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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Set in the Meiji era, a team of explorers traverse the last known untraveled space on Japan’s maps: the peak of Mt. Tsurugidake in the Hida Mountains. For the first teaser, see this link.

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Live-action adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s manga serial from the late 70s. When a top secret chemical compound called MW infects an island near Okinawa, the military is sent in to kill all the victims and cover up the incident. A survivor named Michio Yuki (Hiroshi Tamaki) grows up to become a highly-successful banker, but he is slowly being driven mad by the effects of MW. After committing a series of ruthless crimes to get revenge against the people responsible for the cover-up, he decides that the only way to truly get revenge is to unleash MW on the world and exterminate the entire human race. Takayuki Yamada stars as Father Garai, a priest desperately trying to save Michio’s soul but not necessarily doing much to stop his crimes.

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Live-action adaptation of comedian Hiroshi Shinagawa‘s autobiographical novel. The story revolves around his teen years as a wannabe yankee sent to public school after being inspired into delinquency by the shonen manga, “Be-Bop High School” in the early 80s. The main character is played by Hiroki Narimiya, who sports a red-dyed buzzcut for the role. Slated for release in March 2009 in Japan.

Official website

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UK distributor Third Window Films is set to have a highly Japan-centric start to 2009 with a flurry of noteworthy releases.

On January 12th, Third Window will be releasing Tetsuya Nakashima’s Memories of Matsuko and Kamikaze Girls.

On February 23rd they’ll be releasing Satoshi Miki’s “Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers”, a hilariously quirky little film I reviewed here back in August. Artwork and specs aren’t finalized yet, but should be coming out soon.

UK residents have a chance to check out Yosuke Fujita’s “Fine, Totally Fine” at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London from Friday, November 14 to Thursday, November 20. Check this link for screen times. DVD details aren’t yet finalized.

And finally, Third Window has picked up the rights to Daihachi Yoshida’s dysfunctional family dramedy “Funuke: Show Some Love You Losers!”. A theatrical release is tentatively planned for sometime around March with a subsequent DVD release in April.

Third Window Films - official website

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