Office ladies go to war in Kazuaki Seki’s anarchic, Bakarhythm-scripted transposition of the yankee manga to the world of the OL
Sep 8, 2021 • Subscribe
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Jigoku no Hanazono: Office Royale is a funny battle comedy that satirises office culture and delinquent manga/films! Jigoku no Hanazono: Office Royale 地獄の花園 Director: Kazuaki Seki (2021) [New York …
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Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園) is absolute trash, hilarious and unforgivable, and probably puzzling to anyone who isn’t deeply interested in girl-gang lore. It’s a movie tailored almost …
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“An absurd and crazy cocktail full of violence and funny twists and unexpected turns.”
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No one can escape from their sins according to the ominous voiceover that opens Tatsumi Kumashiro’s loose reimagining of Nobuo Nakagawa’s Jigoku, The Inferno (地獄, Jigoku). Then again,…
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Portrait of Hell (地獄変, Shiro Toyoda, 1969)
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A wedding-planner turned undertaker finds himself in conflict with an irascible Taoist priest in Anselm Chan’s touching dramedy.
High and Low (天国と地獄, Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
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The truth is, most people genuinely mean well but they often make mistakes. They make them because they don’t think things through, fail to consider perspectives outside of…
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Shun Nakagawa’s coming-of-age drama Kalanchoe (2017) uses a class as a microcosm for society to explore difficulties in sincerely dealing with people who are different. It will be…
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An emotionally arrested journalist begins to reconnect with the past through wartime stories of Nagaoka in Obayashi’s compassionate plea for a kinder future
Green Jail 緑の牢獄 Dir: Huang Yin-yu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
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A noble-hearted gangster finds himself at odds with an increasingly corrupt society in Furuhata’s manly yakuza drama
Jigoku Koushien
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A few weeks ago, I reviewed HabuCore F, the 10-years-later epilogue to a series Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード), which I described as “a gonzo battle/school manga series.” I…
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Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 7 (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ)
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Marginalised communities turn against each other while locked out of an increasingly prosperous society in Kei Kumai’s uncompromising post-war drama
Tengoku to Jigoku: Psychona futari (2021) [Drama Review]
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Kiba is again confronted with the duplicities of late Meiji society after being pulled into intrigue at a disused mine in Hideo Gosha’s striking chanbara.
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Bloody Escape -Jigoku no Tōsōgeki- Film Review
My review of Bloody Escape -Jigoku no Tōsōgeki- is now up over on Anime News Network. Check it out!
Shoujo Jigoku no Doku Musume (Poison Control)
This game was pretty bad. The core gameplay just isn’t functional. It’s essentially a third person shooter with a large emphasis on terrain in that there are poison…
Negai no Astro (Astro Royale)
Given Wakui Ken’s 和久井健 fame and longtime record with Kodansha, perhaps the most surprising story of the year was the announcement of a new serialization round over at…
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今の時代において学園アイドルマスターの立ち位置とその描写理念について、少しの間だけ語らせて下さい。
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A deaf woman and her mother become unwitting targets for a sadistic serial killer in Kwon’s extraordinarily tense chase through the darkened streets of Soeul
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The narrative might not offer anything new at a thematical level, but stands out due to his refusal to spell things out and, instead, imply certain subjective truths…
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The cyborg vampire ninja isn't enough to keep this film above merely mediocre.
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A young couple find themselves caught up in an epidemic of sadistic violence in Robert Jabbaz’ defiantly depraved satirical horror
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A maverick cop finds himself sympathising with noble yakuza when confronted by entrenched corruption in Kinji Fukasaku’s jitsuroku-esque gangster drama.
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“An exciting blend of satisfying violence, tensive moments, surges of pleasing lightheartedness, and touching emotional moments.”
Seire (세이레, Park Kang, 2021) [Fantasia 2022]
A new father finds himself haunted by paternal anxiety and old transgressions in Park Kang’s eerie folk horror.
Tokyo Revengers (東京リベンジャーズ, Tsutomu Hanabusa, 2021) [Fantasia 2021]
A dejected 27-year-old gets a second chance to face his high school trauma in Hanabusa’s high school delinquent x time travel manga adaptation
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“Hanabusa’s second outing proves to be as enjoyable and thrilling as the first.”
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A father tries to protect his daughter when the world is taken over by sentient plants in Lin Zhenzhao’s post-apocalyptic eco thriller.
It’s a recession…no more Fantasia!
Instead of spending more money on Fantasia I decided to just roll a new toon on a different server. (I’m really cutting down on extra expenses.) This doesn’t…