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終わコン [owakon]
Hi everyone, how are you doing? I am doing okay. It’s still humid, though. I wish fall could come soon. Well then, this blog is supposed to introduce…
From the End of the World (世界の終わりから, Kazuaki Kiriya, 2023)
Charged with the responsibility of saving the world, a teenage girl wonders if she should in Kazuaki Kiriya’s pre-apocalyptic drama.
Cross Game 50 (End) もう終わりましたょ。世界中で一番のアニメかもね TT_TT Too good, no...
Cross Game 50 (End) もう終わりましたょ。世界中で一番のアニメかもね TT_TT Too good, no words.
New Moomin 48/52 - The Broken Necklace (こわれたくびかざり) (1972) (English subtitles)
The snows are approaching in Moominvalley, and Moomin and his pals are making their own necklaces while they still can. My, jealous of Nonnon's beautiful necklace, attempts to…
Mondays: See You “This” Week! (MONDAYS／このタイムループ、上司に気づかせないと終わらない, Ryo Takebayashi, 2022)
Harried office workers must get through to their dejected salaryman boss if they’re to escape a workplace time loop in Ryo Takebayashi’s zany corporate comedy.
Shuuen no Virche 終遠のヴィルシュ -ErroR:salvation- Review / Summary
Ceres is a woman who brings a “curse” of death wherever she goes. It’s for this reason people call her a Shinigami or a “reaper”. She stays at…
お湯割り
In the newsletter this month I wrote about 角ハイ (kakuhai). This is a combination of 角瓶 (kakubin), Suntory’s flagship whiskey, and ハイボール (highball), a mixed drink made from…
入りませんか？ vs 入ります？ #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
wa yo わよ - Meaning in Japanese
What is wa yo わよ in Japanese, at the end of sentences.
Watashi ha Ongaku de Naguritai: Band Yuri Novel (わたしは音楽で殴りたい: バンド百合小説)
Watashi ha Ongaku de Naguritai: Band Yuri Novel (わたしは音楽で殴りたい: バンド百合小説) by Yuruico Vraisravana is the very last item I picked up in February 2019 when I was in…
Waga ai / わが愛 (‘My Love’, 1960)
Obscure Japanese Film #232 Ineko Arima Niizu (Shin Saburi) is a newspaper reporter who drops dead in the street after a night of heavy drinking. At the wake, his wife (Yatsuko Tan’ami) is…
The End of the Track (跑道終點, Mou Tun-Fei, 1970)
A teenage boy finds himself knocked off course after his best friend suddenly dies in Mou Tun-Fei’s subversive social drama
Suizou Ga Kowaretara, Sukoshi Ikiyasuku Narimashita. (膵臓がこわれたら、少し生きやすくなりました。)
In her last book about her physical health, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, Nagata Kabi-sensei explained the circumstances that landed her in the hospital with alcoholic pancreatitis. We…
傘の下、ふたり
Author & Artist: ぢゅん子 (Junko)Released March 2012 by Kaiohsha’s Gush ComicsGenre: Drama, Romance
久しぶりだね
It’s been a while. A little under 2 years in fact. But that’s life, it has a tendency to keep moving forward. Even when you aren’t ready for…
Mathematical Goodbye / 笑わない数学者
Mathematical Goodbye is a strange book. It’s different from the previous books in the S&M series (standing for the protagonists’ names, Sa...
Noise, melancholy and escapism: わたしのココ
For some reason I tend not to like Vocaloid music or producers, but so far there’s a single artist, that I found many years ago by pure accident…
初めて言われました
The newsletter is online! This month I wrote about the nice, efficient phrase 初めて言われました (Hajimete iwaremashita, That’s the first time anyone has said that about me). I think…
"How About Saying 入りましょう Instead of 入ります?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
宮園かをり (Miyazono Kaori)
Who is Miyazono Kaori? Miyazono Kaori is a gifted violinist with a free-spirited personality and an unconventional approach to music. Her vibrant energy and bold demeanor mask a…
帰り道 ~The long road home~
Myself;Yourself concerns a city boy and the country girl. Both are people who grew up in the same place but went separate ways just before the edge of…
となりのメタラーさん
Author & Artist: マミタ (Mamita)Released April 2020 by Tokuma Shoten Publishing’s Chara ComicsGenre: Romance, Drama
Manga de Wakaru LGBQ+ (マンガでわかるLGBTQ+）
I follow a number of Japanese sexual and gender minority groups on Twitter. I’ve even created a Twitter list with all the JP groups I follow, knowing that…
Love in the Mountains / わかれ / Wakare (‘Parting’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #145 Haruko Wanibuchi and Isuzu Yamada Teenager Kimiko (Haruko Wanibuchi) helps out at a ryokan (traditional inn) i...
Bushido (碁盤斬り, Kazuya Shiraishi, 2024)
A stoical ronin’s peaceful life is disrupted by a face from the past in Kazuya Shiraishi’s elegantly lensed period drama.
Oyafuko dori / 親不孝通り (1958)
Obscure Japanese Film #168 Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Yoko Katsuragi Katsuya ( Hiroshi Kawaguchi) is a cynical student who studies as little ...
Reiwa Uprising れいわ一揆 (2019) Dir: Kazuo Hara
Reiwa Uprising れいわ一揆 (2019) Dir: Kazuo Hara is a fun film that gives a glimpse of Japanese electoral politics
Basic Japanese Sentence Structure No. 20 かわいい #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Fallen Blossoms (花ちりぬ, Tamizo Ishida, 1938)
Troubled geisha find themselves engulfed by oncoming revolution in Tamizo Ishida incendiary drama.
Maria Naganawa as Platelets 長縄 まりあ
'Cells At Work' Seiyuu cosplay as their 'Cells At Work' characters. Credits: TikTok @aniplex_official
A Weather Report (胴鳴り, Yu Kajino, 2024)
A successful television writer is confronted with the mistakes of his past when the teenage daughter he abandoned before birth suddenly tracks him down in Yu Kajino’s indie…
Fire Festival (火まつり, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1985)
A proud mountain man goes to great lengths to hold back the tides of modernity in Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s poetic fable
Dear Etranger / 幼な子われらに生まれ
It’s no secret that divorce is messy and complicated, particularly when children are involved. From the child’s perspective, it may be the moment that you realize your parents…
Bread of Happiness (しあわせのパン, Yukiko Mishima, 2012)
A warmhearted couple offer gentle support to a series of lonely souls from their cosy Hokkaido cafe in Yukiko Mishima’s slice of comfort foodie cinema
Baby Assassins (ベイビーわるきゅーれ, Yugo Sakamoto, 2021)
A pair of mismatched high school girls raised as elite assassins get swept into gangland conflict while forced to live together to learn how integrate into society in…
あとになってわかったこと
Collector's Mindset - How to Japanese - February 2025
Grown-ups (わたし達はおとな, Takuya Kato, 2022)
A young couple struggle to reorient their lives while dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in Takuya Kato’s intense relationship drama.
Saga Saga (緑のざわめき-Saga Saga-, Aimi Natsuto, 2023)
Three women contending with a legacy of patriarchal failure and male violence circle around each other in the picturesque hot springs resort of Ureshino in Aimi Natsuto’s etherial…
How to Japanese Podcast – S02E08 – Roomshare.jp and のり弁
Living with Japanese roommates in Tokyo was the highlight of my time in Japan. I found those roommates on the website Roomshare.jp, a great site that I introduce…
The Angry Street (怒りの街, Mikio Naruse, 1950)
A sociopathic student takes revenge on a changing society by seducing wealthy women in Mikio Naruse’s brooding noir.
Haru to Midori, Volume 3 (春とみどり)
Haru is a lonely woman. She’s never really moved on with her life, even as she has lived it. There was once a girl who had meant something…
Melting Sounds (ほとぼりメルトサウンズ, Kahori Higashi, 2021)
Displaced youngsters begin to find a new sense of place thanks to a warmhearted young woman and an old man’s ambient sound obsession in Kahori Higashi’s quirky drama
Belonging (とりつくしま, Kahori Higashi, 2024)
The recently deceased watch over their loved ones from the vantage point of a familiar object in Kahori Higashi’s wistful drama.
Riverside Mukolitta (川っぺりムコリッタ, Naoko Ogigami, 2021)
A young man recently released from prison discovers an unexpected sense of community after moving to a rural town to start again in Naoko Ogigami’s gently profound dramedy.
Luminous Moss (ひかりごけ, Kei Kumai, 1992)
A writer finds himself exploring an ethical dilemma after being guided to a cave containing luminous moss in Kei Kumai’s surreal psychological drama.
川のほとりに立つ者は
A young woman named Kiyose was recently promoted to the position of manager at an independent café. She devotes her love and attention to the business, but all…
![Featured image for Alone Again in Fukushima ナオト、いまもひとりっきり Dir: Mayu Nakamura (2021) [Yamagata International Film Festival 2021]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20211018/1634536955.23457.49872.jpg)
Alone Again in Fukushima ナオト、いまもひとりっきり Dir: Mayu Nakamura (2021) [Yamagata International Film Festival 2021]
Alone Again in Fukushima sees director Mayu Nakamura visit an interesting samaritan who remained behind to look after abandoned animals. Alone Again in Fukushima ナオト、いまもひとりっきり Dir: Mayu Nakamura…