Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters is a revelation, the culmination of years of study on a particular theme, a movie that brings together all of the director’s strengths and, for once, almost none of h…
Jun 16, 2018 • Subscribe
More like this
星屑家族
Hoshikuzu Kazoku is a two-volume graphic novel set in an alternate universe where parents are required to obtain a license to raise children. To qualify for a license,…
The Stormy Family (台風家族, Masahide Ichii, 2019)
Siblings fail to find a sense of solidarity reuniting 10 years after their parents robbed a bank and disappeared in Masahide Ichii’s darkly comic drama
The Third Will / 女系家族 / Nyokei kazoku (1963)
Obscure Japanese Film #117 Ayako Wakao This Daiei production was an attempt to repeat the success of the company’s 1961 film, A Woman’s ...
A Family (ヤクザと家族 The Family, Michihito Fujii, 2020)
“No one can survive as a yakuza in this world” according to another orphaned son playing the long game of a crime adjacent existence in Michihito Fujii’s melancholy…
Faraway Family (彼方の家族, Taro Kawasaki & Eisuke Sakauchi, 2023)
A teenage boy struggling with grief and loneliness gains a new perspective after bonding with another lonely young man in Taro Kawasaki & Eisuke Sakauchi’s indie drama.
Band Four (4拍4家族, Mo Lai Yan Chi, 2023)
A disparate family is brought back together by a shared love of music even as everything else around them crumbles in Mo Lai Yan Chi’s poignant drama.
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya (毎月庭つき大家つき)
Suga Asako finds herself alone quite suddenly when her partner decides their relationship is just not working. But her friend Hato isn’t listening because she’s more upset that…
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 5 (毎月庭つき大家つき)
In Volume 4, Asako and Miyako move ever closer. Asako takes Miyako to visit her parents and it’s charming and warm-hearted. The pair address Asako’s issues around her…
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 4 (毎月庭つき大家つき)
If there was a “Perfect Manga About Pop Idols Who Are Adults”* award, Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 4 would win, hands down. We’ve already…
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 2 (毎月庭つき大家つき)
In Volume 1, we met Suga Asako, who was starting a new life after her relationship ended, and her new landlady, former idol Miyako, who lives in her…
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 3 (毎月庭つき大家つき)
Bing! Bing! Bing! We have a winner of the first annual “Adults Having An Important Conversation Like Adults” Award here at Okazu. Asako is living with her landlord,…
Moving (お引越し, Shinji Somai, 1993)
A young girl struggles to come to terms with her parents’ impending divorce in Shinji Somai’s ethereal coming-of-age drama
Home Coming (万里归途, Rao Xiaozhi, 2022)
Chinese diplomats find themselves the last hope of stranded construction workers when civil war erupts in a middle-eastern nation in Rao Xiaozhi’s visually impressive action drama.
書き言葉
Tone in Written Japanese - How to Japanese - December 2022
いただき
The newsletter is out, and the podcast is online: This month I wrote about いただき (itadaki). Yes, just いただき. I had this bizarre internal sense that いただき was…
Aristocrats (あのこは貴族, Yukiko Sode, 2021)
Two women involved with the same man eventually find interclass solidarity in Sode’s empathetic critique of a highly stratified and fiercely patriarchal society
Gaga (哈勇家, Laha Mebow, 2022)
An indigenous family finds its relationships strained when the oldest son decides to run for mayor in Laha Mebow’s warmhearted dramedy.
Chang’an (长安三万里, Xie Junwei & Zou Jing, 2023)
Xie Junwei & Zou Jing’s animated feature explores the rapid decline of the Tang dynasty through the eyes of its most famous poets.
In Pursuit of Light (追光万里, Zhang Tongdao, 2022)
Chinese-American actress Lisa Lu looks back over her own history as well as that of Chinese actors in Hollywood and the Chinese film industry in Zhang Tongdao’s warmhearted…
Mabataki (まばたき)
Mabataki (まばたき) is a collection of short stories by Battan, creator of Run Away With Me, Girl. This is another manga I picked up while in Japan (I…
Lying to Mom / 鈴木家の嘘
(Warning: not exactly spoilers, but this review does include some detailed info about the latter half of the film.) Japanese cinema of the last 20 years (and much…
The Asadas! (浅田家！, Ryota Nakano, 2020)
An eccentric photographer finds a new sense of purpose following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Ryota Nakano’s warmhearted drama.
Reclaim (一家之主, CJ Wang, 2022)
A disillusioned middle-aged woman begins to reclaim her sense of self while trying to repair her fracturing family in CJ Wang’s touching family drama.
Chilli Laugh Story (闔家辣, Coba Cheng, 2022)
An attempt to monetise mum’s chilli sauce places a strain on the family unit in Coba Cheng’s pandemic era New Year comedy.
Royal Warriors 皇家戰士 (1986) Dir: David Chung
Royal Warriors 皇家戰士 (1986), by director David Chung, is a good action movie starring Michelle Yeoh that benefits from a focussed story that centres on a cycle of…
A Holy Family (神人之家, Elvis Lu, 2022)
Documentarian Elvis Lu (The Shepherds) turns the camera on his own devoutly religious Taoist family on returning home after many years away.
The Adventurers (1995) 大冒險家 Director: Ringo Lam
The Adventurers (1995) 大冒險家, by director Ringo Lam, is an action-packed globe-trotting adventure starring Andy Lau, but most of the fire comes from his female co-stars, Rosamund Kwan…
Yes, Madam! 皇家師姐 (1985) Director: Corey Yuen
Yes, Madam! 皇家師姐 (1985), by director Corey Yuen, is the foundational film in the Girls-with-Guns action subgenre and it gets the right balance of strong female heroes in…
Ikiru (生きる, Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
A lifelong bureaucrat is confronted by the emptiness of the salaryman dream when diagnosed with a terminal illness in Akira Kurosawa’s intensely moving melodrama.
A Dedicated Life (全身小説家, Kazuo Hara, 1994)
Kazuo Hara attempts to understand enigmatic author Mitsuharu Inoue as he follows him through the final months of his life
All About My Sisters (家庭錄像, Wang Qiong, 2021)
Wang Qiong’s often raw doc explores the destructive legacies of the One Child Policy and entrenched patriarchy through the lens of her own complicated family
Kōji Nanke (南家こうじ): Anime’s Eclectic Musical Poet
Animation and music, when crafted and combined well, make for an exhilarating duo. Innumerable cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, in particular, relied on the visuals…
Shock Wave 2 (拆彈專家2, Herman Yau, 2020)
A HK bomb disposal officer finds himself putting out the fires of his own explosive resentment in a thematic sequel to Herman Yau’s high octane action drama
![Featured image for Episode #99 (S12E09) – Ikiru [生きる] (1952)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20250305/1741163158.99253.142168.jpg)
Episode #99 (S12E09) – Ikiru [生きる] (1952)
Returning guest and fellow podcaster Derick McDuff is back on the show for a discussion of one of Akira Kurosawa’s most well-known and well-regarded films—1952’s Ikiru. We chart…
Yamabuki (やまぶき, Juichiro Yamasaki, 2022)
The lives of a series of dejected souls in a moribund quarry town intersect in unexpected ways in a poetical drama from Juichiro Yamasaki
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On ゆきゆきて、神軍 Dir: Kazuo Hara, Producer: Sachiko Kobayashi (1987)
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On ゆきゆきて、神軍 Dir: Kazuo Hara (1987)
Brief History of a Family (家庭简史, Lin Jianjie, 2024)
Disappointed parents of the One Child Policy turn their attentions to a surrogate son in Lin Jianjie’s intense social drama.
Home Sweet Home (我が家は樂し, Noboru Nakamura, 1951)
Struggling family’s sudden windfall ends in disappointment but does not dent their goodness in Noboru Nakamura’s warmhearted shomingeki
Itsuki Tsuchigami【土上いつき】Sakuga MAD
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwrI-DkXiWQ Itsuki Tsuchigami (alternatively miso) is a favorite animator of mine, and I've planned to make a MAD with his work for a long time. Now that FGO…
How to use が ga: 何が好き？
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Ju-On: Origins 呪怨: 呪いの家 Director: Sho Miyake (2020)
Ju-On: Origins 呪怨: 呪いの家 Director: Sho Miyake (2020) is a largely forgettable entry in the horror franchise.
The End of Summer (小早川家の秋, Yasujiro Ozu, 1961)
A small family become increasingly exasperated with the happy-go-lucky patriarch’s inconsiderate and irresponsible behaviour in Yasujiro Ozu’s penultimate film.
Their Legacy / 家庭の事情 / Katei no jijo (‘Family Circumstances’, 1962)
Obscure Japanese Film #243So YamamuraJunko Kano and Ayako WakaoUtako Shibusawa and Mako Sanjo Upon retiring, widower Misawa (So Yamamura) decides to give each of his four unmarried daughters 500,000 yen to…
Hit and Run (ひき逃げ, Mikio Naruse, 1966)
A grief-stricken mother hatches a desperate plan of revenge against the woman who killed her son in Mikio Naruse’s dark psychological drama.
The Colors Within (きみの色, Naoko Yamada, 2024)
“If I could see my own colour, what kind of colour would it be?” the heroine of Naoko Yamada’s The Colors Within (きみの色, Kimi no Iro) asks herself.…
Skeleton Flowers (かそけきサンカヨウ, Rikiya Imaizumi, 2021)
A pair of preoccupied teens learn to work through their difficulties with maturity and empathy in Rikiya Imaizumi’s wholesome coming-of-age drama
Moonlight Whispers (月光の囁き, Akihiko Shiota, 1999)
A pair of teenagers find themselves in an accidentally sado-masochistic relationship without the ability to understand what exists between them in Shiota’s unconventional teen romance.
"I Learned 好き is ALWAYS Used with が" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Scarlet (果てしなきスカーレット, Mamoru Hosoda, 2025)
A gender-flipped take on Hamlet, Mamoru Hosoda’s latest feature animation Scarlet (果てしなきスカーレット, Hateshinaki Scarlet) seems to be a rebuttal of contemporary isolationist politics and authoritarian governments. His Otherworld…
Kanashiki kuchibue / 悲しき口笛 (‘Sad Whistling’, 1949)
Obscure Japanese Film #249Hibari Misora Mitsuko (Hibari Misora) is a homeless child who hangs around with the day labourers at the docks in the Sakuragicho district of Yokohama. They look after…