Uraroji Romanya Monogatari (裏路地浪漫屋物語) is a collection of Yuri stories by creator Kumosuzume. It’s a nice collection, with a variety of tones. The title story tells of a dress maker and …
Dec 7, 2021 • Subscribe
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夏物語
夏物語、 川上 未映子、文藝春秋、 2019 Summer Story, Mieko Kawakami, Bungeishunju, 2019 [Since I first read this book, an English translation has been published by Europa Press as Breasts and…
The Weald (杣人物語, Naomi Kawase, 1997)
Naomi Kawase takes to the mountains hearing the stories of the ageing villagers as they meditate on loss, loneliness, and regret.
April Story (四月物語, Shunji Iwai, 1998)
A diffident young woman begins to step into herself while chasing love under the blossoming cherry trees of Tokyo in Shunji Iwai’s impossibly charming drama.
An Osaka Story (大阪物語, Kozaburo Yoshimura, 1957)
A man who tries to escape his poverty ends up imprisoning himself in Kozaburo Yoshimura’s tragicomedy
The Wandering Earth II (流浪地球2, Frant Gwo, 2023)
Humanity resolves to choose hope in the face of oncoming apocalypse in Frant Gwo’s sequel to the hit schi-fi drama
A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness (悲愁物語, Seijun Suzuki, 1977)
An aspiring golfer begins to lose her sense of identity after being picked up as a brand ambassador in Seijun Suzuki’s surreal consumerist satire.
Lovely Little Ai (愛ちゃん物語♡, Ohno Candice Mana, 2021)
A lonely young woman struggling to escape her father’s obsessive control after bonding with a maternal neighbour in Ohno Candice Mana’s whimsical drama
Tale of Japanese Burglars (にっぽん泥棒物語, Satsuo Yamamoto, 1965)
A former burglar finds himself conflicted on realising only he can prevent a miscarriage of justice in Satsuo Yamamoto’s ironic tale of post-war moral confusion
Casting Blossoms to the Sky (この空の花 長岡花火物語, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2012)
An emotionally arrested journalist begins to reconnect with the past through wartime stories of Nagaoka in Obayashi’s compassionate plea for a kinder future
So Long Summer Vacation (暑期何漫漫, Bo Ren, 2021)
A small boy tries to work out what to do with a seemingly endless and infinitely boring summer in early ‘90s rural China in Bo Ren’s nostalgic childhood…
Monogatari
This is the greatest anime I’ve ever experienced, without question. There are so, so many things that are great about this series. It transcends this artform. From amazing…
Monster (怪物, Hirokazu Koreeda, 2023)
Gossip and petty prejudice give rise to a series of “misunderstandings” in Koreeda’s probing drama.
Apfelland Monogatari
For some time, BlueFixer has been looking for a better source to redo the 1992 movie Apfelland Monogatari ( The Tale of Apfelland ). When a ...
Metropolis, One Piece, High Speed Jessie, Yuukan Club, Serial Experiments Lain
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園)
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 …
本屋大賞2020 Japanese Booksellers Award 2020
The books nominated for the Booksellers Award were announced this week. Bookstore employees around Japan vote for the books they are most eager to recommend to customers. I…
Crossroad (死の十字路, Umetsugu Inoue, 1956)
An adulterous industrialist’s life unravels after he accidentally kills his wife and tries to cover up the crime in Umetsugu Inoue’s gothic noir.
Godspeed (人生路不熟, Yi Xiaoxing, 2023)
An earnest young man does everything he can to try and impress his traditionalist father-in-law-to-be but just can’t seem to catch break in Yi Xiaoxing’s charming road trip…
The Road (大路朝天, Zhang Zanbo, 2015)
The building of a highway in provincial Hunan exposes the corruptions and hypocrisies at the heart of the modern society in Zhang’s unflinching documentary
Pretty Heart (心裏美, Terry Ng Ka-wai, 2022)
An idealistic teacher finds herself questioning her views on education while confronting her traumatic past in Terry Ng Ka-wai’s gentle drama.
Heike Monogatari – 09
Watching this has literally become a physically painful experience for me. Read more
Heike Monogatari – 09
「平家流るる」 (Heike Nagaruru) "Heike Flowing" The real carnage here is the butchery the script-writers do to the characterization and epic action of the original story.
Heike Monogatari – 10
The tragedy of the Taira really comes through here, carried on the source material's wings of glory. Read more
Heike Monogatari – 09
The year is 1184. Having fled Fukuhara to escape Genji troops, the Heike are forced to undergo several further relocations in order to avoid their pursuers. In the…
Heike Monogatari – 10
「壇ノ浦」 (Dan-no-ura) "Dan-no-ura" The sunset of the Taira.
Heike Monogatari – 10
Episode 10 of Heike Monogatari felt slightly more measured than last week’s blitz of character deaths, family reunions, and political/military developments, but upon closer inspection, the two installments…
Heike Monogatari – 08
「 都落ち」 (Miyako Ochi) "Leaving the Capital" The Taira scrape a final spoonful out of their now almost finished bowl of victories
Heike Monogatari – 04
I think there's an inherent paradox at work here Read more
Heike Monogatari – 06
「都遷り」 (Miyako Utsuri) "City Transition" This adaptation is all about portraying the characters as living, breathing humans enjoying every-day moments rather than focusing on them purely as giants of history
Heike Monogatari – 07
「清盛、死す」 (Kiyomori, Shisu) "Kiyomori, Dies" “Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me”. Or in Kiyomori’s case, not so kindly.
Donald Onsen Monogatari
A manga about how Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles get sent from America to Japan for an internship at a hot spring resort. Continue reading →
Heike Monogatari – 03
This episode was a tale of two very different halves, but I loved them both. The first was a restrained catchup session that softened the blow of a…
Heike Monogatari – 04
Heike Monogatari has dealt with intergenerational themes since its premiere, but this episode cemented them as its cornerstone. Now that we’re safely past the ‘continue reading’ tag,…
Heike Monogatari – 08
If one was going to punt on preserving the moral ambiguity of the original, it's much easier to make the Minamoto non-people than the Taira. Read more
Heike Monogatari – 05
Through factors partly beyond its control and partly controllable, the anime is losing most of what makes Heike Monogatari so special. Read more
Heike Monogatari – 08
Biwa’s role in Heike Monogatari is a strange thing. Despite having been introduced as our main character, she’s operated mostly as an observer since the third episode, and…
Gokinjo Monogatari 5
No post summary was provided.
Heike Monogatari – 06
Heike Monogatari returned this week to the more character-oriented stories of its first two episodes. The renewed focus on Shigemori’s children saw Biwa come back in a major…
Heike Monogatari – 05
For all its beautiful imagery and symbolism, this episode exposed a weakness that Heike Monogatari may struggle to overcome. Where are we situated in The Tale of…
Gokinjo Monogatari 5
No post summary was provided.
Nana Toshi Monogatari
Here's another project that BlueFixer asked Orphan to redo: the two-part sci-fi OVA Nana Toshi Monogatari: Hokkyokukai Sensen ( A Tale of S...
Cherry no Manma, Everlasting Heart, D4 Princess, Sore Ike! Anpanman, Black Lion
Heike Monogatari – 07
The burning of Kofukuji and Todaiji Temples in Nara was in many ways the single most important event of the entire Genpei War, so I hope you didn't…
Heike Monogatari – 07
The year is 1181. Not long after achieving political dominance in western Japan, the Taira clan’s power has already begun to fade. Their move to Fukuhara is short-lived,…
Heike Monogatari – 06
If nothing else something of the pathos of this series can be salvaged if the narration slows down enough to give it a chance to express itself. Read…
Back to the Wharf (风平浪静, Li Xiaofeng, 2020)
A wounded young man’s attempts to start over in the shadow of his crime are doomed to failure in Li’s moody, fatalistic neo-noir.
The Labyrinth House Murders / 迷路館の殺人
The shin-honkaku movement has always been a bit meta. It’s right there in the name: it means “new orthodox,” as it’s a revival of the origi...
The Narrow Road (窄路微塵, Lam Sum, 2022)
An earnest middle-aged man and a cynical young woman become unlikely friends in pandemic Hong Kong in Lam Sum’s melancholy drama.
Portrait of Hell (地獄変, Shiro Toyoda, 1969)
An artist finds himself in conflict with a cruel feudal lord when asked to paint a picture of heaven in Shiro Toyoda’s haunting adaptation of the Akutagawa story.