Discoveries from Japan World Cinema

The devil king Lucifero suddenly declares he's going to retire, and must choose a successor. The Devil King Cadets gather one after another, and go to the human world to participate in the succession contest. But only the devil king's own descendant Osamu has no interest whatsoever in the contest. Compared to the fate of the world, Osamu is more interested in his part-time job at a convenience store. Osamu has no choice, however, but to start collecting familiars called "Child," which are born from human souls. Osamu still only has an interest in his part-time job, and he's a few steps behind the rest of the Cadets.

Akiyama is an intern, disgusted with the noise pollution caused by the bullet trains and the heart attacks that noise has been causing in older hospital patients, plots to disrupt and, in ten days, destroy a unit of the operation. He warns the Japan National Railway, that, if nothing is done to reduce the noise, he will derail a bullet train. Takigawa is the police detective sent to stop him.

The Go-Ongers intercept the Recycle Barbaric Machine Beast Army in their Engines, managing to scrap the 13. However, trio of mysterious warriors appear and their actions result in the Go-Ongers losing the primary Engine Casts while being sucked into the Braneworld known as Samurai World, a dimension similar to Edo Japan where power is essential.

A man tries to mend his past by helping his best friend’s sister.

Nikkatsu Roman Porno, the second entry in the Maruhi Oo'oku Gaiden series. Recieving a mysterious foreign love potion, the Shogun's harem (or Oo'oku) becomes disordered; meanwhile a famous woman attempts to enter and seek revenge in the disguise of a male monk.

In 2039, helper androids are widespread as general purpose electronics. Keiichirou lost his family in a traffic accident and retired from his band. One day, he finds an old model android in a garbage dump. He takes her home and names her "Flower".

All Laia Einburg wants for her golem-making father Galia and her equally ambitious brother Huey is to end a long running feud. But her world gets turned upside down when short-stature Lina Inverse and overly endowed Naga the Serpent save Laia from a rampaging golem. A grateful, but smitten, Galia asks Lina to be a model for his work. Not to be outdone, Huey makes a similar request to Naga. The results are towering remote-controlled golems in the image of our favorite sorceresses! Huey gets all the proportions right, but Galia's taste is just weird. Adding insult to injury, Galia turns Lina into a magical battery pack! Officially, Lords Haizen and Granion commissioned these golems for a contest to determine the ruler of the city of Stoner. But the lords are secretly planning to use the golems as prototypes for an army of conquest! Can Lina and Naga save the city from tyranny?

When a lucrative waterfront development becomes available, the Kawade gang quickly use their political connections to secure the land. However, the acting boss of the Ohara gang also has his eyes on the property and recruits crooked detective Tokumatsu Kuno to help him hijack the deal. With relations between the rival gangs at breaking point, it's not long before all-out war breaks out as the gangsters, police and local politicians battle for control of the city.

Sena has had a care-free deco-truck business, but one day, she receives a strange request by a cheap hoodlum, Takizawa, to carry a blind stripper, Azumi, to a certain location. She reluctantly accepts it, but yakuza members begin a persistent search for Takizawa, who turns out to have stolen their company’s money. Here comes the long-awaited new deco-truck series featuring the idol, Saori Hara, rolling down the highway on a ton of love, action, and steam!

Shrunken down to nanoscale, a professor and a scrappy kid end up inside a human body, where they must rely on their wits and knowledge to survive!

A 20 something girl Yoshiko is having sex with her boyfriend when a shocking telephone call arrives - grandpa has passed away. The lightning from clear sky doesnt derail only the life of Yoshiko but summons the rest of the dysfunctional Haruno family to the ancenstral country house to pay their respects to the deceased - and unleash their quarrels between themselves and with the world at large.

Nagoya, 1983: Legendary filmmaker Koji WAKAMATSU decides to open a cinema – not least to show his own films. The Cinema Skhole quickly turns into a hot spot for local cinephiles. Junichi INOUE tells an empathetic and almost true story about motion picture enthusiasts in this loose sequel to Kazuya SHIRAISHI’s DARE TO STOP US.

Despite his efforts of living a normal life as a banker, the life of Toru, the only son of the Yubari Family, becomes disrupted by trouble brought on by his father. When his father’s battle against his rival group the Miike Family ignites, Toru becomes more involved in the turf war than he wished for.

Helba has prepared a special hot springs for the .hack characters so they could get some rest and relaxation. Kite, Elk, Tsukasa, Mimiru and many other characters from the series make an appearence in The World for this reward. There is only one small catch, Helba will not reveal the exact location of where the springs are located. It soon becomes a race between the cast of .hack//SIGN and the characters from the game to see who can find it first. However, this is a catch, while everyone is trying to find the springs, someone is going around killing the other charcaters. Who will make it to the springs first and who is behind the deaths of many of the other characters?

In Space Century (SC) 152, the planet Deloyer, Earth's only colony, is home to a growing independence movement. The Fang of the Sun are a small team of guerillas fighting against Earth's occupation. To counter Earth's Combat Armors, they have a lone Combat Armor of their own: Dougram, a CA specially built for Deloyer's environment — and piloted by Crinn Cashim, the rebellious son of the leader of the Earth government on Deloyer. This compilation film version presents the events of the 75 episode anime series as a documentary, primarily focusing on the story's politics rather than the main characters. Originally screened with the short "Choro Q Dougram" and the Combat Mecha Xabungle compilation film Xabungle Graffiti.

A stolen military aircraft with nuclear missiles on board crashes in the snowbound Northern Japanese Alps. Two teams of rangers from Japan's Defense Force must reach the craft before the enemies do.

A young, good-hearted doctor Kenichi suffers from a rare syndrome whereby his feelings cannot be hidden. Such people are known as "satorare" and their well-being come under special government protection.

A middle-aged man discovers an injured refugee woman trembling in the corner of his bar in Kabukicho. He quickly becomes aware that her life is in his hands when he learns she is hiding from the yakuza.

Set in the post-World War II climate of the 1960s in Kobe, the movie explores the struggle for power within the powerful Manpyo family.

In the 24th century, on the war-torn planet Maris the conniving Queen Adama abducts Apple, a member of an heroic trio known as the White Knights, and imprisons her in the infamous Zone. Even though no one has ever returned alive from the Zone — and despite the low ammo at their disposal — the other knights follow their companion. What they find there, however, is an enigmatic figure with a mind-bending revelation...

A human drama of joys and sorrows about a married woman living in an apartment complex who suddenly finds herself with a large sum of money and the people around her who are seized by greed.

Rui is the charismatic leader of a new religious group. Consequently, he starts to gain attention from the mass media. After becoming involved in a car accident, Rui goes to a remote island with ex-gangster now bodyguard. On the island, Rui reveals more about his religious group, while a set of ominous events are about to occur.

Tatsuo, a reverent lumberjack, seeks to disrupt plans to build a marine park on his family land, instead promoting his traditions in reactionary ways.

The daughter of the wealthy Soga family is kidnapped and her fiance is murdered. But the kidnappers, Tatsu and Sanko are unaware that Tatsuko is the heiress to a fortune. Two strong-arm brothers, Kosaka and Takeshi, learn of her identity and join the gang in an effort to shake down the tycoon for ten million yen. Upon joining forces, their first move is to rid themselves of the driver whose identity is known to the police because of a cap which he left behind at the scene of the crime. Upon obtaining the ransom money, the brothers murder the two kidnappers and go to the port city of Kobe. The younger brother, Takeshi, has fallen in love with the prisoner and refuses to allow her to be killed and they take her with them from one hideout to another.

Raised suckling poison arrows among the sparring Iga ninja factions, Mumon is a carefree 16th-century mercenary. When the ninja council makes a power play to defeat the young Nobukatsu Oda struggling to step into his father’s warlord shoes as they expand rule across the country, Mumon jumps into the fray to satisfy his new bride Okuni’s demand that he make good on his promises of wealth. Yet Mumon soon finds what is worth fighting for beyond money or nation.

Kurumi is hired at a high-end hotel, but is instead dispatched to work at fun fair that is connected to the business network. The new work is out in the country and there is not much else to do or places to go. The go-to employee is one Yoshiko. Kurumi wants to be successful and valued and is eager to learn from Yoshiko. All is not as it seems on the surface however.

The posthumous wish of Eiji's wife is for her ashes to be scattered in the ocean near her hometown. Eiji also learns that his wife letter for him at the post office before she died.

Minako, a Tokyo housewife, is depressed that everyone has an active life outside the home except her. Taking her inspiration from TV reports of a hitch-hiking chainsaw murderer, Minako decides to spice up her life by finding a young lover and running off with him by faking her kidnapping. While her family frets and worries, Minako has a wonderful time. Eventually, though, she decides it's time to go back to her family. Her lover, however, isn't ready for the fun to end, and Minako's fake kidnapping soon becomes all too real.

The film consists of three short stories. Tomiko, the heroine of the first story, "The Flower Girl" (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura), is a little girl who bears the unbearable burden of caring for her family. Tomiko's father has been unable to find work for a long time, and her older sister is terminally ill—it is unlikely that she will ever recover. To feed her family, Tomiko runs around the city from morning until late at night selling flowers... The second novella (dir. Tadashi Imai) also depicts the lives of the poor. An unfamiliar girl brings young Kavano a letter from his mother. It turns out that the girl's name is Kuniko, she is very hardworking, but her family is dying of hunger. Therefore, her mother decided to send Kuniko to her son so that he would marry her. The short story is called "The Unexpected Bride." The third short story, which gave the film its title, is particularly interesting: "When You Love" (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto). It shows the family of a young peace activist.

A college student's relationship is going nowhere until she meets a bisexual medical artist who makes prosthetic body parts.

Meiko Kaji reprises her role as Nami, a vengeful female gang leader, in the second installment of this high-action series that casts a new actor -- martial arts legend Sonny Chiba -- in the role of Nami's loyal friend Ryuji. This time around, Nami is looking for Hoshiden, the man who murdered her father and shattered her once-hopeful childhood. But living under an assumed name, Hoshiden could stay hidden forever.

Tamaki got disheartened when she was sent to the Percussion Division of her catholic Music School. There she overheard a Girl playing Wadaiko Drums. She was instantly captivated. So she decides to try playing them seriously.

Mirai Takatsuki is a seemingly normal teenager, but when he was a child his life was saved from a terrible illness thanks to magnanimous donations from the local community that paid for his medical bills. Ongoing media attention and the pressure to excel have prompted Mirai to have suicidal tendencies.

Sixth release from the hit erotic sci-fi/live action series based on the comic by Go Nagai and starring Maria Ozawa! Get ready for plenty of silly gags and tons of eros.

Tourists, foreigners and outcasts converge on the streets of Osaka in this sprawling ensemble drama by Japan-based, Malaysia-born filmmaker Lim Kah Wai. His eighth feature explores the lesser-known aspects of the Asian melting pot city through the eyes and experiences of a dozen characters who struggle to find their place in society: among them a Nepali refugee with dreams of opening a restaurant, a Burmese student struggling to make ends meet while working two jobs, and a Taiwanese sex tourist who travels to meet his favorite adult video actress.

This enticing period melodrama depicts a long-suffering woman's relationship with her brilliant but self-destructive writer husband in postwar Tokyo. Based on a semi-autobiographical 1947 novel by Osamu Dazai, the story centers less on the womanizing, heavy-drinking, suicidal hero than on the wife who loves him. Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival

A short film collection featuring the winning works of the "2nd Japan Horror Film Awards".

Based on the feature-length novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles" written by Arthur Conan Doyle, which is the movie version of the TV drama "Sherlock" broadcast on the Fuji TV series in 2019.

Misa, who hates yakuza, is saved from her predicament by yakuza Ryuji and gradually becomes attracted to him. Then, Misa becomes a co-signer for her ex-boyfriend and is forced by the yakuza to become the yakuza boss's woman in return for the debt. Cornered, Misa comes up with a plan...

Fumiko Matsuzawa (24), newly assigned to Fujioka High School—a den of delinquents—becomes prime prey for the students almost immediately upon her arrival. Male students hurl obscene remarks at the beautiful, voluptuous Fumiko. Little does she know that among them is Takaaki, the younger brother of her boyfriend, Motoaki. As usual, Takaaki and his delinquent friends roamed the streets looking for victims to gang rape, eventually targeting a younger student named Maki. Seeing her former self in Takaaki's self-deprecating attitude, the polar opposite of his elite older brother Motomasa, Fumiko began paying special attention to him. Though Takaaki verbally rejected her advances, sensing a familiar vibe, he gradually opened up to her. But when Takaki finally returned home after so long, what he saw was Fumiko and his beloved older brother, Motomasa, in each other's arms. Takaki cursed them with vile words.

Sawada graduated from an art university but cannot rely on it to make a living and is working as an assistant to a famous contemporary artist. He lost his independent will and became accustomed to simply doing what he was told. One day, Sawada had an accident on the way to work and lost his job because of an arm injury. When he returned to the room, there was an ant on the floor. After drawing a circle as if guided by an ant, Sawada's daily life begins to be eroded by the circle.

A mahjong neophyte loses everything to game master only to hone his skills, take on all challenges and plan for an ultimate revenge match.

An assassin for a secret organization keeping Japan safe from underworld threats finds himself targeted by evil forces aiming to unleash an unstoppable criminal syndicate upon Japan.

This film depicts a troupe of wandering kabuki players traveling through rural Japan.

A UFO transports three children back to the prehistoric. Three kids who have heard a mysterious call from advanced beings whom are about to take them in a journey of self discovery through the ages learning from love and friendship but also hate in a world of dinosaurs.

A fishing boat is attacked at sea by a gigantic, hairy monster. After examining the sole survivor (Kanji Tsuda), scientific adviser Dr Murakami (Shiro Sano) suspects the culprit is a “Keukegen spectre”, a shaggy supernatural beast from Japanese folklore. The announcement leads reporter Hideo Akihara (Ken Osawa) to a forest shrine dedicated to the Keukegen Geharha, where he finds several worshipers and learns that an ancient seal containing the monster has been broken.

Large star-shaped aliens travel to earth in hopes of warning them about an oncoming catastrophe. To prevent panic about their appearance, one alien takes the form of a popular singer.

A Doraemon anime film. It premiered in theatres on March 9, 1991 on a bill with Doraemon: Nobita in Dorabian Nights. The movie's original plot was written by Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko.

The murder of the chief official of Kobe city's Customs triggers an investigation of a prostitution ring called the 'Yellow Line' that sells Japanese women. A hired assassin is betrayed by his organization, and kidnaps a woman who happens to be the girlfriend of a newspaper reporter.

A homeless man suffering from memory loss is unbeatable in a fight. He becomes involved with the Yakuza. It is based on a manga by Carib Marley.

Rena and Yuko, the two sexually-adventurous high school girl friends from Pink Tush Girl (1978) get part-time jobs at a hostess bar in order to earn money for an abortion for Yuko. At the end of the school year the two must part as Yuko prepares to depart for acting school in Hokkaido, and Rena gets ready for college.

Ho Tzu Nyen's Hotel Aporia features a cast of historical figures from Japan's interwar period, including World War Two kamikaze pilots, philosophers of the Kyoto School, filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu, and animator Ryuichi Yokoyama. They were all caught up in the heady mix of Japan's militant nationalism, anti-modernism, and cultural propaganda. Letters and correspondence between the artist and his Japanese collaborators, the writers Tomoyuki Arai and Yoko Nose, form the narrative basis of the work. Experimenting with the epistemological and affective capacities of animation, Ho superimposes animation images of featureless faces onto found footage clips from Ozu's fiction films and Ryuichi Yokoyama's animation propaganda films. This is a single-screen cinematic presentation of Hotel Aporia. Its original form, first presented at the Aichi Trienanle, is a video installation projecting layers of animation and hybrid-animation images onto multiple screens within a heritage building.

Miki's lying in bed in the school's nursery after being hit in the face by a ball, supposedly asleep when Yuu comes in. Yuu asks her if she is asleep but she does not answer, so he looks at her as she sleeps. Then he kisses her and leaves. As soon as he has left, Miki jumps up, surprised and wonders what he is up to, since they have just met... or have they?

The film begins with around Agumon, Gaomon and Lalamon, whose partners have been placed in a magical slumber along with the rest of city's population, by a mysterious thorned vine that spread throughout the city. As the Digimon make their way through the silent city, they stumble upon a pack of Goblimon, led by an Ogremon, who are attacking a young girl. They scare off the goblins, and the girl, Rhythm, reveals that she is actually a Digimon, then explains that the thorns are the work of a Digimon named Argomon. The quartet sets out to confront the villain atop his skyscraper lair.

Koji runs a second-hand bookstore. He likes female drummer Ichihana, but, suddenly, female high school student Misaki appears in front of him and keeps confesses her feelings for him.

Set two years after the events of Ultraman Trigger, an ultra-ancient threat re-emerges, leading to the return of Ultraman Trigger and Ultraman Zett to save the day, but all is not as it seems.