BD just posted a brief interview with Takashi Miike. Obviously the questions are pretty much all horror-specific, but since Miike doesn’t really consider himself a horror director per se, the majority of his answers are basically brief clarifications. [clicky!]

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It’s not all that often that a simple magazine cover catches my attention (okay, so there was this time, this time, this time, and this time), but this is certainly also one of those times. Anna Tsuchiya is on the front of the 8/6 issue of “an・an” magazine—the “Sex” special edition—in all of her topless-but-obscured glory. The issue also features photography by Lily Franky and apparently includes a CD insert with Etsushi Toyokawa reading from the erotic novel “Italy no Shitsurai”.

You can order the issue at Amazon.co.jp which has optional English-language navigation and forms, but obviously international shipping is killer.

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Here’s another one for the ever-growing “nobody cares but me” file. One of my favorite young actresses, Shihori Kanjiya (Survive Style 5+, Swing Girls), was recently a guest on the uber consumer-centric Japanese talk show “Meringue no Kimochi”. Among other things she talked about her love of manga and anime, especially Sailor Moon. So as a gift they got Kotono Mitsuishi, the seiyu who plays Usagi Tsukino as well as about a billion other things in the world of anime to record a special message for her on an alarm clock. Later she gets to try out a freaky tentacle-looking ergonomic pillow for no particular reason. Finally, co-host Masami Hisamoto tries out a creepy boyfriend pillow for the sake of a cheap laugh. Clip below:

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Not exactly timely since The Blue Light came out in 2003, but I really like the film and I really like Aya Matsuura so what the hell. During a recent interview with Hot Express, Matsuura talked about everything from her evolution as a pop idol to the legitimacy of her smiles. The conversation briefly touched on her first movie role alongside Arashi’s Kazunari Ninomiya and her interaction (or lack thereof) with veteran director Yukio Ninagawa. I find this bit particularly interesting because I thought she was pretty awful in the movie and almost managed to single-handedly drag down an amazing performance by her co-star. Relevant excerpt below:

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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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