Faced with dissolution, a wronged clan plots revenge against a selfish and entitled young lord in Eiichi Kudo’s nihilistic jidaigeki.
Feb 2, 2025 • Subscribe
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Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
Desperate peasants recruit samurai protectors in Akira Kurosawa’s classic historical epic back in UK cinemas Oct. 29
Samurai Kids (水の旅人－侍KIDS－, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1993)
A small boy grows closer to the natural world while guiding a tiny samurai on his journey to the sea in Nobuhiko Obayashi’s charming family adventure.
Castle of Owls (忍者秘帖 梟の城, Eiichi Kudo, 1963)
A surviving member of the Iga clan swears vengeance on Toyotomi Hideyoshi only to slowly come to the realisation that the best revenge is living well in Eiichi…
Two Wives (妻二人, Yasuzo Masumura, 1967)
A conflicted social climber becomes disillusioned with his comfortable life on reencountering his uni girlfriend in Yasuzo Masumura’s dark mystery drama.
July Rhapsody (男人四十, Ann Hui, 2002)
A middle-aged school teacher finds himself tempted by a free-spirited student in Ann Hui’s melancholy marital drama.
Freelance Samurai (桃太郎侍, Kenji Misumi, 1957)
An abandoned son resolves to wander Japan killing the “demons” of Edo-era society in Kenji Misumi’s adaptation of the popular novel by Kiichiro Yamate.
Yaiba: Samurai Legend 【真•侍伝 YAIBA】Sakuga MAD
Artists as charismatic as those that brought us the first 2 cours of Yaiba are rarely all in one place. Not only did this project bring them together,…
The Samurai of Edo / 江戸一寸の虫 / Edo issun no mushi (1955)
Obscure Japanese Film #241Rentaro Mikuni In the last years of the Tokugawa shogunate, six people are sentenced to exile for attacking two arrogant British VIPs who had broken etiquette by going through…
The Mannequin House Murders / 人形館の殺人
I didn’t like this book at all. I don’t have much more to say about it.
Eighteen Years in Prison (懲役十八年, Tai Kato, 1967)
A former captain of the kamikaze squad finds himself caught between the contradictions of post-war Japan and the American occupation in Tai Kato’s gangster drama.
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A Samurai in Time (侍タイムスリッパー, Junichi Yasuda, 2024) [Fantasia 2024]
A lone samurai struggles to adjust after being unceremoniously transported to our times in Junichi Yasuda’s time slip dramedy.
Crossroad (死の十字路, Umetsugu Inoue, 1956)
An adulterous industrialist’s life unravels after he accidentally kills his wife and tries to cover up the crime in Umetsugu Inoue’s gothic noir.
The Tragedy of 1 / 一の悲劇
I assume most people reading this blog know who Ellery Queen is, but for who don’t, he (actually the joint pseudonym for two cousins) is on...
Punk Samurai (パンク侍、斬られて候, Gakuryu Ishii, 2018)
The arrival of a chaotic ronin spreading tales of a weird cult results in a battle between “monkeys and idiots” in Gakuryu Ishii’s irreverent jidaigeki comedy.
Interview – Masashi Kudo
The post Interview – Masashi Kudo appeared first on Full Frontal.
The Age of Assassins (殺人狂時代, Kihachi Okamoto, 1967)
A mild-mannered professor is dragged into an international conspiracy in Kihachi Okamoto’s absurdist adventure.
Eiichi Yamamoto (1940-2021)
Eiichi Yamamoto, who died earlier this month, bore witness to crucial moments in anime history. As a young man, he was one of the talents behind the scenes…
Velvet Hustler (紅の流れ星, Toshio Masuda, 1967)
A gangster laying low realises there is no escape from his sense of ennui in Toshio Masuda’s post-modern re-imagining of his earlier Red Pier
Death Within the Evil Eye / 魔眼の匣の殺人
It’s difficult to succeed genius. Chrono Cross isn’t as good as Chrono Trigger , Bioshock 2 isn’t as good as Bioshock , and National Treas...
The Greatest Challenge of All (喜劇 一発勝負, Yoji Yamada, 1967)
A prodigal son rocks the social order in Yoji Yamada’s anarchic nonsense comedy, The Greatest Challenge of All.
Leave Me Alone (不想一個人, Fan Yang-chung, 2021)
A lovelorn gallery owner and ambitious pimp embark on a steamy affair but find themselves bound by their shared yet opposing desires in Fan Yang-chung’s steamy urban drama
A Son (二十歳の息子, Ryuichi Shimada, 2022)
Documentarian Ryuichi Shimada follows a social worker who decides to adopt a 20-year-old man recently released from juvenile detention.
Chika Kudo – Character Profile
Overview Kudo is seen as a touble maker and a bad influence by lots of people at the high school he attends. His grandfather was a professional Koto…
Shroud of Snow / 雪の喪章 / Yuki no mosho (1967)
Obscure Japanese Film #105 Ayako Wakao The story begins in 1930 in Kanazawa, a city located on the west coast of Japan’s main island…
Otona no Yuricon 2020 (大人のユリコン2020)
After a prolonged trip across the ocean, a long-awaited doujinshi has finally arrived at my home. And, like clockwork, the Melonbooks website is down for maintenance, so I…
Judai no seiten / 十代の性典 (‘Teenage Sex Book’, 1953)
Obscure Japanese Film #114 Ayako Wakao When high school student Fusae (Yoko Minamida) is excused from PE one day due to having her perio...
Hametsu no Koibito, Volume 1 (破滅の恋人)
We recently had the pleasure of three guest reviews for Plongée dans la nuit, the French edition of Yoru to Umi, by Goumoto. I had read the first…
Tokyo Sweetheart (東京の恋人, Yasuki Chiba, 1952)
A fake ring causes untold chaos in a small corner of Ginza in Yasuki Chiba’s charming ensemble rom-com.
The Labyrinth House Murders / 迷路館の殺人
The shin-honkaku movement has always been a bit meta. It’s right there in the name: it means “new orthodox,” as it’s a revival of the origi...
House on Fire (火宅の人, Kinji Fukasaku, 1986)
An anxious writer fears collapse under the weight of fatherhood in Kinji Fuksaku’s adaptation of the autobiographical novel of Kazuo Dan.
The Seven Great Detectives / 7人の名探偵
Yukito Ayatsuji ’s The Decagon House Murders was published in 1987, and is credited with kick-starting the shin-honkaku (new orthodox) mov...
The Twilight Years (恍惚の人, Shiro Toyoda, 1973)
A middle-aged woman struggles to care for her father-in-law as his dementia intensifies in Shiro Toyoda’s empathetic drama.
The Black Umbrella Mystery / 体育館の殺人
The Black Umbrella Mystery is a story with the soul of Ellery Queen and the body of an anime protagonist. There are a few Japanese…
Leaving on the 15th Spring (旅立ちの島唄～十五の春～, Yasuhiro Yoshida, 2013)
“How many of them will come back?” a man on the shore ominously asks as he watches the young people of his island ship out to pursue their…
The Mosquito on the Tenth Floor (十階のモスキート, Yoichi Sai, 1983)
A beaten-down beat cop’s existential crisis progressively deepens after he throws himself into financial ruin to buy a computer in Yoichi Sai’s debut feature.
Libido / 性の起原 / Sei no kigen (‘The Origin of Sex’, 1967)
Obscure Japanese Film #253Taiji Tonoyama An unnamed 51-year-old man (Taiji Tonoyama) suffering from some kind of nervous breakdown is recuperating in a mental hospital when he learns about the death of an…
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人（エトランゼ）』のあとがき
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人（エトランゼ）』のあとがき
The Town of Headcounts (人数の町, Shinji Araki, 2020)
A disaffected young man gets a fresh start in a utopian community but quickly becomes disillusioned in Shinji Araki’s slick dystopian thriller
The Human Wall / 人間の壁/ Ningen no kabe (1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #113 Kyoko Kagawa Fumiko (Kyoko Kagawa) is a teacher at an elementary school in Saga Prefecture in the south of Japa...
Murder in the Crimson Manor / 紅蓮館の殺人
Murder in the Crimson Manor is lit. Actually, I think it’s just okay, but “Murder in the Crimson Manor is lit” seemed like a snappier opening, and obliques…
Finger Eleven
Taiki has a match with Haryu, Fuuko learns to fight with her soul, and Denji loses his legs! 8:04 - My Hero Academia 415 20:07 - Undead Unluck 196 32:22 -…
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Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki, Volume 4 ( くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月)
The problem with writing alternate history is that you have to figure out where things go, as china has discovered in Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki series. To understand…
Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki, Volume 2 (くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月)
While we are all waiting for the Seven Seas release of I Fell In Love With the Villainess, (of which I had read the first few chapters in…
Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki, Volume 3 (くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月)
In Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki, Volume 3 (くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月), Satsuki comes face to face with a political group that wants, not just foreigners’ expulsion from Japan…but their deaths…
A Dangerous Age / 続十代の性典 / Zoku judai no seiten (1953)
Obscure Japanese Film #118 Ayako Wakao The Japanese title of this film (which translates as ‘Teenage Sex Diary Sequel’) is somewhat misl...
The Nineteen-Year-Old’s Map (十九歳の地図, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1979)
An alienated young man maps out moral failure and eases his sense of futility through empty threats of violence in Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s dark youth drama.
Eiichi Shimizu Does it Again: RIOBOT Raideen
Eiichi Shimizu is quickly becoming the hottest mecha designer nowadays. From doing Linebarrels of Iron, to the ULTRAMAN manga, and even western properties like Tech-On Avengers most recently.…
The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (華岡青洲の妻, Yasuzo Masumura, 1967)
A mother and a wife become locked in an absurd battle of one-upmanship volunteering as test subjects for a husband’s experiments in Yasuzo Masumura’s ironic relationship drama
Six Singing Women (唄う六人の女, Yoshimasa Ishibashi, 2023)
A man finds himself trapped in a strange place after travelling to the mountains in the wake of his estranged father’s death in Yoshimasa Ishibashi’s surreal dra
Three Women of the North (北の三人, Kiyoshi Saeki, 1945)
Three female radio operators become the backbone of a moribund war effort in the last propaganda film produced before the war’s end.