Happy weekend, everyone!
I hope everyone is feeling great.
Overtime at work is going to calm down for a bit and I’ve just finished a big otome game project so I can breathe a little easier. I managed to watch over 130 films over the last month or so but mostly for fun. I am still doing all sorts of things such as the on-going social media/writing for the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival which starts next weekend. I’ll be able to meet two animators who are jetting in from Tokyo to the UK so that will be cool. I posted a review for The Hungry Lion (2017) and I’m going to get back to reviewing live-action films soon and watching let’s plays of survival horror games as October approaches.
What is released in Japan this weekend?
Eating Women 
食べる女 「Taberu Onna」
Running Time: 111 mins.
Release Date: September 21st, 2018
Director: Jiro Shono
Writer: Tomomi Tsutsui (Screenplay/Book)
Starring: Kyoko Koizumi, Erika Sawajiri, Atsuko Maeda, Alice Hirose, Yu Yamada, Charlotte Kate Fox, Mitsu Dan, Kyoka Suzuki,
Synopsis: Kyoko Koizumi plays Atsuko Mochitsuki, a lady who runs an old book store in a traditional Japanese house. The store is named “Mochi no Ie” and it is here a group of women played by some of the most famous actors in Japan, gather to eat food and talk about their loves. These women have a lot of interesting stories to tell considering their wide variety of experiences from working on drama productions to clothing stores and we see them reveal their personalities through what they eat and say.
Okko’s Inn 
若おかみは小学生！ 「Waka Okami wa Shōgakusei!」
Running Time: 94 mins.
Release Date: September 21st, 2018
Director: Kitaro Kosaka
Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Script), Asami, Hiroko Reijou (Original Creator)
Starring: Seiran Kobayashi (Oriko “Okko” Seki), Etsuko Kozakura (Suzuki), Nana Mizuki Kaji (Matsuko Akino), Satsumi Matsuda (Makoto “Uri-bō” Tachiuri),
Animation Production: Madhouse
This was at Annecy earlier this year
Synopsis: “Okko” is a girl who has lost her parents in a traffic accident. Since she is in the sixth grade of elementary school, she moves to her grandmother’s hot spring inn “Haru no Ya” (Spring House) where she begins training to take over running the establishment. She finds it tough at first but discovers she can see ghosts and soon begins to enjoy herself with the help of the ghost “Uri-bō” and other mysterious friends.
Café Funiculi Funicula (English title) / Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Literal title) 
コーヒーが冷めないうちに 「Kohi ga Samenai Uchi ni」
Running Time: 116 mins.
Release Date: September 21st, 2018
Director: Ayuko Tsukahara
Writer: Satoko Okudera (Screenplay) Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Novel)
Starring: Kasumi Arimura, Kentaro Ito, Haru, Kento Hayashi, Motoki Fukami, Wakana Matsumoto, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Yo Yoshida, Yutaka Matsushige, Yuriko Ishida,
Synopsis: The cafe “Funiculi Funicula” which is run by Nagare Tokita (Motoki Fukami) has a reputation for having a strange feature: people who sit in a particular can travel back in time. There are rules to this such as, “what happens in the past won’t affect the present” and “you have to wait your turn” and, more importantly, “you can only stay from the time coffee is poured into a cup until said coffee gets cold”. Kazu Tokita (Kasumi Arimura) who works at the cafe meets the various customers and even finds out something about herself…
My Dad is a Heel Wrestler 
パパはわるものチャンピオン 「Papa wa Warumono Chanpion」
Running Time: 111 mins.
Release Date: September 21st, 2018
Director: Kyohei Fujimura
Writer: Kyohei Fujimura (Screenplay), Masahiro Itabashi, Hisanori Yoshida(Picture Book)
Starring: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yoshino Kimura, Riisa Naka, Kokoro Terada, Yo Oizumi, Ryohei Otani,
Synopsis: Professional wrestler Hiroshi Tanahashi stars as Takashi Omura, a man who was once a hero in the wrestling ring but after suffering an injury, he is forced to play a villain and wears a cockroach mask to do his bad guy routine. He and his wife Shiori (Yoshino Kimura) haven’t told their son Shota (Kokoro Terada) what papa does for a living so the young lad has the shock of his life when he discovers he is a pro-wrestler and a villainous one at that! The little boy feels a sense of shame…
Think Again, Junpei 
純平、考え直せ 「Junpei, Kangaenaose」
Running Time: 95 mins.
Release Date: September 22nd, 2018
Director: Toshiyuki Morioka
Writer: Rumi Tsunoda, Takashi Kimura, Nami Yoshikawa (Screenplay), Hideo Okuda (Novel)
Starring: Shuhei Nomura, Yurina Yanagi, Katsuya Maiguma, Amane Okayama, Manaka Kinoshita, Yuu Yashiro,
Synopsis: Junpei (Shuhei Nomura) is a yakuza thug in Kabuki-cho and, at the age of 21-year-old, still a newly-minted adult. He is pretty low down in the hierarchy and desperate to be seen as a man and he thinks he has his chance when his boss orders him to kill a high ranking yakuza from a rival group. Junpei leaps at the assignment. It seems that fate is leading him in this direction when he meets an office lady named Kana (Yurina Yanagi) and spends the night with her but when he tells her about his plans, she feels a mixture of fear and excitement. With a lot of yen and a gun, the two hang out over three days as anxiety, bravado, and passion are felt in the lead-up to the hit. Maybe even love? Will Junpei go through with it or will the presence of Kana get him to think again.
Double Drive: Ryuu no Kizuna 
ダブルドライブ 龍の絆 「Daburu Doraibu Ryuu no Kizuna」
Running Time: 74 mins.
Release Date: September 22nd, 2018
Director: Takashi Motoki
Writer: Masao Ikegaya (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryuji Sato, Yuria Kizaki, Kazuki Namioka, Rei Fujita, Tomohiro Waki,
Synopsis: Junya Igarashi (Ryuji Sato) works at his family’s scrap yard but in order to pay off a debt, he steals cars. One luxury car has a package in the trunk, a woman named Arisa (Yuria Kizaki) who has been tied up.
Takaramono no daki kata 
宝物の抱きかた 「Takaramono no daki kata」
Running Time: 84 mins.
Release Date: September 22nd, 2018
Director: Sakura Enomoto
Writer: Sakura Enomoto (Screenplay), Hideki Murakami (Novel)
Starring: Sakura Enomoto, Hiromi Nagayama, Yoshinori Sakagawa, Sanae Yuuki, Ryo Ushimaru, Yu Toyama,
Synopsis: Writer, director and lead actor Sakura Enomoto stars as Toru Sakurai. He has returned to the family home after 10 years away and he brings with him a five year-old boy named Yuuki. Running the family home and business is Toru’s older brother Naoya who sacrificed his own desires to take on the mantle of responsibility while his younger sibling got to lark around Tokyo. There is tension between the two but the presence of Yuuki lightens the atmosphere and the brothers relax.
Seido no Kirisuto
青銅の基督 「Seido no Kirisuto」
Running Time: 75 mins.
Release Date: September 22nd, 2018
Director: Akihara Hokuin
Writer: Yukie Ochiai (Screenplay), Yoshiro Nagayo (Original Work)
Starring: Tokio Emoto, Ryo Yoshimura, Makotoha Hiroyama, Yoji Matsuda, Mitsuho Otani, Kotomi Takahata,
Synopsis: An artisan in Nagasaki marries a secret Christian at the time when Christians were being persecuted. He is ordered to make a fumi-e, a bronze image of Christ, something people were forced to step on to prove they weren’t Christians… This is a remake of a 1955 film starring Eiji Okuda which was based on a novel by Yoshiro Nagayo.
Konya Shinjuku de, Kanojo wa
今夜新宿で、彼女は、 「Konya Shinjuku de, Kanojo wa」
Running Time: 30 mins.
Release Date: September 22nd, 2018
Director: Kana Yamada
Writer: Kana Yamada (Screenplay),
Starring: Makotoha Hiroyama, Masaki Kusaka, Yusuke Ueda, Honoka, Bobumi Hidaka, Keita Yoshimura,
Synopsis: A woman locked out of her ex-boyfriend’s home is determined to get back in but has to do a lot of roaming around in Shinjuku to find a solution.