Anime Blog Tracker

Toshiaki Toyoda

By Tom Wilmot. When people think of the new masters of Japanese cinema, the same roster of names continues to crop up. Hirokazu Koreeda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Takashi…

All the Anime

Jan 24, 2022 • Subscribe

I’m Flash! (Toshiaki Toyoda, 2012)

A conflicted cult leader experiences an existential crisis after meeting a mysterious woman in a bar in Toshiaki Toyoda’s Okinawan drama

Windows on Worlds

Oct 16, 2021 • Subscribe

Shigeru

Monsters Club (モンスターズクラブ, Toshiaki Toyoda, 2011)

A traumatised young man still painfully in love with an imperfect world is plagued by trickster ghosts and shapeshifting monsters in Toyoda’s melancholy character study

Windows on Worlds

Oct 15, 2021 • Subscribe

Toshiaki Toyoda: 2005-2021 (Limited Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

After five years, Third Window Films introduces another Toshiaki Toyoda box set covering films released between 2005 to 2021 on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

The Normanic Vault

Oct 30, 2021 • Subscribe

Repast (めし, Mikio Naruse, 1951)

An unhappily married woman fed up with the drudgery of her existence considers other options but finally concludes there are none in Naruse’s bleak melodrama

Windows on Worlds

Jul 29, 2021 • Subscribe

Izumo

Toshiaki Toyoda’s Uprising 2021 in Chicago and A New Toyoda Film

Details on Toshiaki Toyoda’s Uprising 2021 in Chicago and crowdfunding for his new film.

Genkinahito

Mar 22, 2021 • Subscribe

December 赦し (2022) Director: Anshul Chauhan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

December 赦し is director Anshul Chauhan’s third feature film. An impressive courtroom drama, it takes us through a harrowing criminal trial that constantly keeps us empathising with and questi…

Genkinahito

Mar 12, 2023 • Subscribe

Bread of Happiness (しあわせのパン, Yukiko Mishima, 2012)

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

Windows on Worlds

Feb 27, 2022 • Subscribe

Get ’em All (「みな殺しの歌」より　拳銃よさらば, Eizo Sugawa, 1960)

A recently released young man is forced onto a nihilistic path of meaningless violence when his bank robber brother is killed in a hit and run in Eizo…

Windows on Worlds

Jan 27, 2023 • Subscribe

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.…

Okazu

Jan 22, 2024 • Subscribe

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

Windows on Worlds

May 8, 2021 • Subscribe

December (赦し, Anshul Chauhan, 2022)

Bereaved parents are confronted by the unresolved past when the woman who killed their daughter appeals her sentence in Anshul Chauhan’s empathetic courtroom drama.

Windows on Worlds

Apr 7, 2023 • Subscribe

Kanon

The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

The Residents, by director Kahori Higashi, is a snappy ensemble comedy that follows a traditional four-act structure of intro, development, twist, and conclusion. The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kah…

Genkinahito

May 27, 2022 • Subscribe

よ Particle

The yo よ particle in Japanese: grammar and examples.

Japanese with Anime

Jun 30, 2022 • Subscribe

HINAMATSURI

Grown-ups わたし達はおとな (2022) Director: Takuya Kato [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]

Grown-ups わたし達はおとな (2022) Director: Takuya Kato [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]

Genkinahito

Aug 1, 2022 • Subscribe

Nightingale (鶯, Shiro Toyoda, 1938)

Residents of a small rural town find themselves caught in a moment of confusion amid encroaching modernity in Shiro Toyoda’s warmhearted drama.

Windows on Worlds

Feb 27, 2024 • Subscribe

An Interview with Anshul Chauhan, Director of December 赦し (2022) [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

An interview with director Anshul Chauhan on his third feature film December 赦し. He goes in depth behind the scenes on an impressive courtroom drama, from research to casting…

Genkinahito

Aug 7, 2023 • Subscribe

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

Windows on Worlds

Sep 6, 2021 • Subscribe

まとめる

Bringing things together - How to Japanese - February 2024

How to Japanese

Feb 12, 2024 • Subscribe

Long Goodbye (さようなら, Yuuji Nomura, 2022)

A collection of dejected factory workers plot escape from small-town ennui by robbing their tax evading boss in Yuuji Nomura’s adaptation of his stage play.

Windows on Worlds

Mar 5, 2023 • Subscribe

Goodbye CP さようならCP Director: Kazuo Hara, Producer: Sachiko Kobayashi (1972)

Goodbye CP さようならCP Director: Kazuo Hara, Producer: Sachiko Kobayashi (1972)

Genkinahito

Jun 21, 2021 • Subscribe

Yamato 2205 sound director interview, April 2022

Interview with Tomohiro Yoshida, Sound Director of Yamato 2205 Creating the “sound” of Yamato to be passed on to the next generation From issue 14 of the Star…

CosmoDNA

Sep 8, 2022 • Subscribe

Yamato 2205 Writer/Director interviews, Feb 2022

Here we present a pair of interviews in which Writer Harutoshi Fukui and Director Kenji Yasuda both give their final word on the making of Yamato 2205, unveiling…

CosmoDNA

Jul 10, 2022 • Subscribe

veil

Let Me Hear It Barefoot (裸足で鳴らしてみせろ, Riho Kudo, 2021)

Two alienated young men struggle to identify their feelings while searching for escape from moribund small-town Japan in Riho Kudo’s indie drama.

Windows on Worlds

Jun 11, 2022 • Subscribe

Snow Country (雪国, Shiro Toyoda, 1957)

A self-absorbed, unappreciated painter is torn between an embittered geisha and her resentful yet pure sister in Toyoda’s adaptation of the classic Kawabata novel

Windows on Worlds

Jul 27, 2021 • Subscribe

Izumo

I Go Gaga, Welcome Home Mom (ぼけますから、よろしくお願いします。～おかえりお母さん～, Naoko Nobutomo, 2022)

In a followup to her hugely popular documentary, Naoko Nobutomo follows her parents as her mother’s health continues to decline.

Windows on Worlds

Jun 29, 2022 • Subscribe

Let Him Rest in Peace 友よ、静かに瞑れ (1985) Director: Yoichi Sai

Let Him Rest in Peace, by director Yoichi Sai, is a solid noir set in an Okinawa shot with Western-genre stylings. Let Him Rest in Peace 友よ、静かに瞑れ (1985)…

Genkinahito

May 1, 2023 • Subscribe

Shigeru

The Midnight Maiden War (真夜中乙女戦争, Ken Ninomiya, 2022)

An apathetic student is torn between nihilistic destruction and the desire for life in Ken Ninomiya’s futuristic drama.

Windows on Worlds

Oct 1, 2022 • Subscribe

LaShawn Toyoda, Creator of FindADoc: Full-Length Interview

Thalia Harris sits down with LaShawn Toyoda to discuss her efforts to make sure English-speaking residents in Japan have access to vaccines.

Unseen Japan

Jul 6, 2021 • Subscribe

よう - Meaning in Japanese

What よう means in Japanese.

Japanese with Anime

Sep 3, 2022 • Subscribe

It’s All My Fault (ぜんぶ、ボクのせい, Yusaku Matsumoto, 2022)

A young orphan and a homeless drifter attempt to overcome the legacy of parental rejection in Yusaku Matsumoto’s sensitive coming-of-age drama.

Windows on Worlds

Sep 30, 2022 • Subscribe

Small, Slow But Steady (ケイコ 目を澄ませて, Sho Miyake, 2022)

An aspiring boxer begins to lose the will to fight in Sho Miyake’s empathetic character study.

Windows on Worlds

Oct 5, 2022 • Subscribe

Transform!    へんしんっ！ Director: Tomoya Ishida [Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2021]

Transform!    へんしんっ！ Director: Tomoya Ishida [Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2021]

Genkinahito

Oct 13, 2021 • Subscribe

Wash Away うぉっしゅ Director: Ikunosuke Okazaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Wash Away うぉっしゅ, the sophomore feature by director Ikunosuke Okazaki, may have an unlikely premise but it works well as an existential examination of loneliness. It plays at…

Genkinahito

Mar 1, 2024 • Subscribe

神隠し(かみかくし）Gone with the Gods (an original Podcast) coming IN 2022

People have a habit of vanishing in Japan---even hundreds of years ago, it happened often enough that myths were created to explain these sudden disappearances. 神隠し (kamikakushi)--to be…

Japan Subculture Research Center

Jun 8, 2022 • Subscribe

The Tokyo Project

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.

Windows on Worlds

Aug 21, 2023 • Subscribe

Girl from Phantasia, Mirai, My Happy Marriage

Hold Me Back 私をくいとめて Director: Akiko Ohku (2020) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]

Director Akiko Ohku and lead actor Non make a dream team for the film Hold Me Back, a romantic-comedy which reflects the concerns of modern women. 私をくいとめて Director: Akiko…

Genkinahito

Aug 11, 2021 • Subscribe

Portrait of Hell (地獄変, Shiro Toyoda, 1969)

An artist finds himself in conflict with a cruel feudal lord when asked to paint a picture of heaven in Shiro Toyoda’s haunting adaptation of the Akutagawa story.

Windows on Worlds

Aug 31, 2023 • Subscribe

Interview with Yusaku Matsumoto, Director of Bagmati River [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher talks to Yusaku Matsumoto about his short film Bagmati River.

VCinema

Apr 7, 2022 • Subscribe

Interview with M Haris Sheikh, Director of Howling (OAFF 2022)

Jason Maher talks to Howling director M Haris Sheikh.

VCinema

Apr 18, 2022 • Subscribe

Interview with Riki Ohkanda, Director of Random Call [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher talks to Random Call director Riki Ohkanda.

VCinema

Apr 3, 2022 • Subscribe

Ribbon 2021 Director: Non [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]

Ribbon is a Covid-19-themed film about the frustrations of life in isolation and creative blockages. Combining the two, we see a coming-of-age drama where the protagonist overcomes both through…

Genkinahito

Jul 20, 2022 • Subscribe

Interview with Kasho Iizuka, Director of Angry Son [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher talks to Kasho Iizuka about his drama Angry Son.

VCinema

May 25, 2022 • Subscribe

Interview with Kahori Higashi, Director of Melting Sounds [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher talks to Kahori Higashi about her debut feature Melting Sounds.

VCinema

Jul 7, 2022 • Subscribe

Somebody’s Flowers 誰かの花 (2022) Director: Yusuke Okada

Somebody’s Flowers    誰かの花 「Dareka no Hana」 Release Date: January 29th, 2022 Duration: 115 mins. Director: Yusuke Okada Writer: Yusuke Okada (Script),  Starring: Shinsuke Kato, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Ch…

Genkinahito

May 31, 2023 • Subscribe

Interview with Azusa Hieda, Director of Summer Wedding [OAFF 2022]

Azusa Hieda’a short film Summer Wedding received its World Premiere at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 where it was one of the few films to directly use the Covid-19…

VCinema

Jun 24, 2022 • Subscribe

Shin Ultraman シン・ウルトラマン (2022) Director: Shinji Higuchi [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]

Shin Ultraman is a fun special effects feature that reboots the classic tokusatsu/kaiju series in a Shin Gojira style. Shin Ultraman シン・ウルトラマン (2022) Director: Shinji Higuchi [New York Asian…

Genkinahito

Aug 2, 2022 • Subscribe

Goukaku Tame no! Yasashi Sankaku Kakei Nyuumon ( 合格のための！ やさしい三角関係入門)

Mayuki is determined to get into the school of her choice to be close to the girl she likes, her old sempai on the basketball team, Akira. But…

Okazu

Feb 23, 2021 • Subscribe