In the Age of the Internet, the word "epic" is thrown around at least once per lolcat, slowly sucking the meaning from it with the swiftness of a vampire's bite. Yet, regardless of how stripped the word has become, I can assure you that Shinichiro …Read more »
Remember how I said two issues back that the reason I'm into tokusatsu nowadays is because of Ultraman ? My dad and my aunt watched the United Artists dub of Ultraman along with a majority of the other shows that were being dubbed and shown …Read more »
Originally formed in 1975 by Blues Interactions as a label re-issuing blues and R&B acts, P-Vine Records specializes in the art of the rerelease. In 1999 they put together an amazing collection of early 80s synth pop and electro new-wave called Techno Ca-Yo . The …Read more »
This should interest anyone that fancies action and anthologies in equal parts. Mamoru Oshii, famed director of classics like Ghost in the Shell , is overseeing a live-action project known as Kiru ~ Kill along with three other directors, another of which is Kenta Fukasaku …Read more »
Hana is the 2006 effort from director Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who garnered critical success with previous efforts like Maborosi , After Life , Distance , and Nobody Knows (among others, he scored the Best Director award at both the Venice Film Festival and the Blue Ribbon …Read more »
As far as I can tell, everybody that has reviewed the 1995 Keita Amemiya-directed film Mechanical Violator Hakaider has given it a collective thumbs-down. You could attribute this to the fact that most of the reviewers out there aren't tokusatsu fans and didn't find it …Read more »
Shinobi: Heart Under Blade , is a tale of two warring ninja clans, Iga and Kouga, forced to choose five of their best ninja each to square off against one another. The result of this grand ninja clash will decide who will serve as heir …Read more »
There's only one meat treat that the dreaded candiru likes to eat, and only Japan would have the temerity to strap a vagina dentata to the end of a naughty tentacle. All this and more can be discovered through the highly educational sexploitation horror/comedy Sexual …Read more »
(If you're slick you'll have figured out by now that the title for this bit is a reference to the famed song from m-flo by the same name. Either case, it shows that I'm such a sucker for nostalgia.) It was sometime after I finished …Read more »
It's come to my attention that there's a few of you ne'er-do-wells out there who take objection to the fact that "Rock the Dragon" was soundly defeated by "CHA LA, HEAD CHA-LA" in Issue 6 of Otaku USA. I can think of only one explanation …Read more »
Sex & Fury (1973) is a wonderfully eclectic and insanely violent Japanese sexploitation flick directed by Norifumi Suzuki, the father of the sukeban subgenre and the same madman responsible for the later School of the Holy Beast (1976). His best- known film in the West …Read more »
Label: Universal Japan Available: Now (import) If you ask me, one of the very best things in this wild world is video game music, from the beeps and boops of the NES days to the complex orchestration of a modern title like Heavenly Sword . …Read more »
Kinji Fukasaku's original Graveyard of Honor (1975) is my favorite Japanese yakuza film ever made. Just as Fukasaku was, to me, Japan's own Martin Scorsese, Graveyard of Honor is basically the Japanese equivalent of Raging Bull . Both are tragic and powerful films about a …Read more »
Shinjuku Saturday night and the long crawl from West exit through Kabuki-cho. A wide trail of pleasure lovers and profit seekers gets in the way to NATURAL BORN ROCKERS night at the live house known as Shinjuku Red Cloth. Suddenly, a line of vintage scooters …Read more »
I was introduced to the music of The Captains by Hajime Kusano, the manager of a Japanese rock band called The Emeralds. Hajime sent me a gift box of CDs in the fall of 2006 and I was immediately attracted to the cover art for …Read more »
Joseph Luster
Mike Dent
Zac Bentz
Paul Thomas Chapman
Daryl Surat
J.L. Carrozza
Patrick Macias
c Besler