Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well.
Quiet week for me with only a review of Sanka: Nomads of the Mountains and the V-Cinema Show release of my review North Shinjuku 2055 and interview with its director Daisuke Miyazaki and my review of Howling and the interview with its director M Haris Sheikh.
What is released this weekend?
Crayon Shin-chan Movie 30: Mononoke Ninja Chinpuuden 
映画クレヨンしんちゃん もののけニンジャ珍風伝 「 Eiga Kureyon Shinchan Mononoke Ninja Chinpuuden」
Release Date: April 22nd, 2022
Duration: 100 mins
Director: Masakazu Hashimoto
Writer: Kimiko Ueno, Masakazu Hashimoto (Screenplay), Yoshito Usui (Original Creator)
Starring: Yumiko Kobayashi (Shinnosuke Nohara), Miki Narahashi (Misae Nohara), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Hiroshi Nohara), Rina Kawaei (Chiyome Hesogakure), Yuki Iwai (Yuuki Iwai),
Animation Production: Shin-Ei Animation
This is the 30th film version of “Crayon Shin-chan” and it marks the 30th anniversary of the anime’s first broadcast in 1992.
Synopsis: Apparently Shinnosuke’s birth parents aren’t Hiroshi and Misae Nohara but ninja and all is revealed when a mystery woman named Chiyome rocks up on the Nohara’s doorstep and claims Shinnosuke as her son. Cue his return to a ninja village which is protecting the Earth from withering away due to some contrived and silly thing.
Gekijouban Free! The Final Stroke Kouhen 
劇場版 Free! The Final Stroke 後編 「Gekijouban Free! The Final Stroke kouhen」
Release Date: April 22nd, 2022
Duration: 106 mins.
Director: Eisaku Kawanami
Writer: Eisaku Kawanami (Composition), Koji Oji (Original Creator),
Starring: Daisuke Hirakawa (Rei Ryugazaki), Mamoru Miyano (Rin Matsuoka), Nobunaga Shimazaki (Haruka Nanase), Kouki Uchiyama (Ikuya Kirishima), Tsubasa Yonaga (Nagisa Hazuki),
Animation Production: Kyoto Animation, Animation DO
Synopsis: With their high school days over, the swimmers dive into the future. The focus is on Haruka Nanase who is a student at Hidaka University in Tokyo. When he meets old classmates, negative memories about his time on the swim team resurface but in order to become a champion swimmer on the international circuit, he must overcome them and other obstacles, chief amongst them the best swimmer in the world, a man who makes Haruka lose his confidence in the water. Tough training is needed but Haruka’s friends are standing by watching over him.
Sanka: Nomads of the Mountains 
山歌 「Sanka」
Release Date: April 22nd, 2022
Duration: 77 mins.
Director: Ryohei Sasatani
Writer: Ryohei Sasatani (Screenplay),
Starring: Rairu Sugita, Naru Komukai, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Kisuke Iida, Shungiku Uchida, Yoko Ran,
Films featuring the fading of tradition, the clash between economy and the natural world are plentiful in Japanese cinema. These themes and stories are most memorably used in the magical movies of Miyazaki and Takahata of Studio Ghibli fame with Princess Mononoke (1997) and Pom Poko (1994) coming to mind. Writer and director Ryohei Sasatani’s indie feature Sanka: Nomads of the Mountains is the latest work to channel these changes and conflicts onto the screen, albeit in a more realistic manner. I saw this one as part of the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022. You can read my review of this film here.
Synopsis: It is 1965, a time of rapid economic growth for Japan and also a time when the people called Sanka, a nomadic band of outcasts, were fading away. Having arrived at his father’s countryside estate from Tokyo to focus on preparing for his high school entrance exam, a lonely 15-year-old named Norio (SUGITA Rairu) encounters three Sanka, first teenage Hana (KOMUKAI Naru), then her father Shozo (SHIBUKAWA Kiyohiko) and her grandmother. Taken under their wing and drawn to their simple and rugged lifestyle, Norio begins to spend his summer days fishing in the rivers and catching snakes in the bush for food. He also witnesses how they are discriminated against by people like his authoritarian father who rejects their illogical lifestyle. With bad blood already existing between Norio and his father, and a hopeless desire to become one with the Sanka, Norio is forced to confront the cruel reality of his age.
Mitsu no Toriko 
3つのとりこ 「Mitsu no Toriko」
Release Date: April 23rd, 2022
Duration: 91 mins.
Director: Takayuki Ogawa
Writer: Takayuki Ogawa (Script),
Starring: Asuka Kurosawa, Mayu Yamaguchi, Sakurako Konishi, Akira Okumura,
Synopsis: Three short films made by Takayuki Ogawa from 2017 to 2021. The stories include one of a mother searching for her missing son and his lover in Tokyo, another follows a young science writer who is preparing to interview an astronaut and encounters an unexpected view of the universe, and the third story is a serial comedy about a man who goes fishing without telling his wife, and how one mistake throws him off track.