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It's been an exciting year so far with all the new and returning Netflix shows, but things are about to get even better with the release of this upcoming Japanese series on the streaming platform. It's being described as a mix of these two hit shows, Squid Game and Shōgun. I don't know about you, but that sounds like something I definitely don't want to miss!

It's a period drama titled Last Samurai Standing, and it's based on the highly regarded Japanese manga series Ikusagami by Shogo Imamura. Michihito Fujii, Kento Yamaguchi, and Toru Yamamoto directed the episodes. In addition, Fujii, Yamaguchi, and Risa Yashiro wrote the scripts. While the exact episode count for the first season remains unknown, it's likely to fall between eight and 10 episodes, which is the typical range for a Netflix series.

An official release date has not been announced yet. However, Netflix has already set a November 2025 release.

Junichi Okada, who enters this dangerous game with one goal: to save his ailing wife and child.”

Who is in the cast for Last Samurai Standing?

For a long time, Junichi Okada was the only confirmed cast member. Some Netflix subscribers would be familiar with Junichi Okada if they streamed the Japanese crime-thriller Hard Days. Others may recognize him for his voice work on animated titles Tales from Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill. Outside of Netflix, the actor has starred in several historical dramas.

Junichi Okada shared his excitement with Netflix about the project;

“When Netflix executive producer Mr. Takahashi reached out to me, I was still acting in historical dramas. Back then, I was already thinking of ways to make this genre a hit, not just in Japan, but all over the world. I saw their potential for action, drama, social commentary, and entertainment, but I knew they could be taken further.

The narrative of the film begins with an adult and a child entering a supermarket. They are together and appear like a father and son duo. They do not say anything but exchange glances and then proceed into the store only to go their separate ways in different alleys. Then the little boy clasps his hands and plays with his fingers in the manner of a sacred ritual. Seconds later he stealthily slips a packet into his bag and later puts some more packets surreptitiously. That sets the ball rolling for Director Kore-eda Hirokazu's social drama, Shoplifters.

The story revolves around Osamu Shibata (Lily Franky) and Shota (Jyo Kairi), the father-son duo who were out shoplifting at the grocery store. On their way back home, they pick up croquettes and as they are sauntering down the streets on the cold winter night, they stumble upon Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), a four-year-old girl,...

Delicate business is being transacted in this soft-spoken, cinematic treasure from Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Japanese master behind films like Nobody Knows, Like Father, Like Son and After the Storm. Still, Shoplifters made a big noise at the Cannes Film Festival in May, going home with the Palme d’Or — and you only need to watch this quietly devastating gem to see why. Set in a residential, non-touristy part of Tokyo, his latest focuses on a family crowded together in a ramshackle house. They seem like any other affectionate, dysfunctional clan,...

Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku) Magnolia Pictures Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu Screenwriter: Kore-eda Hirokazu Cast: Lily Franky, Ando Sakura, Matsuoka Mayu, Kiki Kilin, Jyo Kairi, Sasaki Miyu Screened at: Park Ave., NYC, 10/31/18 Opens: November 23, 2018 It could be an ordeal for a typical American audience to watch two hours of a film […]

The post Shoplifters Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Exclusive: From veteran filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, family drama Shoplifters is Japan’s submission for the Foreign Language Oscar race this year. Ahead of Magnolia Pictures’ release of the Palme d’Or winner in U.S. theaters on November 23, we’ve got an exclusive clip — check it out above.

The story of a family of small-time crooks has been a box office winner at home, becoming the acclaimed director’s biggest title at local turnstiles with about $38M. In China over the summer, it became the highest grossing live-action Japanese movie ever in the market with over $14M.

In Shoplifters, a dysfunctional band of outsiders is united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter her, Osamu’s wife agrees after learning of the hardships she faces.

We’ve all heard the adage that “you can’t choose your family.” But a character in the latest film from Hirokazu Kore-Eda begs to differ: “Sometimes it’s better to choose your own family.” Here is the first trailer for Shoplifters, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May.

Part of a family that’s barely scraping by with their life of petty crime, Osamu and his son are out theiving one night when they come across a little girl in the freezing cold. They bring her home, but their wife/mother is reluctant to take her in. But she relents after hearing about the hardships the girl faces.

Things get complicated when the family sees their new member on a TV news report that she has been reported missing. “This looks bad — really bad,” Osamu says. Later, as the sitaution begins to unravel, he is asked,...

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, with many of his gems screening here over the years. So would Shoplifters live up to our expectations? Abso-blinking-lutely.

The story revolves around a family of grifters, using their ingenuity and thieving skills to make ends meet. Dad is Osamu Shibata (long-time Kore-eda collaborator Lily Franky), a loveable rogue who combines working on a building site with shoplifting to provide for his family. There’s his wife Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), her sister Aki (Mayu Matsuoka), Granny and the couple’s son Shota (Jyo Kairi). They live piled on top of one another in Granny’s minuscule apartment, and are like a criminal version of the Bucket family in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as beds are shared and cabbage soup is slurped. Like the Buckets, there is much love and tenderness between the family members despite the cramped conditions and frugal means.

With Like Father Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), and After the Storm (2016) all premiering one after the other at the Cannes film festival and The Third Murder getting a berth last autumn in Venice, it seemed as if Hirokazu Kore-eda, now well settled into this mature career groove, was making great films with every other effort. So does Shoplifters — which has the director once again competing for the Palme d’Or — adhere to this pattern? It would seem so.

After the peculiar courtroom detours of Murder, Kore-eda returns to familiar ground — and returns to form — with Shoplifters, yet another story of unusual family setups and one that, once again, ponders questions of what exactly constitutes normal or even healthy choices when raising a child.

The story focuses on one such unconventional family, this time made up of an older matriarch named Hatsue (played by Kore-eda regular Kirin Kiki); Nobuyo and...

Osamu and his wife Nobuyo can’t afford to have sex anymore. Middle-aged and marginally employed, the Shibata couple is crammed into a ramshackle apartment on the outskirts of Tokyo, along with a pre-teen son named Shota (Jyo Kairi), Nobuyo’s younger sister (Matsuoka Mayu), and the frail grandmother whose monthly pension keeps everything from falling apart. The musty hovel can hardly fit all of the life that’s stuffed inside of it; random boxes and old toys are scattered in every direction, as if everyone would rather live in the mess they’ve made than dare to remember all the things they’ve lost. Even if Osamu and Nobuyo had the time to screw around, there’d be nowhere for them to do it.

But they love each other, and find other ways of expressing the bond that exists between them. “We’re connected by our hearts,” Osamu says with his impish grin,...

Depicting a non-conventional Japanese family that survives by running petty scams, Hirokazu Koreeda’s modern day Oliver Twist story offers “poverty porn” of a most unconventional sort. On the one hand, the protagonists’ rough-and-ready lifestyle demonstrate that people can find comfort even in the worst economic conditions. On the other hand, the devastating conclusion exposes how the existing state system fails its neediest individuals. This marks a return to the socially-conscious mode of the Koreeda’s “Nobody Knows,” but also continues his ongoing examination of what constitutes a family, and whether it can still provide cohesion in Japan’s rapidly devolving society. At once charming and heart-wrenching, this exquisitely performed film will steal the hearts of both art-house and mainstream audiences.

On a cold winter’s day, Osamu Shibata (Lily Franky) brings pint-sized Shota (Jyo Kairi) along for their usual shoplifting rounds, coming upon a shivering young girl on their way home.

After highlighting 50 films that we can guarantee are worth seeing this year, it’s time we venture into the unknown. Rather than regurgitating a list of dated-years-in-advance studio releases, we’ve set out to focus on 100 films we’re genuinely looking forward to, regardless of their marketing budgets. While the majority might not have a set release — let alone any confirmed festival premiere — most have wrapped production and will likely debut at some point in 2018, so make sure to check back for updates over the next twelve months and beyond. Be sure to keep the following one-hundred films on your radar (with release dates, where applicable). If you want to see how we did with our picks last year (potentially to shame us), head on over here.

Bonus: Untitled Hirokazu Kore-eda Project

Like clockwork, Hirokazu Kore-eda has just announced a new project after we locked this list, so we’ll...

Kore-eda won critical acclaim last year for crime drama The Third Murder, which premiered at Venice.

Source: Hiroshi Nomura

Japan’s Gaga Corp has unveiled details of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new as-yet-untitled project, which is currently shooting with a cast including Ando Sakura and Lily Franky.

Franky and child actor Jyo Kairi play a father and son from a poor family who take in a small girl (Miyu Sasaki) they find freezing on the streets after one of their shoplifting sessions together. Ando plays the mother with Mayu Matsuoka as her sister and Kiki Kirin as the grandmother on whose pension the family is heavily dependent.

While Franky and Kiki are both Kore-eda regulars, the film marks the first time that Ando and Matsuoka have worked with the director.

Ando is known for her roles in critically-acclaimed independent films including 100 Yen Love and Love Exposure, while Matsuoka’s credits include the Chihayafuru series and Kirishima Thing. Both child...