We like to stay well-rounded in our coverage around here, so in the spirit of inclusiveness it's time for some gravure idols fighting intergalactic crime in Eitoku Kawamura's Spy Girl’s Mission Cord#005. It was actually announced back in April, but I've been waiting for synopsis that actually made sense. It never came, but here goes...

At Manazuru Peninsula strange UFO sightings are accompanied by killings in which the victims' corpses are completely mummified. When the proprietor of the nearby Institute of Space and Astronautical Science decides to investigate and promptly disappears the Spy Girls (played by gravure idols Sawa Hashimoto, Megumi Kagurazaka, and Saya Hikita) are called in to get to the bottom of things. They eventually discover the cause of all the trouble, an alien seductress with murderous intentions known only as Gold Lady (Akiho Yoshizawa), and a ridiculously slow-paced battle ensues.
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The official website for the upcoming live-action movie adaptation of Motoro Mase's manga serial Ikigami is now up, and with it comes a new teaser. Like most teasers actual movie footage is pretty sparse, but at least we get a peek at Shota Matsuda in the traditional Fujimoto "sorry dude, you're dead" pose.

For those not familiar with the manga, the story basically involves a national death lottery in Japan meant to force citizens into becoming more productive members of society and reduce the suicide rate. Children are injected with a lethal nanocapsule along with a nationally-administered vaccine at a very young age. The capsule eventually makes its way to their pulmonary artery where it waits to be activated. Between the ages of 18 and 24 people become eligible for ikigami. 1 out of every 1000 people are chosen to die, being informed of their fate only 24 hours before it happens.
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Ever since she made a splash in the movie industry at 18 for playing the 14-year-old daughter of a divorced manzai comedy team in Jun Ichikawa's Osaka Story, Chizuru Ikewaki has kept herself steadily employed by getting cast in supporting or co-starring roles alongside some of Japan's biggest stars in big budget movies and dramas on all the major Japanese networks. While this has certainly lead to a fairly successful career, she probably hasn't gotten as much credit as she deserves for her acting chops. Hopefully a leading-role in Banmei Takahashi's upcoming Oka o Koete (Over the Hill) will buck that trend.

In the film Chizuru plays Yoko, a recent graduate who's looking for work in early Showa era Tokyo. Her friend sets her up with an interview at Bungeishunju publishing company and she immediately catches the eye of Kan Kikuchi, eventually landing a job as his personal assistant. Kikuchi, played by character actor Toshiyuki Nishida, is a real historical figure who founded Bungeishunju and later went on to head Daiei Motion Picture Company. The story in the film, however, is completely fictional.
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The official website for Tokyo! was updated yesterday with a few new sections and a short production footage teaser trailer. The film features 3 short films taking place in Tokyo but directed by non-natives. Joon-ho Bong's film, "Shaking Tokyo" is about a 10-year recluse (Teruyuki Kagawa) who works up the courage to go out and find the pizza delivery girl he's fallen in love with (Yu Aoi) only to be caught in an earthquake. Michel Gondry directs the highly metaphorical "Interior Design" in which Ayako Fujitani plays a girl who moves to Tokyo to live with her boyfriend (Ryo Kase), but when she feels useless she begins to slowly transform into a wooden chair - a condition that oddly causes her great relief from her recent frustration. Finally Leos Carax directs "Merde", a story about a strange man (Denis Lavant) who appears from the sewers, horrifying nearby citizens like a phantom. However, when an incident occurs and he gets arrested, his trial sparks mixed feelings about what should happen to him.

Still no solid release date but it should be sometime in 2008.

Links:
Official Website
Eigapedia

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The official website for Wang Ye-ming's Taiwan/Japan co-produced movie Tea Fight added a trailer earlier today. The film involves an ancient "tea curse" passed down through generations of the Yagi family. When the wife of a tea shop owner (Teruyuki Kagawa) dies, he believes she was a victim of this curse and decides to shut down his business. His daughter (Erika Toda) takes it upon herself to research the curse on the Internet, and discovers a special tea in Taiwan that can counteract her family's misfortune. Her father follows her, thinking that she's falling into some sort of trap set up by Taiwanese tea makers. Eventually, this all leads to a rematch of a "tea fight" which originally took place nearly 1,000 years ago. Confused? Me too. The trailer won't particularly help matters, but it looks pretty interesting anyway.

Links:
Official website - The trailer auto-plays when you load the page
Kaiju Shakedown's take
TokyoGraph announces Toda's involvement

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