Discoveries from Japan World Cinema

As descendent of famed fishmonger Isshin Tasuke, young feisty Ishii Tasuke uses his talent to flourish his employer’s food business.

14 year old Nakamura is sexually abused by her stepfather. She invents a friend who is coming to her rescue when she really needs it.

Eri, a girl who likes to stay indoors, meets a mysterious but enthusiastic transfer student named Haru. Eri used to love to sing and Haru loves Eri's singing. The story follows the two during one summer of their high school life as their love sometimes overlaps and sometimes passes by each other.

Hello Hijikichiro's original work "Velvet · Kiss" is made into a live-action image. Nitta is still swayed by Hanaoko's selfishness as ever. I was sending my absentee sleep every day with work and "friends" hanging on. While carefully meeting Saeki who I met by chance, there was no musical tone in the service to Hanaoko. Saeki sent me an e-mail so as to care for such Nitta. Nitora becomes ecstatic. And on the date of the day, calling Hanoko also heartlessly....

Documentary that teases apart the life of model Masako, who also acted in films including Ring and died at the age of 50, through interviews of people who knew her well. Directed by Masako's husband Ooka Daisuke, who is a film producer.

The ninth and final film in the Contemporary Tales of Chivalry series.

Kazuya Takajo was a promising soccer player. At the age of 23, he was selected for the national A football team and he bought a house to live with his fiancé Miki Nakagawa. One day, Kazuya Takajo gets into a car accident and becomes paralyzed and falls into deep despair. Kazuya goes through rehab on the strength of his wife's love. Yet, he becomes frustrated by those opposed to his marriage with Miki and others who give him pity looks. He also can't find anything to replace soccer in his life. Kazuya then witnesses a wheelchair basketball game at a gym.

A 1944 propaganda film that depicts the fictionalised career of IJAAF pilot Tateo Kato, who led the 64th Sentai during the early months of the Pacific War. The film has scenes featuring Ki-43 fighters escorting Ki-21 bombers to attack Rangoon, where they are attacked by P-40 Warhawk and Brewster Buffalo fighters.

Tatsuhiko Kido is a young man who moved from Tokyo to attend a vocational school. Although he thought he had begun his new school life with no problem, he finds a hole in his wall, and sometimes he feels a gaze coming at him from that hole, so he can't relax. The night he went drinking with his classmate Yoneyama, he sees a light coming from the same hole when he comes home. When he tries calling out to the other side, he gets a reply...

Based on Edogawa Rampo's famous story, "Black Lizard"

A powerful entity known as Death Mask hurls Kujukuri City, Japan, and Dallas, Texas 10,000 years into the future, reshaping them into a ruthless battleground where only the strongest survive. Determined to shatter this tyrant's hold on time itself, Gai Tanbara ventures into the dystopian future. Along the way, he meets Emiya, a fierce warrior fighting to reclaim her city from the darkness. Together, they confront the horrors of a shattered world and the sinister forces threatening the fate of humanity!

During the 2nd year of high school in the winter season, Yano transferred from Kushiro to Tokyo due to a family matter. Yano and Nanami promised to meet again. A couple of years later, Nanami is busy finding a job, while Yano's friend Takeuchi supports her. in the beginning, Yano and Nanami kept their relationship, even with the long distance between them, but Yano suddenly stops contacting Nanami.

A married woman lets her lover take naked pictures of her. The photos end up in possession of a man who starts blackmailing the couple.

Based on "Kaidan Botan Dango" by Sanyutei Encho, a rakugo storyteller who was active from the late Edo period to the Meiji era, Kara Juro was in charge of the script. A feature-length historical drama depicting a fierce and painful love story between ghosts and humans. Impressive artistic and fantastic painting with depth as if you were watching the stage. In all, this work is a beautiful, love horror fantasy.

In order to pay back Mrs. Kajiki for her good deed in the past, Hatsu moves from her village in Akita to Tokyo to start working as a maid for her family. She grows close to their youngest son Katsumi, experiencing things that will change her view on life.

The first of many movies featuring the lighthearted adventures of two truck drivers. Momojiro and his best friend Kinzo take to the road on their cargo trucks impressing each other with their skills in driving fast and evading the police while transporting commodities throughout the country. Chance encounters with people along the way help them to come to terms with events clouding their past and offer them a shot at redemption.

Attracted by the report of the development of a new type of rocket fuel, the vicious dictator of Krangkor, the dark planet, descends on Earth to steal the formula from its creator, the benevolent Dr. Makin.

Shortly after arriving in Kobe, "Jiro the Lefty", a killer with a natural talent, witnesses a man die in a crane accident which turns out to be a cover-up for a murder. Jiro soon finds himself on the run, tailed by a determined cop.

A hitman focuses on his job hoping to retire quickly and richly. But the betrayal of his clan and those he loves endangers his plan.

A hospital accidentally gives a man Count Dracula's blood while trying to save his life. A year later, he's back from the dead, trying to right the wrongs of his life while trying to resist the urge to become a vampire.

After Satoru Watarai graduated from elementary school, he dropped out of school and decided to live within his apartment complex, never to venture outside. Satoru Watari then meets his old friends as they are coming back from their middle school classes. Satoru has now gotten a job at a cake shop within the apartment complex and eventually gets engaged to one of his friends. Satoru, still lives within the apartment complex only, but, as time passes, more of his friends leave ..

Shuichi and Rina are a twenty-something couple living together. Shuichi is working as a fiction editor for a book publisher, while Rina is unemployed, since she finds it hard to keep a job. When Shuichi's colleague runs away because of their terrible boss, Shuichi suddenly gets reassigned to work with Nishikawa, a stuck-up author who writes banal but popular self-help books. Rina gets hired to be his editor by complete chance, since Nishikawa ends up liking her out-of-the-box thinking. When Rina starts to succeed while Shuichi struggles, the problems in their relationship start to become apparent.

Tsubomi is a savvy and horny school girl who works at a lingerie club, a gentlemen’s bar where scantily clad young women serve drinks to the patrons. She is useless at her job but is blackmailing her boss so she won’t get fired. One day she runs into a gorgeous young man who she takes to bed. She meets into a perverted talking cat with a butterfly on its forehead, who recruits her to be a magical soldier. She has to fight off a dominatrix elf woman called Beene, a minion of Regina Apis, a matriarch bent on chaos and forming her new Dynasty. Tsubomi is learning of her powers when she is rescued by an oddly familiar masked man, known only as Dandelion. The plot of this anime is completely farcical and parodies the magical girl genre and Sailor Moon in particular.

Woman melodrama by Shiro Toyoda

Masaka Kubota plays high-school student Keita, who leads a secret life as a "network investigator" for a secret organization. In the introductory episode, Keita has moved to a new school in Tokyo but doesn't like it. His best friend from his previous school comes to Tokyo and they run away together. Passing through a construction site the pair are attacked by a robot, but are then saved by a man named Takimoto and his strange sidekick — a cell phone with arms and legs. This Buddy Keitai cell phone with "human intelligence capabilities" will go on sale in Japan in April.

A young man and woman are determined to marry despite opposition from her parents.

Rio is a high school student in Tokyo. Her mother tells her she will spend the summer in the countryside. There, she meets Ginzo. He is a high school student and handsome. They fall in love.

Twin Blood is an alternate version of Blade and Evil's first battle, with drastically different character and mecha designs from the rest of the series. Blade/D-Boy does not need Pegas to transform and the armor more closely resembles the Radam humanoids from Tekkaman Blade II.

SL-Man transports food to the city, guarded by Melonpanna and Yakisobapanman. The train is ambushed by a gang of robbers led by Dokinchan, intent on robbing the food. The gang is driven away by Yakisobapanman, but Baikinman transforms the cactus man into Black Sabotenman and forces it to attack SL-Man as he passes through the oasis. Will the food arrive safely and will the cactus man return to normal?

After helping a pregnant girl escape from their reform school and facing the resulting punishment, a clique of delinquent girls eventually reunites a year later in Tokyo to face different challenges in the form of yakuza and… street vendors.

A crossover anime short between Yoshikawa's two series, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches & Flunk Punk Rumble.

Nabeshima Naoshige murders his lord, Ryuzoji Takafusa, seeking to gain power and steal his Lord’s wife. To avoid her fate, Lady Takafusa drowns herself along with her cat in a nearby marsh. A decade later, Naoshige’s efforts to steal another woman trigger a curse on him when she also commits suicide at the same marsh — forcing him to suffer the consequences of his past actions.

The mysterious black hooded man, Kurozukin, helps transport funds raised to fight against the government.

One day, an angel materializes before Kato's eyes. While the angel seems like an average girl with a passion for gin and lime, she sports a pair of big white wings. Only lonely-hearted people can see her. She may seem ordinary, but this angel touches hearts and transforms lives.

Nodoka and the others obtain something known as the "Dream Pendant" which gives them the ability to see holographic images of various things in Tokyo. These things vary from fish to animals to sweets!

Hiroshi Nanjo is an active and tactful youth devoting more of his energies to his part time job than to studying for a college entrance exam. On the other hand, Bunpei Noro is an awkward fellow who once failed in a college entrance exam and is now studying hard for a second try. ‘Light and Shade of Youth’ depicts the friendship between these two young men of opposite characters, interlacing a cute waitress along the way.

Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongfully accused of murder and in the process discovers love.

When a Lupin impersonator is arrested for shoplifting in Tokyo, dozens of other copycats converge on the city to clear the name of Arsene Lupin III. The real Lupin is in town too, both to watch the show and to steal a mysterious item called the Ice Cube. But one of those impostors also has sights on the Cube. Is he good enough to beat the original at his own game?

Heizo "The Demon" investigates the shop of Toshimaya the swordsmith, where 280 ryo was stolen and twelve people murdered. This particular group of theives are most dangerous because of the willingness to kill for money, but what about this mysterious unibrow, who is he? What is he up to?

Hyperspace Boy Wonder Seven is a fictional tokusatsu, mentioned in TV series Giant Robot Mikazuki. This single 25-minutes episode of the "Wonder Seven" was released in 2001 as bonus with the "Tekkōki Mikazuki" DVD-box.

Eight school friends innocently join together to play a game that, if played well, promised to make their greatest dreams come true. But, they soon discover that mistakes may cost them more than even their dreams could tell.

A college student comes to a wealthy family as a tutor for their son, an elementary school student, he cheerfully encourages his student, captivates him with the spirit of sports and falls in love with the daughter of the owner of the house. A masterpiece of youth drama starring the eternal idol Kazuo Funaki.

The war between the Iga and Sanada ninja clans is heating up, and a prominent gunsmith is on both clan's radar. Shinsuke Kakei, the gunsmith, is essentially a pacifist, but believes his weapons can bring peace to the land if put in the hands of the right group. Kasumi is sent to convince Kakei to come and work for them, and keep the guns out of the hands of the Iga. Of course Hattori, along with his sister Sayuri, have other plans for Kakei and his wife.

Eiko Akimori is a 23-year-old woman who lives alone in an apartment. One day, Eiko is made to buy a big stone ring that brings happiness from a catch sales on the way home from work.

100 years in the future, the descendants of Daigo, Ian, Nobuharu, Souji, Amy, and Utsusemimaru must fight back against the revived Deboth.

Two travelers (Makoto Fujita and Minoru Shiraki) have adventures along the road including strange supernatural happenings, ghosts, and monsters.

An omnibus film consisting of four stories on the theme of "holes" by four directors.

Tashiro coincidentally meets his best friend Sugimoto in a bar very close to the apartment in which Sugimoto’s wayward wife is found dead. Although Tashiro is not a suspect in the police investigation, he is racked with guilt and confesses to his wife, Masako. In an effort to further relieve his tortured sense of guilt, he then confesses to Sugimoto. Neither his wife nor his friend can believe that he could have been involved.

A teenager is transported to a parallel world where everyone who shares his family name is being hunted down by the dictatorial government.

Detective Takeo Kosai is about to be demoted. He then plans to entrap Akira Dojima without his partner Detective Emi Ishikawa's knowledge. Akira Dojima kidnapped and killed a girl 15 years ago

The story is set in the 70s where Ishihara plays Fumiko, an university student, who gets involved romantically with her assistant professor Katase Shintaro (Iura Arata) and his wife Hinako (Tanaka Rena). However, on 28 February 1972, the police finds Shintaro seriously injured and a young man working in a electronics store (Saito Takumi) dead in a bungalow at Karuizawawhile Fumiko and Hinako are also present at the scene. The truth behind the case is not known and the case is quickly classified as a crime of passion which leads to Fumiko being sent to prison. 40 years later, a report writer Torigai Mitsuhiko (Watabe Atsuro) comes to know about this case and goes to interview the elderly Fumiko (Harada Mieko) in prison which leads him to find out what really happened at the bungalow.

Hitoshi Kudo is a journalist who covers various murder cases. One day, his daughter is kidnapped by the frog man. In order to safely rescue her, Kudo is cornered by one unreasonable instruction after another.

Eiko Yagami (Ryoko Yonekura) is a "Marubo", a unit of Ueno Central Police Station's Organized Crime Division which deals directly with organized gangs to try and keep the peace. However, Eiko has some sidelines: she's a moneylender to her fellow police officers without charging interest in return for information and is also willing to do the odd side job for those on the criminal side for the money. One day, Kasumi (Riho Takada), who is the daughter of Senma-gumi gang's leader (Toshiyuki Nishida), is found stabbed to death. As this threatens to pit gang against gang, Eiko and the police have to hurry and find her killer.

A drama film based on Ken Domon's photography of the children around the Chikuho coal mines.

A young lawyer looking for a true culprit to save his innocent friend. But behind the case is the father of a woman he loves.

One of Japan’s most popular historical characters, former Vice-Shogun Tokugawa Mitsukuni, whose travels around the nation are legendary has made it to the silver screen in a dynamic and exciting tale featuring megastar Toshiro Mifune as an expert swordsman drawn into the action to fight injustice. The Elder Lord travels about disguised as a retired merchant with his two trusty bodyguards Sukesaburo and Kakunoshin by his side and secret agent Yashichi close by. After a chance meeting with a dying man and young woman who had been brutally attacked, they set out for Kaga Province to wreak vengeance on the responsible parties. Don’t miss this exciting journey into Japanese history!