A warmhearted couple offer gentle support to a series of lonely souls from their cosy Hokkaido cafe in Yukiko Mishima’s slice of comfort foodie cinema
Feb 27, 2022 • Subscribe
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Aristocrats (あのこは貴族, Yukiko Sode, 2021)
Two women involved with the same man eventually find interclass solidarity in Sode’s empathetic critique of a highly stratified and fiercely patriarchal society
Noise, melancholy and escapism: わたしのココ
For some reason I tend not to like Vocaloid music or producers, but so far there’s a single artist, that I found many years ago by pure accident…
As Long As We Both Shall Live (わたしの幸せな結婚, Ayuko Tsukahara, 2023) [Fantasia 2023]
A young woman with chronically low self-esteem learns to love herself after bonding with a taciturn nobleman in Ayuko Tsukahara’s adaptation of the light novel series.
Our House わたしたちの家 (2018) Dir: Yui Kiyohara
Our House わたしたちの家 (2018), by director Yui Kiyohara, is a good mood piece about a house that connects two sets of female characters together even though they never really meet.
菓子パン
Kashipan, kashipan as far as the eye can see - How to Japanese - May 2022
Lonely Glory わたしの見ている世界が全て Director: Keitaro Sakon
Lonely Glory わたしの見ている世界が全て, directed by Keitaro Sakon, plays as part of the Japan Film Festival + 2023 season.
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの)
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの) is the third volume of Miyuki and Yuuko doing absolutely nothing and I’m pleased as punch about it.…
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの)
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの) is the third volume of Miyuki and Yuuko doing absolutely nothing and I’m pleased as punch about it.…
Shiver 戦慄せしめよ (2022) Director: Toshiaki Toyoda
Shiver 戦慄せしめよ, by director Toshiaki Toyoda, is a music film that presents performances by Koshiro Hino and the taiko drumming group KODO in a visually dazzling way. Shiver 戦慄せしめよ (2022)…
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
Koharu to Minato: Watashi No Partner Ha Onna No Ko, Volume 1 (小春と湊 わたしのパートナーは女の子)
Koharu to Minato: Watashi No Partner Ha Onna No Ko, Volume 1 (小春と湊 わたしのパートナーは女の子) is a fictionalized autobiographical comic essay on the real-lives of the creative team, Daruma…
Hana ni Arashi 10 (はなにあらし)
High school is a weird time. So much is going on in your body, in your head, in your heart. It’s the last time to have fun as…
Hana ni Arashi 11 (はなにあらし)
High school is a weird time. So much is going on in your body, in your head, in your heart. It’s the last time to have fun as…
The Real Thing (本気のしるし, Koji Fukada, 2020)
A bored salaryman begins to chase the real thing after saving a distressed woman from an oncoming train in Fukada’s beautifully elliptical drama
The Floating Castle (のぼうの城, Isshin Inudo & Shinji Higuchi, 2012)
A provincial castle’s division to stand up to an invading army sends shock waves through the feudal order in Isshin Inudo & Shinji Higuchi’s lighthearted historical drama
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…
How to 菓子パン
I just sent out the May newsletter. I wrote about my love of 菓子パン (kashipan). The croissant above I don’t think technically counts as 菓子パン? My theory is…
Ai ni Airashi Itoshi Anata (愛に愛らし愛しいあなた)
Suzuki Yufuko’s Ai ni Airashi Itoshi Anata (愛に愛らし愛しいあなた) was not at all what I expected it to be. No, scratch that. It was exactly everything I expected it…
あの作品の裏話もー。漫画家の星野泰視さんにお越しいただきました。A Talk with Urasawa’s old assistant, Yasushi Hoshino.
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The Real Thing 本気のしるし Dir: Koji Fukada (2020)
The Real Thing 本気のしるし Dir: Koji Fukada (2020) is an absorbing and addictive thriller about ascertaining the authentic aspect of a relationship and persona.
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 5 (はなにあらし)
While we’re able to enjoy Makoto Hagino’s slow-burn high school Yuri romance, A Tropical Fish Years for Snow in English, there is another Shogagakukan title with a similar…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 8, (はなにあらし)
In Hana ni Arashi, Volume 8 (はなにあらし), Nanoha is starting to feel the weight of the real world and isn’t sure that she and Chidori inhabit the same…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 4 (はなにあらし)
In Volume 1 we met Nanoha and Chidori, two girls who have a secret – they are lovers. They aren’t lovers, but they are in love and they…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 9 (はなにあらし)
We have watched Nanoha and Chidori since they began dating. For a very long time, it was under the radar, but as they look towards a wider future…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 11 (はなにあらし)
Nanoha and Chidori are two young woman in love. They know that when they graduate thing will change and their lives will grow more compliacated, but for this…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 7 (はなにあらし)
In Volume 7 of Hana ni Arashi, (はなにあらし) something finally happens. Well…two things. Remembering that, in this series “happen” is very broadly applied word. ^_^ The first thing…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 6 (はなにあらし)
Nanoha and Chidori have shared their first kisses and, frankly, they are pretty sure that they no one has noticed, even though it got a little weird between…
Character Analysis: Lisa Mishima
I’ve generally liked the way Shinichiro Watanabe handles female characters. He seems to find a way to avoid simple tropes. Cowboy Bebop: Faye Valentine is seriously hot but…
Grown-ups (わたし達はおとな, Takuya Kato, 2022)
A young couple struggle to reorient their lives while dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in Takuya Kato’s intense relationship drama.
What to Do With the Dead Kaiju? (大怪獣のあとしまつ, Satoshi Miki, 2022) [Fantasia 2022]
A fallen kaiju presents a new problem for the governing authorities in Satoshi Miki’s satirical comedy.
Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers! (腑抜けども、悲しみの愛を見せろ, Daihachi Yoshida, 2007)
The petty resentments of a dysfunctional family quickly escalate when a failed actress returns home in Daihachi Yoshida’s dark farce
The Lump in My Heart (あつい胸さわぎ, Shingo Matsumura, 2022)
A young woman with a growing desire for independence is thrown into turmoil by a totally unexpected diagnosis of cancer in Shingo Matsumura’s gentle coming-of-age tale
Mondays: See You “This” Week! (MONDAYS/このタイムループ、上司に気づかせないと終わらない, Ryo Takebayashi, 2022)
Harried office workers must get through to their dejected salaryman boss if they’re to escape a workplace time loop in Ryo Takebayashi’s zany corporate comedy.
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人(エトランゼ)』のあとがき
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人(エトランゼ)』のあとがき
Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction (騙し絵の牙, Daihachi Yoshida, 2020)
A maverick magazine editor attempts to ride the waves of the Japanese publishing industry while in the middle of a succession crisis in Yoshida’s literary farce
2012 Review/Best Of/etc
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Yuri Manga: Hana ni Arashi, Volume 2 (はなにあらし)
In Volume 1, we met Nanoha and Chidori, two high school students who are keeping a secret from their friends – they are going out with each other.…
Fujyourina Atashi-tachi, Volume 2 ( 不条理なあたし達)
Yamanaka is, for lack of a better term, a jerk. In Volume 1, we meet her teasing her colleague Taneda mercilessly. When Taneda invite Yamanaka to a lesbian…
Yuri Manga: Hana ni Arashi, Volume 3 (はなにあらし)
Chidori and Nanoha have a secret, we are told in Volume 1 and Volume 2. They are lovers, we are told. And we will have to believe what…
Three Days of Happiness Review
TheOASG reviews Three Days of Happiness, where one man finds out how much his life's worth, and decides selling it is the best thing to do.
Saga Saga (緑のざわめき-Saga Saga-, Aimi Natsuto, 2023)
Three women contending with a legacy of patriarchal failure and male violence circle around each other in the picturesque hot springs resort of Ureshino in Aimi Natsuto’s etherial…
Woman of Design (その場所に女ありて, Hideo Suzuki, 1962)
Post-war women find themselves constrained by a relentlessly patriarchal society in Hideo Suzuki’s workplace melodrama
Case 99 – Agasa Bread
We are joined by new guest Zaya as we cover a short but surprisingly exciting case from Volume 30 (chapters 303-304), Genta’s Shadow Case. This episode was released…
Strawberry Yeast Bread (#BBTChallenge)
So this collab has been going around for a while and I have to say that I am probably the slowest in doing it. A lot of things…
Poyopoyo (2012)
I’m back again with more winter anime for human beings. Poyopoyo is about a nearly perfectly spherical cat. It ran the entirety of 2012 for 52 episodes. Each episode…
Otakuthon 2012
Again this year we will be at Otakuthon to promote Protoculture and sell lots of goodies at very good price. The convention will be hel...
Paperman (2012)
This is a sweet short from Disney that I really liked – a perfectly simple story about trying to find someone after a chance meeting. Paper links the…
From the End of the World (世界の終わりから, Kazuaki Kiriya, 2023)
Charged with the responsibility of saving the world, a teenage girl wonders if she should in Kazuaki Kiriya’s pre-apocalyptic drama.
The Warped Forest (あさっての森, Shunichiro Miki, 2011)
Three trios in search of happiness find themselves transported to other worlds in Shunichiro Miki’s surreal quasi-sequel to Funky Forest