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Recommended Titles - Japanese Live Action Cinema:
# - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
The creators connected with a title can be useful in determining which programs are worth considering. Note all names are in proper Japanese order with family name first.
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- A -
Anno Hideaki:
Abe Tetsuro:
Fukuda Yasushi:
Furuta Motomu:
Ikenami Shōtarō:
Kobayashi Shun-ichi:
Makino Masahiko:
Miike Takashi:
Mimura Haruhiko:
Miyazaki Akira:
Monkey Punch:
Morisaki Azuma:
Mutô Shôgo: |
- N -
Nagai Go:
Nagano Hiroshi:
Nagasaki Takashi:
Nakajima Ramo:
Nogami Tatsuo:
Ogasawara Yoshifumi:
Omori Sumio:
Shimoiizaka Kikuma:
Shinagawa Hiroshi:
Sugimura Rokuro: |
- T -
Takahashi Hiroshi
Takahashi Rumi:
Togawa Seiji:
Tsuboshima Takashi:
Tsutsumi Yukihiko:
Urasawa Naoki:
Watanabe Yūsuke:
Yamada Yōji:
Yoshida Keiichiro: |
- #
- 20th Century Boys 1-3
- Director: Tsutsumi Yukihiko
- Screenplay:
film 1: Fukuda Yasushi, Nagasaki Takashi, Watanabe Yūsuke, Urasawa Naoki
film 2: Nagasaki Takashi, Watanabe Yūsuke
film 3: Nagasaki Takashi, Urasawa Naoki- Based on a work by: Urasawa Naoki
- Not so much a whodunit but more of a whodoin'it. The story involves a group of adults who as children spent a memorial summer playing together and hanging out in their 'secret base' - a hut built of very tall weeds tied together at the tops in a large empty lot. One of the things they did was put together a draft of a story involving an evil organization out to destroy the world. Decades later a charismatic cult leader has arisen and he may be connected to a series of events linked to story the kids made up. Then people start dying, some of a strange disease, in the same places as in the story. Kenji, the main author of the story starts to gather his friends to attempt to find who is doing this and to stop him.
- This film, based on a 22-volume manga, is a suspense story that hops from the events of the story to the past of the children showing how their actions then influenced the later events. It is also a mystery in that we don't know the actual identity of the leader who is controlling what is happening. The original story is so complex that it was decided to tell the story over three films with a total running time of something like seven hours. The events of the story start in 1999, with flashbacks to the past, but finish around 2017. As the story continues you see characters age, you learn more about their pasts, and find that much is not what it seems on the surface. Serious fans of Japanese cinema will be pleased to see cameo appearances of many well-known actors, some without speaking parts.
- Order 20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End from The Right Stuf
- Order 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope from The Right Stuf
- Order 20th Century Boys 3: Redemption from The Right Stuf
- A
- B
- Baian The Assassin - TV Series
- Director: Yoshida Keiichiro (ep.1), Sugimura Rokuro (ep.2-3), Ogasawara Yoshifumi (ep.4), Mimura Haruhiko (ep.5-7)
- Screenplay: Abe Tetsuro (ep.1-2, 7), Shimoiizaka Kikuma (ep.3), Nogami Tatsuo (ep.4), Furuta Motomu (ep.5-6),
- Based on a work by: Ikenami Shōtarō
- Watanabe Ken stars as Baian, a doctor who moonlights as an assassin in Tokugawa Period Edo. Baian has a code of honor and will accept only assignments that target the wicked and those deserving of death. Don't expect a fast paced swashbuckling action show with big fights. Baian carefully stalks his targets looking for the right moment to strike. He works through an agent who acts as an interdiary between him and the clients, after all keeping his identity secret is crucial to his survival. His weapon, large needles which combined with his medical skills are deadly.
- Order Baian The Assassin from The Right Stuf
- C
- Crows Zero
- Director: Miike Takashi
- Screenplay: Mutô Shôgo
- Based on a work by: Takahashi Hiroshi
- This is a prequel to the famous Crows manga about boys attending Suzuran, a tough high school where status depends on fists. The film is actually a complex one with unique characters and varied motivations. No one has ever taken control of Suzuran and transfer student Takiya Genji is determined to do so. From a solitary new student to building alliances he gains more power to challenge Serizawa Tamao and his team. Complex characters, fun lines "Don't dis the poor", great music and action. I often say that the Crows stories could be recast as a story with samurai vying for power. It just happens to be sent in a working class area of metropolitan Tokyo.
- Order Crows Zero on DVD from The Right Stuf
- Order Crows Zero on Blu-ray from The Right Stuf
- Cutie Honey
- Director: Anno Hideaki
- Screenplay: Anno Hideaki, Takahashi Rumi
- Based on a work by: Nagai Go
- Kisaragi Honey, Cutie Honey, is an android created by the late Dr. Kisaragi. Honey's special ability is that she can transform to meet the challenges she faces. Now the original story ran in a boy's manga magazine and the creator is known for pushing the limits of respectability. This means he gets more than a bit naughty at times and in the Cutie Honey series this included Honey's clothes vanishing during her transformation sequences, something you also see in the later Sailor Moon girl's TV show, not that you see much in either. Also expect outrageous villains, exaggerated situations and fights, lots of fights as Honey takes on the villains and their minions. This adaptation of the original is extremely well done with stylistic use of computer special effects and great costumes. The Director is best known for his science fiction anime work such as GunBuster and Neon Genesis Evangelion as well as directing serious live action cinema. Nagai Go has a camio as the driver of a car Honey falls onto.
- Order Cutie Honey from The Right Stuf
- Order Cutie Honey LiveAction Limited Edition w/Lunchbox from The Right Stuf
- D
- Drop
- Director: Shinagawa Hiroshi
- Screenplay: Shinagawa Hiroshi
- Based on a work by: Shinagawa Hiroshi (story) Suzuki Dai (art)
- Drop is the first film by comedian turned manga writer, turned director Shinagawa Hiroshi. This is an autobiographical work based on Shinagawa's middle school days as a delinquent, which he had previously documented in a manga drawn by Suzuki Dai. I had to wait a couple of years for this film to get a US release after I read Mark Schilling's review in the Japan Times.
The Hiroshi of the film is portrayed as a naive fan of bad boy manga who grows up to be a self confident, if brawling and often irresponsible, teen with the help of his new delinquent friends. Much of the humor is low key and shows up in the dialogue, some of it will go over the heads of those not familiar with Japanese popular culture, however anime fans will easily catch most, if not all of the references.- Order Drop from The Right Stuf
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- Lupin The Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy
- Director: Tsuboshima Takashi
- Screenplay: Nagano Hiroshi
- Based on a work by: Monkey Punch
- The only live action adaptation of the original famous Lupin III crime stories that ran from 1967 - 1972. This film is very different from what fans of the Lupin III anime may expect, as Goemon does not play a role in the movie. One major reason for this is that the film was released in 1974 when the Lupin stories were still relatively new, the characters in the animated adaptations of the manga had not settled into the form we are familiar with today. For example the first Lupin TV series (1971-1972) had Goemon as an occasional character and none of the animated features had been released. In any case there is much to enjoy in this tale which is actually about how Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko and Zenigata first met. The film shows its age, however this is a major advantage: with all the excessive super thief/James Bond silliness this movie is excellent entertainment for fans of the original manga series.
- Order Lupin The Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy from The Right Stuf
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- Tora-san: Collectors Set 1 (films 1-4)
- Director:
Yamada Yōji (1-2)
Morisaki Azuma (3)
Kobayashi Shun-ichi (4)- Screenplay:
Yamada Yōji and Morisaki Azuma (1)
Yamada Yōji, Morisaki Azuma and Kobayashi Shun-ichi (2)
Yamada Yōji, Kobayashi Shun-ichi and Miyazaki Akira (3)
Yamada Yōji and Miyazaki Akira (4)
- The Tora-san movies, original title: Otoko wa tsurai yo (男はつらいよ, "It's tough being a man"), were a major institution with 48 films made between 1969 and 1995. This box set is the first four films, two made in 1969 and two in 1970. Each film involves Tora-san's old neighborhood of Shibamata in eastern Tokyo where he returns to at some point in the film. In the first film it is after 20 years, having run away as a child. Each visit has Tora-san causing some sort of a problem, usually due to his good intentions, for his family and neighbors. Tora-san causes problems for them, but great amusement for us. The problems often result in him hitting the road; he makes a living selling shoddy goods, doing fortune telling and any other petty scam that comes his way. The films are great lowbrow comedy with a delightful loser making his way in the world. The series ended in 1995 when Atsumi Kiyoshi, who played Tora-san in all of the pictures, passed away.
- Order Tora-san: Collectors Set 1 from The Right Stuf
- U
- V
- W
- Wakeful Nights
- Director: Makino Masahiko
- Screenplay: Omori Sumio
- Based on a work by: Nakajima Ramo
- The film centers around a group of Rakugo (traditional Japanese storytelling) performers and their teacher's family. This group has been together for years in the traditional master apprentice relationship one still finds in some occupations. However several members of the group are elderly and a great deal of the story involves wakes, wakes with drunken storytellers have got to be interesting. But then the disclaimer on the box says: "Warning: Contains Adult Situations and Language, Disgusting Puns, Sick Jokes, Filthy Karaoke, and a Traumatized Manta Ray."
This is also an instructional film, I learned more Japanese terms for female genitailia from this DVD than from all the books on my walls.
There are also tea spewingly funny extras on the disc, including a dirty song contest and off color lyrics set to old children's tunes and spoofing patriotic songs.- Order Wakeful Nights from The Right Stuf
- X
- Y
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon
- Director: Miike Takashi
- Screenplay: Togawa Seiji
- Films based on video games are usually avoidable; their quality as films is often dismal. Then there are a few that shine, this is one of them. Based on the Sony video game and directed by Miike Takashi Yakuza: Like a Dragon is actually an interesting and amusing action film. Kiryu has just been released from prison and is looking for his boss who has gone missing. He finds himself helping a girl who has run away from an orphanage look for her mother. He also ends up coping with other yakuza that assume he has something do to with the sudden disappearance of 10 billion yen from the gang's various bank accounts and wanting to settle old scores. Then there is a stoic, and wounded, guest of a host club, inept bank robbers in knit masks in the middle of a heat wave, lovers turned stick up artists, a baseball bat armed gang and other fun. Fans of Miike know to expect over the top elements in the film as well as his dark humor, both are delightfully in evidence here.
- Order Yakuza: Like a Dragon from The Right Stuf
- Z
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Created July 15, 2011 | Updated February 9, 2012