Advisors with ulterior motives plot to steal a precious scroll from a temple in the midst of transition in King Hu’s farcical wuxia drama
Sep 26, 2021 • Subscribe
More like this
Mountain Woman (山女, Takeshi Fukunaga, 2022)
A young woman walks into the mountains to die but unexpectedly discovers what it is to feel truly human in Takeshi Fukunaga’s bleak folk tale.
Sanka: Nomads of the Mountain (山歌, Ryohei Sasatani, 2022)
A young man finds himself caught between the new Japan and the old while befriending the last remnants of a nomadic people in Ryohei Sasatani’s poetic drama.
Sound of the Mountain (山の音, Mikio Naruse, 1954)
A failed patriarch resolves to set his unhappily married daughter-in-free in Mikio Naruse’s post-war marital drama
Monk Comes Down the Mountain (道士下山, Chen Kaige, 2015)
A wandering monk is forced to consider a series of dualities presented by his traditional upbringing and burgeoning modernity in Chen Kaige’s ‘30s wuxia Monk Comes Down the…
A Touch of Zen (俠女, King Hu, 1971)
A hapless scholar finds new purpose after falling for a woman on the run in King Hu’s spiritually-inflected wuxia tale of flight and enlightenment
Those Who Sneer Like the Mountain Fiend / 山魔の如き嗤うもの
Another Genya Toujou book, another series of bizarre murders in a remote village that are entangled with the local folklore. Those Who Snee...
Hu Xia - Hong Jue
My family and I got to go to our local zoo today! We got to see some cool animals, and it was so much fun!
![Featured image for Mountain Woman 山女 (2023) Director: Takeshi Fukunaga [New York Asian Film Festival 2023] 2](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20230724/1690211921.65425.100391.jpg)
Mountain Woman 山女 (2023) Director: Takeshi Fukunaga [New York Asian Film Festival 2023] 2
Mountain Woman 山女 (2023), by director Takeshi Fukunaga (Ainu Mosir), is an atmospheric drama about outcasts struggling in a small famine-hit village in Tohoku, circa the late 18th Century.…
Suzukuri Dungeon: Karin in the Mountain coming to Steam!
The diabolical demon queen Karin has risen—and you’re in charge of the dungeon she calls home!
The Execution Game (1979) review
A satisfying and stylish conclusion full of captivating action-sequences.
Fanart Friday, Too: Hu Tao on the Canal
Wboss is one of my favorite artists from Pixiv, creating these lovely pieces featuring characters (often from Genshin Impact) set against wonderful landscapes and other scenes. Here’s one…
Special - Alien (1979)
Hello everyone, In a season of female action heroes for the Heroic Purgatory podcast, we tackle what may be perhaps the first female action hero in the history of…
The Storm (大雨, Yang Zhigang, 2024)
A cosmic storm is likened to the chaos of life in Busifan’s beautifully drawn but narratively obscure family animation.
Genshin Impact Character Review – Hu Tao
If only whaling for her was as affordable as her funeral services…
Genshin Impact – Hu Tao Guide & Review
Here lies my life savings…
Shrieking in the Rain (雨に叫べば, Eiji Uchida, 2021)
A female director struggles to make a mark in the midst of sexist crew members, the absurdity of the censors board, and the commercial concerns of the industry…
Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (哪吒闹海, Wang Shuchen & Yan Dingxian & Xu Jingda, 1979)
Nezha takes on the corrupt elites of the celestial order in an unexpectedly brutal take on the classic folktale from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio
The New Voyage Time Machine, 1979
Contained here is a complete record of media coverage for The New Voyage from the first teaser to the last lookback, spanning all of 1979. April 9: Middle…
![Featured image for Episode #67 (S9E5) – Castle in the Sky [天空の城ラピュタ] (1986)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20230609/1686298122.62546.96922.jpg)
Episode #67 (S9E5) – Castle in the Sky [天空の城ラピュタ] (1986)
This week, Perry is joined by returning guest, author Patrick Moody, to discuss the Studio Ghibli classic, Castle in the Sky. We discuss the film’s legacy, influence, and…
1979 Voice Actor interviews
In the wake of The New Voyage, the popularity of Yamato‘s voice actors continued to grow in parallel with Yamato itself and the overall anime boom it helped…
Yoshinobu Nishizaki profile, 1979
The magazine Gallantmen was so close in style and content to the Japanese Playboy, you could have switched covers and not known the difference. Why has it come…
Intolerance (空白, Keisuke Yoshida, 2021)
A angry old man struggling to accept his daughter’s death is forced to reassess his relationships in Keisuke Yoshida’s intense social drama.
Turnabout Airport / 逆転空港
In the world of Ace Attorney , it seems impossible to be involved with the law without getting accused of murder once. (Or thrice .) Yet des...
Fanart Friday, Too: Happy Birthday, Hu Tao!
Happy belated birthday (July 15), Hu Tao! Here’s to Furina and us celebrating you! ★ 【棲夏】 「 HuTao&Furina~ 」 ☆ reprinted w/permission
Black Dog (狗阵, Guan Hu, 2024)
Recently released from prison and returning to a rundown town, a young man begins to identify with a fugitive dog in Guan Hu’s elegiac drama.
Review: Cloudy Mountain (2021)
Cloudy Mountain 峰爆 China, 2021, colour, 2.35:1, 113 mins. Director: Li Jun 李骏. Rating: 6/10. By-the-book disaster movie starts gangbusters but then becomes more cartoony and unbelievable. STORY…
The Inferno (地獄, Tatsumi Kumashiro, 1979)
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,…
Anime with Outdoors Foraging For Mountain Vegetables In Japan
Japan is a mountainous country with most of the population living in the coastal and plains areas. While the mountains are sparsely populate...
The Faraway Paladin: The Lord of Rust Mountain
The Faraway Paladin: The Lord of Rust Mountain is currently streaming on Crunchyroll....
Episode 17: The Smile of the Mountain Witch
“Yamamba” from Bakemono no e, circa 1700 (via Wikimedia Commons) Check out Episode 17 of the Read Literature podcast. In this episode… Is she a man-eating crone? Is…
Manga of the Month: King in Limbo
King in Limbo by Ai Tanaka This month’s manga is part of a new mystery featuring a pandemic, traumatic memories, and brain divers. Learn more! Read a sample!…
Office Academy brochure, May 1979
Anticipating the character of the times: ACADEMY ’79-’80 This is the front and back cover of a unique time capsule of anime history, the 16-page company brochure for…
Kanada and Tomonaga, 1978-1979
This article is an annex to this piece 1979 was no doubt a busy year in the anime industry, and especially so in the careers of Yoshinori Kanada…
Vintage Report 18: February 1979
As Yamato 2 moved into its post-Telezart phase with four very compelling episodes, development continued on The New Voyage, media coverage intensified, and new books kept the world…
Vintage Report 17: January 1979
At the dawn of 1979, Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s Office Academy studio was on the highest trajectory ever seen in the TV anime industry, which at the time was just…
Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月)
Saki loves piano. Or does she? She loves taking lessons with her teacher, she’s sure of that. But her teacher is leaving… In Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月),…
Scenic Sunday! Kamikochi in Nagano looks an idyllic mountain getaway.
With the crystal clear Azusa River flowing through the framed backdrop of the snow capped Hida Mountains, Kamikochi in Nagano Prefecture looks like a premier picturesque getaway. I…
Lost in Forest (山中森林, Johnny Chiang, 2022)
A former gangster finds himself displaced within the modern society after release from prison in Johnny Chiang’s melancholy neo-noir.
The King is Dead. Long Live the King.
TheMamaLuigi takes a break from anime to talk about his relationship with the 3DS family of systems amidst the closure of the eShop.
King in Limbo and Cutie and the Beast
The Seattle Mariners are clinging on for dear life, and I am in pain. This episode, we’re...
Nahoko Uehashi’s ‘THE DEER KING’ | NOW IN THEATERS
From directors Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji comes THE DEER KING, a sweeping fantasy epic that marks the directorial debut of acclaimed animator, Masashi Ando. Based on…
The Deer King
By Andrew Osmond. Masashi Ando is co-director of The Deer King; he’s also the film’s Chief Animation Director, Character Designer and Storyboarder. Before Deer King, Ando had an…
The Deer King
By Jonathan Clements. Supposedly, life has returned to normal in the lands of Aquafa, but there are still unwelcome echoes of the past. The Empire of Zol maintains…
The Deer King
Ando's talent lies in creating emotional impact through subtle character animation, even within a dense story. The emotional buildup and father-daughter relationship is brilliantly portrayed from the first…
Sora-iro Melancholic, Volume 1 (空色メランコリック )
Fumino, known to her friends as Bun-chan, is really irritated by that cool, mischievous Kiko-sempai. For on thing, she’s pretty sure that, while her best friend Mahiro really…
Shadows (殘影空間, Glenn Chan, 2020)
A traumatised psychiatrist finds herself in an ideological battle of wits with a duplicitous rival in Glenn Chan’s eerie psycho-noir
The Dawning Sky (明け行く空, Torajiro Saito, 1929)
A female pastor is unexpectedly reunited with the child she was forced to abandon in Torajiro Saito’s tearjerking familial melodrama.
Vintage Report 19, March/April 1979
The spring months of 1979 saw the first slowdown in Yamato activity since the previous summer, which was inevitable given that the intervening period was the busiest in…
Vintage Report 23: November/December 1979
The fan community didn’t know it yet, but the end of 1979 tipped them just past the halfway point between The New Voyage and the next big adventure,…
Vintage Report 21: July/August 1979
For a two-month period that didn’t actually see a large amount of activity, this was a huge moment for Yamato fans. July in particular delivered a big one-two…