Based on a novel by Kotaro Isaka, ‘Fish Story’ weaves together several seemingly separate storylines taking place at different points in time over a 37-year span to explain how a little-known punk rock song can save the world. Yoshihiro Nakamura (The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker, The Glorious Team Batista) directs.

In 1975, an unpopular Japanese punk band called “Gekirin” (Imperial Wrath) starts work on their 3rd album. Unfortunately the band is a little ahead of its time; punk won’t be marketable until the Sex Pistols debut in the UK the following year. Due to nonexistent sales, their record company decides to drop them and they break up soon after recording their final song: “Fish Story”.

In 1982 a timid college student named Masashi (Gaku Hamada) becomes fascinated by strange rumors surrounding the song. Apparently, at a certain point in the recording there is a brief interlude where you can hear a woman scream. Later, he meets a mysterious woman at a party who inexplicably predicts that he will save the world one day.

In 2009 a teenager named Asami (Mikako Tabe) falls asleep during a school field trip and gets left behind on a boat. Initially distraught, she’s eventually consoled by a kindly cook. Suddenly, men with guns storm in and attempt a boat-jacking.

In 2012 a huge comet can be seen in the sky on a path to destroy Earth. The US has failed in their attempt to blow it up and with only 5 hours left before impact, all major city streets are completely abandoned. That is, except for one record store that continues business as usual. Within the store, “Fish Story” can be heard playing on an old turntable.

Every previously unconnected event is eventually tied together as a song that transcends time and space somehow manages to change the fate of the world.

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Here’s the first real teaser for Toru Kamei‘s “Yoju: Mame Shiba”, which is linked to a television drama that will begin airing on a multitude of independent Japanese television stations later this month. Not much additional info has come out since the initial announcement back in October, but it should be released sometime this summer.

Jiro Sato stars as a middle-aged “parasite single” who goes on a journey with a 2-month old Shiba Inu after his father dies. Along the way, his own growth as a man actually mirrors the growth of the puppy.

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Billed as the film that could make even the most extreme splatter horror fan vomit, Koji Shirashi‘s aptly-titled new film, Grotesque, is nothing if not straight-forward in its intent. Shirashi is probably best known for the 2007 horror film, Kuchisake-onna (Tartan called it “Carved"), and before that he wrote and directed several low-budget, critically panned horror flicks like Ju-rei and Noroi the Curse. Yohei Fukuda reclaims his normal title as director of photography after debuting as a director with the scantily-clad splatter-fest Chanbara Beauty early last year.

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Trailer for Kenichi Fujiwara‘s “Night King”, slated for release on Saturday (1/10) in Japan. The story is set in the late 60s, a time when Tokyo was growing at an incredible rate and the first host and hostess clubs were springing up in the city. Host clubs hire young men to basically pay attention to female customers, dance with them, and pour their drinks for them. These women are usually well-off and feel neglected by their husbands, so they pay exorbitant sums of money for the experience.

The film stars Issei Ishida as a charismatic host named Takeshi Enomoto. Enomoto originally moved to Shinjuku from Niigata with no tangible skills other than his ability to woo women. When this skill gets him fired from his job, he finds his true calling in the male host biz. Unfortunately, the life of a host is not an easy one, and unexpected rivalries soon crop up. Rei Yoshii (Love My Life) also stars as his love interest.

The Enomoto character is largely based on real-life host club pioneer Kanko Aida, who is now the president of Aidakanko Group: a massive host club operation that employs over 300 hosts at any given time at various gaudily-decorated clubs in Shinjuku.

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Based on a manga by Hiromi Morishita and directed by Fujio Mitsuishi, “Osaka Hamlet” tells the story of a family shaken up by the sudden traumatic death of its patriarch. Yukio (Naoyuki Morita) has trouble dealing with the fact that his father has been replaced by some uncle he hardly knows (Ittoku Kishibe) and his attitude turns increasingly violent as he spirals into delinquency. His teacher gives him a copy of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, seeing the parallel between his situation and the main character of the play. Meanwhile, Yukio’s brothers have their own issues to deal with as older brother Masahi (Masahiro Hisano) takes a liking to an older woman (Natsuki Kato) and his younger brother Hasanori takes a liking to makeup. Slated for release on January 17, 2009 in Japan.

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