Happy weekend, people!
I hope everyone is doing well!
It was a quiet week for me although I did learn a boatload of Kanji and built my confidence in speaking Japanese up by talking a lot to myself during work throughout the week and then one friend yesterday. I’ll be meeting her again today and another one tomorrow to speak more. I published a review for Gukoroku – Traces of Sin and my annual look at the Japanese films at this year’s Rotterdam International Film Festival. I also updated my Rotterdam and Berlin festival posts by replacing trailers that had been taken down.
What is released this weekend in Japan?
Bamy 
バーミー 「Ba-Mi-」
Running Time: 100 mins.
Director: Jun Tanaka
Writer: Jun Tanaka
Starring: Hironobu Yukinaga, Hiromi Nakazato, Misaki Tsuge, Toshi Yanagi, Yuki Katsuragi,
It’s great to be able to see the journey of a film from early festival screenings all the way through to a theatrical run and I’m glad that Jun Tanaka’s Bamy (2017) has reached the point where wider audiences can enjoy this original and engaging film. It’s fantastically shot, it has great sound and visual design and I found it so brilliant I watched it three or four or fives times (I lost track) when I was at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. I hope lots of people see and enjoy it when it gets screened from this weekend!
You can see it at Shinjuku Cinema Qualite from January 20 and it comes with English subtitles! Here’s the link to the cinema site.
Synopsis: One day, Fumiko (Hiromi Nakazato) runs into Ryota (Hironobu Yukinaga), an old acquaintance from her college photography club. They would have missed each other had it not been for a mysterious red umbrella tumbling from the skies causing them to lock eyes. Soon enough they are making plans to get married. They seem like an ideal couple but, unfortunately, their relationship slowly ruptures because Ryota is troubled by a secret ability… he can see ghosts. Fumiko cannot and the two find themselves being torn apart by Ryota’s ability. Things get even more complicated when he encounters Sae Kimura (Misaki Tsuge), a woman with the same ability. She seems like a perfect match and Ryota leaves Fumiko but the bonds of destiny cannot be broken by the will of a mere mortal.
The Lies She Loved 
嘘を愛する女 「Uso wo Aisuru Onna」
Running Time: 118 mins.
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Kazuhito Nakae
Writer: Kazuhito Nakae (Screenplay),
Starring: Masami Nagasawa, Issei Takahashi, Daigo, Rina Kawaei, Kotaro Yoshida, Hitomi Kuroki, Maho Nonami, Eriko Hatsune, Kyusaku Shimada,
This looks like a solid drama. It is directed by a first-timer who has worked on popular ads. It stars Masami Nagasawa as a woman digging into the background of her lover after she discovers his identity might be fake. Would you be prepared to live with lies if you were happy?
Synopsis: Yukari Kawahara (Masami Nagasawa) is a hard-working woman with a job at a drink manufacturer. She has been dating a doctor named Kippei Koide (Issei Takahashi) for five years but when he collapses from a brain hemorrhage, she discovers that the man she had her heart set on was not all he seemed. All of his doctors licences were forged and the truth behind the man may lie in a novel he was writing. She hires private detective Takumi Kaibara (Kotaro Yoshida) to learn more and ends up travelling to the Seto Inland Sea…
Brand New Legend of Stardust Brothers / Hoshikuzu kyodai no aratana densetsu 
星くず兄弟の新たな伝説「Hoshikuzu kyôdai no aratana densetsu 」
Running Time: 132 mins.
Original Release Date: November 02nd, 2016
Director:Macoto Tezuka
Writer: Macoto Tezuka (Screenplay), Haruo Chikada (Original Story)
Starring: Ryosuke Miura, Kohei Takeda, Tadanobu Aasano, Chika Arakawa, Issay, Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Tomomi Itano, Jun Inoue,
Synopsis from JFDB: A drama remaking the 80s cult-classic musical film, Legend of the Stardust Brothers, with a brand new story. Tezka Macoto, director of the original, also assumes the director’s chair for this film.
In the near future, Tokyo is a cyber-metropolis where Shingo (Kubota Shingo) is the barkeep of a modest bar. He, along with a DJ, Kan (Takagi Kan), who together had once seized fame as the Stardust Brothers, head for the Moon where they’re bound to gain stardom again. Regaining their youth, Shingo (Takeda Kohei) and Kan (Miura Ryosuke) go on a journey to find the soul of rock.
Kisei Shinryaku PARASITE WAR 
寄生侵略 PARASITE WAR 「Kisei Shinryaku PARASITE WAR」
Running Time: N/A
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Yasutake Torii
Writer: Shino Kondo (Script),
Starring: Aika Ota, Mizuho Hata, Daiki Higuchi, Misaki Kawai,
Information from Doramaworld
Synopsis: Former NGT48 idol Aiko Ota takes the lead-role in this sci-fi actioner where she plays Sachiko Obayashi, an investigator for the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. She is hunting down a malignant extraterrestrial organism known as a “Mule”. This creature hides in plain sight. It takes over a host’s body by attaching itself to the inside of its victim’s skull, manipulating the body like a puppet before ultimately devouring the brain. Obayashi tracks the alien to a hospital, where she manages to trap it in a secluded wing but it is there along with five people and it has taken over one. Sachiko has to uncover the alien from the group of five…
The Memory of the Seasons (Tentative) 
季節の記憶（仮） 「Kisetsu no nioku (kari)」
Running Time: 122 mins.
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Hiroki Ishi
Writer: N/A (Screenplay),
Starring: Aki Yamamoto, Akiko Abe, Hitoshi Yoshitaka, Aya Watanabe, Toshiro Murayama, Masahiro Sugaya, Kaori Oba, Azusa Yamashita, Minoru Yamashita, Nico Yamashita, Minori Dan, Toshirou Murayama,
Synopsis: A group of performers became photographers and recorded something over the course of four seasons. The results have been put together in this film which has no screenplay and is totally improvised.
Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A 
レフトフライ 「Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A」
Running Time: 100 mins.
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Yuichi Onuma
Writer: Hayashi Mori (Screenplay), Ritz Kobayashi, Aguri Igarashi (Original Story)
Starring: Hiyori Sakurada, Yuri Tsunematsu, Momoka Ito, Koume Watanabe, Riko Nakayama, Yuka Ogura, Nana Asakawa, Nao Sakura, Mio Kudou, Jun Amaki, Arisa Sonohara, Yui Kitamura, Asuka Kawazu, MoMoKo,
This is a movie adaptation of a manga and it stars a bunch of idols as girls who play mah-jong. There’s a live-action drama attached to this as well.
Synopsis from MAL: The Achiga Girls’ Academy in Nara once defeated regional mahjong powerhouse Bansei High School. It advanced into the national team semifinals but lost to the eventual champion, and the mahjong club was later disbanded.
Six years later, elementary school student Shizuno Takakamo befriends transfer student Nodoka Haramura. The two eventually enter Achiga Girls’, but Nodoka transfers out of the school in the second year.
When Shizuno sees Nodoka on television the following year as the national middle school individual mahjong champion, she decides to revive Achiga’s mahjong club.
Yamikin gurentai 
闇金ぐれんたい 「Yamikin gurentai」
Running Time: 79 mins.
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Shinji Imaoka
Writer: Ryuta Kawasaki, Dai Nakano (Screenplay),
Starring: Mutsuo Yoshioka, Yota Kawase, Taro Suwa, Ai Nishina, Ukyo Matsumoto, Yoshihiko Hosoda,
Synopsis: Seiji (Kawase) travelled to Tokyo from Tohoku and met Daisuke (Yoshioka) and the two instantly became friends. To make money, they work as loan-sharks under the umbrella of a yakuza group but Daisuke doesn’t have the heart for it especially since his girlfriend Maika (Nishina) is in debt. The two find cracks appearing in their relationship…
Pinkerton ni aini iku 
ピンカートンに会いにいく 「Pinka-ton Aini iku」
Running Time: 86 mins.
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Yuichiro Sakashita
Writer: Yuichiro Sakashita (Screenplay),
Starring: Wakana Matsumoto, Maho Yamada, Chika Uchida, Kyoka Shibata, Haruka Imo, Koron Mizuno, Anne Ogawa, Michi Iwano, Natsumi Okamoto,
Synopsis: Yuichiro Sakashita, director of the 2013 film Kanagawa University of Fine Arts, Office of Film Research is back with this interesting looking dramedy about idols who have grown up and get together for a reunion concert.
Mawari Kagura 
廻り神楽 「Mawari Kagura」
Running Time: 94 mins.
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Mirao Osawa, Kano Endo
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: This is the second documentary this month on Kagura, a traditional performance done by people across Japan. The community at the heart of this film are on the Sanriku coast of Iwate prefecture and they suffered duue to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Despite this, the people travel around the beaches, performing in honour of the dead and the Gods who have existed in the land and the sea for hundreds of years.
Mitsuya seizaemon zanjitsu roku 
三屋清左衛門残日録 「Mitsuya seizaemon zanjitsu roku」
Running Time: 98 mins.
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Tomohiko Yamashita
Writer: Rei Izumi (Screenplay), Shuuhei Fujisawa (Original Work)
Starring: Kinya Kitaooji, Yuuka, Dai Watanabe, Hitomi Takahashi, Kouki Okada,
Synopsis: The latest of the Good Morning Jidaigeki films which adapt Shuuhei Fujisawa’s novels, this one is about Mitsuya Seizaemon who was a loyal adviser to his feudal lord. In his retirement, he gets caught up in clan rivalries.
Full Metal Panic! Into the Blue 
フルメタル・パニック！ イントゥ・ザ・ブルー 「Furu Metaru Panikku! Intou za Buru-」
Running Time: N/A
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Koichi Chigira
Writer: N/A (Screenplay), Shoji Gatoh (Original Creator)
Starring: Satsuki Yukino (Kaname Chidori), Tomokazu Seki (Sousuke Sagara), Akio Ohtsuka (Lt. Cmdr. Andrey Kalinin), Daisuke Namikawa (Leonard Testarossa), Yukana (Teletha “Tessa” Testarossa),
Animation Production: GONZO
This is the third of three films acting as a “director’s cut” version of the first Full Metal Panic! television anime series from 2002. The story centres on a mercenary group in a world where the Cold War did not end.
Synopsis from ANN: Sousuke Sagara, a seventeen year old military specialist working for the secret organization MITHRIL, has been assigned to protect the latest “Whispered” candidate Kaname Chidori. To complete this task Sousuke will have to deal with enemies from his past as well as the occasional panty thief. Unfortunately for Sousuke, the toughest part of his mission isn’t only protecting Miss Chidori but also getting used to living an average High School students life, no easy task for someone raised on the battlefield.
Lady Ninja: A Blue Shadow 
LADY NINJA 青い影 「Lady Ninja: Aoi kage」
Running Time: N/A
Release Date: January 20th, 2018
Director: Ken’ichi Fujiwara
Writer: Ryuta Kawasaki (Screenplay), Fuminori Nakamura (Original Novel)
Starring: Mai Hakase, Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai, Hayate, Asami, China Kusumoto, Atsuko Okamoto, Minoru Torihada,
Kenichi Fujiwara, director of High School Girl Rika Zombie Hunter (2008) comes up with another low-budget action film.
Synopsis: Gravure idol Mai Hakase stars as a member of a secret team set up by the Japanese government to prevent criminals from creating chaos at a time when the country is weak from a prolonged recession. She’s up against genetically modified humans.
Genkinahito 
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