I saw crazier movies at New York Asian Film Festival than Karate-Robo Zaborgar , like The Story of Ricky/Riki-Oh . I saw better movies at NYAFF, like Milocrorze: A Love Story. However, I did not see any movie that felt more specifically made for me. …Read more »
Yoshimasa Ishibashi said during his Q&A after the New York Asian Film Fest showing of Milocrorze: A Love Story that the film was a statement for Japanese boys (who aren't culturally encouraged to act very romantically); an encouragement to surrender themselves to a passionate romance …Read more »
Tak Sakaguchi described Yakuza Weapon with the words “punch and kick”, and the film delivers on this promise early, often, and repeatedly. Co-directors Sakaguchi and Yudai Yamaguchi (who starred in and wrote the cult hit Versus ) have created an all-punching, all-kicking, and, above all …Read more »
There was a lot of laughter in the audience at the Japan Society during “Beat” Takeshi Kitano’s vicious yakuza murder-thon Outrage . This was no giggling multiplex crowd, nor were we laughing from sheer discomfort (okay, maybe a little bit) over the film’s constant, brutal …Read more »
While not related to any existing anime/manga property, G-Rev’s new game Strania - The Stella Machine may feel strangely familiar to otaku. As the company’s previous effort Senkou no Ronde ( Wartech ) was full of winks to Keiko Takemiya’s sci-fi shoujo classic To Terra …Read more »
Crows Zero II is but part of the Crows x Worst universe of tough-guy delinquent fight manga, a footnote to a sprawling high school soap opera of rivalries, beatdowns, and true bro-dom. I’m not too proud to say that I was lost. Luckily for me, …Read more »
At the time of this writing ( 2010, technically - ed ), a three-year-old doujin soft game, newly translated into English, is in the top sellers list on Steam. Is it a sign that otaku are sweeping the nation’s PC game download services? Perhaps, but …Read more »
For years, famed 2D shooting game developer Cave had been content to leave its work in Japanese arcades. It was a minor tragedy that these kings of an unpopular genre had no desire to leave their native land, but there it was. You’d have to …Read more »
Not to say it’s exactly all the rage with the kids these days ( Hetalia’s over that way), but in the last couple years Japanese (or riichi, or reach) mahjong has become a very small trend in the Western otaku culture. If you’ve watched Nobuyuki …Read more »
At the start of the Otakon showing of Welcome to the Space Show , the Aniplex representative told us to come to the panel after the movie and tell the staff how much we loved it. Normally I’d call this hubris, but after watching the …Read more »
David Cabrera
