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The collaboration between Keigo Higashino, author of the Galileo novels on which the movie is based, director Hiroshi Nishitani, and Masaharu Fukuyama in the role of genius physicist-detective Manabu Yukawa has consistently resulted in high-quality productions that also perform well at the local box office. “Silent Parade” reunites this central trio once again, with Ko Shibasaki and Kazuki Kitamura reprising their roles as detectives Kaoru Utsumi and Shunpei Kusanagi, respectively, in a procedural drama that boasts a particularly intricate case.

Silent Parade is screening at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival

Years after beloved high school student Saori Namiki goes missing, her remains are discovered in a burned-out house far from her hometown. Assigned to the case, detective Kusanagi is gripped by an unsettling sense of déjà vu: the prime suspect, Kanichi Hasunuma, is the same man he once investigated in the murder of a young girl. That case, too,...

"How did one girl become hated in Japan and whip everyone into a frenzy?" Netflix has unveiled the full official trailer for a streaming series called The Queen of Villains, about a Japanese pro-wrestler. Set for a global debut on Netflix later this month if anyone wants to rumble with her. Seems like a fun companion series to Glow. Follow the lives of girls who were once nobodies, witness the sheer excitement they sparked, and discover what these wrestlers, who fought with all their might through a bygone era, are asking us in the present day. The series introduces everyone to Dump Matsumoto – a professional wrestler who spurred the women's professional wrestling boom with her cult-like popularity and took Japan by storm in the 80s. One ordinary girl went on to captivate all of Japan. Now, the story of her viciously vile fight for survival is about to begin! Starring Yuriyan Retriever as Dump Matsumoto,...

Live-action anime adaptations have always been a hot topic of debate within the fandom. Plummeted by negative reviews from both critics and fans, whether they deserve it or not, most live-action films and series based on anime face overwhelming dismissal. After all, it's a strenuous task to strike a balance between capturing the original anime's magic and accurately bringing larger-than-life storylines into a grounded medium.

Unsurprisingly, most live-action anime adaptations fail to live up to fans' demands and often unrealistic expectations — even when the production has a decent budget, great special effects, and talented actors. Worst of all, community prejudice will always push back and find something to rage about. However, some anime live-action anime proved skeptics wrong by doing justice to the source material.

Updated on January 25, 2024 by Angelo Delos Trinos: Even if anime fans refuse to admit it, live-action anime have come a long way since the...

Filmmaker Hideaki Anno is one of Japan’s most imaginative and creative filmmakers working today. Whether it be his superb anime show “Neon Genesis Evangelion” or his excellent film “Shin Godzilla,” the auteur director has made a reputation for himself with his stylish filmmaking mixed with emotional storytelling and social commentary. Early on, Anno directed very grounded and haunting pieces of Japanese cinema but with touches of his usual insanity present throughout his work. His first live-action feature, “Love & Pop,” tells a powerful tale of the bond between a group of school girls and raises awareness of disturbing taboos within Japanese society. Following this, Anno would truly show his talents as a filmmaker in his intimate and beautiful film “Shiki-Jitsu.”

on YesAsia

The title of the movie translates to “Ritual” or “Ceremonial Day.” The project would be produced by Studio Kajino, a subsidiary of the popular animation company Studio Ghibli.

Tatsushi Omori’s career to date has been steady, if unspectacular, with a series of gentle films over the last decade-or-so, often delivered by a solid cast, culminating in ‘Every Day a Good Day’ starring the late Kirin Kiki. His latest effort, the delightfully titled ‘When My Mom Died, I Wanted to Eat Her Ashes’ based on Satoshi Miyagawa’s manga, again puts together a nice cast in a tale of a son who cannot be without his mother, through sickness, health and even death.

“When My Mom Died, I Wanted to Eat Her Ashes” screened at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival:

Satoshi (Ken Yasuda of Studio Ghibli voice-acting fame) is at his mother’s funeral, alongside father Toshiaki (Renji Ishibashi) and brother Yuichi (Jun Murakami). Alone with her body, he talks to her as if she is still alive.

We are then taken to Satoshi’s childhood and shown...

‘The Land of Hope’ is a simple and honest movie about fear, hope and freedom when the unexpected and unavoidable comes our way. In this case, a nuclear meltdown, no less. It’s not a singular tale, in that it’s not a survival-against-the-odds story, nor an especially ‘heroic’ one, but it is the kind of experience that any family could have had in a Fukushima-like aftermath.

The devastated Nagashima in ‘The Land of Hope’.

Sion doesn’t overreach for the unique, but rather keeps the focus on realism, indulging in magic lyrical moments only on a couple of occasions. The result is a fairly empathetic experience, even when the story wanders, visiting sub-themes such as peer-pressure or mistrust of the government.

Samuel Goldwyn said that a movie ‘should start with an earthquake and build to a climax’. Sion Sono, the director of ‘The Land of Hope’, obviously took notice,...

(Screened at the 2013 Raindance Film Festival) Controversial writer director Gen Takahashi returns with “Court of Zeus”, a courtroom drama which aims to lift the lid on corruption in the Japanese judiciary system. Gen is of course no stranger to such themes, having painted a less than favourable picture of the country’s police force in his superb 2006 offering “Confessions of a Dog”, a film which for many years struggled to earn the domestic release it undoubtedly deserved. Working again with director of photography Ryuji Ishikura and composer Jun Murakami, who scored his creatively morbid 2008 horror “Goth”, the film is another fiercely incendiary piece from the director, though this time one with a slightly different approach. Starring Hijiri Kojima (“The Love and Death of Kaoru Mitarai”), Shun Shioya (“Tokyo Noir”), Hironobu Nomura (“The Go Master”) and Jun Kawamoto, the film follows Kano, a fast-rising young judge and the perfect product of the court system,...

★★★☆☆ The Land of Hope (2012) is a delicately-paced drama, centring on the lives of a rural farming family who are affected by a nearby environmental catastrophe, set a few years after the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Sion Sono intended to create a film that captured how a tragedy like this affects the everyday lives of people, and he does this with an air of haunting beauty. Sono tells the story of a family divided by the disaster, torn two ways in an attempt to save themselves. Yoichi (Jun Murakami) and his wife Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka) face each and every day with the fear of radiation affecting their unborn child.

Kagurazaka is particularly adept at portraying the desperate lengths Izumi will go to in order to protect her child, illustrating her radiophobia with a sensitivity that could have easily been overdone, whilst Murakumi displays a desperate husband trying to do his best with earnest.

We always look forward to news of a new Sion Sono release, so colour us happy that Third Window Films has announced the arrival of The Land of Hope on U.K. shores. Prolific director Sion Sono (Love Exposure, Himizu) departs from his usual style for this movingly restrained drama of a rural family's struggle to survive in the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake and the resulting nuclear crisis. Starring Isao Natsuyagi (My Way) and Naoko Otani (Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters), special features include an entertaining 70 minute 'Making of' documentary. The Land of Hope arrives on DVD and Blu-Ray August 26th, 2013. We'll be reviewing it very shortly... Synopsis: In the fictional Nagashima prefecture, Yoichi Ono (Jun Murakami) lives a peaceful life with his wife Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), and his parents Yasuhiko (Isao Natsuyagi) and Chieko (Nakok Otani), on the family's small farm. One day, an earthquake disrupts the calm,...

The Japan Syndrome: Sono Puts Human Face to Tsunami Tragedy

The prolific and insanely busy Sion Sono returns with another tale centered on the aftermath of Japan’s devastating tsunami, The Land of Hope. While his last film, Himizu focused on two teenagers eking out a dystopic existence in their post-tsunami world, this latest is based on a family’s true story of survival in the aftermath of the nuclear reactor explosion. At times a tad overly sentimental, especially in the context of Sono’s own dark and challenging oeuvre, this is a mostly winning experience, perhaps best as a document of the ravaged landscape that still has yet to be revitalized even a year later, when this was filmed.

Sono gives us a fictional location, the Nagashima prefecture, a small town butted up against a nuclear power plant. Yoichi Ono (Jun Murakami) and his wife Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka) lead...

A 30-second teaser for Shion Sono’s upcoming film The Land of Hope has been uploaded to the official YouTube channel of its distributor, Bitters End.

It’s set in the Japanese countryside and revolves around a couple, Yoichi (Jun Murakami) and Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), who are living in a village as humble dairy farmers with Yoichi’s parents Yasuhiko (Isao Natsuyagi) and Chieko (Naoko Otani).

One day, a huge earthquake strikes and an evacuation begins, but Yoichi is hesitant to leave their lifetime home behind. When he discovers his wife is pregnant, he must do whatever it takes to protect her and their unborn child. Meanwhile, their neighbors (Yutaka Shimizu, Hikari Kajiwara, Denden, and Mariko Tsutsui). have to make their own choice about evacuation.

“The Land of Hope” is scheduled for an autumn release in Japan. A quick UK release is also likely due to Third Window Films being one of the co-producers.

Over the past few months, we’ve added a weekly Friday feature rounding up the new releases coming to the big screen each week, courtesy of our Mr. Rob Keeling, giving you a taste of all the brilliant(/not so brilliant) films entering your local cinemas at the weekend.

It recently occurred to me to start up a similar weekly feature, instead rounding up all* the films making their way to the shelves of your local video stores (and of course, increasingly, supermarkets) at the start of each week.

There are so many brilliant films often released in close proximity to each other that sometimes it’s just not possible to see everything you want to see on the big screen, not to mention the fact that not all films are released in a nearby cinema (particularly if you live outside of London). I’m a big believer in the...

The Japanese film website Cinema Today has uploaded the new trailer for Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Blazing Famiglia to their YouTube channel.

The film is a live-action adaptation of Hiroshi Tanaka’s manga series “Bakugyaku Kazoku” (1999-2004). The series followed up Tanaka’s Badboys manga (1988-1996), which centered around biker gangs in Hiroshima and was made into a movie in 2011. Bakugyaku Kazoku is set in the Kanto region and features different themes than its predecessor with much older characters.

In the movie, comedian Yoshimi Tokui stars as Tetsu Hino, former leader of Kanto’s number one biker gang. Nowadays, he’s a middle-aged construction worker with a rebellious son named Shuhei (Kento Hayashi) who doesn’t respect him.

One day, Tetsu is reunited with his old friends in the wake of an assault. Faced with his past and experiencing strong emotions, Tetsu rediscovers the passion he had in his younger days.

Hirofumi Arai (33) has been cast as the lead in an upcoming movie called Akai Kisetsu (literally “Red Season”).

Arai, typically a supporting actor, will head up a cast featuring names like Tomorowo Taguchi, Masatoshi Nagase, Shigeru Izumiya, Jun Fubuki, and Jun Murakami.

Tetsuhiko Yoshino, former general manager of the rock band Thee Michelle Gun Elephant, wrote the screenplay and is directing the project himself. The story was inspired by the music from Yusuke Chiba’s first solo project, “Snake On The Beach”. Chiba was the front man of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant until they disbanded in 2003 and has been front man of The Birthday since 2006. He reportedly began working on tracks for his solo album in the summer of 2010, during a short break following a tour. He finished recording the songs earlier this year and the 20-track album will be released this fall.

Obviously there will be a strong tie-in...

Last year, director Shion Sono chose to film his live-action adaptation of Himizu in an area devastated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, incorporating the effects of disaster into the story. With his next film, The Land of Hope, he’s going a step further by making a human drama about a family living within the evacuation radius of a damaged nuclear power plant during the disaster.

It was previously known that the story would focus on three primary couples played by Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Otani, Jun Murakami, Megumi Kagurazaka, Yutaka Shimizu, and Hikari Kajiwara—with Denden playing someone with important ties to the main family. Today it was revealed that Daikichi Sugawara, Takashi Yamanaka, and Kenzo Kawarazaki would also star.

Additionally, the film will boast a fairly large cast of established actors in smaller supporting roles including Yusuke Iseya, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Fusako Urabe, Gitan Ohtsuru, Satoshi Matsuo, Shiro Namiki,...

Cold Fish and Suicide Club helmer Sono Sion incorporated elements of March’s tragic Tōhoku tsunami into his acclaimed Himizu, a film that hit about only six months after the occurrence. With that film complete, THR tells us that he’s now centering his next project, Land of Hope, around the ensuing panic of an event similar to the Fukushima nuclear plant incident.

But this is the real deal. Doing some online-based research for a historical topic is the norm among filmmakers these days, yet Sion claims to have snuck “into the nuclear exclusion zone around Fukushima to research the film,” while also “trying to find a way to shoot in the area.” Dedication, fellow artists. Take note.

He began production on Land of Hope just last week; the film follows “an elderly couple (Isao Natsuyagi and Naoko Otani) whose son (Jun Murakami) and his pregnant wife (Megumi Kagurazaka) have...

Awesome news for fans of these so-called Sushi Typhoon films. Well Go USA has released a press note saying they’ve acquired the distribution rights to release Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver (review here), Karate-Robo Zaorgar, and more to DVD this Fall.

It looks like fans of crazy, bloody, Japanese films will be plenty excited.

Well Go USA has acquired DVD, Digital, VOD and Television rights for the North American market to Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon, Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar from Nikkatsu Corporation’s leading genre film label, The Sushi Typhoon. Launched in 2010, The Sushi Typhoon was created by Producer Yoshinori Chiba and aims to bring the best talent from Japanese cult cinema to worldwide audiences. Well Go plans to make its initial rollout on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray starting in fall 2011.

“We are very excited to have secured rights to these ‘neo action gore’ titles, a genre which...

Well Go USA are quickly becoming one of my favorite distribution companies, with releases such as Man From Nowehere and Ip Man 2 kicking all kinds of ass. Now they have picked up the rights to five Sushi Typhoon flicks. Helldriver, Deadball, Mutant Girl Squad, Yakuza Weapon and Karate-Robo Zaborgar will be coming to VOD, DVD and Blu-ray starting in the Fall this year.

Well Go USA Acquires North American Distribution Rights

To Five Films From The Sushi Typhoon Label

Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon,

Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar

Plano, Texas. (July 18, 2011) — Well Go USA has acquired DVD, Digital, VOD and Television rights for the North American market to Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon,

Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar from Nikkatsu Corporation’s leading genre film label, The Sushi Typhoon. Launched in 2010, The Sushi Typhoon was created by Producer Yoshinori Chiba and aims to bring the best talent from Japanese cult cinema to worldwide audiences.

Citing the growth potential and rabid fanbase, Well Go USA has nabbed the rights to five titles from Nikkatsu Corporation's Sushi Typhoon label. Well Go USA is now the proud owner of Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon, Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar. A thorough and descriptive list to say the least.

Varying from hilarious comedy to splatterific violence, the one common thread of all these films is going over-the-top for the sake of entertainment. And isn't that what we really want? Explode that head! Let's see some arterial spray! Bring it on! Stay tuned as Well Go will begin rolling out these titles beginning in the fall of 2011. You've been warned.

From the Press Release

Well Go USA has acquired DVD, Digital, VOD and Television rights for the North American market to Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon, Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar from Nikkatsu Corporation’s leading genre film label,...

by Colleen Wanglund, MoreHorror.com

The gleefully twisted folks at Sushi Typhoon have done it again. The latest action-packed, blood-soaked black comedy Yakuza Weapon (2011) comes courtesy of co-writers and co-directors Tak Sakaguchi and Yudai Yamaguchi.

Based on an adult manga by the late Ken Ishikawa, Yakuza Weapon stars Sakaguchi as Shozo Iwaki, an extremely hard to kill mercenary working in the jungles of South America for the last four years. Shozo has been informed of his father Kenzo’s (Akaji Maro) death by two special agents with their own motives. Kenzo was a yakuza boss who had been double-crossed and murdered by his second-in-command Kurawaki (Shingo Tsurumi).

Upon his return to Japan Shozo is greeted in a rather unique way by his girlfriend (Mei Kurowaka) who loves him but wants to put a serious hurtin’ on him. Shozo, who is bent on revenge, goes after Kurawaki in a spectacular fight...

The official website for Three Points has been updated with a link to a trailer for the film on YouTube.

The film is separated into three parts all directed by Masashi Yamamoto (Junk Food, Man, Woman & the Wall), with segments set in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Okinawa. The Tokyo chapter features an odd love story starring Sola Aoi and Jun Murakami, The Kyoto chapter features a bunch of rappers, and the Okinawa chapter is an improvised documentary featuring various different people in succession.

The only plot information available is for the Tokyo chapter. Aoi plays a girl named Saki who’s saved from a street gang by a Tokyo drifter named Iga (Murakami). Iga gets hurt, but refuses to go to the hospital, so Saki lets him stay with her. After just one night, he disappears. However, one day Saki returns home and is surprised to find Iga has also returned…...

Here is the new trailer for the Japanese gorefest Yakuza Weapon, starring Tak Sakaguchi (The Versus) with a machine gun arm and a rocket launcher for a leg. There was an earlier reel leaked online with unfinished effects, but this is the official trailer.

The film is co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi, who between them have created crazy, action-filled comedies like Battlefield Baseball, Cromartie High School and Be A Man! Samurai School, and featuring action direction by Yuji Shimomura (Versus, Shinobi), special makeup effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Helldriver) and based on an adult comic by Ken Ishikawa, who co-created Cutie Honey, Getter Robot and many other famous series.

Here’s the press release:

The team who brought you Versus have returned with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic penis implants! Working as a hard-to-kill mercenary in South America, ex-yakuza Shozo...

A trailer for Yuichi Kimura’s Wararaifu!!, aka “What a Wonderful Life!!”, has been released via YouTube.

Kimura is best known for his work as a comedian, writer, and character actor, but added film director to his resume with 2009’s tepidly-received “Nisesatsu” (Counterfeit Money).

In his latest film, Jun Murakami (of the comedy duo Shizuru) stars as Shuichi Furukawa, a young man who’s currently living alone in Tokyo but plans on moving in with his fiancee, Mari (Yu Kashii). One day, he receives an unexpected call from his mother reminding him that they would be moving out of his childhood home the following day. Having totally forgotten about this fact, Shuichi quickly makes his way over, but no one seems to be home when he gets there. Unable to find the spare key, he pauses to reflect on his childhood. As individual items are moved out of the house later on in the day,...

Earlier this week, it was announced that the last full-length work of Akutagawa Prize-winning author Kenji Nakagami, Keibetsu (literally “scorn”), is being turned into a film starring Kengo Kora and Anne Suzuki. Ryuichi Hiroki (April Bride, The Lightning Tree) will direct.

Kora plays Kazu, the only son of a prominent family. In spite of his distinguished upbringing, he spends most of his time gambling all his money away in Tokyo. In a fairly drastic shift from her usually image, Suzuki plays Machiko, the number one pole dancer at a club in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. The two start a fling based on mutual attraction and attempt to begin a life together in Kazu’s home town. However, his family is unwilling to recognize the relationship.

Machiko soon returns to Tokyo and Kazu comes to the realization that he has no way to pay off the massive debt he’s racked up with...

It marks the first time a samurai period film will screen in competition at the 34th Montreal World Film Festival. The latest adaptation of a Shuhei Fujisawa short story, Hisshiken Torisashi is set to change things up a bit for this festival. If you find yourself in Montreal during this festival don't miss out! 

Etsushi Toyokawa stars as Kanemi Sanzaemon, a skilled swordsman and the tending president of the Unasaka clan. Three years ago, he dealt with a case of misgovernment by murdering a former prostitute named Renko (Megumi Seki) who was abusing the influence she had gained by becoming the mistress of a powerful daimyo (Jun Murakami). However, he received a lenient punishment for his actions and was eventually allowed to return to his duties within the clan.

After the death of his wife (Naho Toda), Sanzaemon takes care of her niece, Satoo (Chizuru Ikewaki), but doesn't realize she...

Excellent. The long line of films adapted from Shuhei Fujisawa short stories keeps growing and we keeping asking for more. Nothing absolutely wrong with having these finely crafted samurai/chambara films coming out so often. Enter Hisshiken Torisashi from Fujisawa's 'Hidden Blade' series.

Etsushi Toyokawa stars as Kanemi Sanzaemon, a skilled swordsman and the tending president of the Unasaka clan. Three years ago, he dealt with a case of misgovernment by murdering a former prostitute named Renko (Megumi Seki) who was abusing the influence she had gained by becoming the mistress of a powerful daimyo (Jun Murakami). However, he received a lenient punishment for his actions and was eventually allowed to return to his duties within the clan.

After the death of his wife (Naho Toda), Sanzaemon takes care of her niece, Satoo (Chizuru Ikewaki), but doesn't realize she harbors a secret love for him. Meanwhile, a situation arises which...

Toei has released a longer trailer for Hideyuki Hirayama‘s Hisshiken Torisashi, the latest in a long line of film adaptations of stories by the late Shuhei Fujisawa. This particular film is based on a short story taken from Fujisawa’s “Hidden Blade” series, a compilation of stories which involve a character (not always the protagonist) mastering a secret sword technique to be unleashed on his enemies later on.

Etsushi Toyokawa stars as Kanemi Sanzaemon, a skilled swordsman and the tending president of the Unasaka clan. Three years ago, he dealt with a case of misgovernment by murdering a former prostitute named Renko (Megumi Seki) who was abusing the influence she had gained by becoming the mistress of a powerful daimyo (Jun Murakami). However, he received a lenient punishment for his actions and was eventually allowed to return to his duties within the clan.

After the death of his wife...