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The 48th annual Japan Academy Film Prizes, also known as Japan Academy Awards, has revealed its nominees for Excellent Animation Award on Jan 21, 2025, with Look Back, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, and 3 other anime films among the contenders.

The nominated anime films are:

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Freedom Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle Case Closed: The Million-dollar Pentagram Look Back Give It All

In addition to the animated categories, Asuka Saito, Anna Yamada, and Rihito Itagaki, known for their roles in the live-action adaptations of Oshi No Ko, Golden Kamuy, and Cells At Work! respectively, are all nominated for the Best New Actor category.

In the Outstanding Supporting Actress category, Mana Ashida has earned a nomination for her role as Niko Urushizaki in the live-action adaptation of Cells at Work!.

Go Ayano has been nominated for Outstanding Actor for his role as Kyouji Narita in the live-action film adaptation of Yama Wayama’s Let’s Go Karaoke!

The Japanese Film Festival, Philippines (Jff), previously known as Eigasai, returns on January 30, 2025 until February 9 at Shangri-La Plaza’s Red Carpet Cinema, Ortigas City. Like in recent years, Jff will also have regional screenings.

For North Luzon, the festival will be at Sm City Baguio from February 7 to 16, while for Visayas, it will be at Sm City Iloilo and Sm Cebu from February 14 to 23, 2025. The final round of screenings is scheduled at Sm City Davao in Mindanao and Sm North Edsa, Metro Manila from February 21 to March 2, 2025.

This year’s 12- film lineup consists of award-winning titles, fan favorites, crowd pleasers, and those highly anticipated by Japanese cinema enthusiasts.

Among the critically-acclaimed films is Monster, a coming-of age drama directed by Hirokazu Koreeda and written by Yuji Sakamoto. It won Best Screenplay in the 76th Cannes International Film Festival and was the last movie scored by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The film is based on the notorious “Inaba Case” an actual turn of events that occurred in Hokkaido in 2002, and was called the biggest scandal in Japan’s police history. The perpetrator, Yoshiaki Inaba wrote a book about the case after spending 9 years in prison, with the script following the novel.

The story starts in 1970s Hokkaido where Moroboshi, an unemployed Judo champion is hired by the local police department to help them win the national judo championship. Starting in his new job without knowing the ropes at all, Moboroshi soon becomes an object for mocking and bullying, until a senior colleague named Murai, decides to make him his protégé. Murai however, has ties with the local Yakuza, who help him by giving him tips for other criminal organizations, and is actually a brute, who spends his time drinking and womanizing in hostess clubs. Moboroshi follows his advice of finding...

Based on the novel “Jimenshitachi” by Ko Shinjo, “Tokyo Swindlers” implements one of the current “TV” favorite tropes, focusing on a group of swindlers, impressing, though, particularly with its outstanding cast.

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In the first of the seven episodes, we are mostly introduced to the group of swindlers the story focuses on. Harrison Yamanaka is the leader of the group, a notorious land swindler, who has some dealings with the authorities in the past, as veteran investigator Tatsu narrates to his junior Kuramochi, but has managed to remain unscathed for the most part. Takumi Tsujimoto is Yamanaka’s prodigy and right hand, a man who was convinced to join him after hitting rock bottom due to the actions of another land swindler in the past. Tsujimoto has his own assistant in hacker Nagai, and seems to be intensely loyal to his benefactor.

Netflix’s Tokyo Swindlers explores the hidden world of land swindlers in the lively city of Tokyo, Japan. The series revolves around a cunning group of swindlers led by Harrison. With his team of skilled members, Harrison deceives people and makes billions by fraudulently selling land without the real owners’ knowledge. But Harrison’s group isn’t alone in this game. The authorities are aware of their schemes. Some officials are involved in helping them, while others are determined to solve the crimes and expose their crimes. Will they succeed in bringing these swindlers to justice? Let’s get to know from this cast and character guide of Tokyo Swindlers.

Spoilers Ahead

Harrison Yamanaka

Etsushi Toyokawa, as Harrison Yamanaka, is a dangerous and relentless character who is always looking for his next opportunity to exploit and deceive. He is a true mastermind in the world of land swindling. He’s a clever and cunning man,...

Tokyo Swindlers is a Japanese crime drama series written and directed by Hitoshi One. The Netflix series follows the story of a group of real estate scammers as they attempt an impossible scam of 10 billion yen while being constantly pursued by the police. Tokyo Swindlers stars Go Ayano, Etsushi Toyokawa, Kazuki Kitamura, Eiko Koike, Pierre Taki, Shota Sometani, Izumi Matsuoka, Kaito Yoshimura, Anthony, and Satoru Matsuo. Tokyo Swindlers is a fast-paced thrill ride with great characters and an interesting story, so if you loved the series on Netflix here are some similar shows you could watch next.

Sneaky Pete (Prime Video) Credit – Amazon Prime Video

Sneaky Pete is a crime drama series created by David Shore and Bryan Cranston. The Prime Video series follows the story of Marius Josipović, a con artist as he finds himself being pursued by some very dangerous people after getting out of prison. Soon, he...

For all the live-action manga/anime adaptations of popular properties, it is nice to see filmmakers give lesser-known works the cinematic treatment. Yama Wayama's manga series “Let's Go Karaoke!” while not on the same level of popularity as other comedic illustrated works, has garnered a positive reception in Japan and internationally. Surely, the strange yet humorous concept of the head of a high school choir giving singing lessons to a pitiful yakuza lieutenant could be solidly translated to film, especially in the hands of a talented filmmaker like Nobuhiro Yamashita, best known for his critically acclaimed feature “Linda Linda Linda.” Sadly, “Let's Go Karaoke!” is a movie that accomplishes the unfortunate feat of being both a lackluster comedy and a poorly conceived drama.

Let's Go Karaoke! is screening at Nippon Connection

One day, yakuza member Kyoji Narita is strolling through the rainy streets when he is drawn to the...

In the latest surge of live action adaptations that Netflix seems to lead, either in movie or series format, an essentially forgotten anime and manga from the 90s, was not exactly something that was expected, considering that the rest were based on all time favorites like “One Piece” and “Rurouni Kenshin” for example. It turns out, though, that the manga being one of the best selling of all times played a crucial role, and that is how we ended up with a version of “Yu Yu Hakusho”.

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The story revolves around Yusuke Urameshi, a misunderstood 14-year-old delinquent junior high school student who spends his days getting into fights, who frequently involve, though, him protecting someone. However, when he dies after saving a child in a car accident, his ghost-self meets Botan, a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the Sanzu River,...

It seems that the approach Nikkatsu has been implementing for the pinku film through her Roman Porno is creating ripples in the Japanese movie industry, with Toei also following suit, through the same, more sensitive to the times approach, that also focuses on women as much as on men. Haruhiko Arai has been another ‘champion' of the approach, as witnessed in his previous work, “It Feels So Good”. “A Spoiling Rain”, based on the Akutagawa Prize-winning 2000 novella “Hanakutasi” by Hisaki Matsuura, follows in the same footsteps, although the focus on the actual Japanese movie industry gives it a more personal sense, since Arai, as a scriptwriter, got his start as a screenwriter in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno.

A Spoiling Rain is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

Two bodies wash on a beach in the winter of 2012, in a lover's suicide involving actress Shoko Kirioka and director Kuwayama. It is left to Suichi Kutani,...

Warning! This article contains Spoilers for Yu Yu Hakusho season 1!

Yu Yu Hakusho's live-action adaptation successfully portrays the supernatural yokai, emphasizing their impact on the story and their complex relationships with the protagonists. Not all yokai in Yu Yu Hakusho are evil; Hiei and Kurama are prominent examples of yokai who are allies with goals that differ from their fellow yokai. The live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho includes various yokai from different story arcs, both those that come directly from the demon world and those who were once human, effectively testing the main character's limits and highlighting the themes of the source material.

Netflix's Yu Yu Hakusho is a live-action TV series that centers around the exploits of teenage delinquent Yusukue Urameshi, as he and his friends fight dangerous creatures known as yokai. The yokai beings are responsible for many of the challenges Yusuke and his friends...

Back in 2013, when the surge of Korean crime/action thrillers, which eventually brought the local industry to the top of the world, was at its peak, Kim Seung-hun managed to come up with “A Hard Day”, a movie that entailed the majority of the elements that made films of the category a success, but also including a very appealing comic aspect, mostly instigated by an impressive performance by Lee Sun-kyun. Ten years later, Michihito Fujii, who has been working like crazy for Netflix recently, coming up with three films just in 2023, presents a Japanese remake of the original, which also doubles as a Christmas movie, in a way.

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On the night of December 29th, Detective Yuji Kudo is driving his car towards the hospital, where his mother is hospitalized with a serious condition. He is a bit drunk, and a...

Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1 Review Out(Photo Credit –IMDb)

Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1 Review: Star Rating:

Cast: Takumi Kitamura, Shuhei Uesugi, Jun Shison, Kanata Hongo, Kotone Furukawa, Keita Machida, and Go Ayano.

Creator: Akira Morii, and Kazutaka Sakamoto

Director: Sho Tsukikawa

Streaming On: Netflix

Language: Japanese (with subtitles)

Runtime: 5 Episodes, Around 1 hour each.

Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1 Review Out(Photo Credit –YouTube) Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1 Review: What’s It About:

Yu Yu Hakusho is the newest attempt from Netflix to adapt anime and manga into a live-action series, but this time the adaption is being done in Japanese soil, bringing with it all the characteristics that make a show just like this one unique. The series tells the story of a young criminal who finds himself in death and traveling to the spiritual world, there he will meet countless obstacles as he fights in the name of friendship, justice...

Netflix's live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho brings the beloved characters from the anime to life. The cast includes Takumi Kitamura as the 17-year-old Yusuke, Shuhei Uesugi as his rival Kazuma Kuwabara, Kanata Hong as the villain-turned-hero Hiei, and Jun Shison as the mysterious Kurama. Other notable cast members include Kotone Furukawa as Botan, Keita Machida as Koenma, Sei Shiraishi as Yusuke's best friend Keiko, Meiko Kaji as Genkai, and Go Ayano as the primary antagonist, Younger Toguro.

The cast of Yu Yu Hakusho brings Yusuke and his friends to live-action in Netflix’s latest anime adaptation. One of the best and most influential anime of its generation, Yu Yu Hakusho was based on a manga by Yoshihiro Togashi. While Yu Yu Hakusho’s fights are a highlight of the series, the characters are what made the manga and the anime so special.

The list of Netflix live-action anime adaptations,...

Yu Yu Hakusho, the legendary smash-hit manga from Weekly Shonen Jump, is finally getting a live-action adaptation! This series of unprecedented scale is brought to life by an all-star cast that includes Takumi Kitamura, Jun Shison, Kanata Hongo, Shuhei Uesugi, Sei Shiraishi, Kenichi Takito, Goro Inagaki and Go Ayano.

The strength that comes from having something to protect versus the strength that comes from having nothing to lose…

Feast your eyes on this top-class Asian battle action series, featuring world-class, cutting-edge visual effects and presented by a cast and staff who are at the pinnacle of Japanese entertainment!

The Netflix Series Yu Yu Hakusho starts streaming worldwide on Thursday, December 14, 2023, only on Netflix.

Netflix‘s “Geeked Week” isn’t done yet dropping exciting news and teasers: the streaming service debuted a first look at the upcoming “Yu Yu Hakusho” live-action series, promising supernatural action fun based on the popular manga series.

The live-action adaptation will debut exclusively on Netflix on December 14.

The series “revolves around Yusuke Urameshi, who spends his days getting into fights and dies in an accident while trying to protect a young child. As he grapples with the fact that he is looking down on his dead body, a woman named Botan who calls herself a guide to the spirit world relays to him the shocking truth: no one expected a delinquent like Yusuke to die performing an act of goodness, and there was no place for him in either heaven or hell. Thus, Yusuke is given a chance to be revived, and after passing his trial, he becomes an Underworld Detective.

Stars: Go Ayano, Koen Kondo, Masahiro Higashide, Jun Kunimura, Etsushi Toyokawa, Masatoshi Nagase | Written by Kankurô Kudô | Directed by Gakuryû Ishii

”It was a somewhat gloomy day”. Thus begins Punk Samurai, director Gakuryû, formerly Sogo, Ishii and writer Kankurô Kudô’s adaptation of Kou Machida’s supposedly unfilmable novel.

Junoshin Kake wanders into the domain of the Kurokaze clan and promptly kills a beggar who approaches him. He tells Shume Nagaoka a low-level official in the clan, that the man was a member of a dangerous religious cult that only he can save them from. That’s enough to create the opening he needs to find a permanent position in Lord Kuroae’s employ.

Kake plans to exploit the rivalry between two of the clan’s top retainers Shuzen Oura and Tatewaki Naito to rise through the ranks. The only problem is, the cult, The Bellyshaker Party no longer exists and Naito knows it.

Quick takes from the 25th Raindance Film Festival, with public screenings in London through October 1st, 2017.

Black Hollow Cage

Thirteen-year-old Alice (Lowena McDonell) lives alone with her father (Julian Nicholson) in a striking modernist house in the middle of the woods. She is getting used to her new bionic arm and believes that their dog is actually her dead mother, though Dad insists this is not the case. (What Dad actually believes about the voice synthesizer the dog wears around her neck, which appears to be speaking the dog’s thoughts [the voice of Lucy Tillett], is not something Alice ever asks him. Maybe in this apparently future world, people’s pets talk to them as a matter of course.) And then two very young strangers, siblings Erika (Haydée Lysander) and Paul (Marc Puiggener) — she is badly beaten up, and he is mute — appear out of nowhere and disrupt Alice’s existence. Oh, and there...

Wgtc Trailer Roundup #1 - Arrival, Hands Of Stone, Moana And More 1 of 28

Click to skip Welcome To Wgtc's Trailer Roundup!

Welcome to the very first edition of Wgtc's weekly Trailer Roundup, where we'll be bringing you all the hottest movie and television trailers, clips, TV spots and more!

In this edition, we cover Morgan, Mechanic: Resurrection, American Horror Story, Arrival and Macgyver, among others. Take a look through and check back next week for more.

Arrival Trailer #1

Release Date: November 11th, 2016

Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Hidden Figures Trailer #1

Release Date: January 13th, 2017

Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe

Rules Don't Apply Trailer #1

Release Date: November 23, 2016

Cast: Alec Baldwin, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Haley Bennett, Lily Collins, Steve Coogan, Alden Ehrenreich, Taissa Farmiga, Ed Harris

Same Kind Of Different As Me Trailer #1

Release Date: February 3rd, 2017

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Jon Voight, Djimon Hounsou

Moonlight Trailer #1

Release Date: October 21st,...

Prolific Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono broke through with stateside arthouse genre fans with his bloody, attention-grabbing "Cold Fish," and wild, four-hour epic "Love Exposure." Like his countryman Takashi Miike, he's shown he's able to switch up styles easily, also directing, among his many pictures, the nuclear crisis drama "The Land Of Hope." All that said, I had yet to sit down with film by Sono until "Shinjuku Swan," and I wish I had a better introduction to his work. While there are flashes of the filmmaker's gonzo style that I had read about, for the most part, "Shinjuku Swan" is a plodding tale about a young man who finds a new lease on life working for the yakuza, but seems to learn very little in this slightly comedic, mostly dramatic, and largely dull picture. With his shock of yellow hair, it's hard to miss Tatsuhiko Shiratori (Gô Ayano), who we...

The first full trailer for Japan's live-action adaptation of the anime series Gatchaman has been released! The original series was produced in Japan in 1972 and was eventually brought to the states in the '80s and retitled Battle of the Planets. A few years ago a CG animated adaptation of the series was being developed by the animation studio Imagi, but when they went out of business the movie died, which is a shame. 

I would have loved to see the animated film they were working on, but the live-action movie still looks cool, and I'm sure it will be really fun, especially for those of us who are fans of the original series. Here's the synopsis:

Set in the near future, Gatchaman follows the story five special agents of the International Science Organization in Tokyo as they try to protect the world from the mysterious terrorist group who call themselves Galactor.

There's no subtitles unfortuantely, but this certainly Looks pretty damn impressive. As a fan of the cartoon I'll definitely be checking it out. Set in the near future, Gatchaman follows the story five special agents of the International Science Organization in Tokyo as they try to protect the world from the mysterious terrorist group who call themselves Galactor. With technology that far surpasses that of humans, Galactor has declared war on the entire world and has already subjugated half of it. Trained to draw out the power from the mysterious crystal-like object called a "stone," our five heroes will be called "Gatchaman." Gatchaman stars Tôri Matsuzaka as Ken aka Gatchaman, Gô Ayano as Condor No Joe, Ayame Gôriki as Jun The Swan, Tatsuomi Hamada as Junpei The Swallow, Ryohei Suzuki as Ryu The Owl, Gorô Kishitani as Dr. Nambu and Eriko Hatsune as Naomi. Follow @RorMachine !function(d,s,id){var js,...

Sneak Peek the first teaser trailer from the Toho live-action film adaptation of creator Tatsunoko's anime "Gatchaman" (aka "Battle of The Planets"), directed by Toya Sato from a script by Yūsuke Watanabe :

"...Tori Matsuzaka is 'Ken Washio', leader of the team and tactical expert, Gô Ayano is 'George Asakura', second-in-command marksman and weapons expert, Ayame Gôriki is 'Jun Ohtsuki', the yoyo-wielding electronics and demolitions expert, Ryohei Suzuki is 'Ryu Nakanishi', the ship's main pilot and Tatsuomi Hamada is 'Jinpei Ohtsuki', reconnaissance expert.

"The team serves as agents of the 'International Science Organization' in Tokyo. 'Galactor', a mysterious group whose technology far surpasses that of humans, has declared war on the entire world and has already subjugated half of it. A mysterious crystal-like object called a 'stone', is now humanity's only hope. Those who are able to draw out the power of the stones are forced to train to become...