In addition to the ongoing TV anime, a stage play adaptation of Eku Takeshima's yuri romance manga Whisper Me a Love Song is set to perform at the Theater 1010 in Tokyo from July 26 to August 2, 2024. The main cast members were selected through audition and are challenged to actually sing and perform live on stage. The play's official website and Twitter account also open today, revealing its main cast members and their costume visuals. Momoka Ishii as Yori Asanagi / Yui Watanabe as Himari Kino Yuuki Tenma as Aki Mizuguchi / Nagisa Hayakawa as Mari Tsutsui / Kayama Nanase as Kaori Tachibana Chiyuki Ito as Shiho Izumi / Shiori Nishikado as Momoka Satomiya / Kaede Sakuragi as Hajime Amasawa The TV anime Whisper Me a Love Song premiered in Japan on April 13, 2024, and has also streamed on Hidive. Kodansha USA, who publishes the manga's official English version , describes the first volume as such: Bubbly, energetic...
- 5/6/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
Since the beginning of his career, Hirokazu Koreeda became recognized for his films representing the family cinema genre—intrinsically linked with the favorite of Western critics among Japanese filmmakers: Yasujiro Ozu. This was already the case with Koreeda's 1995 debut film, “Maboroshi no hikari”, a visual meditation on loss and the passing of time, told through the eyes of a single mother who has just lost her beloved husband. Since the early 1960s and the death of Yasujiro Ozu, Western critics seemed to be engaged in an excruciating quest to find a new ancestor to Ozu's poetics of cinema—and finally, there was one; Koreeda became the new Ozu.
The similarity is there—a contemplative approach towards the mundane which translates to something more transcendental; a patient gaze onto the bonds of the family set against the backdrop of a modernizing world and changing traditions; or a talent to put...
The similarity is there—a contemplative approach towards the mundane which translates to something more transcendental; a patient gaze onto the bonds of the family set against the backdrop of a modernizing world and changing traditions; or a talent to put...
- 3/27/2024
- by Lukasz Mankowski
- AsianMoviePulse
Ahead of an April 13 premiere in Japan, a brand-new trailer for girls' love music anime Whisper Me a Love Song was released today, previewing the first notes between two harmonious love birds and the series' opening theme song, "Follow your arrows" by in-story band Ssgirls. Related: Whisper Me a Love Song Anime Sets the Stage for April 13 Premiere with New Visual A November 2023 announcement in the change of staff saw Akira Mano take over as director from Xinya Cai due to health reasons, and Yokohama Animation Lab step in to co-produce with Cloudhearts. Hiroki Uchida serves as series composer, alongside Minami Yoshida as character designer and Hiroshi Sasaki and Wataru Maeguchi as music composers. As for the cast, Hana Shimano takes on her first main role as Himari Kino, with Asami Seto (Mai Sakurajime in Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai ) voicing Yori Asanagi. They're joined by support acts Yuna Nemoto,...
- 3/22/2024
- by Liam Dempsey
- Crunchyroll
‘Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night’ and ‘Whisper Me a Love Song’ will both premiere on Hidive after their North American debuts at Anime Boston 2024.
There are more changes a-brewing at Hidive! AMC’s anime-dedicated streaming service has announced it will debut two new series in the month of April, which will be exclusive simulcast streams of hotly anticipated titles from Japan. Hidive will be debuting “Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night” and “Whisper Me a Love Song” next month, with both series expected to serve as centerpieces of the streamer’s spring schedule.
“Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night” and “Whisper Me a Love Song” will see their North American premieres at Anime Boston on March 29, with their Hidive premiere to follow soon after. Both series are brand-new releases and will stream on Hidive simultaneously with their releases in Japan. Hidive recently rolled out a big update to its user interface,...
There are more changes a-brewing at Hidive! AMC’s anime-dedicated streaming service has announced it will debut two new series in the month of April, which will be exclusive simulcast streams of hotly anticipated titles from Japan. Hidive will be debuting “Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night” and “Whisper Me a Love Song” next month, with both series expected to serve as centerpieces of the streamer’s spring schedule.
“Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night” and “Whisper Me a Love Song” will see their North American premieres at Anime Boston on March 29, with their Hidive premiere to follow soon after. Both series are brand-new releases and will stream on Hidive simultaneously with their releases in Japan. Hidive recently rolled out a big update to its user interface,...
- 3/18/2024
- by David Satin
- The Streamable
The Japanese director of Shoplifters uses different takes on a single story to tell the fraught tale of two troubled boys
A frazzled widowed mother, Saori (Sakura Andô), suspects that all is not well with her preteen son, Minato (Soya Kurokawa). The boy seems subdued and withdrawn; she catches him hacking inches from his mop of hair. He asks odd, troubling questions: if the brain of a pig was transplanted into a human, what would the resulting creature be, human or pig? Or some kind of monster? And then there are the injuries – an ear yanked so brutally that it bleeds; a livid facial bruise. Saori soon deduces that her son’s new teacher, Michitoshi Hori (Eita Nagayama), at his provincial Japanese elementary school, is responsible for her son’s brooding disquiet. She confronts the school principal (a confounding reflecting prism of a performance from veteran actor Yūko Tanaka), but...
A frazzled widowed mother, Saori (Sakura Andô), suspects that all is not well with her preteen son, Minato (Soya Kurokawa). The boy seems subdued and withdrawn; she catches him hacking inches from his mop of hair. He asks odd, troubling questions: if the brain of a pig was transplanted into a human, what would the resulting creature be, human or pig? Or some kind of monster? And then there are the injuries – an ear yanked so brutally that it bleeds; a livid facial bruise. Saori soon deduces that her son’s new teacher, Michitoshi Hori (Eita Nagayama), at his provincial Japanese elementary school, is responsible for her son’s brooding disquiet. She confronts the school principal (a confounding reflecting prism of a performance from veteran actor Yūko Tanaka), but...
- 3/17/2024
- by Wendy Ide
- The Guardian - Film News
Cindy Morgan, best known for her roles in the 80s films Caddyshack and Tron, died on Dec. 30. She was 69.
The actress died of natural causes at her home in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office told The Hollywood Reporter Saturday.
Born Cynthia Ann Cichorski on Sept. 29, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois, Morgan was the first in her family to attend college, attending Northern Illinois University to study communications. After working in local news and radio for some time, she eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1978.
The following year, she appeared in commercials for Irish Spring, becoming known as the Irish Spring girl. During that time, she was also attending acting classes and workshops.
She scored her first film role in the 1979 movie Up Yours. The following year, she took on the role of Lacey Underall in the sports-comedy Caddyshack, starring alongside Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray,...
The actress died of natural causes at her home in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office told The Hollywood Reporter Saturday.
Born Cynthia Ann Cichorski on Sept. 29, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois, Morgan was the first in her family to attend college, attending Northern Illinois University to study communications. After working in local news and radio for some time, she eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1978.
The following year, she appeared in commercials for Irish Spring, becoming known as the Irish Spring girl. During that time, she was also attending acting classes and workshops.
She scored her first film role in the 1979 movie Up Yours. The following year, she took on the role of Lacey Underall in the sports-comedy Caddyshack, starring alongside Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray,...
- 1/7/2024
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Tron" and "Caddyshack" star Cindy Morgan has died, TMZ is reporting. The actress who appeared in several hit films and TV shows, most notably in the 1980s, was 69 years old. The outlet confirmed the news with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, but the details surrounding Morgan's passing are not currently available.
Morgan began her career as a weather reporter, but her first on-screen acting role came in 1979, when she played Elaine in the erotic comedy "Up Yours." Known for her striking blonde hair and blue-eyes, Morgan was cast in bombshell roles, including as the goofily named character Lacy Underall in the 1980 Bill Murray-led comedy "Caddyshack." The actress soon found herself in the zeitgeist, appearing in the cyberspace action-adventure film "Tron" as Dr. Lora Baines, a scientific assistant who was dating Encom programmer Alan (Bruce Boxleitner). In the same film, Morgan also played Yori, a cool and powerful computer program that,...
Morgan began her career as a weather reporter, but her first on-screen acting role came in 1979, when she played Elaine in the erotic comedy "Up Yours." Known for her striking blonde hair and blue-eyes, Morgan was cast in bombshell roles, including as the goofily named character Lacy Underall in the 1980 Bill Murray-led comedy "Caddyshack." The actress soon found herself in the zeitgeist, appearing in the cyberspace action-adventure film "Tron" as Dr. Lora Baines, a scientific assistant who was dating Encom programmer Alan (Bruce Boxleitner). In the same film, Morgan also played Yori, a cool and powerful computer program that,...
- 1/6/2024
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Early in director Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Monster, single mother Saori (Andô Sakura) and her son, Minato (Kurokawa Sôya), watch from their apartment’s balcony as a fire engulfs a building across the way, the plumes of smoke rising up and up and up. Minato balances his arms on the ledge, his feet stuck in the gaps between the vertical rods of the balcony. From behind, we see him lean out, trying to get nearer to the flames from so far away, but his mother grabs him from behind and tells him to be careful to not go over the edge.
That’s not unlike what watching Monster feels like, as it constantly veers precariously between the realms of gentle humanism and contrived sentimentality. Monster is Kore-eda’s third film after his 2018 Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters, which found a perfect calibration between his humane and tender sensibility and a kind of crowd-pleasing earnestness.
That’s not unlike what watching Monster feels like, as it constantly veers precariously between the realms of gentle humanism and contrived sentimentality. Monster is Kore-eda’s third film after his 2018 Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters, which found a perfect calibration between his humane and tender sensibility and a kind of crowd-pleasing earnestness.
- 11/17/2023
- by Kyle Turner
- Slant Magazine
In the throes of Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s latest narrative Cannes competition film Monster are two boys learning about their feelings for one another.
“There haven’t been many Japanese films that address these topics,” acknowledged the 2018 Shoplifters Palme d’Or winner, speaking at a Thursday press conference for the film, about the LGBTQ themes among the young boys in Monster.
“When I discovered the screenplay, I thought to myself, this story should not be viewed from that angle. It’s an inner struggle,” he added.
Monster follows Saori (Ando Sakura), a take-no-prisoners widowed mother bringing up her son Minato (Kurokawa Soya), who is weathering tough times in his elementary school. Mom learns that son’s odd behavior may have to do with his teacher, who Minato says hit him. The pic is told from several different points of view, including that of the teacher, Hori (Nagayama Eita), Minato, and the friend he adores,...
“There haven’t been many Japanese films that address these topics,” acknowledged the 2018 Shoplifters Palme d’Or winner, speaking at a Thursday press conference for the film, about the LGBTQ themes among the young boys in Monster.
“When I discovered the screenplay, I thought to myself, this story should not be viewed from that angle. It’s an inner struggle,” he added.
Monster follows Saori (Ando Sakura), a take-no-prisoners widowed mother bringing up her son Minato (Kurokawa Soya), who is weathering tough times in his elementary school. Mom learns that son’s odd behavior may have to do with his teacher, who Minato says hit him. The pic is told from several different points of view, including that of the teacher, Hori (Nagayama Eita), Minato, and the friend he adores,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda is a perceptive observer of families, keenly detecting the quirks that make an individual unique and the whole stronger and more complicated. 2018’s masterful Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters” was perhaps the finest display of Kore-eda’s skills and preoccupations as a minimalist artist of mysterious domestic rhythms, informed by social and financial realities.
His make-shift family in last year’s arguably more populist “Broker” didn’t hit a note as high, but “Monster,” the director’s return to this year’s Cannes competition, feels closer to the subtly multilayered tales we came to expect from him.
A sweet, unknowable and often purposely misleading red herring of a whodunit that morphs into an unexpected tale of friendship, “Monster” feels like a departure for Kore-eda, mostly because of its intricate structure that recounts the same event from three different viewpoints. An obvious (and quite accurate) association point...
His make-shift family in last year’s arguably more populist “Broker” didn’t hit a note as high, but “Monster,” the director’s return to this year’s Cannes competition, feels closer to the subtly multilayered tales we came to expect from him.
A sweet, unknowable and often purposely misleading red herring of a whodunit that morphs into an unexpected tale of friendship, “Monster” feels like a departure for Kore-eda, mostly because of its intricate structure that recounts the same event from three different viewpoints. An obvious (and quite accurate) association point...
- 5/17/2023
- by Tomris Laffly
- The Wrap
Japan’s most prolific and successful contemporary filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-Eda, is back in a favorite place, Cannes, for the unveiling of his latest effort, a return to his Japanese storytelling roots and a good one at that. For his seventh film in the main Cannes competition and his ninth overall (counting two that appeared in Un Certain Regard), Monster represents the first movie since his 1995 debut feature Maborosi that the director has not had a screenplay credit on — this film being written by Sakamoto Yuji — but clearly with its humanist family-centered themes is right in this master craftsman’s wheelhouse.
After last year’s lighter Cannes entry Broker, which was his first Korean film, Monster is more in line with his touching 2013 Jury Prize winner Like Father, Like Son and his 2018 Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters, which also earned him a foreign-language Oscar nomination. In fact, he is teaming...
After last year’s lighter Cannes entry Broker, which was his first Korean film, Monster is more in line with his touching 2013 Jury Prize winner Like Father, Like Son and his 2018 Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters, which also earned him a foreign-language Oscar nomination. In fact, he is teaming...
- 5/17/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
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