Happy Weekend
This is the first of a two-part trailer post. The next part is tomorrow.
I fired up my Super Nintendo and tried out Parodius and Illusion of Time and both work perfectly. I’ve had mine dating back to when it was first released. After playing it intensely as a child, it has spent the best part of 20+ years safely stored aside from a few times I brought it out to play games with my sister.
What are the first batch of films released this weekend?
The IDOLM@STER Million Live! First Act 
アイドルマスター ミリオンライブ！ 第1幕 「Aidoru Masuta- Mirion Raibu! Dai 2-maku 」
Release Date: September 08th, 2023
Duration: 96 mins
Director: Shinya Watada
Writer: Yoichi Kato (Screenplay),
Starring: Haruka Yamazaki (Mirai Kasuga), Azusa Tadokoro (Shizuka Mogami), Aimi (Julia), Akari Harashima (Iku Nakatani), Arisa Kori (Kaori Sakuramori), Asuka Kakumoto (Elena Shimabara), Atsuki Nakamura (Roko),
Animation Production: Shirogumi Inc.
This is the second of a three-part theatrical run of the 12-episode TV anime which will air in October. The first part of the theatrical release ran from August 18th to September 07th. The second part will run from September 08th to September 28th, and the final part will run from September 29th to October 19th.
Synopsis: Junior high schooler Mirai Kasuga becomes inspired to become an idol when she sees a live performance by the idol group “765PRO ALLSTARS” and meets Shizuka Mogami, a girl who is in the same grade as her, and has been an idol since she was a child.
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Special Edition HD Remaster Part II 
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…
The Trap 4K Remaster 
罠 THE TRAP 「Wana The Trap」
Release Date: May 25th, 1996
Duration: 101 mins.
Director: Kaizo Hayashi
Writer: Kaizo Hayashi, Daisuke Tengan (Screenplay),
Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Yui Natsukawa, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Joe Shishido, Kiyotaka Nanbara, Akaji Maro,
Synopsis: Mike Hama is a private investigator who has an office above a cinema in Koganecho, Yokohama. In this third and final film of the trilogy, he faces being framed in a case involving a serial killer poisoning women because his fingerprints are on the bodies. The thing that links the killings is that each woman is decorated with makeup and a flowery one-piece dress, all as if they are dolls…
City Hunter The Movie: Angel Dust 
劇場版シティーハンター 天使の涙（エンジェルダスト） 「Gekijouban Shitei- Hanta- Tenshi no Namida (Enjeru Dasuto)」
Release Date: September 08th, 2023
Duration: 94 mins
Chief Director: Kenji Kodama, Director: Kazuyoshi Takeuchi
Writer: Yasuyuki Muto (Screenplay), Tsukasa Hojo (Original Creator),
Starring: Akira Kamiya (Ryo Saeba), Chika Sakamoto (Ai Kisugi), Harumi Ichiryuusai (Saeko Nogami), Keiko Toda (Hitomi Kisugi), Kazue Ikura (Kaori Makimura), Rica Fukami (Rui Kisugi),
Animation Production: Sunrise, The Answer Studio Co., Ltd.
Synopsis: Ryo Saeba and Kaoru Makimura act as private eyes in Shinjuku but they take on a whole variety of cases, from chasing down the escaped cat of a female video creator to sourcing the origins of “Angel Dust”, a terrifying drug that turns soldiers into superhumans. This same drug tragically affected Ryo and his former partner, Hideyuki Makimura…
Yellow Margarine 
イエローマーガリン 「Iero- Ma-garin」
Release Date: September 08th, 2023
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Ryoto Akaike
Writer: Ryoto Akaike (Screenplay),
Starring: Kunio Enokizu, Rumiko, Yuki Ito, Rio Yamaguchi, Keiji Tsujikawa, Miki Sawada,
Synopsis: This is an ensemble comedy by the video production team “HORISHIRO” who work in the expression “something like” into this surrealistic and nonsensical work. Characters include a single mother who used to be an idol, her stalker and his mother, an action actor and a yakuza and a butterfly. They are connected through a robbery.
The Forbidden Play 
禁じられた遊び 「Kinjirareta Asobi」
Release Date: September 08th, 2023
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Hideo Nakata
Writer: Noriaki Sugihara (Screenplay), Karma Shimizu (Original Novel)
Starring: Kanna Hashimoto, Shinobu Hasegawa, Daiki Shigeoka, Michiko Shimizu, Megumi,
Hideo Nakata (Ring, Chaos, Don’t Look Up, Dark Water) adapts Karma Shimizu’s debut horror novel.
Synopsis: Naoto Ihara’s happy family is broken when his wife Miyuki dies in a car accident. Naoto falls into grief while their son Haruto falls into the occult and buries his mother’s finger in the garden and prays daily for her return. Video director Hiroko Kurasawa, a former colleague of Naoto’s, witnesses Haruto’s ritual which is based on the idea of a lizard regrowing its tail. The ritual awakens a terrifying apparition and strange things start happening to Hiroko and Naoto.