Junya Sato’s ambivalent drama straddles the fine line between condemning the wartime past and glorifying those who gave their lives for it.
Apr 11, 2023 • Subscribe
More like this
The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai (峠 最後のサムライ, Takashi Koizumi, 2021)
Holding fast to samurai ideals a progressive retainer realises his era is at an end in Takashi Koizumi’s homage to classic samurai cinema
Wings in the Dark: Mercator Ayu - The Last Incident / 翼ある闇 メルカトル鮎最後の事件
Wings in the Dark is phenomenal. But before I gush about it, I must proceed with the airing of grievances. Why does it have to have “Mercat...
VR Noh 攻殻機動隊 The Ghost in the Shell
Tickets for VR Noh Ghost in the Shell went on sale a few months ago, and I can only assume they were snatched up quickly. My sincere thanks…
Father of the Kamikaze (ゝ決戦航空隊, Kosaku Yamashita, 1974)
Koji Tsuruta stars in an uncomfortably nationalistic biopic of Admiral Onishi
Apart from Life (地の群れ, Kei Kumai, 1970)
Marginalised communities turn against each other while locked out of an increasingly prosperous society in Kei Kumai’s uncompromising post-war drama
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 Vampire Doll (1970) review
“Sounds, music, performances, and darkish visuals all blend beautifully together to deliver an unsettling but enchanting account of vampirism in Japan.”
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.…
![Featured image for Kamikaze Taxi (1995) [Film Review]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20210705/1625516606.16632.41931.jpg)
Kamikaze Taxi (1995) [Film Review]
Kamikaze Taxi; or, The Winds of the Andes I heard music. Not Japanese pop. Not heavy metal either. It was music. I just felt he and I…
Day Thirteen: Kamikaze Girls (MotM 2020)
By the time this releases, it will be very late at night. As such, my write-up will unfortunately be very limited. This is such a dumb, but fun…
最終考察 うみねこのなく頃に Answer to the Golden Witch – Special Discussion
This is an excerpt from a publication on the famous Mystery Visual Novel Umineko no naku koro ni. As it left many questions open, there is probably a…
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
Last of the Wolves (孤狼の血 LEVEL2, Kazuya Shiraishi, 2021)
No longer an earnest rookie, a corrupted Hioka attempts to keep the peace in Heisei Hiroshima in Kazuya Shirashi’s Blood of Wolves followup.
The Last Gunfight (暗黒街の対決, Kihachi Okamoto, 1960)
A maverick cop finds himself at the centre of a moribund gang war in Kihachi Okamoto’s anarchic western-inflected crime drama
Godzilla and Kamikaze Pilots - Reframing the Monster in Godzilla: Minus One
Godzilla has become a very saturated franchise since its original movie release in 1954, and the big lizard guy has only rarely felt like something special in a…
The History of Mushi Pro – 04 – Mushi’s gekiga (1969-1970)
According to Eiichi Yamamoto, the years 1970-1971 represented Mushi Pro’s “second golden age” [1]. There seems to be some truth to this statement: the number of new productions…
Kyojin no Hoshi, Lupin III, Sabu & Ichi's Arrest Warrant, Tomorrow's Joe, Dororo
Gamera, Frankenstein, Sabata and Zatoichi: The Genre Films of 1970
50 years ago, in 1970, neighborhood theaters offered quite a varied landscape of cinematic fare, although it took me some time to find it all. I managed to…
The Last-Minute New Gundam: X-EX01 Gundam Calibarn #水星の魔女 #G_Witch
The following may contain spoilers for the latest episode of Gundam the Witch from Mercury. One of the things Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury did quite…
The Last Confession
After deciding to return to blogging, but only for books for which I feel some enthusiasm, my first review goes against that decision. It's ...
Izetta: The Last Witch Episode 12: The Last Betrayal
Izetta: The Last Witch Episode 12: Izetta and Sophie collide in raging aerial combat. Finé plays her last diplomatic card. Will it be enough?
Table for Six (飯戲攻心, Sunny Chan, 2022)
The eldest of three brothers desperately tries to keep the family together in Sunny Chan’s goodhearted familial farce
2002年米国最高裁「アシュクロフト対表現の自由連合」裁判判決文和訳
もうすでに20年前の判決文です。しかしながらこれからも色々参考になるところがが多いと思います。 2002年のアシュクロフト対表現の自由連合裁判は色々な影響を残しましたが、実在しない未成年に対して実在する未成年と同じ保護を与えるのは表現の自由を歪めるという判断は画期的であり、なおかつ内心の自由なる古い権利を再確認する重要な判決だったと今なお思っています。 この翻訳は弁護士の山口貴士、兼光ダニエ…
Yakuza Hooligans (893 愚連隊, Sadao Nakajima, 1966)
A gang of petty criminals get in over their heads while working with the yakuza in Sadao Nakajima’s ironic crime movie.
The History of Mushi Pro – 05 – Farewell to Tezuka (1970-1972)
From a Tezuka-centered perspective, the legacy of the Animerama films is difficult to assess. They were certainly pioneering, but the studio had to pay a heavy toll for…
The End of the Track (跑道終點, Mou Tun-Fei, 1970)
A teenage boy finds himself knocked off course after his best friend suddenly dies in Mou Tun-Fei’s subversive social drama
To the Last Man
If Torchwood has a failing as a show, it was that it never settled on a specific genre to work with, dabbling instead with every genre under the…
Blood: The Last Vampire
Blood: The Last Vampire (2001) Vampire fiction often brings an erotic sub-text along with the horror but Blood: The Last Vampire focuses on the dread. Not only because…
The Last Free Man
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
The Last Evangelion Film
Thanks to Amazon doing the rest of the world a dandy during a global pandemic, I got to see the latest Evangelion movie: Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a…
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 Golden Bat (黄金バット, Hajime Sato, 1966)
Skeletal superhero Golden Bat is woken from his 10,000 year slumber to fight for justice when the Earth is threatened with destruction in Hajime Sato’s delightfully silly tokusatsu…
Evangelion Episodes 4 and 5: The Junichi Sato Chronicles
A short reading of two Neon Genesis Evangelion episodes from the point of view of someone familiar with the storyboarding techniques and styles of Junichi Sato, and a…
A full run through the King Crimson discography: Part 4 (Lizard, 1970)
After the release of In the Wake of Poseidon (or in the wake of Poseidon? Yeah? Sorry) King Crimson reformed in 1970 for the first time out of several times…
The Creature Called Man (豹は走った, Kiyoshi Nishimura, 1970)
A policeman on a mission squares off against an assassin intent on executing an exiled dictator in Kiyoshi Nishimura’s thorny geopolitical thriller.
Review—On Haiku, by Hiroaki Sato
Hiroaki Sato reveals how the radical brevity of the haiku genre contains worlds within worlds. This is a book to cherish, and which nurtures in return.
東京战争戦後秘話’ OST - Toru Takemitsu
The Man Who Left His Will on Film [Tokyo Senso Sengo Hiwa] Directed by: Nagisa Oshima 1970 Download
のだ
A subtle but important tip for written Japanese - How to Japanese - August 2023
The Hot Little Girl (しびれくらげ, Yasuzo Masumura, 1970)
A young woman uses the tools used against her to fight back against the exploitations of a patriarchal society in Yasuzo Masumura’s provocative drama.
Intertextuality and I: Seeing the Future with Mr. Dai Sato
Bateszi and Celeste recently posted an ingenious 2-part feature talking about an interview with Dai Sato, creator of Ergo Proxy and Samurai Champloo, as well as having been…
The Making of 'The Last Unicorn'
Plus: animation news.
The Last: Naruto the Movie Review
The Last: Naruto the Movie (commonly misread as “The Last Naruto Movie”) is not something I was expecting to do a review on. I’m not that into Naruto…
The last of the 2023 shows
Though there will be more in a second season, S-rank Musume ends with no additional demon lords slain, no answers about Ange’s past or that little thing that…
Episode 151 – The Last Samurai
We have returned! Now that the dust has settled a bit, we can come back to talk about more Gintama. Specifically, we go over some parts of the…
Raya and the Last Dragon
By Andrew Osmond. The newest Disney feature animation, Raya and the Last Dragon, is available on the Disney+ platform. At the moment, it’s the same deal as the…
Lupin III: The Last Job
Over on dynamiteinthebrain.com we have a new podcast episode about Lupin III: The Last Job Download Dynamite In The Brain Episode 38 – NINJA MONTH PART 2 –…
Kimizero – 05 – The Last Man
You’d think Ryuuto would be keeping better track of how long he’s been with his first girlfriend ever, but Runa has to remind him of their upcoming 1-month…
Review: The Last Judgement (2021)
The Last Judgement 悬崖 China, 2021, colour, 2.35:1, 87 mins. Director: Han Zhi 韩志. Rating: 6/10. Labyrinthine crime caper has decent performances and a clever script but just…
Episode 120 - The Last Time
The podcast returned only to not do anything for several months. Of course that happens. Well now we have a new episode out with a new voice...
5 Facts to Know About Sato Rikido
1. Sato’s birthday is 19th June, he’s 185cm, his favourite food is cake, he was born in the Tottori Prefecture, and his blood type is O. 2. Sato’s…
Kimetsu No Yaiba: Katanakaji No Sato-hen
The next arc is here. That’s right. All those waiting for Kimetsu No Yaiba: Katanakaji No Sato-hen would be pleased that after that the series still has a…
