Director Shinichirō Watanabe is mostly known for his classic anime series Cowboy Bebop, and fans might not know this, but Watanabe has also created the underrated Samurai Champloo. The story follows the adventures of tea waitress Fuu, drifter fugitive Mugen, and Ronin Jin as they go on a search for a samurai who smells like flowers.
Samurai Champloo | Studio Manglobe
The 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005 and explored multiple themes and settings, like the Edo period, which focused on the Samurais, the struggles of minorities, and the portrayal of death. However, the main focus of the story was the combination of samurai and hip-hop, which held a special place in the music of the series.
The scriptwriter of Samurai Champloo, Dai Sato, once revealed the reason behind the special focus of the series on hip-hop culture and how it helped in the overall success of the series. The...
Samurai Champloo | Studio Manglobe
The 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005 and explored multiple themes and settings, like the Edo period, which focused on the Samurais, the struggles of minorities, and the portrayal of death. However, the main focus of the story was the combination of samurai and hip-hop, which held a special place in the music of the series.
The scriptwriter of Samurai Champloo, Dai Sato, once revealed the reason behind the special focus of the series on hip-hop culture and how it helped in the overall success of the series. The...
- 6/14/2024
- by Tarun Kohli
- FandomWire
Cowboy Bebop has always had its fair share of peculiarness with an anime that isn’t afraid of embracing the darkness while also embarking on a journey that goes about all levels of weird. Regardless of what way one might be watching the series, it always has a strong hold on anime fans. From Japanese to subbed and then dubbed, it is foundational in many ways.
Spike Spiegel | Credit: Sunrise Studio
In a show that had so much to offer, one episode stands out more than the rest. It may have opened the doors for anime to globalize itself but it also prepared the world for just how uncanny and unhinged the anime world can be. However, Toys in the Attic, the most interesting episode of Cowboy Bebop, also happens to be inspired by real-life events.
Cowboy Bebop’s Inspiration from Reality
Shinichirō Watanabe, the director of Cowboy Bebop has...
Spike Spiegel | Credit: Sunrise Studio
In a show that had so much to offer, one episode stands out more than the rest. It may have opened the doors for anime to globalize itself but it also prepared the world for just how uncanny and unhinged the anime world can be. However, Toys in the Attic, the most interesting episode of Cowboy Bebop, also happens to be inspired by real-life events.
Cowboy Bebop’s Inspiration from Reality
Shinichirō Watanabe, the director of Cowboy Bebop has...
- 6/13/2024
- by Adya Godboley
- FandomWire
Shinichirō Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop is a world-famous anime TV series that features a brilliant narrative and some great characters, but one thing that the series is most known for is its music. Cowboy Bebop features some of the greatest anime scores in the industry, and they are the only iconic feature of the series that has lasted even after 26 years.
Cowboy Bebop | Sunrise Animation Studio
The entire music for the series was created by the Japanese band Seatbelts, led by composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno. The band infused multiple genres like jazz, rock, electronic, funk, blues, orchestral pop, etc. to make one of the best anime music albums in the industry. However, Kanno was not too confident about the series’ music.
Kanno once revealed that when Watanabe explained to her the type of music he needed for Cowboy Bebop, she was not sure whether the music would work well with the series or not.
Cowboy Bebop | Sunrise Animation Studio
The entire music for the series was created by the Japanese band Seatbelts, led by composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno. The band infused multiple genres like jazz, rock, electronic, funk, blues, orchestral pop, etc. to make one of the best anime music albums in the industry. However, Kanno was not too confident about the series’ music.
Kanno once revealed that when Watanabe explained to her the type of music he needed for Cowboy Bebop, she was not sure whether the music would work well with the series or not.
- 6/13/2024
- by Tarun Kohli
- FandomWire
“Tokyo Vice” creator and executive producer J.T. Rogers had a two-season story mapped out from the beginning, so much so that he had to make sure that the first season of the Max drama seeded the details and Easter eggs that wouldn’t pay off or become important until the second season.
“The pressure for me at least was having an idea going on for a few years now and really champing at the bit to get to the places we wanted,” Rogers tells Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “Hikari, our wonderful director on Episode 4 in Season 1, said, ‘I don’t think we have time to get that shot of the watch.’ I said, ‘You need it because 11 hours from now on television, there’s going to be a reference to it.’ So there are so many things we set up narratively, and to have the luxury...
“The pressure for me at least was having an idea going on for a few years now and really champing at the bit to get to the places we wanted,” Rogers tells Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “Hikari, our wonderful director on Episode 4 in Season 1, said, ‘I don’t think we have time to get that shot of the watch.’ I said, ‘You need it because 11 hours from now on television, there’s going to be a reference to it.’ So there are so many things we set up narratively, and to have the luxury...
- 6/11/2024
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe starrer Tokyo Vice impressed viewers when it premiered its first season back in 2022. The series based on the memoir by Jake Adelstein chronicles Elgort’s character, who is introduced into the dark and dangerous yakuza world in Japan, with Watanabe’s character being his guiding light.
Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe in Tokyo Vice | Max
The show recently completed airing its second season in April, with audiences deeming it a satisfying conclusion to the compelling narrative that started with season 1. With the story drawn to a close, Max has canceled the show after season 2. However, the creators of the show want to develop more stories within the world, but fans are not thrilled about it.
Tokyo Vice Creators Have More Stories To Tell Despite the Show’s Cancellation on Max Tokyo Vice season 2 was a wild ride that compelled audiences till the end | Max
Tokyo Vice...
Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe in Tokyo Vice | Max
The show recently completed airing its second season in April, with audiences deeming it a satisfying conclusion to the compelling narrative that started with season 1. With the story drawn to a close, Max has canceled the show after season 2. However, the creators of the show want to develop more stories within the world, but fans are not thrilled about it.
Tokyo Vice Creators Have More Stories To Tell Despite the Show’s Cancellation on Max Tokyo Vice season 2 was a wild ride that compelled audiences till the end | Max
Tokyo Vice...
- 6/9/2024
- by Rahul Thokchom
- FandomWire
Tokyo Vice’s days on Max have come to a conclusion.
During a panel at the Produced By conference Saturday in Los Angeles, producers confirmed that the recently concluded second season will be the show’s last on the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed platform.
Originally pitched as a two-season show with the events of the series having ended with its April 4 finale, fittingly titled “Endgame,” star Ansel Elgort also only signed on for two seasons of the series.
“Over the last five years, Max has made sure we got to tell our story. They have supported us through thick and thin. Not only did they give us these two seasons, they said yes when we asked to end season one with a series of cliffhangers, and they said yes when we asked for two extra episodes so we could land the plane in the way [creator] J.T. [Rogers] had always envisioned,...
During a panel at the Produced By conference Saturday in Los Angeles, producers confirmed that the recently concluded second season will be the show’s last on the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed platform.
Originally pitched as a two-season show with the events of the series having ended with its April 4 finale, fittingly titled “Endgame,” star Ansel Elgort also only signed on for two seasons of the series.
“Over the last five years, Max has made sure we got to tell our story. They have supported us through thick and thin. Not only did they give us these two seasons, they said yes when we asked to end season one with a series of cliffhangers, and they said yes when we asked for two extra episodes so we could land the plane in the way [creator] J.T. [Rogers] had always envisioned,...
- 6/8/2024
- by Lesley Goldberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 10th anniversary project of the 2014 TV anime Terror in Resonance has launched. The project's official website has opened with a newly-drawn memorial visual featuring the two protagonists, Nine and Twelve. The psychological thriller TV anime series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe ( Cowboy Bebop ) aired on Fuji TV's "Noitamina" midnight programming block for 11 episodes from July to September 2014. The suspenseful story of two boys, in which a mystery leads to more mysteries, attracted a lot of attention at the time of its broadcast. Director Watanabe says, "I have never forgotten them, ever since the summer ten years ago. Of course, they still live inside me, lamenting that it's hot again this year, and so on." Kaito Ishikawa , the voice of Nine, also comments, "I found myself shedding tears for the umpteenth time, as I was immersed in the deeply thought-provoking theme, the meticulous visual expression, the realistic sound and the...
- 6/8/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
A live-action film adaptation of Momoko Koda's ( No Longer Heroine ) romance shoujo manga series, Atashino! , is set to release in Japan in the fall of 2024. The film's official website and Twitter account open today, revealing the two main cast members — 24-year-old Miho Watanabe as the main heroine Akoko Sekigawa and 26-year-old Masaya Kimura as her love interest, Naomi Mitomo. Watanabe is a former member of Japanese girl idol group Hinatazaka46, while Kimura is an active member of boy idol group Ini. Self-introduction clip by Miho Watanabe and Masaya Kimura The original manga, Atashino! ran in Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret monthly shoujo manga magazine from October 2017 to December 2018, then compiled in four tankobon volumes. The story centers on Akoko Sekikawa, an honest girl who immediately tells others what she thinks. In the new semester of her second year of high school, Naomi Mitomo, one of the most popular students at...
- 6/6/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
Over the past couple of decades, John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles has been seen in a new light, with many calling out its portrayal of foreign exchange student Long Duk Dong, played by Gedde Watanabe, as racist. For the 40th anniversary of the 1984 classic, Watanabe reflected on the role in an interview with People magazine where he said that he initially didn’t think about whether the character was offensive.
At the time of playing the character, Watanabe says, he was just happy to get his first big paycheck. “Frankly I was like, this is a good job, and I’m going to get paid more doing one week in this movie than I did all the years I was in the theater,” he said.
As for whether he had any hesitations on taking on the role as Long Duk Dong, Watanabe noted, “It didn’t really occur to me that it was a stereotype,...
At the time of playing the character, Watanabe says, he was just happy to get his first big paycheck. “Frankly I was like, this is a good job, and I’m going to get paid more doing one week in this movie than I did all the years I was in the theater,” he said.
As for whether he had any hesitations on taking on the role as Long Duk Dong, Watanabe noted, “It didn’t really occur to me that it was a stereotype,...
- 5/6/2024
- by Tatiana Tenreyro
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ken Watanabe, the Oscar-nominated actor who is a star of the Emmy-buzzed HBO/Max drama series Tokyo Vice — he plays Hiroto Katagiri, a detective in the organized crime division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and a father-figure to Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort), an American journalist in Tokyo — is being entered for Emmys consideration as a leading actor just like Elgort, contrary to widespread reporting that he would be pushed as a supporting actor, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Tokyo Vice is currently in the awards conversation for its second season, which has been even better received (93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) than its first (released in April 2022, it’s at 85 percent), and has been the most widely watched Max original on the platform since it dropped. It is competing in a year in which the Emmys’ drama categories are thin to an almost unprecedented degree, with only one past drama...
Tokyo Vice is currently in the awards conversation for its second season, which has been even better received (93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) than its first (released in April 2022, it’s at 85 percent), and has been the most widely watched Max original on the platform since it dropped. It is competing in a year in which the Emmys’ drama categories are thin to an almost unprecedented degree, with only one past drama...
- 5/6/2024
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Gedde Watanabe has enjoyed a lengthy career in Hollywood. The actor’s big break was the 1984 film “Sixteen Candles,” in which he played foreign exchange student “Long Duk Dong.” While Watanabe’s line “What’s happenin’, hot stuff?” is still often quoted, the character himself relied on a lot of racist stereotypes, including his name — something Watanabe now says he didn’t see at the time.
“Frankly I was like, this is a good job, and I’m going to get paid more doing one week in this movie that I did [than] for all the years I was in the theater,” the actor told People. “It didn’t really occur to me that it was a stereotype, because there wasn’t really anything out there for Asian actors at the time. It was just so scarce. So I didn’t think it was stereotypical or racist. Isn’t that weird?...
“Frankly I was like, this is a good job, and I’m going to get paid more doing one week in this movie that I did [than] for all the years I was in the theater,” the actor told People. “It didn’t really occur to me that it was a stereotype, because there wasn’t really anything out there for Asian actors at the time. It was just so scarce. So I didn’t think it was stereotypical or racist. Isn’t that weird?...
- 5/5/2024
- by Stephanie Kaloi
- The Wrap
The stop-motion animation series, Pokemon Concierge, is currently streaming on Netflix. The director, Iku Ogawa, has ensured that the first-ever collaboration between The Pokemon Company and Netflix is taken to great heights. The amazing stop-motion series makes us want to delve into the world of Pokemon and work as one of their special concierges! The voice-over artists that have been chosen for this amazing stop-motion series include Karen Fukuhara, Lori Alan, and Imani Hakim. The plot revolves around Haru, the new concierge at the Pokemon resort, and her quest to find a new Pokemon to train it. Will Haru be able to find her own Pokemon? Will Psyduck be able to control its psychic abilities under her guidance? Let’s find out!
Spoiler Alert
What Experiences Does Haru Have At The Resort?
Haru had been appointed as the new concierge at the Pokemon resort, where she had some incredible experiences.
Spoiler Alert
What Experiences Does Haru Have At The Resort?
Haru had been appointed as the new concierge at the Pokemon resort, where she had some incredible experiences.
- 12/29/2023
- by Debjyoti Dey
- Film Fugitives
In the late 1990s, Bandai Entertainment and the Japanese animation studio Sunrise approached young director Shinichirō Watanabe to make a sci-fi action show (mostly so they could sell spaceship toys). Watanabe took that directive and led the creation of "Cowboy Bebop."
This 26-episode show followed down-on-their-luck bounty hunters in the year 2071, when mankind has colonized the solar system and left behind a ruined Earth. It brought Western and noir storytelling together into its sci-fi setting, fused with an existential mood and jazzy music composed by Yoko Kanno.
"Cowboy Bebop" first aired in Japan 25 years ago, from 1998 to 1999, and Bandai Entertainment soon imported it stateside, where it debuted on Cartoon Network block Adult Swim in 2001. If anything, it's become an even bigger (and more enduring) hit in the U.S. than in its homeland. A big reason for this popularity was because the English dub was excellent: The characters speaking the...
This 26-episode show followed down-on-their-luck bounty hunters in the year 2071, when mankind has colonized the solar system and left behind a ruined Earth. It brought Western and noir storytelling together into its sci-fi setting, fused with an existential mood and jazzy music composed by Yoko Kanno.
"Cowboy Bebop" first aired in Japan 25 years ago, from 1998 to 1999, and Bandai Entertainment soon imported it stateside, where it debuted on Cartoon Network block Adult Swim in 2001. If anything, it's become an even bigger (and more enduring) hit in the U.S. than in its homeland. A big reason for this popularity was because the English dub was excellent: The characters speaking the...
- 11/21/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
On paper, adapting “One Piece” — a manga filled with rubbery protagonists, giant swords, fish people and flamboyant costumes — for live-action seems like a task as foolish as trying to become King of the Pirates. But for Tomorrow Studios CEO Marty Adelstein and partner/president Becky Clements, it was a challenge they couldn’t resist.
“Because it was such a big piece of IP, beloved all over the world, we’re basically masochists,” Adelstein joked to TheWrap. “We just felt that there was a way forward to do it. And if it could be done, it would resonate with all the fans around the world. It was a challenge we couldn’t not pursue.”
It’s also a challenge that’s already paid off, at least on some level. In early January, the teams at Tomorrow Studios and ITV Studios hosted a screening attended by “One Piece’s” creator, artist Eiichiro Oda.
“Because it was such a big piece of IP, beloved all over the world, we’re basically masochists,” Adelstein joked to TheWrap. “We just felt that there was a way forward to do it. And if it could be done, it would resonate with all the fans around the world. It was a challenge we couldn’t not pursue.”
It’s also a challenge that’s already paid off, at least on some level. In early January, the teams at Tomorrow Studios and ITV Studios hosted a screening attended by “One Piece’s” creator, artist Eiichiro Oda.
- 8/31/2023
- by Kayla Cobb
- The Wrap
They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and John David Washington certainly kept that in mind when meeting with “The Creator” writer and director Gareth Edwards.
Edwards, best known for helming “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” told the story about meeting his future lead when asked about casting for “The Creator.”
“It was during the pandemic we were casting the film, so it was really hard to meet anybody,” Edwards recounted during a preview for the sci-fi epic on Tuesday. “But fortunately, [Washington] lives in LA. And I heard through his agents, ‘Hey, he’d meet you anytime you want or go for a meal.’ So I did; I met him just down the road from here actually. And he walks in — it’s the pandemic — so he’s got his mask on. But it was a Star Wars mask. It had a Star Wars logo on it!
Edwards, best known for helming “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” told the story about meeting his future lead when asked about casting for “The Creator.”
“It was during the pandemic we were casting the film, so it was really hard to meet anybody,” Edwards recounted during a preview for the sci-fi epic on Tuesday. “But fortunately, [Washington] lives in LA. And I heard through his agents, ‘Hey, he’d meet you anytime you want or go for a meal.’ So I did; I met him just down the road from here actually. And he walks in — it’s the pandemic — so he’s got his mask on. But it was a Star Wars mask. It had a Star Wars logo on it!
- 8/31/2023
- by Lawrence Yee
- The Wrap
Based on the webcomic “Violence Action” by Renji Asai and Shin Sawada, “The Violence Action” is another in the long line of live action manga/anime adaptations that spawn from the Japanese movie industry. Unfortunately, it is one of the worst.
Click the image below to follow our Tribute to Netflix
Bubblicious Kei Kikuno is studying bookkeeping, but actually doubles as a killer for hire, a member of a group also consisting of boss lady “The Shopkeeper”, metal-wig baldy driver Zura, and eventually, bowl-cut Watanabe who is kind of forced to join when he followed Kei, his crush, one day after his classes. The group operates from a small restaurant, taking full advantage of Kei's uncanny battle abilities, as much as the fact that she can pass as someone completely cute and innocent through her overall appearance.
However, the crew members soon find themselves in the middle of a power...
Click the image below to follow our Tribute to Netflix
Bubblicious Kei Kikuno is studying bookkeeping, but actually doubles as a killer for hire, a member of a group also consisting of boss lady “The Shopkeeper”, metal-wig baldy driver Zura, and eventually, bowl-cut Watanabe who is kind of forced to join when he followed Kei, his crush, one day after his classes. The group operates from a small restaurant, taking full advantage of Kei's uncanny battle abilities, as much as the fact that she can pass as someone completely cute and innocent through her overall appearance.
However, the crew members soon find themselves in the middle of a power...
- 5/10/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Artificial intelligence has been a sci-fi villain for about as long as the concept has existed, but in the past few months, we've seen the issue of AI become timely, present, and poignant. There is AI taking over journalism, AI being used to replicate actors' voices, and AI making a whole Oasis album. Artificial intelligence is also part of the negotiations that led to the Writers Guild of America's strike, as concerns about AI's role in the creative arts become more and more urgent.
It used to be a common belief that robots would take over technical jobs like programming, not the arts. This is a development few saw coming, but "Cowboy Bebop" creator Shinichirō Watanabe was one of those few. Back in 2019, Watanabe made a new anime in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the famed studio, Bones, called "Carole & Tuesday."
The show's basic premise is that it...
It used to be a common belief that robots would take over technical jobs like programming, not the arts. This is a development few saw coming, but "Cowboy Bebop" creator Shinichirō Watanabe was one of those few. Back in 2019, Watanabe made a new anime in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the famed studio, Bones, called "Carole & Tuesday."
The show's basic premise is that it...
- 5/10/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
by Filippo Recaneschi
Festivals are a must-have for every cinephile. That is more than true if you love Asian cinema, since almost only major titles get to be seen outside Asia. In the last 25 years, Far East Film Festival (Feff), held in Udine, Italy, has provided a catering of such movies for western audiences. In its 25th edition, held from 21st to 29th of April, Feff provided a unique selection of Asian movies and a variety of Asian-related events. The selection varied from works from first-feature directors as well as well-navigated ones, ranging from genre movies to arthouse independent movies.
It is impossible to talk about this year’s festival without mentioning Hirobumi Watanabe, which participated as both director and actor. One of his films is “Techno Brothers” (2023) a quirky road movie about two brothers making techno music and their cynical agent Himuro (Asuna Yanagi). The plot revolves around their...
Festivals are a must-have for every cinephile. That is more than true if you love Asian cinema, since almost only major titles get to be seen outside Asia. In the last 25 years, Far East Film Festival (Feff), held in Udine, Italy, has provided a catering of such movies for western audiences. In its 25th edition, held from 21st to 29th of April, Feff provided a unique selection of Asian movies and a variety of Asian-related events. The selection varied from works from first-feature directors as well as well-navigated ones, ranging from genre movies to arthouse independent movies.
It is impossible to talk about this year’s festival without mentioning Hirobumi Watanabe, which participated as both director and actor. One of his films is “Techno Brothers” (2023) a quirky road movie about two brothers making techno music and their cynical agent Himuro (Asuna Yanagi). The plot revolves around their...
- 5/2/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
“Your Lovely Smile” is a rather weird film. Despite the fact that is Lim Kah-wai's work, the style essentially follows Hirobumi Watanabe's low-budget, self-starring, self-deprecating, ironic and realistic approach to cinema, with the former's hand mostly showing in the fact that the movie is in color and follows a road-film path, although the last part also appears occasionally in the latter's titles.
“Your Lovely Smile” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
Watanabe actually stars as himself here, playing a filmmaker who, despite having won a number of awards from festivals in Japan, finds himself once more facing the harsh realities of independent filmmaking, which seem to have grown even worse after the pandemic. As the story begins, he is stranded in his hometown doing odd jobs to make a living and pass the time essentially, occasionally meeting people from the industry with similar troubles. Eventually an...
“Your Lovely Smile” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
Watanabe actually stars as himself here, playing a filmmaker who, despite having won a number of awards from festivals in Japan, finds himself once more facing the harsh realities of independent filmmaking, which seem to have grown even worse after the pandemic. As the story begins, he is stranded in his hometown doing odd jobs to make a living and pass the time essentially, occasionally meeting people from the industry with similar troubles. Eventually an...
- 4/29/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Never mind the Blues-, here are the Techno Brothers, and they are ready to conquer Japan. The music band in the film pronounced as a trio of geniuses on a par with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, The Beatles, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan by their agent Himuro (Asuna Yanagi), consists of real life Watanabe brothers (Hirobumi and Yuji) and Kurosaki Takanori, dressed up as if they came out of the Kraftwerk impersonators' competition. In case anyone wonders, yes – they are dressed in the signature red shirts and black ties, and they perform long electronic numbers in the most unlikely of places such as a recreation park and a green house to a very small, mostly unwilling audience.
“Techno Brothers” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
There are evident film influences from the 1990s in the “Techno Brothers”, from Jim Jarmusch's “Stranger Than Paradise”, the above indicated Jon Landis musical hit,...
“Techno Brothers” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
There are evident film influences from the 1990s in the “Techno Brothers”, from Jim Jarmusch's “Stranger Than Paradise”, the above indicated Jon Landis musical hit,...
- 4/26/2023
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
The one anime series that I'm most excited about this spring is "Skip and Loafer." The source manga tells the tale of Mitsumi Iwakura, an ambitious teenage girl from the country who moves to Tokyo for high school. There she meets the easygoing Sosuke Shima, and the two of them slowly build a close-knit network of friends that includes local mean girl Mika Egashira, bookish Makoto Kurame, and independent-minded Yuzuki Murashige. Each of them is as different as can be, and yet despite bad early impressions, they find a common cause in each other. "Skip and Loafer" is too good-natured to be a "realistic" high school story. But it is successful at evoking the texture of adolescence in its banality, complexity, and sweetness.
"Skip and Loafer" is also the first anime in years to be directed and scripted by the great Kotomi Deai, who has now been active in the...
"Skip and Loafer" is also the first anime in years to be directed and scripted by the great Kotomi Deai, who has now been active in the...
- 3/12/2023
- by Adam Wescott
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Soji Arai (Dead Ringers) has been tapped for a substantial role in the second season of HBO Max‘s crime drama series Tokyo Vice, which is currently in production in Tokyo.
Related Story Zachary Quinto To Headline NBC Medical Drama Pilot ‘Wolf’ Related Story 'Dune: The Sisterhood': Director Johan Renck & Star Shirley Henderson Exit HBO Max Series Amid Creative Overhaul & Production Hiatus Related Story John Oliver Roasts Fox News Hosts For Questioning Why Julia Roberts Wasn't At Train Derailment Site Like Erin Brockovich
The Max Original led by Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe was renewed for a second go-round last June, after airing its first season in April. It’s loosely inspired by a non-fiction, firsthand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat by American journalist Jake Adelstein (Elgort) and captures his daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo in the late ’90s, where nothing and...
Related Story Zachary Quinto To Headline NBC Medical Drama Pilot ‘Wolf’ Related Story 'Dune: The Sisterhood': Director Johan Renck & Star Shirley Henderson Exit HBO Max Series Amid Creative Overhaul & Production Hiatus Related Story John Oliver Roasts Fox News Hosts For Questioning Why Julia Roberts Wasn't At Train Derailment Site Like Erin Brockovich
The Max Original led by Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe was renewed for a second go-round last June, after airing its first season in April. It’s loosely inspired by a non-fiction, firsthand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat by American journalist Jake Adelstein (Elgort) and captures his daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo in the late ’90s, where nothing and...
- 3/2/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Leading executives from the Japanese firm outline their strategy for the year ahead.
Gaga Corporation has secured Japan rights to Max and Sam Eggers’ upcoming psychological horror The Front Room from A24.
It marks the feature directorial debut of the Eggers Brothers, whose sibling Robert Eggers has worked with A24 on The Witch and The Lighthouse. Max, who co-wrote The Lighthouse, and Sam, who co-wrote Olympia, adapted the screenplay from Susan Hill’s short story of the same name and the feature is in post-production.
The pre-buy builds on previous deals between Gaga and A24 that have included Everything Everywhere All At Once,...
Gaga Corporation has secured Japan rights to Max and Sam Eggers’ upcoming psychological horror The Front Room from A24.
It marks the feature directorial debut of the Eggers Brothers, whose sibling Robert Eggers has worked with A24 on The Witch and The Lighthouse. Max, who co-wrote The Lighthouse, and Sam, who co-wrote Olympia, adapted the screenplay from Susan Hill’s short story of the same name and the feature is in post-production.
The pre-buy builds on previous deals between Gaga and A24 that have included Everything Everywhere All At Once,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Series: "Space Dandy"
Where You Can Stream It: Crunchyroll
The Pitch: "It's the new show by Shinichiro Watanabe." That's all people needed to get excited for "Space Dandy," a series pitched as a spiritual successor to anime classics "Cowboy Bebop" and "Samurai Champloo." "Bebop" defined the adolescence of American anime fandom with its stylish, sad storytelling on Adult Swim in 2001. Since then, the runaway success of "Attack on Titan" on streaming services in 2013 transformed anime into an international hitmaker. Popular American cartoons like "Steven Universe" borrowed from anime, and their artists would say as much in interviews. Now one of the medium's greatest producers and auteurs, after years of toil behind the scenes, was ready to blow everybody away with an all-new vision.
The Series: "Space Dandy"
Where You Can Stream It: Crunchyroll
The Pitch: "It's the new show by Shinichiro Watanabe." That's all people needed to get excited for "Space Dandy," a series pitched as a spiritual successor to anime classics "Cowboy Bebop" and "Samurai Champloo." "Bebop" defined the adolescence of American anime fandom with its stylish, sad storytelling on Adult Swim in 2001. Since then, the runaway success of "Attack on Titan" on streaming services in 2013 transformed anime into an international hitmaker. Popular American cartoons like "Steven Universe" borrowed from anime, and their artists would say as much in interviews. Now one of the medium's greatest producers and auteurs, after years of toil behind the scenes, was ready to blow everybody away with an all-new vision.
- 1/15/2023
- by Adam Wescott
- Slash Film
“Your Lovely Smile” is a rather weird film. Despite the fact that is Lim Kah-wai’s work, the style essentially follows Hirobumi Watanabe’s low-budget, self-starring, self-deprecating, ironic and realistic approach to cinema, with the former’s hand mostly showing in the fact that the movie is in color and follows a road-film path, although the last part also appears occasionally in the latter’s titles.
Watanabe actually stars as himself here, playing a filmmaker who, despite having won a number of awards from festivals in Japan, finds himself once more facing the harsh realities of independent filmmaking, which seem to have grown even worse after the pandemic. As the story begins, he is stranded in his hometown doing odd jobs to make a living and pass the time essentially, occasionally meeting people from the industry with similar troubles. Eventually an opportunity for a new movie appears,...
Watanabe actually stars as himself here, playing a filmmaker who, despite having won a number of awards from festivals in Japan, finds himself once more facing the harsh realities of independent filmmaking, which seem to have grown even worse after the pandemic. As the story begins, he is stranded in his hometown doing odd jobs to make a living and pass the time essentially, occasionally meeting people from the industry with similar troubles. Eventually an opportunity for a new movie appears,...
- 1/7/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Spatiality and memory entwined serve as a unique harbinger of emotions. In the film “Wonderwall”, directed by Yuki Maeda, pain and laughter, hellos and adieus have a physical representation, embodied and etched in a messy room, a small kitchen with cheap meals, in a common area where fantasies are broached and decisions are reached. Nothing forms a community, a collective identity and a sense of fighting for something other than oneself like a shared space and a shared story.
Wonderwall is streaming as part of Jff+ Independent Cinema
The shared space in this case is the Konoe dormitory, where students from a university in Kyoto since the 1900s have stayed and lived. Residing in the dormitory has become a tradition in itself, as the young occupants here create their own rules, rules that celebrate their idiosyncrasies, their non-conforming spirit, their own kind of harmonious chaos. The university administration, however, wants to demolish the dorm,...
Wonderwall is streaming as part of Jff+ Independent Cinema
The shared space in this case is the Konoe dormitory, where students from a university in Kyoto since the 1900s have stayed and lived. Residing in the dormitory has become a tradition in itself, as the young occupants here create their own rules, rules that celebrate their idiosyncrasies, their non-conforming spirit, their own kind of harmonious chaos. The university administration, however, wants to demolish the dorm,...
- 1/7/2023
- by Purple Romero
- AsianMoviePulse
Director Ayumu Watanabe navigates the growing pains of a young girl, coping with life on a houseboat with her mother and the tragicomic dramas of school life
Compared to the cosmically grand anime Children of the Sea, Ayumu Watanabe’s new film is a more intimately scaled coming-of-age story that acutely understands the embarrassment that teenagers have towards their parents once puberty hits. A rotund woman with a bubbly personality, Lady Nikuko – “the Meaty Lady” – has a weakness for food, questionable dirtbags and corny puns. Her snoring rumbles through her modest houseboat like a mini earthquake. To her shy, scrawny daughter Kikurin, she is simply too much.
In fact, despite the title, the film is all about Kikurin’s internal world, as the young girl navigates friend-drama at school and her secret crush on the equally timid Ninomiya, a boy who likes to make outrageously silly faces when no one is watching.
Compared to the cosmically grand anime Children of the Sea, Ayumu Watanabe’s new film is a more intimately scaled coming-of-age story that acutely understands the embarrassment that teenagers have towards their parents once puberty hits. A rotund woman with a bubbly personality, Lady Nikuko – “the Meaty Lady” – has a weakness for food, questionable dirtbags and corny puns. Her snoring rumbles through her modest houseboat like a mini earthquake. To her shy, scrawny daughter Kikurin, she is simply too much.
In fact, despite the title, the film is all about Kikurin’s internal world, as the young girl navigates friend-drama at school and her secret crush on the equally timid Ninomiya, a boy who likes to make outrageously silly faces when no one is watching.
- 8/11/2022
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
The end is near for John Wick, but his candle is still burning bright before being snuffed out.
A first look at “John Wick Chapter 4” shows Keanu Reeves as Wick standing in front of what appears to be a candlelit altar. The neon-tinted press image was circulated via text message by Lionsgate to fans who signed up for updates on the fourth film, set to be released in theaters March 24, 2023.
“John Wick Chapter 4” also stars Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bill Skarsgard, Clancy Brown, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Rina Sawayama. While the plot remains to be under wraps, the film is expected to pick up after Wick was delivered to the Bowery King (Fishburne) at the end of “John Wick Chapter 3” after trying to topple assassin hierarchy the High Table.
“Chapter 4” kicks off the two-part finale planned for Wick. The franchise spurred upcoming spin-off...
A first look at “John Wick Chapter 4” shows Keanu Reeves as Wick standing in front of what appears to be a candlelit altar. The neon-tinted press image was circulated via text message by Lionsgate to fans who signed up for updates on the fourth film, set to be released in theaters March 24, 2023.
“John Wick Chapter 4” also stars Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bill Skarsgard, Clancy Brown, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Rina Sawayama. While the plot remains to be under wraps, the film is expected to pick up after Wick was delivered to the Bowery King (Fishburne) at the end of “John Wick Chapter 3” after trying to topple assassin hierarchy the High Table.
“Chapter 4” kicks off the two-part finale planned for Wick. The franchise spurred upcoming spin-off...
- 7/21/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
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