Anime has been dominating this blog for a while but that’s set to change since I started watching more films and actually reviewing them instead of moving on to the next title. That written, I started the week with a first impression for Danganronpa which I dropped because I’m going to get the game, I followed that up with Watamote which has surprised me with its dark content and brutal humour and then I posted a trailer for Sion Sono’s next film Why Don’t You Play in Hell which is so awesome I’ve watched it at least twenty times!!!
What Japanese released today? Some pretty decent looking films.
STARTO!!!
NMB48 Entertainer! THE MOVIE Comedy Youth Girls! 
Japanese Title: NMB48 げいにん！ THE MOVIE お笑い 青春 ガールズ！
Romaji: NMB48 geinin! THE MOVIE Owarai Seishun Ga-ruzu!
Release Date: August 01st, 2013
Running Time: 90 mins.
Director: Hidemi Uchida
Writer: N/A
Starring: Aya Yamamoto, Yui Yokoyama, Mayu Ogasawara, Nana Yamada, Miyuki Watanabe
We all know about AKB 48 but did you know about NMB48? These girls are based in Namba in Osaka. They are famous enough to have had a sitcom and this is the movie adaptation which sees the girls practicing hard to make it as comedians in a national competition that aims to find funny school girls.
The After-Dinner Mysteries 
Japanese Title: 謎解き は ディナーのあとで
Romaji: Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato De
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: 121 mins.
Director: Masato Hijikata
Writer: Touya Higashikawa (Original Novel), Tsutomu Kuroiwa (Screenplay)
Starring: Sho Sakurai, Keiko Kitagawa, Kippei Shiina, Takeshi Kaga, Rie Miyazawa, Masatoshi Nakamura, Jun Kaname,
This is the movie version of the popular After-Dinner Mysteries TV series which stars Sho Sakurai and Keiko Kitagawa as a sharp-tongued butler/heiress-detective duo who solve crimes and it seems to be the big release for the weekend. In this story, Reiko (Kitagawa) and Kageyama (Sakurai) are on board a cruise ship heading towards Singapore when a murder is committed. They have 5 days to catch the murderer. The only problem is that there are 300 people aboard the ship and even more havoc is waiting to happen! This looks like fun.
Electrobeast Squadron Dinosaurger 
Japanese Title: 劇場版 獣電戦隊キョウリュウジャー ガブリンチョ・オブ・ミュージック
Romaji: Gekijōban Zyuden Sentai kyouryuger Gaburincho Obu Myūjikku
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: N/A
Director: Koichi Sakamoto
Writer: Sanjo Riku (Screenplay)
Starring: Ryo Reyusei, Syuusuke Saito, Yamato Kinjo, Akihisa Shiono Ayuri Konno, Atsushi Maruyama, Robert Baldwin, Mamoru Miyano
Apparently this is the 37th entry in the Power Rangers Super Sentai series or something (alliteration!!!) and it replaced Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters to form part of the Super Hero Time block with Kamen Rider on TV Asahi. It is directed by Koichi Sakamoto (Travellers Dimension Police).
Long ago when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, an army of aliens lead by Deboss invaded and started to exterminate dinosaurs. Fortunately soe were transformed in ZyuDenRyu and sealed Deboss and his army in ice.
In the modern era, Deboss and his forces are starting to thaw ut and wish to recommence their invasion. Wise God Torin is ready for this eventuality and has gathered together a group o people capable of stopping Deboss. They are kown as “the People of the Strong Dragons” or “Kyoryugers” for short. Witness dinosaurs and humans unite to defeat Deboss!
Diamond 
Japanese Title: ダイヤモンド
Romaji: Diyamondo
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: N/A
Director: Toshiyuki Honma
Writer: Hideyuki Kuze (Screenplay)
Starring: Yoshihiko Takahashi, Ken Suzuki, Hiromi Matsunaga, Aiko Takeshi, Keita Machida, Rika Adachi, Daisuke Motoki
Baseball and murder are united in this tale full of real life baseball stars. In this film they play gangsters from the Kitano Organisation who are honourable “old school players”. They were once part of a popular amateur team lead by Nishida (Takahashi). As time passed their popularity waned and they were under threat of losing their baseball field. When the man leading the campaign to save the field is murdered they quickly realise it was rivals from the Fujinami Organisation from Kansai. Time for these gangsters to get back into the game!
Entrusted Their Lives to Aogiri 
Japanese Title: アオギリ に たくして
Romaji: Aogiri ni Takushite
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: 121 mins.
Director: Masato Hijikata
Writer: N/A
Starring: Hideko Hara, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Shingo Kazami, Tomoko Saito, Rei Sugai
The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima flattened the city. It burned and obliterated nearly everything in the area. In 1950, Hiroshima built a park dedicated to spreading the message of world peace. In this park are Aogiri trees which survived the atom bomb and under this tree survivors of the bomb retell the event to people. Chigusa Katagiri (Sugai) is a magazine writer who takes an interest in Stesuko Tanaka (Hara) , a woman wh wants to spread the seeds of the trees that survived.
Akaboshi 
Japanese Title: あかぼし
Romaji: Akaboshi
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: 140 mins.
Director: Ryuhei Yoshino
Writer: Ryuhei Yoshino (Screenplay)
Starring: Romi Park, Vlada, Kazuyuki Kujirai, Kaori Fujii, Kanako Obayashi, Kaoru Miyano, Tomoya Kosaka
Akaboshi played at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival in the Japanese Eyes section. It’s the story of a mother who devotes herself to a cult and becomes mentally imbalanced after the disappearance of her husband, and her son who stays by her side.
Kamen Rider Wizard in Magic Land 
Japanese Title: 劇場版 仮面 ライダー ウィザード イン マジックランド
Romaji: Gekijouban Kamen Raidau- Uiza-do n Majkku Rando
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: N/A
Director: Masato Nakazawa
Writer: Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Creator), Junko (Screenplay)
Starring: Yuko Takayama, Tadashi Nagase,
Kamen Rider Wizard must enter the country of witches when a tornado of rainbow colours hits the earth. The land of witches is a place where magic supersedes technology and so the masked one must tread carefully. He meets a boy named Shiina who has lost his mother to the tornado and the two join forces to get to Great Maya, leader of the witches.
Work Shop 
Japanese Title: ワークショップ
Romaji: Wa-ku Shoppu
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: 75 mins.
Director: Seiji Chiba
Writer: Seiji Chiba(Screenplay)
Starring: Yuta Furukawa, Kimito Totani, Yukihiro Takiguchi, Airi Nakajima, Haruka Ohara, Yuichiro Hirose, Daisuke Noguchi, Tomokazu Kida
Seiji Chiba, director of such cinematic masterpieces like Alien vs. Ninja and Evil Ninja has gone slightly up-market with a suspense stage musical involving a group of actors held at gunpoint by a man who makes them ad lib scenes or risk facing death. The numbers drop as the man with the gun turns out to be a cruel moderator. Which actors will survive??? I want to know because this looks fun!
Stand Up and Grab the Sand 
Japanese Title: 砂 を つかんで 立ち 上がれ
Romaji: Suna wo Tsukande Tachi Agare
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: 52 mins.
Director: Hirokazu Fujisawa
Writer: Hirokazu Fujisawa, Hayato Sakuta (Screenplay)
Starring: Tetsuya Yoda, Takashi Nishina, Mika Akizuki
A short film about film making where Tada, an aspiring actor, goes to extreme lengths to secure a role in a film directed by Saku Shima who finds he has nothing but bad actors on his hands.
Talk to the Dead 
Japanese Title: トーク トゥ ザ デッド
Romaji: To-ku Tou Za Deddo
Release Date: August 03rd, 2013
Running Time: 84 mins.
Director: Norio Tsuruta
Writer: Norio Tsuruta, Midori Sato, Takashige Ichinose (Screenplay)
Starring: Ayaka Komatsu, Kazuki Kato, Yuki Sakurai, Kyusaku Shimada, Tomoko Mariya, Chihiro Otsuka
J-HORROR!! Norio Tsuruta, director of the rather decent Ring 0: Birthday, Kakashi and Dream Cruise is on hand with a slice of yurei action. In this supernatural story, a young woman named Lily (Komatsu) is desperate to earn money for her sick brother but he dies. When she’s told of an app that can contact the dead she tries it out but is he the ghost on the other end of the line?
