Happy weekend, readers!
I haven’t watched any films this (I have stopped playing Fallout 4) week but I have watched anime in the form of Ergo Proxy. I posted about the Asia House Film Festival screening The Case of Hana and Alice and then the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (and I went through after the initial post to get rid of some syntax errors) I’ve got four upcoming releases to review and post so stay tuned. Seven films to write about this weekend which meant I got this done over a few hours. With the help of Anime News Network and IMDB. I just forgot to post this on the weekend…
What was released this weekend?
PERSONA3 THE MOVIE #4 Winter of Rebirth
Release Date: January 23rd, 2016
Running Time: 105 mins.
Director: Tomohisa Taguchi
Writer: Jun Kumagai (Script)
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
Starring: Akira Ishida (Makoto Yuki), Megumi Toyoguchi (Yukari Takeba), Miyuki Sawashiro (Elizabeth/Chidori Yoshino), Hikaru Midorikawa (Akihiko Sanada),
Synopsis from ANN: To know death, to gaze at death, to face death. Makoto and his allies have grown through the many meetings and partings they have experienced. Their fight might not be for the sake of the world, but for themselves. Even so, they have continued to fight, believing that there are peaceful days waiting at the end of the battle. However, a boy says that destruction is the fate that humanity must shoulder. The boy they believed to be their friend tells them the truth of the situation without an emotion on his face. The season changes to winter. Makoto makes a decision in order to greet the spring that waits beyond…
Nobunaga Concerto
信長協奏曲（ノブナガコンツェルト）「Nobunaga kyousoukyoku」
Release Date: January 23rd, 2016
Running Time: 126 mins.
Director: Hiroaki Matsuyama
Writer: Masafumi Nishida (Screenplay), Ayumi Ishii (Original Manga)
Starring: Shun Oguri, Kou Shibasaki, Takayuki Yamada, Kaho, Osamu Mukai, Natsuka Ogawa,
This one is an adaptation of a manga and a continuation of the television dorama.
Synopsis from IMDB: Saburo (Shun Oguri) is a high school student good in sports, but not very good with his studies. One day, Saburo travels back in time and arrives in the Sengoku period of 1549. There, Saburo meets Nobunaga Oda who looks and sounds just like Saburo. Nobunaga Oda is the son of a warlord and magistrate of the lower Owari Province. Nobunaga Oda though is physically weak and he asks Saburo to take his place. Then, Saburo as Nobunaga Oda attempts to unify the country of Japan.
Valentine Nightmare
バレンタインナイトメア「 Barentain Naitomea」
Release Date: January 23rd, 2016
Running Time: 75 mins.
Director: Yasumasa Konno
Writer: Yasumasa Konno (Screenplay), Ivory Dice (Original Video Game)
Starring: Kaho Mizutani, Haruka Imou, Yoshiaki Miyagi,
Synopsis: High school students go on a graduation trip. They become gripped with fear by the spirit of a dead classmate. Their classmate committed suicide on Valentine’s Day, one year ago. She left behind the words “Let’s meet one year later.” The students must overcome their fear and find out the truth behind the tragedy that took place one year earlier.
Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger The Movie: Ninjas in Wonderland
手裏剣戦隊ニンニンジャーＶＳ烈車戦隊トッキュウジャーTHE MOVIE「 Shuriken Sentai Ninninja tai Ressha Sentai Tokkyūjā」
Release Date: January 23rd, 2015
Running Time: 64 mins.
Director: Shojiro Nakazawa
Writer: Kento Shimoyama (Screenplay), Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Concept)
Starring: Shunsuke Nishikawa, Gaku Matsumoto, Kaito Nakamura, Yuka Yano, Kasumi Yamaya, Riria Kojima,
Synopsis from Crunchyroll: The Ninninger and ToQger teams must join forces to defeat the villainous Dark Doctor Maburo, a mad scientist with a child-like personality and an obsession with ninjas.
Okaasan, iikagen anata no kao wo wasurete shimaimashita
お母さん、いい加減あなたの顔は忘れてしまいました「Okaasan, iikagen anata no kao wo wasurete shimaimashita」
Release Date: January 23rd, 2016
Running Time: 102 mins.
Director: Michiro Endo
Writer: N/A
Starring: AZUMI, Chie Endo, Michiro Endo, THE STALIN
Synopsis: The Stalin were a punk rock band formed in June 1980, by leader and vocalist Michiro Endo. It was disbanded in 1985 and Endo went on to make new bands but The Stalin remained very influential for many years. Endo turned sixty in 2011 and went on a tour. It was around the time that the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. Michiro Endo is a native of Fukushima and a socialist activist according to Wikipedia and so he went back to his hometown and visited family to it, in the face of in Fukushima to survey the damage and was inspired to start the charity “PROJECT FUKUSHIMA!” This documentary chronicles his efforts.
LOVE! LOVE! SING!
LIVE!LOVE!SING! 生きて愛して歌うこと 劇場版「LOVE! LOVE! SING! Ikite itoshite utau koto gekijouban」
Release Date: January 23rd, 2016
Running Time: 100 mins.
Director: Tsuyoshi Inoue
Writer: Nobuyuki Isshiki (Screenplay)
Starring: Anna Ishii, Koki Maeda, Kaho Minami, Shido Nakamura, Rie Tomosaka, Kanji Tsuda, Momoka Kinoshita
Synopsis: The film involves former elementary school classmates from Fukushima who became separated by the March 11th Great East Japan Earthquake reuniting to go dig up a time capsule from their schoolyard. The cast is made up of actors and idols.
The Reunion: Forbidden Love
再会 禁じられた大人の恋「Saikai: Kinjirareta Otona no Koi」
Release Date: January 16th, 2016
Running Time: 70 mins.
Director: Yusuke Narita
Writer: Shuji Kataoka (Screenplay),
Starring: Asami Kumakiri, Kengo Ohkuchi, Yasukaze Motomiya, Yurika Akane, Madoka Arai, Chie Suzuki, Tomoka Takeda, Yuya Tokumoto,
Synopsis from IMDB: Yumiko (Asami Kumakiri) is a housewife in an unsatisfying marriage. A former lover named Koji (Kengo Ohkuchi) appears (like, he moves into the same street!) and the flames of passion leap up…
Japanese Movie Box Office Results for this Week:
Star Wars The Force Unleashed (2015/12/18)
Eiga Youkai Watch: Enma Daioh to Itsutsu no Monogatari da Nyan! (2015/12/19)
Paddington (2016/01/15)
Orange (2015/12/11)
Seasons/Les Saisons (2016/01/15)
Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu-hen (2016/01/08)
In the Heart of the Sea (2016/01/16)
Bridge of Spies (2016/01/08)
Pink and Gray (2016/01/09)
Jinsei no Yakusoku (2016/01/09)
Genkinahito 
This is what I missed from your blog 🙂
Hisashiburi Jason 🙂
You changed the theme.
I wanted to watch Nobunaga Concerto since it came out but never really have time to o it,,,now it has become a movie I really have to find time to watch it…plus I quite like Shun Ogori.
Valentine Nightmare looks interesting
Great to see you back!
Shun Oguri is a fantastic actor! That written, Nobunaga Concerto didn’t interest me all that much. It was a multimedia franchise including a dorama, anime and more and that was too big an investment in time. I’ll be going to Japan this year so I need that time to practice the language >_<
Oh wow!!! That’s a great news.
I hope you will write up all you do there (and hoping I won’t be too busy to read it). I always want to go there but never got the chance…well not yet.
You’ll go one day! Your country is closer than mine so it’s almost inevitable.
Whoops, wrong Youtube clip for The Stalin doc comes up…
Ooops. I copy and paste the information format so mistakes sometimes slip in. Thanks for pointing that one out.