Category: Features

January 27, 2020 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Writing in NEO magazine, I described Kakegurui as a larkish, capering fight show, except that its bug-eyed duels are fought at tables with cards, gambling chips, raging egos and molten obsessions. Think Vegas on campus, with a cast of gambling-obsessed maniacs and a new girl, Yumeko, who looks like a lamb to […]

January 24, 2020 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. This blog has previously highlighted Japan’s love for mystery stories, and particularly for what the author P. D. James called the “amateur sleuth” tale, where the puzzle is tackled by a savant outside the police. Think of Holmes, Poirot, Marple or their descendants like Japan’s L or Sweden’s Lisbeth Salander. Haruchika is at […]

January 21, 2020 · 0 comments

Jo Shishido, who died yesterday in Tokyo, will be remembered as the charismatic moon-faced star of many a Nikkatsu Action film from the 1960s. He is best-known in the West for his iconic turn as the cold-hearted contract killer of Seijun Suzuki’s cult classic Branded to Kill (1967).

January 21, 2020 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. As we explained in our write-up of Charlotte’s first volume, the series tells the story of teenage boy Yuu, saddled with superpowers and forced into secret battles fought over people like him. The early episodes set us up for what seemed a lightweight series; highlights included Yusa, a singing idol with a […]

January 18, 2020 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. As Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering with You comes to cinemas, Andrew Osmond talks to director Alexandra Rutter about adapting Shinkai’s film The Garden of Words in a new stage play by the British company Whole Hog Theatre, which will come to London this summer.