A cynical ronin plays warring factions off against each other to save a moribund silk town in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai western.
Feb 14, 2023 • Subscribe
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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.
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 ...
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
本心
With「本心」, Keiichiro Hirano (平野 啓一郎) has written a big, old-fashioned novel of ideas. It is set in the 2040s in a Japan in which a tenuous daily life…
本心
With「本心」, Keiichiro Hirano (平野 啓一郎) has written a big, old-fashioned novel of ideas. It is set in the 2040s in a Japan in which a tenuous daily life…
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…
Yojimbo and Princess Nine
The history of girls baseball in Japan is just fascinating to me, and I want to watch any of it at length, but don’t know how to. I…
Yojimbo and Princess Nine
The history of girls baseball in Japan is just fascinating to me, and I want to watch...
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.
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...
Telepathy (以心伝心) and Other Coincidences (奇遇)
I was writing to a former intern at Japan Subculture Research Center, Fresca, and asked her to send me her thesis to read---just as she mailed me. I…
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.
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…
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.
Stan Sakai, Creator of Usagi Yojimbo
On This Episode of Japan Station On this episode of the Japan Station podcast I sit down for a chat with the award-winning creator of the Usagi Yojimbo…
Konki / 婚期 / 'Marriageable Age' (1961)
Obscure Japanese Film #124 Ayako Wakao Takuo (Eiji Funakoshi) runs an inn (a family business he has inherited), and lives not just with ...
![Featured image for Mothra (1961) review [The Godzilla Project]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20230127/1674810011.52207.84500.jpg)
Mothra (1961) review [The Godzilla Project]
By elegantly using the kaiju Mothra, Honda warns the Japanese spectator of the destructive societal effects that the blind adoption of unrestricted capitalism and wild consumption can cause.
No Regrets for Our Youth (わが青春に悔なし, Akira Kurosawa, 1946)
A young woman is torn between a future with a passionate rebel or spineless conformist in Kurosawa’s meditation on the militarist folly.
Akira
Akira is an Action Science Fiction Adventure anime film by legendary Japanese animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Even if many people consider something a masterpiece, that does not…
I guess I'm re-watching Kaze no Yojimbo
I've decided Araiguma qualifies as tsundere since he addresses George as Aniki after getting beat up by him three times.
Manga Musings: Onani Master Kurosawa
Myriad manga are set in the school environment and granted, a lot that I've come into contact with focus on cute high school girls. Onani Master Kurosawa however,…
AKIRA Pamphlet
Hi there! It’s been awhile. Apologies for the delay! Uni has been my top priority these days, but I still love sharing resources on this blog. Hopefully I’ll…
Vertical Akira
Lately it seems like every day people come up with ingenious new ways to use the latest generation of AI algorithms. A few weeks ago, this video by…
Sweet Home (スウィートホーム, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1989)
A documentary film crew encounter a vengeful ghost while investigating a creepy mansion in an early gothic horror adventure from Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Tokyo Sonata (トウキョウソナタ, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008)
Orphaned salarymen are the soulless ghosts haunting an increasingly empty city in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s eerie tale of urban anxiety
Pierce (刺心切骨, Nelicia Low, 2023)
A young man finds himself conflicted when his older brother is released from prison in Nelicia Low’s intense fraternal drama.
Thousand Autumns (山河剑心) Impression **Spoilers**
“Yan Wushi had walked a path full of blood and corpses. He did not believe in the good nature of humanity. Even more so, he did not believe…
Kaze no Yojimbo Vol. 1 – A New Face In Town
Almost five months ago, I picked up the first four volumes of Kaze no Yojimbo for cheap at Big Lots and now I’m slowly making my way through…
Ojo-san / お嬢さん (‘Young Miss’, 1961)
Obscure Japanese Film #131 Ayako Wakao Kasumi (Ayako Wakao) is a young woman of marriageable age prone to daydreaming who believes that ar...
r#110 – akira
Oh well, look at that … spider webs is already spreading across this blog. Humph, I’m so sorry for not keeping #moe404 active in June; which I won’t…
Remembering Akira Toriyama
What can be said about one of the greatest and most influential figures in anime and manga?
Akira Storyboard Collection
page 1 of the storyboard collection I was recently able to find the complete storyboard collection that was included in the Blu-Ray release of Akira. Here is the…
●ANNOUNCEMENT● AKIRA IMAX
Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Bibliography, Otomo, Animation, Manga, Steamboy, Japanimation,
●CD● AKIRA REMIX
Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Bibliography, Otomo, Animation, Manga, Steamboy, Japanimation,
Akira football stickers
On the streets of Göttingen, Germany, supporters of the local football (soccer) club have pasted stickers with characters from Ōtomo’s manga. This first one with Kaneda’s face I…
Episode 28: Akira
In this episode, Shaun celebrates Halloween with the dark cyberpunk 80's icon: Akira. Meanwhile, Remington overlooks the dramatic cultural impacts and is more focused on the blue kids…
RIP Akira Toriyama
I was originally planning to post my Emerald City Comic-Con post today, but I think we all know that Akira Toriyama is more important then one day I…