Discoveries from Japan World Cinema

Kenji is overjoyed when his usually thrifty boyfriend takes him on a trip to Kyoto for his birthday, but the trip ends up uncovering a painful topic.

In the inner chambers of the Shugun's castle, 3,000 men attempt to vie for the affection of the female shogun. Based on the 4th-6th volumes in the manga series "Ooku" by Fumi Yoshinaga.

This is a continuation of Friends Games. Now the group of friends realises they have fallen into this game and they are in the second set of game, Kageguchi Sugoroku. Will Katagiri Yuichi find out who led them into this deceptive game between money and friends?

During a quest to find a Taiwanese father's grave, disturbing memories of child abuse are aroused.

In present-day Japan, little Masashi moves from an evacuation center to a small village. There, he will discover that every child has the ability to communicate with a fantastic creature, but they are being used in an evil plan to collect the children’s negative energy.

The first theatrical release, titled Bonobono, opened in theaters on 1993-11-13. The film has since been broadcast on domestic television in Japan, including on broadcast satellite channels such as NHK BS-2. The film has been released on VHS and DVD in Japan, including in a "no cut" edition.

The story is set in a village in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kōchi during World War II. Even in this remote mountainous area, the perception of American and British people as "brutes" has taken root, due to the deaths and injuries among the villagers' relatives. A elementary schoolgirl named Eiko transfers from the city of Yokohama to this village. Eiko happens to have blue eyes from her American father, and her classmates make no attempt to rein in their bullying. Other than Eiko's homeroom teacher Akiko, even the teachers view Eiko the same way that the children do. However, a boy named Kenta views Eiko more with curiosity than with hostility. The children's lives change as the injured father of one of Kenta's classmates returns from the battlefield and news of more casualties arrives in the village.

Suzuki Shizuka is an office lady at a conglomerate who is hypnotized at a local amusement park and left under the spell. Now she is compelled to sing and dance whenever she hears any melody whatsoever. She heads back to the hypnotist for relief, but he is nowhere to be found. So Shizuka sets off on a journey around Japan to find him and break the spell.

A nerdy young college instructor named Shinji Kikyo returns home one day to find himself the target of a mad assassin. Surviving somewhat miraculously, he fends off other assassins and with the help of reporter Keiko Tsurumaki and car mechanic Bill Otomo, eventually discovering that a "population control" association is really an assassination squad led by Shogo Mizorogi, who has been training patients of a mental asylum to become killers.

Fate/Prototype is a reimagined version of Kinoko Nasu's original version of Fate/stay night. The storyline takes place eight years after the tragic Heaven's Feel. Here, the Holy Grail is still the so desired object. However, the darkness under this so-called "Grail" is revealed while the characters proceed to fight against each other in order to win.

The Isokaze, an Aegis-class escort vessel, sets sail on a routine training exercise, playing host to a platoon from the Fleet Training Group. No sooner is the Isokaze on open water, however, then the FTG reveal themselves to be terrorist stowaways who kill the ship's captain, send the rest of the crew overboard and take control of the vessel. The ship is carrying a secret biological weapon which the terrorists are now threatening to use to level Tokyo! Only a stowaway NCO, Sengoko (played by Sanada Hiroyuki from Ring and Twilight Samurai) is in a position to stop them - but does he really have what it takes to save the day? Playing like a cross between a sea-faring version of Top Gun and Die Hard, director Sakamoto Junji shows that it's not just Hollywood that can produce thrill-a-minute action spectaculars.

At a high school in the city of Yokohoma the baseball team trains to go to the top. There are struggles, hardships and successes and not all of it is due the star pitcher or batter and those in the centre of attention. There are rewards to being the great, but it is a long way to the top and they know it.

A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.

Yasuichiro Isa, who works in the labor section of Sone Mining Tokyo Headquarters, paid a monthly fee for his younger brother, Reiji, who was in trouble because he had a bonus of 10,000 yen more.

When a team of detectives lose the trail of a murderer, they decide to keep an eye on the suspect’s ex-lover, who is trapped in an abusive marriage.

In May 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (or JAXA) launched an unmanned spacecraft of their own development to retrieve samples from an asteroid. Seven long years later, Hayabusa achieved its goal and was the first of any kind of craft launched from Earth to safely return samples of this kind to home base. The story was one of such great national pride for Japan, and in the wake of the tsunami and resulting tragedies in Japan it’s strong nationalistic message became the subject of no less than three rival films. Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s high-profile effort, simply titled Hayabusa (2011) starred the incomparable Toshiyuki Nishida. Most recently, Welcome Home, Hayabusa (2012) was released to Japanese audiences. Slipping in between those two was Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home, concentrating on the people on the ground who helped return the probe safely.

Sleeping Bride is the story of a girl, Yumi, who since birth, has never been awake. A boy called Yuuichi finds the girl in the hospital while he is a patient there. A nurse remarks that the girl is 'Sleeping Beauty', and Yuuichi believes that a kiss from a prince will wake her, just like the story. Yuuichi returns to see Yumi every day, says 'Wake up, I'm the prince' and kisses her. Ten years later he restarts his daily ritual to see Yumi, one day she wakes up.

Kimi is married to Tatsuro, who has a son, Kengo, who is the same age as her. Every night, Kengo can hear Kimi's moans coming from the bedroom, but he somehow manages to keep his sanity. Meanwhile, Kimi's childhood friend, Kaori, runs away from home after a marital quarrel and comes to stay with her. Kaori realizes Kengo's feelings... The director is Takehora Tetsuya, whose style is often light and erotic comedy. Yuki Misa, who exudes a sparkling and seductive charm, plays a stepmother who wants to cherish her family. The agony of a single man in his 30s is entertaining.

If you have watched Nadesico, you know what Gekiganger is. This is a great show to watch at a convention with a lot of people. I can not explain how cool it was to sing the opening theme and cry when Joe die with hundreds of other people. It not only makes fun of classic giant robot shows, but the movies as well. The first half is compilation of all the clips from Nadesico, while the second half is a new story. This show even has a cameo appearance from the Nadesico crew.

Onuki asks people in a hospital to perform a play for Paco, who suffers from memory disorder. His only hope is to help Paco survive from her illness.

This biopic of notorious yakuza-turned-actor Noboru Ando focuses on the days leading to his arrest after the shooting of businessman Hideki Yokoi.

On the Pacific front, towards the end of World War II, Japan's imperial armed forces launched 'kamikaze' attacks - suicide missions by aircraft laden with bombs. It was a mad operation with no hope of returning alive, but the nation went wild, and the attacks continued for ten months, literally until the very last day of the war. Close to 4,000 Japanese airmen died, and nearly 7,000 Allied military personnel were killed, and thousands more were injured by the attacks. How could this happen? Utilising 15 years' worth of extensive interviews with US and Japanese World War II veterans, Takayuki Oshima’s film delves into the mechanism of how a crazed madness swept through an entire nation.

Blind masseur Zatoichi is nursed back to health by a young woman after he is shot by a gang member. Zatoichi, who had come to the village to repay a debt, now feels further indebted. He commits himself to use his amazing sword skills to help the young woman's father, whose river-crossing service is under attack by the same gang responsible for Zatoichi's wounds.

The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.

When an invisible man is run down by a car it’s up to an eager young reporter and a strange clown to bring a dangerous gang to justice.

Take the characters from a number of sci-fi based animes, a stage not unlike "Wacky Races," super deformed madness, and general insanity and what you get is Scramble Wars. While Scramble Wars does include characters from the original Bubblegum Crisis, Gall Force and Genesis Survivor Gaiarth, it also has a few other characters from other animes such as AD Police and Riding Bean.

When a number of suicide victims slash themselves in their sleep, detective Keiko Kirishima is called to investigate.

Tamayo, lives her life in simple elegance. Her overprotective crimelord father, in order to protect her from outside danger, has given her 3 android bodyguards. Life is good. Until one day Tamayo's father is hospitalized for a stroke and his computer is hacked and his will is found! Inside his will it says that he is leaving his immense fortune solely to Tamayo! When Tsukiyo discovers this, she plots to regain her inheritance. Can she distract the 3 Androids long enough to exact her plan?! Who will the Androids love in the end?! Which Android will win Tamayo's love??!!

An executive is having an affair with one of his office ladies. But mysterious phone calls threaten to upend his blissful life of adultery.

Produced for Fuji TV in 2000, the film reinterprets the story of a special samurai force - the Shinsengumi - at the end of the Edo period.

Famous for his coin tossing when capturing criminals, an Edo detective, Heiji, launches an investigation into the mysterious murder of his friend Seigoro.

A young man Tomoya Nagase and a girl Mayuko Fukuda both learn that they have an untreatable illness and are nearing death. When one reveals that they have never been to the ocean, they embark on a comical adventure to see the sea.

Part 3 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawachi) thinking too big of themselves.

From Hokkaido to Tokyo, hunting dog Goro embarks on a long and grueling journey to reach home. With the loss of his master who held a secret to a weapons smuggling case and the corruptions of those who are involved, Goro's adventure unfolds.

Home-design sales representative Tomohiro lives with his wife and their son. As his job involves houses, it is his motto to take great care of the family who live in the house. However, he has been working so hard that he has forgotten to cherish his own family. When he looks after a client who wants to leave her father-in-law in a nursing home, it reminds him of his grandmother whom he loved so much. Father's death, grandmother's struggle with disease, and home care - those were grueling times, but the memories have become invaluable for Tomohiro. He realizes his family is the most precious thing of all. On a day off, he and his family decide to visit his mother who lives alone in their old hometown.

A widow and her two sons, Seitaro and Koji, live in the small town of Komori, where Buraku people are forced to reside. The two boys are continuously harassed by their teachers and classmates through their childhood as a result of their Buraku heritage. In the midst of the 1918 Great Rice Riots in Osaka, Seitaro meets with Asako, the daughter of a rice shop owner, and falls in love with her. She too is of Buraku descent. At the same period, Hideaki, an old friend of the brothers returns to Komori, and he along with Koji and the townspeople create "Zenkoku Suiheisha", the National Levelers Association, an organization pledged to build a bridge over the river of discrimination, making all people equal in every way.

Mayumi is sent to jail after brutally attacking her partner and his mistress. Sent to live in Cell 31, the women there couldn't be more different... they are very religious, sing hymns and discuss the Bible. A fight with a rival cell block starts a bloody and vicious war in the jail... one where the warden and guards seek vengeance on the women with brutal torture and sexual humiliation. When a new inmate arrives and Mayumi recognizes her, all hell breaks loose!

Tatsuya, a student of newly appointed teacher Yuko, has a girlfriend named Miki, but spends the night in Yuko's room. When Miki finds out, she records all of Yuko's lewd behavior on video camera and blackmails her, making Yuko her puppet. One night, Tatsuya is invited to an orgy party hosted by Miki...

Brought on by popularity for the series, this DVD Special feats. two half-hour side stories that take place during the events of the show. Both stories appear to take place just after episode 20, the first episode of the Helheim Saga. The Kamen Rider Zangetsu side story begins with Takatora telling Kota about the truth behind Helheim. While a childhood friend pays Takatora a visit, a mysterious Kamen Rider that has control over cracks begins to hunt down Yggdrasill’s forces. The Kamen Rider Baron side story begins with Kaito seeking out the Overlords for Professor Ryoma. A prince visits Zawame and when he finds out that Kaito looks exactly like him, he decides to forcefully switch lives, resulting in conflict.

The 31st year of the Showa Era (1956) marked the tenth year since Japan's defeat in World War II. It was when Japan took its first step out of post-war poverty to rejoin the international community. In old downtown Tokyo, a teacher and her students try to pass down Doyo (Japanese traditional children's songs) as the root of Japanese cultural identity to the future generations.

Film about the 2-26 Incident.

Takeshi Hongo and FBI agent Kazuya Taki fake their deaths when they are attacked by Shocker soldiers during a motocross race. They disguise themselves as Shocker soldiers and infiltrate the main headquarters, but it doesn't take too long for Ambassador Hell to find their whereabouts and trap them. Before he detonates a bomb within the base, Ambassador Hell tells Kamen Rider #1 and Taki that Shocker is preparing a giant laser capable of destroying cities. Our two heroes must escape from the base's self-destruction and stop Shocker from arming their latest weapon. Not only that, they must rescue Tachibana and the racing club, who have been abducted by Shocker's minions.

Ichiko is a 30-year-old unemployed woman. She meets Ryoichi at a drinking establishment. Even though he is a lot younger than her, she can't forget him. Meanwhile, Ichiko has 5 different characters in her brain that governs her actions. The 5 characters are Yoshida, Ishibashi, Ikeda, Hatoko and Kishi. These 5 character then have a fierce meeting. Yoshida presides over the meeting as the chairman. Ishibashi is the optimist. Ikeda is the pessimist. Hatoko is the character that lives in the moment and Kishi thinks about the past.

Ayaka (Masami Ichikawa) is a full-time housewife in her fifth year of marriage. Her husband, Shingo, was busy working at a publishing company and lived a rustic life and a sexless couple life. At one point, Shingo's women's magazine featured "Open Marriage," a new marriage style for married couples. "Open marriage", which was advocated in the 1970s, was that if there was mutual agreement, we could freely have a relationship with other opposite sex. Shingo, who was requested by the editor-in-chief for an experience report, managed to persuade Ayaka ... After that, the two who found each other's sexual partners, with the excitement born from jealousy, disappeared from sexlessness and began to demand each other's bodies violently.

Sumi Muraoka, nicknamed "Sumi Banten", due to the fact that her back is decorated with a tattoo of the goddess Banten, the woman who heads the Banten Yakuza family. She comes into confrontation with a powerful of Yakuza group Mutsumi-kai, seeking to capture all power in their hands.

Vegetation thrives in painter Morikazu's garden, which is home to creatures that serve as models for his paintings, including numerous bugs and cats. A sweet and heartwarming day begins for Morikazu, who gazed at these garden creatures on a daily basis for over three decades, and those who love him.

The ruthless and ambitious Yasuhiko uses his charm to manipulate and exploit those around him to climb the corporate social ladder. After securing a position at a prestigious firm through deceit, he callously discards the women who helped him and embezzles company funds to further his personal gain. His cold-blooded ascent eventually leads to a web of blackmail and moral decay as his past actions begin to catch up with him.

A nightmare that suddenly attacks an ordinary housewife: rape. However, the real nightmare was the threat that began because the information was being wiretapped. And the housewife uses her own body as a weapon to confront her blackmailer, but...

Lupin's plans to intercept two old glass photographic plates from being delivered to a mysterious art dealer named Mr. Suzuki misfires, and it doesn't help matters that Goemon and Jigen are suffering from... efficiency problems. Meanwhile, Inspector Zenigata has a new tag-along in the Lupin chase: the beautiful young reporter Maria. But what is Maria's connection to the mysterious Mr. Suzuki?

Part three of Toku: Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru ~Setsugetsuka~

An unaired episode included in the Toshokan Sensou DVD volume 3, and later on Blue-ray Box (June 8, 2012) that celebrates the airing of Toshokan Sensou Movie. Komaki was arrested for the violation of human rights of his girl friend Marie, who had difficulty in hearing. He was kept in custody and tortured by the Media Improvement Forces. The members of the Task Forces made a desperate effort to rescue him.

A bored trio of high school delinquents start a rock 'n' roll band together. They have no skill, money, or even a full set of drums, but are determined to jam out and impress their only friend.

The remaining forces of the Solnoid and the Paranoid races now head toward Sigma Narse, a forgotten star system with a dying red giant for their final confrontation. The crew of five Solnoids who survived the battle at the ninth star system are sent to meet Capt. Nebulart, head of Intelligence, for what appears to be the last hope for both races.

1962 Japanese movie

A fifteen year old boy travels through the Amagi Pass, he encounters some strange people, one of them is the geisha Ozuka Hana. After a murder takes place, the police searchs for the culprit.

GASP is a popular alternative band. Conflict arises when the lead singer To-Y is offered a pop idol contract that stipulates he leave the rest of the band behind.

Professor Daidōji has developed a gravity machine called the GX Device. Unfortunately, Shocker wants it; so they attack the professor and destroy his laboratory, but come home empty-handed. Shocker's agents find out that the plans for the GX Device are with Daidōji's daughter, who is celebrating her birthday. Now the Kamen Riders, along with FBI agent Kazuya Taki, must protect Daidōji's daughter and prevent Shocker from obtaining the plans.

Ebisuzawa Kurumi, Takeya Yuki, Wakasa Yuri, and Naoki Miki all attend the same high school. They also live on campus at the school. The girls enjoy their time at the school until students become infected by a virus and turn into zombies. The girls are surrounded by student zombies and they struggle desperately to survive.