Anime Blog Tracker

V. MARIA (2025) Director: Daisuke Miyazaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

In Daisuke Miyazaki’s V. MARIA, the passing down of Visual Kei culture and love from one generation to the next is genuinely moving and the stylish delivery of…

Genkinahito

Mar 17, 2025 • Subscribe

Snowdrop スノードロップ Director: Kota Yoshida [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Snowdrop スノードロップ, by director Kota Yoshida, is a socially conscious domestic drama/character study that looks at the welfare system via a woman chased by the trauma of abandonment…

Genkinahito

Mar 5, 2024 • Subscribe

Good Luck グッドラック Director: Shin Adachi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

Good Luck グッドラック is a wonderful low-key comedy from Shin Adachi that is part travelogue, part-Before Sunrise walk-and-talk, all cool-couple chemistry (HANA AMANO IS A-M-A-Z-I-N-G) [Osaka Asian Film…

Genkinahito

Mar 18, 2025 • Subscribe

The Tales of Kurashiki 蔵のある街 (2025) Director: Emiko Hiramatsu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

The Tales of Kurashiki 蔵のある街 (2025) is a celebration of the beautiful historic city by director Emiko Hiramatsu who sets a youth story in her hometown and delivers…

Genkinahito

Mar 14, 2025 • Subscribe

Performing KAORU’s Funeral カオルの葬式 Director: Noriko Yuasa [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Performing KAORU’s Funeral カオルの葬式 (Dir Noriko Yuasa) is a heady story of remembering an individual through pulling together memories. Amidst the farce and tears of the funeral lies a…

Genkinahito

Apr 8, 2024 • Subscribe

A Preview of Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025

A preview of the films at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025!

Genkinahito

Mar 3, 2025 • Subscribe

Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024) Director: Sawako Fukuoka [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024), sees editor/writer/director Sawako Fukuoka draw upon her own experiences to make a quirky comedy/drama about the everyday pressures and small-scale strangeness experienced b…

Genkinahito

Mar 18, 2024 • Subscribe

Sumiko

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023

 For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 21, 2023 • Subscribe

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023

 For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 21, 2023 • Subscribe

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023

 For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 21, 2023 • Subscribe

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023) Director: Elene Naveriani [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023), by director Elene Naveriani, is a touching late coming-of-age film about a 48-year-old woman in a Georgian village growing into herself after a near-death…

Genkinahito

Mar 6, 2024 • Subscribe

Suton すとん Director: Rikako Watanabe [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Suton すとん, by director Rikako Watanabe. is a quietly affecting character study where a young woman’s life is marked by the poignancy of aging and separation and also…

Genkinahito

Mar 2, 2024 • Subscribe

It Must Be Love 愛の茶番 Director: Junko Emoto [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

It Must Be Love 愛の茶番, by director Junko Emoto, has actors give fun improvisational performances as egotistic characters driven crazy by love in a film-meets-theatre experiment. [Osaka Asian…

Genkinahito

Mar 8, 2024 • Subscribe

The Land of Morning Calm 아침바다 갈매기는 (2024) Director: Park Ri-woong [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

Writer/director Park Ri-woong (The Girl on a Bulldozer) delivers a fiery working-class hero fighting against society’s moral indifference in The Land of Morning Calm 아침바다 갈매기는 (2024) [Osaka…

Genkinahito

Mar 27, 2025 • Subscribe

The Midnight Sun 折にふれて (2024) Director: Hina Murata [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

The Midnight Sun 折にふれて, by director Hina Murata, left me in tears as it captures the pain of parting from family through strong atmospherics and motifs and contrasting…

Genkinahito

Mar 13, 2025 • Subscribe

404 Still Remain 너와 나의 5분 (2024) Director: Uhm Ha-neul [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

Director Uhm Ha-neul’s 404 Still Remain 너와 나의 5분 (2024) is a gorgeous romance between two beautiful boys that revels in early 2000s Japanese and Korean pop culture.…

Genkinahito

Mar 21, 2025 • Subscribe

On a Boat オン・ア・ボート (2024) Director: Heso [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Black comedy and painful humiliation abound as a mismatched couple vie for control in the black comedy On a Boat オン・ア・ボート (2024) Director: Heso [Osaka Asian Film Festival…

Genkinahito

Mar 2, 2024 • Subscribe

Blue Imagine ブルーイマジン Director: Urara Matsubayashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 / Japan Cuts 2024]

Director Urara Matsubayashi makes a definitive #MeToo film for the Japanese film industry with her sincere and complex drama Blue Imagine ブルーイマジン [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 / Japan…

Genkinahito

Jul 18, 2024 • Subscribe

POP! Director: Masashi Komura (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

POP! provides a slightly surreal, slightly sweet existential crisis. POP! Director: Masashi Komura (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

Genkinahito

Mar 24, 2021 • Subscribe

The Winter of 1905 (1981) Director: Yu Wei-Cheng [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

The Winter of 1905 (1981), directed by Yu Wei-Cheng, is a solid dramatisation of Li Shutong’s time in Japan and the influences that would lead him to become…

Genkinahito

Mar 7, 2024 • Subscribe

City of Wind (2023) Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

City of Wind (2023), by director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, is a perfectly-crafted portrait of Mongolian youth that looks at the way modernity and tradition, social order and individuality affect…

Genkinahito

Mar 4, 2024 • Subscribe

Journey to Face Them 그를 마주하는 시간 (2024) Director: Hwang In-won [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

Journey to Face Them 그를 마주하는 시간 (2024), by Hwang In-won, is an examination of facing up to the trauma after assault is all about elliptical storytelling and…

Genkinahito

Mar 26, 2025 • Subscribe

I Am Kirishima  桐島です (2025) Director: Banmei Takahashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

Banmei Takahashi revives the turbulent times of the 70s as he depicts 50 years on the run of the fugitive Satoshi Kirishima and finds a rich and moving…

Genkinahito

Mar 23, 2025 • Subscribe

Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024) Director: Sawako Fukuoka [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024] Second Draft

Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024), sees editor/writer/director Sawako Fukuoka draw upon her own experiences to make a quirky comedy/drama about the everyday pressures and small-scale strangeness experienced b…

Genkinahito

Mar 18, 2024 • Subscribe

Sumiko

The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

The Residents, by director Kahori Higashi, is a snappy ensemble comedy that follows a traditional four-act structure of intro, development, twist, and conclusion. The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kah…

Genkinahito

May 27, 2022 • Subscribe

Out of TOKYO202x Director: Akinori Ikuse [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

A refreshing sci-fi short from Japan, Out of TOKYO202x takes the time-slip formula and uses it on the summer Olympics of 2021! Director: Akinori Ikuse [Osaka Asian Film Festival…

Genkinahito

Mar 12, 2022 • Subscribe

Joint ジョイント Director: Oudai Kojima (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

Joint ジョイント Director: Oudai Kojima (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021] is a refreshing take on the yakuza genre thanks to the depth of its world building and…

Genkinahito

Mar 7, 2021 • Subscribe

Perfect Nervous (2024) Dir: Masaru Sano [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Perfect Nervous (Dir: Masaru Sano, 2024) is a gorgeous short film with fantastical elements as it tells a life-affirming story wherein two young women with incurable body-altering diseases…

Genkinahito

Mar 25, 2024 • Subscribe

Crumpled だからなに (2025) Director: Chihiro Yuki, Hikaru Yabuki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

In their co-directorial/writing debut Crumpled だからなに (2025), Chihiro Yuki and Hikaru Yabuki deliver a tersely-shot short where strong physicality defines the emotional journey. [Osaka Asian Film Fe…

Genkinahito

Mar 19, 2025 • Subscribe

A Glimpse at the Films at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024

A glimpse at the feast of films programmed for Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 (March 01st to March 10th)

Genkinahito

Feb 5, 2024 • Subscribe

Our House Party ボクらのホームパーティー (2022) Director: Shuichi Kawanobe [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

“Our House Party” is a well-acted slice of gay life from Tokyo that gives an honest view of some of what it means to be gay in Japan.…

Genkinahito

Jul 13, 2022 • Subscribe

Inch Forward 走れない人の走り方 (2024) Director: Su Yu-chun [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Inch Forward 走れない人の走り方 (2024) Director: Su Yu-chun [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Genkinahito

May 8, 2024 • Subscribe

Wash Away うぉっしゅ Director: Ikunosuke Okazaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Wash Away うぉっしゅ, the sophomore feature by director Ikunosuke Okazaki, may have an unlikely premise but it works well as an existential examination of loneliness. It plays at…

Genkinahito

Mar 1, 2024 • Subscribe

New Religion ニューレリジョン (2022) Director: Keishi Kondo [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

New Religion ニューレリジョン is a highly-atmospheric horror film from Keishi Kondo who crafts an original story with distinct visuals. It’s one of the best J-horror films I have seen…

Genkinahito

Mar 16, 2023 • Subscribe

Sekai 世界 (2023) Director: Marina Tsukada [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

Sekai 世界, directed by Marina Tsukada, is a rich portrait of two people living in Nagano prefecture. It gently guides us into their inner worlds and exploring them…

Genkinahito

Mar 11, 2023 • Subscribe

yes, yes, yes Director: Akihiko Yano (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

A powerful drama about reckoning with grief, “yes, yes, yes” is powered by raw performances from its brilliant cast. yes, yes, yes Director: Akihiko Yano (2020) [Osaka Asian…

Genkinahito

Mar 9, 2021 • Subscribe

December 赦し (2022) Director: Anshul Chauhan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

December 赦し is director Anshul Chauhan’s third feature film. An impressive courtroom drama, it takes us through a harrowing criminal trial that constantly keeps us empathising with and questi…

Genkinahito

Mar 12, 2023 • Subscribe

Rainy Blue レイニー ブルー (2025) Dir: Asuna Yanagi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

Asuna Yanagi delivers Kumamoto stories as she channels her teen filmmaking experiences into her debut Rainy Blue レイニー ブルー (2025), a warm-hearted coming-of-age comedy drama [Osaka Asian Film…

Genkinahito

Mar 17, 2025 • Subscribe

Where Love Goes 愛のゆくえ (2023) Director: Fuka Miyajima [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

Where Love Goes 愛のゆくえ, from director Fuka Miyajima, is a rich story about love that takes a girl from Hokkaido to Tokyo and back, by way of magical realism.…

Genkinahito

Mar 15, 2023 • Subscribe

A Preview of the Japanese Films at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024

A Preview of the Japanese Films at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 (March 01 – March 10) – trailers and synopses.

Genkinahito

Feb 19, 2024 • Subscribe

Swimming, Sumiko

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023 Announces Complete Lineup

In Osaka 10th to 19th March.

Windows on Worlds

Mar 5, 2023 • Subscribe

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022’s Japanese Films

Details on many of the Japanese films that will be screened at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022

Genkinahito

Mar 7, 2022 • Subscribe

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 Announces Complete Lineup

At venues across Osaka March 10 to 20 plus 10-film retrospective selection streaming worldwide March 3 to 21

Windows on Worlds

Feb 26, 2022 • Subscribe

Sojourn to Shangri-la 是日访古 Director: Lin Yihan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

In “Sojourn to Shangri-la” 是日访古, director Lin Yihan uses the tragicomic event of a failed fashion shoot to slip into an exploration of the transcendent and mythological and…

Genkinahito

Mar 29, 2024 • Subscribe

Strangers 人知れず Director: Sae Suzuki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

Strangers 人知れず Director: Sae Suzuki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022] is an effective look at how people can explore thorny issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination in…

Genkinahito

Nov 14, 2022 • Subscribe

An Interview with Sae Suzuki, Director of Strangers [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

STRANGERS tackles gender discrimination and sexual harassment in a heartfelt and interesting way. Director Sae Suzuki talks about how she made it in an interview done in Japanese…

Genkinahito

Nov 14, 2022 • Subscribe

Out of TOKYO202x Director: Akinori Ikuse [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022] V-Cinema

A rewrite of my review of Out of TOKYO202x, a refreshing sci-fi short from Japan that takes the time-slip formula and uses it on the summer Olympics! Director: Akinori…

Genkinahito

May 18, 2022 • Subscribe

Three Sisters 세자매 Director: Lee Seung-won (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

Three Sisters 세자매 Director: Lee Seung-won (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

Genkinahito

Mar 6, 2021 • Subscribe

An Interview with Satoko Yokohama, Director of “Ito” [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

An Interview with Satoko Yokohama, Director of “Ito” [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

Genkinahito

Apr 12, 2021 • Subscribe

An Interview with Masashi Komura, Director of POP! [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

An Interview with Masashi Komura, Director of POP! [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

Genkinahito

Apr 17, 2021 • Subscribe