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Beginning Friday, October 4, Plastic, Daisuke Miyazaki‘s heartwarming love story propelled by the intoxicating power of shared musical obsession, opens for an exclusive one-week NY theatrical run at Metrograph In Theater. On the same day, the film will also have its streaming premiere on Metrograph At Home, running for an exclusive limited engagement until December 4.

Miyazaki’s tender, colorful, terribly charming tribute to headstrong youthful romance and the transcendent power of pop is inspired (and soundtracked) by musician Kensuke Ide’s eclectic, electrifying 2020 concept album—a record framed as being the work of a fictional ’70s glam rock group, Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists, and their mysterious frontman. In Plastic, rock obsessives Jun and Ibuki (Takuma Fujie and An Ogawa) bond over their mutual love for Exne Kedy’s elusive music, falling in love while trying to track their idols down, only to drift apart during the Covid-19 pandemic… until...

Manga artist Naoki Urasawa has scooped out about the intense personal struggles he faced when starting his series Pluto, a reimagining of Osamu Tezuka’s iconic Astro Boy storyline The Greatest Robot on Earth. Overlapping with the Netflix anime adaptation of Pluto, Urasawa publicized the effect the project had on his psyche and creative process.

Pluto | Credit: Studio M2

The manga was published in 2003, which made a departure from the more optimistic tone of Tezuka’s original work. It dived more into the darker themes of conflict, artificial intelligence (AI), and the nature of humanity. His candid reflections offered a rare sight of the psychological toll he had to endure while adapting such an influential piece.

The Weight of Legacy

Naoki Urasawa first encountered The Greatest Robot on Earth at the tender age of five, and describes the story as “the manga that sat at the center of all manga in my heart.

Festival Short Film Juror Ke-Xi Wu Participated in the Master Panels Throughout, Gaining Valuable Insights and Connecting with the International Community

The five-day 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia concluded yesterday in Taipei with great fanfare, attracting tens of thousands of movie enthusiasts and industry professionals, adding immense brilliance to Taiwan’s film scene. This year’s festival featured 15 award-winning films from the Sundance Film Festival, premiering in Taiwan, and hosted 14 panels and workshops. Over 40 international filmmakers from oversea participated, including director Macoto Tezka; Lisa Joy, producer of the global hit Westworld; Nina Yang Bongiovi, producer of Passing, which won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film; Christina Oh, producer of the Oscar-nominated Minari, which won the Best Supporting Actress award; and Anthony Francisco, former Senior Visual Development Artist at Marvel. They engaged in various panels and discussions, fostering deep exchanges with local Taiwanese filmmakers. Renowned actors including Ke-Xi Wu, Janet Hsieh,...

The Sundance Institute and G2Go Entertainment have revealed the short film competition finalists, a screenwriters intensive for Taiwanese filmmakers and panel events for the Sundance Film Festival: Asia in Taipei. The festival runs from Aug. 21 through Aug. 25.

The short film competition highlights the work of six Taiwanese filmmakers, whose movies will be screened at the festival. On opening night, one of the films will be awarded the jury prize for best short film presented by nonprofit organization Gold House.

The six films for this year include “Addiction” directed by Tzu-Hsuan Peng; “Century Egg” directed by Charles Barratt; “Darling This Was Hard” directed by Min-Chun Hou; “Mamu” directed by Aephie Chen; “Side By Side” directed by Ching Wen and “Suo Jiang” directed by Chien-Yu Lin.

The screenwriters intensive is designed to be a showcase and accelerator for upcoming Taiwanese talent by providing creative guidance for emerging filmmakers who are working...

The sudden death of his beloved Sayuri (Akari Sato) shocks pizza delivery guy Kengo Tojo (Kohei Nagano) to the core. Yet, despite this tragic event, life goes on. Not much later, while delivering pizza, he encounters Umika Akaboshi (Nagisa Kihara), a strange high school student. After expressing some interest in the strange posters hanging on the house, Umika suddenly pulls him into the house to introduce him to her father (Makoto Tezuka), who is a shaman. He offers Kengo a taste of his abilities, yet before this show can convince Kengo, he runs away. At night, after arriving home, he finds a spectral Sayuri sitting on his bed.

Osamu Tezuka's iconic surgical genius Black Jack is getting a brand-new stage show.

According to Comic Natalie via Anime News Network, the character's upcoming production, Black Jack Mangeki!! Osamu Tezuka Dai-5 Kan: The Fusion of Comics and Theater, is set to run for eight performances at the Human Art Theater in Tokyo next year. Akio Otsuka, who has voiced the character since 1993, will portray Black Jack alongside double-cast co-star Ippei Osako. The latter performer has appeared in several hit films and TV shows, including Shin Godzilla (2016) and Netflix's live-action Alice in Borderland series. Ryusei Kudo serves as both director and scriptwriter. The play -- the fifth entry in Osamu Tezuka's Mangeki! series -- will run from March 20-24, 2024.

Related Iconic Luxury Sneaker Brand Celebrates 75th Anniversary With Bold Astro Boy Collab Turning 75 years old in 2024, a major Japanese fashion brand is celebrating with a new collection of fresh Astro Boy-themed sneakers and clothing.

Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy franchise has been reimagined in different ways over the years, with Atom: The Beginning taking a dark and mysterious approach. The Atom: The Beginning anime adaptation failed to impress viewers due to its rushed pacing and underdeveloped characters. The current anime adaptation of the manga, Pluto, has generated positive hype and has a better chance of succeeding than Atom: The Beginning.

Astro Boy was one of the first major anime franchises with a flashy boy robot mascot who instantly became recognizable in Japan. Astro Boy's success has turned the titular character into one of anime and manga's biggest icons and there's a strong case to be made for why he's also Osamu Tezuka's greatest creation. Astro Boy lives on as an evergreen property that's recently been reimagined as a darker, grittier series--Pluto--that comes from Naoki Urasawa of Monster fame. Pluto's anime...

Black Jack has unveiled a partially AI-generated chapter to commemorate the manga series' 50th anniversary, originally written by pioneering artist Osamu Tezuka.

Per Comic Natalie, Tezuka Productions revealed the 32-page one-shot chapter, titled Black Jack Kikai no Shinzo - Heartbeat Mark II, at Keio's University Mita Campus in Tokyo, Japan. Heartbeat Mark II is a collaborative project developed by Tezuka Productions and Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, which utilized an AI based on the ChatGPT-4 model trained with the use of Black Jack creator Osamu Tezuka's previous works as a dataset. This is notably the first time an AI-generation tool was used to produce a chapter for the classic manga series.

Slayers Artist Rui Araizumi Fights Back Against AI Accusations

Its wild cause haven’t they already done multiple Black Jack series and chapters with different creators? Why go AI with this one? — 💀Organ-Knight💀 (@organ...

Netflix has ordered an anime series based on the acclaimed manga Pluto. The series is produced by Genco, with animation by M2Studio and is set for release later this year.

The Japanese voice cast includes Shinshu Fuji as Gesicht, Yoko Hikasa as Atom and Minori Suzuki as Uran. Watch a sneak peak below.

Praised by many as a masterpiece, the manga Pluto is based on Tezuka’s Astro Boy “The Greatest Robot on Earth” arc from 1964 and created by Naoki Urasawa and his long-time co creator Takashi Nagasaki. Macoto Tezka supervises with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions.

The suspense drama takes place in a neo-futuristic world where humans and high-functioning robots live in complete harmony. The globally acclaimed manga has won numerous awards, including the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The 2015 stage adaptation of Pluto returned in 2018 by popular demand and toured Japan and Europe.

Netflix will release “Pluto,” based on the manga comic book series by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki, later this year, the streamer announced Tuesday.

Created by Naoki Urasawa and his longtime co-creator Takashi Nagasaki, the manga “Pluto” is based on Osamu Tezuka’s “Astro Boy ‘The Greatest Robot on Earth’” arc from 1964.

A teaser clip gives a sneak peek at this first animated version of the manga.

The suspense drama story is set in a neo-futuristic world with humans and high-functioning robots living together in a peaceful society. The manga, which won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, was adapted for the stage in 2015. By popular demand, it later returned in 2018 and toured Japan and Europe.

“I applaud the courage of everyone that has taken on the challenge of making an anime based on ‘Pluto.’ I am excited about the birth of this new series to win over people’s hearts.

Few Japanese filmmakers have a cinematic style as distinct and refined as the late Nobuhiko Obayashi. Four years after his feature debut, the wild 1977 horror-comedy “House”, the director helmed the similarly bonkers yet not as widely recognised “School in the Crosshairs”. Loosely based on Taku Mayumura’s novel, “Psychic School Wars”, Obayashi’s second feature for Kadokawa Productions is a pacy and spirited slice of exaggerated high-school drama, with a dose of telekinesis thrown in for good measure.

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on Terracotta

Yuka Mitamura (Hiroko Yakushimaru) is cute, popular, at the top of her class, and also just happens to be psychic. After stumbling upon her powers during an after-school incident, Yuka begins to wonder how she can use her abilities to help her rowdy classmates. However, things take a sinister turn when another young psychic, Michiru Takamizawa (Masami Hasegawa), joins Yuka’s school and uses her powers to lead a ruthless school patrol,...

A couple of years ago, Third Window Films released a rather crazy film, “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” which was shot in 1985 but was considered lost. It seems though, that Macoto Tezka’s movie was not the only crazy one to have disappeared during the era, as Masashi Yamamoto also shot “What’s Up Connection” in 1990, a rare bilingual Japan-Hong Kong co-production, which is equally preposterous and also considered lost up until now. Thankfully, it has recently been restored from 35mm elements and has its international premiere in Fantasia.

“What’s Up Connection” is screening on Fantasia International Film Festival

A family of poor swindlers that live in the slums of the secluded fishing village of Po Toi O, find one day that they have won multiple holiday prizes to travel abroad, in different Asian countries. The oldest son, teenager Chi Gau Shin ends up in Tokyo by way of Kamagasaki,...

Tomo Hyakutake is a master of the horrific. For more than two decades, he has been working as special makeup effects artist, moldmaker, model designer, model marker, mask creator, for movies, music videos and commercials, having dozens of credits to his names, while also retaining a gallery with his own work.

We speak with him about his art and his creative procedure, working in movies, his cooperation with the likes of Takashi Miike, Takashi Shimizu, Hideaki Anno and many more, the art and movie scene in Japan and many other topics.

How did your interest in art, and particularly the art of the horrific, begin?

When I was a student, Screaming Mad George and Kazu Hiro were my professors at the university. I also learned a lot from my respected seniors, Yasushi Nirasawa, Takayuki Takeya, and Steve Wang. After graduating from school, they introduced me to the industry. In terms of Art-horror,...

Fantasia’s upcoming virtual edition, which will run August 20 – September 2, will kick off with the first showing of Neil Marshall’s horror The Reckoning. Set in 1665 against the backdrop of the Great Plague, Charlotte Kirk leads the cast of the movie about the witch hunts that followed the crisis.

The fest has revealed a total of eight world premieres alongside films from the SXSW and Tribeca line-ups that have yet to screen for the public. Also debuting are: Chino Moya’s Undergods, Thomas Robert Lee’s The Curse Of Audrey Earnshaw, Sidharth Srinivasan’s Kriya, Mauro Iván Ojeda’s The Undertaker’s Home, and Anthony Scott Burns’s Come True. Scroll down for the full list.

Bad luck for international Fantasia fans, however, as the online screenings, which will run via Festival Scope and Shift72’s virtual screening platform, will only be accessible to those based in Canada.

Fantasia’s...

Stars: Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Kyoko Togawa, Kiyohiko Ozaki | Written and Directed by Macoto Tezuka

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers was made all the way back in 1985. I was only two years old; Back to the Future, The Goonies, Weird Science and The Breakfast Club were enchanting cinema goers by the millions; New Coke was introduced in the USA to very little fanfare and our friends over in Japan released this movie, a movie that I, until very recently, hadn’t heard anything about. It seems I’m not alone though, as the film flopped in its native Japan and even remains unknown to the majority of folks to this day. Strange. Needless to say, I was excited to check it out once I read the premise and heard the riveting backstory behind it.

The backstory to the film, which I found quite intriguing, would see the son of...

In 1985, Macoto Tezka (son of the great manga artist Osamu Tezuka) met musician and TV personality Haruo Chicada who had made a soundtrack to a movie which didn’t actually exist: The Legend of the Stardust Brothers.

At the time Macoto was just 22 years old, a film-student with many short experimental films under his belt, but yet to make a feature-debut and of course had the pressure of the Tezuka name. With Chicada as producer, Tezka then adapted this “fake soundtrack” into the real movie story of “The Stardust Brothers”.

With inspiration from “Phantom of the Paradise” and “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Tezuka assembled a cast of some of Japan’s most famous musicians of the time, including such greats as Kiyohiko Ozaki, Issay, Sunplaza Nakano and Hiroshi Takano, alongside many famous names in Manga such as Monkey Punch (Lupin the 3rd), Shinji Nagashima (Hanaichi Monme), Yosuke Takahashi (Mugen Shinsi...

A list of the best cinematographers is bound to include high profile names like Robert Richardson and Roger Deakins, but it’s also likely to include Christopher Doyle. The Australian-born Hong Kong cinematographer made a name for himself through his collaborations with Wong Kar-Wai, which famously include “Chungking Express,” “Happy Together,” “In the Mood for Love,” and “2046.” Doyle’s work on “In the Mood for Love” is often cited as some of the most notable cinematography of the 21st century. Doyle recently spoke with The Film Stage about the past and future of his career, and he did not mince words when it came to referencing filmmakers James Cameron and Michael Mann.

At one point in the interview Doyle talks about the various directors he has been fortunate enough to work with throughout his career, from Wong Kar-Wai to Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch, and Edward Yang. The Dp...

Stars: Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Kyoko Togawa, Kiyohiko Ozaki | Written and Directed by Macoto Tezuka

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers was made all the way back in 1985. I was only two years old; Back to the Future, The Goonies, Weird Science and The Breakfast Club were enchanting cinema goers by the millions; New Coke was introduced in the USA to very little fanfare and our friends over in Japan released this movie, a movie that I, until very recently, hadn’t heard anything about. It seems I’m not alone though, as the film flopped in its native Japan and even remains unknown to the majority of folks to this day. Strange. Needless to say, I was excited to check it out once I read the premise and heard the riveting backstory behind it.

The backstory to the film, which I found quite intriguing, would see the son of...

This year marks the festival’s 20th anniversary.

This year’s FrightFest, the annual UK genre festival, has unveiled a line-up that features 20 world premieres including films from the Soska Sisters (American Mary) and Tom Paton (Black Site).

The Soska Sisters, Jen and Sylvia, are screening their second feature Rabid, their re-imagining of David Cronenberg’s 1977 film. Paton’s Stairs is a sci-fi horror about a special ops squad that find themselves trapped on a never-ending stairwell.

Also screening are Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by André Øvredal’s, and Crawl,...

The 2019 edition of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (07/07 – 07/13/2019) has revealed its full line-up including many Asian titles, some of which have already been presented and reviewed on Asian Movie Pulse.

This year’s program features:

“Fly By Night” by Zahir Omar

“Fly Me To Saitama” by Takeushi Hideki

“The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” by Macoto Tezuka

“The Legend of the Stardust Brothers”

“First Love” by Takashi Miike

“Rise of the Machine Girls” by Kobayashi Yuki

“Reside” by Wisit Sasanatieng

“The Fable” by Kan Eguchi

“The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” by Lee Woon-tae

“Shadow” by Zhang Yimou

“The Pool” by Ping Lumprapleong

“We Are Little Zombies” by Makoto Nagahisa

“The Pool”

Additionally, the program will feature a screening of many Asian short films. For the full program, please click here.

Fumi Nikaido and Goro Inagaki star in the film, directed by Osamu Tezuka’s son, Macoto Tezuka.

Germany’s Rapid Eye Movies and the UK’s Third Window Films are teaming with Japanese production outfit Thefool on a live-action version of Osamu Tezuka’s 1970s erotic manga Barbara.

Tezuka’s son, Macoto Tezuka, is directing the film, which is being produced to celebrate the 90th birth year of the late anime pioneer who also created the Astro Boy character.

Tezuka’s Barbara, as the film will be called, will star Fumi Nikaido, who won best actress at the Venice film festival in 2011 for Himizu,...

At 22 years old, Macoto Tezuka, the son of legendary manga artist and anime director Osamu Tezuka, was still a film-student who was yet to make his feature debut when he met musician Haruo Chicada, who had made a soundtrack; a soundtrack for a movie that didn’t even exist! Inspired by the record, Tezuka set out to adapt it into his first feature length film “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers”. Thirty-four years after its release, Third Window Films are set to release the film on home video with a brand new restoration and a fresh Director’s Cut of the film, in the process introducing a majority of the western as well as Japanese audience to the film.

“The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival (Sdaff)

The film begins with a stark black & white sequence in a futuristic nightclub where the host...

Oahunov Nov 8-18, 2018

Kauainov Nov 15-18, 2018

Big Island & Maui Nov 29 -Dec 2, 2018

The 38th Hawaii International Film Festival is about to start and to continue the festival’s proud tradition of showcasing content and creatives from the Pacific, Asia and North America.

The festival this year features over 180 films, talks and events from 37 countries, with 47 Us, International and World Premieres across 32 sections. 2018 continues the tradition of programming a selection of critically-acclaimed and highly-anticipated films from Asia and around the world, while also giving a platform from emerging creative talents from across the Hawaii-Pacific region.

Outstanding films are accompanied by stars and filmmakers from around the world, connecting East and West through a dedication to discussion, diversity and creativity.

We have picked the Asian titles in the Programme and they are a lot!

Let’s have a look:

Shadow – Opening Night Film

China 2018 – Director: Zhang Yimou

50 First Kisses

Spotlight On Japan – Japan...

Third Window Films is pleased to announce the World Premiere release of the new master of Macoto Tezuka’s 1985 debut film “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers”

In 1985, Macoto Tezka (son of the great manga artist Osamu Tezuka) met musician and TV personality Haruo Chicada who had made a soundtrack to a movie which didn’t actually exist: The Legend of the Stardust Brothers.

At the time Macoto was just 22 years old, a film-student with many short experimental films under his belt, but yet to make a feature-debut and of course had the pressure of the Tezuka name. With Chicada as producer, Tezka then adapted this “fake sountrack” into the real musical story of “The Stardust Brothers”.

With inspiration from “Phantom of the Paradise” and “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Tezuka assembled a cast of some of Japan’s most famous musicians of the time, including such greats as Kiyohiko Ozaki,...

The series includes I Am Sion Sono!!.

The Forum strand of the Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed its programme with a series of Special Screenings.

Artist Ulrike Ottinger’s 12-hour film Chamisso’s Shadow (Chamissos Schatten) opens this year’s Forum with a mammoth screening at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on Feb 12. At the end of the festival, it will be repeated in three separate parts at CineStar at Potsdamer Platz.

Under the title “Hachimiri Madness – Japanese Indies from the Punk Years”, the Forum is showing a series of newly digitised and subtitled Japanese 8-mm films from 1977 to 1990.

Many of the highest profile directors Japan has to offer today made their debut features in this format but very few of them have ever been shown internationally. The series was jointly curated by Keiko Araki (Pia Tokyo), Jacob Wong (Hong Kong Film Festival) and Christoph Terhechte (Berlinale Forum).

The series includes Sion Sono’s I am Sion...

With today's announcement of a series of special screenings, the Berlinale Forum completes its lineup. There's be world premieres of Ulrike Ottinger's 12-hour Chamisso's Shadow, Serpil Turhan's portrait of Rudolf Thome and Dominik Graf and Johannes F. Sievert's Doomed Love - A Journey through German Genre Films. Then the program of "Japanese Indies from the Punk Years" will feature work by Sion Sono, Shinya Tsukamoto, Nobuhiro Suwa, Katsuyuki Hirano, Macoto Tezka, Sogo Ishii, Shinobu Yaguchi, Masashi Yamamoto and Akira Ogata. » - David Hudson...

With today's announcement of a series of special screenings, the Berlinale Forum completes its lineup. There's be world premieres of Ulrike Ottinger's 12-hour Chamisso's Shadow, Serpil Turhan's portrait of Rudolf Thome and Dominik Graf and Johannes F. Sievert's Doomed Love - A Journey through German Genre Films. Then the program of "Japanese Indies from the Punk Years" will feature work by Sion Sono, Shinya Tsukamoto, Nobuhiro Suwa, Katsuyuki Hirano, Macoto Tezka, Sogo Ishii, Shinobu Yaguchi, Masashi Yamamoto and Akira Ogata. » - David Hudson...

A week shy of its theatrical release, "Astro Boy" has got a red carpet treatment for its Los Angeles premiere. Held Monday, October 19, the special screening event took place at Mann Chinese 6 and was made merry with the attendance of a life-size Astro Boy to greet the stars upon their arrivals at the red carpet.

Three of the major voice cast, Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell and Bill Nighy, were spotted attending the premiere and posing with the Astro Boy for the press. While Nicolas Cage who provides voice to Dr. Tenma wasn't seen around, other voice cast members like Eugene Levy, Madeline Carroll, Moises Arias and Sterling Beaumon were present.

Also coming to the special screening event were director David Bowers, producer Maryann Garger and Summit Entertainment's Co-Chairman/CEO Rob Friedman. Meanwhile, the guests joining the celebration included Koji Yakusho, the actor who voices original robot boy, and Macoto Tezuka,...

Astro Boy is as iconic and beloved as Mickey Mouse in his homeland of Japan. He is a much-adored pop culture mainstay that was created in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka, a remarkable and celebrated artist who has since become known as the "god of manga". The adventures of this robotic lad have been chronicled in both a manga series and a television show that ran from 1963 to 1966. The cartoon established the form of animation we know today as anime, and was successfully reworked in the 80s and again in 2003. Now, working with Imagi Entertainment, director David Bowers is set to unleash the magical story of this metal Pinocchio on audiences worldwide in an all-new animated feature film that will be hitting theaters in October of this year.

With a voice cast that includes Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy, and Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy, Bowers and his hardworking team of...