The full trailer for Tomoyuki Takimoto’s Ikigami is out, and you can check it out below the break. I wrote about it a little more in-depth when i posted the teaser here back in May, but basically the story involves a government-implemented system in which people under the age of 24 are eligible to be picked at random for death. Having reached the age of 24, Kengo Fujimoto (Shota Matsuda—Soujiroh Nishikado from the Hana Yori Dango series) is appointed as one of the people responsible for handing out these ikigami informing people that they have 24 hours to live. This is just a courtesy, however—the method of death is actually a lethal nanocapsule injected in children at an early age which lays dormant in their pulmonary artery until it’s activated by the government. Fujimoto vehemently opposes the law but isn’t in a position to speak out against it. Instead he continues doing his job as expected while having to deal with the various emotional responses of his victims. Also judging from the trailer I take it there’s a sappy song that brings everyone together. Aww…

continue »

Permalink      1 Comment

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.

continue »

Permalink      7 Comments

Katsuhito Ishii, the man behind films like Funky Forest: The First Contact, The Taste of Tea, and the recently-released “Yama no Anata” has spent 2 years working on a project called “U-BEE”. With the help of Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, he used HD cameras to capture footage of natural scenery in Japan and Hawaii which will be featured on a set of 3 DVDs entitled “Scenery” (135min.). The footage will be accompanied by customizable piano background music and natural sound effects in 5.1ch surround sound. The point of the project is to turn TVs into pieces of furniture that can be enjoyed without actually having to watch them intently, instead of just being a useless black square when not in use.

continue »

Permalink      0 Comments

After being repeatedly foiled by overcompressed DVD5, incomprehensible subtitles, and general low quality a few too many times myself I decided to stop mentioning anything but R1 and Japanese R2 DVD releases on Nippon Cinema. But I have it on good authority that aside from one small error in the subtitles, the new region 3 release of Takashi Miike’s Crows Zero from Singapore is pretty good quality. It includes DTS audio, anamorphic widescreen, an interview with Miike + male cast at a press event (not fully subbed), and a trailer (not subbed either). The audio is all in Japanese but the main movie includes both English and Chinese subtitles. You can find it for sale here, currently priced at $19.90.

It’s important to note that Media Blasters has owned the distribution rights for Crows Zero since early in 2007, so all you patient people out there may want to wait until they come out with their R1 release which will probably have more features and cost less. Unfortunately, there’s been no word yet on when that may be (hint: sooner would be better than later).

Permalink      0 Comments

Korean distributor CJ Entertainment is releasing Takashi Miike‘s Ryu ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon) on region 3 DVD with English and Korean subtitles on February 26th. The movie, which was originally released in early 2007, is based on a big-budget PS2 game from 2005. The following year it was released in the US under the title “Yakuza”.

continue »

Permalink      0 Comments