This week has been very busy for me. A promotion… or maybe a sideways move between departments… at work means I get more hours at the gallery and less time watching films and anime and writing. I’d cry but it places me in the rather unique position of possibly getting sent to Japan on business… Fingers crossed, this actually works out!
I spent most of this week watching the final episodes of Red Data Girl, My Youth Rom-Com and Aku no Hana and wrote up reviews for World War Z and The Berlin File and desperately trying to whip together a review for See You Tomorrow, Everyone which is proving harder than expected. In a post film discussion with Alua and Tired Paul I was certain about what I thought but putting it into words has been tough.
What films are released today?
GFP Bunny 
Japanese Title: GFP BUNNY タリウム少女のプログラム
Romaji: GFP Bunny Tariumu Shoujo no Puroguramu
Running Time: 82 mins.
Director: Yutaka Tsuchiya
Writer: Yutaka Tsuchiya
Starring: Yuka Kuramochi, Kanji Furutachi, Makiko Watanabe, Takahashi,
Trailer of the week. Heck, I’ve wanted to see this film for so long it hurts. I don’t need to see the rest. I so want to see this film and the chances of it coming to the UK seem slim but one can always hope. It sounds so twisted and it seems to push the medium plus it has some great actors. It has appeared at the Rotterdam International Film Festival which I reported on and where the following blurb comes from…
Yutaka Tsuchiya is considered one of the more interesting names amongst indie film makers in Japan and scored major kudos with his film Peep “TV” Show. He has been largely silent since then but now he has released this interestingly titled film which stars Kanji Furutachi who has appeared in trashy genre pieces like Dead Waves and great films like The Woodsman & the Rain and Dreams for Sale. He is supported by Sion Sono regular Makiko Watanabe (Himizu, Love Exposure).
Apparently based on a true story (with some key facts changed), we follow the actions of Thallium Girl (Kuramochi) who is slowly poisoning her mother with thallium and records her detached world view in her diary. It is clear she has some mental problems which are exacerbated by bullying at school. This just causes her to retreat from reality into a darker place.
Final Gintama: The Movie – Be Forever Yorozuya 
Japanese Title: 劇場版 銀魂 完結篇 万事屋よ永遠なれ
Romaji: Gekijouban Kanketsuhen Yorozuya Yo Eien Nare
Release Date: July 06th, 2013
Running Time: N/A
Director: Yoichi Fujita
Writer: Hideaki Sorachi (Screenplay)
Starring: Tomokazu Sugita (Gitoki Sakata), Rie Kugimiya (Kagura), Daisuke Sakaguchi (Shinpachi Shimura), Akira Ishida (Katsura Kotarou), Fumiko Orikasa (Yagyuu Kyuubei), Kenichi Suzumura (Sogo Okita)
This is billed as the final Gintama movie. It’s based on one of those anime series that has 100+ episodes and lots of battles. Kind of like Naruto. I must admit I haven’t seen it but I’m not into shounen anime so there. Actually the setting sounds interesting – a ronin who is engaged as an odd-jobs sort of chap in Edo era Japan under alien domination. This new film is written by original manga-ka Hideaki Sorachi and directed by Yoichi Fujita, the man who handled a lot of the television episodes as well as the comedy Binbogami Ga! The seiyuu from the TV anime are returning with Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) reprising the role of Gitoki, Rie Kugimiya (Masako in Ghost Hunt) voicing Kagura and Daisuke Sakaguchi (Hyou in Mononoke) voicing Shinpachi.
Genkinahito 