Happy Weekend
This is the second of a two-part trailer post. You can find the first part here.
Since I am waking up regularly at somewhere between 01:50 and 03:00, I’m watching a lot of films. Mostly American fare. Some examples include, The Ice Storm, Ghost World, Before Sunrise, and Return of the Living Dead.
In terms of this blog, I published preview articles for the Venice International Film Festival 2023 and Toronto International Film Festival 2023. I also published my interview with Chihiro Ito on her fantastic film In Her Room (2022) and news of crowdfunding for JUNK WORLD, the prequel film to JUNK HEAD.
I had fun covering Toronto and running my New York Asian Film Festival 2023 coverage. I hope readers enjoyed the articles!
Aaaaand, I took part in a recording of Heroic Purgatory. The next episode is about Alite: Battle Angel and its source manga, Battle Angel Alita and the anime spin-off from 1993.
What are the other films released this weekend?
#Mito Yamane 
＃ミトヤマネ 「#MitoYamane」
Release Date: August 25th, 2023
Duration: 78 mins.
Director: Daisuke Miyazaki
Writer: Daisuke Miyazaki (Screenplay),
Starring: Tina Tamashiro, Hina Yukawa, Yu Inaba, Orakio, Tetsu Hirahara, Reiko Kataoka, Mariko Tsutsui, Yumi adachi,
Daisuke Miyazaki has his finger on the pulse of youth culture, as his films VIDEOPHOBIA – Interview -, Yamato (California), and Tourism – Interview. He has already put out one film this year, Plastic, and this is his second, one about online culture via a female influencer.
Synopsis: Mito Yamane is an influencer who works across SNS with the help of her younger sister Miho. When a the manager of a talent agency ropes her in to work on a filter called “Deep Fake App,” which allows anyone to wear Mito’s face, her popularity shoots up but so do the problems as people abuse the app. Miho becomes worried about her sister.
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Special Edition HD Remaster 
機動戦士ガンダムSEED スペシャルエディション 虚空の戦場 「Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed Special Edition: Kokū no Senjou」
Release Date: First Broadcast in 2004
Duration: 106 mins
Director: Mitsuo Fukuda
Writer: Chiaki Morosawa (Series Composition),
Starring: Souichiro Hoshi (Kira Yamato), Rie Tanaka (Lacus Clyne), Akira Ishida (Athrun Zala), Naomi Shindo (Cagalli Yula Athha), Kotono Mitsuishi (Haro/Murrue Ramius),
Animation Production: Sunrise,
This is the first of three TV movies complied from 50 episodes of the Gundam SEED: Special Edition series. They have been given the HD treatment and tweaks.
1. The Empty Battlefield (Kokuu no Senjou) compiled episodes 1–21 and is released on August 25th,
2. The Far-Away Dawn (Harukanaru Akatsuki) compiled episodes 22–40 and is released on September 08th,
3. The Rumbling Sky (Meidou no Sora) compiled episodes 41–50 and is released on September 22nd.
These special edition episodes feature some new scenes and tweaks to the animation and dub. Then there will be four Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny Special Edition films which will open on October 06th, October 20th, November 03rd, and November 17th, respectively
The Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM film project will open in Japan on January 26, 2024.
Most of this information came from ANN.
Synopsis: The year is Cosmic Era 70. A war has broken out between the Naturals of the Earth Alliance and the genetically-enhanced Coordinators of ZAFT, PLANT’s military. ZAFT’s mobile suits are superior and give their forces the edge. Kira Yamato, a Coordinator living in the neural colony of Heliopolis, is caught up in a surprise attack by ZAFT as they try to steal the Earth Alliance’s secret project, the powerful mobile suits called Gundams. In order to protect his friends, Kira boards a Strike Gundam and faces off against his own kind…
Gurren Lagann the Movie –Childhood’s End- 
劇場版 天元突破グレンラガン 紅蓮篇 「 Gekijouban Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Guren-hen」
Release Date: September 06th, 2008
Duration: 112 mins
Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Writer: Kazuki Nakashima (Screenplay/Original Creator)
Starring: Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina), Tetsuya Kakihara (Simoon), Marina Inoue (Yoko Littner), Yukari Fukui (Nia Teppelin), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Viral), Shizuka Itou (Boota),
Animation Production: Gainax
Studio Trigger announced earlier this year that they would re-release the Gurren Lagann movies on their 15th anniversary in cinemas in Japan, the US, and Taiwan. There will be 2D and 4D editions and they have been re-edited and tweaked for their latest run.
Synopsis: In the far distant future, humanity lives in underground villages to escape earthquakes and Beastmen, whose robots attack humans. In Jiha Village, two orphan, Simon, a shy boy, and Kamina, a man who believes in the world above ground, encounter a girl named Yoko who falls down into their world and they use the mecha “Ragan” that Simon had dug up, to go back out onto the Earth in the hope that they can make peace with the Beastmen.
Kyamera o Motta Otoko-tachi Kantou Daishinsai o Toru 
キャメラを持った男たち 関東大震災を撮る 「Kyamera o Motta Otoko-tachi Kantou Daishinsai o Toru」
Release Date: August 26th, 2023
Duration: 81 mins.
Director: Minoru Inoue
Writer: Minoru Inoue (Screenplay),
Starring: Noboru Watanabe, Akira Tochigi, Akiko Ashizawa, Suguru Tanaka, Shinya Yanagida,
Synopsis: This is a documentary about the images of Tokyo in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923 and the three men who caught them on camera. The three cameramen were Tatsumi Iwaoka of Iwaoka Shokai, Toshimitsu Kosaka of Nikkatsu Mukojima Studio, and Shigeru Shirai of Tokyo Cinema Shokai. They went out of their own accord, motivated by a sense of mission to document the disaster for future generations, despite facing abuse from evacuees. What can viewers learn from their work?
天国か、ここ？ 「Tengoku ka, Koko?」
Release Date: August 26th, 2023
Duration: 61 mins.
Director: Shinji Imaoka
Writer: Shinji Imaoka (Screenplay),
Starring: Hidetoshi Kawaya, Aki Takeda, Miho Hiraoka, Yohta Kawase, Ryushi Mizukami,
Synopsis: A middle-aged man named Nobuo Kawashima wanders along a beach in Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture, with a can of Chuhai in his hand. A piece of paper with the word “Heaven” written on it falls by the side of the road. “Heaven, here?” Nobuo thinks with a drunken head. This is the start of an alcohol-fuelled rambling journey along the coast as Nobuo meets other waifs and strays who have been washed up in the area where his old friend passed away.
Writer and director Shinji Imaoka reunites with the lead actors of Reiko and the Dolphin (2020) (interview with director Imaoka) to deliver this quick and easy medium-length film that eschews sex for sprinklings of silliness and a deeper look at the human condition. Games of chess, quarrels, emotional confessions, and a search for Izumo Taisha Shrine all take place in chapters that are marked by harder grades of alcohol and more rambunctious action, unexpected meetings, and sad reunions in this gently playful and melancholy life-after-death tale.