After the tragic death of a colleague and a lifetime of being haunted by his twin brother’s death as a child, astronaut Kohei (Mitsuhiro Oikawa) volunteers to be cloned with all his memories intact should anything happen to him. The resurrection doesn’t go as planned, however, and the clone is left with only fragmented memories from his childhood and no knowledge of his wife (Hiromi Nagasaku). When the clone stumbles upon the corpse of his former self, he mistakes it for his long-lost brother—who drowned while saving him years earlier. The clone picks up the real Kohei’s body and begins a journey of self-discovery to the ruins of their childhood home.

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Bowl-coifed Onizuka (Sadao Abe) has been obsessed with maiko (apprentice geisha) ever since one took the time to help him during a school field trip 12 years earlier. He even runs a maiko-related website where he posts photos of maiko, background information on geisha houses, and tips for prospective clientele. One day, after annoying all his coworkers at a Tokyo ramen company, Onizuki is informed that he’s being shipped off to his company’s Kyoto branch. Of course he’s ecstatic over the move because he can finally live in the city known for having the densest population of maiko in all of Japan. However, as one of his coworkers quietly explains to another, it’s actually a significant demotion; they only make ramen toppings in Kyoto.

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The true story of Asahiyama Zoo’s sharp decline in popularity in the early 90s and its resurgence due to the leadership of its chief manager Masao Kosuge (Toshiyuki Nishida) and the innovations proposed by zookeeper Gen Bando (Yasuhi Nakamura). One of the highlights of these changes, and the reason for the film’s subtitle, is a clear underwater tunnel where visitors can observe penguins swimming overhead as if they were flying. For the first teaser, see this link.

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Here’s a really high-res pic from the set of Takashi Miike‘s Yatterman taken back in April. It’s hard to make anything out through all the plywood and scaffolding, but the scene they were shooting at the time is apparently the collapse of Shibuya station. Clicky for bigness.

The Kenichi Endo Sheisheido billboard is a nice touch.

And speaking of Yatterman, it’s now officially slated for release on March 7, 2009.

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Shimako Sato’s Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness is a live-action adaptation of a popular manga originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1974 to 1979. The story revolves around a powerful witch/schoolgirl named Misa Kuroi, played in the film by teen model Kimiko Yoshino in her first acting role. Sato’s version strays from the original manga a bit in tone—the original Misa was far darker and less apt to fall in love with classmates—but the basic plot and black magic elements hold true to the source material. Although the film was fairly low budget and, at times, a bit on the cheesy side, it’s still a pretty solid J-horror flick with plenty of arterial spray and ridiculously gory deaths to keep the audience engaged throughout.

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