An unsuccessful writer staves off a sense of existential despair living by night in Junji Sakamoto’s darkly comic tale of late life ennui
Oct 1, 2021 • Subscribe
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I Never Shot Anyone (2020) review [Camera Japan Festival]
“Sakamoto creates a nice, pleasant ride, but one that will be easily forgotten.”
Yuri Manga: Ichido Dake Demo, Koukaishiteimasu., Volume 1(一度だけでも、後悔してます。) Guest Review by Mariko S.
Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu! Today we welcome back reviewer Mariko S. as she takes a look at a book that was mentioned in last…
Hit Me Anyone One More Time (記憶にございません!, Koki Mitani, 2019)
Japan’s “all time worst” prime minister undergoes a change of heart after getting hit on the head with a rock in Koki Mitani’s lowkey political satire
And Then They Never Die / そして誰も死ななかった
The protagonist of And Then They Never Die , Ushio Oomata, is a sleazebag. He’s crass, rude, and a fraud—he’s a mystery novelist, but the on...
「全部磯チルドレンでいいんじゃないかと思っています」- 沓名健一インタビュー
The post 「全部磯チルドレンでいいんじゃないかと思っています」- 沓名健一インタビュー appeared first on Full Frontal.
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What we should be reading in Japanese - How to Japanese - April 2021
Sensei, Would You Sit Beside Me? (先生、私の隣に座っていただけませんか?, Takahiro Horie, 2021)
A mangaka and her cheating husband become locked in a cat and mouse game of ambiguous revenge in Takahiro Horie’s deliciously cynical anti-rom-com
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) Bonus Song - Come the Day After Tomorrow (あさっておいで)
Sung by (歌): Columbia Yurikago-kai (コロムビアゆりかご会) Lyrics (作詞): Eriko Kishida (岸田衿子) Composition and Arrangement (作曲・編曲): Seiichirō Uno (宇野誠一郎) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this record!
歩いても 歩いても OST - GONTITI
Still Walking [Aruitemo Aruitemo] Directed by: Hirokazu Koreeda 2008 Download
Okiku and the World (せかいのおきく, Junji Sakamoto, 2023)
A samurai’s daughter falls for a lowly manure man in a city on the brink of change in Junji Sakamoto’s touching dramedy.
Tokarev (トカレフ, Junji Sakamoto, 1994)
The discovery of a pistol concealed under a vending machine provokes a prolonged crisis of power and masculinity in Junji Sakamoto’s tense psychological drama.
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) OP - I Am Reading (よんでいる)
Sung by (歌): Mitsuko Horie (堀江美都子) Lyrics (作詞): Eriko Kishida (岸田衿子) Composition and Arrangement (作曲・編曲): Seiichirō Uno (宇野誠一郎) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this record!
Yuri Manga: Strawberry Fields wo Mou Ichido, Volume 3 ( ストロベリー・フィールズをもう一度)
In Volume 1, we met Akira, a high school student who tended to avoid other people and Pure the transfer student who calmly informs Akira that in 7…
Small, Slow But Steady (ケイコ 目を澄ませて, Sho Miyake, 2022)
An aspiring boxer begins to lose the will to fight in Sho Miyake’s empathetic character study.
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 9 (おとなになっても)
I am currently reading two Japanese series about adults in complicated relationships. Both series are, in equal part, compelling and interesting and annoying as heck. Today we’re looking…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 3 (おとなになっても)
Akari is ready to move on. She’s ready to reclaim her old career in the salon and stop running away from her life. She’s putting Ayano and her…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても)
In Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても) a lot happens. We left Akari and Ayano having been carefully not seeing one another for some time, as…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5 (おとなになっても)
Previous volumes of Shimura Takako’s adult life drama have centered on three adults whose life has been thrown into turmoil by unexpected emotions. Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)
In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered…
Otona ni Nattemo, (おとなになっても) Volume 6
In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 6, Shimura Takako has done something I’ve not seen before in a manga and I think I like it. ^_^ The main plot…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとなになっても)
Shimura Takako’s work with gender and sexual minorities has been very influential and popular among western manga readers, and series like Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Son end…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 8 (おとなになっても)
Akari and Ayano have moved in together. This fact fills this book with all sorts of tensions, both positive and negative. Sure, they have been through ” a…
Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire [シスターズロワイヤル 5姉妹に嫌がらせを受けて困っています] (PlayStation 4) Unboxing
A few days ago I received a shoot em up from Japan, and it came with some interesting goodies.
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
As a reviewer, I understand that spoilers are sometimes unavoidable in order to make a review make sense. As a reader, I don’t particularly mind spoilers…until I do.…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 12 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Yesterday I said that I was reviewing two series this week that focused on complicated relationships. The first was Volume 9 of Otona ni Nattemo, by Shimura Takako…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 8 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
“The characters and the art have grown, Tamifull’s narrative skills are excellent here. We’ve been with them through a lot…and we’re still here as they enter the next…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 9 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When we first met Miwa, she was unsure of herself. And when we met Saeko she seemed very confident. As we’ve got to know them, we’ve come to…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 7 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When I reviewed Volume 6 I said of that volume that it was like a fever finally breaking. “You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel better,…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In Tamifull’s Yuri drama Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな), we are confronted with something we don’t see very often at all in Yuri…two people who may just…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 10 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Life is complex – humans are complex systems and relationships are complex systems made up of other complex systems interacting. Things are always complicated in Tamifull’s Tsukiatte Ag…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 6 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
You know how you feel after you’ve had a fever, when the fever breaks and you’re soaked in sweat? You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 11 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In my review of Volume 10, I said, “I’m ready for something to lighten up.” Welp, Volume 11 of Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな) by Tamifull is not…
You’re Not Normal, Either! (まともじゃないのは君も一緒, Koji Maeda, 2021)
A nerdy maths teacher turns to his student for advice on how to seem more “normal” little knowing she has an ulterior motive in Maeda’s charming rom-com
Love, Life and Goldfish (すくってごらん, Yukinori Makabe, 2021)
An elitist banker learns to embrace his sensitive side when demoted to a country backwater obsessed with goldfish in Yukinori Makabe’s charmingly quirky musical
Episode #76 (S10E5) – Getting Any? [みんな〜やってるか!] (1995)
We’re going lighter this time with comedy podcaster Chris Andersen. In this episode, we discuss Getting Any?, Takeshi Kitano’s 1995 comedy/parody film about a middle-aged guy obsessed w…
Yuri Manga: Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 3 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
2020 marks an interesting new phase for me in regards to Yuri manga. Because there are so many more comics about adult women, written for adults, my specific…
Aisarete mo Iindayo, Volume 1 ( 愛されてもいいんだよ)
In Amano Shuninta’s Aisarete mo Iindayo, Volume 1 ( 愛されてもいいんだよ) we meet Kimura Rin, an office worker who is being sexually harassed by a superior at work. She has…
Enma-san (えんまさん, Tomoki Suzuki, 2022)
A young woman with the ability to see people’s true thoughts thanks to a magic mirror becomes consumed with hatred for the world’s duplicity but finds unexpected connection…
It’s a Summer Film! (サマーフィルムにのって, Soshi Matsumoto, 2020)
A jidaigeki-obsessed high schooler sets out to make her own summer samurai movie in Soshi Matsumoto’s charming sci-fi infected teen rom-com
Onaji Tokoro De Nemuru Made Matte (同じ所で眠るまで待って)
When I originally read Mizuno to Chayama, (水野と茶山) the thing that struck me, not in a positive way, was the lack of joy or humor or happiness. The…
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) August ED (8月の歌) - The Fountain (ふんすい)
Sung by (歌): Koorogi '73 (こおろぎ'73) Lyrics (作詞): Futabako Mitsui (西條ふたばこ) Composition (作曲): Takekuni Hirayoshi (平吉毅州) Arrangement (編曲): Nozomi Aoki (青木望) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this…
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) September ED (9月の歌) - Coral Reef (さんご礁)
Sung by (歌): Kumiko Ōsugi (大杉久美子) Lyrics (作詞): Tetsuzō Komura (古村徹三) Composition and Arrangement (作曲・編曲): Seiichirō Uno (宇野誠一郎) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this record!
Okiku and the World せかいのおきく (2023) Director: Junji Sakamoto [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]
Okiku and the World せかいのおきく (2023), directed by Junji Sakamoto, is an absolutely heart-warming and moving story of love set during the end of the samurai period. Its beautiful…
決死の一発描きをお見せします。 My life risking drawing, without rough sketches!
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。今回は、連載中の漫画「あさドラ!」より、主人公・浅田アサの一発描きをほぼノーカットでお見せします。 This is the channel of a Japanese Manga artist Naoki Urasawa. He draws a picture of Asa Asada from his recent work without rough sketches this time. The…
浦沢直樹より重大なお知らせ。YouTube更新が止まっていた理由… Important Notice from Naoki Urasawa
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。1981年に新人賞を受賞してから2021年でちょうど40年の節目に、〇〇を解禁します。 The year 2021 marks exactly 40 years since I won the Rookie Award in 1981, so I will be starting XX for my very first time. #浦沢直樹 #NaokiUrasawa #重大発表 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ◆浦沢直樹電子書籍特設サイト https://bigcomicbros.net/urasawadigital/ Naoki…
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) March ED (3月の歌) - Little By Little, Spring Arrived (ちょびっとちょびっと春がきた)
Sung by (歌): Kumiko Ōsugi (大杉久美子) Lyrics (作詞): Hachirō Satō (サトウハチロー) Composition (作曲): Masaharu Kikuchi (菊地雅春) Arrangement (編曲): Akihiro Komori (小森昭宏) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this…
Amalock (あまろっく, Kazuhiro Nakamura, 2024)
A resentful middle-aged woman’s perspective begins to change when her father suddenly marries a much younger woman in Kazuhiro Nakamura’s lighthearted dramedy.
Private ha Honnin-tachi ni Makasete Orimasu (プライベートは本人たちに任せております)
I picked up a copy of Private ha Honnin-tachi ni Makasete Orimasu (プライベートは本人たちに任せております) (translated in English on the frontispiece as Private Life Is Left To Them, Yuri Talext…
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) July ED (7月の歌) - Lullaby of the Zoo (どうぶつえんのこもりうた)
Sung by (歌): Kumiko Kaori (かおりくみこ) Lyrics (作詞): Tomoko Koike (小池知子) Composition and Arrangement (作曲・編曲): Nobuyoshi Koshibe (越部信義) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this record!
Cross Game 50 (End) もう終わりましたょ。世界中で一番のアニメかもね TT_TT Too good, no...
Cross Game 50 (End) もう終わりましたょ。世界中で一番のアニメかもね TT_TT Too good, no words.