Welcome to the first of two trailer posts for this week.
The second trailer post will come tomorrow!
Well, I had schedules in place for playing video games over the Christmas period and it’s almost go-time! Silent Hill 1, 3, and 4 – what about 2? I got the perfect ending first time, no going back! – Fire Emblem on the 3DS and OG Halo. Original hardware!
I’m still playing Project X Zone 2 and veeeery tempted to write a review for that and the first game!
Also, I reeeeaaaaaallly want to play Tekken 8. I’m getting very hyped for it.
Anyway!
What are the first bunch of films released this weekend?
Perfect Days 
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 124 mins.
Director: Wim Wenders
Writer: Wim Wenders, Takuma Takasaki (Screenplay),
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Aoi Yamada, Min Tanaka, Arisa Nakano, Tokio Emoto, Yumi Asou,
Koji Yakusho (Cure, Charisma) won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 for his role in this film. The last Japanese actor to win was Yuya Yagira for his performance in Nobody Knows (2004).
Yakusho plays a toilet cleaner in Tokyo encountering various people in four vignettes that were brought to the screen after a 17-day shoot. While at Cannes, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or but ultimately won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the aforementioned Best Actor Award.
The film stems from “THE TOKYO TOILET Project,” in which world-renowned architects and creators renovated 17 public toilets in Shibuya Ward, which Wenders endorsed.
Synopsis: Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) lives in a small house full of plants and analogue technology in a quiet neighbourhood in Tokyo that is full of cafes and bookshops. He works as a cleaner of public toilets and his hobbies include music and photography. His life is scored to the music of the likes of The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, and Lou Reed and because of his love of trees, Hirayama takes pictures of them. Each day, he encounters different people and they all reveal some aspect of this quiet and unassuming man’s character and one day, an unexpected reunion with a tree shines a little light on his past.
Eternal Love Ga Manen shita Hi 
エターナルラブが蔓延した日 「Eta-na-ru Rabu ga Manen shita Hi」
Release Date: December 18th, 2023
Duration: 72 mins.
Director: Chisa Hasegawa
Writer: Chisa Hasegawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Chisa Hasegawa, Tatsuma Goto, Taichiro Natsume, Fue Mizuno, Yoji Tanaka,
Synopsis: In an alternative reality, there is a virus that causes people to die when they touch each other. A scientist is working on a cure but people who embrace the idea send an assassin, a former singer, to take him out. At first the scientist and assassin despise each other but soon…
Kamen Rider The Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy★Great Gotcha Operation 
仮面ライダー THE WINTER MOVIE ガッチャード＆ギーツ 最強ケミー★ガッチャ大作戦 「 Kamen Raidā Za Uintā Mūbī Gatchādo ando Gītsu Saikyō Kemī ☆ Gatcha Dai Sakusen」
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Kyohei Yamaguchi
Writer: Hiroki Uchida, Yuya Takahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Chisa Hasegawa, Tatsuma Goto, Taichiro Natsume, Fue Mizuno, Yoji Tanaka,
Website IMDB Kamen Rider Fandom
Synopsis: Houtaro Ichinose, Keiwa Sakurai, and Ace Ukiyo unite to fight the Jyamato Riders and the “Strongest Level 10 Chemy”, X Wizard, who uses mysterious magical powers to transform Keiwa and the others into the form of Chemies!
Shinjo Sano Double-Bill Feature Films
Ahiko Tetsuro Monogatari Sensou no Toraware hito 
阿彦哲郎物語 戦争の囚われ人 「Ahiko Tetsuro Monogatari Sensou no Toraware hito」
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 72 mins.
Director: Shinjo Sano, Erdar Kalov Aliya Ubarizhanova
Writer: Shinjo Sano (Screenplay),
Starring: Eisaku Ogasawara, Surum Kashkabayev, Asanali Ashimov, Masafumi Sano, Kazari,
This film is a co-production between Kazakhstan and Japan and tells the story of Tetsuro Ahiko, a Japanese national who was imprisoned in a Soviet concentration camp after World War II. The lead actor is Eisaku Ogasawara, a champion kick boxer and this is his first starring role in a film.
Synopsis: 575,000 Japanese people were interned and imprisoned by Russians in Siberia and Mongolia as prisoners of war, and under Russian occupation in Sakhalin and other areas. As far as is officially known, about 20 people were sent to a camp in Kazakhstan. Of those 20, only four survived until the collapse of the Soviet Union. One of them was Tetsuro Akihiko, who survived through his desire to “return to Japan and see his family.”
Chicchai Samurai Miura Masao no Kodomo Jidai
ちっちゃいサムライ 三浦正雄の子供時代 「Chicchai Samurai Miura Masao no Kodomo Jidai」
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Shinjo Sano
Writer: Shinjo Sano (Screenplay),
Starring: Aktan Arym Kubat, Masafumi Sano, Eisaku Ogasawara, Nina Miura,
Synopsis: Masao Miura was another one of the four Japanese who were sent to a camp in Kazakhstan by the Russians after the end of World War II. He was a teen at the time and spent 53 years in Kazakhstan, where he later became a local nature conservation officer. This film depicts Miura’s ordeal and how he overcame his situation partly thanks to the kindness of locals and beauty of nature.
Den Ace Chaos 
電エースカオス 「Den Esu- Kaosu」
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 112 mins.
Director: Minoru Kawasaki
Writer: Minoru Kawasaki (Screenplay),
Starring: Satoshi Kobayashi, Tablet Jun, Chikamaru, Nozomi Nagano, Hurricane Ryu,
Synopsis: This film is made up of re-edited footage from the tokusatsu drama series “Den Ace” and said footage has been connected with a new story. The story is about Den Hajime, an alien who transforms into a 2,000 meter tall giant when he feels good and his fight against the Mukurita aliens, who love humanity’s evil energy.