a “curse” of death wherever she goes. It’s for this reason people call her a Shinigami or a “reaper”. She stays at…
The Last Dance (大病人, Juzo Itami, 1993)
A self-involved film director gets a lesson in what it is to live when he discovers that he has terminal cancer in a lighthearted melodrama from Juzo Itami.
Murder on the Thirtieth Floor
"Are you interested in buildings or builders?""Columbo: Blueprint for Murder" Read until the end to learn about the mystery hiding beneath the mystery... Paul Redknapp is the head of the…
Crossroad (死の十字路, Umetsugu Inoue, 1956)
An adulterous industrialist’s life unravels after he accidentally kills his wife and tries to cover up the crime in Umetsugu Inoue’s gothic noir.
I Live in Fear (生きものの記録, Akira Kurosawa, 1955)
An elderly man’s nuclear paranoia threatens to tear his family apart in Kurosawa’s post-war social drama.
The Labyrinth House Murders / 迷路館の殺人
The shin-honkaku movement has always been a bit meta. It’s right there in the name: it means “new orthodox,” as it’s a revival of the origi...
The Twilight Years (恍惚の人, Shiro Toyoda, 1973)
A middle-aged woman struggles to care for her father-in-law as his dementia intensifies in Shiro Toyoda’s empathetic drama.
The Black Umbrella Mystery / 体育館の殺人
The Black Umbrella Mystery is a story with the soul of Ellery Queen and the body of an anime protagonist. There are a few Japanese…
The Seven Great Detectives / 7人の名探偵
Yukito Ayatsuji ’s The Decagon House Murders was published in 1987, and is credited with kick-starting the shin-honkaku (new orthodox) mov...
Train to the End of the World Episode 4: The Train Goes on and on
I wondered how they’d try to fit most of the stops in a 12-13 episode show unless there are plans for a 2nd cour. This episode answered that…
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.
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Fellow podcaster Mike Lund returns to the show for a discussion of Godzilla Raids Again. The first of many Godzilla sequels, it also set the tone for the…
美術館
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Love and Murder of Sheep and Wolf 羊とオオカミの恋と殺人 (2020) Director: Kayoko Asakura
Love and Murder of Sheep and Wolf has a great concept about dating a hitwoman but a dull final result in its execution. Love and Murder of Sheep…
The Human Wall / 人間の壁/ Ningen no kabe (1959)
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終わコン [owakon]
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After a prolonged trip across the ocean, a long-awaited doujinshi has finally arrived at my home. And, like clockwork, the Melonbooks website is down for maintenance, so I…
Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
Desperate peasants recruit samurai protectors in Akira Kurosawa’s classic historical epic back in UK cinemas Oct. 29
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Illusion Acts Like Magic begins with Moe meeting her friend Tomoe Minosawa and going to a magic show. Saikawa was supposed to come as well ...
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The Samurai of Edo / 江戸一寸の虫 / Edo issun no mushi (1955)
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The Wolves (狼, Kaneto Shindo, 1955)
Post-war desperation drives a collection of otherwise honest men and women towards a criminal act that for all its politeness they are ill-equipped to live with in Kaneto’s…
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A fake ring causes untold chaos in a small corner of Ginza in Yasuki Chiba’s charming ensemble rom-com.
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We recently had the pleasure of three guest reviews for Plongée dans la nuit, the French edition of Yoru to Umi, by Goumoto. I had read the first…
Akira Toriyama (1955-2024)
The manga creator Akira Toriyama, who died on 1st March, was cited by the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump as being the prime catalyst in driving the magazine…
Buichi Terasawa (1955-2023)
The manga artist Buichi Terasawa, who died on 8th September, enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in the 1980s, becoming popular just as his particular brand of lurid,…
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I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into the theater to see Mugen Train. I had only watched around 12 or 13 episodes of the first…