Happy weekend, readers!
There is plenty of anime released this weekend and some minor drama releases. The D-Boys are still getting their retrospective screenings. Nothing really grabs my interest but when researching at the different titles I stumbled across the website Tokyo Girls Update which contains lots of idol news so I’ll keep visiting that for updates on films.
I have been blogging for quite a while now and the next post is my 1000th so I have what I consider to be a well-written review for a horror film that is one of the better titles I have watched as part of my splatter season. Stay tuned for that on Monday.
I have watched plenty of films this summer with the Indiana Jones films Studio Ghibli being a highlight amidst all of the splatter silliness. I must have watched Spirited Away for the 50th time. Other than that, its nothing but zombies and mutants…
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced its full line-up and after a few rounds of updates a pretty healthy line-up of Japanese films are going to be screening there.
This week I posted about the upcoming Blu-ray release of A Snake of June and I posted a review of the psycho-thriller The Gift (2015)
What’s released in Japan this weekend?
Tokyo PR Woman
Japanese: 東京PRウーマン
Romaji: Tokyo PR Uman
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: 81 mins.
Director: Kosuke Suzuki
Writer: Makoto Hayashi, Junya Kato (Screenplay),
Starring: Mizuki Yamamoto, Yusuke Yamamoto, Arisa Sato, Ikumi Hisamatsu, Ren Kiriyama, Masahiro Inoue, LiLiCo,
Mizuki Yamamoto has risen from being in ensemble films The Kirishima Thing (2012) and supporting roles Black Butler (2014) and has now taken more leading roles with this light and frothy-looking film.
Rena Misaki (Mizuki Yamamoto) may lack self-confidence but she works for a PR company and this puts her at odds with her boss Kusakabe (Yusuke Yamamoto). To get further in her career she will change as a person.
at Home
Japanese: at Home アットホーム
Romaji: at Home atto ho-u
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: 110 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Chono
Writer: Teruo Abe (Screenplay), Takayoshi Honda (Original Novel),
Starring: Yutaka Takenouchi, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Kentaro Sakaguchi, Yuina Kuroshima, Jun Kunimura, Yuto Ikeda, Itsuji Itao, Seiji Chihara,
A thief named Kazuhiko (Takenouchi) and a swindler Satsuki (Matsuyuki) are a married couple with three children. The entire family makes money through crime. When the swindler is kidnapped and put up for ransom by her mark the family get together to get the mother back.
Yaru Otoko
Japanese: 犯（や）る男
Romaji: Yaru Otoko
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: 71 mins.
Director: Daisuke Yamauchi
Writer: Daisuke Yamauchi (Screenplay),
Starring: Kotomi Asakura, Ryoko Asamiya, Yota Kawase, Takahiro Nomura, Yuria Seto, Misa Wada, Ayane Shuzukawa,
OP Pictures seem like a new movie outfit and one of their new works is by Daisuke Yamauchi who has a background in pink movies. Two films in one trailer. The first part is for this movie:
In an all-too common story set-up this movie features a desperate man on the run from the law after an incident with his wife hooking up with a woman who was imprisoned by her husband (who we see get beaten up by the protagonist at the start of the trailer) and the two end up sharing each other’s despair and being attracted to each other.
Hontou ni atta kowai hanashi dai san juu ichi-yo kindan no asobi cha-ri ge-mu no noroi
Japanese: ほんとうにあった怖い話第三十一夜 禁断の遊び チャーリーゲームの呪い
Romaji: Hontou ni atta kowai hanashi dai san juu ichi-yo kindan no asobi cha-ri ge-mu no noroi
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: 71 mins.
Director: Yasunari Konno
Writer: Yasunari Konno (Screenplay),
Starring: Yutaka Takenouchi, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Kentaro Sakaguchi, Yuina Kuroshima, Jun Kunimura, Yuto Ikeda, Itsuji Itao, Seiji Chihara,
Three short stories about three groups of people caught up in supernatural occurrences – school girls play “Charlies Game,” a variation on Kokkuri-san and summon a complete nutcase of a ghost; “Smoke of Death” sees a girl trying to save a childhood friend from some vague supernatural threat tat shows up in pictures; “Wraith” sees a man’s adulterous life come to a sticky end.
Schoolgirl’s Cat Fight Often Starts in the Bathroom! / Joshi no jiken wa taitei, toire de okorunoda. Zenpen hairu? (Part 1 & 2)
Japanese: 女子の事件は大抵、トイレで起こるのだ。 前編 入る？
Romaji: joshi no jiken wa taitei, toire de okoru noda. Zenpen hairu?
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: Part One: 71 mins. Part 2: 61 mins.
Director: Kazuya Shiraishi
Writer: Shuko Nemoto (Screenplay),
Starring: Nanase Akimoto, Jun Aonami, Momoka Gyoba, Naoya Gomoto, Miki Kamioka, Karin, Misako, Nana Morimoto, Nene Morimoto,
Director Kazuya Morimoto wrote and directed The Devil’s Path (2013), a rather tepid true-crime tale that failed to lift off despite a spirited villainous performance by Lily Franky.
This is based of a web dramedy uploaded on the website GYAO! earlier this year. It stars 17 girls who are in middle school and show business as idols.
Hikawa Maru Monogatari
Japanese: 氷川丸ものがたり
Romaji: Hikawamaru Monogatari
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: 94 mins.
Director: Shunji Oga
Writer: Kouji Miura, Ryouichi Matsushita (Screenplay), Genjiro Ito (Original Creator),
Starring: Chihiro Kusaka (Jirō Hirayama – 13-16 years old), Keisuke Koumoto (Jirō Hirayama – 24-years old) Jiro Saito (Tetsuzou Oukubo), Kiyohiro Yamaguchi (Seiichi Morimoto – nurse), Masahiro Yamanaka (Hiroshi Yamanaka)
Studio: Mushi Production
Anime News Network have agreat write-up of the film:
The film is based on essayist Genjirō Itō’s book of the same name. Kamakura Shunjuusha published a new edition of the book on June 05th. The film commemorates the 85th anniversary of the completion of the maiden voyage of the Hikawa Maru ocean liner.
Jirou Hirayamais a boy who lost his mother in the Great Kanto Earthquake, and who runs a soba stall with his father. He decides to join the crew of the famous ocean liner Hikawa Maru, and finds work cooking in the ship’s galley. Through his eyes, the film explores the ship’s 85-year history which includes its time plying a route across the Pacific between Yokohama and Vancouver, it’s time when the Imperial Japanese Navy used it as a hospital ship and its post-war life.
Gekijouban Date A Live: Mayuri Judgment
Japanese: 劇場版デート・ア・ライブ 万由里ジャッジメント
Romaji: Gekijouban de-to a raibu mayuri jajjimento
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: 81 mins.
Director: Keitaro Motonaga
Writer: Hidei Shirane (Screenplay), Koushi Tachibana (Original Creator),
Starring: Marina Inoue (Tohka Yatogami/Princess), Nobunaga Shimazaki (Shido Itsuki), Asami Sanada (Kurumi Tokisaki/Nightmare), Ayana Taketatsu (Kotori Itsuka), Iori Nomizu (Yoshino/Hermit), Maaya Uchida (Kaguya Yamai),
Studio: Production IMS
I don’t know too much about the Date A Live franchise despite writing about it in anime previews. It’s of a style that doesn’t grab me and the story reads like fantasy nonsense but it is popular so I must be missing something. The director for the film
Shidou Itsuka is an ordinary high school boy thrown into an extraordinary situation when he meets a spirit girl who has been rejected by a devastated world. The girl, whom Shidou names “Tohka,” happens to have wiped out much of humanity 30 years ago, and now she is back. The only way to stop her is to date her.
Aikatsu! Music Award: Minna de Shou o Moraima SHOW!
Japanese: アイカツ！ミュージックアワードみんなで賞をもらっちゃいまSHOW!
Romaji: Aikatsu! My-jikku awa-do Minna de Shou o Moraima SHOW!
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: 56 mins.
Director: Shinya Watada
Writer: Bandai (Story/Original Creator),
Starring: Shino Shimoji (Akari Oozora), Tomoyo Kurosawa (Otome Arisugawa), Sumire Morohoshi (Ichigo Hoshimiya), Yuuna Mimura (Kaede Ichinose),
Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures
Ichigo Hoshimiya has entered Starlight Academy to enrol in their famous idol-training school and become an idol through intense training. The movie shows the awards ceremony and Ichigo’s adventures.
D-BOYS STAGE 2010 trial-2 Last Game
Japanese: D-BOYS STAGE 2010 trial-2 「ラストゲーム」
Romaji: D-BOYS STAGE 2010 trial-2 Rasuto Ge-mu
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: N/A
Director: N/A
Writer: Daisuke Habara (Screenplay),
Starring: D-Boys: Masaya Nakamura, Osamu Adachi, Kotaro Yanagi, Hiroki Suzuki, Koji Seto,
The D-Boys play a bunch of students at Waseda and Keio Universities who play the American sport of baseball at the height of the Second World War.
D-BOYS 10th Anniversary D Sute 15th `kake nukeru kazenoyouni’
Japanese: D-BOYS 10th Anniversary Dステ15th 「駆けぬける風のように」
Romaji: D-BOYS 10th Anniversary D Sute 15th `kake nukeru kazenoyouni’
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: N/A
Director: Yutaka Narui
Writer: Yutaka Narui
Starring: D-Boys – Yuya Endo, Koji Seto, Hirofumi Araki, Tomo Yanagishita, Takahisa Maeyama, Tatsuya Okada, Masato Wada,
This is a stage play featuring the D-Boys in an Edo period setting that was originally staged in 2014.
Japanese Movie Box Office Results for this Weekend:
Jurassic World (Release: 2015/08/07)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Release: 2015/08/07)
Minions Movie (Release: 2015/07/31)
The Boy and the Beast (Release: 2015/07/11)
Boruto Naruto the Movie (Release: 2015/08/07)
Attack on Titan (Release: 2015/08/01)
Hero (Release: 2015/07/25)
The Emperor in August (Release: 2015/08/07)
Inside Out (Release: 2015/07/18)
Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (Release: 2015/07/18)
Random music video which I wrote this post to:
