Happy weekend!
I hope you are all well!
The Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival is on and I’m locked into doing that. It has been good getting back into anime and watching the films with the audience and then chatting about them in the lobby of the cinema. Titles include Tamako Love Story, Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel Presage Flower and Birthday Wonderland, A Silent Voice and Penguin Highway. Expect to see some reviews. Due to the festival, this post will be split into two so expect more trailers later this week,
This week I reviewed Ad Astra (2019) and ran a news report about the stop-motion animation workshop being run by Takeshi Yashiro.
What’s released this weekend?
The Other Home Mukou no Ie 
向こうの家 「Mukou no Ie」
Release Date: October 05th, 2019
Duration: 82 mins.
Director: Tatsuro Nishikawa
Writer: Anna Kawahara (Screenplay),
Starring: Ayumu Mochizuki, Mai Ohtani, Denden, Wan Marui, Mahiro Ueda, Miki Takemoto, Toru Kizu,
Made by students who studied at Tokyo University of the Arts under Kiyoshi Kurosawa, this is a laidback family drama which breezes through its run-time thanks to a charming performance by Ayumu Mochizuki who was last seen on the big screen in the drama 5 Million Dollar Life.
Synopsis: Hagi Morita (Ayumu Mochizuki) is an amiable highschooler in the coastal city of Zushi. He decides to play hookey because he figures that he can learn something new by not going to school and he does when he finds out his father has a secret second house and there’s someone living there…
Liar! Uncover the Truth 
ダウト〜嘘つきオトコは誰?〜 「Dauto- Usotsuki Otoko wa Dare?」
Release Date: October 04th, 2019
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Jiro Nagae
Writer: Keiko Kanome (Screenplay)
Starring: Akane Hotta, Yu Inaba, Shun Nishime, Tetsuya Iwanaga, Daichi Saeki, Ryo Mitsuya, Tomu Fujita, Yuki Kubota, Shingo Tsurumi,
Synopsis: Kana Sakurai (Akane Hotta) is, if you can believe it, a singleton who heads to a matchmaking party to find true love. She’s approached by ten different men, but according to a fortune-teller she sees, nine of the ten have one thing in common: they are liars. Actually, all men are liars, but for the sake of the story, there’s one guy who isn’t a snake and Kana has to figure out which one of the ten it is.
Listen to the Universe 
蜜蜂と遠雷 「Mitsubachi to Enrai」
Release Date: October 04th, 2019
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Kei Ishikawa
Writer: Kei Ishikawa (Screenplay), Riku Onda (Novel)
Starring: Mayu Matsuoka, Tori Matsuzaka, Oji Suzuki, Rila Fukushima, Win Morisaki, Takeshi Kaga, Ken Mitsuishi, Asami Usuda, Yuki Saito,
Synopsis: Four young pianists with different lives find themselves competing in the preliminary round of an international piano competition. Masaru C Revy Anatoru (Win Morisaki), a star musician who attends the Juilliard School in New York, is the hot favourite to take the top prize but there are three other competitors to consider:
Aya Eiden (Mayu Matsuoka) was a child prodigy of a pianist but when her mother, the person who understood her the most, passed away, Aya lost her will to play. She rediscovers it at the age of 20…
Akashi Takashima (Tori Matsuzaka) is a family man having graduated from a music university and finding work at a musical instrument store but he cannot forget his desire to play the piano and so he enrols in the competition.
16-year-old Jin Kazama (Oji Suzuka) (not the Tekken character) who is a wildcard entry who has a letter of recommendation from a late pianist who was recognised as the best in the world.
Tokyo Wine Party People 
東京ワイン会ピープル 「Toukyou wain kai pi-puru」
Release Date: October 04th, 2019
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Hideki Wada
Writer: Mika Hayashi (Screenplay), Shin Kibayashi (Novel)
Starring: Sayuri Matsumura, Hayato Onozuka, Ito Ono, Yusuke Shoji, Risa Sudo, Yusuke Kondo,
Synopsis: Shino Sakuragi (Sayuri Matsumura) is an OL who has been invited to attend a fancy wine party by her boss. Sophisticated people gather there, people such as handsome businessman Kazushi Oda (Hayato Onozuka). Shino becomes attracted to him but then he gets arrested for accounting fraud which leaves her confused by the situation. While men are unreliable, wine is always there and so she keeps attending the wine parties and becomes hooked on the stuff. Will she become an alcoholic? Wait, no, I don’t think that’s where this film is going.
Mr. Hikita, I Am Knocked Up 
ヒキタさん！ ご懐妊ですよ 「Hikita-san! Gokainin Desuyo」
Release Date: October 04th, 2019
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Toru Hosokawa
Writer: Toru Hosokawa (Screenplay) Kunio Hikita (Essay)
Starring: Yutaka Matsushige, Keiko Kitagawa, Takashi Yamanaka, Gaku Hamada, Shiro Ito,
Synopsis: Kunio Hikita (Yutaka Matsushige) is a 49-year-old-writer and he is married to Sachi (Keiko Kitagawa). They had initially decided not to have a child, but, one day, Sachi tells him that she wants to have a child. Despite their best efforts, the couple cannot conceive a child and it is revealed that Kunio Hikita is infertile…
Strike Witches: 501st JOINT FIGHTER WING Take Off! 
ストライクウィッチーズ 劇場版 501部隊発進しますっ！ 「Sutoraiku Uicchi-zu 501 Butai Hasshinshimasu!」
Release Date: October 04th, 2019
Duration: 32 mins.
Director: Fumio Ito
Writer: N/A
Starring: Aya Uchida (Shizuka Hattori), Kaori Nazuka (Lynette Bishop), Misato Fuuen (Yoshika Miyafuji), Miyuko Sawashiro (Perrine-H. Closterman), Saori Seto (Mio Sakamoto), Rie Tanaka (Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke),
Animation Production: acca effe, Giga Production
Synopsis: Yoshika Miyafuji has returned to her hometown after the 501st Joint Fighter Wing break up but her former superior officer Mio Sakamoto has arranged for Yoshika to study abroad at a medical school in Europe and she will be joined by Shizuka Hattori, Sakamoto’s former student at the naval academy. They arrive just in time because new signs of Neuroi emerge and this means that the 501st Joint Fighter Wing will have to regroup for a new fight!
High & Low The Worst 
Release Date: October 04th, 2019
Duration: 125 mins.
Director: Shigeaki Kubo
Writer: Norihisa Hiranuma, Shoichiro Masumoto, Hiroshi Takahashi, Kei Watanabe (Screenplay)
Starring: Jun Shison, Kazuma Kawamura, Ken Nakajima, Goki Maeda, Yo Aoi, Jin Shirasu, Miu Tomita, Hitoshi Ozawa, Yumena Yanai,
Synopsis: Delinquent high school boys from two franchises (CROWS x WORST) have an all-out brawl in this film as different gangs fight each other.
Geki × cine “Seven people of the skull castle” Season Moon Waning Moon 
ゲキ×シネ「髑髏城の七人」Season月下弦の月 「GekixShine Dokuroshou no Shichinin-Tsuki Gegen no Tsuki」
Release Date: October 04th, 2019
Duration: 214 mins.
Director: Hidenori Inoue
Writer: Kazuki Nakashima (Screenplay),
Starring: Mamoru Miyano, Hiroki Suzuki, Tomoki Hirose, Ryo Kimura, Koudai Matsuoka, Makoto Nakamura, Satomi Nakatani, Mika Hijii,
Synopsis: Early 1590, after the death of the ruler Oda Nobunaga, the Land was taken over by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Far away in the Eastern Plain, a mysterious rebel by the name of “Tenmao” was gathering for a civil war with its Skull Corps.
One day in the plain fields, a loner “Kirimaru” is chased and cornered by the Skull Corps. He tries to fight them off in vale, is saved by a bunch of rowdies and a passing vagabond, “Sutenosuke”. Wounded from the attack, Kirimaru is taken to a nearby brothel town “Mukai” village.
Mukai serves as a post town between the capital and the eastern plain. It is always busy as its open to everyone and anyone. The village is run by the geisha, “Gokuraku Tayu” and “Ranbei”.
All sorts swing by including a ronin samurai by the name of “Mamiana Jiroemon”. When Sutenoske, Jiroemon and Ranbei all come together in the middle of the village, a strange moment passes hinting some kind of a history between them.