Every week I write a trailer post compiling all (or most) of the latest Japanese films released in Japan every weekend. There were lots and lots of Japanese films released in Japan this year. Lots. So many. So many I often wondered whether I might be better of collaborating with other writers to create these posts. If I wasn’t having fun I would have stopped. Fact is I’m a cinephile and a bit of a Japanophile so getting all of that information was fascinating and interesting. Plus I like drooling over Japanese actresses like the above. More importantly it has made great conversation points when talking to friends from the UK, Japan and elsewhere.
So, lots of films means lots of trailers and lots of posters and so I thought I’d compile all of the posters into a single article so people can see what was released and how cool the promotional material was. It’s organised by month and while I didn’t quite get all of the posters available these are most of them. Next year I’ll be more on top of it. A cool thing is that if you select a poster a gallery will come up so you can see it in greater detail and view the others.
My personal favourites are Patema Inverted (November), Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (September) Princess Sakura/Remiges/A Pale Woman (June), Intimacy, The Gaze of Another, The Garden of Words (May), Hear Mother’s Song, Sweet Sickness (April) Under a Pink Sky (January).
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
You must have been bored to write a post like this 🙂
Actually, I get the fascination of doing a collage of this sort, although all the damn linking is incredibly time consuming (I bow to you for doing the hard work). How did you decide between different poster versions?
For me, most Japanese posters simply have too much text to be appealing (and mini-images, which I find distracting). I want an image that catches my eye and that is original and unique, and the title. And not much more.
Most of these are rather boring (rather uninspired in their design), few stand out like Flying Bodies. Kaguya Hime was simple but oh so pretty. I like the playfulness of The Workhorse and the Big Mouth, the left Hal one is wonderfully colourful. SPEC, Miroku, Under the Pink Sky, Case of Kyoko, Petal Dance I all quite like (some a lot), also Tomogui, though I wish it had less text. Same for Homesick. And I hate to admit it, but Princess Sakura is a well designed poster. The real standout for me though is the poster for Real – it’s fantastically effective. That’s the one I would want on my wall for sure. (Too bad the film didn’t deliver.)
I thought it was fun putting this together and a great way to cap off a year of trailer posts. Assembling the lot was easy but I still think I missed a couple since I may not have used an image from the film there were no posters released.
As far as picking posters go, most films (especially the smaller ones) only had one poster and if there were multiple versions (like with The King of Apology) I picked the ones that held the most visual appeal for me.
Princess Sakura is really well-designed – it captures the content of the film (and my male gaze) perfectly. I have soft spots for the cute and beautiful anime like The Garden of Words and Patema Inverted, while Why Don’t You Play in Hell? makes perfect sense, sums up what you will get and has a lovely element of black humour. All of my other favourites inspire different ideas for me. I read a lot of potential in the more understated posters for Remiges, A Pale Woman, Hear Mother’s Song, Sweet Sickness, Under a Pink Sky.
Fun, but still a lot of work, no matter what you say!
I forgot to say I like the Remiges one as well… Can’t remember the other ones you mention (except Under the Pink Sky), with just the Japanese titles for most and so many posters it’s easy to miss one or another.
Garden of Words is lovely too of course, not sure though if I think it’s Shinkai’s best. Still need to watch the film!
As I was scrolling through the WordPress feed the Cutie and the Boxer poster instantly caught my eye. Happy New Year Jason! All the best to you in 2014!
Hope you enjoyed the post! As always it was totally cool collaborating with you and commenting on posts since you’re an awesome lady with awesome taste! Happy New Year and I hope 2014 is fantastic for you.
Thank you very much for the compilation. Will try to get hold of some of the movies. Very much appreciated. Have a Prosperous New Year.
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. If you do get a hold of these you must tell me what you think because I have only seen a tiny fraction! Happy New Year to you!
This is an awesome compilation of posters! On first glance, I am reminded that I wanted to see Play in Hell and Samurai Boy.
What was Go for Broke! about again? The title is only familiar for me in the case of the WWII film which featured the Japanese-American soldiers who fought in Europe, which is one of my favorite WWII movies. Some of my favorite scenes are when a soldier shouts “Bakatare!” at an officer. When the officer asks him to explain what that means, he says “That means ‘I’m sorry,” sir.”
Thanks a lot 🙂
You got it right with Go For Broke It’s a Japanese film it’s named after the WWII films the US army produced to show Japanese American soldiers fighting for the US. It’s got interviews with some of the veterans.
Reblogged this on Medieval Otaku and commented:
Here is a great compilation of Japanese movie posters of the past year, which has been put together by Genkinahito. With the amount of work he puts in at his blog, he is certainly very “genki.” His posts on Japanese cinema are always a treat.