Wings in the Dark is phenomenal. But before I gush about it, I must proceed with the airing of grievances. Why does it have to have “Mercat...
Dec 15, 2022 • Subscribe
More like this
The Last Kamikaze (最後の特攻隊, Junya Sato, 1970)
Junya Sato’s ambivalent drama straddles the fine line between condemning the wartime past and glorifying those who gave their lives for it.
The Last Judgment / 最後の審判 / Saigo no shinpan (1965)
Obscure Japanese Film #250Tatsuya NakadaiMasao Mishima Jiro (Tatsuya Nakadai), the manager of a pool hall owned by Asai (Masao Mishima), has been having an affair with Masako (Chikage Awashima) since her wealthy…
The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai (峠 最後のサムライ, Takashi Koizumi, 2021)
Holding fast to samurai ideals a progressive retainer realises his era is at an end in Takashi Koizumi’s homage to classic samurai cinema
The Silver Case / シルバー事件
The Silver Case takes place in 1999 in the (fictional) 24th Ward of Tokyo , where the murderer Kamui Uehara committed the titular Silver Ca...
The Pass – Last Days of the Samurai / 峠 最後のサムライ / Tōge saigo no samurai (2020)
Obscure Japanese Film #123 Koji Yakusho This Shochiku production stars Koji Yakusho, well-known for his leading roles in international hit...
ロートレック荘事件 ~ The Lautrec Manor Case
It’s the end of summer and in an elegant western mansion in the suburbs, young men with a promising future and beautiful young women gather. It seemed to…
The Butterfly Murder Case / 蝶々殺人事件
While Kousuke Kindaichi is by far Seishi Yokomizo ’s most famous fictional detective, he is not the only one. Yokomizo also wrote many book...
いる vs ある #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Shigoto no Nochi Dakishimete (仕事の後は抱きしめて)
Aota Yui is a young woman with a dream – she wants to be a chef. To get there, she needs to be accepted by the restaurant’s Taisho.…
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.
September 1923 (福田村事件, Tatsuya Mori, 2023)
Hysteria leads to tragic consequences in Tatsuya Mori’s narrative debut
Willful Murder (日本の熱い日々 謀殺・下山事件, Kei Kumai, 1981)
A dogged reporter comes to the conclusion an industrialist was murdered but cannot say by whom in Kei Kumai’s searing exploration of the occupation and the economic miracle.
Kaze no aru michi / 風のある道 / (‘Windy Road’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #240Izumi Ashikawa Naoko (Izumi Ashikawa) is a young woman still living at home with her father (Shiro Osaka), mother (Toshiko Yamane) and younger sister Chikako (Mayumi Shimizu). Her older…
銀魂 - 鍋は人生の縮図である (25)
GinTama - The hot-pot is a microcosm of life Episode 25
The Lost Alibi (黒い画集 あるサラリーマンの証言, Hiromichi Horikawa, 1960)
A salaryman is conflicted when asked to provide an alibi knowing to do so could expose his extra-marital affair in Hiromichi Horikawa’s psychological noir.
A Man (ある男, Kei Ishikawa, 2022)
A lawyer finds himself questioning his own identity while searching for that of a man who’d been living under an assumed name in Kei Ishikawa’s existential mystery.
![Featured image for The Tales of Kurashiki 蔵のある街 (2025) Director: Emiko Hiramatsu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20250314/1741965957.99712.142712.jpg)
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…
What Happened to Our Nest Egg!? (老後の資金がありません！, Tetsu Maeda, 2021)
A middle-aged woman fears for her family’s financial future in Tetsu Maeda’s warmhearted comedy.
Crimson Wings (紅の翼, Ko Nakahira, 1958)
An earnest pilot’s mission to deliver the tetanus vaccine to a little boy is disrupted by a fugitive yakuza hitman in Ko Nakahira’s lighthearted thriller.
Blood-C: The Last Dark Trailer (Video)
A new trailer for the June 2 anime film Blood-C: The Last Dark has been released on the project’s official website. The video is filled with Saya and…
Children of the Beehive: What Happened Next (その後の蜂の巣の子供たち, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1951)
In an interesting piece of meta docufiction, Hiroshi Shimizu revisits the Beehive a few years later to find out how the orphans live now.
Company Retreat (ある職場, Atsushi Funahashi, 2020)
A workplace trip descends into mistrust and suspicion following an accusation of harassment in Funahashi’s contemplative drama
持つ vs ある to Mean "Have" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
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
Kimi no tame ni Sekai ha Aru (きみのために世界はある)
As you may remember, I’m a huge fan of Usui Shio’s series Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts. So when a collection of Usui-sensei’s work came out from Ichijinsha, I…
The Most Terrible Time in My Life (我が人生最悪の時, Kaizo Hayashi, 1994)
PI/projectionist Maiku Hama becomes embroiled in a burgeoning turf war while trying to help a friend in the first instalment in Kaizo Hayashi’s noir trilogy.
Manga Review | Hand in Hand by Ayu Sakumoto
Yuasa is beautiful, which has become more of a curse than anything. Yuasa can’t make real connections with most people as they only see him for his good…
Can You Say このぬいぐるみいる？ #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Windows in the Dark
You know that feeling when you’re a little kid and you need to use the restroom in the middle of the night, so you slink down the unlit…
The Curious Incident of the Christianity in the Fictional Setting
Relatively few fictional settings feature Christianity. There are a variety of reasons for this—some good and some…not. Even in the isekai stories of C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles…
The Warped Forest (あさっての森, Shunichiro Miki, 2011)
Three trios in search of happiness find themselves transported to other worlds in Shunichiro Miki’s surreal quasi-sequel to Funky Forest
The Secret in the Dark
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
The Voice in the Dark
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
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
First Look: The Darwin Incident
Charlie is a normal 15 year old starting high school except for one detail - he's the world's first Human-Chimpanzee hybrid, a 'Humanzee'. As he forges a friendship…
The Darwin Incident – Episode 1
The series wants to ask big questions about animal rights, extremism, and eugenics, but the writing so far is awfully broad for tackling such hefty issues. The post The…
Anime Like The Darwin Incident
When the Animal Liberation Alliance, an eco-terrorist organization, breaks into a government lab, they try to rescue a pregnant chimpanzee. When she gives birth, they discover that she…
Terror in Resonance, The Gene of AI, AJIN: Demi-Human, BNA, LAZARUS
Basic Japanese Sentence Structure No.6 ある to be, to exist
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
【完全即興】何も見ずに"あのキャラ"を描けるのか？「パイナップルARMY」裏話も！Urasawa Draws The Famous Characters Without Samples
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。浦沢直樹作品電子化プロジェクト、いよいよ完結！「パイナップルARMY」電子化記念ということで、当時の裏話をたっぷりとお届け。総勢7キャラクターを何も見ずに描くというお題にもチャレンジしました。 Urasawa Channel is an official YouTube channel run by a Japanese manga artist Naoki Urasawa. As “Pineapple Army” was digitalized, the digitalization of his past works have been…
My Blood & Bones in a Flowing Galaxy (砕け散るところを見せてあげる, SABU, 2020)
A young man’s attempt to protect a bullied schoolmate leads him into infinite darkness but eventually also to the light in SABU’s poetic teen drama
Their Legacy / 家庭の事情 / Katei no jijo (‘Family Circumstances’, 1962)
Obscure Japanese Film #243So YamamuraJunko Kano and Ayako WakaoUtako Shibusawa and Mako Sanjo Upon retiring, widower Misawa (So Yamamura) decides to give each of his four unmarried daughters 500,000 yen to…
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.
A Grizzly Incident
The Eden Zero crew goes through some unorthodox training, the Lang dorm boys drop some crystals, and the newest Boruto antagonist is trying way too hard. My Hero Academia 302…
Those Who Cast a Curse Like the Headless / 首無の如き祟るもの
And so we arrive at the third book in the Genya Toujou series . The previous two books provided a wonderful blend of J-horror, murder myster...
The Real Thing (本気のしるし, Koji Fukada, 2020)
A bored salaryman begins to chase the real thing after saving a distressed woman from an oncoming train in Fukada’s beautifully elliptical drama
『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 Real Thing 本気のしるし Dir: Koji Fukada (2020)
The Real Thing 本気のしるし Dir: Koji Fukada (2020) is an absorbing and addictive thriller about ascertaining the authentic aspect of a relationship and persona.
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
"Should You Say あなたの物ですか？" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2