Japan has sort of faded into the background of the world consciousness in the past few years. Aside from the typical “crazy Japan” pop culture stories that seem to never get old for some, the western world seems to ignore the existence of this once larger-than-life nation. Gone is the fear of superior Japanese products killing the US manufacturing sector—we’ve since come to terms with that as an unfortunate inevitability—and gone are the icy relations that existed when old men that still remembered World War II were running our respective countries. All we really have left is a shared military and a mutual fascination with each other’s entertainment industries. So what would happen if Japan was suddenly thrust into the limelight once again, being the only landmass to survive an epic disaster that sunk every single other nation in the world within a short period of time? That’s the question absurdly posed—and equally absurdly answered—by Minoru Kawasaki’s “The World Sinks Except Japan”.

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Filmed in 1993 as a full-length made-for-TV drama, Kon Ichikawa‘s “Fusa” is based on a novel by Shugoro Yamamoto and will be released theatrically for the first time on November 8th. Set in the 16th century, Seishiro Hiramatsu (Kiichi Nakai) has been arranged to marry the daughter of a castle warden. In order to gain the proper social status for such a marriage, the patriarch of the Iwai family has formerly adopted him to make sure the marriage can happen in a reputable fashion. However, his plans suddenly change when a woman (Yuko Asano) arrives at the castle, claiming to have no memory of who she is. She only seems to know that her name is Fusa. Hiramatsu falls in love with Fusa and chooses to marry her instead of his arranged bride. The two raise a family together, but the stress of knowing she may suddenly remember her past at any time begins to take its toll.

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Aki Mashima (Sakichi Sato) is a tubby 30-year-old indie movie director who meets a young actress named Mika (Rina Akiyama), whose small breasts conform to his ideal image of the female form—even though she dreams of getting gigantic implants someday. She also finds herself attracted to him because she has a preference for fat, weird-looking guys. Unfortunately for her, whenever he feels himself falling for her he magically transforms into a handsome man that she finds repulsive. When Mika murders a rival idol, the unlikely couple go on the run and Aki takes the opportunity to turn their adventure into a movie. “Heibon Punch” will open in Japan on November 22nd.

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High school students Itsuki Kamiyama (Kanata Hongo) and Yoru Morino (Rin Takanashi) share an odd fascination with human cruelty and murder. Kamiyama knew they would share a connection as soon as he noticed a cut mark on her wrist. Together they track a brutal serial killer in an attempt to find the latest two victims—not necessarily to help bring the killer to justice, but simply for their own morbid need to inspect his or her handiwork. Based on a novel by Otsuichi and directed by Gen Takahashi. “Goth” is slated for release in December, 2008. For the full trailer, see this link.

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An especially dull-witted young novelist named Dekoyan (Tadanobu Asano) goes missing and a subsequent investigation uncovers various plots by his friends to murder him—presumably for revealing a childhood secret through his increasingly popular stories. Regardless of the absurd methods they used in their murder attempts, however, they just couldn’t seem to finish him off. The screenplay is based on a Kankuro Kudo play and was adapted by Kudo himself. “Donju” is slated for release in May of 2009.

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