Pumpkin & Mayonnaise
By Andrew Osmond.
Some live-action manga adaptations proclaim they are manga adaptations in each and every frame, with lurid colours and effects, absurd costumes and acting that would look broad in a panto. Pumpkin and Mayonnaise, which is screening around the UK and Ireland as part of the Japan Foundation’s Touring Film Programme for 2019, is at the opposite extreme. The film has nothing to suggest it’s a manga adaptation, and any viewers with a Shonen Jump-ish idea of the medium would be amazed that it is. Continue Reading
Wolf’s Rain to broadcast on VICE UK. Starting 11th March 2019.
The the past year and half we've worked with VICE UK to help bring anime back to UK Television. From classics like Cowboy Bebop and Eureka Seven, to recent series such as Tokyo Ghoul, even UK Television premieres of series that were broadcast in Japan just months earlier - Tokyo Ghoul:re and Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory - making them the fastest transition from Japanese TV to UK TV broadcasts of anime ever!
But the fun will not stop there as VICE is preparing to bring another classic series back to the UK television in the form of Wolf's Rain, the series from the same studio that brought you the likes of Fullmetal Alchemist, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Sword of the Stranger and My Hero Academia.
VICE UK will begin airing the series from Monday 11th March
Make sure you keep an eye on the VICE TV guide and their social media channels for more details as they become available.
ABOUT WOLF’S RAIN
Directed by Tensai Okamura (The Seven Deadly Sins, Darker Than Black, Blue Exorcist).
Synopsis: “Paradise – a legend, a myth, and a hopeless dream in a world that has become a wasteland. It is not meant for everyone, only the wolves thought to be extinct yet still roam the lands. When the Flower Maiden awakens, the path to the end will open.
Kiba, a lone white wolf, wanders into a poverty stricken city on a quest. The scent of Lunar Flowers and the will to find Paradise is all he has. Along the way, he runs into other outcast wolves: Tsume, Hige, and Toboe, each with their own story and troubles. Fate bringing them together, and together they seek out the Flower Maiden, Cheza, and their way to Paradise. But, doing so is no simple matter.
Up against a world that fears them and a man with mysterious abilities, their journey is overrun with challenges and worse-sacrifices. With limited time, they must fight to protect Cheza against everyone who seeks her and discover the hidden path to their destiny. This group of broken souls will form a pack and take their journey to the doors of Paradise. But is it worth the end of the world?”
You can check out a trailer for the series (originally published ahead of our Blu-ray release) below -
If you want to read more about the series, have a read of this piece at our blog by Andrew Osmond HERE.
We hope you're looking forward to watching this!
Signing out~!
Jeremy
Early Korean Cinema
by Jeremy Clarke.
This month, BFI Southbank and the Korean Cultural Centre UK are mounting a season of films from Korea made up to and including 1946 under the moniker Early Korean Cinema: Lost Films From The Japanese Occupation Period. The season is curated by KCCUK’s Hyun Jin Cho and University of Sheffield’s Kate Taylor-Jones. Continue Reading
Alita: Battle Angel
By Andrew Osmond.
Midway through Alita: Battle Angel, the cyborg heroine realises she’s provoked the mother of all bar brawls – with a crowd of horribly beweaponed cyborgs – and now must kick an ironmonger’s worth of metal ass. She cautions her human boyfriend Hugo (Keean Johnson) to stand back, way back. This line of dialogue gets one of the biggest laughs in the film. It’s also one of the points where this lavishly spectacular, generally enjoyable, tolerably lunk-headed film catches fire. Continue Reading
The Scythian Lamb
By Roxy Simons.
“You don’t fear me?” Ryuhei Matsuda’s Miyakoshi asks council worker Tsukisue (Ryo Nishikido) when he arrives in the sleepy town of Uobuka, his new home for the next ten years. “You and I are humans,” Tsukisue responds, despite his reservations about the sudden influx of ‘suspicious’ people in the town. Miyakoshi is one of six new inhabitants to move to Uobuka over the past few days, not because they want to, but because they must, as part of the Ministry of Justice’s rehabilitation program.
Miyakoshi, Sugiyama (Kazuki Kitamura), Rieko (Yuka), Kiyomi (Mikako Ichikawa), Fukumoto (Shingo Mizusawa), and Ono (Min Tanaka) are linked by one thing: their criminal past. Each served time for murder, though with differing levels of severity, but rather than serve their full sentence they’re forced out of prison to save taxpayer’s money. While their introduction in the town will aid its dwindling population levels, one question remains: Will people be able to accept them, despite their crimes? Continue Reading