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Transformational technologies and their impacts on filmmaking, along with both the growing attraction and remaining challenges of shooting in Japan, were the focus of this year’s edition of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) seminar at Tokyo International Film Festival.

Before a packed house, leading off the event on October 30 was Edward B. Neubronner of the MPA’s Asia Pacific division, who pointed to the popularity Japanese content is enjoying worldwide, the global anime market being valued at more than $31 billion and the number of “international creators eager to bring their visions to life on Japanese soil.”

Evan Felsing, representing the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, grabbed the audience’s attention by delivering a speech on the importance of Japan and the U.S. collaborating on misuse of AI, preventing disinformation, and protecting IP, before confessing his remarks were the product of generative AI.

The production incentive scheme launched last...

One of my most anticipated upcoming anime series of the fall is You Are Ms. Servant . I could say it’s because it’s set to be directed by the experienced Ayume Watanabe Or because I want to see anime adaptations of comics published by Shogakukan continue to compete with Shueisha and its Shonen Jump giants. But then I would be lying. The real reason is that You Are Ms. Servant will feature the very first anime opening song composed and performed by the band Tricot. If you’re a fan of Japanese rock music, chances are Tricot is already one of your favorite bands. Since their founding in 2010 they’ve played across the world and released seven studio albums. Their music takes influence from local legends like Number Girl as well as American bands such as System of a Down. Some call them a “math rock” band but Tricot rejects the label.

Welcome, readers, to Late to the Party , a column that's right on time when it comes to catching up on anime everyone's already watched. This column addresses a universal truth in regard to being an anime fan: an anime backlog is quite the powerful beast. Many of us have one, where we amass more and more content we have designated in the "planning to watch" category. How and why it takes so long to actually address this task varies from person to person, but the gratification of finally allocating the time is really quite splendid. Related: Why Did It Take Me So Long to Watch Buddy Daddies? Occasionally, it’s by watching a classic anime from yesteryear that you’ve had your eye on for quite some time. In other instances, it’s a more recent premiere that just slipped by. This October, I have been overly spooked by all the anticipation for Halloween.

Around 1976, Toei Studios showed the money to two of its star directors, Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima, to direct their own versions of vehicular mayhem action features, both starring one of their key leading men Tsunehiko Watase. Nakajima’s effort was released in May, 1976 in the form of the stylish “A Savage Beast Goes Mad”, but it was Fukasaku’s output that came earlier, with “Violent Panic: The Big Crash” hitting theatres in February, 1976.

Bank robbers Yamanaka Takashi and Seki Mitsuo have been plaguing Japan, doing smash-and-grab jobs in banks across the country. The young and rebellious Midorikawa Michi, who Takashi has a soft spot for, keeps throwing a spanner in his plans but Takashi is determined to pull one last big job and retire to Brazil with the loot. The two robbers finalise on Kobe as that job, but when Mitsuo is killed while fleeing from the scene after...

Fuji TV has announced that the new series Dragon Ball Daima will begin airing in Japan on Oct 11, 2024 at 11:40 Pm.

This marks the return of the Dragon Ball franchise to television for the first time in six years, following the conclusion of Dragon Ball Super in March 2018.

Notably, this is the first time in the history of the series that a Dragon Ball anime will air during a late-night slot.

Alongside this announcement, Fuji TV revealed the creation of a new anime programming block on Friday nights, with Dragon Ball Daima being the inaugural series to be featured in this time slot.

Traditionally, Dragon Ball anime has been broadcast on Wednesday evenings or Sunday mornings, making this late-night airing a significant shift for the franchise.

Explaining the shift from Sunday mornings—where Dragon Ball Kai and Super previously aired—to Friday nights, Yuichi Nakajima, the head of programming at...

The highly anticipated Dragon Ball Daima anime series has received its televised release date along with other details amid a major production update, befitting original franchise creator Akira Toriyama's final involvement in the franchise prior to his passing.

Via Mantan Web, the highly anticipated Dragon Ball Daima anime series will premiere on TV on Oct. 11, 2024, with a special first episode set to run for an extended 10 minutes. Notably, it was also revealed that all episodes of Dragon Ball Daima have now been completed; Toei Animation localization director Daniel Castaeda previously suggested the series will have around 20 episodes.

Related Dragon Ball's Genius Badass Resurfaces in 40-Year-Old Toriyama Color Illustration

Dragon Ball's eccentric genius Bulma resurfaces in a decades-old illustration, evoking two of Akira Toriyama's main joys: adventure and mech design.

Dragon Ball Daima Headlines New Nationwide Anime Time Slot for Televised Release

Dragon Ball Daima will also be...

Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV announced their upcoming programming slate at their Odaiba headquarters today, revealing the start date for the much-anticipated premiere of the Dragon Ball Daima TV anime. Mantan Web reports that the follow-up to Dragon Ball Super will premiere on October 11 in an extended 40-minute time slot. Previously released trailer: The head of programming at Fuji TV, Yuichi Nakajima, said that “all the episodes [of Dragon Ball Daima ] are ready” for broadcast. Daima will be airing in a brand new anime-focused time slot on Fuji TV on Friday nights at 11:40 Pm. Nakajima explained the change from Sunday mornings (where Dragon Ball Kai and Super aired) to Friday nights is because the new time slot will be broadcast all across Japan, while the Sunday morning slot isn't broadcast in all regions making Daima “easily able to be watched by the target demographic.” Related: Dragon Ball Daima Anime to Premiere...

Comic Cune magazine is apologizing for running an inappropriate ad in public bookstores for the release of the manga series Where Is the Elf Teacher's Toilet?. The risqu toilet-based comedy involves a female fantasy elf unable to control herself when "nature calls."

The Japanese seinen manga magazine, owned by Kadokawa Future Publishing, issued a public apology for the tasteless stunt on its official X (formerly Twitter) account. "We would like to apologize for any inconvenience regarding the bookstore display for Where Is the Elf Teacher's Toilet?," the statement reads. "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused. This notice was created by our company to promote the release of the first volume of this book, but in light of the fact that it was pointed out that the content was not suitable for display in bookstores, we are currently arranging for it to be removed from store shelves."

Related High School...

Yasuo Nakajima and Mariona Carrera’s Barcelona and Tokyo-based b-mount have boarded “Maybe It’s True What They Say About Us,’ (“Quizás Es Cierto Lo Que Dicen De Nosotras”) from Chilean filmmaking duo Camilo Becerra (“El último sacramento”) and Sofía Paloma Gómez (“Quiero morirme dentro de un tiburón”), seen at San Sebastian’s San Sebastián Wip Latam competition.

b-mount join a co-production between Carlos Núñez and Gabriela Sandoval at Chile’s Storyboard Media (“The Sky Is Red”), Cecilia Salim at Argentina’s Murillo Cine (“Chaco”) and Lucía van Gelderen at Argentina’s Morocha Films (“El Cinco”) alongside Becerra’s production venture La Jauría Comunicaciones.

Emilio Mayorga serves as executive producer. International sales for the film are handled by Lucia and Julia Meik’s Meikincine (“Los Fuertes”).

“This project is extraordinary for us since it’s our first involvement in fiction production; formerly, we’ve provided shooting services to international productions,...

The Corridor Crew YouTube channel compares the filmmaking of Shin Godzilla and the American MonsterVerse, highlighting how the Japanese film captures horror and destruction through its use of practical effects, miniature sets, and CG. Shin Godzilla is praised for its intercutting between a CG and animatronic Godzilla, as well as its cinematography and motion capture, which make the creatures feel more realistic compared to recent MonsterVerse films. Godzilla effects have evolved over the years, from hand puppeteering and rubber suits in the original 1954 film to the use of CG in the 1998 version and the fully CG Godzilla in Gareth Edwards' reboot.

The Corridor Crew YouTube channel breaks down how Shin Godzilla and other modern Japanese Godzilla movies stand out from their American MonsterVerse counterparts through how the filmmaking captures the horror and destruction caused by the Kaiju. The modern American giant monster franchise began with Gareth Edwards' 2014 reimagining of Godzilla...

Featuring one of the best screenplays we have seen in an Atg movie, by Takehiro Nakajima (some allege it was inspired by his own life), who won a number of awards in 1976 for his effort, “Preparation for the Festival” is another great sample of the company's catalog, that takes a rather realistic, as much as comedic look at the life in rural Japan during the 50s, also channeling intense erotic elements. The film was included in the top 200 of Kinema Junpo critics, in number 157.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

The story revolves around Takeo, a young man in his 20s, who is working as a clerk in the small town he has been living in all his life. However, Takeo's mind is definitely elsewhere as his thoughts are monopolized by his will to leave for Tokyo, and finally losing his virginity, with the latter...

By Olivia Popp

Premiering at the Tokyo International Festival and moving to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, “The Clone Returns Home” is Kanji Nakajima’s virtually unknown grounded sci-fi turned imaginative meditation on memory, life, and what can’t be captured within humankind’s attempt to control life. With Nakajima’s dreamscape and near-fantastical tale of being human, it’s no wonder that the movie easily attracts comparisons to Tarkovsky’s “Solaris.” The Japanese director brings his 2006 Sundance / Nhk International Filmmaker’s Award screenplay to life in this pensive piece with a small cast and a simple premise.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

After an introduction to the world of the film, in which a space agency is experiencing unexpected and unforeseen deaths among its astronauts, the astronaut Kohei Takahara (Mitsuhiro Oikawa) is given the option to prepare materials so that the agency may create...

What happens in the manhole stays in the manhole.

That would be one way to describe this initially intiguing and increasingly outrageous Japanese horror flick, which features pop star Yuto Nakajima as a young man who, on the eve of his wedding, falls into the film’s titular trap and can’t get out.

Directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Sketches of Kaitan City) from a script by Michitaka Okada (Masquerade Hotel), the movie definitely makes the most out of its setting, concocting dozens of obstacles to keep the suspense high as its hero gets sliced, bludgeoned, heralded on social media and poisoned by toxic sewage as he attempts to escape. But about midway through, #Manhole more or less jumps the shark — or is it the manhole? — by throwing in so many twists that it veers toward gory parody.

Premiering in Berlin’s Panorama section, the film should find an audience at home thanks to Nakajima,...

Inzai City, Tokyo, Oct 16 (Ians) Sahith Theegala got his 2022-23 season off to a great start with his second Top-six finish in three starts as he finished with a round of 3-under 67 and totalled 12-under 268 and a tied-fifth place in the Zozo Championship at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.

The Indian-American, who was one of the rookies to reach the Tour Championships, was Tied-sixth at the Fortinet Championship but missed the cut at Sanderson Farms. He bounced back in Japan despite a first round of 1-over 71. He shot 67-63-67 in his final three rounds.

Keegan Bradley survived two late bogeys as he fended off a strong challenge from overnight leader Rickie Fowler and Andrew Putnam to end a four-year title drought on the PGA Tour, that spanned over 1,498 days.

Fowler finished runner-up for the 15th time in 299 starts in his PGA Tour career. He was unable to get...