Happy weekend, everyone!
I hope you are all well.
I feel I’ve been searching for something deeper than the ocean and I may have found it now I have to summon the courage to seize it.
I wrote a preview of the Tokyo International Film Festival and also posted a review for Yota Kawase’s rural comedy Being Natural.
What is released this weekend?
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These Chapter 2 
銀河英雄伝説 Die Neue These 星乱 第二章 「Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Die Neue These Seiran Dai Nishhou」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: N/A
Director: Shunsuke Tada
Writer: Noboru Takagi (Series Composition), Yoshiki Tanaka (Novel)
Starring: Kenichi Suzumura (Yang Wen-li), Mamoru Miyano (Reinhard von Lohengramm), Yuichiro Umehara (Siegfried Kircheis), Kana Hanazawa (Hildegard von Mariendorf),
Animation Production: Production I.G.
This is the second season of the anime remake of the original work and it hits the cinemas in three instalments. Each cinematic version will be the length of four episodes.
Synopsis: Two interstellar human states – the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance – are locked in a seemingly never-ending conflict and two leaders emerge, Reinhard von Lohengramm from the Galactic Empire and Yang Wen-li from the Free Planets Alliance. They will become Galactic Heroes.
108: Revenge and Adventure of Goro Kaiba 
108 海馬五郎の復讐と冒険 「108: Kaiba Goro no Fukushu to Boken」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Suzuki Matsuo
Writer: Suzuki Matsuo (Screenplay),
Starring: Suzuki Matsuo, Miho Nakayama, Shunsuke Daito, Shiori Doi, Louis Kurihara, LiLiCo. Miwako Shishido, Mayu Hotta, Natsuko Akiyama,
Synopsis: Facebook is an evil corporation that wrecks everything from democracy to marriage. Just take Goro Kaiba (Suzuki Matsuo) as an example. He learns that his wife Ayako (Miho Nakayama) is having an affair with a hot guy and she posted about it on Facebook and that post has received 108 likes! Facebook brings out the worst in people (usually venality and racism). For Goro Kaiba, it brings out a bizarre revenge plot:
A divorce would cost him 10,000,000 million yen, so instead of that he decides to use that money on a epic one month womanising streak where he plans to bed 108 women.
Summer Night Sky, Autumn Sunset, Winter Morning and Spring Breeze 
夏の夜空と秋の夕日と冬の朝と春の風 「Natsu no yozora to aki no yuuhi to fuyu no asa to haru no kaze」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Munetoshi Mukai
Writer: Munetoshi Mukai, Shintaro Mitani (Screenplay),
Starring: Hayato Ichihara, Nagisa Saito, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Marie Iitoyo, Kaoru Hirata, Ryubi Miyase, Mayuko Iwasa,
This anthology film is set in Fukuoka and tells four stories set in four seasons, each story having a thematic song which is played in the final scene of each story.
Synopsis: Four stories of change such as Naoya, a school teacher who quits his job to take care of his wife, Yumi and Kosugi who are childhood friends who will soon be parted because Kosugi’s mother is going to remarry, Yamamoto, a kid who rises in the boxing world and faces a choice of universities to enter, and Ayako, a leather craftsman who begins to struggle and seeks some solution.
Kura yami-sai no Ogawa-san 
くらやみ祭の小川さん 「Kura yami-sai no Ogawa-san」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 111 mins.
Director: Yukiyasu Asano
Writer: Yukiyasu Asano (Screenplay),
Starring: Seiji Rokkaku, Reiko Takashima, Aimi Satsukawa, Kumi Mizuno, Akira Emoto,
Synopsis: Fuchu City in Tokyo has backed this film and locals have helped make it. The story concerns a retired salaryman leading a banal existence with an unappreciative family. He can’t get a job but hope for change beckons when he joins the Kurayami Festival…
Togenkyo Labyrinth 
桃源郷ラビリンス 生々流転 「Tougenkyou rabirinsu seiseiruten」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 111 mins.
Director: Jun Yoriko
Writer: Shintaro Kanno, Jun Yoriko (Screenplay), Hiromi Okayama (Original Work)
Starring: Kensuke Takahashi, Yuichi Nakamura, Noboru Kaneko, Yuuki Torigoe, Taishi Sugie, Ikkei Yamamoto,
Synopsis: Momotaro has been reborn as an ikemen who owns a cafe in Okayama city and just like his historical counterpart, he attracts all sorts of funny characters…
Thunderbolt Fantasy Seiyuu Genka 
Thunderbolt Fantasy 西幽げん歌 「Thunderbolt Fantasy Seiyuu Genka」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Gen Urobuchi
Writer: Gen Urobuchi (Script/Original Work),
Starring: Takanori Nishikawa (Lang Wu Yao), Nao Toyama (Mu Tian Ming), Rie Kugimiya (Chou Fu), Tarusuke Shingaki (Xiaò Kuáng Juàn), Katsuyuki Konishi (Líng Yá), Kikuko Inoue (Làng Wū Yáo’s Mother),
Animation Production: Pili International Multimedia
Thunderbolt Fantasy took western anime fandom by surprise. Gen “Psycho-Pass” Urobuchi took Wu Xia tales to a puppet animation studio (so it’s technically not an anime) in Taiwan to create another film instalment before the next season hits TV.
Synopsis: A boy who was born with an extraordinary singing voice is abused through the harsh training under his blind mother who dreams of sending her son to the Royal court. This leads to an unfortunate accident which set the boy free and set him on the path to meeting a princess…
Kimi dake ni Motetainda 
キミだけにモテたいんだ。 「Kimi dake ni Motetainda」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 53 mins.
Director: Shun Kudo
Writer: Mari Okada, Akiko Waba, Nanami Higuchi (Script/Series Composition),
Starring: Yui Ishikawa (Sakiko Horinomiya), Kouki Uchiyama (Shigekazu Toshida), Rikiya Tomizono (Kotaro Tojima), Soma Saito (Tokio Furuta), Yuuki Kaji (MC),
Animation Production: Signal.MD
Synopsis: Five handsome boys who are indebted to a rich girl named Sakiko Horinomiya find themselves entered into the “Motemen Koshien” contest by her so they can pay her back using the prize money.
Futsuu wa hashiridasu 
普通は走り出す 「Futsuu wa hashiridasu」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 107 mins.
Director: Hirobumi Watanabe
Writer: Hirobumi Watanabe (Screenplay/Original Work)
Starring: Hirobumi Watanabe, Minori Hagiwara, Yako Koga, Honoka, Sakiko Kato, Chihiro Nagai,
Synopsis: The Watanabe brothers are back in another indie film set in their hometown of Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture. It mixes reality and fiction as it shows the struggle of a movie director struggling to get a production underway whilst also contending with daily life.
Boy Detectives Club Neo Beginning 
超・少年探偵団NEO Beginning 「Cho Shonen Tanteidan NEO: Beginning」
Release Date: October 25th, 2019
Duration: 92 mins.
Director: Shintaro Ashzuka
Writer: Shintaro Ashzuka, Hitomi Mieno (Screenplay), Edogawa Ranpo (Original Work)
Starring: Mahiro Takasugi, Gaku Sano, Mayu Hotta, Hiroshi Kamiya, Oshiro Maeda, Koki Osamura, Mizuki Itagaki, Jiro Sato,
Synopsis: High school student Yoshiro Kobayashi (Mahiro Takasugi) is the great-grandchild of the first president of the Boy Detectives Club and he finds himself having to live up to his ancestor’s legacy when the Fiend with Twenty Faces appears and sets off a string of fiendish cases for the boy to solve.
Saenai Kanojo (Hiroin) no Sodate-kata Fine (fi-ne) 
冴えない彼女（ヒロイン）の育てかた Fine（フィーネ） 「Saenai Kanojo (Hiroin) no Sodate-kata Fine (fi-ne)」
Release Date: October 26th, 2019
Duration: 115 mins.
Chief Director: Kanta Kamei, Director: Akihisa Shibata
Writer: Fumiaki Maruto (Script/Series Composition), Fumiaki Maruto (Original Creator)
Starring: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Tomoya Aki), Ai Kayano (Utaha Kasumigaoka), Chinatsu Akasaki (Izumi Hashima), Sayuri Yahagi (Michiru Hyodo), Saori Onishi (Eriri Spencer Sawamura),
Animation Production: CloverWorks
Synopsis: Tomoya Aki is an otaku who is working part-time to fund his anime purchases and also bankroll a doujin game. He gets creative inspiration for his game’s main character from his classmate Megumi but he needs to get a team to fill in the creative details such as art and writing, so he asks ace of the art club Eriri Spencer Sawamura to provide the art, as well as the honour student Utaha Kasumigaoka to write the scenario so they can produce a decent game for Comic Market.
Kuuchuu chashitsu o yumemita otoko 
空中茶室を夢見た男 「Kuuchuu chashitsu o yumemita otoko」
Release Date: October 26th, 2019
Duration: 75 mins.
Director: Chiyoko Tanaka
Writer: N/A
Starring: Mitsu Tanaka, Tomoko Yonetsu, Ramon Koizumi,
Synopsis: A documentary about an aerial tea room made during the Edo period and the men who designed and made it. Interviews and documents bring it back to life since it disappeared some time in the Edo period.
Kono hoshi wa, watashi no hoshi janai 
この星は、私の星じゃない 「Kono hoshi wa, watashi no hoshi janai」
Release Date: October 26th, 2019
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Miwa Yoshimine
Writer: N/A
Starring: Mitsu Tanaka, Tomoko Yonetsu, Ramon Koizumi,
Synopsis: A documentary pursuing Mitsu Tanaka (Wikipedia), a feminist who challenged the patriarchal structure of Japan and argued for women’s liberation in areas such as sex.
TOKYO24 
Release Date: October 26th, 2019
Duration: 64 mins.
Director: Kazuhiro Teranishi, Shinichi Karube, Shu Okada,
Writer: Kazuhiro Teranishi (Screenplay/Original Work)
Starring: Yuuma Teranishi, Kwang Soo, Mai Hakase, Takayuki Kodai, Tomoya Shiroishi,
Synopsis: An action suspense set in the year 2030 in Tokyo where humans and AI coexist and there is a case involving. AI Criminal and kidnapped scientists.
Hitotsubu no mugi Ogino Ginko no shougai 
一粒の麦 荻野吟子の生涯 「Hitotsubu no mugi Ogino Ginko no shougai」
Release Date: October 26th, 2019
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Hisako Yamada,
Writer: Hisako Yamada, Kazuhiro Kurisaki, Takako Shigemori (Screenplay)
Starring: Mayumi Wakamura, Koji Yamamoto, Kako Kakuchi, Shiro Sano, Akira Emoto,
Synopsis: Biographical drama depicting the life of Ogino Ginko (Wikipedia), the first woman doctor recognised for practising in western medicine in Japan during the Meiji period, an era when women were not permitted to do anything like that.