This week I got my Himizu poster from Adam over at Third Window Films and I wrote two reviews for the J-horror films Shibuya Kaidan 1 and 2 and a preview of Fuse: A Gun Girl’s Detective Story. Fuse is really capturing my imagination at the moment. I have been terribly busy this week what with work and life in general and so I found myself watching only a couple of Takeshi Kitano films and no anime (although I did watch the new trailer for One Off which still looks intriguing) and I pretty much stopped posting for AUKN (I wonder if anyone notices). I’m back on a somewhat even keel so I’ll resume my news duties and get back to watching more awesome Japanese films. Wasn’t the opening to the London 2012 Olympics spectacula?
What’s does the Japanese movie box-office chart look like this week?
- Umizaru 4: Brave Hearts
- The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki
- Pikachu the Movie 2012
- Helter Skelter
- Brave
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd
- Soreike! Anpanman Yomigaere Bananajima
- Rinjo
- Thermae Romae
Last week’s new entry The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki has taken second in the charts while Uzimaru holds onto the top and Helter Skelter holds on to fourth in its second week. Thermae Romae remains in the top ten. Interestingly it was announced for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival alongside Takeshi Kitano’s latest film Outrage Beyond.
What films are released today?
Women on the Edge 
Romaji: Girigiri no Onnatachi
Japanese Title: ギリギリ の 女たち
Release Date: 28th July 2012 (Japan)
Running Time: 101 mins.
Director: Masahiro Kobayashi
Writer: Masahiro Kobayashi
Starring: Miho Fujima, Yuko Nakamura, Makiko Watanabe
Masahiro Kobayashi, writer and director of grim films like Bashing is back with Women on the Edge which stars Miho Fujima (Ju-On: The Grudge, Tajomaru), Yuko Nakamura (Blood and Bones), and Makiko Watanabe (Himizu, Love Exposure). Reviews aren’t kind.
The three Onodera sisters return to the home of their deceased parents’ in Kesennuma, Miyagi, a place affected by the Tohoku Earthquake. The house has survived the earthquake and tsunami and the three are looking to claim an inheritance. Nobuko (Nakamura) moved to Tokyo and is a divorcee, Takako (Watanabe) moved to New York and works as a butoh dancer. Third sister Satomi (Fujima) stayed behind. There are deep resentments and over the course of the film they will come out.
Eight Ranger 
Eito Renja
Japanese Title: エイトレンジャー
Release Date: 28th July 2012 (Japan)
Running Time: N/A
Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Yu Yokoyama, Subaru Shibutani, Shingo Murakami, Ryuhei Maruyama, Shota Yasuda, Ryo Nishikido, Tadayoshi Okura, Hiroshi Tachi, Becky, Misako Renbutsu, Renji Ishibashi, Hitomi Takahashi,
Yukihiko Tsutsumi went from box-office smash hit SPEC: Heaven to the more intimate and small-scale film My House. Now he is tackling a parody of super sentai shows as Eight Ranger shows. I really hate that type of show (Takeshi Kitano’s Getting Any? was going along perfectly until the final section with the Earth Defence Force…). It is based on some of the boy band Kanjani Eight’s live performance. Kanjani Eight take the lead roles but there other notable names including Renji Ishibashi (One Missed Call, Audition, Outrage), Hitomi Takahashi (The Sound of the Sea, Crime or Punishment?!?), and Misako Renbutsu (River, Quirk Guys & Gals).
The devastated city named Eight City is under attack from Dark Crusade and only the Eight Rangers can protect the inhabitants.
Naruto the Movie: Road to Ninja.
Synopsis
Sixteen years ago, a creature known as Kurama the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was released from its jinchūriki (living prison) by a mysterious ninja and unleahed on the Hidden Leaf Village, leading to the death of many people. In order to stop this demon the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, and his wife Kushia Uzumaki, who was the jinchūriki, sealed the demon inside their new born son, Naruto. With the beast sealed inside Naruto, things went back to being peaceful until a group of ninja known as Akatsuki attack the village. They are under the guidance of Tobi, the mysterious ninja who unleashed the demon the first time.
This is the sixth Naruto movie to be released thus far and it is set in an alternate timeline 
in which Naruto’s parents are still alive. People also have very different personalities as seen when Sasuke is hitting on Sakura and Hinata is much more aggressive. Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, is handling the character designs and writing the script with Yuka Miyata (Naruto Shippūden) for the movie. The film is directed by Hayato Date who has handled countless Naruto TV episodes and movies like Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. The franchise voice actors also return with Junko Takeuchi voicing Naruto, Nana Mizuki voicing Hinata, Noriaki Sugiyama voicing Sasuke and Chie Nakamura voicing Sakura. The awesome J-rock outfit Asian Kung-Fu generation are providing the film’s theme.
Staff: Hayato Date (Director), Masashi Kishimoto (Script/Character Design/Original Creator), Yuka Miyata (Script), Tetsuya Nishio (Animation Director), Asian Kung-Fu Generation (Movie Theme)
Voice Actors: Junko Takeuchi (Naruto Uzumaki), Emi Shinohara (Kushina Uzumaki), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Minato Namikaze), Kazuhiko Inoue (Kakashi Hatake), Chie Nakamura (Sakura Haruno), Nana Mizuki (Hinata Hyuga), Noriaki Sugiyama (Sasuke Uchiha)
Studio: Studio Pierrot
Genkinahito 