Film
- England, Kazuo Ishiguro, Japan, Drama films, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, UK news, Culture, Film, Film adaptations
A Pale View of Hills review – two-stranded adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro novel in the shadow of the A-bomb
Kei Ishikawa’s take on Ishiguro’s first published work is frustrating and bland, undermining its fascinating c…
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Japan, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Stage, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film, Film adaptations
Scarlet review – Mamoru Hosoda turns Hamlet into tale of prowling knights and deep ‘nothingness’
The normally great director misses the mark with a wonderfully animated but narratively clunky retelling of th…
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to Be Loved review – sword, sorcery and smartphones
Those not up to speed on the Miss Kobayashi manga may struggle with the full nuance of this dimension hopping …
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‘I considered starting over as a farmer’: Masao Adachi on political cinema, revolution and Japan today
The director and ex-Japanese Red Army militant discusses his new film Escape, about the anarchist fugitive Sat…
- Japan, Science fiction and fantasy films, Action and adventure films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film, Film adaptations
All You Need is Kill review – time loop anime offers giant alien flower for Groundhog Day with mechs
New version of the sci-fi day-on-repeat sees a perplexed duo repeatedly battle monstrous plants but leaves you…
- Fukushima, Japan, Environment, Japan disaster, Nuclear power, World news, Documentary films, Asia Pacific, Energy, Culture, Film
Fukushima review – a devastating account of disaster and denial in 2011 nuclear catastrophe
A tense return to the disaster foregrounds the heroism of the ‘Fukushima 50’ while raising questions about cor…
- Japan, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline review – eye-popping fan-service in latest in anime franchise
Takeshi Koike’s latest take on Monkey Punch’s vintage manga thief is beautifully animated, but the gossamer-th…
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‘People ought to know’: Blue Boy Trial brings Japan’s trans history up to date
Kasho Iizuka’s feature casts trans actors to revisit a notorious 1965 trial that made gender reassignment ille…
- Family films, Japan, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Culture, Animation in film, Film, Film adaptations
Little Amélie review – tender and poignant study of the fragility of early childhood
Based on a 2000 novella, this sweet animation follows a young girl who wakes from a vegetative state on the ve…
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Sham review – Takashi Miike revisits infamous ‘murder teacher’ trial in unflinching courtroom drama
Based on a real-life case of a teacher charged with abusing a child, Japan’s master of the extreme doesn’t sit…
- AI (artificial intelligence), Japan, Technology, Virtual reality, Computing, World news, Musicals, Asia Pacific, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! review – trippy anime adapted from Japanese folk dives into virtual reality popworld
Emojis explode all over the screen in this hyperactive adaptation of a Japanese folk tale about a princess who…
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Rental Family review – Brendan Fraser seeks meaning in pointless Japanese role-play drama
Fraser plays a hapless Tokyo-based actor working for a firm that offers bespoke therapeutic role-play services…
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Escape review – notorious Japanese revolutionary tells story of country’s most wanted criminal
Director Masao Adachi – formerly of the Japanese Red Army – on the infamous Satoshi Kirishima, who went on the…
- TV streaming, Japan, Animation on TV, World news, Asia Pacific, Television & radio, Television, UK news, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Demon Slayer economics: how the anime juggernaut became a saviour
Once underground art form now props up slumped box office sales and is used by governments to build soft power…
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Moving: an elegant portrait of 90s Japan through tweenage eyes
In this hypnotic, meditative film, a family’s breakdown sets a 12-year-old girl’s coming-of-age in motion as s…
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Tatsuya Nakadai obituary
One of the greatest actors of Japanese cinema best known for Ran, the 1985 film adaptation of King LearThough …
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Television & radio, Books, Television, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution review – spectacular if baffling anime is out to thrill and bewilder
Remix of old and new material from TV series includes tremendous battle sequences but there’s an awful lot of …
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Tatsuya Nakadai, Japanese actor of Ran, Yojimbo and Harakiri, dies aged 92
Star of Japan’s cinematic golden age, who collaborated with Kurosawa and played the lead in Kobayashi’s Human …
- Running, Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Athletics, Life and style, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Sport, Film, Film adaptations
100 Meters review – mesmerising anime of young athletes in search of physical and spiritual high
Dazzling rotoscoped running sequences make up for a lack of narrative subtlety in Kenji Iwaisawa’s filmMuch ha…
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc review – gore-soaked demonic anime squats in the manopshere
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s coming-of-age saga continues with a surreal encounter with a chainsaw-wielding demon living…