With a release date set for August 25, 2012, we still have a while before the live-action Rurouni Kenshin film even hits Japanese theaters. In the meantime, we've got our first look at lead actor Takeru Sato ( Kamen Rider Den-O , Beck ) in …Read more »
Those wondering just what to expect from NTV's upcoming live-action Ranma ½ TV special should have at least some questions answered now, thanks to the very first commercial for the adaptation. Does it do the manga justice? See what they've done with Rumiko Takahashi's gender-swapping …Read more »
The live-action Tekken will go down in my book as a firm reminder of how filmmakers, if not people in general, aren’t taking chances any more. The much-hyped big screen take on the popular Namco fighting game franchise had the opportunity to do something to …Read more »
By now you've either gotten the Vocaloid bug bad, or at least know someone who's been bitten by its ear-worming fangs. Japanese pop group Ryo (Supercell) is helping contribute to its ever-increasing spread across North America thanks to the release of their EP, Sekiranun Graffiti …Read more »
We Heart Japan, a charity founded after this year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, is set to hold its third event, entitled We Heart Performing for Japan. Taking place this Saturday, October 1st in Los Angeles, the show comprises two performances: a concert by …Read more »
If the news of a live-action Ranma ½ —set to air on NTV in December as a two-hour special—wasn't enough, there are now more roles being announced for both the Saotome and Tendo families. The lead roles came out alongside the initial announcement: Yui Aragaki …Read more »
What would you do if, moments after what you took to be your dying breath, you found yourself in an eerily sterile room surrounded by complete strangers… and one large, menacing black ball? Gantz may not explicitly ask that question of the viewer, but it's …Read more »
The 2011 J-Pop Summit Festival will be held in San Francisco's Japantown this Saturday and Sunday, August 27 and 28. Along with a variety of interactive activities, panels, DJ dance parties and live performances is the appearance of Vocaloid creative team ZANEEDS . The group …Read more »
Consider this your video treat du jour. Longtime Vocaloid Artist, Oster Project, presents a new animated musical that dares to brew Vocaloids with the familiar characters of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland . That includes, of course, the unstoppable might of Hatsune Miku. Check it …Read more »
Hey, guys, what would happen if we got Takashi Miike—Japan's all-purpose director of respectable genre masterworks like 13 Assassins and bizarre cult fare like Ichi the Killer —to do a kids' movie? Well, we already found that out last year with his painstakingly faithful and …Read more »
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 »
When the first Gantz live-action film hit theaters with a surprisingly wide American theatrical release (which our Dear Leader Patrick Macias covered ), the reactions were mixed to say the least. The fact that Hiroya Oku's bleak world drenched in sex, violence and bucketloads of …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 »
Joseph Luster
Mike Dent
Matt Schley
David Cabrera
Fernando Ramos