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Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for its latest live-action original series from Japan, Burn the House Down, set to launch globally on July 13.

A domestic revenge thriller, the show stars Mei Nagano (My Love Story!, Hanbun, Aoi) as Anzu Murata, a young woman whose childhood was torn apart when her family’s home burned down, prompting her parents to divorce. Convinced that her ailing mother was wrongly accused of the conflagration, Anzu goes undercover to work as a housekeeper for the suspicious woman who married her father in the wake of the blaze — convinced that she can gather evidence and discover the truth of what really happened.

The show is an adaptation of the popular manga Burn the House Down (Mitarai-ke Enjō Suru), which ran in Japan from 2017 to 2021. Kodansha USA Publishing began releasing the manga in English in June 2022.

‘Burn the House Down’

The lead cast includes: Asuka Kudo,...

Ever since the disappearance of their mother (Mari Hamada), the two children of the Kamata family have to get by on their own with their father taking care of them. Trying to balance his job as a salesman for bathroom appliances and providing for the children, their father has started to speak of their mother as “that woman”, expressing his frustration for leaving them without saying another word. However, while especially the daughter grows impatient with her father’s self-righteousness, only the son notices their mother is far from gone. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, she has been hiding in the attic of their home watching them and waiting for her husband to finally come looking for her.

“Quiet Hide-and-Seek” is screening at Japan Cuts 2019

In many ways, Kan Yamamoto’s short feature “Quiet Hide-and-Seek” is truly remarkable. Just like Kohei Sanada’s “Farewell Family” or Motoyuki Itabashi’s “Cloudy,...

58 year old Ichiro Inuyashiki is a down trodden loser working in sales for a company who doesn’t want him, to pay for a mortgage for his wife and kids who couldn’t care less about him. Ichiro’s life seems like it can’t get any worse, until a letter sends him to the doctor’s office, where he is told he has a terminal illness. He attempts to confide in his family, but is completely disregarded due to their disdain towards him. Upon arriving home one night, he finds a dog that was left on his door step who he so wishes to befriend, but in keeping up with his wife’s wishes tries to abandon in a park. In his attempt to discard the dog, a bright light in the sky renders him unconscious and upon awakening the next day, he begins to experience new found abilities and a new found body.

Director: Masayuki Miyano. Review: Adam Wing. Based on Hideo Okuda’s collection of short stories, Lala Pipo (taken from the English phrase "a lot of people") is the debut feature from Masayuki Miyano, who worked on Tetsuya Nakashima’s Kamikaze Girls and Paco and the Magical Picture Book. Hiroki Narimiya headlines, alongside Yuri Nakamura, Mari Hamada, Tomoko Murakami, Takashi Yoshimura and Sarutoki Minagawa. Six characters, six stories, ninety minutes of comedy heaven. If you’re a fan of Nakashima’s quirky cinematic offerings, Lala Pipo should be right up your street. It bares all the hallmarks of a Tetsuya Nakashima picture, no great surprise really, he did write the screenplay after all. Colourful, comical, hypnotic and bizarre, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Nakashima directed it himself. Never a bad thing in my book, Masayuki Miyano has certainly chosen wisely, imitating one of the most exciting directors in the world today.