Welcome to the first of two trailer posts for this week.
There’s a mix of titles so come back tomorrow for the next post.
Well I was able to watch another movie mind melter over the weekend, one dedicated to Christmas movies. As usual, I felt like the Japanese movies carried the stream. I also watched some trashy Italian horror movies like Paginini Horror.
What are the first films getting (re- in one case)released this weekend?
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem 
インターステラ5555 「Inta-sutera 5555」
Duration: 67 mins.
Release Date: July 26th, 2003
Director: Leiji Matsumoto, Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Writer: N/A
Starring: The music of Daft Punk and the animated character designs of Leiji Matsumoto/Masaki Sato
Animation Production: Toei Animation
Music: Daft Punk
Wesbite Twitter: @daftpunk ANN MAL
This film was most recently screened at Annecy animation fest in 2019.
Back in the early 2000s, the French electro duo Daft Punk were releasing music videos featuring four blue-skinned alien musicians to go with their album “Discovery”. These videos were from a film inspired by their childhood love for anime and was the result of their collaboration with Leiji Matsumoto. This was screened in 2003, first at Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and then in cinemas in Japan. A 4K remastered version will be screened in cinemas around the world in December 2024.
Synopsis: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is an extra-terrestrial adventure where musicians from another world have been kidnapped by an unscrupulous music executive who uses them as the “Crescendolls,” forcing them to take on human appearances and play a concert tour… Until a mysterious groupie tries everything in his powers to save them!
Cells at Work 
はたらく細胞 「Hataraku Saibou」
Release Date: December 13th, 2024
Duration: 109 mins.
Director: Hideki Takeuchi
Writer: Yuichi Tokunaga (Screenplay), Akane Shimizu (Original Manga)
Starring: Mei Nagano, Takeru Satoh, Sadawo Abe, Mana Ashida, Koji Yamamoto, Riisa Naka, Wakana Matsumoto, Shota Sometani, Kyoko Fukada,
Website Twitter: @saibou_movie IMDB
This is the live-action film adaptation of the same-named manga, which already has an anime adaptation. The story features anthropomorphised cells of the human body and the drama of the humans these cells are a part of. It was directed by Hideki Takeuchi (Thermae Romae, Fly Me to Saitama) and there’s an impressive cast, including Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin), Sadawo Abe (Lesson in Murder), Mei Nagano (Parks, Jigoku no Hanazono).
Synopsis: The human body contains 37 trillion cells, including red blood cells that carry oxygen, white blood cells that fight bacteria, and countless other cells that work day and night to protect our health. High school student Niko Urushizaki lives with her widower father, Shigeru. The cells in Niko’s body, lead a healthy lifestyle and are always working happily, but Shigeru’s body is a wreck due to all of the junk food, alcohol, and cigarettes, and his cells are exhausted by the tough working environment and complain of dissatisfaction. When a pathogen begins to invade their bodies, we get to see the reaction of the cells.
Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendo 
映画 ふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 「Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendo」
Release Date: December 13th, 2024
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Hideo Nakata
Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay), Reiko Hiroshima, jyajya (Original Novel)
Starring: Yuki Amami, Kazuya Ohashi. Rikka Ihara, Mone Kamishiraishi, Kokoro Hirasawa, Himena Irei, Rie Tanaka,
Website Twitter: @zenitendo_movie
Hideo Nakata of Ring (1998) fame has adapted a popular children’s book for the big screen. It stars veteran actress Yuki Amami and features Mone Kamishiraishi (All the Long Nights).
Synopsis: An elementary school teacher named Kotaro hears a rumour about a mysterious sweet shop named Zenitendo, a place where, if a person eats the candy chosen by the mysterious shopkeeper Beniko, their wish will come true. However, if that person uses the candy in a wrong way, they will be in big trouble. It seems the rumours are true because the people around him start acting strangely. Kotaro’s crush, a magazine editor named Maiko, seems to be testament to that rumour since she goes unhinged. This isn’t the only strange story as Kotaro notices another candy shop, Tatari-me-do run by a mysterious person named Yodomi. Apparently, that store sells candy made by collecting people’s ill will. In order to protect the people he cares about, Kotaro and Beniko go after Yodomi…
小学校～それは小さな社会～ 「Shogakko ～Sore wa Chisana Shakai～」
Release Date: 2024
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Website Twitter: @shogakko_film IMDB
Ema Ryan Yamazaki is a filmmaker who first came to my notice with Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams (2019). This year, she has had her hand in award-winning docs like Black Box Diaries and this one which took the best documentary award at Nippon Connection 2024.
Ema Ryan Yamazaki spent a year documenting the activities of first and sixth grade students and teachers and parents in a public elementary school in Tsukado, a Tokyo suburb. By following their development as individuals and in a group, Yamazaki captures what qualities and values are instilled into children as they learn what it means to become a member of Japanese society.
Release Date: December 13th, 2024
Duration: 23 mins.
Director: Yoshimi Joya
Writer: Yoshimi Joya (Screenplay),
Starring: Yu Ishizuka, Alysa Omori, Megumi Chikuni, Yoichiro Saito, Magy, Anam Sekiguchi,
Yoshimi Joya previously directed Doughnuts Mori (2022). This, her latest film, was at Vancouver film fest back in September. It stars Yu Ishizuka (The Fish with One Sleeve) and it’s described as a sensitive and beautifully shot drama.
Synopsis: Yurika, a driver, picks up Michiru and Kaoru, two workers of a girls’ bar, and drives them through the night. Yurika watches them as they do their job and then, after work, a police officer on patrol spots them and begins to questions them.
MIRRORLIAR FILMS Season6 
ミラーライアーフィルムズ Season6 「Mira- raia- firumuzu Season6」
Release Date: December 13th, 2024
Duration: 64 mins.
Director: Shun Oguri, Tao Okamoto, Koji Oniki, Tadanobu Asano, Sara Masuda, Rika Mishima
Writer: Genki Saegusa, Tao Okamoto, Koji Oniki, Tadanobu Asano, Sara Masuda, (Screenplay),
Starring: Shingo Fujimori, Junshin Soga, Tao Okamoto, Moe Goto, Junichi Kamezawa, Yasushi Yasuda, Kosuke Hoshi, Shinnosuke Abe, Arata Iura, Yuka Itaya,
Website Twitter: @mirrorliarfilms
Synopsis: This omnibus film features story of a long-absent man who suddenly appears at his father’s funeral and meets his half-sister who had no idea that he existed, one about two hoodlums and a strange man clutching a golf club standing by a deserted riverbank, and a stop-motion film depicting a mysterious story with zombie samurai, flightless birds, and gods, this one having been directed by Asano. You can see a teaser to that one below:
Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! Movie 
30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい 特別編集版 「30-sai Dotei da to Maho Tsukai ni Nareru Rashii Tokubetsu Henshū-ban」
Release Date: December 13th, 2024
Duration: 97 mins
Director: Yoshiko Okuda
Writer: Tomoko Konparu (Screenplay/Series Composition), Yu Toyota (Original Creator),
Starring: Chiaki Kobayasji (Kiyoshi Adachi). Ryota Suzuki (Yuichi Kurosawa). Gen Sato (Minato Wataya), Makoto Furukawa (Masato Tsuge)
Animation Production: Satelight
Website Twitter: @cherimahoanime ANN MAL
This feature looks like a compilation film that adaptats the 12 episodes TV anime that aired from January to March 2024. The film features newly recorded narration by Kiyoshi Adachi and Yuichi Kurosawa, and scenes that were not depicted in the TV anime.
Synopsis: Kiyoshi Adachi has hit thirty and has a stable job but he is still a virgin. It seems this virginal status has allowed him to develop the power to read people’s minds by touching them and that helps him in his work. However, when he brushes up against handsome colleague Kurosawa, the ace of the sales department, Adachi detects a raging love for him…