This weekend you get two trailer posts made up of eight films. The first post consists of two big releases, the star-packed medical drama “In His Chart 2” and the family drama “Tangerines on Cat” – oh ho ho, what a strange name but it apparently gets it from the fact that the story is set in a prefecture famous for the fruit. There’s the first Cinema Kabuki release of the year and a drama the trailer for which left me underwhelmed. That written, I have not seen it so the jury is out on it.
In His Chart 2 
Japanese Title: 神様のカルテ２
Romaji: Kamisama no Karute 2
Release Date: March 21st, 2014
Running Time: 116 mins.
Director: Yoshihiro Fukagawa
Writer: Noriko Goto (Screenplay), Sosuke Natsukawa (Original Novel)
Starring: Sho Sakurai, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aoi Miyazaki, Taizo Harada, Jun Kaname, Michiko Kichise, Chizuru Ikewaki, Kazue Fukiishi, Gaku Hamda, Izumi Fujimoto, Akira Emoto
This is the sequel to the popular film In His Chart, a medical drama starring dreamy guys. Okay, I have not watched any of them but there are a bunch of beautiful people here like Sho Sakurai, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aoi Miyazaki and Kazue Fukiishi. There’s also my arch-nemesis, Gaku Hamada… The story follows Dr. Ichito (Sakurai), a skilled doctor at Honjo Hospital who is married to the beautiful Haruna (Miyazaki). He gets a new colleague, his longtime friend, Dr. Tatsuya Shindo, a man who was at university with him and one who used to believe in working as hard as possible and being available to patients at all hours. Now he doesn’t. He works his normal hours and goes home. Why? Because he’s sensible probably isn’t the reason…
Grand Cinema Bando Tamasaburo Nihonbashi 
Japanese Title: グランドシネマ 坂東玉三郎 日本橋
Romaji: Gurando Shinema Bandou Tamasaburou Nihonbashi
Release Date: March 21st, 2014
Running Time: 147 mins.
Director: Sogo Sokichi
Writer: Kyoka Izumi (Original Kabuki Play)
Starring: Bando Tamasaburo, Keiko Takahashi, Satoshi Matsuda, Shinji Todo, Natsuki Saito
Cinema Kabuki is back and in this one Bando Tamasaburo takes the stage in a kabuki play written by Kyoka Izumi in the early 20th century.
Dog’s Way 
Japanese Title: イヌミチ
Romaji: Inu michi
Release Date: March 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 72 mins.
Director: Kunitoshi Manda
Writer: Noriko Goto (Screenplay), Sosuke Natsukawa (Original Novel)
Starring: Yuri Nagayama, Masayuki Yano, Atsushi Oda, Naoya Odawara
A film where some lady named Kyoko acts like a dog for the benefit of a guy named Nishimori… Oh boy. Wait a second, this is directed by director, Kunitoshi Manda, the man behind “The Kiss” (2007) and “Unloved” (2001), both of which have played at festivals, the former to excellent reviews while the latter won an award when at Cannes. This new tale reads like “Upstream Color” in the fact that a female, in this case, an editor named Kyoko, is hypnotized by a stranger named Nishimori and finds her life hijacked. Where it deviates is the fact that Kyoko has to pretend to be a dog in Nishimori’s house and it does not look as good…
Tangerines on Cat 
Japanese Title: ねこにみかん
Romaji: Neko ni Mikan
Release Date: March 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 106 mins.
Director: Akihiro Toda
Writer: Akihiro Toda, Miyuki Uehara(Screenplay),
Starring: Mei Kurokawa, Shunsuke Daito, Kaori Takeshita, Ayu Higashi, Cocoro Takami, Arisa Nakamura, Hiromi Shinju
When Tomohiro (Daito) takes his fiance Machiko (Kurokawa) to his hometown in Aridagawa, the result of meeting her shake the delicate balance that his family who each have different issues. His brother Takeshi refuses to go to school, his younger sister Sayaka (Nakamura) has an inferiority complex, his older sister Yumi (Higashi) is indifferent to the family. What will happen to them?
