This time last week I was at the Terracotta Far East Film Festival where I was going to experience the awesomeness that is The Snow White Murder Case and other titles.I’ve got those reviews in the pipe-line and they are due next week. The Japanese selection was awesome and I am glad that I went, watched the films and hung out with fellow bloggers. Today I am going to another film festival which is screening nothing but anime like Patema Inverted, one of my most titles from 2013 I wanted to see but missed. Alas, the weather isn’t as good but I’ll be indoors for most of the day.
This week was spent gobbling chocolates and biscuits I got from the Japan Centre and posting about some my Summer 2014 anime picks. I also put together a number of articles for Anime UK News about the Summer 2014 anime and they have gone down well on the forums. I also posted about a film festival happening in Dallas where one can watch some cool looking East Asian films!
What’s released in Tokyo this week?
Jossy’s 
Japanese Title:女子―ズ
Romaji: Joshi-zu
Running Time: 97 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Yuichi Fukuda
Writer: Yuichi Fukuda (Screenplay),
Starring: Mirei Kiritani, Mina Fujii, Mitsuki Takahata, Kasumi Arimura, Mizuki Yamamoto, Ken Yasuda, Jiro Yasuda, Sautoki Minagawa,
Super Sentai shows… I’m no fan. With its mix of the fantastical and reality this might be funny in a way that the second half of Samurai Flamenco wasn’t… Samurai Flamenco, you broke my heart by taking that Super Sentai stuff seriously.
Monsters are attacking Earth and only heroes can save the day. These heroes are women whose surnames refer to colours – for example, Kanoko Midoriyama and Naoko Akagi – and these colours will be the uniforms they wear. Under the leadership of Commander Charles, these dames use their special “Women Tornado” to beat the crap out of monsters. The only problem is that they need to be together to use their special power and with love lives, shopping and personal things going on… Getting their schedules to synch might be a problem…
Disregarded People 
Japanese Title:捨てがたき人々
Romaji: Sutegataki Hitobito
Running Time: 123 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Hideo Sakaki
Writer: Inochi Akiyama (Screenplay), George Akiyama (Original Manga)
Starring: Nao Omori, Hitomi Miwa, Jun Miho, Tomorowo Taguchii, Susumu Terajima, Kenichi Takito, Gajiro Satoh, Taro Suwa, Chika Uchida, Kenichi Endo,
This film is based on a manga series of the same name by George Akiyama, a guy who specialises in exploring morality and tough subjects. You may be familiar with Ashura which was turned into a harrowing anime a couple of years ago. This is the latest adaptation of his work and it has a star-packed cast with Nao Omori (The Ravine of Goodbye), Tomorowo Taguchi (Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Strange Circus) and Susumu Terajima (Sonatine). Coming to a film festival near you? I can see it happening.
Yuusuke Mamiana (Omori) is broke and unemployed and stuck thinking about sex and money. Sick of his life, he heads back to his hometown but finds a cold reception waiting from the people of his past. The only exception is Kyoko Okabe (Miwa), a beautiful girl with a bruised face. Yuusuke wants to discover happiness, wants to forget the misery of his life and wants to prove that he is alive and so he wants to have sex with Kyoko and maybe seek more…
Ninjani Sanjo! Mirai e no Tatakai 
Japanese Title:忍ジャニ参上!未来への戦い
Romaji: Ninjani Sanjo! Mirai e no Tatakai
Running Time: 86 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Masanori Inoue
Writer: Hiroya Taka (Screenplay),
Starring: Daiki Shigeoka, Nozomu Kotaki, Sho Hirano, Tomohiro Kamiyama, Koji Mukai, Akitao Kiriyama, Shintaro Morimoto, Taigo Kyomoto,
After the early months of 2014 saw female idols put in work with horror films and teen romance dramas, the male idols step up to the plate. It’s the boys of Johnny’s Jr. group “7 WEST” and they play ninjas in the Edo period who have little to do now that Tokugawa Ieyasu has united Japan. They get the order to disband, but do they want to stop having fun being ninjas? I wouldn’t!
Otaku’s Daughter 
Japanese Title:あの娘、早くババアになればいいのに
Romaji: Ano ko, Hayaku Babaa ni Nareba Iinoni
Running Time: 70 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Yurui Koroyasu
Writer: Natsuki Terashima (Screenplay),
Starring: Takashi Omoto, Asaka Nakamura, Yui, Kirita Ryousuke, Ai Ozaki,
Hirata owns a books shop and has a daughter named Anna. She’s not his biological daughter. An old schoolmate left her to him. Despite this, Hirata cherishes Anna and his idea of raising a girl is to raise her like an idol. Is this sort of love proper?
We Are the Reds the Movie 
Japanese Title: N/A
Romaji: N/A
Running Time: 70 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Shujin Ito, Yota Kaneko
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Football. The World Cup is here and football will dominate EVERYTHING. It will be on the television and newspapers and conersations and be in everywhere in day to day life. The British media will go doolally over a bunch of guys kicking a ball around and people will freak out when England don’t win.
I actually like playing football but I find watching football boring. When those World Cup matches are on I’ll be at the ultimate counter-programming event – a museum – and I’ll be surrounded by lots of people who don’t care about football – beautiful women (hopefully…) – and when I’m at home I have my film collection. For those who like football, this documentary might be to your taste.
It’s all about the Urawa Red Diamonds, a J-League club, and we see the staff, players, supporters, and everybody drawn to the sport and the team.
Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight’s Dream 
Japanese Title: N/A
Romaji: N/A
Running Time: N/A
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Tomohisa Taguchi
Writer: Jun Kumagai (Script)
Starring: Akira Ishida (Makoto Yuuki), Megumi Toyoguchi (Yukari Takeba), Hikaru Midorikawa (Akihiko Sanada), Kazuya Nakai (Shinjiro Aragaki), Maaya Sakamoto (Aegis), Rie Tanaka (Mitsuru Kirijou), Miyuki Sawashiro (Elizabeth),
The easiest way to find me in my museum is to look for the guy drinking from the Persona 3 cup – Makoto and Yukari are on there. I’m a fan of Persona and I’m excited to see the second film from the Persona 3 adaptations and it follows on from last year’s Birth of Spring title. The poster is so cool, I want one!
There is a hidden time known as the “Dark Hour” that exists between one day and the next when all movement in the town of Iwatodai stops and terrible creatures known as Shadows room. A group of students from Moonlight Hall School are drawn to fight these creatures and explore the mysterious tower of Tartarus with their special weapons called Evokers which they use to summon Persona.
ポルトレ PORTRAIT 
Japanese Title:ポルトレ PORTRAIT
Romaji: Porutore PORTRAIT
Running Time: 70 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Shuntaro Uchida
Writer: Shuntaro Uchida (Script)
Starring: Yoshimura Sakahito, Marika Matsumoto, Hideyuki Arai
16mm and digital film and Polaroids are cut together by Shuntaro Uchida as he creates a portrait of himself doing things like wandering the streets of Shibuya and encountering randoms including an attractive woman. Since I am useless in asking women out on dates perhaps I should roll with a digital camera and make a film… Actually, that would probably make me seem creepier than I actually am.
Flower Life Nakagawa Yukio 
Japanese Title:華 いのち 中川幸夫
Romaji: Hana Inochi Nakagawa Yukio
Running Time: 92 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Tani Mitsuaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: Yukio Nakagawa, Nobuyoshi Araki, Kotaro Sawaki,
I’m sorry but some of the imagery and music in the film’s trailer… If this was about a pale madman stalking the countryside and collecting the gore and blood of people he has murdered to make sculptures while listening to opera… I wouldn’t be surprised. Perhaps it says more about my strange imagination and it’s interpretation of some performance art because this is about a respected ikebana artist named Yukio Nakagawa who has taken the traditional art of flower arranging and turned it into something far out and unique, where the flowers are crushed and turned into suggestive and sexualised images. His work was so out there that he was thrown out of an ikebana school because he was a rebel. This work celebrates the artist’s life.
Godzilla 
Japanese Title:ゴジラ
Romaji: GOJIRA
Running Time: 97 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Writer: Ishiro Honda, Takeo Murata (Script)
Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hiata, Takashi Shimura,
Ishiro Honda’s 1954 classic, Godzilla, is re-released on its 60th anniversary as a digitally remastered film in Japanese cinema.
Watch Rakugo on the Cinema Screen: “Master Storytellers of the 
Showa Period”
Japanese Title: スクリーンで観る高座 シネマ落語「落語研究会 昭和の名人 七 古今亭志ん朝独演会」
Romaji: Sukurīn de miru kōza shinema rakugo `rakugo kenkyūkai Shōwa no meijin nana kokontei shinchō dokuen-kai’
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 122 mins.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
Starring: Yanagiya Kosan, Kokontei Shinshō, Katsura Bunraku
This is the seventh in a series of films about Rakugo, a form of verbal entertainment where a lone storyteller sits on a stage and depicts a long and complicated comical story with nothing but a paper fan and a small cloth for props and a change in pitch and tone in voice to provide life to different characters. The film shows us the skills of Kokontei Shinshō.
Tokyo Densetsu: Kyofu no Ningen Jigoku 
Japanese Title: 劇場版東京伝説恐怖の人間地獄
Romaji: Gekijouban Tokyo Densetsu: Kyofu no Ningen Jigoku
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 66 mins.
Director: Seiji Chiba
Writer: Seiji Chiba (Screenplay), Yumeaki Hirayama (Original Manga),
Starring: Rika Adachi, Shiho Fujisawa, Junpei Hashino, Hiroko Hayashi, Kinari Hirano, Marin, Tomoaki Nakagawa, Kentaro Shimazu,
Yumeak Hirayama’s horror manga gets adapted into an omnibus film.
Mrs. Inga wo Shitte Imasu ka? 
Japanese Title:いのちのコール ミセスインガを知っていますか
Romaji: Inochi no Koru Misesu Inga wo Shitte Imasu ka
Running Time: 86 mins
Release Date: June 07th, 2014 (Japan)
Director: Yasuyuki Ebihara
Writer: Akio Nanki (Screenplay),
Starring: Misako Yasuda, Kenki Yamaguchi, Shigeru Muroi,
Do You Know Mrs. Inga? A drama about a woman named Tamaki who is about to get married but discovers that she suffers from cervical cancer and has surgery to remove her womb. It has such a negative effect on her life that when she calls into a radio station under the name Inga, it is clear that her friends and family have abandoned her and she talks about suicide. Mayumi, the DJ, talks her out of it.
