To celebrate October (one of my favorite months), I will be posting Japanese folklore in their original English versions. You can find modernized versions of these and other stories in my compilati…
Oct 3, 2021 • Subscribe
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Ex-Arm
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Watanabe Kills the Great Spider
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Composer Watanabe Chuumei (real name Watanabe Michiaki) died on June 23, 2022 at the age of 96. At first, the name didn’t ring a bell for me, but…
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Director Digest: Shinichiro Watanabe
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Ex-Arm – Episode 1
Ex-Arm is everything that can probably go wrong making an anime, beating out even Kemono Friends and Gibiate in production values.
Episode 141 - EX-ARM
This week, Shaun has had enough of the quality shows covered on this podcast. His method of fixing that is by having Remington watch 3 episodes of the…
Mechanical Arm #06 — Deworming
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Off the “Record”
This ended up being a more interesting show than I was willing to give it credit for. I have reched (reached! Reached! Or maybe I have reched a…
Keiichiro Watanabe: Jujutsu Kaisen #02
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Children of the Sea Review (2019, Ayumu Watanabe)
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Space Dandy Episode 1: The Shinichirou Watanabe Effect
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The Legend and The Butterfly (2023) [Japan Cuts 2023]
The combination of historical anchor points, a phantasmatic romance to link those points together, and satisfying burst of action will surely be able to satisfy those who thirst…
Off to the Races!!
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１９ （ナインティーン） Director: Kazushi Watanabe (2001)
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493 – Manben Machinations 1 – Wataru Watanabe
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Techno Brothers (テクノブラザーズ, Hirobumi Watanabe, 2023)
Hirobumi Watanabe has sometimes cast himself in his films as a misunderstood, struggling filmmaker at the mercy of his own thwarted ambitions and the vagaries of the Japanese…
Koi Ja Nee Kara: Watanabe Peko
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JAPAN CUTS Announces 2023 Lineup
At Japan Society New York July 26 to Aug. 6
JAPAN CUTS Announces 2024 Lineup
At Japan Society New York from July 10 to 21
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Someone Didn’t Skip Arm Day! HGUC Gundam TR-1 [Hazel Owsla] Gigantic Arm Unit
Ever since Premium Bandai started releasing slew of crazy Advance of Zeta kits back in 2019, I have made a personal commitment of dedicating a year just to…
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Hiroku The Goblin (1991) review [Japan Cuts 2021]
‘A classic that offers an unforgettable experience that is as touchingly lighthearted as is it disturbingly horrifying.’
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Talking The Pictures (2019) review [Japan Cuts 2021]
“Mayayuki’s celebration of cinematic history deeply satisfies the spectator’s desire to see cinema as an experience that can touch our being and the art of the benshi triumph.R…
Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut – 06 – Moon Shot in the Arm
Traumatized by what she saw at the crash site, Irina has a nightmare about suffering the same fate as all those poor test dogs. But as usual, she…
on the Bright Side Reviews (BS reviews): Ex-Arm
BS reviews is a series where Edy and I look for the unseen genius in anime that have not been widely recognized by the public. Today, we will…
Why is Ex-Arm so Horrible?
…Aside from “because it just is”, that is.
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 11
The animationIt burns! My eyes, it burns them!Please, take it away! Welcome to the Climax Episode! Not a lot happens, so it can be summarized very quickly: Beta…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 3
Like last week, we’ve got a live reaction video for you, after the cut. The short version is that there’s more competence shown than previously, but it’s still…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 5
It was bad enough that the animation, slowly improving though it is, should never have made it to the screen. Up until now, that was the worst thing;…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 9
Speeches everywhereFriendship, revenge, blah, blah, blahPacing is a lie. This episode is mostly focused on getting Alma back. The fight in the tunnel is as badly choreographed as…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 7
3D Arab PrinceTragic pasts not well set-up Clippy’s the bad guy Wow, this episode was scattered. Instead of nothing really happening, everything happened at once without the setup,…
Ex-Arm – 01 (First Impressions) – NOPE
Nope. Nope Nope Nope. NOPE.
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 12
Last week, and endingThis week, new bad from nowhereAt long last, silence So, after the previous episode in which Beta was destroyed and our hero flew off into…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 4
Look, I get it. If you’re going to steal visual designs, Neon Genesis Evangelion is probably a good choice. It’s got some good designs. But if you’re going…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 8
Uninvested fightsCyberspace looks like garbageSurprise villain why?! Ex-Arm once again screws up in ways I wouldn’t even have expected. Pretty much the whole episode is just a brawl…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 10
A decent fight sceneSome needless complicationsNo impact at heart So, today’s episode of Ex-Arm had two major lines: Akira versus Beta and Alma versus Soma. Second one first.…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 2
Reaction of the episode (Paraphrased): “Blink. Blink. BLINK! Blink already, you soulless Barbie Doll!” So, for this episode, we’ve decided to record live reactions. Fair warning, it’s mostly…
Winter 2021 New Anime – EX-ARM
I didn’t really plan to do any single-episode posts this season for reasons that have been stated repeatedly by now. But I had a suspicion that I might…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 6
Haiku summation: Animation gets better, The writing gets worse. Live reaction audio and details after the cut. So, this time we start with Skeletor creating his spheres of…
Japan Cuts 2018 Film Festival at the Japan Society
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All The Long Nights (2024) review [Japan Cuts 2024]
A splendid drama that shows how symptoms can disturb a subject’s life and how the social field attains its cruel complexity due to the riddle of desire.
Carole & Tuesday by Watanabe Shinichiro / Yamataka Morito
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Off The Tracks: The Promised Neverland
I wasn’t planning to post this piece this week. I had something else, about Insomniacs at Night, I think. BUUUT, we ended up having an actual discussion last…
Case 3 – Off The Radar
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Robinson’s Garden (1988) [Japan Cuts 2021]
“Yamamoto is not able to create a composition that engages the spectator with its highly relevant message.”
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Amiko (2022) review [Japan Cuts 2023]
A fabulous narrative that explores the destructive effects caused by the radical misunderstanding that marks the field of speech and the refusal to speak to one’s child as…
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Single8 (2023) review [Japan Cuts 2023]
Konaka offers the spectator a heartwarming invitation to re-find, within oneself, one’s (nearly extinguished) passion for creation.
Special - Japan Cuts Film Festival 2024
Table of Contents Hello everyone, Once again this year, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Japan Cuts 2024 film…