Morally compromised citizens of post-war Japan find themselves trapped in the purgatorial hell of a creepy old mansion in Hajime Sato’s gothic romp
May 8, 2021 • Subscribe
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Episode #79 (S10E8) – Kwaidan [怪談] (1965)
Podcaster Mike Lund visits the show to discuss Kwaidan, an adaptation of four of Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese ghost stories. We discuss our favorite stories from this anthology, some…
The Pit of Death (怪談おとし穴, Koji Shima, 1968)
An ambitious salaryman murders his lover to marry the boss’ daughter only to find himself haunted by his transgression in Koji Shima’s eerie horror noir.
YOTSUYA KAIDAN 四谷怪談 (1949) + NIJI OTOKO (THE RAINBOW MAN) 虹男 (1949)
YOTSUYA KAIDAN This is one of several film versions of Tsuruya Nanboku IV’s story, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan. Nanboku wrote this tale...
The Pit of Death / 怪談おとし穴 / Kaidan otoshiana (aka ‘The Ghostly Trap’, 1968)
Obscure Japanese Film #147 Mikio Narita Kuramoto (Mikio Narita) is an ambitious salaryman working at a company based in a tower block sa...
The Passionate Spinster (結婚相談, Ko Nakahira, 1965)
A woman still unmarried at the comparatively late age of 30 begins to go out of her mind while on a hellish descent into vice and crime in…
The Ghosts of Kagami Pond (怪談鏡ケ淵, Masaki Mori, 1959)
The ambitious manager of a kimono store gets a gets a ghostly comeuppance in Masaki Mori’s B-movie kaidan
Curse of the Blood (怪談残酷物語, Kazuo Hase, 1968)
Vengeful ghosts in Japanese cinema usually originate from some kind of injustice. Generally, they’ve met a bad end through no real fault of their own while the person…
The Golden Bat (黄金バット, Hajime Sato, 1966)
Skeletal superhero Golden Bat is woken from his 10,000 year slumber to fight for justice when the Earth is threatened with destruction in Hajime Sato’s delightfully silly tokusatsu…
Yotsuya kaidan - Oiwa no borei / 四谷怪談 お岩の亡霊 (‘Yotsuya kaidan: The Ghost of Oiwa,’1969)
Obscure Japanese Film #233 Kei Sato This Daiei production was the seventh post-war film version of Japan’s most famous ghost story and the last made for the cinema until 1981. Coming just…
Snake Woman’s Curse (怪談蛇女, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1968)
A venal landlord is haunted by the legacy of feudal injustice in Nakagawa’s eerie Meiji-era ghost story
Ghost Man (幽霊男, Motoyoshi Oda, 1954)
Employees at a nude modelling agency find themselves in the firing line when a “bloodsucking painter” escapes from a psychiatric institution in Motoyoshi Oda’s B-movie thriller.
Crest of Betrayal (忠臣蔵外伝 四谷怪談, Kinji Fukasaku, 1994)
An ambitious samurai finds himself corrupted by the times in which he lives in Fukasaku’s etherial fusion of Yotsuya Kaidan and the Chushingura
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
Ghost Cat of Nabeshima (鍋島怪猫伝, Kunio Watanabe, 1949)
A haunted Go board, a paranoid lord, and a rumour about a vengeful ghost cat spirit throw a small community into chaos in Kunio Watabe’s playful supernatural drama
The Living Koheiji (怪異談 生きてゐる小平次, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1982)
An irresolvable love triangle between childhood friends seems set to echo through eternity in Nobuo Nakagawa’s haunting final feature.
Shiver 戦慄せしめよ (2022) Director: Toshiaki Toyoda
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Ghost of the Dusk
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Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) review [The Godzilla Project]
A great narrative that is marred by budget and time-constraints.
Kowloon Generic Romance – 12 – The Purgatory of Kudou Hajime
While Reiko wonders whether Yaomei got to talk to her mom, she refrains from calling her—and thus doesn’t find out that her bestie is no longer connected to…
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Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 08 (Tsundere Little Maid Ghost #しゃちされたい)
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The Problem of the Ghost Woman
It is indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting snow,plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning…
“Hajime no Ippo” – Of Bullies And Buddies
You do not have to be fond of boxing to enjoy Hajime no Ippo. In all honesty, I was never really interested in this sport, but Ippo, the…
Kikuchi Hajime, Composer of Eufonius, Passed Away
On November 30th Riya, the vocalist of eufonius, shared the news of his passing. Kikuchi died on November 16th at age 44.
The History of Mushi Pro – 02 – Anime business (1965-1966)
While I’m hesitant to speak of “golden ages”, if Mushi Production had one, it was certainly the years 1965-1966. Still riding on Tetsuwan Atom’s prodigious popularity, the studio…
Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 01 (A Healing Little Girl Ghost! #しゃちされたい)
AstroNerdBoy reviews Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 01. Yuurei-chan is a ghost girl who doesn't want to see a "corporate slave" die.
Furin / 不倫 (1965)
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Teruo Ishii delivers an interesting exploration of the frailty of the social bond between criminals as well as the trauma that, in some cases, animates the criminal reflex.
Manga One Scandal: The coverup of the crimes of Shoichi Yamamoto (Ichiro Hajime)
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Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 04 (Sisters of Sorts #しゃちされたい)
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Racing the Ghost of Initial D
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1965: The Year Anime Went Beyond The Moon
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Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 11 (#しゃちされたい)
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The Box Man (箱男, Gakuryu Ishii, 2024)
Those who obsess over the Box Man, become the Box Man, in Gakuryu Ishii’s adaptation of the Kobo Abe novel.
Ghost of a Chance
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Tokyo Olympiad (1965) [Documentary Review]
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Another Abashiri Prison Story (1965)
An enjoyable thriller – a straight-forward yakuza flick with many pleasant moments, but not the sequel the first narrative deserved.
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Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 12 (Finale #しゃちされたい)
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AstroNerdBoy reviews the anime Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost, better named Shachiku-san Wants to be Healed by a Little Girl Ghost
Hajime No Ippo's Literal Blackface
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What to Do With the Dead Kaiju? (大怪獣のあとしまつ, Satoshi Miki, 2022) [Fantasia 2022]
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Author & Artist: 最富キョウスケ (Kyousuke Motomi)Released January 2005 by Shogakukan’s Bestucomi Flower ComicsGenre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
奥村雪男 (Okumura Yukio)
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Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 03 (Enter the Kitten! #しゃちされたい)
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