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Idol culture is one that has often been dissected and critiqued in both Japanese and South Korean cinema, as has the otaku culture which is closely linked to it. While a lot of them focus on much similar issues, there’s still a few productions that will take you by surprise with their handling of the subjects and Yuichi Sato’s 2007 feature “Kisaragi” does just that.

On the first death anniversary of C-list gravure idol Kisaragi Miki, five die-hard fans, who met on a dedicated online forum, get together to commemorate the occassion and to show off their collection on Kisaragi items and share memories with each other. Soon however, conversation turns to how their beloved idol died, with the official police statement declaring the untimely death as a suicide. The more these five fans talk, however, the more dubious that claim seems to get and the closer...

A scene from the Japanese crime thriller series Kinpika. Courtesy of Mhz Choice

Kinpika is a five-episode subtitled Japanese crime drama that manages to spin a complicated tale with all the efficiency one expects in a Toyota factory. No fat on the bones here as an ex-cop recruits three wrongfully-convicted felons to right the wrongs that were done to them, and to the country. One of them, Kenta Sakaguchi (Kiichi Nakai), is a Yakuza assassin, the second, Isao Okawara (Pierre Taki), was a hard-nosed soldier, and the third, Hirohashi Hidehiko (Yusuke Santamaria), was the top aide to high-ranking government officials. The first was abandoned by jealous under-bosses after years of loyal service in the trenches and time in the slammer. The second was drummed out of the Army for opposing a bill that would waste money and lives, while lining certain pockets. The third took the rap for a honcho’s embezzlement,...

Amazon Prime Video has doubled down on its investment in Japan with six local originals greenlit and an additional foray into live boxing.

At an event in Tokyo on Wednesday, Amazon revealed a reboot of “Takeshi’s Castle,” the iconic game show starring Kitano Takeshi that aired on terrestrial network TBS from 1986-1989. The reboot, with the working title “Takeshi’s Castle ProjectModern Love Tokyo," the Japanese adaptation of Prime Video’s original romantic anthology series "Modern Love." The series stars Asami Mizukawa, Hiromi Nagasaku, Yûsuke Santamaria, Sôsuke Ikematsu, and Naomi Scott, with episodes directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa ("Wife of a Spy"), Naoko Ogigami ("Close-Knit"), Ryuichi Hiroki ("Ride or Die"), Nobuhiro Yamashita ("Matsugane ransha jiken"), and Atsuko Hirayanagi ("Oh Lucy!"), who also serves as showrunner. Set for 2023 is "My Lovely Yokai Girlfriend" a half-hour, young adult romantic horror adventure-comedy series about two outcasts directed by Takahiro Miki and created by Yalun Tu...

Doubling down on investment and expanding its offer in Japan, Prime Video has unveiled a slate of new Japanese originals including a reboot of iconic game show Takeshi’s Castle and a local adaptation of anthology series Modern Love. The streamer revealed the lineup at a showcase event in Tokyo today, where it also announced it will livestream the World Bantamweight title fight between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire on June 7.

Among other new offerings are YA romantic horror adventure-comedy series My Undead Yokai Girlfriend created by NCIS: Hawaii and Grace alums Yalun Tu and Zach Hines; a movie adaptation of Ryota Kosawa’s bestseller Angel Flight; and second seasons of The Masked Singer and The Bachelorette Japan which will debut this summer. Further, an April 22 premiere date for the first season of Bake Off Japan has been set with judges Toshihiko Yoroizuka and Yoshimi Ishikawa, and hosts Maki Sakai and Asuka Kudo.

The official website for Kiyoshi Sasabe’s The Legacy of the Sun (Nichirin no Isan) has been updated with a 50-second teaser trailer.

Based on a 1993 novel by Naoki Award-winner Jiro Sato, the film revolves around a top secret mission to hide Japanese treasures near the conclusion of World War II which would currently be valued at around 200 trillion yen.

Masato Sakai stars as Major Mashiba, an intelligence officer with Japan’s Imperial Guard. Together with First Lieutenant Koizumi (Seiji Fukushi) and Master Sergeant Mochizuki (Shido Nakamura), Mashiba attempts to execute secret orders to hide the treasures from the occupying forces of Douglas MacArthur in the hopes of funding the nation’s reconstruction at some point in the future.

Out of necessity, 20 young schoolgirls are enlisted to help with the mission without being informed of the details. Yusuke Santamaria plays the girls’ teacher and Kaoru Yachigusa plays one of the girls in the present day.

Earlier today, it was announced that Nichirin no Isan, a 1993 novel by Naoki Award-winner Jiro Sato (58) will be made into a film starring Masato Sakai (36).

The novel, which has sold over 500,000 copies to date, revolves around a top secret mission to hide Japanese treasures currently valued at a staggering 200 trillion yen near the conclusion of World War II. Sakai will play Major Mashiba, an intelligence officer with Japan’s Imperial Guard. Together with First Lieutenant Koizumi (Seiji Fukushi) and Master Sergeant Mochizuki (Shido Nakamura), Mashiba attempts to execute secret orders to hide these valuable treasures from the occupying forces of Douglas MacArthur in the hopes of funding the nation’s reconstruction at some point in the future.

Out of necessity, 20 young girls are enlisted to help with the mission without being informed of the details. Yusuke Santamaria (39) will play the girls’ teacher and Kaoru Yachigusa (79) will play one of the girls in the present day.

Oh joy. We’ve been keeping our eyes open for more goodies about the upcoming comedy Dumb Animal/Donju starring Tadanobu Asano and based on the play by Twitch fave Kankuro Kudo. The official site has undergone a face lift and as is the way of things when this kind of thing happens there is a spanking new trailer along with that fabulous two-tone score. Dig it baby.

An especially dull-witted young novelist named Dekoyan (Tadanobu Asano) goes missing and a subsequent investigation uncovers various plots by his friends to murder him—presumably for revealing a childhood secret through the increasingly-popular stories. Regardless of the absurd methods they used in their murder attempts, however, they just couldn’t seem to finish him off. NipponCinema

Tadanobu Asano - Dekoyan

Yoko Maki - Shizuka

Kazuki Kitamura - Edacchi

Yusuke Santamaria - Okaji

Yoko Minamino - Junko

Aimi Satsukawa - Nora

Jero -...

Back in July it was announced that Tadanobu Asano would be the lead in the adaptation of the stage-play Donju written by Kankuro Kudo [Go, Ping Pong, Zebraman, Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san and Maiko Haaaan!!! We can go on, you know]. The story is the mystery behind a young writer named Dekogawa (Asano), who has been “killed” multiple times, but somehow keeps reappearing.

We can now add more names to the bill. Asano’s supporting cast includes Yoko Maki [Udon and The Grudge], Kazuki Kitamura [Maiko Haaaan!!! and Azumi], Yusuke Santamaria [Udon and the Bayside Shakedown movies], Yoko Minamino, and Aimi Satsukawa.

Filming began at the beginning of this month and we can expect a release in 2009.