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Get ready for the next phenomenon as Nakoi Urasawa’s hit manga finally hits our screens as a live-action trilogy… (more…)

The first of Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s three-part adaption of Nakoi Urasawa’s 20 million copy selling 2oth Century Boys is released today – check it out! (Sorry, no English Subs!)

You can read our review of 2oth Century Boys here »

Fantasy fun from director Yojiro Takita, but seriously, it’s no When The Last Sword is Drawn… (more…)

On release today at selected cinemas around the UK, Fumihiko Sori’s enteraining revamp of blind swordsman Zatoichi, Ichi, starring Haruka Ayase…

» Read our full review of Ichi here…

A solid horror/thriller with enjoyable nods to Hitchcock and Argento – it’s just a shame that ending is so unsatisfying… (more…)

A solid, good looking action film with great fight sequences by choreographer Corey Yuen, but plot inconsistencies and a baffling conclusion don’t make the best for Chris Nahon’s live-action adaption… (more…)

With the upcoming release of the live-action version, what better time to revisit the original that started it all… (more…)

It’s been creating a buzz of anticipation since its production was first announced in late-2006, and now the Japanese movie event of the decade, 20TH CENTURY BOYS, is finally here.

Based on the hugely successful, award winning manga series created by Naoki Urasawa (Yawara; Monster), 20TH CENTURY BOYS is the first instalment of the mind-blowing, three-part live-action adaptation of the epic sci-fi fantasy adventure originally inspired by the T. Rex song of the same name.

Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Sushi King Goes To New York; Happily Ever After; Keizoku: The Movie) and starring Toshiaki Karasawa (Casshern), 20TH CENTURY BOYS’ epic storyline spans 50 years and several continents, factors that necessitated a budget of 6 billion yen for the trilogy – an unprecedented figure for the Japan film industry.

Japan, 1973. Elementary school kid Kenji Endo (Toshiaki Karasawa) and his small gang of young friends pass the long, boring summer days fantasizing about fighting world-threatening super villains and then recording their fictional crime-fighting exploits in their own ‘Book of Prophecies’.

Almost thirty years later, and now adults with families, jobs and responsibilities that have caused them to drift apart, their lives are turned upside down when one of the former friends dies mysteriously and an entire family from Kenji’s local neighbourhood goes missing. Further afield, a bizarre religious cult is growing in popularity and appears to be connected to a strange chain of catastrophic events that unbelievably appear to be duplicating the imaginary events recorded in the ‘Book of Prophecies’ decades earlier. Disturbed by what he initially believes could only be a coincidence, Kenji reunites the group of childhood friends and attempts to unravel the mystery. The investigation reveals a shocking and sinister conspiracy that seeks to fulfil a doomsday prophecy on the eve of the new millennium. As their renewed friendship is tested in a world gripped by global terrorism and hysteria, Kenji and his companions find themselves involved in a spectacular showdown as a giant robotic machine threatens the city of Shinjuku!

And that’s merely the start of the compelling three-part saga in what has become one of the most highly anticipated, must-see sci-fi movie trilogies since “The Matrix” series.

A national phenomenon in Japan and a huge hit internationally, Urasawa’s 24-volume sci-fi fantasy manga has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, with the film attaining similar success by becoming one of the country’s biggest box office hits of 2008.

20TH CENTURY BOYS (cert. 15) will open at selected UK cinemas on 20th February 2009.

Based on one of the most popular and most frequently adapted modern stories in Japanese literature (‘Paprika’ author Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1965 novel ‘Toki o Kakeru Shojo’), the award winning, feature-length anime The Girl Who Leapt Through Time comes to the UK boasting an unrivalled pedigree of creative talent.

Produced by Madhouse Studio (Paprika; Millennium Actress; Perfect Blue), directed by Studio Ghibli veteran Mamoru Hosoda (director of Digimon: The Movie and the originally intended director of Howl’s Moving Castle before Hayao Miyazaki took the reins), with art direction by longtime Ghibli art director Nizou Yamamoto (Princess Mononoke; Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland) and character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion), The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was the first ever recipient of the Japanese Academy’s newly formed Best Animation Film Award in 2007.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (cert. PG) is released by Manga Entertainment and will open at selected UK cinemas on 19th September 2008.

From 7 July to 31 August the ICA in London celebrates the more offbeat in Asian cinema with a season of ‘classics new and nearly new, comic, horrific, pre-modern and sci-fi’. This includes a chance to see Fumihiko Sori’s revamp of blind swordsman Zatoichi, Ichi, starring Haruka Ayase, as well his earlier Ping Pong. Also included are several screenings of Tokyo Gore Police; Paul Schrader’s own cut of his true story of Japanese novelist and playwright, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters; 20th Century Boys: Chapter 2; and Chanbara Beauty, an everyday tale of ‘A sword-wielding, bikini-clad samurai who wages war against an ever-increasing horde of unstoppable zombies’…

» Find out more about Cult Japan and book tickets

A(nother) 21st century take on an anime fave from the past, former model Eriko Sato gets a flimsy excuse to run around in her underwear and skintight cat suit… (more…)

Chor Yuan directs Derek Yee in this classic Wuxia tale from Shaw Brothers… (more…)

A solid live-action version of a manga starring Battle Royale’s Tatsuya Fujiwara that thankfully doesn’t quite replicate the amoral tone of the original manga – but be prepared to wait for the sequel! (more…)

A satisfying conclusion to the Death Note series, but did we really need this exercise in tediousness to get there…? (more…)

Osamu Tezuka’s (Astro Boy) Dororo gets the live-action makeover, from director Akihiko Shiota, starring Memories Of Matsuko’s Kou Shibasaki, but spoiled a little by wishy-washy CGI and under-par action from legendary Ching Siu-Tung… (more…)

Japanese director Tetsuya Nakashima (Memories Of Matsuko) has rapidly earned himself a reputation as a hugely talented and idiosyncratic auteur whose genre-busting films have been favourably compared to the work of directors such as Tim Burton (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory; Big Fish), Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge; Romeo And Juliet) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (A Very Long Engagement; Amelie). Now, the pop culture phenomenon that has taken Japan by storm, Nakashima’s KAMIKAZE GIRLS, comes to DVD and Blu-ray as a Special Edition release courtesy of Third Window Films.

Based on the bestselling novel-turned-manga by cult author Novala Takemoto, KAMIKAZE GIRLS concerns 17-year-old Momoko (Kyoko Fukada), a self-absorbed dreamer and ‘Lolita’ fashion obsessive whose love of all things Rococo sees her fantasizing about fleeing her backcountry home and living life in 18th Century Versailles.

While selling off her father’s supplies of bootleg designer fashion goods in order to fund her expensive obsession, Momoko unexpectedly meets the rebellious Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya), a rough-and-tumble ‘Yanki’ biker chick. The girls begin a tentative and unlikely relationship that soon sees the two seemingly incompatible misfits forming a unique friendship. Together, they embark on a vividly coloured, sugar sweet, hyper-stylized odyssey of female bonding all set to a pounding J-Pop beat.

Described as ‘a wild, surreal speed-freak’s walk on the kitsch side of pop culture obsessions’ by The Sunday Times and by Metro as ‘everything you’d want in a slice of Japanese pop culture and more,’ Nakashima’s adaptation of Takemoto’s novel is a full-on bubblegum-laced extravaganza – the cinematic equivalent of a sweet-toothed teenager being given the keys to the candy store.

Starring J-Pop idol Kyoko Fukada (The Ring 2; Dolls) and pop star turned actress Anna Tsuchiya (Dororo; Sakuran), KAMIKAZE GIRLS is delightfully exuberant trip through teenage alienation terrain in the company of two of the most fun and endearing girls ever to grace the screen.

KAMIKAZE GIRLS (cert. 12) will be released as a two-disc DVD (£14.99) and single-disc Blu-ray (£14.99) by Third Window Films on 8th February 2010. Special Features include: anamorphic widescreen presentation; 5.1 audio; optional English subtitles; “Making Of” featurette; interviews with director Tetsuya Nakashima and actresses Anna Tsuchiya and Kyoko Fukada; “Birth Of Unicorn Ryuji” – short film; workprint footage; Anna Tsuchiya music video; trailer; trailers of other Third Window releases.

Following the huge critical and commercial success of the original five-episode mini-series, the fan-favourite anime “Afro Samurai” returns to DVD with the feature-length sequel, AFRO SAMURAI: RESURRECTION.

Presented as a two-disc Special Edition Director’s Cut, and including over 100 minutes of extra features, AFRO SAMURAI: RESURRECTION features the vocal talents of Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Lucy Liu (Kill Bill Vol. 1), along with brand new original music by the Wu-Tang Clan’s the RZA.

The story picks up with Afro Samurai (Samuel L. Jackson) having avenged his father and found a life of peace. But a beautiful and deadly woman from his past emerges and forces the legendary master back into the game. The sparks of violence dropped along Afro’s bloody path now burn out of control, and nowhere are the flames of hatred more intense than in the eyes of Sio (Lucy Liu). Driven by revenge, she won’t quit until Afro is schooled in the brutal lessons he once dealt those who stood in his way.

With no such thing as final vengeance, the cycle of bloodshed spinning around the Number One Headband must roll on as the saga that began in the best-selling anime DVD of 2007 continues.

Special features include: Afro Samurai Game; Enter the RZA; Afro in Depth; Afro Samurai: Meets the West Part 1; Afro Samurai: Meets the West Part 2; Afro Samurai at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 and Part A Video Commentary.

AFRO SAMURAI: RESURRECTION (cert. tbc) will be released on DVD (£22.99) by Manga Entertainment on 27th April 2009.

It’s been creating a buzz of anticipation since its production was first announced in late-2006 and now 20TH CENTURY BOYS, the first instalment of the epic live-action trilogy adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s hit manga series, is finally coming to DVD.

Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Sushi King Goes To New York; Happily Ever After; Keizoku: The Movie) and starring Toshiaki Karasawa (Casshern), 20TH CENTURY BOYS’ epic storyline spans 50 years and several continents, factors that necessitated a budget of 6 billion yen for the trilogy – an unprecedented figure for the Japan film industry.

Japan, 1973. Elementary school kid Kenji Endo (Toshiaki Karasawa) and his small gang of young friends pass the long, boring summer days fantasizing about fighting world-threatening super villains and then recording their fictional crime-fighting exploits in their own ‘Book of Prophecies’.

Almost thirty years later, and now adults with families, jobs and responsibilities that have caused them to drift apart, their lives are turned upside down when one of the former friends dies mysteriously and an entire family from Kenji’s local neighbourhood goes missing. Further afield, a bizarre religious cult is growing in popularity and appears to be connected to a strange chain of catastrophic events that unbelievably appear to be duplicating the imaginary events recorded in the ‘Book of Prophecies’ decades earlier. Disturbed by what he initially believes could only be a coincidence, Kenji reunites the group of childhood friends and attempts to unravel the mystery. The investigation reveals a shocking and sinister conspiracy that seeks to fulfil a doomsday prophecy on the eve of the new millennium. As their renewed friendship is tested in a world gripped by global terrorism and hysteria, Kenji and his companions find themselves involved in a spectacular showdown as a giant robotic machine threatens the city of Shinjuku!

And that’s merely the start of the compelling three-part saga in what has become one of the most highly anticipated, must-see sci-fi movie trilogies since “The Matrix” series.

A national phenomenon in Japan and a huge hit internationally, Urasawa’s 24-volume sci-fi fantasy manga has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, with the film attaining similar success by becoming one of the country’s biggest box office hits of 2008.

Special Features include: 24-page “Book of Prophecies”; Japan Premiere Documentary (64 mins approx); Paris Premiere Featurette (20 mins approx); Cast Interviews (22 mins approx); UK Trailer (2 mins approx); Japanese Trailers (5 mins approx).

20TH CENTURY BOYS (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£19.99) by 4Digital Asia on 4th May 2009.

Veteran Hong Kong director Tony Siu-Tung Ching (director of classic “A Chinese Ghost Story” and the “Swordsman” trilogy and the action choreographer for “Curse Of The Golden Flower”, “Hero” and “House Of Flying Daggers”) makes a dazzling return to vintage form with the epic, AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS, starring Donnie Yen (Flashpoint; Dragon Tiger Gate; Seven Swords; Hero), Kelly Chen (the Infernal Affairs trilogy; Tokyo Raiders) and Leon Lai (Seven Swords; Infernal Affairs 3). You can read our review here »

AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£15.99) and Blu-ray (£19.99) by Cine Asia on 23rd March 2009. Special Features include: Making Of featurette; Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo audio options; theatrical trailer.

Black Kiss, directed by Tezka Macoto (Hakuchi: The Innocent) and starring Reika Hashimoto (Survive Style 5+), Masanobu Ando (Battle Royale) and Ken Mitsuishi (Audition), is released by 4Digital Asia on 22 September.

Cinematic guilty pleasures of the bubblegum-flavoured variety don’t come any more fun or satisfying than the superhero fantasy flick, CUTIE HONEY, in which the irresistible heroine of the popular Japanese manga and anime series is brought to vivid life in an effervescent eruption of exquisite eye candy.

Directed with enthusiastic verve by legendary anime director Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and starring model-turned-actress Eriko Sato (Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers!) and Mikako Ichikawa (Memories Of Matsuko), CUTIE HONEY is a shamelessly entertaining antidote to the recent spate of depressingly serious superhero flicks that have been gracing out screens lately (we’re looking at you, Dark Knight and Watchmen!).

Described as a “high energy Japanese adventure comedy” by the New York Times and as “damn good fun” by Asian Cinema Drifter, CUTIE HONEY’s cheeky combination of “Charlie’s Angels” attitude, “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” fantasy and “Austin Powers”-style comedy adds up to a fun and wacked out spectacle that is impossible to resist.

CUTIE HONEY (cert. tbc) will be released on DVD (£15.99) by MVM on 11th May 2009. Special Features include: Making of Cutie Honey; stills gallery; original trailers.

The sequel to Death Note, Death Note – The Last Name, is released on DVD in the UK by 4Digital Asia on 13 October.

Writer-director Daihachi Yoshida’s multi-award winning debut feature Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers! is a darkly comic family drama that features standout performances from an impressive cast and marks Yoshida as a filmmaker to watch.

Based on a novel by Yukiko Motoya and starring Eriko Sato (Cutie Honey; Carved), Aimi Satsukawa (Naoko; Arch Angels), Masatoshi Nagase (Sakuran; Mystery Train) and Hiromi Nagasaku (Closed Diary; Hanging Garden), the story concerns the tense and often amusing relationships and day-to-day struggles of four dysfunctional family members following a recent tragedy.

When both her parents die in a road accident, twenty-something wannabe actress Sumiko Wago (Sato) returns from Tokyo to visit her teenage sister, Kyomi (Satsukawa), and her elder brother Shinji (Nagase) and his wife Machiko (Nagasaku) in their modest countryside home. Informed that the family can no longer afford to send her money to fund her non-existent acting career in the city, Sumiko reluctantly moves in with her siblings, thereby reviving a long-buried, bitter rivalry with Kyomi. Years earlier, budding Manga artist Kyomi had used a shameful family incident as the basis for a comic, which was eventually published much to the horror of her parents and her sister and brother. Now, with Sumiko back on the scene, old memories are unearthed and familial tensions rise again. Caught in the middle of what becomes a tangled mess of jealousy, violence, dark secrets and sexual deviance is Machiko, whose forced cheerfulness merely serves to add fuel to the fire.

A wry and engaging comic drama, Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers! is the winner of several international film awards including the Best New Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards at the 2008 Yokohama Film Festival.

Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers! (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Third Window Films on 11th May 2009.

Prior to the DVD release, the film will play at London’s ICA cinema from Friday 1st May to Sunday 10th May, with additional screenings on weekend of 16th and 17th May.

Written by Tetsuya Nakashima, the award-winning writer-director of ‘Kamikaze Girls’ and ‘Memories Of Matsuko’, and starring Yuri Nakamura (The Grudge: Girl In Black; Sakuran), Hiroki Narimiya (Sakuran) and Mari Hamada (Memories Of Matsuko), LALA PIPO, the directorial debut of Masayuki Miyano, takes a quirky and comedic trawl through the gutters of the Japanese porn industry in the company of six disparate characters whose tales overlap in unexpected ways.

Nakashima’s script is based on a collection of short stories by celebrated author Okuda Hideo, the title originating from one character’s mispronunciation of an American tourist’s observation that Tokyo sure has ‘a lot of people’.

Among those people is Hiroshi, a slovenly loner, desperate for a girlfriend and who has conversations with his penis (hilariously played by a furry green Muppet). Tomoko is a young and pretty shop assistant who inadvertently finds her way into the sex business by way of hooking before trying her hand (so to speak) as being a porn star thanks to the intervention of ‘talent scout’ Kenji. Then there’s Yoshie, a mature wife and mother with a secret that will soon be revealed, Koichi, whose fantasy alter-ego is a porno Power Ranger called Captain Bonita, and Sayuri, an overweight young woman whose ambition is to be an anime voiceover artist but who has already carved herself a unique career in the adult entertainment world.

As these characters’ fates are interwoven, each finds their own vision of hope and humanity in the darkest, unlikeliest – and stickiest – of places.

Shot in the same vibrant, candy-coloured, hyper-surreal style that will be familiar to fans of Tetsuya Nakashima’s directorial works, Masayuki Miyano’s debut feature is a fun, off-beat and totally unpredictable romp through Tokyo’s very own planet porno.

LALA PIPO (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Third Window Films on 8th February 2010. Special Features include: anamorphic widescreen presentation; optional English subtitles; “Making of” featurette; interviews with cast and crew; trailer; trailers of other Third Window releases.

Hailed as a “bizarre, baroque, hilarious epic” (Total Film) and a “crazy, perversely monumental teen comedy romance” (Metro) on its UK theatrical release in October, director Sion Sono’s LOVE EXPOSURE comes to DVD in January 2010 as a two-disc release courtesy of Third Window Films.

Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize and the Caligari Film Award at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, the latest film from acclaimed Japanese writer-director Sion Sono (Exte: Hair Extensions), LOVE EXPOSURE is a monumental work of cinema that manages to combine comedy, action, romance and drama into its compelling, satirical and frequently violent commentary on religion, morality, sexual perversion and, of course, love, both requited and unrequited.

Following the untimely death of his mother during his early childhood, Tokyo teenager Yu (Takahiro Nishijima) is raised by his father, Tetsu (Atsuro Watabe), who has dealt with his grief by becoming a Catholic priest. Despite his new calling, Tetsu is seduced into a love affair with an emotionally unstable parishioner, an act that causes him to transfer his guilt onto Yu, whom he forces to attend confession as often as possible. Eager to satisfy his father’s demands, but quickly running out of false transgressions to own up to, Yu begins to find new and genuine sins to confess, the most effective of which proves to be taking covert up-skirt panty photographs of young women on the city’s streets.

Eventually, Yu’s misdemeanours attract the attention of teenage girl Aya Koike (Sakura Ando) – a con artist, coke dealer, the regional leader of a bizarre religious cult and a victim of paternal abuse – who decides she can use the wayward “king of perverts” for her own means. Shortly after their auspicious meeting, a cross-dressing incident resulting from a lost bet also brings Yu into contact with Kurt Cobain-loving, but otherwise totally man-hating, schoolgirl Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), with whom he falls instantly in love. The fates of this trio become hopelessly connected and sealed when Yu’s father decides to give up the cloth to marry his lover and Yu discovers that Yoko is about to become his stepsister!

Running at just under four hours (although moving at such a brisk pace it’s barely noticeable) and already being hailed as Sion Sono’s career masterpiece in many quarters, LOVE EXPOSURE stars Hikari Mitsushima (Shaolin Girl; Death Note: The Last Name; Death Note), Takahiro Nishijima (star of Japanese TV’s Ghost Friends), Sakura Ando (Crime Or Punishment) and Astsuro Watabe (Echo Of Silence) and was the recipient of the 2009 awards for the Best Asian Film, the Jury Prize for Best Female Performance (Hikari Mitsushima), the Jury Special Prize for Feature Film and the Most Innovative Film at Montreal’s Fant-Asia Film Festival.

The two-disc LOVE EXPOSURE (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Third Window Films on 11th January 2010. Special Features include: anamorphic widescreen presentation; “Making of” featurette; trailer; optional English subtitles; trailers for other Third Window releases.

Co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi (Battlefield Baseball) and Junichi Yamamoto (Kabuking Z: The Movie), with special effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura (director of Tokyo Gore Police and effect supervisor for The Machine Girl) and starring Issei Takahashi (Detroit Metal City; Kill Bill Vol.1), Shôichirô Masumoto (Battlefield Baseball; Versus), Toru Tezuka (Ichi The Killer; Dead Or Alive 2) and Ayano Yamamoto (Tokyo Gore Police), MEATBALL MACHINE is a wild, Japanese splatter-punk monster of a movie that combines the “body horror” shock tactics of John Carpenter’s The Thing, the Testsuo movies and David Cronenberg’s most extreme work.

Based on an original short made by Yamamoto in 1999, the feature length MEATBALL MACHINE is an all out, in-your-face gore-fest – an experimental sci-fi/horror rollercoaster that will have your entire brain and body shaken and stirred.

Capable of making biomechanical weapons out of human flesh, alien parasites grotesquely invade the Earth, turning their hosts into maniacal killers who seek to destroy each other and further their own existence by eating their victims alive. In the midst of all this alien induced mayhem is a moving love story between a shy boy and the equally sheepish object of his affection. It’s just a shame the budding romantics are soon infested with slimy, tumor-like globules that drive them to all kinds of bloody distraction.

Co-directors Yamamoto and Yamaguchi pull out all the stops and don t let up until the final epic battle in their deranged cinematic testament to the joys of young love, bloodletting and alien ooze. If you’re a fan of the likes of The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police and X-Cross, you will love the extreme MEATBALL MACHINE.

MEATBALL MACHINE (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by 4Digital Asia on 6th July 2009. Special Features include: “The Making of Meatball Machine”; the original “Meatball Machine” short film; “Meatball Machine: Reject Of Death” short film; The Making of Meatball Machine: Reject Of Death”; “What’s About Doi?” short film; original Japanese trailer; Necroborg designs by character designer Keita Amamiya.

Originally adapted from Wu Chengen’s classic Chinese novel, “Journey To The West”, one of the best-loved cult TV series of all time – the 1970s series “Monkey” – gets a rousing, special effects laden, 21st century makeover in MONKEY MAGIC, a brand new, live-action feature length adventure featuring the further comic exploits of Tripitaka, Sandy, Pigsy and, of course, the irrepressible Monkey.

On their quest from China to India to collect a set of ancient holy scrolls, the Buddhist monk Tripitaka (played by Japanese actress Eri Fukatsu) and his three protective disciples, Monkey (Shingo Katori), Pigsy (Atsushi Ito) and Sandy (Teruyoshi Uchimura), encounter a young princess who implores them for their help to fight off two demon warlords who plan on plunging the entire world into eternal darkness.

A lively fantasy adventure for all ages MONKEY MAGIC brilliantly captures the surreal, zany, comic spirit of the 1970s TV series, adding a contemporary flair to the timeless fable that will delight the established legions of “Monkey” fans and win over a whole new generation of “Monkey” converts.

MONKEY MAGIC (cert. 12) will be released on DVD (£15.99) and Blu-ray (£19.99) by Cine Asia on 16th February 2009. *UPDATE* This will now be released Monday 23 February.

Origin: Spirits Of The Past is released by Manga on DVD on 25 August.

Directed by Isao Takahata (The Raccoon War) and recognised as the first notable work by Oscar winning director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) – here responsible for the original story, scripts and layout – PANDA! GO PANDA! comes to DVD featuring the delightful, eponymous animated adventure from 1972 together with its 1973 sequel, The Circus In The Rain.

Left alone while her grandmother goes on a trip out of town, bright young girl Mimiko manages to fend for herself without much trouble but longs for a mother and father to keep her company. Her wish comes true when she happens upon a baby panda named Panny and his large, bamboo-loving father, who have been drawn to the bountiful bamboo patch near Mimiko’s house. Mimiko immediately befriends her visitors and quickly decides to play mother to Panny. In no time at all, the three friends agree to become a family and look after each other, beginning a series of wacky adventures that sees them having to deal with everything from burglars prowling around the house to rescuing the group of circus animals from a devastating flood.

Made at a time when Japanese “panda fever” was as its height, PANDA! GO PANDA! was a huge hit in its home country at the time of its release and has since charmed itself into the hearts of audiences of all ages all over the globe.

Considered by many to be a prototype for Miyazaki’s acclaimed 1988 feature film, My Neighbour Totoro, PANDA! GO PANDA! is a superb piece of family entertainment and is essential viewing for kids and for grown-up fans of Studio Ghibli’s output alike.

PANDA! GO PANDA! (cert. U) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Manga on 6th July 2009. Features include: English and Japanese (with English subtitles) audio options; original opening; creator biographies.

Based on one of the most popular and most frequently adapted modern stories in Japanese literature (‘Paprika’ author Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1965 novel ‘Toki o Kakeru Shojo’), the award winning, feature-length anime The Girl Who Leapt Through Time comes to the UK boasting an unrivalled pedigree of creative talent.

Produced by Madhouse Studio (Paprika; Millennium Actress; Perfect Blue), directed by Studio Ghibli veteran Mamoru Hosoda (director of Digimon: The Movie and the originally intended director of Howl’s Moving Castle before Hayao Miyazaki took the reins), with art direction by longtime Ghibli art director Nizou Yamamoto (Princess Mononoke; Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland) and character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion), The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was the first ever recipient of the Japanese Academy’s newly formed Best Animation Film Award in 2007.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is released on DVD by Manga Entertainment on 8th December 2008.

Tokyo Zombie is released on DVD in the UK by Manga on 13 October.

Written and directed by Miki Satoshi (In The Pool), TURTLES ARE SUPRISINGLY FAST SWIMMERS is a delightfully quirky Japanese comedy about a young woman who discovers that everybody is special no matter how ordinary they may seem on the outside.

Twenty-three-year-old Suzume “Sparrow” Katakura is a remarkably ordinary housewife, living an unremarkable life, with only her husband’s turtle, Taro, to keep her company. Her days are spent whiling away the hours waiting for the regular phone calls from her husband who is overseas on business and whose only concern appears to be Taro’s well being.

Sparrow’s life takes a more interesting turn one day when she fortuitously spots a tiny advertisement recruiting spies. Intrigued, she calls the number on the ad and several days later is contacted and instructed to go to a small apartment in town. An arrival she is greeted by an innocuous couple who claim to be “sleepers” – spies working for a foreign state who are awaiting instructions from their superiors. Impressed by Sparrow’s “ordinariness” and her ability to go about her life unnoticed by others, they offer her a job and an advance payment of five million yen in cash. Accepting the offer, Sparrow begins a life as a spy and enters a whole new world where being ordinary is anything but.

Full of oddball characters – from a dancing hairdresser and a fitness-obsessed police chief to a lonely but amiable plumber and a chef whose main goal in life is to make average-tasting ramen noodles – TURTLES ARE SURPRISINGLY FAST SWIMMERS is an offbeat and colourful comedy reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Amelie”.

TURTLES ARE SURPRISINGLY FAST SWIMMERS (cert. 12) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Third Window Films on 23rd February 2009.

From the man (Yoshihiro Nishimura) behind the outrageousness of Tokyo Gore Police and The Machine Girl comes this crazed response to both Twilight and Let the Right One In, a film that consistently overwhelms the viewer in its sheer dementia……

High school student Mizushima receives Valentines Day chocolates from the new student, Monami. Little did she know that the chocolates contained traces of Monami’s vampire blood. He gets infected from eating them and Monami confesses that she wants to live with him forever as vampires. Meanwhile, Mizushima decides that he wants to fully become a vampire with Monami’s help. Keiko, Mizushima’s girl friend, sees the two on the school rooftop kissing and in a state of hysteria, attempts to throw Monami off the roof but falls off herself instead.

Keiko dies but her father, Kenji Furano, the mad scientist, resurrects her as Franken girl. Thus begins a deadly combat between Franken Keiko and Vampire Monami in the name of love. As we all know, this kind of Vampire vs. Frankenstein conflict can only be solved by fighting, beating, stabbing, chewing, clawing and a showdown high atop Tokyo Tower!

Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (15.99) by 4Digital Media on 15TH March 2010.

Anyone believing that the Japanese horror film industry had run out of creative steam in recent years will find many reasons to reconsider that opinion in the revelatory horror-comedy X-CROSS (pronounced ‘criss-cross’), the fourth and by far the most impressive and accomplished feature from director Kenta Fukasaku (Yo-Yo Girl Cop; Under The Same Moon; Battle Royale 2: Revenge).

Based on the hit novel by Nobuyuki Joko, scripted by Tetsuya Oishi (Death Note: The Last Name; Death Note; One Missed Call) and starring up-and-coming Japanese star Nao Matsushita (Sand Clock) and J-Pop star Ami Suzuki Ami (Rainbow Song), the film plays out like a bizarre mix of elements from ‘The Wicker Man’, ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘The Burning’ complete with inventive ‘Rashomon’-style flashbacks that coolly and cleverly reveal the plot and its many twists through several different perspectives.

X-CROSS (cert. 15 tbc) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by 4Digital Asia on 19th January 2009. Special Features include ‘Making of’ featurette and cast and crew interviews.

Yo-Yo Girl Cop, directed by Kenta Fukasaku (Battle Royale 2; X-Cross) and starring J-Pop sensation Aya Matsuura, is released by 4Digital Asia on 22 September.

Regular Japanese readers of easternKicks may spot a familiar name in the September issue of glossy interview magazine Cut (hitting shelves right now) – yep, that’s us! Our interview with Lee Byung-hun was reprinted with permisson and translated into Japanese. (And we’re hoping to bring you some more very interesting interviews very soon… So stay tuned!)

The Film4 FrightFest begins at the Odeon West End in London today, including a midnight showing of Yoshihiro Nishimura’s Tokyo Gore Police on 23 August – described as ‘David Cronenberg body horror and insane RoboCop-style TV commercial inserts meet freaky Samurai bondage splat-stick starring Eiihi Shiina of Audition fame’.

Read more about Tokyo Gore Police at the Fright Fest »

This month Third Window continue to release Asian films that might otherwise get missed with two ‘offbeat’ Japanese comedies… (more…)

From 7 July to 31 August the ICA in London celebrates the more offbeat in Asian cinema with a season of ‘classics new and nearly new, comic, horrific, pre-modern and sci-fi’. This includes a chance to see Fumihiko Sori’s revamp of blind swordsman Zatoichi, Ichi, starring Haruka Ayase, as well his earlier Ping Pong. Also included are several screenings of Tokyo Gore Police; Paul Schrader’s own cut of his true story of Japanese novelist and playwright, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters; 20th Century Boys: Chapter 2; and Chanbara Beauty, an everyday tale of ‘A sword-wielding, bikini-clad samurai who wages war against an ever-increasing horde of unstoppable zombies’…

» Find out more about Cult Japan and book tickets

This last Monday (17 August) you might have noticed the Japanese horror film Grotesque, by director Koji Shiraishi, did not appear on our shelves as originally planned – and now comes the reason why: the British Board of Film Classification has refused to grant an 18 certificate due to it’s graphic torture scenes! (more…)