Three trios in search of happiness find themselves transported to other worlds in Shunichiro Miki’s surreal quasi-sequel to Funky Forest
Mar 20, 2022 • Subscribe
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あっためて vs あたためて #learnjapanese
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The Mourning Forest (殯の森, Naomi Kawase, 2007)
“There are no set rules,” according to the reassuringly steadfast head of a rural nursing home in Naomi Kawase’s The Mourning Forest (殯の森, Mogari no Mori). Uttering the…
Funky Forest: The First Contact (ナイスの森 The First Contact, Katsuhito Ishii & Hajime Ishimine & Shunichiro Miki, 2005)
“Thinking is too scary, so I’ll forget about it” according to one young woman in this surreal series of sequitur skits
The Petrified Forest (化石の森, Masahiro Shinoda, 1973)
An angst-ridden medical student wrestles with truth and responsibility while drawn into a toxic relationship with a childhood friend and trying to avoid the estranged mother he resents…
あとになってわかったこと
Collector's Mindset - How to Japanese - February 2025
ズバって
What we should be reading in Japanese - How to Japanese - April 2021
During the Rains (つゆのあとさき, Shinpei Yamazaki, 2024)
A collection of women discover that the real pandemic is misogyny in Shinpei Yamazaki’s covid-era indie drama.
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 12 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Yesterday I said that I was reviewing two series this week that focused on complicated relationships. The first was Volume 9 of Otona ni Nattemo, by Shimura Takako…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 7 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When I reviewed Volume 6 I said of that volume that it was like a fever finally breaking. “You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel better,…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 9 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When we first met Miwa, she was unsure of herself. And when we met Saeko she seemed very confident. As we’ve got to know them, we’ve come to…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 6 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
You know how you feel after you’ve had a fever, when the fever breaks and you’re soaked in sweat? You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In Tamifull’s Yuri drama Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな), we are confronted with something we don’t see very often at all in Yuri…two people who may just…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 8 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
“The characters and the art have grown, Tamifull’s narrative skills are excellent here. We’ve been with them through a lot…and we’re still here as they enter the next…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 10 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Life is complex – humans are complex systems and relationships are complex systems made up of other complex systems interacting. Things are always complicated in Tamifull’s Tsukiatte Ag…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 11 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In my review of Volume 10, I said, “I’m ready for something to lighten up.” Welp, Volume 11 of Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな) by Tamifull is not…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
As a reviewer, I understand that spoilers are sometimes unavoidable in order to make a review make sense. As a reader, I don’t particularly mind spoilers…until I do.…
It’s a Summer Film! (サマーフィルムにのって, Soshi Matsumoto, 2020)
A jidaigeki-obsessed high schooler sets out to make her own summer samurai movie in Soshi Matsumoto’s charming sci-fi infected teen rom-com
Fusa (その木戸を通って, Kon Ichikawa, 1993)
Kon Ichikawa’s Fusa (その木戸を通って, Sono Kido wo Totte) opens on a note of artifice. Misty rain and the verdant green of the forest give way to total darkness…
Manga Kodomo Bunko (まんがこども文庫) Bonus Song - Come the Day After Tomorrow (あさっておいで)
Sung by (歌): Columbia Yurikago-kai (コロムビアゆりかご会) Lyrics (作詞): Eriko Kishida (岸田衿子) Composition and Arrangement (作曲・編曲): Seiichirō Uno (宇野誠一郎) Very special thanks to PopKorn Kat for transferring and scanning this record!
Yuri Manga: Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 3 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
2020 marks an interesting new phase for me in regards to Yuri manga. Because there are so many more comics about adult women, written for adults, my specific…
Lost in Forest (山中森林, Johnny Chiang, 2022)
A former gangster finds himself displaced within the modern society after release from prison in Johnny Chiang’s melancholy neo-noir.
Struggling Man (私はいったい、何と闘っているのか, Toshio Lee, 2021)
A dejected middle-aged man experiences a crisis of masculinity when his home and work lives come under threat in Toshio Lee’s warmhearted comedy.
Woman of Design (その場所に女ありて, Hideo Suzuki, 1962)
Post-war women find themselves constrained by a relentlessly patriarchal society in Hideo Suzuki’s workplace melodrama
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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]
A fallen kaiju presents a new problem for the governing authorities in Satoshi Miki’s satirical comedy.
Mother (おかあさん, Mikio Naruse, 1952)
A teenage girl struggles to understand her self-sacrificing mother in Mikio Naruse’s subversive take on the hahamono
Amalock (あまろっく, Kazuhiro Nakamura, 2024)
A resentful middle-aged woman’s perspective begins to change when her father suddenly marries a much younger woman in Kazuhiro Nakamura’s lighthearted dramedy.
Drawing Closer (余命一年の僕が、余命半年の君と出会った話。, Takahiro Miki, 2024)
A young man with a year to live finds new purpose after meeting a girl who is also dying of a terminal illness in Takahiro Miki’s teen junai…
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
Nosari: Impermanent Eternity (のさりの島, Tatsuya Yamamoto, 2020)
An ore ore scammer’s cynical worldview is challenged when he finds temporary harbour with an elderly woman in Yamamoto’s touching indie drama
Domains 王国 (あるいはその家について) (2019) Dir: Natsuka Kusano
Domains is a thoroughly absorbing drama thanks to excellent performances and its unique structure. Domains 王国 (あるいはその家について) (2019) Dir: Natsuka Kusano
Your Japanese is Good If You Get This No.3 てもらう・てくれる・てあげる
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The Tales of Kurashiki (蔵のある街, Emiko Hiramatsu, 2025)
A trio of teens begin to find new direction in their lives after coming together to organise a fireworks festival in Emiko Hiramatsu warmhearted local drama.
The Lump in My Heart (あつい胸さわぎ, Shingo Matsumura, 2022)
A young woman with a growing desire for independence is thrown into turmoil by a totally unexpected diagnosis of cancer in Shingo Matsumura’s gentle coming-of-age tale
Aristocrats (あのこは貴族, Yukiko Sode, 2021)
Two women involved with the same man eventually find interclass solidarity in Sode’s empathetic critique of a highly stratified and fiercely patriarchal society
In the Distance (距ててて, Saki Kato, 2022)
Two roommates struggle to get along amid the stress of pandemic-era life in Saki Kato’s indie dramedy.
Review: NOODLE FIGHTER MIKI
Food manga and comedy should be a fine combination in theory, but this manga manages to turn it into an incredibly off-putting combo. NOODLE...
●BOOK● OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS 4: SAYONARA NIPPON (さよならにっぽん)
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The Fish Tale (さかなのこ, Shuichi Okita, 2022) [Fantasia 2022]
The infinite enthusiasm of a fish obsessive gradually brightens the world around them in Shuichi Okita’s charming portrait of an eccentric.
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 9 (おとなになっても)
I am currently reading two Japanese series about adults in complicated relationships. Both series are, in equal part, compelling and interesting and annoying as heck. Today we’re looking…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても)
In Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても) a lot happens. We left Akari and Ayano having been carefully not seeing one another for some time, as…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 3 (おとなになっても)
Akari is ready to move on. She’s ready to reclaim her old career in the salon and stop running away from her life. She’s putting Ayano and her…
Otona ni Nattemo, (おとなになっても) Volume 6
In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 6, Shimura Takako has done something I’ve not seen before in a manga and I think I like it. ^_^ The main plot…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとなになっても)
Shimura Takako’s work with gender and sexual minorities has been very influential and popular among western manga readers, and series like Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Son end…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5 (おとなになっても)
Previous volumes of Shimura Takako’s adult life drama have centered on three adults whose life has been thrown into turmoil by unexpected emotions. Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 8 (おとなになっても)
Akari and Ayano have moved in together. This fact fills this book with all sorts of tensions, both positive and negative. Sure, they have been through ” a…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 10 (おとなになっても)
There are a lot of lose strings to tie up here at Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 10 (おとなになっても). And, while the final bow is a bit…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)
In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered…
『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
My Elder Brother (私の兄さん, Yasujiro Shimazu, 1934)
The wastrel brother of earnest man running a taxi firm gets a wakeup call after picking up a runaway woman from an upperclass family in Shimazu’s genial comedy.
OSMcast: Otakon 2011 8-22-2011
Continuing our Otakon podcast extravaganza, on the OSMcast proper we are joined by Hisui of Reserve Thieves fame as we talk about Otakon on a Saturday. The sights,…