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Based on the homonymous novel by Hitomi Kanehara, which she wrote when she was 19 years old (just like the protagonist of the book), “Snakes and Earrings” won the Akutagawa Prize, sold more than a million copies in Japan, and has been translated into sixteen languages, before being adapted to a movie by Yukio Ninagawa.

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Lui is the epitome of the trendy girl. She dresses only in designer clothes, never goes anywhere without makeup, and has a sophisticated manicure. However, as a character, she stands out from the other girls in her circle, for a number of reasons. One night, while alone in a club, she meets Ama, who is the embodiment of the Japanese punk – red mohawk, piercings all over his face, and tattoos covering his body. What attracts Lui to him, however, is his split tongue. The attraction is mutual,...

Tiffcom, the market that runs concurrently with the Tokyo International Film Festival, is completely online this year, with 73 films screening for buyers Nov. 4-6. (The festival runs Oct. 31 to Nov. 7.)

But the Japanese companies are quite at home in the new online environment. They are also pitching plenty of new product that is not on the screening schedule, including new titles that have begun to earn.

Leading the Shochiku slate is “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish,” a Tamura Kotaro animation based on a story by Tanabe Seiko about a feisty disabled woman who finds love with an abled-bodied college student.

The story was first made into a 2003 live-action film that was a critical and commercial success. The animation had its world premiere last week at the Busan festival.

Also new to the Shochiku lineup is “Sakura,” a family drama directed by acclaimed indie veteran Yazaki Hitoshi. Fasting-rising young actors Kitamura Takumi,...

Korean pop sensation, Bts will provide the original theme song for upcoming Japanese movie “Your Eyes Tell.” With Bts member Jungkook among the composers, it is the first time that the best-selling band has participated with a film in this manner.

The song and the movie share the same English-language title, though the English title of the song is presented as “Your Eyes Tell” and the film also goes by the Japanese title “Kimino mega toikaketeiru.” The song features as a track on the new “Map of the Soul: 7 – The Journey” album being launched Wednesday for the Japan market.

The film is a remake of the 2011 Korean movie “Always,” which was directed by Song Il-gon. The retread is directed by Takahiro Miki and stars Yuriko Yoshitaka (“We Were There”) and Ryusei Yokohama (TV drama “Your Turn to Kill”). It is set for release by Gaga Corporation on Oct. 23 this year.

Based on Mahokaru Numata’s homonymous mystery novel, which sold over 250,000 copies worldwide, “Yurigokoro” is a mystery film that seems to implement a combination of the style of Sion Sono and Shunji Iwai, to present a thriller/drama using one of the recent “trademarks” of the category, the fractured narrative.

Yurigokoro is part of the 2018 Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

Ryosuke seems like a perfectly ordinary guy, maybe with the exception of the fact that occasionally he speeds up with his car. He owns a rural restaurant that is going really well, and is about to marry a very beautiful girl, Chie. His life however, soon turns completely upside down, when his father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he discovers a diary in his belongings that seem to entail the confession of a serial killer named Misako, starting with the perpetrator’s childhood, and his fiancé disappears. As he tries...

Let me start by stating a few things. The anime “Gantz” is one of my favorite anime of all times. I have not read the manga by Hiroya Oku. When I review an anime/manga adaptation, I try to focus, as little as possible, on how close to the original it remained; instead, I make an effort of watching it as a stand-alone work. The above considering, I think Shinsuke Sato’s two-part movie is one of the best films based on anime/manga.

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Two classmates, Kurono and Kato, are killed while trying to save a homeless person who had fallen on the subway rails. After their death, they find themselves in an apartment, where a man cabled inside a black sphere forces them to participate in a death game, along with a number of other people experiencing the same fate, where they have to kill particular...

Gantz (2010) Movie ReviewStory70%Special Effects81%Cinematography 65%2016-01-2572%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (4 Votes)87%

Director: Shinsuke Sato

Written by: Hiroya Oku (manga), Yusuke Watanabe (screenplay)

Cast: Kazunari Ninomiya, Kenichi Matsuyama, Natsuna Watanabe, Kanata Hongo, Yuriko Yoshitaka

Your lives have ended. What you do with your new lives is entirely up to me. That’s the law.

Now go and kill this guy.

(Gantz)

Based on the manga by Hiroya Oku, Gantz proves that a good story cannot be killed by a poor adaptation. The Plot

Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato are hit by a subway train when they were trying to save a drunkard who fell from the platform. The next moment they find themselves in a strange room, empty except for a mysterious black sphere.

There are other people in the room, most of them convinced that, like Kurono and Kato, they have died today.

The people are wondering...

Third Window Films is pleased to announce the release of The Story of Yonosuke on April 14, 2014 in the UK. Shuichi Okita's latest oddity will be released on both DVD and Blu-Ray. Based on a novel by multi-award-winning author Shuichi Yoshida (Villain, Parade), this bittersweet film is the latest offering from the director of The Woodsman & the Rain and stars Kengo Kora (Norwegian Wood, Fish Story) & Yuriko Yoshitaka (Gantz, Robo-g). Synopsis: Yonosuke is a typical Japanese on-screen hero: socially awkward, childish and naive, but always cheerful and charming. We meet him when he moves from Nagasaki to Tokyo in the late eighties at the height of the city’s economic boom. Despite his odd character he manages to make new friends at university, joins a samba class and falls in love with an older woman. Sixteen years later his friends are all reminiscing over their college days, thinking back on how Yonosuke changed their lives.

Third Window Films is pleased to announce the release of The Story of Yonosuke on April 14, 2014 in the UK. Shuichi Okita's latest oddity will be released on both DVD and Blu-Ray. Based on a novel by multi-award-winning author Shuichi Yoshida (Villain, Parade), this bittersweet film is the latest offering from the director of The Woodsman & the Rain and stars Kengo Kora (Norwegian Wood, Fish Story) & Yuriko Yoshitaka (Gantz, Robo-g). Synopsis: Yonosuke is a typical Japanese on-screen hero: socially awkward, childish and naive, but always cheerful and charming. We meet him when he moves from Nagasaki to Tokyo in the late eighties at the height of the city’s economic boom. Despite his odd character he manages to make new friends at university, joins a samba class and falls in love with an older woman. Sixteen years later his friends are all reminiscing over their college days, thinking back on how Yonosuke changed their lives.

Gantz 2: Perfect Answer

Stars: Kazunari Ninomiya, Kenichi Matsuyama, Yuriko Yoshitaka | Written by Hiroya Oku | Directed by Shinsuke Sato

Based on a hit manga series created by Hiroya Oku and starring leading Japanese actors Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City), Gantz 2: Perfect Answer begins several months after the events of the first film. Kurono (Ninomiya Kazunari) is still fighting aliens under the order of Gantz and he is close to reaching the score he needs to resurrect his friend Kato (Matsuyama Kenichi). As the missions begin to get increasingly dangerous for both the alien fighters and the general public, Kurono discovers that the endgame for Gantz is quickly approaching.

So, mysterious black ball. Check. Tight leather-clad undead heroes. Check. Strange shape-shifting(?) aliens. Check. Complete lack of understanding of what’s going on having not seen the original movie. Check. Enjoying it for what it is,...

The Gantz: Part II: Perfect Answer Movie Trailer has premiered. Shinsuke Sato‘s Gantz: Part II: Perfect Answer (2011) stars Kazunari Ninomiya, Kenichi Matsuyama, Kanata Hongô, Natsuna Watanabe, and Yuriko Yoshitaka. Gantz: Part II: Perfect Answer‘s plot synopsis: Part II continues were Part I left off where “after trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth”. We previously posted the Gantz (2011) Movie Trailer for Part One. The movie trailer starts out slowly but then the action kicks in around the half way point. I wish there were english subtitles for this movie trailer but the viewer gets the feeling that there is internal strife in the protagonist’s group.

More about this sequel:

In the sequel (which was preceded, of course,...

In the sequel (which was preceded, of course, by both Manga and Anime versions of Gantz) Kei Kurono (played by Kazunari Ninomiya) works with other players involved with Gantz to revive those who died during the first film. Although details of the film are shrouded in mystery, we can clearly see that Kato Masaru, (Kenichi Matsuyama), will return as well as a bunch of new antagonists. Gantz is losing energy and it appears Tae Kojima, (Yuriko Yoshitaka), is a target for the next mission. Kei Kurono is now torn between saving the girl he loves or completing the final mission of Gantz. To access the gallery, just click below:...

Directed by: Shinsuke Sato

Written by: Hiroya Oku, Yûsuke Watanabe

Cast: Kenichi Matsuyama, Kazunari Ninomiya, Yuriko Yoshitaka

Music by: Kenji Kawai

What is it about live action film adaptations that are just so inferior to their original counterpart?

Without even including anything directed by Uwe Boll, I bet you can easily name five bad live action films that were adapted from either a video game, a book, an anime, or the like. It’s not difficult, is it? I can personally name five films simply from the last few years: Hitman, Dragonball: Evolution, The Last Airbender, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Now, I bet you can’t do the same for good live action film adaptations, can you? Off the top of my head now, I can give small kudos to films like Harry Potter, the original Resident Evil, and the original Spiderman. The point...

Over the weekend, Eiga.com posted the new 2-minute trailer for Koji Maeda’s upcoming comedy Konzen Tokkyuu.

As reported by Tokyograph back in August, the film stars actress Yuriko Yoshitaka as a 24-year-old office worker named Chie who’s trying to select a potential candidate for marriage from her five very different boyfriends.

The marriage candidates are played by Ryo Kase, Kenta Hamano (of Sakerock), Takaaki Enoki, Munetaka Aoki, and Takuya Yoshimura.

The story began as an original drama series created for the Lismo mobile service. In 2009, Yoshitaka starred in four episodes where she played Chie at 17 years old. In January, she’ll star in a new batch of episodes where she plays Chie at 21.

The “Konzen Tokkyuu” film will be released by Bitters End in Japan on April 1, 2011.

On Saturday, the official website for Shinsuke Sato‘s upcoming 2-part live-action adaptation of Gantz was updated with a new 90-second theatrical trailer as well as a second teaser.

The films are based on Hiroya Oku’s long-running manga about two students who die in a train accident only to be brought back to life by a mysterious black sphere called Gantz. The pair, played by Kazunari Ninomiya of the pop group Arashi and actor Kenichi Matsuyama, receive enhancement suits which give them the superhuman abilities needed to complete a series of alien assassination missions. Through these missions they earn “points” toward buying their own freedom, but various incidents complicate matters along the way.

Other announced cast members include Yuriko Yoshitaka as Tae Kojima, Kanata Hongo as Joichiro Nishi, Natsuna (formerly Natsuna Watanabe) as Kei Kishimoto and Takayuki Yamada as Shigeta Masamitsu.

Toho will be releasing Part 1 (Zenpen) on January 29th.

Here is what I'm assuming is the latest preview for the upcoming 2-part live-action adaptation of Hiroya Oku's Gantz and the closest thing to a genuine trailer that's been released so far. Mercifully, this one is completely free of morning show graphics, talking head reaction boxes, and chatty announcer voices yapping over the best parts.

The films star Kazunari Ninomiya as as Kei Kurono and Kenichi Matsuyama as Masaru Kato, two college students who die in a train accident only to be brought back to life by a mysterious black sphere known as Gantz. Equipped with advanced weaponry and special suits that give them superhuman abilities, they're forced to carry out alien assassination missions, earning "points" toward eventually buying their freedom. However, various incidents along the way complicate matters. Additional cast members include Yuriko Yoshitaka as Kurono's girlfriend Tae Kojima, Kanata Hongo as a young veteran of the Gantz world named Joichiro Nishi,...

[Update:  Added an extended footage clip.]

Some actual footage broadcast from a Japanese entertainment news show for Shinsuke Sato's upcoming two-part live-action adaptation of Gantz has been uploaded on Youtube.  Also, there is a promo clip with a behind-the-scenes shots from the set and a preview at the several Gantz participants.  Here's the official synopsis via Ntv:

College student Kei Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) witnesses his childhood friend Masaru Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama) attempting to help a drunk who has fallen onto the subway train tracks and spontaneously jumps in to help him. However, both are run down by the oncoming train...

In the next instant, they are transported to a strange apartment with others who should also be dead. In the center of the living room is an enigmatic black orb known as 'Gantz'.

Gantz enlists each of them on a mission to hunt down and exterminate 'aliens', providing them with fighting suits and weapons.

Is...

Ntv has aired a new 55-second promo for Shinsuke Sato‘s upcoming 2-part live-action adaptation of Gantz and, of course, it’s been promptly uploaded to YouTube. The new footage includes some behind the scenes effects shots and glimpses of the announced cast members. Neither film will be released until 2011, so I guess we can expect the PR to be dragged out all year. Lucky us!

I don’t think any news has been broken with the new clip, but as per the freeze-frames in the teaser, the cast now consists of: Kazunari Ninomiya as Kei Kurono, Kenichi Matsuyama as Masaru Kato, Kanata Hongo as Joichiro Nishi, Yuriko Yoshitaka as Tae Kojima, and Natsuna (formerly Natsuna Watanabe) as Kei Kishimoto.

Thanks aneon for the heads up.