I’m in the middle of writing a few things, but I figured this might interest some people since the last one did. Here’s the new flyer art for the Japanese theatrical release of The Machine Girl along with the ticket which doubles as a scratch-off postcard. Both poses were drawn by animator and manga artist Hisashi Eguchi (Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Charamono). Click ‘em for bigger-ness.

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So it dawned on me that the sequel to Gegege no Kitaro, Kitaro and the Millennium Curse (Gegege no Kitaro: Sennen Noroi Uta) is set to be released on July 12, 2008 and I haven’t written about it at all since this little blurb back in February. Well a lot has happened since then. The film got a few promo screenings at Cannes, various members of the cast have been popping up on Japanese variety shows like Mechaike, and the official website got a facelift. If you’re looking for full cast details, a plot synopsis, and links to production stills Ryuganji has the goods. Below the break you’ll find the first teaser, the second teaser which was lovingly subtitled by Shochiku in preparation for Cannes, and the new full-length trailer which (I think) is minty fresh, give or take a few days.

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In areas like metropolitan Tokyo the general lack of living space makes owning a pet a rare privilege—so much so that many cat-lovers are willing to shell out ¥800 (a little over $7 USD) per hour to play with cats at one of many specialized cat cafés. Therefore it should come as no surprise that executives at Japanese production companies are more than willing to green light quite a few of the life-affirming dramas about inspirational house pets that cross their desks. 2008 is no exception, with two kitten movies on the horizon: Miki Omori’s Nekonade coming out on June 28th and Isshin Inudo’s Gou-Gou Datte Neko de Aru slated for release sometime in September.

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Amongst fans of Japanese direct-to-video releases it’s pretty much set in stone that the first two actors of the “V-cinema big four” are Riki Takeuchi and Show Aikawa. There’s some room for argument beyond that, but it would be hard to dispute actor/director Hitoshi Ozawa being a solid #3. You’ve probably seen him before—he’s usually the hardboiled cop or vengeance-fueled Yakuza with a combed back mullet that isn’t Riki Takeuchi. Now 25 years into his career he’s had roles in over 200 movies, but most of those movies have never even been mentioned in the English-speaking world, let alone watched. Well no more, I say. It’s time for the well-coiffed sultan of shooting stuff to take his rightful place in the pantheon of V-cinema greats. As the first order of business on that front, we bring you two of his latest releases: the 2-part cliché-ridden gangster flick Taiyo ga Hajikeru hi followed by the slightly higher profile crime thriller Immoral: Kogoeru Shitai (frozen corpse) which he also directed.

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Japanese distributor Gaga Communications will be releasing Bokutachi to Chuzai-san no 700-nichi Senso (roughly “our 700-day war with the police") on English-subtitled DVD in Japan on August 22, 2008. The movie, which I wrote about briefly here back in December, is a comedy based on a partially-fictional blog novel which was later adapted to manga in 2006.

Set in 1979, the story revolves around a local teenager—antagonistically nicknamed “Mamachari” for the girl’s bike he rides—who is the resident mastermind of pranks in his small, normally quiet town. Mamachari, played by Hayato Ichihara (God’s Puzzle, Check It Out, Yo!), leads a gang of high school pranksters who seem to always be able to find new ways to cause mischief.

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