I started this week with a trailer for HAL and followed that with a review for The Twilight Samurai and a trailer for the first Hanasaku Iroha movie. Next week I hope to get some yakuza films reviewed. There are so many films released this week I decided to shorten the title of the post rather than write the whole thing out as I usually do and the title highlights the films that caught my attention. Before that…
What does the Japanese film box-office chart look like this week (Feb 16/17)?
- A Good Day to Die Hard
- Ted
- Brain Man
- Strawberry Night
- Les Miserables
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Life of Pi
- Jack Reacher
- Masquerade
- Tokyo Family
None of the Japanese films released last week break into the top ten. The new entries are western films – A Good Day to Die Hard, Zero Dark Thirty and Masquerade. Nothing too interesting. There are a lot of films released this week with a lot of documentaries and a lot concerned with the anniversary of the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami.
Body Temperature 
Japanese Title: 体温
Romaji: Taion
Release Date: February 23rd, 2013 (Japan)
Running Time: 72 mins.
Director: Takaomi Ogata
Writer: Takaomi Ogata (Screenplay),
Starring: Chavetaro Ishizaki, Rin Sakuragi
This film sounds a lot like Air Doll going by the synopsis alone. I am unfamiliar with the names involved and the trailer seems to give the whole game away. Be careful, some racy content is present.
Rintaro (Ishizaki) works in a factory with does not have any real relationship with anyone except his blow-up doll Ikbuki. When he meets night cub hostess Rinko (Sakuragi) who looks like Ibuki, he falls in love with her. She is also a bit of a loner despite the public face she puts on. The two grow closer.
Garo and the Wailing Dragon 
Japanese Title: 牙狼 GARO 蒼哭ノ魔竜
Romaji: Garo – Soukoku no Maryu
Release Date: February 23rd, 2013 (Japan)
Running Time: 96 mins.
Director: Keita Amemiya
Writer: Keita Amemiya (Screenplay/Creator),
Starring: Ryosei Konishi, Yuki Kubota, Anna Aoi, Yukijiro Hotaru, Rei Fujita, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shouma Yamamoto,
The Garo fantasy adventure television series gets its second film and it is a special effects family fun-filled which premiered at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival where it got a good review from Screen Daily. Most of the actors are unfamiliar to me except Yukijiro Hotaru (Stacy: Attack of the School Girl Zombies, Cure, Mitsuko Delivers) but the film looks like a lot of fun with plenty of action and inventive looking creatures.
Kouga Saezima (Konishi) travels to the land of promise to retrieve the Fang of Sorrow but when he gets there he loses his Garo sword, magic clothes and Mado ring which renders him useless. Not quite as he still save a girl named Meru (Aoi). Can she help him?
A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion 
Japanese Title: 劇場版 とある 魔術 の 禁書目録 エンヂュミオン の 奇跡
Romaji: Toaru Majutsu no Indekkusu: Endyumion no Kiseki
Release Date: February 23rd 2013 (Japan)
Running Time: 90 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Nishikori
Writer: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Screenplay),
Starring: Atsushi Abe (Tōma Kamijō), Rina Satou (Mikoto Misaka), Yuka Iguchi (Index), Kisho Taniyama (Stiyl Magnus), Aki Toyosaki (Kazari Uihara)
The first film entry in the The Toaru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index) franchise is released this year and it is going under the title Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endyumion no Kiseki (A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion). The staff list is filled with Index franchise veterans. Leading the way is Hiroshi Nishikiori (Gad Guard, Azumanga Daioh) who is directing the film. The script has been written by Hiroyuki Yoshino (Macross Frontier, Accel World) and that is based on an original story from Kazuma Kamachi the creator of the franchise. Kiyotaka Haimura, the man behind the illustrations for the Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel is helping with original character designs while art direction is orchestrated by Tomonori Kuroda. All of this is taking place with J.C. Staff animating and studio Sanzigen handling the CG.
Academy City is about to see the completion of the space elevator named Endymion. Around the time of completion Tōma Kamijō and Index encounter a Level 0 girl named Arisa Narumori who has a mysterious connection to Index. The three get along well but soon find themselves the targets of magicians lead by Stiyl Magnus who claims that Arisa is key to a brewing war between science and magic. A female leader named Shattoaura leads a unit from Academy City against the attack but Tōma Kamijō and Index still need to deal with the threat posed by Stiyl.
Genkinahito 