Happy Weekend
I hope that you are well
I’m not in good shape but, despite that, I have been busy this week with a review of short films Laundromat on the Corner and Summer Wedding and interviews with their respective directors, Tetsuki Ijichi and Azusa Hieda. I also took the time to post about a crowdfunding campaign for a stop-motion historical action title called Hidari. It looks potentially awesome, a Lone Wolf and Cub-style story done with wooden puppets and with backing from Dwarf and Tecarat studios.
What has been released this weekend?
First Job 
初仕事 「Hatsu Shigoto」
Release Date: October 16th, 2020
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Syunsuke Koyama
Writer: Syunsuke Koyama (Script),
Starring: Eiichi Sawada, Syunsuke Koyama, Yuki Hashiguchi, Tomohisa Takeda, Hanako Shiraishi,
Synopsis: A story of two men in an ethical maze. Yamashita is a newbie photographer working at a small company who takes on an assignment offered by his boss: to take a memorial photograph of a dead baby. The man who commissioned it is Anzai, a doctor who has been left devastated by both the death of the baby and his wife. This explains some of the reasoning behind this request but Yamashita finds the job difficult as he feels that death should not be glorified and Anzai is very demanding. As the job proceeds, reality hits them in different ways. Yamashita forces himself to understand and capture a perfect image.
Last Summer Wars 
ラストサマーウォーズ 「Rasuto Sama- Uo-zu」
Release Date: July 01st, 2022
Duration: 80 mins.
Director: Taro Miyaoka
Writer: Yuta Okuyama (Script),
Starring: Keito Akutsu, Yumena Iio, Rihito Matsuura, Koiro Hatori, Harutomo Koyama, Honoka Ueda, Atsuko Sakurai, Sayuri Inoue,
Synopsis: An unforgettable summer happens to some elementary school students in Iruma City, Saitama, as they struggle to make their own independent film. Yota, a shy sixth grader, initiates the project when his secret crush, classmate Asuka, announces that she will move away. He casts Asuka as the heroine of his film but there are no friends who can help so after getting advice from his brother and his homeroom teacher, five unique and talented classmates are recruited to join the project and they proceed with shooting using smartphone apps and SNS.
Hetana Futari no Koi no Hanashi 
ヘタな二人の恋の話「Hetana Futari no Koi no Hanashi」
Release Date: July 01st, 2022
Duration: 86 mins.
Director: Amane Sato
Writer: Shinji Imaoka (Script),
Starring: Shion Suzuki, Miho Machiyama, Hina Okubo, Katsuya Ito, Asuka Oda, Yota Kawase, Masahiko Koto,
Synopsis: Yuta and Ayako are both bad at communicating with people but a chance encounter leads to a seven year relationship which we watch as it opens with love and ends with a break up.
Alien Artist 
宇宙人の画家「Uchuujin no Gaka」
Release Date: July 02nd, 2022
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Seiyo Hotani
Writer: Hifumi Keihan (Script),
Starring: Kunihiko Watanabe, Rui Kiriyama, Shigeo Osako,
Synopsis: Osamu transfers to a rural junior high school and witnesses the boundary between reality and fiction break down as a doujinshi manga comes to life and a conflict involving an American spy and Kinmu Dharma, who rules the town with his freestyle preaching, over a mysterious machine, the Daruma Kougenki, breaks out.
Cinema SKhole o Kaibosuru. Korona nanka Buttobase 
シネマスコーレを解剖する。 コロナなんかぶっ飛ばせ 「Shinema Suko-re o Kaibosuru. Korona nanka Buttobase」
Release Date: July 02nd, 2022
Duration: 93 mins.
Director: Ryuta Sugawara
Writer: Hifumi Keihan (Script),
Starring: Junji Kimata, Atsushi Tsuboi, Eiji Okuda, Yu Irie, Koji Shiraishi, Arata Iura,
Synopsis: This is a re-edited TV documentary that Nagoya TV broadcast in 2021. It follows Junji Kimata, manager of Cinema SKhole, a mini-theater established by Koji Wakamatsu in Nagoya in 1983. It features previously unreleased footage.
HANNORA 
Release Date: July 02nd, 2022
Duration: 100 mins.
Director: Kazuyuki Akashi
Writer: Kazuyuki Akashi, Yutaka Nishishima (Script),
Starring: Riku Tanaka, Miho Hatano, Kazuki Ikeda, Kazuki Onishi, Eisaku Katsumata, Yuki Suga, Riko Kato, Kikka Oiwa,
Synopsis: Naoto is a high school student who works part-time at a mysterious Chinese restaurant where musical instruments are placed. He decides to form a rock band with his friends. Things get dark when fellow high schooler Maki recruits him to look for her friend “Tomoko” and it looks like there might be involvement with the underworld.
Backfilp!! Movie 
映画 バクテン!! 「 Eiga Bakuten!!」
Release Date: July 02nd, 2022
Duration: 90 mins
Director: Toshimasa Kuroyanagi
Writer: Toshizo Nemoto (Screenplay), Yotsugi Enpitsu (Original Creator)
Starring: Shimba Tsuchiya (Shotaro Futaba), Daisuke Ono (Masamune Shichigahama), Hiro Shimono (Nagayoshi Onagawa), Reina Ueda (Ayumi Futaba), Kaito Ishikawa (Ryoya Misato),
Animation Production: ZEXCS
Synopsis: A continuation of a TV anime. Shoutarou Futaba and his fellow teammates take their rhythmic gymnastics to a tournament to show how far Shoushukan High School’s Rhythmic Gymnastics Club has developed since he joined as a complete newbie to gymnastics.
Yurucamp Movie / Laid-Back Camp the Movie 
映画 ゆるキャン△ 「 Eiga Yurukyan△」
Release Date: July 01st, 2022
Duration: 120 mins
Director: Yoshiaki Kyougoku
Writer: Jin Tanaka, Mutsumi Ito (Screenplay), Afro (Original Creator)
Starring: Sayuri Hara (Chiaki Ogaki), Aki Toyosaki (Aoi Inuyama), Nao Toyama (Rin Shima), Rie Takahashi (Ena Saito), Yumiri Hanamori (Nadeshiko Kagamihara),
Animation Production: C–Station
Synopsis: Since the ending of the TV anime, Nadeshiko and the other characters have grown up and moved into the world of employment. Nadeshiko works at an outdoor goods store in Tokyo while Rin works as an editor at a publishing company in Nagoya and Chiaki works in a tourism promotion organization in Yamanashi, for example. They get together again at the behest of Rin who calls them back to help reopen a campsite that had closed several years ago.