Discoveries from Japan World Cinema

Three men, the skilled ninja Ryuichi Koga, the deadly assassin and former drug detective Takeshi Hayato, and the criminal mastermind Ichiro Sakura work together to take out an infamous drug dealer.

Live-action adaptation of the hit manga. Golgo 13, also known by the pseudonym Duke Togo, is a professional assassin. His age and birthplace are unknown and there is no consensus in the worldwide intelligence community as to his true identity. Most of his jobs are completed through the use of a customized, scoped M16 rifle. Golgo 13 is contracted to kill Boss Goa, the head of a worldwide crime syndicate responsible for drugs, weapons, and human trafficking.

Shoji Segawa was a quiet and inconspicuous boy, but, for the first time, he is recognized by people after winning the National Middle School Shogi Tournament. At the age of 26, his dream of becoming a professional shogi player collapses due to an age restriction. After he quits playing shogi, he becomes desperate. With the support of his peers, including Yuya Suzuki, and his love of shogi, Shoji Segawa begins to play shogi again. A miracle happens to him.

35th-anniversary Fuji TV special featuring three new “Tales of the Unusual” shorts: Anata Hakubutsukan, Nanakai Tōsō, Tomaranakereba Ikirarenai Game, plus a one-night revival of the 1991 classic “Happy Birthday to My Home.”

The patriarch of a bickering family announces his retirement, stirring competition about who will succeed him as a leading practitioner of Noh theater, his granddaughter or grandson.

Reiko has been married for four years and is now in her 30s, the prime of her life. Unable to use her voluptuous body, she cheats on her husband every day. The biggest reason for her cheating in the first place is that her husband Shinichi might have another woman. Reiko relies on an email from Asami that her husband receives and accesses the same website to find out who his lover is, but...

The Little Busters’ outing went off peacefully, and now that the summer holidays have started, most baseball team members have gone home. Among the few still around are Riki Naoe and Kudryavka “Kud” Noumi. However, Masato has caused quite a bit of damage to the boys’ dormitory by hitting it awkwardly with a baseball, so it is now underwater. A new place to stay is needed, so the boys are unceremoniously put up with the girls. However, not everyone will be able to enjoy the luxury of a bed.

In the second part of this manga adaptation, Tairaku Arihiko, who is a teacher at a local high school, lives with his student Shirakaba Aya and things are becoming steamier. As she becomes aggressive with her love for him he has to navigate his responsibility and job, his cute student and her thug father.

Ryoro Kurojima is the director of a Tokyo apology center. His job is to teach others how to apologize. Ryoro Kurojima solves problems by using his apology techniques on anything from simple arbitration to a national crisis.

Lone wolf detective with an enormous personal grievance seeks to connect the mysterious death of his daughter to an urban legend of a villain who terrorizes Japan by insinuating himself into people's dreams and the collective psyche of the Japanese people.

A massive gas explosion in modern-day Tokyo throws 17-year-old Suzuko back in time — 500 years into the past and into a death-strewn battlefield. Rescued from lecherous bandits by the young warrior Shukumaru, Suzuko struggles to untangle the time lines. Slowly she begins to understand the strange force that has exiled her, and how it relates to her own mysterious past. Shukumaru and Suzuko tackle mystery, tragedy and disaster as time unravels amidst the roaring flames of past and present.

After losing their restaurant in a fire, a husband and wife come up with a strange plan to rebuild their shattered finances: marrying the husband off to a series of lonely women and defrauding them.

Akira is a lonely middle school boy, ignored by his classmates and bullied by his teacher. He falls in love with the image of a girl on a coffee advertising poster and names her Lunn. Through his "friendship" with Lunn, he gradually finds the strength to pursue his own dreams.

The four Takezawa sisters discover that their father has an illegitimate child so they hire a private detective to investigate.

A young girl, Sayaka, develops a heartwarming friendship with an old man named Hasu. Based on an award-winning novel by Ijuin Shizu.

The year is Universal Century 0079. Oliver May is a technical officer in the Zeon 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit , in charge of testing new military technology. Stationed in the Jotunheim, a civilian transport ship that was converted into military use, Oliver must head into battle and experience the One Year War, only this time from the perspective of a weapon tester who struggles to make an impact on an evolving war during changing times.

Convicted of murder, Masayuki Ueda is sent to Hiroshima Prison along with his accomplice. But for a man like him, breaking out of prison is easy.

We find Reiko Ike once again cast as a tough schoolgirl who has to band together with her enemies to upset the reign of their private Catholic high school administration where institutionalized sexual abuse is endemic. The tables are turned on the principal and sanctimonious teachers as well as an American priest when the adult evildoers are publicly humiliated and exposed before the entire student body.

Bobby is an underachieving high school kid with a deep love for motorcycles. His most recent achievement seems to have been getting photos of himself on a road trip printed in a motorcyclist hobby magazine. When he gets a letter from a girl his age, he decides to write her back.

The real mother of the two children of a respectable university professor is not his wife, but his mistress, the hostess of a Ginza bar the family frequents.

History is coming to an end. When humans came down from the sky they brought with them the Testament, the guide to the path they must follow if they wish to return to the skies again.

A university student has the usual dreams and aspirations. It turns out to be a pipe dream and so she murders her own flesh and blood. The usual media heads seek an answer in order to sell copy. A psychologist is writing a book about the character and incident. Her research for the subject matter turn the psychologist inward and things come out of the shadows that perhaps are better left buried deep in the shadows of the psyche.

Two races, the Solnoids and the Paranoids, have been waging a war for centuries. Barely surviving a large scale space battle, seven Solnoids set course toward Chaos, a planet set to be the new homeland for their race. A malfunction during the light speed journey makes their ship jump ahead of their fleet forcing them to encounter several problems on their own.

In 1996, Tsurisaki Kiyotaka, one of Japan’s most infamous death photographers, ventured into the center of Hell itself - the Rue Morgue neighborhood of Bogota, Colombia. With death and murder rampant, the corpses eventually find their way to embalmer Froilan Orozco, who has been tending the dead for over 50 years. We watch as bodies are brought in to his shop and he prepares them for their funerals.

Yoshika has had a crush on Ichimiya, whom she calls "the One" since she was in middle school. Now, a 24-year-old salarywoman, her all-consuming fixation has prevented her from even considering another candidate for boyfriend until an office colleague asks her out.

After a convenience store robbery, three unidentified men hold a group of people hostage in a hospital. Inspector Ishida and Captain Tohno handle the negotiations while one of their colleagues, Lt. Ando, tries to find out why the men decided to take the hospital hostage. Through flashbacks, relevant information is revealed to the audience. When the negotiations are finished, most things seem to be fine until they lose track of the criminals. Then, the story unveils from a different perspective, its roots in feelings of love and vengeance.

Ichijo Sayuri, once the legendary queen of Osaka strippers, has retired to run a sushi shop. She is awaiting her day in court after having been arrested for indecency at her farewell performance. While she was active, she was both the rival and the model for many young strippers. Harumi was one of them. Ichijo Sayuri was the real-life queen of Osaka strippers who was arrested on her final performance.

A lonely kid who lives in the countryside meets a strange boy who has a ragged umbrella over his head and there is always rain pouring over him. The rain boy is dazzled by the other kid's boots and offers three wishes in exchange for them.

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.

When a doctor is found dead and the company's exclusive data on a cancer drug is missing, detective Takayama and Oshita are called to the Nakamitsu pharmaceutical laboratory. However, a bungled attempt to catch the murderer leave Takayama and Oshita reassigned to the lackluster task of patrolling public bathrooms to keep them out of trouble.

Anna, a 10-year-old girl, runs away from home after an argument with her mother and finds herself being pursued by Shocker. After managing to hop onto DenLiner, the train that crosses time, she gets off in 1989 and has a great adventure with Momotaros and others.

Kento Ohashi (Tatsuya Fujiwara) is a novice ion engine developer working on a team that is launching the unmanned Hayabusa spacecraft into outerspace. His father Isao (Tomokazu Miura) was the leader of a previously failed space probe named Nozomi. Now, Kento pursues his dreams and his father's while experiencing the unexpected surprises that comes with the Hayabusa's 7 year odyssey.

Japan, 1701. A group of samurai become rônin after their lord is forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official, who will become the target of a merciless revenge.

Two Japanese men help a Vietnam war deserter escape from Japan for Sweden. They plan to fund the escape by selling LSD pills. After word of the drug deal gets spread around they find themselves fending off rival gangs.

Rinne Kudo, who is studying abroad in England, sees her classmate kidnapped by Yoko Minato right in front of her. Rinne returns to Japan with Sophia's guidance, who is investigating a series of female kidnappings, and decides to investigate the case with Girls Remix. They head to the scene of the crime with Reika Shindai to investigate a case suspected to involve an alchemist. At that moment, Yoko appears again and attacks them, but a woman who looks like Clotho appears and fights Yoko. Will Rinne be able to solve the case and save her classmates?!

Reiko Himekawa (Yuko Takeuchi) is a female detective at the Metropolitan Police Department. Reiko doesn't come from an elite background, but she has risen fast through the ranks with hard work. Reiko than becomes involved in a murder case named "Strawberry Night" due to the mysterious use of those words surrounding the case.

Young orphan Onimaru is adopted by the wealthy Yamabe family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Kinu. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Kinu, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Mitsuhiko, a man of means who befits her stature. Onimaru vows to win her back.

This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive events. Highlights include an epic pole-vaulting match between West Germany and America, and the final marathon race through Tokyo's streets. Two athletes are highlighted: Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who receives his second gold medal, and runner Ahamed Isa from Chad, representing a country younger than he is.

An elite office worker who pretends to be a playboy. One night, Keiichi Urashima started bleeding from his head...

Hironoshin is a samurai of the Echigo-Nagaoka clan. One day, Hironoshin attends a party at a mansion in Edo where his lord, Tadakiyo is invited to recite poems. Hironoshin is asked to give his opinion and foolishly comments that the piece was plagiarized. Infuriated, Tadakiyo orders Hironoshin to live his life without honor as a ‘cat flea picker', which is in fact a pseudonym for a male prostitute. The honest and straight-shooting Hironoshin convinces himself that he has no other options, and resigns himself to live as a sex worker. Hironoshin becomes an apprentice to a flea-picker boss who encourages him, convinced that Hironoshin is exacting revenge in the guise of a prostitute.

Komori Chiaki is a budding tennis student. However, one day while training, her coach hits a ball into her eye on accident. At the hospital, the news that she will never regain the sight in her eye leaves her heartbroken. As a last resort, she undergoes a costly surgery from the mysterious doctor known as Black Jack, where after a successful operation, a mysterious figure starts to emerge in her vision, and only she can see it.

A young asthmatic man learns he has magical powers.

An upbeat, action-filled drama that depicts the lives of two obnoxious high school students, Koji and Toru, who are caught in exciting and dangerous adventures involving their fellow students. Based on the best selling comic series, “Be-Bop High School” has gained popularity among the young audience, and become an icon of Japan’s pop culture in the 1980’s.

An anime movie based on the boy band Strawberry Prince.

The film is set in Fukagawa in the early Showa period and depicts a fateful confrontation between two men who rise and fall in a black stream, trying to live a real human life, violating the cruel laws of the passing generation.

Follows the ups and downs of four female friends in Tokyo looking for love and trying to cope with the responsibilities in their lives.

A man has thrown away love and a woman has given up on love. The two souls meet in a brief summer in the northern city of Hakodate.

Sousuke Aoyama is a college student who suffers painfully from the loss of his parents in a traffic accident. He meets Kozan Shinoda, a suibokuga (India-ink painting) artist, at an exhibition. Kozan becomes interested in Sousuke and surprisingly accepts him as his disciple. However, Kozan's niece is dismissive of Sousuke and declares to compete with Sousuke for the "Kozan Award." Although Sousuke seemed uninterested in painting at first, he gradually becomes drawn to it by each stroke he draws...

The manger of cabaret club "Hanibani" named Shū, a worker at the club named Koji, and one of the patrons named Ken succeed in robbing a bank. They agree to divide the stolen money equally into three, but they become consumed by greed and try to get more than their share. In addition, a renowned figure is after their money.

Shinichi Tsuda, a Naoki Prize winning author, is working to publish his newest story. It revolves around Tsuyama, a driver for a call girl business in Toyama Prefecture, who comes across a mysterious counterfeit bill and has his life targeted by underworld kingpin Kurata. Is his story fact or fiction? His editor, Nahomi Torikai, decides to verify whether his latest work is mere fiction based on real-life experiences. She looks into a family that vanished, a post office worker who went missing, a shady load of cash, the whereabouts of the doves, and the fateful encounter from that night... A series of shocking facts are revealed from Tsuda’s stories. Why did the counterfeit money end up in Tsuda’s hands? What is the “ending” that Tsuda wished to portray?

Meowth and Wobbuffet sit on a cliff near a crystal cave, with Meowth thinking about how beautiful Meloetta is. Suddenly, Meloetta flies past, searching for something, then flies off. Meowth and Wobbuffet take off after it.

A returning veteran and karateka from WW2 starts working for the yakuza, looking for a man strong enough to kill him. After becoming a karate champion, he joins an Italian woman who is looking for revenge against the nazis who killed her family.

Different people and five different families are acting out various scenarios, scripts and what-ifs. First there is the four Suzuki family members, who are not, sitting around a table in isolation. Then there is the unveiling of a will and what happens when it is read out, there are the sisters who are at it against each other, then there is the funeral that does not go according to plan and more.

Kazuya goes to live with his mother Shinobu because his father, Yoshiki, who works in the same company, has fired him according to the company policy regarding redundancy. However, Shinobu soon gets remarried to Sakamoto depriving Kazuya of a place to stay. He then meets Sachiko who works in a salon where sexual pleasure is offered to men. They promise to have a date on the next Sunday by the sea.

On November 25th 1970, a man committed ritual suicide inside the Tokyo headquarters of the Japanese Ministry of Defence, leaving behind a legacy of masterpieces and a controversy that echoes to this day. The man was Yukio Mishima, one of Japan's greatest and most celebrated novelists. With four members of his own private army - the Tatenokai - Mishima had taken the commandant hostage and called upon the assembled military outside the Ministry to overthrow their society and restore the powers of the Emperor. When the soldiers mocked and jeered Mishima, he cut short his speech and withdrew to the commandant's office where he committed seppuku - the samurai warrior's death - tearing open his belly with a ceremonial knife before being beheaded by one of his colleagues. What was Mishima truly trying to express through his actions? And what did he witness during his final moments?

Years after moving to Tokyo with her parents, Hinako returns to her hometown in rural Shikoku. She soon learns that her childhood friend, Sayori, died several years ago and that Sayori's mother, who used to perform seances and exorcisms, has gone almost insane with grief. After seeing Sayori's ghost several times during the night, Hinako consults with some local experts on the paranormal and discovers that Sayori's mother has something planned for her daughter...

Tetsuo is a lowlife. A film director with a small indie hit many years back, yet he has never gotten any further as he refuses to go against his 'artistic integrity'.

A crippled kabuki player is taken into a strolling company of itinerant actors. An influential publisher notices his honest, bold drawings, and nurtures him despite persecution and betrayal. The film explores the eternal relationship between artist and producer, and describes the emanicipation of a man who refuses to let himself become the plaything of power and money.

Mao, who can tell when someone will die when she touches them, offers her own body to dying men. One day, Tachibana, whose wife committed suicide after Mao said she would die, draws close to her.

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.