Happy weekend, dear reader!
I hope you are well!
This week I posted a review of the zombie manga I Am a Hero and an announcement about the wonderful comedy Fuku-chan of Fukufuku Flats.
I have been very busy at work and on the entertainment front. I watched lots of films like Lalala at Rock Bottom (2014), Taksu (2014), Permanent Nobara (2010) and Sheep in the Night (2010). My sister completed Shenmue and we started Shenmue 2 and I’m in the middle of Final Fantasy Tactics The War of the Lions.
What’s released in Japan this weekend?
The Boy and the Beast
Japanese Title: バケモノの子
Romaji: Bakemono no Ko
Release Date: July 11th, 2015 (Japan)
Running Time: 119 mins.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Writer: Mamoru Hosoda (Screenplay),
Starring: Koji Yakusho (Kumatetsu), Shota Sometani (Kyuuta – Teen), Aoi Miyazaki (Kyuuta – Young), Haru Kuroki (Ichirohiko – Young), Yo Oizumi (Tatara), Lily Franky (Monk Momoaki), Mamoru Miyano (Ichirohiko – Old),
The Boy and the Beast is the latest film from Mamoru Hosoda (director of The Wolf Children and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). It stars Aoi Miyazaki (Eureka), Shota Sometani (Himizu), and Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins, Licence to Live, Cure, Retribution, Séance), one of my top three Japanese actors. I wrote a more detailed preview for the film a few months back.
A lonely boy in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward finds that there is another world, the bakemono realm (“Juutengai”). Typically, the human world and Juutengai do not meet but the boy gets lost in the bakemono world and becomes the disciple of a lonely bakemono named Kumatetsu (Yakusho) who takes the boy under his wing and renames him Kyuuta (Miyazaki/Sometani
Hand in the Glove
Japanese: アリエル王子と監視人
Romaji: Ariel Oji to Kanshinin
Release Date: July 11th, 2015
Running Time: 70 mins.
Director: Yusuke Inaba
Writer: Yusuke Inaba, Futoshi Nakano (Screenplay)
Starring: Eri Ishida, Chanon Rikulsurakan, Emiko Izawa, Selina Wiesmann, Eisuke Sasai, Shugo Oshinari,
This Thai-Japan co-production was filmed in Kumamoto and involves a prince from a fictional country visiting the historic place and escaping his bodyguards to have some fun. The film stars the Thai actor and musician Chanon Rikulsurakan.
How to Forget Sadness: Documentary of Nogizaka46
Japanese: 悲しみの忘れ方 DOCUMENTARY of 乃木坂46
Romaji: Kanashimi no Wasurekata DOCUMENTARY of Nogizaka 46
Release Date: July 10th, 2015
Running Time: 120 mins.
Director: Yusuke Inaba
Writer: Yusuke Inaba, Futoshi Nakano (Screenplay)
Starring: Rina Ikoma and the other girls fro Nogizaka46
Nogizaka46 are a popular idol group although they aren’t as popular as AKB48. This documentary seems focussed on exploring some of the various scandals which have occurred to members of the group such as one having an affair with a married man and preferential treatment of some members over others. Find out more about the controversies here.
Ari no mama de itai
Japanese: アリのままでいたい
Romaji: Ari no mama de itai
Release Date: July 11th, 2015
Running Time: 80 mins.
Director: Kiyoshi Kamoshita
Writer: N/A
Starring: DAIGO, Keiji Fujiwara, Akiko Yajima (Voice actors)
Interested in Japanese insects? See them as they have rarely been seen before in this documentary which utilised a special type of camera called “ant’s eye camera” which captured all sorts of creepy crawlies on video. Screenings are in 3D.
Tag
Japanese: リアル鬼ごっこ
Romaji: Riaru Onigokko
Release Date: July 11th, 2015
Running Time: 85 mins.
Director: Sion Sono
Writer: Sion Sono (Screenplay), Yusuke Yamada (Original Novel)
Starring: Reina Triendl, Mariko Shinoda, Erina Mano, Yuka Sakurai, Maryjun Takahashi, Rin Honoa Cyborg Kaori, Mao Mita, Izumi, Mika Akizuki,
This is the third film out from Sion Sono, one of my favourite directors (I have dedicated two seasons to the man’s work) and it looks, to me, like the worst. More specifically I found the imagery of schoolgirls dying and their corpses littering streets/rivers rather horrendous even though it is played for laughs. Violence can be fun to watch in films but it has a puerile and misogynistic bent in this trailer. Or maybe I’m becoming jaded with Japanese filmmaker’s always putting schoolgirls in their films.
Anyway, rant over. It’s based on a novel by Yusuke Yamada where people get involved in a “real hide-and-seek game” involving people with the family name Sato and a killer ghost. For this film, schoolgirls replace people with the Sato family name. It’s the latest in a long series of films and they are easily available to watch and I found the one I viewed rather dispiriting.
Female highs school students, including Mitsuko (Triendl), Keiko (Shinoda) and Izumi (Mano), become involved in a fatal game of “tag” and are the targets of ghosts with various appearances including a groom with a pig’s face and female teacher with a machine gun.
Snake of Violence
Japanese: 大阪外道 OSAKA VIOLENCE
Romaji: Osaka Gedo
Release Date: July 11th, 2015
Running Time: 82 mins.
Director: Takahiro Ishihara
Writer: Takahiro Ishihara (Screenplay),
Starring: Maya Fukuzawa, Tak Sakaguchi, Tomoko Tabata, Takashi Nishina,
This one was originally released in 2013.
Synopsis from a review published on Twitch:
A young adolescent, who moves in with a local gangster after his father is injured at work, only for their small community to be brutally disrupted by the arrival of a murderous thug fresh out of prison.
Senritsu kaiki fairu cho kowa sugi! FILE – 02 ankoku kitan! Hebi on’na no kai Japanese: 戦慄怪奇ファイル 超コワすぎ！ FILE-02 暗黒奇譚！蛇女の怪
Romaji: Senritsu kaiki fairu cho kowa sugi! FILE – 02 ankoku kitan! Hebi on’na no kai
Release Date: July 11th, 2015
Running Time: 92 mins.
Director: Koji Shiraish
Writer: Koji Shiraishi (Screenplay)
Starring: Shigeo Osako, Koji Shiraishi, Shingo Mizusawa,
Low-budget horror-film helmer Koji Shiraishi brings us another scary file bringing Japanese folktales and monsters into the modern day via his crew of ghost hunters, This one is all about a snake woman.
Gunjou Iro no, Toori Michi
Japanese: 飛べないコトリとメリーゴーランド
Romaji: Gunjou Iro no, Toori Michi
Release Date: July 11th, 2015
Running Time: 105 mins.
Director: Kiyoshi Sasabe
Writer: Kiyoshi Sasabe, Yoshimitsu Hashimoto (Screenplay)
Starring: Ren Kiriyama, Kiki Sugino, Takeshi Masu, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Shinichiro Matssura, Keita Ninomiya, Jun Inoue, Mitsunori ISaki, Seia Yasuda,
A man named Mayama (Kiriyama) left his hometown and moved to Tokyo to become a musician. When he receives news of his father’s illness he visits his hometown for the first time in 10 years and is seized by a mixture of emotions. He sees the beautiful scenery and the kind people who support him such as his ever cheerful mother and his sister and a former school friend who became a music teacher.
Random music video:
Genkinahito 
Can’t wait to see that Boy and Beast movie.
RE the N46 doc:
Yasushi Akimoto created the Nogizaka46 to quotes “give AKB some competition … and with TWO FEWER MEMBERS!”. I have not listened to the N46 all that much. Nothing against them, though. I have seen some interesting idol songs from them (for those who care for this hard to describe genre). I posted some kimono photos of them once. True, the ladies are “easy on the eyes” but I will need more than that.
Why would Mr. Akimoto create this group I wondered? It is not technically another AKB sister group.
It is as if the owner of IBM computers decided one day that their product “needed a little competition” to keep the ideas fresh, so they open another computer company JUST ACROSS THE STREET then called it “HBM”. With the ad: “We’re nothing like IBM!”.
Far be it for me to criticize Mr. Akimoto, because when I do — I eventually wake up to how correct he was all along, while I wipe egg off of my face.
Japan — after Abe consider Akimoto.
PS: Also loving your changing photo header!
I thought you might be able to shine a light on this documentary! I must admit haven’t listened to anything by Nogizaka46… I guess the rivalry between the groups is a most excellent way of milking money from fans because people like to take sides and defend their opinions/choices to the death whatever the subject.
As for who rules Japan after Abe… Riki Takeuchi…
HE FIGHTS BEARS!!!
I’ll be adding more images to the header soon.
You are right about that “milking money” from the fans. I have had to buy entirely new photocard sets just because one of the girls started wearing a different hat. How do they expect me to keep up?
Haha. Your dedication shines through on your blog. Very admirable. I just watch re-runs of Dero and play the same one track over and over. 🙂
I think “Tag” is likely to be a satire of sorts, at least that is what got from the trailer. I’ve not read the original novel but I got the impression Sono is taking the rise out films that do exploit schoolgirls. The whole thing looks comic in tone so until I see the final film, I’m not expecting this one to be a serious work! 😉
And of course looking forward to Hosoda’s latest! 🙂
It’s hard to tell from the trailer. My knee-jerk reaction at seeing the deaths, even if they are played for laughs, was a negative one. It could be something like Exte which parodied J-horror.
How to Forget Sadness: Documentary of Nogizaka46 looks pretty good, cant wait to watch it.
btw, can u tell me who is this girl at this image https://genkinahito.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/cropped-vampires-kiss-film-image.jpg (i got it from your headbar image)
Her name is Reina Fujie and she’s in NMB48.