Welcome to the first of four trailer posts.
Image may be NSFW.
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The rest of the posts follow over the next few days.
There are 21 new Japanese films released this week so I had to tackle the whole lot in separate bits. There were around 69 new entries for February last year and around 45 the year before so it will be interesting to see what the final amount will be for February 2025.
Before I go on, the passing of Kim Sae-ron was revealed yesterday. She came to prominence as a child actress with a role in A Brand New Life (2009) and her performance will forever be one of the highlights of The Man From Nowhere (2010), one of the films that helped further establish South Korean cinema on the global scene. It is tragic that her young life has been cut short.
RIP Kim Sae-ron
What are the first set of trailers for this weeks films?
Yasuko, Songs of Days Past Image may be NSFW.
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ゆきてかへらぬ 「Yuki teka heranu」
Release Date: February 21st, 2025
Duration: 128 mins.
Director: Kichitaro Negishi
Writer: Yozo Tanaka (Screenplay),
Starring: Suzu Hirose, Taisei Kido, Masaki Okada, Shunsuke Tanaka, Kumi Takiuchi, Shinsuke Kato, Tasuku Emoto,
Website Twitter: @yk_movie2025 JFDB IMDB
This one played at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025. Kumi Takiuchi features in it and she’s also in another film released this weekend.
This is set in Kyoto and Tokyo during the Taisho period (1912-1926) and depicts a real-life love triangle in which famed poet Chuuya Nakahara was involved in. This is pitched as being akin to a Merchant Ivory production, so expect refinement and restrained passions amidst lovely historical settings and costuming.
It is helmed by Kichitaro Negishi, a director who started out in Roman Porno and built a formidable reputation in the genre and in the mainstream, with Detective Story (1983) and Villon’s Wife (2009) being held in high regard. He was also involved the Director’s Company, which saw the support of top talent like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Toshiharu Ikeda, and Shinji Somai in the 80s.
This film was written by Yozo Tanaka, a storied screenwriter who, like Negishi, started out in Roman Porno, but branched out to work with major talents on a long list of award-winning and classic films:
Seijun Suzuki – Zigeunerweisen (1980) Kagero-za (1981) Yumeji (1991)
Shinji Somai – Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981) The Catch (1983) Luminous Woman (1987) The Friends (1994)
Yoichi Sai – Woman in Black (1987)
He also worked on Villon’s Wife.
Synopsis: The film depicts an episode from the early life Chuuya Nakahara, a pioneer of modernist poetry who died at the age of 30. He fell in love with aspiring actor Yasuko Hasegawa when the two met in Kyoto. She was 20 and he was 17 and the two were both pretentious. Their relationship fired Nakahara’s creativity and the two moved to Tokyo. This puts them in the orbit of the respected critic Hideo Kobayashi, an admirer of Nakahara’s talent and a visitor to their home. Initially upset by Kobayashi’s presence, Hasegawa begins to feel lonely but she soon comes to the attention of the critic and a love triangle forms…
BUCK-TICK The Movie: BUCK-TICK Phenomenon – New World – Image may be NSFW.
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劇場版 BUCK-TICK バクチク現象 New World I 「Gekijouban “BUCK-TICK Bakuchiku genshou New World I」
Release Date: February 21st, 2025
Duration: 76 mins.
Director: Yuichiro Iwaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: Buck-Tick – Atsushi Sakurai, Hisashi Imai, Hidehiko Hoshino, Yutaka Higuchi, Toll Yagami
Director Yuichiro Iwaki has previously made a documentary about BUCK-TICK and it was released in 2013.
This is the first of a two-part film with the sequel BUCK-TICK The Movie: BUCK-TICK Phenomenon – New World II, hitting the big screen on February 28.
There will be BUCK-TICK exhibition at Shinjuku Theatre Mercury, from February 21 to March 9, and there will be immersive videos, band costumes, memorabilia, album covers, and there is also TOUR 2025 SUBROSA that will culminate with a concert at Japan Budokan on December 29, 2025.
Synopsis: This documentary was made as the band celebrated their 35th anniversary. It follows the band over a two-year period, from their Nippon Budokan concert in December 2021 to December 2023 and takes in the creation of their album “IZORA”.
Kanasando Image may be NSFW.
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かなさんどー 「Kanasando」
Release Date: February 21st, 2025
Duration: 86 mins.
Director: Gori (Toshiyuki Teruya)
Writer: Tatsunori Sato, Tomohiro Yokomaku (Screenplay)
Starring: Ruka Matsuda, Tadanobu Asano, Keiko Horiuchi, Mayumi Ueda, K Jersey, Sho Matsuda,
Website Twitter: @kanasando_movie JFDB IMDB
Gori (Toshiyuki Teruya) is an Okinawan comedian, musician, and variety show host who has also directed films, the most recent being Born Bone Born (2018) which was about Okinawan funerary rituals. This one is a family drama with a dying patriarch (played by Tadanobu Asano) and his daughter (played by Okinawan actress Ruka Matsuda) who comes to terms with family fractures.
The title “Kanasando” means “lovely” in Okinawan dialect and is featured as part of an Okinawan folk song, which plays a pivotal role in this drama
Synopsis: It is the first time in seven years that Mika Akamine has returned to her hometown on an island in Okinawa Prefecture. Her father Satoru is suffering from dementia and does not have long to live but she struggles to forgive him for cheating on her mother, even when she was on the verge of death. However, once she’s surrounded by familiar sights and sounds and the natural world of her island, she begins to remember happier things. Then, she finds her mother’s diary and discovers a secret that only she and Satoru knew…
Kessoku, sono saki he samurai-tachi no kuno to kibo Image may be NSFW.
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結束、その先へ 侍たちの苦悩と希望 「Kessoku, sono saki he samurai-tachi no kuno to kibo」
Release Date: February 21st, 2025
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Shintaro Miki
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Website Twitter: @samuraijapan_pr
Director Shintaro Miki has made a number of films about Japan’s national baseball team, the last being Akogare o Koeta Samurai-tachi Sekai Ichi e no Kiroku which was released back in July 2023
Synopsis: Samurai Japan are Japan’s national baseball team and they are the subject of this documentary which covers the period from the appointment of Hirokazu Ibata as manager in October 2023 to the 3rd WBSC Premier 12, an international baseball tournament that was held in November 2024.
Kamen Rider Gotchard: GRADUATIONS Image may be NSFW.
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仮面ライダーガッチャード GRADUATIONS 「Kamen Raida- Gaccha-do GRADUATIONS」
Release Date: February 21st, 2025
Duration: 86 mins.
Director: Kyohei Yamaguchi
Writer: Takahito Oonishi, Hiroki Uchida (Screenplay) Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Creator)
Starring: Junsei Motojima, Reiyo Matsumoto, Yasunari Fujibayashi, Oto Abe, Rikiya Tomizono, Amon Kabe, Tomokazu Sugita,
Website Twitter: @Gotcha_toei Kamen Rider Wiki IMDB
This is a screening of an OVA and it was directed by Kyohei Yamaguchi, who has helmed episodes of various Kamen Rider series over the last decade, from Kamen Rider Fourze, to Gaim, Drive Ghost, Ex-Aid, Build, Zi-O, Zero- One, Geats, and Gotchard, to which this film is a continuation of his adventures.
Synopsis: Houtaro and his friends will soon graduate from Furasu High School and move on with life and try to become skilled alchemists but on the day of the ceremony, an incident occurs and everyone becomes stuck in a time loop with only Supana Kurogana being aware of the situation. What is the truth behind this???
Shi ni soko natta otoko Image may be NSFW.
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死に損なった男 「Shi ni soko natta otoko」
Release Date: February 21st, 2025
Duration: 109 mins.
Director: Seiji Tanaka
Writer: Seiji Tanaka (Screenplay)
Starring: Katamari Mizukawa, Bokuzo Masana, Erika Karata, Yutaka Kyan, Miona Hori, Ryu Morioka,
Website Twitter: @shinizokomovie
Seiji Tanaka, director of Melancholic (2019), has two films released this month: this film (based on an original idea) and another (Demon City IMDB) coming out on Netflix next week.
The biggest name here is Erika Karata of Asako I & II. She’s in a film at Berlinale 2025, Seaside Serendipity. Katamari Mizukawa is a comedian who is making his leading man debut.
Synopsis: Wannabe comedian Ippei Sekiya gives up his dreams in the face of the difficult grind and decides to end it all by jumping in front of a train but, at the last minute, an accident happens and he fails to die. Instead, he is haunted by the ghost of a man who asks him to kill the man who has been following his daughter. The ghost says it will haunt Ippei until he carries out the deed…