Aniplex Of America recently found itself in an unexpected situation when they accidentally wished Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime’s Kyoko Sakura a happy birthday, despite the absence of an official birth date for the character.
The tweet was then quickly taken down, followed by an official apology from Aniplex of America, acknowledging the oversight and expressing regret for any confusion it may have caused among fans.
“On May 9th, Aniplex of America accidentally wished a ‘Happy Birthday’ to Kyoko Sakura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica when she does not have an official birthday date. We sincerely apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Thank you for all of your support and love for Kyoko Sakura and the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series!,” they tweeted.
The apology prompted humorous reactions from fans, with many expressing amusement at the unusual nature of the apology and others playfully suggesting that Kyoko...
The tweet was then quickly taken down, followed by an official apology from Aniplex of America, acknowledging the oversight and expressing regret for any confusion it may have caused among fans.
“On May 9th, Aniplex of America accidentally wished a ‘Happy Birthday’ to Kyoko Sakura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica when she does not have an official birthday date. We sincerely apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Thank you for all of your support and love for Kyoko Sakura and the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series!,” they tweeted.
The apology prompted humorous reactions from fans, with many expressing amusement at the unusual nature of the apology and others playfully suggesting that Kyoko...
- 5/12/2024
- by Ami Nazru
- AnimeHunch
House of the Owl is a Japanese political drama that revolves around Ryuutaro Ougami, the nation’s top fixer, and his troubled family, each member grappling with their own set of issues. The series delves into the bureaucratic intricacies of Japanese society and how a small group of individuals strive to maintain their grip on power, a phenomenon prevalent across borders. They say blood is thicker than water, but for Ryuutaro Ougami, his own kin proves to be a source of turmoil for this morally complicated man. As a ‘fixer,’ Ryuutaro wields significant influence behind the scenes, with politicians of all ranks, including the Prime Minister, seeking his counsel to resolve their scandals and controversies. His role is akin to that of a retainer in a modern-day shogunate, a shadowy figure who holds considerable sway over those in power. To the general public, Ryuutaro remains largely an enigma, yet those...
- 4/25/2024
- by Shrey Ashley Philip
- Film Fugitives
Cinematic language can be universal. Visual images and styles can be reused and interpreted for different audiences quite easily with film fans quick to pick up on the influences. Take for example the Western. John Ford influenced Akira Kurosawa; Kurosawa influenced Sergio Leone who in turn inspired a number of Italian filmmakers in creating the whole Spaghetti Western genre. This visual language then proceeded to be imported across the globe. “Yakuza Wolf” is one such beneficiary of this transnational use of cinematic language. A blending of Yakuza action with a western flourish it's now available through “Eureka Entertainment” on Blu-ray. With its lead Sonny Chiba being rediscovered we have an opportunity to look back at a role that set him on course for bigger stardom.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Gosuke Himuro (Sonny Chiba) is out for revenge. His father is dead and his sister Kyoko (Yayoi Watanabe) kidnapped.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Gosuke Himuro (Sonny Chiba) is out for revenge. His father is dead and his sister Kyoko (Yayoi Watanabe) kidnapped.
- 3/15/2024
- by Ben Stykuc
- AsianMoviePulse
The family/social drama has always been a staple within the Japanese film industry with directors such as Yasujiro Ozu or Kenji Mozoguchi having shaped it during the course of their career. At the same time, while delving into family issues, these directors have taken a lesson from early works within the cinematic landscape of their culture as well as Italien Neo-realism, adding “a slice of life” to their works. In the last couple of years perhaps no other director has influenced (and to certain extent perfected) this formula than Hirokazu Koreeda. His debut feature “Maborosi” already showed the family as a mirror image of a society caught in between tradition and progress, family values and individualism. With his fourth feature “Nobody Knows”, inspired by a true case, Koreeda would not only reach international fame, but also manifest his take on the aforementioned formula which many have copied (or tried to) over the years.
- 2/23/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Attorney Leon Wildes, who stood next to John Lennon and Yoko Ono in court, in public and on TV during the early 1970s as the famous couple successfully fought unrelenting deportation attempts by the Nixon Administration, died Monday, January 8, at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital. He was 90.
His death was announced by his son Michael Wildes, the Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.
Wildes himself would share at least a fraction of the Lennons’ massive fame for a while in the early ’70s, appearing with the couple on various high-profile TV talk shows during the three-year litigation.
After Lennon and Ono, both outspoken critics of the war in Vietnam, moved to New York City following the break-up of the Beatles, they soon became targeted by the Nixon Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Lennon had been convicted in London in 1968 on a marijuana possession charge, and a waiver he...
His death was announced by his son Michael Wildes, the Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.
Wildes himself would share at least a fraction of the Lennons’ massive fame for a while in the early ’70s, appearing with the couple on various high-profile TV talk shows during the three-year litigation.
After Lennon and Ono, both outspoken critics of the war in Vietnam, moved to New York City following the break-up of the Beatles, they soon became targeted by the Nixon Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Lennon had been convicted in London in 1968 on a marijuana possession charge, and a waiver he...
- 1/15/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The last film of Ko Nakahira is one that definitely stands out in both Atg and his own filmography, since it was shot in France and includes intense elements of European (French) cinema in the way it unfolds, although it also includes some elements that make it distinctly Japanese.
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
Kyoko and Juzo used to be a couple but have not seen each other for over a decade, with her actually getting married with a rich, middle-aged man in the meantime. The two meet again in Paris in 1972, and decide to take a trip together, where they mostly talk about politics and revolution in particular, their relationship in the past, and have sex. The sudden meeting with Kenzo, a man Kyoko met from her current husband, and his European partner leads them to reevaluate sex and their relationship, while a bit later,...
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
Kyoko and Juzo used to be a couple but have not seen each other for over a decade, with her actually getting married with a rich, middle-aged man in the meantime. The two meet again in Paris in 1972, and decide to take a trip together, where they mostly talk about politics and revolution in particular, their relationship in the past, and have sex. The sudden meeting with Kenzo, a man Kyoko met from her current husband, and his European partner leads them to reevaluate sex and their relationship, while a bit later,...
- 9/13/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Koenji, Tokyo. One day, Eiichi Furuya (Takuma Fujie), who runs a private detective business, is visited by his former lover Kyoko (Kyoka Mizukami). Her father died suddenly, and an old film of a strange woman smiling next to her young father was found in the relics. In response to Kyoko's desire to find the woman, the two use the film as a clue to visit Jogashima Island on the Miura Peninsula.
- 9/3/2023
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
Who does a documentary truly belong to — the people who make it, the people who fund it, or the people it depicts? On the face of it, the answer seems obvious: At a spiritual level, if not always a corporate one, we tend to think of art as the property of the artist. Yet in dusting off a long-languishing nonfiction feature from the 1970s that was taken from its stymied director by his bankrollers and sent to the vault, Andrés Peyrot’s thoughtful, mirror-holding doc “God is a Woman” makes a compelling case for the third option. With the old project terminally abandoned and its helmer no longer alive, it’s the Indigenous Panamanian community filmed in the first place who believe themselves the heirs to footage they’ve patiently waited half a century to see. In empathetic, increasingly poetic ways, Peyrot’s film finally presents it to them.
A...
A...
- 8/31/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Before John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a relationship, they were both married to other people and had children. After their respective divorces, their relationships with their children grew strained, though Ono’s was more than Lennon’s. She fell out of contact with her daughter. When she attempted to regain custody of her daughter, Ono landed in hot water with police. Both she and Lennon were questioned by police, who alleged that they attempted to abduct her daughter.
Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Susan Wood/Getty Images John Lennon and Yoko Ono got into trouble with police in 1968
Lennon and Ono had their first run in with the law in 1968. They were staying at Ringo Starr’s apartment in London when they received a tip-off from a friend that police were planning to raid the home for drugs. Lennon and Ono attempted to clean out the apartment, but police...
Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Susan Wood/Getty Images John Lennon and Yoko Ono got into trouble with police in 1968
Lennon and Ono had their first run in with the law in 1968. They were staying at Ringo Starr’s apartment in London when they received a tip-off from a friend that police were planning to raid the home for drugs. Lennon and Ono attempted to clean out the apartment, but police...
- 4/23/2023
- by Emma McKee
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
The recent films Drive My Car and Burning, two exquisite screen adaptations of Haruki Murakami’s fiction, delve into unsettling enigmas and longings, spun around performances of gripping subtlety. As a work of animation, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman can’t plumb behavioral depths and tics in quite the same way. But animation is an apt medium for exploring another aspect of Murakami’s work, his magic-realist spin on existential angst. Pierre Földes, a composer and visual artist at the helm of his first feature, has made something that mixes the painterly and the stylized, a film that’s lovely, mysterious and also, at times, fittingly odd.
The writer-director finds connective tissue among the various storylines in the idea of an earthquake as a psychic rupture, shaking loose the dissatisfactions and yearnings that are usually under wraps, keeping people shut off and stuck. Földes’ multiple roles here include writing the score,...
The writer-director finds connective tissue among the various storylines in the idea of an earthquake as a psychic rupture, shaking loose the dissatisfactions and yearnings that are usually under wraps, keeping people shut off and stuck. Földes’ multiple roles here include writing the score,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Haruki Murakami doesn’t write in any particular genre — the Japanese literary giant is a genre. While his expansive bibliography has seen him dip his toe into everything from magical realism and hardboiled mysteries to straightforward literary fiction and fitness commentary, his singular worldview ensures that every genre he chooses to play with is bent to his will — never the other way around.
At this point, the novelist’s trademarks are known to anyone with even a passing interest in contemporary literature. His stories unfold like steam rising off a lake, flowing in seemingly directionless patterns before forming something indescribably beautiful. His protagonists are often ambitionless men who appear content to let life happen to them. But as they get sucked into increasingly surreal adventures, their passive dispositions and willingness to go along with things quickly make Murakami’s bizarre plots seem relatively normal.
By seamlessly shifting his focus between...
At this point, the novelist’s trademarks are known to anyone with even a passing interest in contemporary literature. His stories unfold like steam rising off a lake, flowing in seemingly directionless patterns before forming something indescribably beautiful. His protagonists are often ambitionless men who appear content to let life happen to them. But as they get sucked into increasingly surreal adventures, their passive dispositions and willingness to go along with things quickly make Murakami’s bizarre plots seem relatively normal.
By seamlessly shifting his focus between...
- 4/11/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
While John Lennon was a crucial member of The Beatles, there are several classic songs by the band that he didn’t appear on. Sometimes it was his choice to skip out on a track, while other times were due to conditions outside of his control. Here are five Beatles songs without John Lennon.
‘I Me Mine’ George Martin and John Lennon | Sspl/Getty Images
“I Me Mine” was written by George Harrison and is from 1970’s Let it Be. The inspiration for the song came after an acid trip where he became upset about his ego and other turmoil and business issues within the group. Footage from The Beatles: Get Back shows Harrison pitching the song to The Beatles with John Lennon and Yoko Ono sharing a dance while he’s playing.
Lennon wasn’t a fan of the song, mocking it by saying it belonged on a “playlist for a Spanish waltz.
‘I Me Mine’ George Martin and John Lennon | Sspl/Getty Images
“I Me Mine” was written by George Harrison and is from 1970’s Let it Be. The inspiration for the song came after an acid trip where he became upset about his ego and other turmoil and business issues within the group. Footage from The Beatles: Get Back shows Harrison pitching the song to The Beatles with John Lennon and Yoko Ono sharing a dance while he’s playing.
Lennon wasn’t a fan of the song, mocking it by saying it belonged on a “playlist for a Spanish waltz.
- 4/6/2023
- by Ross Tanenbaum
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Unfolding in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Pierre Földes’ animation - based on the work of Haruki Murakami - is filled with unexpected movement, from rumbling discontent to relationship aftershocks and from the real to the imagined. The sense of flow extends to the narrative, which weaves together a series of stories, connected not so much by plot intersection as by existential questions of purpose and loss.
Chief among the characters are two bank employees, Mr Komura (voiced by Ryan Bommarito in the English language dub that is currently on release in the UK) and Mr Katagiri (Marcelo Arroyo). Komura is facing a seismic shift in his life, after his girlfriend Kyoko (Shoshana Wilder) suddenly leaves him. Meanwhile, Katagiri, who is under immense stress in the loan department at work, begins to have strange visitations from a giant frog who wants him to help save...
Chief among the characters are two bank employees, Mr Komura (voiced by Ryan Bommarito in the English language dub that is currently on release in the UK) and Mr Katagiri (Marcelo Arroyo). Komura is facing a seismic shift in his life, after his girlfriend Kyoko (Shoshana Wilder) suddenly leaves him. Meanwhile, Katagiri, who is under immense stress in the loan department at work, begins to have strange visitations from a giant frog who wants him to help save...
- 4/4/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The seductively quirky sad-serious tone of the author is evident as a constellation of characters try and save the city – including a lost cat and a giant talkative frog
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami has inspired some prestigious movies, most recently Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car. Regardless of whether this new Murakami adaptation (based on his short story collection of the same name) comes to be considered the best, I think it might actually capture the elusive essence of Murakami more than any other – something in it being a Rotoscope animation of elegant simplicity. It has the ruminative lightness, almost weightlessness, the watercolour delicacy and reticence of the emotions, the sense of the uncanny, the insistent play of erotic possibility and that Murakami keynote: a cat.
Pierre Földes makes his feature directing debut here, having been long been a composer; his musical credits include Michael Cuesta’s L.I.E.
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami has inspired some prestigious movies, most recently Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car. Regardless of whether this new Murakami adaptation (based on his short story collection of the same name) comes to be considered the best, I think it might actually capture the elusive essence of Murakami more than any other – something in it being a Rotoscope animation of elegant simplicity. It has the ruminative lightness, almost weightlessness, the watercolour delicacy and reticence of the emotions, the sense of the uncanny, the insistent play of erotic possibility and that Murakami keynote: a cat.
Pierre Földes makes his feature directing debut here, having been long been a composer; his musical credits include Michael Cuesta’s L.I.E.
- 3/28/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Synopsis
On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, traditions about nature remain eternal. Following a typhoon and during the full-moon night of traditional dances in August, 16-year-old Kaito (Nijirô Murakami) discovers a dead body floating in the sea. His girlfriend, Kyoko (Junko Abe), will attempt to help him understand this mysterious discovery. Together, Kaito and Kyoko will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.
Kawase, one of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary directors and the youngest filmmaker to be awarded the Cannes Camera d’Or for her debut film “Suzaku” in 1987, was nominated for a Palme d’Or for Still The Water; the film also captured awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography at the 2015 RiverRun International Film Festival.
Director’S Bio: Naomi Kawase
Born and raised in Nara, Kawase graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1989. Her films, “Embracing” (1992) and “Katatsumori” (1994) received international...
On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, traditions about nature remain eternal. Following a typhoon and during the full-moon night of traditional dances in August, 16-year-old Kaito (Nijirô Murakami) discovers a dead body floating in the sea. His girlfriend, Kyoko (Junko Abe), will attempt to help him understand this mysterious discovery. Together, Kaito and Kyoko will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.
Kawase, one of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary directors and the youngest filmmaker to be awarded the Cannes Camera d’Or for her debut film “Suzaku” in 1987, was nominated for a Palme d’Or for Still The Water; the film also captured awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography at the 2015 RiverRun International Film Festival.
Director’S Bio: Naomi Kawase
Born and raised in Nara, Kawase graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1989. Her films, “Embracing” (1992) and “Katatsumori” (1994) received international...
- 2/10/2023
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Three female convicts transferred to the New Life Correction Center for communists and traitors on Green Island (formerly known as Bonfire Island) are subjected to unspeakable humiliation and abuse in Zero Chou’s dark drama “Untold Herstory”, that has just had its European premiere at IFFR. The year is 1953, and the White Terror period is in full swing. Many people, most of them students, are being apprehended for innocent offenses such as saying something wrong, reading banned (mainly leftist) books, or for being related or befriended to the ‘enemies of the state’. Some are being reported as spies as a spiteful act of retaliation, and others for refusing men’s advances. Only few can call themselves guilty, if being a communist is still considered a crime.
Untold Her Story screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam
“Untold Herstory” pulls many tricks out of the epic historical dramas hat:...
Untold Her Story screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam
“Untold Herstory” pulls many tricks out of the epic historical dramas hat:...
- 2/10/2023
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Shuichi Sonoda (Mario Kuroba) works as an editor for a small publishing company and lives together with his girlfriend, Rina Kiyokawa (Moeka Hoshi). Shuichi dreams of becoming a novelist, but he is so busy with his daily work that he has given up on his dream. Rina had been fired from several part-time jobs due to her shy personality, and is now unemployed and dependent on Shuichi. One day, Shuichi meets Kyoko Aizawa, his senior in high school and an editor at a major publishing company. While talking with her about the past, Shuichi lies to her that he is still writing novels, and within a short period of one month, he enters a contest held by Kyoko’s publishing company aiming for a newcomer award. In the meantime, Shuichi’s colleague at his publishing company quits and Shuichi takes over the assignment of Yoichi Nishikawa (Junpei Yasui), a successful commentator.
- 1/26/2023
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
After having its world premiere in October at the Tokyo International Film Festival, “Sayonara, Girls” by Nakagawa Shun has been slated to have its theatrical release in February next year. A coming-of-age movie, it reifies sentiment in memories that make youth an inimitable part of one’s existence and explores the decisions that young people suddenly make at the conjuncture of departure, of bidding goodbye to a point in their lives that they could never go back to.
Based on the 2012 series of short stories by award-winning writer Asai Ryo called “Girls Do Not Graduate”, the movie chronicles the last few days left in the high school lives of four girls, who happen to belong to the final batch of their academy as their school will literally be dismantled and torn down into pieces after their graduation. It’s a setting ripe for reminiscing, jolting realizations and a race against regrets.
Based on the 2012 series of short stories by award-winning writer Asai Ryo called “Girls Do Not Graduate”, the movie chronicles the last few days left in the high school lives of four girls, who happen to belong to the final batch of their academy as their school will literally be dismantled and torn down into pieces after their graduation. It’s a setting ripe for reminiscing, jolting realizations and a race against regrets.
- 12/27/2022
- by Purple Romero
- AsianMoviePulse
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