Discoveries from Japan World Cinema

The story begins in Anpanman World, where everybody is bustling around, getting ready for the annual Star Festival. On that day, an egg emerges from Baikinman's garbage box, and when it hatches, a mysterious boy named Kurun emerges from within. Though Kurun does not know where he came from, he spends his days having fun with everybody. But one day, black stars begin raining down. Anpanman thinks that something suspicious might be occurring at the Star of Life, and he heads there.

A mysterious thief called "Yami no Kiba" (Fang of Darkness), who sneaks into the residences of the shogunate one after another and steals the shogun's treasures, has been shaking the public authorities. The identity of the thief is Ichibei, a medicine seller whose father was once killed by the shogunate, and his daughter Oasa. Ichibei had been seeking revenge against the official to avenge the death of his father, Sasajima Hyobu, who was a member of the Kurokuchi clan, the official ninja. He was also plotting to seize the gold orca of the Nagoya Castle keep, aiming at the Owari clan that had slain his father. ......

With the help of the real-life pachislot gambling group "Capone," the film depicts the friendship between a man who gambles and a man who lives in the underworld.

Several short animated mini-stories based on the short stories and four-panel manga of Keiko Fukuyama, including My Father the Mouse, The Rabbit Brothers, Summer Secret, The Mysterious Fairy, How Very Strange, and Kuro.

On a cold winter day, Goro Fujikawa (Tetsuya Watari) and Masahiko murder the mob boss of Meishin-Kai. The deed costs them time in prison, but Goro had no shred of regret. When Goro is released 2 years later, Masahiko is dying in prison hospital and entrusts his last wish; "find my sister and take care of her." Goro leaves as a free man with a mission, but soon finds that he might have been better off in jail.

12th installment of the 16-film franchise.

A woman runs a “mistress service” and interviews young women for “dates” with men. Various couples get together but someone is following and watching them.

A new third-class president wins an appointment thanks to his marriage with the former president's daughter.

Tamie’s husband Shuhei is a famous novelist. However he mysteriously disappeared after WWII. One day, his old friend Mikuni shows up to Tamie’s house. He accuses Tamie of killing him. Mikuni shows her proof, in the form of a letter the novelist wrote before he disappeared. However, the truth is much more twisted than he could imagine... This period film, set in post-WWII Japan, is truly one of the more bizarre and twisted Pink Films you'll ever see.

A low level wannabe yakuza is given a job of collecting drugs stolen from a doctors office. But at the collection point he meets up with the doctors daughter instead of the nurse who was being blackmailed. He falls for her and is torn between protecting her when the mob comes after her and his loyalty to the gang.

After being deserted by her parents, 11-year old Miyori shuts her heart from the rest of the world and denies any form of human relationships. She was entrusted in the care of her grandmother who lives near a forest. Miyori will take a walk in the forest where she felt a strong sense of loneliness in the forest which seems to have nothing. However, she soon encounters unbelievable things...

After Gonta is left behind reluctantly by its family in Namie, Fukushima during the evacuation due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, Gonta's family rallies a rescue team to save all the pets left behind.

A woman and her daughter are in love with the same man, a chef at the restaurant that the mother manages. He is slightly crippled from frostbite in his years in Siberian labor camps and considers himself 'already dead'.

Baku Yorozu/Kamen Rider ZEZTZ is accused of terrorism by the National Public Safety Commission. Convinced of his innocence, Kensei Odaka/Kamen Rider NOX pursues the true culprit, and finally tracks down the mastermind behind it all, National Public Safety Commission Chairman, Shuma Kumon/Kamen Rider Mugen.

Ayaka Nakanishi is an ordinary twelve year old girl walking Ryan, her German shepherd, when heavy rain obliges her to seek refuge inside a telephone booth. The storm causes a strange phenomenon that sends both Ayaka and her dog back in time to March 7th, 1945.

Set during the declining years of the Tokugawa shogunate, Shadow Hunters details the questionably noble exploits of three ronin who act as "Shadow Hunters". These three ronin are not your normal ornery ruffians who are looking for a drink, a broad and someone to jab a sword into, but are in fact former samurai who, rather than follow their destroyed fiefs and murdered masters into death via seppuku, have dedicated their combined sword prowess to stopping the government from raping its daimyos for valuable resources.

Japanese drama film.

Two girls decide to move in with two boys in an apartment in crowded Tokyo. As much as they all like each other initially, they cannot prevent a domestic disaster from occurring.

Yuda, a Chinese immigrant, and his adopted son Kirin, who he saved being eaten by a tiger in the jungle, stand at the head of a massive pirated goods operation that brings in both money and influence. But their empire is crumbling, as corrupt politicians and rival gangs seek to end their power in the city. Yuda is soon got arrested and his dedicated son tries his best to save not just the family business, but his father's reputation.

Anthology film. "What's Wrong with Eating?" Numayama Kazuki is always complaining about his wife's, Atsugi Shizuka, body shape. Because of that Shizuka tries her best to restrict her diet and please Kazuki. "It's So Far Away!" Karuma Sae is an office lady who works in the city center but lives with her family in a house far away from her work. Because she is always rushing to catch the last train, she can never enjoy a decent date with her boyfriend, Oishi Mamoru. Her father is also always interfering in her life, so she can't appreciate the city life and isn't happy. "Get Ready to Drive!" Masuko is a new taxi driver in Tokyo who is very stressed from dealing with the behavior of some passengers. One night he drives a very beautiful drunk hostess home. "What Is English?" Kosaka Shigeru, a businessman, was transferred to a Chicago branch factory. He tried hard to learn English, practicing day and night, but couldn't improve as much as he expected.

Compilation film featuring short works from directors Hitoshi Yasaki ("Short Cakes"), Yuki Tanada (scriptwriter "Sakuran," "Tsuki to Cherry"), Hiroyuki Nakano ("Stereo Future," "Samurai Fiction"), Masahiko Nagasawa ("Yoru no Picnic"), Masaya Kakehi ("Bijokan), and more for a total of 18 shorts. This time around the theme is "24 hours," where filming for each work must have been completed in 24 hours in order to appear in this film.

Work life for Shunsuke Osaki has been success after success, but at some point his family began to slip by the wayside. As his elderly father begins to show signs of dementia, Shunsuke takes the family on a trip in a desperate attempt to pull them together before it is too late. Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Masashi Sada's short story of the same name received the awards for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Music at the 1st Asia International Film Festival in Taipei.

Two lone wolf yakuza (Hideki Takahashi and Kunie Tanaka) rob a gambling den, then split up when pursued by the angry gang. They eventually meet again at Tanaka's mother's rural farmhouse. By then, one-eyed Kobayashi has wrangled his way into the scenario, intending to get a split of the proceeds (since he had helped them get away). Although there is some dissension amongst the three, they eventually close ranks to fend off their stubborn, relentless pursuers. Unhappily, Tanaka’s mother (Chieko Naniwa) is killed in the process. There are also love interests (Yoshiko Machida and Kayo Matsuo) and some humor along the way. An admirably different approach to the formulaic ninkyo yakuza programmer, filmed largely in sweltering summer countryside locations.

Saki, a high school girl who always skips classes, works part-time as a life adviser.

The season is fall and the city of Neo-Venezia is covered in fallen leaves. Something is bothering Anya, who works at Orange Planet. Her senior colleagues Alice and Athena haven't seen each other due to their busy schedules, which is making Athena feel sad. But for some reason, Alice seems to be avoiding her altogether. With her friends Ai and Azusa's help, Anya tries to find a definitive way for Alice and Athena to get together. But during this time, Anya learns of a situation that only she can see because of where she stands.

A truck driver arrives in Seoul to receive his dead sister's ashes. While there, he discovers the death may not have been an accident after all, and has something to do with international drug smuggling.

The body of Kazuyoshi Kawagishi, a construction company worker, is discovered stabbed to death in Shinjuku Central Park in Tokyo. Detective Masanao Ushio of Shinjuku West PD begins an investigation and finds that the murdered Kawagishi was an honest person who didn't have any troubles. Kawagishi worked for a company in Kofu City in Yamanashi, leaving behind his wife and daughter on Awaji Island in Hyogo. He seems to have started working as a laborer 3 years ago, having fallen on hard times when the company went bankrupt. Saeko Kawamura, Ushio's reporter friend, calls him wanting to talk about the case. According to Saeko, Kawagishi was one of the survivors of the "bus hijack arson case" that happened three years ago. In the bus hijack arson case, a man who was hallucinating under the influence of dangerous drugs set fire to an intercity bus going to Shinjuku and departing from Kofu Station...

Shinpei (Junpei Mizobata) dreams of being a professional cameraman and lives in Tokyo. One day, he hears that his mother has been hospitalized and returns to Kochi for the first time in five years. At the hospital, Shinpei finds out Sakura (Ayane Omori) who is the younger sister of his ex-girlfriend, has a bad disease, which no one has lived with for more than 5 years. This might be her last summer. Sakura strongly hope to dance at the Yosakoi festival, and five years ago, Shinpei made a promise to her that they would one day dance together. Sakura still remembers the promise and it also gives her the drive to live longer. Shinpei decides to dance once more at the upcoming Yosakoi festival, however. . .

During the ultra-violent era of the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate one man rose above the rest with his ideas of how to overthrow the corrupt government and end the bloodshed between the Choshu and Satsuma clans which would ultimately lead to the alliance of these 2 clans and restoration of the emperor to full power. Based on the play that made Sawada Shojiro famous, this is the story of Tsukigata Hanpeita, a forward looking samurai from Choshu, who along with Katsura Kogoro and Sakamoto Ryoma of Tosa worked to bring their dream of a new era in Japan.

Theatrical release of episodes 23-26 of Space Battleship Yamato 2199.

When a man chases down his stolen movie camera, the thief commits suicide by jumping off a building. But after the police take the camera as evidence, it becomes unclear if there was ever a thief in the first place.

Obscure Japanese movie by director Kyotaro Namiki

The story of three sportsman brothers living in the Ginza. One day, the three meet a raving beauty on separate occasions and are unaware they have met the same girl.

For Fujiwara, everything seems to be going well - he is doing well in high school, he is good looking and also a good fighter. One day, he is suddenly attacked by a group of students without any provocation. He then discovers that there is a mysterious violent game being played out in the corridors and playfrounds of Tokyo’s high schools. The game is being spread virally via the students’ mobile phones! The victims are mysteriously hypnotized and become senseless killing machines. Fujiwara must fight for his survival and to discover the game’s terrifying secret.

Wandering warriors Lek and Flene stumble on an impoverished village pushed to the brink of extinction by a giant mechanical monster that kidnaps newborn baby girls. Unable to sit by and watch, the heroes plot an assault on the behemoth to rescue the women before the village is wiped off the map.

Struggling high schooler Miyui Mashio is transported back to 1991, where she attends school with her quarreling parents—realizing she must form an idol group with her mother to help her parents fall in love, or risk never being born.

The film's story poses the possibility that all of humanity, without exception, live in two worlds of existence: the real world and a second world known as "Hemu". Humans live their lives in Hemu when they sleep in the real world. Hidden in each person is another life of which he or she has no recollection of, except for nightmares which are soon forgotten upon waking up. However, there a few rare individuals who are aware of the existence of Hemu and the curious consequences it has on the real world.

The Katsuragi Household that runs a small store may appear serene. But as the younger son Minoru commits a murder on the street, the family is exposed to the public. Is there anybody that is behind this murder case?

After seeing her husband off to work, the young author identified only as Yoshiko sets off to read the large collection of letters she received from other young authors. These are often letters containing samples of their work for critique. One large envelope contains a letter. The letter-writer does not provide his name. The letter is a confession of crimes. The letter-writer has no family or friends, and claims to be "ugly beyond description". He is a chair maker and loves his work and all the chairs he creates, even going so far as to claim some sort of intangible connection to his work.

Riki returns to Iason Mink to live as his "pet," but Riki's friend Guy tries to take him back.

Haruta is handsome and smart, Chika is bright and naive. When they were children, they were friends until Haruta's family moved away while he was in the 3rd grade. They meet again during a high school entrance ceremony. After all of these years, Chika is eager to join the wind instrument club. Due to an incident, the wind instrument club is about to be disbanded. Chika can't give up the flute so she attracts Haruta to her side and tries to recruit members from the wind instrument club. The group attempts to solve various cases taking place at their school while they plan to take part in a contest.

As Nami (Akiho Yoshizawa) was on her usual deco-truck errand, a High School girl called Kanna shows up. She tells Nami that she is her long-lost sister since she was 5 years old, and she has run away from home after quarreling with her mother. Nami cannot recall much about her mother, Nanako but it turns out that she is Nami’s favourite radio program DJ! Can she forgive her mother for abandoning her!? What will become of the ongoing romance with Kikuo!?!? The 4th installments of the popular “Deco Truck Nami” series – More drama, more tears and simply irresistible!

Due to sickness, the coach position of the Meisei High School baseball team is handed to Eijiro Kashiwaba. He is a ruthless man who forces the team to enter a Spartan training procedure. Tatsuya and Minami slowly discover stories about his past and wonder what his true intentions are.

Baldr and his men carries Delphine back to the kingdom after discovering Rygart. Borcuse orders the attack on the capital without waiting for the others to rejoin. Sigyn makes a weapon using Athenian's golem parts. Narvi finds her surviving men and return to protect the capital. Cleo decides to go back and hugs Sigyn good bye. Borcuse's army manage to break the Krisnan's first defense line and the battle moves into the streets. Sigyn's men manage to find Delphine and repairs it while its automatic cooling system is still operating. When the Delphine cools, Rygart leaps to defend the kingdom and fought Borcuse. Sigyn delivers the make shift weapon to Rygart and he initially unable to fight Borcuse because he is too fast but when Borcuse's Golen's leg cracks, Rygart damages it. Borcuse comes out of the cockpit and use his handgun to shoot at Rygart replaying Girghe's last moment. Rygart kills him and Borcuse's army lost. Zess upon hearing Cleo's escape decides to find her.

It is the year 2199 A.D. and overpopulation has forced mankind to go to other planets. For close to one hundred years, the human race has thrived happily in their home. But that soon change when humans took over the planet Pluto, as a new race was discovered, The Apocalypse, a creature that can use the human brain as a source of knowledge for their mechanical bodies. Now the humans have to fight to survive, Jonathan Tyberius and Leonard Schteinberg, two gay men fall in love but have to go their separate ways due to the war.

A corpse of a clown is found in a park. Detective Shirataka Amane of Musashino Higashi Police Station begins investigating with rookie detective Uzuka Shinsaku. They find a picture of the victim holding a balloon with the number 1 and the letters TTX on social media which indicates pufferfish poisoning. Shirataka intuitively suspects that this is an incriminating statement done by a serial killer, but Chief Investigator Fukukawa Saeko denies her. Detective Kusano Seiya and other personnel of MPD First Investigative Division join the investigation, then a second murder occurs. Shirataka recalls an unsolved kidnapping and murder case from two years ago that she still regrets.

Two sisters involved in rival underworld sex trade factions compete against each other in this tale of elaborate sex antics, yakuza crime, and bloody revenge.

Tells of the feelings and sufferings of a young girl with an incurable paralytic disease.

Living in a house that has lost its man to the war a year earlier are the widow and her child. Four of the dead man's friends gather to have an anniversary wake. Some time following the ceremony one of the attendees marries the widow. Soon another friend of the deceased and his family also make the house their home when they move to town. Everyone's life is changed quite a bit. When the newer husband sustains an injury to his leg and loses his job it leads to the wife having to work. By the time the fifth anniversary of the friend's death occurs and another reunion is held another friend is in love with the former widow.

After being brutally murdered in a gangster-style execution, Kensuke Hagane finds himself brought back to life by a mad scientist and rebuilt as a robot-human hybrid with a serious thirst for vengeance and the tools to carry it out.

The son of the murdered Yakuza, Kenji, at the request of his mother, worked in a stable company. However, soon the girl Kenji Amy, who was in favor of the director of the company, is sexually harassed by him. Kenji beats the director and resigns. He asks his brother Ryota, the manager of the cabaret, to find a job, but his brother refuses him, and he is taken in by Senba, a yakuza boss specializing in smuggling and drugs...

Episode 0 "Kanwanidai (two subepisodes: Sekirei Shindan & Sekirei Yoka)" of Sekirei ~Pure Engagement~ released on the first DVD and BD volume.

A retired warrior comes to see his former lord and learns that someone is making indestructible swords from some unknown metal. He is sent together with a swordsman to investigate the source. Along the way they meet a young girl working as a beekeeper. She is later witness to the appearance of three strange females from another dimension. They are searching for a lost weapon that has landed on earth and as one of them lay dying she enlists the girl to help them control the strange beast/weapon. Meanwhile the warrior and the swordsman learn that an old nemesis has created the swords from the shell that surrounded the alien weapon. Soon the alien beast/weapon is awakened and battle for control ensues.

March 1952, the only doctor in the village Shiba had found a dead body of Sanako. The cause of death is overdose of sleeping pills. Sanako had been suspected for killing her own husband so Dr. Shiba's sister Kana is guessing that she has committed suicide due to being tormented by killing her husband. Everyone who was in Mr. Kuroido's house is the suspect, including all the members of Kuroido family, butler, secretary, maids, etc. The Detective Suguro (Hercule Poirot) will investigate the case. Dr. Shiba will be assisting him. As things are searched by them, a shocking fact has been brought to light…

Nobuko Sawaguchi is a surly, unattractive housekeeper in her mid-thirties. However, in actuality, she is a beautiful woman, but she hides this fact using her makeup because of a traumatic past experience. One day Nobuko is sent to housekeep for the Uehara family, known for its tremendous wealth. In the Uehara family, there is a massive quarrel over each member’s future succession and inheritance. In the middle of this hectic situation, Nobuko is asked by the daughter called Akemi to protect her.

The second part of the Gamblers series.

Three WWII veterans, reunited by family circumstances, quickly find their life savings threatened by a private corporation; they band together to fight back.

After a group suicide, two journalists investigate the cycle of suicides caused by spirits bound by the Suicide Manual.