Japanese exams are over!
Okay, the reaction wasn’t as extreme as that but that’s it for the next few months I’ll be able to watch films regularly again and finish off a video game or two. This morning I watched the Wong Kar-Wai film Days of Being Wild and I’m going to get started with season 2 of The Walking Dead before my sister gets to the third episode. Next Monday I’ll be heading to the cinema to watch Blue Ruin and The Wind Rises. I will start carving through a number of reviews that have been on the back-burner for a long time. As for next week there will be announcements before I get back to reviewing things. This week I reviewed Hoozuki no Reitetsu, a large and sprawling thing…
Here are the trailers for the Japanese films released in Tokyo this week:
Ushijima the Loan Shark Part 2 
Japanese Title: 闇金ウシジマくん Part2
Romaji: Yamikin Ushijima-kun Part2
Running Time: 133 mins
Release Date: May 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Masatoshi Yamaguchi
Writer: Masatoshi Yamaguchi, Masahiro Fukuma (Screenplay), Shohei Manabe (Original Manga)
Starring: Takayuki Yamada, Gou Ayano, Hiromi Sakimoto, Kyosuke Yabe, Masaki Suda, Masataka Kubota, Yuya Yagira, Haruka Kinami
This is the second movie version of the Ushijima the Loan Shark franchise which counts manga and dramas in its line-up. In this, Takayuk Yamada (13 Assassins) plays a loan shark who deals with desperate and deadly people who need money sharpish.
FOOL COOL ROCK! ONE OK ROCK DOCUMENTARY FILM 
Japanese Title: FOOL COOL ROCK! ONE OK ROCK DOCUMENTARY FILM
Running Time: 103 mins
Release Date: May 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Hiroyuki Nakano
Writer: N/A
Starring: Taka, Toru, Ryota Tomoya
A documentary that follows the rock group ONE OK ROCK as they go on a world tour that covers many locations in Europe and Asia (12 concerts in 11 countries). Anime fans will probably here one or two intro themes. The director was behind an interminably dull film called Tajomaru….
Flower and Snake Zero 
Japanese Title: 花と蛇 Zero
Romaji: Hana to Hebi Zero
Running Time: 113 mins
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Hajime Hashimoto
Writer: Takehiko Minato (Screenplay), Onriku Dan (Original Novel)
Starring: Maiko Amano, Noriko Hamada, Runa Sakuragi, Kanji Tsuda, Hideo Sakaki,
Trailer is NSFW SHOW TIME!
S&M pink films hits the big screen. Okay, not strictly a pink film but certainly full of beautiful ladies displaying flesh. The story is about a female detective battling a gang who run an illegal website that streams videos of captured women undergoing all sorts of nasty things like bondage and rape. It looks absolutely loony and sleazy.
The Undying Dream We Have 
Japanese Title: 醒めながら見る夢
Romaji: Samenagara Miru Yume
Running Time: 106 mins
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Jinsei Tsuji
Writer: Jinsei Tsuji (Screenplay),
Starring: Yoshikuni Dochin, Rin Takanashi, Anna Ishibashi, Ryouta Murai, Mitsuru Matsuoka, Hitomi Takahashi
This is a film about a love triangle in the historic city of Kyoto. Popular theatre director Yuuji Kaieda (Dochin) secretly marries and lives with the main actress of his theatre company. Her name is Aki (Takanashi) and she has a younger sister named Haruna (Ishibashi) who also had a relationship with Yuuji. Secrets are soon found out…
Recently, My Sister is Unusual 
Japanese Title: 最近、妹のようすがちょっとおかしいんだが。
Romaji: Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiin da ga
Running Time: 107 mins
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Yuki Aoyama
Writer: Takehiko Minato (Screenplay), Mari Matsuzawa (Original Manga)
Starring: Tenka Hashimoto, Yukichi Kobayashi, Mayu, Mika Yano Reiko Hayama
Worst trailer of the week, most uncomfortable trailer of the year and it’s all based on a crappy manga/anime aimed at poor siscons.
In this story Mitsuki (Tenka Hashimoto) and Yuya (Yukichi Kobayashi) become stepsister and stepbrother because of their parents’ marriage. At first Mitsuki hates her new family and Yuya is nervous when around his new stepsister. Then one day, Mitsuki becomes possessed by the spirit of Hiyori (Mayu). Hiyori was a girl who liked Yuya. Actually, she still likes him and she believes Yuya can help her get to heaven by falling in love with her… Through Mitsuki. Hiyori places a leather chastity belt upon on Mitsuki… Seeing two actors portray high school kids legally related and trying to get it on makes me feel icky… Japan… Just stop with this fetish. Please. Just stop.
No no Nanana no Ka 
Japanese Title: 野のなななのか
Romaji: No no Nanana no Ka
Running Time: 106 mins
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi
Writer: Nobuhiko Obayashi, Tadashi Naitoh (Screenplay), Koji Hasegawa (Original Novel)
Starring: Yumi Adachi, Kazunari Aizawa, Akane, Toshiaki Chiku, Christine, Satoshi Hara, Tokie Hidari, Natsuki Harada, Minam Inomata
Or should that be Nononanananoka? Whatever the title, this is the latest film from Nobuhiko Obayashi who has earned everlasting fame for his wonderful film House, a fun horror film made in collaboration with his daughter. This new film is based on a novel by Koji Hasegawa and concerns the gathering of family and friends who are drawn together by the death of an old man. As the film delves into memories of the old man spans many decades from the Pacific War and the Soviet invasion of the Sakhalin islands all the way through to 3.11.
The Black Square 
Japanese Title: 黒い 四角
Romaji: Kuroi Shikaku
Running Time: 144 mins
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Hiroshi Okuhara
Writer: Hiroshi Okuhara (Screenplay),
Starring: Hideo Nakaizumi, Dan Hong, Chen Xixu, Miki Suzuki
This was at last year’s Raindance Film Festival and so I can copy and paste the information! TIME SAVED! On a serious note, Alua gave this film a review and it looks like a meditative sci-fi drama that the film touches on the shared past of Japan and China but doesn’t quite satisfy.
Xhao-ping is an artist in Beijing who lives with his girlfriend named Hana and his younger sister named Lihua. When he sees a black square float across the city he follows it to a barren field where it lands. As he inspects it a naked man suffering amnesia emerges. Xhao-ping takes him home convinced he has met this man before, a feeling shared by his girlfriend and sister.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn Episode 7 
Japanese Title: 機動戦士ガンダムUC <ユニコーン>
Romaji: Kidō Senshi Gandamu UC <Yunico-n>
Running Time: N/A
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Writer: Harutoshi Fukui (Story),
Starring: Ayumi Fujimura (Audrey Burne), Kouki Uchiyama (Banagher Links), Shuuichi Ikeda (Full Frontal), Yuko Kaida (Marida Cruz),
I haven’t watched a Gundam anime since Gundam Wing back when it was on Cartoon Network. I have no idea what is going on with this series but apparently this is the final episode of the Gundam UC series. Here’s the plot synopsis from Anime News Network and the opening 7 minutes:
The year is U.C. 0096. Three years have passed since the end of the Second Neo Zeon War. It is said that the Vist Foundation manipulates the Earth Federation and Anaheim Electronics from behind the scenes. Hoping to create a new world, the Foundation attempts to hand over a certain secret to the Neo Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves. This will mean the opening of Laplace’s Box, which holds a great secret tied to the origins of the Universal Century. The exchange between the Vist Foundation and the Sleeves is to take place at the manufacturing colony Industrial 7. This is the home of the student Banagher Links, who rescues a girl he sees falling through the colony’s zero gravity area. The girl gives her name as Audrey Burne and says she wants to prevent a war, spurring Banagher to step into the conflict surrounding Laplace’s Box—almost as if he is drawn in by his own bloodline.
Tsutaeru
Japanese Title: 伝える
Romaji: Tsutaeru
Running Time: 69 mins
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Yunumata
Writer: Yunumata (Screenplay),
Starring: N/A
This is a collection of doujinshi anime created by Tomo Numata that has attracted the attention of the distributor thanks to its well-scripted comedy. No trailer.
The Adventures of Bellring Girls Heart across the 6D 
Japanese Title: BELLRING少女ハートの6次元ギャラクシー
Romaji: BELLRING shōjo hāto no 6-jigen gyarakushī
Running Time: 69 mins
Release Date: May 17th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Atsushi Tsugita
Writer: Atsushi Tsugita (Screenplay),
Starring: Tira, Mizuho Asakura, Juri Nakano, Yuka Mizuki, Moe Usami, Ayano Yanagisawa, Kai are the BELLRING GIRLS! Also starring: Antonio Honda, Leon Kurosaki, Superstar Butch
Bellring Girls Heart are an actual J-Pop idol group and this looks like a whole lotta fun. I have to admit that I love it when idol groups do crazy films full of chaos and violence. It shows that the guys and girls have a sense of humour (and are willing to exploit their image and horror fans like me so… I guess… I feel like I’m being noticed? In this film, one of the idol girls shoots an audience member because, why not? Superstar Butch is arrested (because with a name like that he deserves to be locked up) and the girls hop in a sixth dimensional alien space craft. Awesome. Lets go. This is what makes Japanese idols the best.
