Tone in Written Japanese - How to Japanese - December 2022
Dec 21, 2022 • Subscribe
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Mabataki (まばたき)
Mabataki (まばたき) is a collection of short stories by Battan, creator of Run Away With Me, Girl. This is another manga I picked up while in Japan (I…
Shoplifters / 万引き家族
Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters is a revelation, the culmination of years of study on a particular theme, a movie that brings together all of the director’s strengths and, for…
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya (毎月庭つき大家つき)
Suga Asako finds herself alone quite suddenly when her partner decides their relationship is just not working. But her friend Hato isn’t listening because she’s more upset that…
Hill of No Return (無言的山丘, Wang Tung, 1992)
Orphaned brothers determined to own their own land join the gold rush but find only defeat and exploitation amid colonial oppression in Wang’s historical epic
Ikiru (生きる, Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
A lifelong bureaucrat is confronted by the emptiness of the salaryman dream when diagnosed with a terminal illness in Akira Kurosawa’s intensely moving melodrama.
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 4 (毎月庭つき大家つき)
If there was a “Perfect Manga About Pop Idols Who Are Adults”* award, Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 4 would win, hands down. We’ve already…
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 2 (毎月庭つき大家つき)
In Volume 1, we met Suga Asako, who was starting a new life after her relationship ended, and her new landlady, former idol Miyako, who lives in her…
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki – Monthly With Ooya, Volume 3 (毎月庭つき大家つき)
Bing! Bing! Bing! We have a winner of the first annual “Adults Having An Important Conversation Like Adults” Award here at Okazu. Asako is living with her landlord,…
Yamabuki (やまぶき, Juichiro Yamasaki, 2022)
The lives of a series of dejected souls in a moribund quarry town intersect in unexpected ways in a poetical drama from Juichiro Yamasaki
How to Japanese Podcast – S02E14 – The Katakana Fallacy and 言語の支え
The Katakana Fallacy is the mistaken belief that katakana are more difficult to learn than hiragana (and maybe even kanji?!). A closer look at what drives this believe…
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On ゆきゆきて、神軍 Dir: Kazuo Hara, Producer: Sachiko Kobayashi (1987)
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On ゆきゆきて、神軍 Dir: Kazuo Hara (1987)
Day 6 of Translating the Hyakunin Isshu – Middle Counselor Yakamochi (中納言家持)
This project of translating the Hyakunin Isshu is a labor of love, and I am incredibly grateful for your support and enthusiasm along the way. Your engagement and…
Itsuki Tsuchigami【土上いつき】Sakuga MAD
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwrI-DkXiWQ Itsuki Tsuchigami (alternatively miso) is a favorite animator of mine, and I've planned to make a MAD with his work for a long time. Now that FGO…
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese...
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese anime film produced by CoMix Wave Films and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Garden of Words [Blu-ray]
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese...
The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭 Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese anime film produced by CoMix Wave Films and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Garden of Words [Blu-ray]
New Moomin 41/52 - Language Is Disappearing? (言葉が消える?) (1972) (English subtitles)
One morning, as a repairman visits Moominvalley, words begin to disappear, and in due time this is followed by sounds and even voices. Moomin and his friends find…
Hit and Run (ひき逃げ, Mikio Naruse, 1966)
A grief-stricken mother hatches a desperate plan of revenge against the woman who killed her son in Mikio Naruse’s dark psychological drama.
Skeleton Flowers (かそけきサンカヨウ, Rikiya Imaizumi, 2021)
A pair of preoccupied teens learn to work through their difficulties with maturity and empathy in Rikiya Imaizumi’s wholesome coming-of-age drama
Crazy Thunder Road (狂い咲きサンダーロード, Sogo Ishii, 1980)
A perpetual outsider seeks direction but discovers only nihilistic despair in Sogo Ishii’s apocalyptic biker movie
Endless Desire (果しなき欲望, Shohei Imamura, 1958)
A gang returning to dig up the stolen morphine they buried at the end of the war is slowly torn apart by their greed in Shomei Imamura’s darkly…
Decapitation - Kubikiri Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense User / クビキリサイクル 青色サヴァンと戯言遣い
Nisio Isin has written a lot of books. Like, a lot of books. But the first book he wrote (or at least published) was Kubikiri Cycle . I’ve…
Ace Attorney, Death Note, Kubikiri Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense User, Phoenix
Immersion (忌怪島/きかいじま, Takashi Shimizu, 2023)
An attempt to recreate the “real” in the “virtual” causes a rupture between this world and another in Takashi Shimizu’s high tech horror.
The Sound of Grass 草の響き Dir: Hisashi Saito (2021)
The Sound of Grass is a slow and solid showcase of the struggle of dealing with mental problems. Based on a story by Yasushi Sato. 草の響き Dir: Hisashi…
Baby Assassins (ベイビーわるきゅーれ, Yugo Sakamoto, 2021)
A pair of mismatched high school girls raised as elite assassins get swept into gangland conflict while forced to live together to learn how integrate into society in…
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…
Living on the River Agano (阿賀に生きる, Makoto Sato, 1992)
Makoto Sato takes a lyrical journey along the Agano River where the traditional way of life is fast disappearing
One Wonderful Sunday (素晴らしき日曜日, Akira Kurosawa, 1947)
A young couple attempt to have a nice day out in Tokyo for only 35 yen but eventually discover something much more valuable in Akira Kurosawa’s surprisingly upbeat…
Break Out (行き止まりの挽歌 ブレイクアウト, Toru Murakawa, 1988)
A maverick cop realises he can only enforce the law by breaking it in Toru Murakawa’s hardboiled ’80s noir.
Shigoto no Nochi Dakishimete (仕事の後は抱きしめて)
Aota Yui is a young woman with a dream – she wants to be a chef. To get there, she needs to be accepted by the restaurant’s Taisho.…
Spring In Between (はざまに生きる、春, Rika Katsu, 2023)
A struggling editor at a magazine gains a new perspective while falling in love with an autistic artist in Rika Katsu’s romantic drama.
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.
I Live in Fear (生きものの記録, Akira Kurosawa, 1955)
An elderly man’s nuclear paranoia threatens to tear his family apart in Kurosawa’s post-war social drama.
The Light of Spring (ひかりのどけき, Fumito Fujikawa, 2022)
Pushed to breaking point by the pressures of the contemporary society amid the coronavirus pandemic, an ordinary family undergoes a trial separation in Fumito Fumikawa’s neorealist drama
The 11 Cats (11ぴきのねこ) and Other Tales (1976, 1980)
At long last, a certain dream of mine for almost four years now has come true—namely, for Group TAC’s long-forgotten classic film The 11 Cats, which was originally…
Love at Least 生きてるだけで、愛 (2018) Director: Kosai Sekine
Love at Least offers a nuanced depiction of living with depression with three great performances from its lead cast. Love at Least 生きてるだけで、愛 (2018) Director: Kosai Sekine
Episode #64 (S9E2) – Battles Without Honor and Humanity [仁義なき戦い] (1973)
This week, Perry is joined by Jordan Forbes, co-host of the Shonen Flop Podcast. We discuss Kinji Fukasaku’s 1973 yakuza film, Battles Without Honor and Humanity (仁義なき戦い). It’s…
君たちはどう生きるか/The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki and his team are undoubtedly masters of their craft. It’s been ten years since Miyazaki directed a film (the wonderful, if divisive, The Wind Rises). This…
What She Likes (彼女が好きなものは, Shogo Kusano, 2021)
A young guy struggling with his sexuality bonds with a young woman embarrassed beyond belief by her love for BL in Shogo Kusano’s high school drama
Baby Assassins 2 Babies (ベイビーわるきゅーれ2ベイビー, Yugo Sakamoto, 2023)
The Baby Assassins are back and continuing to struggle with the demands of adulting in Yugo Sakamoto’s sequel to the hugely popular slacker action comedy.
Dekisokonai Hime-tachi, Volume 4 (できそこないの姫君たち)
Fujishiro Nanaki, having been ostracized by her group of fashionable and popular girls, has found acceptance with the “nerd” group, Kurokawa’s friends Izumi and Iroha. Together th…
『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
Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 3 (できそこないの姫君たち)
In Volume 1, otaku and class loner Kurokawa Kaede is thrown together with school princess, Fujishiro Nanaki. In time-honored fashion, Fujishiro gives a radical makeover to the girl…
Love yourself ~君が嫌いな君が好き~ - KAT-TUN (2010) Themesong to Yamato...
Love yourself ~君が嫌いな君が好き~ - KAT-TUN (2010) Themesong to Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (2010), which I bought Linda for Mother’s Day earlier this month. (She’s a “horror onna” kind of…
本田雄が語る『君たちはどう生きるか』- ロングインタビュー
The post 本田雄が語る『君たちはどう生きるか』- ロングインタビュー appeared first on fullfrontal.moe.
Those Who Cast a Curse Like the Headless / 首無の如き祟るもの
And so we arrive at the third book in the Genya Toujou series . The previous two books provided a wonderful blend of J-horror, murder myster...
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 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 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…
The Boy and the Heron (君たちはどう生きるか, Hayao Miyazaki, 2023)
A young man reeling from grief amid the firebombing of Tokyo enters a strange fantasy world after moving to the country in a surreal adventure from Hayao Miyazaki.
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…