An ambitious samurai finds himself corrupted by the times in which he lives in Fukasaku’s etherial fusion of Yotsuya Kaidan and the Chushingura
Jan 1, 2022 • Subscribe
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YOTSUYA KAIDAN 四谷怪談 (1949) + NIJI OTOKO (THE RAINBOW MAN) 虹男 (1949)
YOTSUYA KAIDAN This is one of several film versions of Tsuruya Nanboku IV’s story, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan. Nanboku wrote this tale...
Yotsuya kaidan - Oiwa no borei / 四谷怪談 お岩の亡霊 (‘Yotsuya kaidan: The Ghost of Oiwa,’1969)
Obscure Japanese Film #233 Kei Sato This Daiei production was the seventh post-war film version of Japan’s most famous ghost story and the last made for the cinema until 1981. Coming just…
Sympathy for the Underdog (博徒外人部隊, Kinji Fukasaku, 1971)
A displaced post-war gangster relocates to Okinawa where the conditions of the occupation are stil very much in play in Fukasaku’s proto-jitsuroku yakuza drama
The Threat (脅迫, Kinji Fukasaku, 1966)
An ambitious executive is confronted with the emasculating nature of the salaryman dream when escaped convicts invade his home in an early thriller from Kinji Fukasaku.
Dissolution Rites (解散式, Kinji Fukasaku, 1967)
“We’re all legitimate businessmen now” as a former yakuza explains to a recently released foot soldier stepping out into a very different Japan in Kinji Fukasaku’s Dissolution Rites…
![Featured image for Episode #79 (S10E8) – Kwaidan [怪談] (1965)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240320/1710922571.81177.119684.jpg)
Episode #79 (S10E8) – Kwaidan [怪談] (1965)
Podcaster Mike Lund visits the show to discuss Kwaidan, an adaptation of four of Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese ghost stories. We discuss our favorite stories from this anthology, some…
Graveyard of Honor (仁義の墓場, Kinji Fukasaku, 1975)
A renegade gangster slowly implodes amid the turbulent winds of the post-war era in Kinji Fukasaku’s anarchic take on the life of Rikio Ishikawa
House on Fire (火宅の人, Kinji Fukasaku, 1986)
An anxious writer fears collapse under the weight of fatherhood in Kinji Fuksaku’s adaptation of the autobiographical novel of Kazuo Dan.
Motoshinkakarannu (沖縄エロス外伝 モトシンカカランヌー, NDU, 1971)
The Nihon Documentarist Union visits Okinawa on the brink of its reversion and capture a sense of anxiety of those caught at a moment of transition.
Snake Woman’s Curse (怪談蛇女, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1968)
A venal landlord is haunted by the legacy of feudal injustice in Nakagawa’s eerie Meiji-era ghost story
Ghost Cat of Nabeshima (鍋島怪猫伝, Kunio Watanabe, 1949)
A haunted Go board, a paranoid lord, and a rumour about a vengeful ghost cat spirit throw a small community into chaos in Kunio Watabe’s playful supernatural drama
The Ghosts of Kagami Pond (怪談鏡ケ淵, Masaki Mori, 1959)
The ambitious manager of a kimono store gets a gets a ghostly comeuppance in Masaki Mori’s B-movie kaidan
The Pit of Death (怪談おとし穴, Koji Shima, 1968)
An ambitious salaryman murders his lover to marry the boss’ daughter only to find himself haunted by his transgression in Koji Shima’s eerie horror noir.
Curse of the Blood (怪談残酷物語, Kazuo Hase, 1968)
Vengeful ghosts in Japanese cinema usually originate from some kind of injustice. Generally, they’ve met a bad end through no real fault of their own while the person…
The Ghost of the Hunchback (怪談せむし男, Hajime Sato, 1965)
Morally compromised citizens of post-war Japan find themselves trapped in the purgatorial hell of a creepy old mansion in Hajime Sato’s gothic romp
The Pledge (博奕打ち外伝, Kosaku Yamashita, 1972)
The gangster code slowly consumes series of men each trying to do the right thing but hamstrung by the actions of others in Kosaku Yamashita’s yakuza tragedy.
Japan Organized Crime Boss (日本暴力団 組長, Kinji Fukasaku, 1969)
A recently released yakuza emerges into a changed Japan in Kinji Fukasaku’s proto-jitsuroku gangster picture.
The Kamikaze Guy (カミカゼ野郎 真昼の決斗, Kinji Fukasaku, 1966)
A bumbling pilot becomes embroiled in a conspiracy after an encounter on a ski slope in a goodnatured action comedy starring a young Sonny Chiba.
The Sea of Genkai (任侠外伝 玄海灘, Juro Kara, 1976)
A petty gangster finds himself confronted by the traumatic past on discovering a stowaway aboard his smuggling boat in Juro Kara’s infinitely bleak drama.
The Pit of Death / 怪談おとし穴 / Kaidan otoshiana (aka ‘The Ghostly Trap’, 1968)
Obscure Japanese Film #147 Mikio Narita Kuramoto (Mikio Narita) is an ambitious salaryman working at a company based in a tower block sa...
Yakuza Graveyard (やくざの墓場 くちなしの花, Kinji Fukasaku, 1976)
A maverick cop finds himself sympathising with noble yakuza when confronted by entrenched corruption in Kinji Fukasaku’s jitsuroku-esque gangster drama.
Gude Crest
Orphan's presents a new English release of the 1990 sword-and-sorcery OVA Onna Senshi Efe & Jira: Gude no Monshou ( Woman Warriors Efe & Ji...
The Fashion Boy is Cool, Twin Spica, Ai no Kusabi, All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Alpen Rose
The Living Koheiji (怪異談 生きてゐる小平次, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1982)
An irresolvable love triangle between childhood friends seems set to echo through eternity in Nobuo Nakagawa’s haunting final feature.
Winter’s Wish Spirits of Edo Kinji Walkthrough
Winter's Wish Spirits of Edo Kinji Walkthrough: Guide to help you full clear Kinji's route in the otome Winter's Wish Spirits of Edo
Operation Plazma in Osaka (実録外伝 大阪電撃作戦, Sadao Nakajima, 1976)
An attempt at a hostile takeover from corporatised Kobe gangsters destabilises the precarious balance of post-war Osaka in Sadao Nakajima’s anarchic jitsuroku eiga.
The Tattooed Hitman (山口組外伝 九州進攻作戦, Kosaku Yamashita, 1974)
An old-school footsoldier finds himself left behind by his friend’s unstoppable rise in the realms of corporatised gangsterdom in Kosaku Yamashita’s jitsuroku gangster picture.
The Serial Betrayal of an Audience
It has been almost four years since The Day I Became a God aired, and I would be lying to say I don’t think about it more frequently…
YU-GEKI~side story of “Love’s Twisting Path”~ (遊撃 -「多十郎殉愛記」外伝-,Tatsuya Matsubara, 2021)
Tatsuya Matsubara’s wide raging documentary explores the career of legendary director Sadao Nakajima as he steps back into the director’s chair after 20 years away on Love’s Twist…
OtakuGeneration (Show #240) Crest of the Stars
Shownotes :: (show 240) :: (website) :: (podcast feed) :: (direct download) :: (direct iTunes link) With Crest of the Stars, recorded live January 10th, 2010. This week we…
Ghost in the Shell 2.0, Hidamari Sketch, Crest of the Stars, D.Gray-man, Genshiken 2
PIONEER LDCE 1994 -
The end of June 2023 sees a record building up of Pioneer's move into VHS and OVA Animes in the UK, Photos and text information, can be fou...
Demons’ Crest, Vol. 2
By Reki Kawahara and Yukiko Horiguchi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James Balzer. I’ve mentioned before that I…
Demons’ Crest, Vol. 1
By Reki Kawahara and Yukiko Horiguchi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James balzer. I had heard, for some…
Ranking of Kings #12 — The Betrayal Carousel
Where'd all the Thursday shows go? Impressions: There are fewer screencaps because the show considered the one week off worthy of a goddamned five minute recap…
1994 Anime Day FLASHBACK Memories of Macross
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Record of Grancrest War (Episode 10) – Blade of Betrayal
Marrine steps up her attack on Alturk. When word reaches her that Mirza has fulfilled his part of the bargain, she sits and waits. Villar, however, is busy…
Episode 36 – Trust & Betrayal
Now that we have dried off, we can properly talk about all the news that has happened over the past couple of weeks. We go over our ideas…
Movie Review: Fresh (1994)
While casually browsing through Paramount’s extensive catalog, a gem from 1994 caught my eye: Fresh. Given its age, I was concerned about its relevancy, but beyond the temporal…
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In looking through boxes of comic books I purchased in the 1990s, I found five issues of “Bruce Lee,” a comic series from 1994, published by Malibu Comics.…
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Over My Dead Body (死屍死時四十四, Ho Cheuk-Tin, 2023)
Residents of a swanky apartment block must band together to get rid of a random corpse and protect their property values in Ho Cheuk-Tin’s dark-hearted farce.
The Case Study of Vanitas ep.23 – Betrayal
The Case Study of Vanitas continues to be one of my favourite shows of the season. It's silly and stylish and just a little bloody.
Manta drops new BETRAYAL OF DIGNITY side story
A new side story for "Betrayal of Dignity" has been released for the webnovel, which can be read exclusively in English on Manta.
室外機室
室外機室 collects four gorgeously illustrated magical realist stories drawn by an otherwise unpublished artist who goes by Chome. The stories transport the reader to a reality slightly removed…
番外編：Death of the Living Dead
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
THE GREAT BAXINGAR REWATCH 5 – The Price of Betrayal
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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.
PROJECT L-KON June 1994
WARNING; ON GOING investigation, to conferm Attendees! 18 JUN 1994: PROJECT L-KON. (One Day Anime Convention) If confirmed!? will be the t...
番外編：Death of the Living Dead Released
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
Seiyuu Highlights: Hiroshi Kamiya 神谷 浩史
From the voice that brought you humanity's strongest soldier from Attack On Titan, Hiroshi Kamiya is one of the most popular voice actor in our recent time, having…