Only one post this week and that was for Shady. It gets released at the end of the month and I hope it gets seen by a wide audience. I wanted the review to breathe a little and get some time in the sun before throwing another dozen things up as is my usual habit. Like I state in my review, it’s a mix of the high school dramas of Shunji Iwai and the dark psychological dramas of Roman Polanski. It builds upon a script full of excellent characterisation, twists you won’t see coming and two actresses who breathe life into their roles to create one of the most gripping films I have seen in ever. It now sits upon my best film of 2013 list. I thought the review was pretty good – a little on the long side 
much like many of the things I have posted over the last three years but that’s because I liked the film a lot. I want the film to do well and get a good audience so I’ll try some more posts promoting the film and then get down to writing reviews for the films I saw at the 2014 Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme.
Just to Go Back in Time, and bring 2013 up again, I now know that I will knock off two titles from my list of films released last year that I wish I could have watched because a film festival will be screening them!!! How do I know? My other job as an anime journalist and what not… 
In film terms I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel and enjoyed it tremendously. Expect a review! I posted some trailers yesterday and I’ve also added extra titles to my film review archive as well. Now… on to the trailers!
Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi: Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai 
Japanese Title: 世界一初恋 バレンタイン編
Romaji: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi: Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
Running Time: N/A
Director: Chiaki Kon
Writer: Chiaki Kon (Screenplay)
Starring: Kenyuu Horiuchi (Takafumi Yokozawa), Noboru Sogetsu (Zen Kirishima), Yui Horie (Hiyori Kirishima), Shinnosuke Tachibana (Chiaki Yoshino), Nobuhiko Okamoto (Shota Kisa), Takashi Kondo (Ritsu Onodera)
Hmm… how popular are shounen-ai titles in Japan? Well, massive, if the figure of 9 million for the number of light novels in the sekai-ichi hatsukoi series are to be believed. ANd why not? The latest film is directed by Chiaki Kon (Junjo Romantica) and is about two guys, Takafumi Yozawa and Masamune Takano, two guys at a publishing company who had a shared experience while at college… According to Anime News Network:
Takafumi Yokozawa (voiced by Kenyuu Horiuchi) starts the trailer by saying, “My First Love that won’t come true. I knew that from the beginning.” The video’s text reads, “A man who was heartbroken by his best friend he always loved… A man who was an “inseparable work partner” and was harsh on himself and others.” Later on in the video, Yokozawa thinks to himself, “Why do I get so defensive when the conversation comes to him?”
Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Valentine Day
Japanese Title: 世界一初恋 バレンタイン編
Romaji: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Barentain-hen
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
Running Time: N/A
Director: Shungiku Nakamura
Writer: N/A (Screenplay)
Starring: Takashi Kondo (Ritsu Onodera), Katsuyuki Konishi (Masamune Takano), Shinnosuke Tachibana (Chiaki Yoshino), Nobuhiko Okamoto (Shota Kisa)
I have never heard of this shounen-ai series before but it has been around for a bit with a TV series and an OVA produced a few years ago. In this short, we get some romantic tales featuring eight guys who pair off. The hows and whys will have to be discovered by those entering the cinema!
Sakamoto-kun wa Mitame Dake ga Majime 
Japanese Title: 坂本君は見た目だけが真面目
Romaji: Sakamoto-kun wa Mitame Dake ga Majime
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
Running Time: 57 mins.
Director: Masaki Daikuhara
Writer: Torii Masako (Screenplay)
Starring: Izumi Fujimoto, Ryo Ito, Gentle, Yume Saito, Aki Miyata
Some students from the Tokyo Film School look like they have produced an amusing comedy here. The story takes place in a junior high school where a struggling student named Shun Sakamoto faces a zealous teacher named Satoko Kobayashi who refuses to give up on him. She tries to get him to improve his attendance by persuasion and resorts to home visits and physical action. It seems that Shun is more interested in making robots than attending class.
Gekisha! Kajirena netsuai-chū! 
Japanese Title: 激写！カジレナ熱愛中！
Romaji: Gekisha! Kajirena netsuai-chū!
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
Running Time: 72 mins.
Director: Yuhate Yasukawa
Writer: Eriko Katagiri, Yuhate Yasukawa (Screenplay)
Starring: Aimi Nakamura, Hideyuki Arai,, Kenta Kiguchi, Yumi Goto, Yuno Motoyama
Struggling actress Reina sleeps with a respected film director who is a bit on the old side and he drops down dead a few hours later. She becomes the centre of a media frenzy – woman kills man with sex! – and as she becomes more notorious, the more people flock around her including an old flame…
Girl’s Recipe 
Japanese Title: 乙女のレシピ
Romaji: Otome no Reshipi
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
Running Time: 56 mins.
Director: Mitsuhiro Mihara
Writer: Maki Komori (Screenplay)
Starring: Miho Kanazawa, Mika Akizuki, Airi Kido, Erena Watanabe, Mio Yuki, Kensuke Owada, Yu Tokui, Mariko Akama
This is proving to be a very good week for those interested in how student filmmakers in Japan are performing. Maiden REcipe’s comes from the SHonai Kinema Production comitteeand is about a group of girls Natsuki, Nodaka, Eriko, and Yuka, in a highschool in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture who take part in a contest to win a trip to Hawaii. To win, they must make a dish based on rice and so they launch a series of experiments to create something unique…. The stars include Airi Kido (Kuro), and the incredible Mika Akizuki (Remiges).
Ultraman Ginga Theater Special Ultra Monster Hero Battle Royale! 
Japanese Title: ウルトラマンギンガ 劇場スペシャル ウルトラ怪獣☆ヒーロー大乱戦！
Romaji: Urutoramanginga gekijō supesharu urutora kaijū ☆ hīrō dai ransen!
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
Running Time: 51 mins.
Director: Tomoo Haraguchi
Writer: Masanao Akahoshi(Screenplay)
Starring: Takuya Negishi, Mio Miyatake, Mizuki Ohno, Tomokazu Sugita, Masahiko Tsugawa, Takuya Kusakawa
Masanao Akahoshi, writer on To aru Majutsu no Index also works on the Ultraman series and this is the theatre version of a special episode from the Ultraman Ginga series that aired last year.
1000-Nen-go no mirai e 3. 11 Bokenshi-tachi no shōgen 
Japanese Title: 60万回のトライ
Romaji: 1000-Nen-go no mirai e 3. 11 Bokenshi-tachi no shōgen
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
Running Time: 98 mins.
Director: Shinya Todori
Writer: N/A (Screenplay)
Starring: N/A
My Japanese isn’t all that great but I’d translate the title as 1000 Years to the Future 3.11 Testimony of a Public Health Nurse which is a pretty self-explanatory one. During the week when the events of 3.11 were commemorated, this documentary re-examines the work and activities of public health nurses who were caught up in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The documentary will act as a record of what the nurses did and the places they visited like Ishinomaki, Miyagi.
