Dir. SUDO Ren (New Director) (Backlight) Born in Tokyo in 1996. While studying law at Keio University, he began working as a model and actor. He has been in a number of films and TV dramas since 2017, including A Girl Missing (Dir. FUKADA Koji), Little Miss Period (Dir. SHINADA Shunsuke),
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Director Spotlight #2: “Bring Minyo Back!”
Born in 1982, Moriwaki began his career in advertising after graduating from Waseda University and later moved into production editing, establishing his independent career in 2011. Based in…


Director Spotlight #13:
Dir. SHIOTA Akihiko (The World of You) Born in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture in 1961, Shiota has been a regular participant in the…
Director Spotlight #11:
Dir. SATO Yoshinori (Shinjuku Tiger) Yoshinori Sato was born in Aichi, Japan on February 1975. After graduating high school, he went to the…


Director Spotlight #12:
Dir. NISHIKORI Yoshinari (The Takatsu River) Film director and screenwriter. Born in January 1962 in Izumo, the birthplace of Kabuki, Sake and Sumo…
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Izumo, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life


Director Spotlight #10: “Qualia”
Born in 1980, he first gained recognition as a finalist in the 1996 Junon Super Boy Contest, leading to work primarily as a model in advertising. In 2001,…


Director Spotlight #7: “Resonance”
Dir. TANAKA Toshinori (Resonance) Born in 1981 in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima, Japan, Tanaka is a Filmmaker, a Lecturer at Fukuyama University, and the…


Director Spotlight: Takayuki Hirao
One of the most promising young anime directors that has come on the scene during the last decade is Takayuki Hirao [平尾隆之], who first came into my…


Director Spotlight #3: “Cafune”
Dir. KINEMURA Haruki (New Director) (Cafune) Born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture in 2001, Japan. After enrolling in Osaka University…


Director Spotlight #10: “Underdogs”
Dir. KUMETA Tsuyoshi (Underdogs) Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1969. Graduated from the Department of Sociology and Cultural Anthropology at…


Director Spotlight #8: “Toward Zero”
Dir. ITO Takashi (Toward Zero) ITO was born in Fukuoka in 1956. While studying in university, his experimental film SPACY(1981), premiered at MATSUMOTO…


Director Spotlight #5: “The Girls”
Born on April 20, 1984, in Tokyo, the director debuted with Dynamite Graffiti (2016), exploring Japan’s GAL culture. His next feature, Goodbye Silence (2018), depicts young people discovering…
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Nichijou - My Ordinary Life, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0
Director Spotlight #6: “NOT BEER”
Dir. NAKAGAWA Hirotaka (NOT BEER) Hirotaka Nakagawa was born in Aichi Prefecture and studied film production at university in Japan. He has worked…


Director Spotlight #1: “Angry Son”
Dir. IIZUKA Kasho (Angry Son) Born in 1990 in Gunma Prefecture. He studied under film director NEGISHI Yoshitaro and screenwriter Masato Kato while…


Director Spotlight #6: “House of Sayuri”
Born on June 1, 1973, in Fukuoka Prefecture, Shiraishi made his mark on the film scene with Violent Man (1997), co-directed with Akihiro Kasai, which won the Screenplay…


Director Spotlight #1: “99% Cloudy... Always”
SANAGOUMI Midori is an actor and voice actor who began studying filmmaking in 2020. Her short film Under the Bridge won the newly introduced Special Jury Award at…


Director Spotlight #3: “Copo a Copo”
Born in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. After working as an assistant director for notable productions, including the TV dramas like From the North Country '98, Private Detective Mike…


Director Spotlight #9: “Twilight Cinema Blues”
Dir. JOJO Hideo (Twilight Cinema Blues) Born in 975 in Hachioji City, Tokyo. Jojo graduated from Musashino Art University and accumulated a career…


Director Spotlight #7: “Leave in Summer”
Born in Hokkaido in 1996. “Tokeru” (2016) which Igashi made in college was officially selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival, Cinéfondation category. She made her theatrical debut…


Director Spotlight #9: “Not Born Yesterday”
Born in Niigata Prefecture in 1949, FUKUMA Kenji was a widely active poet, critic, and translator. He became engrossed in cinema during middle school, influenced by directors such…


Director Spotlight #5: “I Quit Being “Friends””
Dir. IMAMURA Ayako (I Quit Being “Friends”) From Nagoya/President of Studio AYA Graduated from Aichi Education University, Faculty of Education/Studied film…


Director Spotlight #4: “Hoarder on the Border”
Dir. KAYANO Hirotaka (Hoarder on the Border) Kayano graduated from the Department of Image Design, Faculty of Arts and Engineering…
![Featured image for Backlight (2021) [22nd Nippon Connection]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220601/1654062176.37133.66167.jpg)
![Background image for Backlight (2021) [22nd Nippon Connection]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220601/1654062176.37133.66167.jpg)
Backlight (2021) [22nd Nippon Connection]
An elegantly constructed and highly impactful exploration of the inhibiting fear of being rejected by one’s beloved.


Director Spotlight #8: “New Nemuro Pro Wrestling Story”
Born in 1976 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, he graduated from the Nihon University College of Art, majoring in film directing. He has directed a wide range of television programming,…


Backlight (逆光, Ren Sudo, 2021)
A young Mishima obsessive brings a uni friend to Onomichi for the summer but struggles to express his feelings in Ren Sudo’s poetic indie drama.


RedRoseMandy | Writer | Community Spotlight #2
Welcome to the second part of ‘Community Spotlight’! This time, we’re shining the spotlight on blogger and fanfiction author, RedRoseMandy, to learn more about the woman behind th…


Tokyo Godfathers || Summer Film Spotlight #2
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Director Spotlight #11: “Till The Day I Can Laugh About My Blues”
Born in 1997, Takeda is a graduate of Tokyo Polytechnic University’s Department of Imaging Arts. Since her university days, she has worked on numerous professional and amateur film…


Director Spotlight #4: “Esper X Private Detective Agency - Searching for Good-Bye -”
Born September 1, 1973, in Tokyo and raised in Saitama, Koba is known for his unique blend of comedy, sci-fi, and fantasy. He launched his feature film career…
Manga Spotlight | SPY X FAMILY vol. 2
Is the second volume as good as the first? Stay Toon'd!


Introducing Spotlight!
I’m pleased to announce a new addition to the blog: Spotlight.Starting this week, every Friday, I’ll shine a spotlight on various aspects of anime, movies, books, and other…


Vtuber Spotlight: MamaBlobfish
One of the things that I love most about the world of vtubing is how these amazing creations serve as representations of the person behind them. Some are…


Vtuber Spotlight: Meli
All art forms are as boundless as the creativity of the people behind them. Vtubers come in all varieties and I’ve been fortunate enough to feature so many…


Vtuber Spotlight: Fallenartisia
Today we celebrate a creator I came across on Bluesky who had such an interesting concept I had to ask if I could write about her. Thankfully she…


Vtuber Spotlight: Spidershii
I’m really excited to be making a third Vtuber Spotlight and this one is highlighting a creator I’ve worked with before, Spidershii. Some of you may know I…


Vtuber Spotlight: Yrense
We have visited all kinds of Vtubers before in this journey including ones based off of the virtual world. However, while we take another trip into this domain…


Indie Spotlight: Dreambound
Indie dev, Two and a Half Studios recently launched the Kickstarter campaign for their upcoming mystery boys love visual novel, Dreambound! I played the demo for this game…


Vtuber Spotlight: Ghostolotl
Step by step we continue this journey to search far and wide for new creatures to feature. Now up to this point we’ve featured a wide variety of…


Vtuber Spotlight: SCARNON
As we take our next step in our journey to promote creators of all kind we are visiting the world of sci-fi for our next Vtuber. We aim…


Vtuber Spotlight: Ramen
Normally as we take this journey we do so step by step; however, today we forgo the walking and take to the skies for this next Vtuber. We…


Vtuber Spotlight: KingTheKeeper
Our journey has taken us to all kinds of places. The skies, the oceans, hidden villages, mysterious forests and even to cyberspace; however, today we’re going somewhere new.…


Vtuber Spotlight: ZoomieVT
With the unlimited potential of imagination comes a never ending array of different creators to find and write about. The history of this series has found all kinds…


Vtuber Spotlight: Shadax
I have often said that I am a romantic at heart. I’m very supportive of others in their relationships through the good times and bad. Earlier I did…


Vtuber Spotlight: Silvilla
Once more we find ourselves in an adventure to scour the internet for more and more creators to feature. In this spotlight we turn our attentions to an…


VTuber Spotlight: ArsonQueen
So we’re back with another VTuber spotlight and this time I’m highlighting another creator that I’ve known for sometime ArsonQueen. This Vtuber takes great inspiration from Greek …


Vtuber Spotlight: TeletraanIV
Our world continues to expand as we take another step on our journey to find and highlight other creators. This stage of our adventure takes us back to…


VTuber Spotlight: Ecotone
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ecotone. Learn how they introduced themselves, and what they had to say about their streams.


Vtuber Spotlight: Bellerose
Time and time again I’m left in awe at the creativity of the amazing people who allow me to write about them. Once again this journey to highlight…


Vtuber Spotlight: FlavourCrumbs
Similar to how the forest is full of wildlife the world is full of Vtubers. The only way you can find them is to dive headfirst and search…


VTuber Spotlight: Misinari
Thanks to improving my internet to a plan I can spend more time enjoying the amazing content from Twitch streamers. VTubers really caught my attention for some time…


Vtuber Spotlight: Xumerical
As our journey continues to celebrate Vtubers of all kinds we have to be able to venture into all kinds of different worlds. In this adventure we are…