December 7, 2023 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Anime is often compared to live-action cinema. If so, Flowers of Evil is the cultish indy film, whose moody images sing with the torments of alienated schoolkids. It has dollops of black comedy, moments of painful lyricism, and a real human sympathy under the cruelty. Few other anime feel so likea live-action […]

December 6, 2023 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Shirobako is an animated series about making animation. You might think it’s something only Japan could do, as anime can go so boldly into real life. Could you imagine someone going to a Hollywood studio like Disney or Pixar and pitching an animation about animators? Actually, though, Shiraboko has precedents in some […]

December 4, 2023 · 0 comments

By Hugh David. Soma Yukihira’s old man runs a small family restaurant in the less savoury end of town. Aiming to one day surpass his father’s culinary prowess, Soma hones his skills until, out of the blue, his father decides to enrol him in a classy culinary school! Can Soma really cut it in a […]

December 1, 2023 · 0 comments

by Helen McCarthy. Classical pianist, hard rock drummer, guitarist, composer, songwriter, producer, visual kei pioneer, founder of two record labels, fashion designer, collaborator with brands from Baccarat to Hello Kitty and beyond, keynote speaker at a Stanford University conference on the future of social tech – all this, plus a 13-year partnership with a Napa […]

November 25, 2023 · 2 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Mamoru Oshii, the director of Patlabor the Movie, once described his 1989 film as pop entertainment. Any fan of Oshii, best known for Ghost in the Shell, knows that’s a huge undersell for what is an extremely complex, thoughtful film. But perhaps Oshii was referring to how Patlabor the Movie ticks a […]

November 22, 2023 · 0 comments

By Jonathan Clements. “Aren’t you making a mistake,” asks the lady selling cinema tickets. “Almost certainly,” sighs Alan Booth, a man who came to Japan to study classical theatre, and who finds himself glumly commissioned to sit through a ghastly Japanese teen movie so he can review it for a newspaper. No, says the ticket […]