Happy Weekend, people!
I hope you are all well!
I’ve had a busy week of constant travelling between cities and trying to get back into reading books. I reviewed two Edmund Yeo films, River of Exploding Durians and Aqerat. I watched some Italian horror movies and posted reviews for the documentary Towards A Common Tenderness and the Nobuhiko Obayashi drama Hanagatami. Also, the lead picture is awesome.
I hope you had a good week.
What is released this weekend in Japan?
Louder!: Can’t Hear What You’re Singin’, Wimp! 
音量を上げろタコ！なに歌ってんのか全然わかんねぇんだよ!! 「Onryo wo Agero Tako! Nani Utatten noka Zenzen Wakannendayo!!」
Running Time: 106 mins.
Release Date: October 12th, 2018
Director: Satoshi Miki
Writer: Satoshi Miki (Screenplay),
Starring: Sadao Abe, Riho Yoshioka, Yudai Chiba, Kumiko Aso, Eri Fuse, Ryo Iwamatsu, Suzuki Matsuo, Shoko Ikezu,
Satoshi Miki (Adrift in Tokyo) is back (!!!!!!!) and this film looks like a whole lotta fun!!!
Synopsis: Sin (Sadao Abe) is a rock star who has the most awesome vocal chords on the planet. He has a loud voice and can scale up and down four octaves. How is he able to do this? Vocal cord doping. This is not without its problems and his voice is wearing out but not before he meets a street musician named Fuka (Riho Yoshioka) who has the tiniest voice Sin has ever heard. However, her presence makes him look back upon his life and he decides to help her find her voice…
Every Day A Good Day 
日日是好日 「Nichinichi Kore Kojitsu」
Running Time: 100 mins.
Release Date: October 13th, 2018
Director: Tatsushi Ohmori
Writer: Tatsushi Ohmori (Screenplay), Noriko Morishita (essay)
Starring: Haru Kruoki, Mikako Tabe, Kirin Kiki, Shingo Tsurumi, Mayu Tsuruta, Mayu Harada, Saya Kawamura, Chihiro Okamoto,
Synopsis: Noriko (Haru Kuroki) is a 20-year-old university student who has lost her way in life. Noriko’s mother suggests that she attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin Michiko (Mikako Tabe). Michiko is enthusiastic about it but Noriko doesn’t seem so certain. However, once there, Noriko learns from the teacher, Takeda (Kirin Kiki) and experiences a whole new world. It stays with Noriko throughout her life, during frustrations while job hunting, moments when she suffers a broken heart, and during the death of someone important. The tea ceremony always offers her something to return to…
Dare to Stop Us 
止められるか、俺たちを 「Tomerareruka, Oretachi wo」
Running Time: 119 mins.
Release Date: October 13th, 2018
Director: Kazuya Shiraishi
Writer: Junichi Inoue (Screenplay),
Starring: Mugi Kadowaki, Arata Iura, Hiroshi Yamamoto,Soran Tamoto, Katsuya Maiguma, Shinobu Terajima. Sousuke Takaoka, Kisetsu Fujiwara,
Synopsis: Political/pink film director Koji Wakamatsu died six years ago but his presence is still felt in the Japanese film industry as acolytes and collaborators still operate. This film takes a year of his life but frames it through the eyes of, 21-year-old Megumi (Mugi Kadowaki) who joins Wakamatsu Production in the hope of becoming someone worthwhile. There, she meets Wakamatsu (Arata Iura) who has a cadre of young talents dedicated to movie making. Megumi’s world opens up…
The Laws of the Universe: Part 1 
宇宙の法 黎明編 「Uchuu no Hou: Reimei-hen」
Release Date: October 12th, 2018
Running Time: N/A
Director: Isamu Imakake
Writer: Ryuho Okawa (Original Creator)
Starring: Asami Seto (Anna), Hisako Kanemoto (Halle), Ryota Ohsaka (Ray), Ayumu Murase (Dahar), Sayaka Ohara (Gaia),
Animation Production: HS Pictures Studio
This film is the first part of a trilogy based on a story created by Ryuho Okawa, the founder of the religious organisation Happy Science.
Synopsis from Eleven Arts via ANN: University students, Ray, Anna, Tyler, Halle, and Eisuke are enjoying college life and pursuing their dreams, but in reality, They have a secret mission, to fight against invading Reptilians from outer space. One day, Ray travels back in time to 330 million years ago on Earth, to find his missing friend Tyler who has fallen into a trap set by the evil alien, Dahar. During that time, Alpha, the God of the Earth, was planning to create a new civilization on Earth and invited Queen Zamza and her fellow Reptilian from the planet Zeta, to Earth.
What is the intention of Dahar? What will happen to Ray and Tyler?
And what is “the plan of the God of the Earth”?
Asia Sanmenkyo 2016 Reflections 
アジア三面鏡2016 リフレクションズ 「Ajia Sanmenkyo 2016 Rifurekushonzu」
Running Time: 119 mins.
Release Date: October 12th, 2018
Director: Brillante Mendoza (Shiniuma), Kulikar Sotho (Beyond the Bridge), Isao Yukisada (Pigeon),
Writer: Ian Masters, Jon Smith, Kulikar Sotho, Isao Yukisada (Screenplay),
Starring: Masahiko Tsugawa, Sharifah Amani, Masatoshi Nagase (Pigeon), Masaya Kato, Chumvan Sodhachivy, Osamu Shigematsu (Beyond the Bridge), Lou Veloso (Shiniuma),
Synopsis: This is a three-part omnibus film bringing together three directors from Asia with the mission of creating stories with theme of, ‘Living Together in Asia’.
Brillante Mendoza of the Philippines brings a story of a stable worker deported from Hokkaido back to the Philippines in “Shiniuma”.
Isao Yukisada has written and directed “Pigeon”, the story of an elderly Japanese man living in Penang, Malaysia, who is visited by his son once a month. He has a closer bond with a helper who comes to his house and he sees the beaches where his brothers died in WWII after some drama.
Sotho Kulikar of Cambodia has “Beyond the Bridge”, a love story that spans the decades as a Japanese man who helped construct a bridge in Phnom Penh remembers a romance he had with a woman during the reign of the Khmer Rouge and he wonders if the lady is still alive.
Read more about the stories over at IMDB
Saint Young Men 
聖☆おにいさん 「Saint Oniisan」
Running Time: 77 mins.
Release Date: October 12th, 2018
Director: Yuuichi Fukuda
Writer: Yuuichi Fukuda (Screenplay), Hikaru Nakamura (Original Manga)
Starring: Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Shota Sometani, Jiro Sato, Umi Yamano,
Synopsis: Jesus (Ken’ichi Matsuyama) and Buddha (Shota Sometani) are enjoying some time off from their daily routines and are renting an apartment in Tokyo. The trailer is a 360-degree video which shows the duo dealing with a cockroach. Apparently, the two actors ad libbed all their lines in the video.
Lock-On Love 
覚悟はいいかそこの女子。 「Kakugo wa ii ka soko no joshi.」
Running Time: 95 mins.
Release Date: October 12th, 2018
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Writer: Jung-hee Lee (Screenplay), Nana Shiiba (Original Manga)
Starring: Shouma Kai, Erika Karata, Kentaro, Teppei Koike Taishi Nakagawa, Jiei Wakabayashi,
Synopsis: Ikemen high school boy Towa Furuya has always been surrounded by women but has never had a girlfriend. A classmate tells him “you’re the type of guy girls only like to look at.” Towa makes it his mission to get Misono Miwa, the school’s most beautiful girl and popular girl, to be his girlfriend but she turns him down and he discovers that she likes art teacher Takatsugu Masaki.
BD Akechi tantei jimusho 
BD 明智探偵事務所 「BD Akechi tantei jimusho」
Running Time: 87 mins.
Release Date: October 12th, 2018
Director: Ryosuke Nagura
Writer: Yoshimasa Akamatsu (Screenplay), Edogawa Rampo (Original Story)
Starring: Ren Ozawa, Raiga Terasaka, Yuuta Iiyama, Atsushi, Takuto Nakashima, Hayato Mori, Shigemitsu Oki,
Synopsis: Edogawa Ranpo’s mystery novel “Boy Detective Group” series gets the live action movie treatment with the Boy Detectives being the ikemen models and idol group members from “B 2 takes!” and “Rainbow Conquistador”. They work for Akechi Kogoro, the master detective, and are searching for a missing girl after her mother comes to them for help.
Blood-Club Dolls 1 
覚悟はいいかそこの女子。 「Kakugo wa ii ka soko no joshi.」
Running Time: 85 mins.
Release Date: October 13th, 2018
Director: Shutaro Oku
Writer: Shutaro Oku, Junichi Fujisaki (Screenplay), Production I.G, CLAMP (Original Work)
Starring: Kanon Miyahara, Aki Asakura, Yoji Tanaka, Ko Hosokawa, Ren Yagami, Taishi Sugie, Dai Hasegawa, Yuki Kandagawa,
Synopsis: This is based on Blood-C, the seeming misfire of an anime (that worked if you watched the whole thing unlike what I did) crafted by CLAMP and Production I.G as an attempt to leverage the Blood franchise into a new adventure. It was turned into a stage play called Blood-C: The Last Mind and actors like Kanon Miyahara make the transition from stage to screen. The focus of the film is an underground fight club and the people drawn to it.
Please Be My Slave Chapter 3 Depending On You. 
私の奴隷になりなさい第3章 おまえ次第 「Watashi no dorei ni nari nasai dai 3-shō omae shidai」
Running Time: 103 mins.
Release Date: October 13th, 2018
Director: Hideo Jojo
Writer: Hitoshi Ishikawa, Hideo Jojo (Screenplay), Shu Satami (Original Work)
Starring: Katsuya Maigumi, Mio Sugiyama, Aika Yukihira, Sayuri, Masaki Miura
Synopsis: Mio Sugiyama dropped out of agricultural college to act. She stars in this pink film where she plays Mayuko, a woman who is repressed until she finds her desires stimulated by Meguro (Katsuya Maigumi), a guy who likes to “train” women.
Mutafukaz 
ムタフカズ 「Mutafukazu」
Running Time: 90 mins.
Director: Shoujirou Nishimi, Guillaume Renard
Writer: Guillaume Renard (Screenplay)
Animation Production: Studio4°C
Starring: Gringe, Kelly Marot, Gilbert Levy, Jeremie Covillault, Frantz Confiac, Casseurs Flowters
This is a French-Japanese co-production that was at Annecy. It’s based on a comic-book series and brought to life by Studio4°C (Batman Gotham Knight, Animatrix, Tekkonkinkreet, the three Berserk CG movies) and Ankama (WAKFU series). Mutafukaz is full of pop-culture references to things such as John Carpenter’s They Live and Batman and is described as “fast-paced, very gory, flowing with juvenile humour and a total riot.”
Synopsis: Angelino is one of the thousands of deadbeats living in Dark Meat City, a Californian ghetto which could best be described as a hell hole. Angelino may be an orphan but he has friends such as Vinz who has a flaming-head and he has a pizza-delivery job. Said job gets him involved in a scooter accident caused by seeing the heavenly vision of a mysterious girl and pretty soon Angelino starts experiencing violent headaches doubled with strange hallucinations involving monstrous creatures lurking throughout the city…
