Welcome to the first of two trailer posts of the week.
The second trailer post arrives tomorrow.
I’m coming to the final couple of boss battles in Bravely Default on the 3Ds and I’m eager to end the game. I’ve maxed out every class and got end-game weaponry and a nice class configuration for my characters. All that is left to do is a final dungeon and four boss battles.
After that, Fire Emblem: Awakening. And lots of Japanese practice.
What are the first set of films released this weekend?
あまろっく 「Amarokku」
Release Date: April 19th, 2024
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Kazuhiro Nakamura
Writer: Nobuko Nishii (Screenplay),
Starring: Noriko Eguchi, Ayami Nakajo, Tsurube Shofukutei, Satoru Matsuo, Yuri Nakamura
I was baffled with this one when viewing it for the Osaka Asian Film Festival due to the severe age gap between characters but it has proven to be a hit with people from the Kansai region as it features Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy and famous landmarks. You have to be in tune with the comedy for it to work but the family drama hits home.
Synopsis: 39-year-old Yuko is a high-achieving and proud woman whose career ambitions took her from a sleepy part of Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, to Tokyo. When she loses her job due to her “high standards” attitude, she loses her drive to do anything and ends up retreating to her family home where she lives as a NEET with her laidback joker of a father, Ryutaro. For years, the two get along until her 70-something old man brings home Saki, his 20-year-old bride-to-be. When the younger woman shacks up with the two, a comedy of manners based, quite understandably, on a scandalised Yuko’s “you’re not my mom!” attitude ensues as the younger woman takes to mothering her but when crises occur, Yuko truly begins to evaluate just what a family can be.
Inspired by the city of his birth and the “Amagasaki lock gate,” which protects from flood damage, director NAKAMURA crafts an easy going and sentimental comedy that shows how love and family are constancy and reliability.
Kiri no Fuchi / Beyond the Fog 
霧の淵 「Kiri no Fuchi 」
Release Date: April 19th, 2024
Duration: 83 mins.
Director: Daichi Murase
Writer: Daichi Murase (Screenplay),
Starring: Shyuri Miyake, Asami Mizukawa, Masaki Miura, Shinzo Hotta, Ami Sugihara, Shingo Nakayama, Iori Miyamoto, Shion Otomo,
This is set in Nara Prefecture and lead actress Shyuri Miyake hails from there. She is joined by Osaka-native Asami Mizukawa (A Beloved Wife). It was screened at Busan 2023.
Synopsis: Ihika is a 12-year-old girl who comes from a family that has run a ryokan (a traditional inn) in a tiny hamlet in Nara Prefecture for generations. Her mother married into the family that ran the inn and she manages it with her father-in-law, Shige, while Ihika’s father is away. One day, Shige disappears and the inn’s survival is threatened…
Blue Lock: EPISODE Nagi 
劇場版ブルーロック EPISODE 凪 「Gekijouban Buru- Rokku EPISODE Nagi」
Release Date: April 19th, 2024
Duration: 91 mins
Director: Shunsuke Ishikawa
Writer: Taku Kishimoto (Series Composition/Screenplay), Kota Sannomiya, Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura (Original Creator),
Starring: Nobunaga Shimazaki (Seishiro Nagi), Yuma Uchida (reo Mikage), Hiroshi Kamiya (Jinpachi Ego), Koki Uchiyama (Rin Itoshi),
Animation Production: 8 Bit
Website Twitter: @BLUELOCK_PR ANN MAL
This is the film version of the same-named TV anime which is based on a manga. It is a spin-off story that is based around one of the most popular characters in the series, Seijiro Nagi.
Synopsis: Seishiro Nagi and Reo Mikage are two of Japan’s most promising strikers and two of the inmates in the Blue Lock training programme that pits them against others hoping to represent Japan in the World Cup. For those that fail, they will be permanently banned from representing Japan in football!
Onmyoji Zero 
陰陽師0 「Onmyouji Zero」
Release Date: April 19th, 2024
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Shimako Sato
Writer: Shimako Sato (Screenplay), Baku Yumemakura (Original Novel),
Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Shota Sometani, Nao, Masanobu Ando, Nijiro Murakami, Jun Kunimura, Kazuki Kitamura, Kaoru Kobayashi,
Website Twitter: @onmyoji0_movie IMDB
This is the latest movie influenced by the best-selling novels from award-winning writer Baku Yumemakura. Indeed, there have been a few Onmyoji films released and this features an original screenplayi.
Synopsis: It is the Heian period (794-1185) and Seimei Abe is studying to become an onmyoji to protect the capital from curses and evil spirits. Not that he shows any interest in it but he has the natural ability and this is why he is asked by an aristocrat to investigate a mysterious phenomenon haunting the imperial court.
YOKOHAMA 
Release Date: April 19th, 2024
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Yuichi Nakamura, Jun Yoriko, Tomoaki Kaneko
Writer: N/A
Starring: Kentaro Akisawa, Jyoji Shibue, Shuji Kojima, Raychell, Yuki Mizuhara,
Website Twitter: @yokohama_movie
Synopsis: This is an omnibus film made up of three suspense thrillers set in Yokohama, one involving a wealthy man who loses his family in a fire and abducts people to replace them. In another, a man abandoned by his wife shacks up with a mysterious woman wielding a knife. In another, a film producer who suspects a special effects plastic artist who was thought to have committed suicide was actually murdered by someone connected to the workshop.