Welcome to the penultimate trailer post of 2024.
This week’s releases were also covered in trailer post one and trailer post two.
Christmas day has given way to Boxing Day and I’m still injured so it’s another day of marathoning films! I’ve got old 90s anime and Japanese TV to go through while Fire Emblem: Awakening will be used for intermissions. It has been nice being with family, eating food, and generally vegging out to non-festival films for the Christmas period!
January 2025, I’ll be back in work mode as I get closer to returning to my regular day job and also gear up for the spring festival season. I hope to get going to Japan, too. My first time in five years!
Anyway!
What are the last Japanese films to get (re)released this weekend?
Shinji Somai Re-releases
Shinji Somai was one of the biggest directors in Japan in the 1980s and 90s and made around 13 films before his death in 2001. Despite the popularity of his films, he was lesser known in the West until he netted his biggest festival spot in 1993 when Moving Ohikkoshi was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. Over a decade ago, he was the subject of a revival in interest thanks to retrospectives at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Nippon Connection and some of his films getting screened at various Japan Foundation events but despite that, his works are still hard to find on DVD and Blu-Ray. That is changing as there are cinema screenings and Third Window Films putting out the 4K remasters of Somai’s works.
Natsumi no Niwa The Friends 4K Remaster 
夏の庭 The Friends 「Natsumi no Niwa The Friends」
Release Date: April 09th, 1994
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Shinji Somai
Writer: Yozo Tanaka (Screenplay), Kazumi Yumoto (Original Novel),
Starring: Rentaro Mikuni, Naoki Sakata, Yasutaka Oh, Naho Toda, Tsurube Shofukutei, Aya Mihara, Ritsuko Nemoto,
Website Twitter: @somaifilm_4k JFDB IMDB
This features cinematography by Noboru Shinoda who later worked on lots of films by Shunji Iwai.
Synopsis: Three young boys living in Kobe take an interest in “death” after Yamashita attends his grandmother’s funeral. When they hear that an eccentric old man in their neighbourhood is about to die, they decide to stake out his house, surrounded by an overgrown garden. At first, the old tries to chase the boys away, but a bond forms and the old man talks about his past while the boys set about weeding and replanting the garden.
Moving [4K Digitally Remastered Version]
お引越し 「Ohikkoshi」
Running Time: 124 mins.
Release Date: March 23rd, 1993
Director: Shinji Somai
Writer: Satoshi Okonogi, Satoko Okudera (Screenplay), Hiko Tanaka (Original Novel)
Starring: Tomoko Tabata, Junko Sakurada, Kiichi Nakai, Mariko Sudo, Taro Tanaka, Ippei Shigeyama, Nagiko Tono, Konami Nakai,
Website Twitter: @somaifilm_4k JFDB IMDB 
Moving/Ohikkoshi is one of his most popular and deals with one of his most utilised stories, that of a dislocated adolescents and the turbulent emotions they feel. It features sensitive writing and direction that allows the child actors to really get into their roles.
The film has an award-winning performance from child actor Tomoko Tabata who was selected from an extensive casting process. She has grown into a fine leading lady with performances in films like The Cowards Who Look to the Sky. Screenwriter Satoko Okudera’s first noted work on a screenplay came with this film as she adapted a novel by Hiko Tanaka. She has subsequently become known for her collaborations with anime director Mamoru Hosoda on The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and The Wolf Children. She also wrote the screenplay for Permanent Nobara, which is secretly brilliant.
This was screened at the Venice International Film Festival 2023 and Tokyo FILMeX and Japan Cuts 2024. Other upgraded Shinji Somai films are getting released. So far, Typhoon Club, and Luminous Woman have been given the home release treatment – check out Third Window Films for more.
Synopsis: Renko is in the sixth grade when her parents decide to separate. Initially she is happy about the situation, not having had any idea that they might divorce, and enjoys the fact that she now has two homes. She begins feeling uneasy when her mother tries to draw up a ‘contract’ for their life together, which asserts their independence from her father while he cannot provide any satisfactory answers about why they divorced. Renko also becomes concerned about what will happen at school if her classmates find out, given that they already tease another girl whose parents have divorced. Renko’s boyfriend at school, Minoru, draws up a sure-fire plan to bring her parents back together but will it work?
BanG Dream! BanG Dream! Ave Mujica #1~#3 Advance Cinema Screening 
BanG Dream! Ave Mujica #1～#3劇場先行上映 「BanG Dream! #1~#3 Gekijou senko joei」
Release Date: December 27th, 2024
Duration: N/A
Director: Kodai Kakimoto
Writer: Yuniko Ayana (Series Composition), Akiko Waba, Hitomi Ogawa, Midori Goto, Tani Kasuga, Yuniko Ayana (Screenplay),
Starring: Akane Yonezawa (Nyamu Yuutenji), Kanon Takao (Sakiko Togawa), Mei Okada (Umiri Yahata), Rico Sasaki (Uika Misumi), Yuzuki Watase (Mutsubi Wakaba),
Animation Production: SANZIGEN
Website Twitter: @bang_dream_info ANN MAL
Synopsis: BanG Dream! is a mixed media project that has girl bands depicted in anime, games, and real-life performances by the voice actors behind the characters. This film features the first three episodes of a TV anime series that will start airing on January 2, 2025, that is dedicated to the story of the band Ave Mujica.