An elderly man’s nuclear paranoia threatens to tear his family apart in Kurosawa’s post-war social drama.
Feb 4, 2023 • Subscribe
More like this
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.
Rashomon (羅生門, Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
A series of witnesses give conflicting accounts of a death in the forest in Akira Kurosawa’s exploration of the limits of objective truth.
Akira Toriyama (1955-2024)
The manga creator Akira Toriyama, who died on 1st March, was cited by the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump as being the prime catalyst in driving the magazine…
Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
Desperate peasants recruit samurai protectors in Akira Kurosawa’s classic historical epic back in UK cinemas Oct. 29
Record of a Woman Doctor (女医の記録, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1941)
A doctor gains a new perspective on life after being sent to a remote rural village in Hiroshi Shimizu’s gentle social drama.
Rhapsody in August (八月の狂詩曲, Akira Kurosawa, 1991)
Three generations reckon with the wartime past after receiving news from estranged relatives in Hawaii in Kurosawa’s humanist drama.
I Live in Fear and YuYu Hakusho Part 1
Baseball has entered the playoffs and, I think by at least some metrics, my White Sox did...
I Live in Fear and YuYu Hakusho Part 1
Baseball has entered the playoffs and, I think by at least some metrics, my White Sox did a little better that expectations would have them at beginning of…
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…
Spiraken Manga News- Akira Toriyama 1955-2024
Tragic news. It has been announced that on March 1st 2024, Akira Toriyama has died. The Famed creator of Dr. Slump, Sand Land, & Dragonball died of an…
Scandal (醜聞, Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
The battle for the soul of the post-war society is fought in the body of a conflicted lawyer in Akira Kurosawa’s seasonal morality tale.
Those Who Sneer Like the Mountain Fiend / 山魔の如き嗤うもの
Another Genya Toujou book, another series of bizarre murders in a remote village that are entangled with the local folklore. Those Who Snee...
The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人, Akira Kurosawa, 1958)
A fugitive princess offers a new hope for a peaceful and prosperous socitey in Akira Kurosawa’s Sengoku-era epic.
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...
BFI to Host Complete Akira Kurosawa Retrospective
At BFI Southbank January and February 2023.
Kagemusha (影武者, Akira Kurosawa, 1980)
A thief reborn as a lord finds himself caught between the contradictions of the feudal order and the borders of identity in Akira Kurosawa’s Sengoku-era tragedy.
The Idiot (白痴, Akira Kurosawa, 1951)
A pure soul is destroyed by the selfishness and duplicity of the post-war society in Kurosawa’s snowbound adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel.
Akira Kurosawa Retrospective at the BFI 2023
The good folks at the BFI have sent us details for an up coming Akira Kurosawa Retrospective. Set to run from Sunday 1st January 2023 until ...
Yojimbo (用心棒, Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
A cynical ronin plays warring factions off against each other to save a moribund silk town in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai western.
Those Who are Shunned Like a Bird of Ill Omen / 凶鳥の如き忌むもの
Shinzou Mitsuda is a menace. Do not let this man write novels!
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
Seiyuu Highlights: Tomoyo Kurosawa 黒沢 ともよ
A name that is relatively small in the industry. However, as someone who's still in her early 20s, she has been voicing a lot more familiar characters than…
Sanjuro (椿三十郎, Akira Kurosawa, 1962)
The cynical drifter finds himself offering fatherly advice to idealistic but hot-headed samurai youth in Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo followup.
Stray Dog (野良犬, Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
A rookie policeman chases an echo of himself through the backstreets of post-war Japan while looking for his missing gun in Akira Kurosawa’s sweltering noir.
Living in Two Worlds (ぼくが生きてる、ふたつの世界, Mipo O, 2024)
A young man struggles with his identity as a child of deaf parents in Mipo O’s poignant drama.
The Lower Depths (どん底, Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
In the absence of salvation a comforting falsehood is the only means of survival in Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation of the Gorky play.
Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Hayao Miyazaki, 1997)
A young man from an exiled clan tries to make peace between the natural world and the industrial in Hayao Miyazaki’s landmark 1997 animation
Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城, Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
An ambitious retainer falls victim to the false promises of a forest spirit in Akira Kurosawa’s haunting adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
![Featured image for Episode #72 (S10E1) – Princess Mononoke [ もののけ姫] (1997)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240131/1706688971.78398.116105.jpg)
Episode #72 (S10E1) – Princess Mononoke [ もののけ姫] (1997)
We kick off Season 10 with one of the most internationally renowned animated films of all time. Derick McDuff of the Underrated network returns to discuss Studio Ghibli’s…
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.
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.…
My Anniversaries (オレの記念日, Kim Sungwoong, 2022)
Documentarian Kim Sungwoong follows the relentlessly cheerful Shoji Sakurai who spent 29 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
185: Long Live Akira Toriyama
The Sickos eulogize the best cartoonist to ever live, Akira Toriyama. Rest in peace king. Your art will live forever, and future generations will understand that it's cool…
![Featured image for Episode #88 (S11E8) – Godzilla Raids Again [ゴジラの逆襲] (1955)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240904/1725437994.89547.130125.jpg)
Episode #88 (S11E8) – Godzilla Raids Again [ゴジラの逆襲] (1955)
Fellow podcaster Mike Lund returns to the show for a discussion of Godzilla Raids Again. The first of many Godzilla sequels, it also set the tone for the…
The Most Beautiful (一番美しく, Akira Kurosawa, 1944)
Kurosawa’s second feature explores the intense dedication of a collection of factory girls crafting precision lenses in a late National Policy Film.
High and Low (天国と地獄, Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
A self-made millionaire faces a moral dilemma when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped in place of his own in Kurosawa’s post-war crime film.
Dodes’ka-den (どですかでん, Akira Kurosawa, 1970)
The denizens of a small slum on the outskirts of the modern city live largely on wilful self-delusion in Kurosawa’s first experimentation with colour.
Drunken Angel (酔いどれ天使, Akira Kurosawa, 1948)
A gruff yet well intentioned doctor does his best to cure the ills of post-war Japan in a rundown slum on the edge of a fetid swamp in…
Wife of a Spy (スパイの妻, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2020)
An upperclass housewife finds herself pulled into a deadly game of espionage in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s dark exploration of the consequences of love
Can I Live in Japan?
I love Japanese animation and I have a cursory knowledge of samurai and Japanese vending machines. Periodically, I read Japanese news to kind of get a feel of…
The Blue Danube (きまじめ楽隊のぼんやり戦争, Akira Ikeda, 2021)
An earnest soldier begins to question everything he’s been told thanks to musical intervention and a curious young man in Akira Ikeda’s absurdist anti-war drama
The Silent Duel (静かなる決闘, Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
A doctor who contracted syphilis from a patient wrestles with desire and responsibility in Kurosawa’s post-war drama.
Online Tributes to Akira Kurosawa for the 102nd Anniversary of his Birth
by Marc Saint-Cyr March 23rd is a particularly noteworthy date for admirers of Japanese cinema, as it marks the birth of one of its most b...
Beast Alley (けものみち, Eizo Sugawa, 1965)
A hotel maid is dragged into conspiracy after murdering her bedridden husband in Eizo Sugawa’s incredibly dark post-war noir.
I live.
Hi, it’s Nova. I’m still alive, much too busy with pretending to be an upstanding citizen eight hours a day five days a week, and being a degenerate…
I live.
Hi, it’s Nova. I’m still alive, much too busy with pretending to be an upstanding citizen eight hours a day five days a week, and being a degenerate…
Buichi Terasawa (1955-2023)
The manga artist Buichi Terasawa, who died on 8th September, enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in the 1980s, becoming popular just as his particular brand of lurid,…