Welcome to the first of two trailer posts
You can find the second post here tomorrow
I’ve started playing Fire Emblem: Awakening again just to see if I can get the game finished so I can go on to play Dragon Quest games. I’ve carved out more time for games and Japanese language learning by watching one less film a day!
What are the first batch of films released this weekend?
Bocchi the Rock the Movie 
劇場総集編ぼっち・ざ・ろっく！ Re:Re: 「Gekijou Soushuuhen Bocchi za Rokku! Re:Re:」
Release Date: August 09th, 2024
Duration: 60 mins
Director: Keichiro Saito
Writer: Erika Yoshida (Screenplay/Series Composition), Aki Hamaji (Original Creator),
Starring: Yoshino Aoyama (Hitori “Bocchi-chan” Goto), Ikumi Hasegawa (Ikuyo Kita), Saku Mizuno (Ryo Yamada), Sayumi Suzushiro (Nijika Ijichi),
Animation Production: CloverWorks
Website Twitter: @BTR_anime ANN MAL
Aki Hamaji’s four-panel manga continues to be adapted. This is the second part of a two-part theatrical compilation that re-edited the original TV anime.
Synopsis: Hitori “Bocchi-chan” Goto is a high school girl who, due to her shyness, is always alone – hitori bocchi. She spends most of her time playing her guitar in her room. That all changes when she joins a rock band, called “Unity Band,” that goes to a different high school and starts to make friends with each member.
Blue Period 
ブルーピリオド 「Buru- Piriodo」
Release Date: August 09th, 2024
Duration: 115 mins.
Director: Kentaro Hagiwara
Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay), Tsubasa Yamaguchi (Original Manga),
Starring: Gordon Maeda, Fumiya Takahashi, Rihito Itagaki, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Noriko Eguchi, Masaki Miura, Hiyori Sakurada,
Website Twitter: @blueperiodmovie IMDB
This is based on an award-winning manga and it was adapted into a TV anime by screenwriter Reiko Yoshida. Director Kentaro Hagiwara has adapted the anime/manga Tokyo Ghoul. His film Our 30 Minute Sessions is really moving.
Synopsis: Yatora Yaguchi is a popular and smart high school student but he is struggling with a feeling of emptiness inside of himself. That struggle finds expression is confronted and wrestled with in an art class where he has an assignment to paint “my favourite landscape.” After much deliberation, he decides to paint “Blue Shibuya at Dawn” and while painting, he begins to feel like he can express his true self for the first time. Thus, he becomes interested in art and he decides to apply to the best art university in Japan.
Shinmai Kisha Torokko 
新米記者トロッ子 私がやらねば誰がやる！ 「Shinmai Kisha Torokko Watashi ga yaraneba dare ga yaru!」
Release Date: August 09th, 2024
Duration: 98 mins.
Director: Keiich Kobayashi
Writer: Daisuke Ono (Screenplay), Shotaro Miyakawa (Original Story)
Starring: Karin Fujiyoshi, Akari Takaishi, Rinka Kumada, Tomo Nakai, Nene Sotohara, Keito Tsuna, Masahiro Takashima, Miwako Kakei,
Website Twitter: @torokko_movie
Karin Fujiyoshi, of the idol group Sakurazaka46, plays the lead role and she is joined by Akari Takaishi (Perfect Nervous, Baby Assassins trilogy) and Miwako Kakei (Thicker than Water). The film was directed by Keiichi Kobayashi (About the Pink Sky, Bon Lin).
The original story was conceived by Shotaro Miyakawa, a student in the film department of Nihon University’s College of the Arts, and it caught the attention of a producer of projects such as On the Edge of Their Seats.
Synopsis: High school girl Yui Tokoro loves literature and so she has enrolled in the elite Sakuraba Gakuen High School, which is where her favourite writer, Konoha Midorimachi, is reputed to be a student. However, she ends up in the newspaper club to find Konoha. It is there, surrounded by the unique members of the club, that she becomes fascinated by the work of a reporter and learns of the darkness hidden in the school…
Eiga Crayon Shin-chan: Ora-tachi no Kyouryuu Nikki 
映画クレヨンしんちゃん オラたちの恐竜日記 「Eiga Kureyon Shin-chan Ora-tachi no Kyouryu Nikki」
Release Date: August 09th, 2024
Duration: 105 mins
Director: Shinobu Sasaki
Writer: Moral (Screenplay/Series Composition), Yoshito Usui (Original Creator),
Starring: Yumiko Kobayashi (Shinnosuke Nohara),Miki Narahashi (Misae Nohara), Satomi Koorogi (Himawari Nohara), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Hiroshi Nohara), Maaya Uchida (Billy (young), Takumi Kitamura (Billy),
Animation Production: Shin-Ei Animation
Website Twitter: @crayon_official ANN MAL
This is the 31st Shin-chan feature-length film to have been made.
Synopsis: Shinnosuke Nohara and his friends, the “Kasukabe Defense Squad,” are invited on a tour of a theme park named Dino’s Island. Meanwhile, the Nohara family’s beloved dog Shiro meets a small dinosaur named Nana which soon becomes friends with everyone but Nana has a big secret and the dinosaurs escape from Dino’s Island…