Saturday, October 26, 2013

Madame Marmalade's Mysterious Puzzle Question Version, Love Affair, Beyond the Memories, Jinroh Gemu, Madoka Magica The Movie

This week was a back to work week after having fun at festivals. It has been pretty quiet for the most part but due to my schedule I have been able to catch up with a lot of anime I had intended to watch from the . The first impressions are going to come in bits and pieces because I have a lot of film reviews to write and I am also taking part in a read-along for the fantasy novel . It has been over a year since I took part in the last one and I enjoyed it a lot. The group I am a part of get a set of questions every Saturday and then post their answers on a Monday so there goes my review schedule. More posts during the week to bore you with



Reviews? Well I wrote two this week, both for a Kore-eda film. The first was for and the second was for . Both films are rather good and I'd urge anyone unfamiliar with Japanese cinema to watch them.




What films are released in Japan/Tokyo's (art house) cinemas' today?



MADAME MARMALADE'S MYSTERIOUS PUZZLE QUESTION VERSION



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: MADAMU MARMALADE NO IJO NA NAZO: SHUTSUDAI HEN



RUNNING TIME: 105 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 25th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Yoshihiro Nakamura, Norio Tsuruta, Daiki Ueda



WRITER: Yoshihiro Nakamura, Norio Tsuruta, Daiki Ueda (Screenplay),



STARRING: Haruna Kawaguchi, Atsuko Takahata, Hajime Yamazaki, Narushi Ikeda, Shiro Namiki Tamae Ando, Koko Mori, Noriko Nakagoshi,



This film looks interesting because it looks like the first of two omnibus films with a wrap-around story about the search for a film inside the films in the film . Still with me? With this Question Version of the film, the audience then gets to answer some questions posed by the film by submitting an answer sheet. The second film, released next month, answers all of the questions in the Answer Edition.



It brings together some good (most of the time) directors who handle a different film which a detective scours for a secret. So we have Yoshihiro Nakamura (, ) probably doing drama, Norio Tsuruta (Ring 0: Birthday, Dream Cruise) probably doing horror and an unknown in Daiki Ueda.



There is a group of decent actors including Haruna Kawaguchi (P.O.V. - A Cursed Film) who plays the super car driving fox Madame Marmalade, Atsuko Takahata (Bunny Drop), Tamae Ando (, April Bride), and Hajime Yamazaki (Swallowtail Butterfly, ).30 years ago, Shunnosuke Todo, the master of the film world revealed to his wife that there is a secret in three shot films which contained a love story before he passed away. Now his wife is on the verge of death so she hires Madame Marmalade (Kawaguchi) to find the secret!LOVE AFFAIR



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: J JI



RUNNING TIME: 102 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 25th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Yoichiro Hayama



WRITER: Yoichiro Hayama, Noriko Tanimura (Screenplay),



STARRING: Yuri Morishita, Shinji Ozeki, Shimako Iwai, Kohei Kuroda,



Yuri Morishita profession foxy lady (commonly known as a gravure idol) who has starred in Futari Ecchi live-action films and indie title Intermission, stars in a horror film about a love hotel where Eriko (Morishita) and married man Ryo (Ozeki) meet for a one-off fling but get caught in a curse which traps them in a loop repeating death and destruction. If I were Ryo and death kept interrupting my illicit assignation with the foxy Eriko, I'd be mad and go on a rampage of death and destruction even if it is as low budget as it seems to be in this trailer!



BEYOND THE MEMORIES



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: KIYOKU YAWAKU



RUNNING TIME: 127 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Takehiko Shinjo



WRITER: Sachiko Tanaka, Satomi Oshima (Screenplay), Ryo Ikuemi (Original Manga)



STARRING: Kengo Kora, Masami Nagasawa, Masaki Okada, Aoi Nakamura, Chizuru Ikewaki, Yuki Furukawa, Haru, Kaoru Hirata, Soko Wada, Ryosei Tayama, Megumi



Romansu is in the air. The poster is totemo romantic, no? It's based on a comic book and the story looks like the standard melodramatic set-up - heroine scarred by past meets man also carrying bad memories. It stars a group of beautiful people and each of them is a talented actor: Kengo Kora (, ), Masami Nagasawa () Masaki Okada (, Confessions), and Aoi Nakamura (, ).



Kanna Seto (Nagasawa) lost her childhood friend Haruta in a car accident when she was in high school. She still carries the pain of the incident in her heart even as an adult so when she meets Roku Akazawa (Okada) who also lost a childhood friend and carries gilt, the two fall in love JINROH GEMU



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: JINROH GEMU



RUNNING TIME: 92 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Izuru Kumasaka



WRITER:(Screenplay), Kenichi Kiriki (Original Work)



STARRING: Nanami Sakuraba



And this week's low-budget death game involving school girls is Jinroh Game. It stars Nanami Sakuraba (After Dinner Mysteries, ) as Airi, a high school girl kidnapped by a mysterious person who proceeds to kidnap nine other people and forces them to play the Jinroh Game. Sounds dangerous. Take a look at the trailer to see if it is



Apparently the game involves a group of people, one being a werewolf and the rest being villagers, and the hunt for the wolf through talking about each other's identity



MADOKA MAGICA THE MOVIE - REBELLION -



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: GEKIJ -BAN MAHSH JO MADOKA MAGICA SHINPEN: HANGYAKU NO MONOGATARI



RUNNING TIME: N/A



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



CHIEF DIRECTOR: Akiyuki Shinbo, DIRECTOR: Yukihiro Miyamoto



WRITER: Gen Urobuchi (Screenplay), Magica Quartet (Original Work)



STARRING: Aoi Yuki (Madoka), Chiwa Saito (Homura), Ai Nonaka (Kyoko), Emiri Kato (Kyubey), Eri Kitamura (Sayaka), Kana Asumi (Nagisa), Kaori Mizuhashi (Mami)



I haven't watched a magical girl anime since Sailor Moon (that one episode of Sympho Gear the Star that Burst in the Distance or whatever the title is doesn't count!!!) but writing about anime news for a website has made me aware of the Madoka Magica franchise, a post-modern take on the genre which has won lots of awards and wowed critics and even plays at cinemas in the US. The film is handled by two rising stars of anime, Akiyuki Shinbo (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Bakemonogatari, Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei) and Gen Urobuchi (Psycho-Pass, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet). When these two are on a series you at least take a look at it because the ones I listed are some of the better recent TV anime out there (especially Bakemonogatari and Arakawa). The film looks sparkly pretty!



Madoka Kaname used to be a normal happy girl before she sacrifice herself to save other magical girls from a cruel fate. Homra cannot forget the sacrifice her friend made and so she continues to fight on.PRINCESS BETRAYAL



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: URAGIRI HIME



RUNNING TIME: 91 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Masaki Iwana



WRITER: Masaki Iwana (Screenplay),



STARRING: Akiko Taumi, Yuri Osawa,



I think this is a film containing an interview with veteran stage actress, an essay on World War II and the 3.11 disaster and more.The trailer is strange, a collection of all these things which are unknown but angry!



DOKIDOKI! PRECURE THE MOVIE: MANA'S GETTING MARRIED!!? THE DRESS OF HOPE TIED TO THE FUTURE



JAPANESE:!!?



ROMAJI: EIGA DOKIDOKI! PURIKYUA MANA KEKKON! ! ? MIRAI NI TSUNAGU KIBNO DORESU



RUNNING TIME: 92 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Naoyuki Itou



WRITER: Ryota Yamaguchi (Screenplay)



STARRING: Hitomi Nabatame, Kanako Miyamoto, Mai Fuchigami, Minako Kotobuki, Rie Kugimiya, Ayaka Ohashi,



This is yet another Pretty Cure film based on another TV series. Sparkly magical girls and love! I know nothing about the franchise so I'll skip the waffle and lead you to the trailer. Synopsis comes from Anime News Network.



One day, Mana Aida received a wedding dress from her mother and grandmother that they had worn in the past. While thinking about who she would wear this beside someday, a mysterious man named Matthew appears, and Mana is thrown back into the past. She was happy to see her grandmother she loved and her old dog Maro, but she then realizes that Arisu and Rikka aren't there because memories have been altered. In order to save precious memories, the future, dreams and hope, Mana transforms into Cure Heart.



SPARKLE! I just went on the website and my cursor sparkles. It was worth the trip



MIROKU



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: MIROKU



RUNNING TIME: 87 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Kaizo Hayashi



WRITER: Kaizo Hayashi (Screenplay),



STARRING: Masatoshi Nagase, Kaho Tsuchimura, Ayaka Onishi, Hiromi Nakazato, Shiori Doi, Kanako Mizumoto, Masaru Shiga, Seizo Fukumoto, Iori Harada,



Masatoshi Nagase (a.k.a. Mike Yokohama!) stars in an adaptation of an autobiographical novel written by , an award-winning writer who was interested in flight and romantic relationships between adolescent boys who are all played by hot women. Is it still a trap if they are women? We get a mixture of his writing and a glimpse of his impoverished life and how the dream of literature kept him going. Staff and students at Kyoto University of Art and Design helped make the film.



BEATCHILD 1987



JAPANESE:BEATCHILD1987



ROMAJI: BEIBDAIJ BUKA BEATCHILD 1987



RUNNING TIME: 139 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Teru Sato



STARRING: The Blue Hearts, Hound Dog, BOOWY, Red Warriors, The Street Sliders



This is a documentary about an all-night rock festival in Japan that took place in 1987 and had a line-up of bands including The Blue Hearts play to an audience of about 72,000. Rain, mud and awesome music. LINDA LINDAAAA, LINDA, LINDA, LINDAA-AH. Sorry. Couldn't resist singing it.



ONNA-TACHI NO MIYAKO WAGGEN'OGGEN



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: ONNA-TACHI NO MIYAKO WAGGEN'OGGEN



RUNNING TIME: 103 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: N/A



WRITER: N/A



STARRING: Shinobu Otake, Miyuki Matsuda, Kaoru Sugita, Mari Nishio, Kenichi Endo, Aiko Nagayama,



Shinobu Otake portrays one of a group of women who struggle to revive a fishing town hit by a bad economy and a low fertility rate by using the old red light district and a restaurant stocked with fish their husbands' catchI think



BEAN DAIFUKU STORY



JAPANESE



ROMAJI: MAME DAIFUKU MONOGATARI



RUNNING TIME: 30 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Shuichi Okita



WRITER: Shiro Maeda (Screenplay),



STARRING: Akiko Kikuchi, Daisuke Kuroda, Daisuke Sasaki, Yuriko Osaki, Maki Mori



What's your favourite snack? In this short film from Shuichi Okita (, The Great Passage) and Shiro Maeda (The Story of Yonosuke, ) - The two work together in a film called The Extreme Sukiyaki, Maeda's debut theatrical feature next month - they focus on , a small round rice cake stuffed with bean paste and a company who wages a campaign to make it win the "best snack general election". This sounds small but it's getting a DVD release in December! I couldn't find a trailer but here's a video of the Japanese actor Hidetoshi Nishijima () eating them for the women who read this blog.



HOW SELFISH I AM



JAPANESE:



ROMAJI: JIBUN NO KOTO BAKARIDE NASAKENAKU NARU YO



RUNNING TIME: 106 mins.



RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2013



DIRECTOR: Daigo Matsui



WRITER: Daigo Matsui (Screenplay), Sekaikan Ozaki (Original Work)



STARRING: Sei Ando, Shunsuke Daito, Kaonashi Hasegawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Taku Koizumu, Mei Kurokawa, Yukiji Ogawa, Sekaikan Ozaki, Maho Yamada



Everybody's running! Everybody's shouting! Indie music plays and a couple fights in the fading light of a setting sun. A girl with glasses sings alone in a karaoke booth.This is all potentially dramatic and profound but what's the truth? The movie played at the Tokyo International Film Festival. It is a musical created Sekaikan Ozaki of the rock band CreepHyp and directed/adapted by Daigo Matsui (Afro Tanaka). It is about a cha in a trailer who hooks up with a runaway girl, an OL (office lady) and a geek all of whom are miserable and angry and frustrated.
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