Culture
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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…
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Groundbreaking British Museum show set to challenge samurai myths
Exclusive: Exhibition will reveal complex reality, featuring women and artistic creations, beyond armour-clad …
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‘We stick two fingers up at Henry VIII’: can the riotous all-Japanese Six out-Tudor-queen the original?
The Japanese version of the pop-rock phenomenon about the six ill-fated wives caused a sensation in Tokyo, Osa…
- 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…
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‘A force of nature who took no prisoners’: a tribute to Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki
The driving force behind Team Ninja was a game development samurai who almost always won his battlesGame desig…
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Gary Karr obituary
Four years after retiring in 2001, the double bassist Gary Karr, accompanied by Harmon Lewis, added a farewell…
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Crime films, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback review – anime sleuth wades through a bamboozling bureaucratic maze
A labyrinthine but lively 28th instalment of the hit manga series juggles byzantine intrigue, spies and cop ri…
- Teen movies, Japan, Drama films, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Culture, Film
Happyend review – Orwellian Japanese high-school drama is brilliantly dystopian
Teen romance and paranoid surveillance collide to dysfunctional effect in Neo Sora’s beguiling debut future se…
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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle review – battle anime brings the visual flair
In the first of a film trilogy, teenage Tanjiro seeks vengeance for his murdered family in what is a great tas…
- Music, Pop and rock, Japan, World news, Asia Pacific, Anime, Games, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing review – candy-haired popsters put on a show
A garbled story of metaverse musicians based on a mobile game leaves its audience little to grasp hold ofEven …
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Author Rie Qudan: Why I used ChatGPT to write my prize-winning novel
Sympathy Tower Tokyo attracted controversy for being partly written using AI. Does its author think the techno…
- Japan, Science fiction and fantasy films, Family, Life and style, World news, Asia Pacific, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Wolf Children review – Mamoru Hosoda’s tender werewolf fable is a minor masterpiece
Childhood, single motherhood and the call of the wild converge in Hosoda’s most emotionally resonant film – a …
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Wild swimming and TikTok dances: Hiroshima today – in pictures
Aya Fujioka set out to shake the weight of history from her home city and capture her own relationship with it…
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What Happened at Hiroshima review – this rushed, flimsy look at a world-changing atrocity isn’t good enough
Thirty minutes simply isn’t enough time to do justice to such a colossal event. Let’s hope the BBC have someth…
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Kamikaze: An Untold History review – a bewilderingly brutal act of collective desperation recalled
Japan’s deployment of kamikaze pilots to bomb US ships in the Pacific during the second world war killed almos…
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Summer Wars review – Mamoru Hosoda’s birthday party anime puts the world at risk from AI baddie
This thriller-cum-family drama is a cut above genre anime with narrative complexity, bravura imagery and a met…
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‘Beautiful form isn’t enough’: National Ballet of Japan – picture essay
Photographer David Levene gained access to the ballet company as they prepared for Ballet Coffret, ahead of a …
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Super Happy Forever review – glowing love story in reverse with echoes of Before Sunrise
In this beautifully acted film, a man returns to the Japanese seaside town where he met and fell in love with …
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‘As thrilling as driving a sports car’: the Tokyo capsule tower that gave pod-living penthouse chic
They had portholes, cutting edge mod cons – and the ultra luxurious models even came with a free calculator. A…