I only published one review this week and that was for the wonderful Maison de Himiko.
What’s released in Japan this weekend?
Haikyu!! the Movie: Winners and Losers
劇場版ハイキュー!! 勝者と敗者「Gekijōban Haikyu! ! Shōsha to Haisha」
Release Date: September 18th, 2015
Running Time: 88 mins.
Director: Susumu Mitsunaka
Writer: Taku Kishimoto (Series Composition), Haruichi Furudate (Original Creator),
Starring: Ayumu Murase (Shouyou Hinata), Kaito Ishikawa (Tobio Kageyama), Hiroshi Kamiya (Ittetsu Takeda), Kaori Nazuka (Kiyoko Shimizu), Kazunari Tanaka (Keishin Ukai), Kouki Uchiyama (Kei Tsukishima), Miyu Irino (Koushi Sugawara), Nobuhiko Okamoto (Yuu Nishinoya),
This is the second of a two-part movie adaptation/compilation of the TV anime Haikyu!! which is Production I,G’s adaptation of Haruichi Furudate’s manga of the same name.
Synopsis from Anime News Network: The story follows Shōyō Hinata (voiced by Ayumu Murase), who began playing volleyball after seeing the “Small Giant” who played the sport when he was in elementary school. He suffers a crushing defeat in his first and last tournament in middle school at the hands of his rival Tobio Kageyama (Kaito Ishikawa). So, Hinata joins Karasuno High School’s volleyball team, vowing revenge against Kageyama.
However, Kageyama is also on Karasuno’s team. The former rivals form a legendary combo with Hinata’s mobility and Kageyama’s precision ball-handling. Together, they take on the local tournaments and vow to meet Kurasuno’s fated rival school in the nationals.
Attack on Titan: End of the World
進撃の巨人 ATTACK ON TITAN エンド オブ ザ ワールド 「Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack on Titan – Endo obu za Wa-rudo」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 87 mins.
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Writer: Yusuke Watanabe, Tomohiro Machiyama (Screenplay), Hajime Isayama (Original Manga),
Starring: Haruma Miura, Hiroki Hasegawa, Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongo, Rina Takeda, Ayame Misaki, Jun Kunimura, Satomi Ishihara, Pierre Taki, Nanami Sakuraba, Takahiro Miura,
This is the second live-action Attack on Titan film. Critical reactions for the first one started out positive but have been mixed since its release. Can the second film please viewers?
Synopsis: Eren Jaeger (Miura) is tasked with sealing a hole in a wall that the Titans are flooding through but he is swamped by the enemy despite the help of Shikishima and others. Even Armin (Hongo) is in trouble as a titan swallows him but a new, black-haired titan appears and begins to help the human forces…
The Letters
ポプラの秋「Popura no Aki」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 98 mins.
Director: Kenichi Ohmori
Writer: Kenichi Ohmori (Screenplay), Kazumi Yumoto (Original Novel)
Starring: Miyu Honda, Tamao Nakamura, Nene Otsuka, Eri Murakawa, Tomoko Fujita, Takashi Naito,
Synopsis: When Chiaki’s (Honda) father dies she and her mother, Tsukasa (Otsuka) move to Popura apartment building. It is here that she meets the proprietor, an old woman (Nakamura) who claims to be able to send letters to the dead. Chiaki writes a letter hoping it will reach her father in Heaven.
Heroine Shikkaku / Heroine Disqualified (International Title)
ヒロイン失格「Popura no Aki」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 112 mins.
Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa
Writer: Erika Yoshida (Screenplay), Momoko Koda (Original Manga)
Starring: Mirei Kiritani, Kento Yamazaki, Kentaro Sakaguchi, Ayano Fukuda, Miwako Wagatsuma, Maryjun Takahashi, Mari Hamada, Riki Takeuchi,
This one is the adaptation of a popular manga. Ah, the lovely Miwako Wagatsuma is in this one playing a “plain” girl who acts as a love rival to the heroine.
Synopsis: Hatori Matsuzaki (Kiritani) is a strong-willed girl who is in love with her childhood friend Rita Terasaka (Yamazaki). It’s a one-sided love, unfortunately, since she doesn’t declare her feelings to him. Things get a lot more complicated when Kosuke Hiromitsu (Sakaguchi), the most popular boy in school, starts circling Hatori and Rita starts dating quiet girl Miho Adachi (Wagatsuma).
The Anthem of the Heart
心が叫びたがってるんだ。「Kokoro ga Sakebitagatterun Da.」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 88 mins.
Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Writer: Mari Okada (Script),
Starring: Inori Minase (Jun Naruse), Kouki Uchiyama (Takumi Sakagami), Sora Amamiya (Natsuki Nido), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Daiki Tazaki),
Tatsuyuki Nagai is a director and Mari Okada is a writer who specialise in telling dramatic stories in anime. Their greatest collaboration is arguably anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day but their latest looks good.
Synopsis from the official English-language website: Jun is a girl whose words have been sealed away. She was once a happy girl, but because of a [certain thing] she said when she was very young, her family was torn apart. One day, the egg fairy appeared in front of her and sealed away her ability to talk in order to stop her from hurting anybody else. Since this traumatic experience, Jun lives in the shadows away from the limelight. But, one day she is nominated to become an executive member of the “community outreach council.” On top of that, Jun is also appointed to play the main lead in their musical…
Norin Ten: A Gonjiro Inazuka Story
NORIN TEN 稲塚権次郎物語「NORIN TEN Inazuka Gonjiro Monogatari」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 110 mins.
Director: Hidetaka Inazuka
Writer: Hidetaka Inazuka (Screenplay),
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Kenji Matsuzaki, Mami Nomura, Yumiko Fujita, Kumiko Komiya, Go Ohshio, John Coldwell, Maki Hirai,
Synopsis: Man in news: Director of film on wheat Norin-10 developer
Director Hidetaka Inazuka is a distant relative of the subject of the film, Gonjiro Inazuka. He is famous for developing the wheat strain Norin-10 which significantly contributed to the Green Revolution, averting a global food crisis by ushering in a spectacular increase in food production and hunger reduction in developing countries led by American agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, during the 1960s. Source Source
Suguru hi no yama neko
過ぐる日のやまねこ「Suguru hi no yamaneko」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 92 mins.
Director: Keiko Tsuruoka
Writer: Keiko Tsuruoka (Screenplay),
Starring: Misaki Kinoshita, Yuki Izumisawa, Jin Kusanagi, Mao Nakagawa, Mari Nishio, Natsumi Seto, Yoji Tanaka,
Keiko Tsuruoka made waves and won awards with her 2012 film The Town of Whales which was at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival. This is her latest.
Synopsis: Two teens who have both lost loved ones in the mountains surrounding their town meet up and search for a mysterious and rare mountain cat. Though ther interaction, they heal the wounds that the loss of their family members created.
Chigasaki Story
3泊4日、5時の鐘「3-paku 4-nichi, 5-ji no kane」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 89 mins.
Director: Takuya Misawa
Writer: Takuya Misawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Kiki Sugino, Haya Nakazaki, Ena Koshino, Natsuko Hori, Juri Fukushima, Shuntaro Yanagi
Chigasaki Story was at this year’s Rotterdam International Film Festival but was on the festival circuit back in 2014 where it garnered reviews as being a drama but one done in the style of Ozu and from a director who is new to the game and it’s produced by Kiki Sugino who is becoming an. The Hollywood Reporter review makes this one sound like another film to watch:
Synopsis: Tomoharu (Nakazaki) works at a traditional Japanese inn called Chigasakikan Hotel. This is where the film master Yasujiro Ozu retired to write his screenplays.He works with Karin (Koshino) and Maki (Sugino). Risa (Hori), the daughter of the inn’s owner, is set to have a wedding in 3 days and various people show up each with repressed feeling for each other that soon come out just before the wedding…
A Room of Her Own – Rei Naito and Light
あえかなる部屋 内藤礼と、光たち「ae ka naru Heya Naitō Rei to, kotachi」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 87 mins.
Director: Yuko Nakamura
Writer: N/A (Screenplay),
Starring: Rei Naito, Hina Yukawa, Ran Yaniguchi, Keiko Oyama, Kyoko Tanaka,
This was at the Aichi International Women’s festival last week and that’s where I got the synopsis from!
Synopsis: Contemporary artist Rei Naito is reputed for her work “Matrix” which is exhibited in Teshima Art Museum in Kagawa Prefecture. Highlighting the two-year communications between Naito, an artist who has never revealed her creating processes to the outside world, and director Yuko Nakamura, this film shows the quest of five women, all invariably enchanted by Naito’s art, as they explore her artistic world based on the question of whether it is in itself a blessing to be alive.
Shironagasu kujira ni sasageru ballet / A Dance for Blue Whales
シロナガスクジラに捧げるバレエ「Shironagasu kujira ni sasageru barei」
Release Date: September 19th, 2015
Running Time: 72 mins.
Director: Katsumi Sakaguchi
Writer: Katsumi Sakaguchi (Screenplay),
Starring: Kana Matsushita, Mayumi Niikura, Hiori Ohkubo, Shiori Shiraki, Haruka Tachibana, Sunao Yamashita
Katsumi Sakaguchi directed the powerful documentary Walking with My Mother (2014) which was a moving portrait of the director’s elderly mother dealing with the sudden life-shattering loss of her daughter and her husband which precipitated a sudden deep despair. His latest film is also about loss but as see through the eyes of two little girls, sisters searching for a new home and family after the 3/11 Earthquake and Tsunami.
Synopsis from the English language part of the film’s website: This film depicts the lives of an 8-year-old and 11-year-old sister, who have lost their beloved family to the Great Disaster and Tsunami. As they return to where their home used to stand, now a village lost in sand, they retrace their memories in search for their family, and work together to build their “new home,” in silence. This film expresses new hope and repose to the 20,000 lost and missing souls from the Great East Earthquake that hit Japan three years ago.
