
A man is brutally murdered and his famed shamisen (a three-stringed musical instrument) called the “Yamabiko” stolen. Prince Kogenta swears to avenge his father-in-law’s death and retrieve the family heirloom.
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Tag Archives: Japan
Path of the Beast / Shoujo shofu: kemonomichi (1980) Tatsumi Kumashiro, Ayako Yoshimura, Minako Mizushima, Yûya Uchida, Drama, Erotic

Saki lives in a run-down hack with her mom who survives by pushing a food cart from dawn to dusk. Saki has dropped out of school, and when she’s not helping her mother selling noodles in the streets, she’s playing flesh-games with boyfriend Sotoo. In her spare time, the girl also entertains a truck driver named Ataru. She believes her promiscuity is a trait inherited from her mom. Determined to improve her lot in life (she doesn’t want to grow up like her mother), Saki decides to stop seeing the two guys. The sizzling Japanese Tatsumi Kumashiro’s erotic drama
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Marusa no onna / A Taxing Woman (1987) Jûzô Itami, Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Masahiko Tsugawa, Comedy, Crime

Ryoko Itakura is a government tax agent who has just landed a big promotion. Her first assignment is to catch wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo. She has a tough job, since in Japan tax evasion is an art and Gondo is, in effect, Rembrandt. Her job is complicated by a growing sympathy for the rogue and by political pressure to lay off.
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MacArthur’s Children / Setouchi shonen yakyu dan (1984) Masahiro Shinoda, Takaya Yamauchi, Yoshiyuki Omori, Shiori Sakura, Comedy, Drama, War

In this drama at the end of World War II, the inhabitants of a small Japanese fishing village must come to terms with their nation’s defeat and the sudden occupation of General MacArthur and his troops.
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Jail Breakers/ Dasso yugi (1976) Kôsaku Yamashita, Shin’ichi Chiba, Haruko Wanibuchi, Eitarô Ozawa, Action, Crime

Kamiki is a professional fixer of jailbreaks who allows prisoners to escape for big money.
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Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) Ishirô Honda, Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kôchi, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

When American reporter Steve Martin investigates a series of mysterious disasters off the coast of Japan, he comes face to face with an ancient creature so powerful and so terrifying, it can reduce Tokyo to a smoldering graveyard. Nuclear weapon testing resurrected this relic from the Jurassic age, and now it’s rampaging across Japan. At night, Godzilla wades through Tokyo leaving death and destruction in his wake, disappearing into Tokyo Bay when his rage subsides. Coventional weapons are useless against him; but renowned scientist Dr. Serizawa has discovered a weapon that could destroy all life in the bay – including Godzilla. But which disaster is worse, Godzilla’s fury, or the death of Tokyo Bay?
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Zoom In: Rape Apartments / Zûmu in: Bôkô danchi (1980) Naosuke Kurosawa, Erina Miyai, Yôko Azusa, Yûko Ôsaki, Horror, Pinku, Erotic

Saeko, a somewhat enigmatic young woman, is brutally beaten with a rock and raped by a man wearing a dark-colored mask and black gloves. She eventually recovers, but not long afterwards a series of horrific murders begins occurring in the apartment building she lives in. When it turns out that the victims are badly beaten, then killed and their genitals burned off, Saeko begins to think she has an idea who the killer is, but realizes she may be murdered before she has a chance to expose the maniac.
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Appleseed Alpha (2014) Shinji Aramaki, Yuka Komatsu, Jun’ichi Suwabe, Aoi Yuki, Animation, Action, Sci-fi

From the creator of Ghost in the Shell and the director of Appleseed comes the intense post-apocalyptic prequel, Appleseed: Alpha. Left to survive in a post-World War society, two mercenary soldiers – Deunan and her cyborg partner Briareos – are sent on a mission on the outskirts of their war-torn city. During the operation, they run into Iris and Olson, two citizens from the utopian city of Olympus, who might have a way to save the world but the ruthless Talos and the scheming warlord Two Horns have their own plans. It’s up to Deunan and Briareos to safeguard their newfound contacts and help save humanity’s last hope.
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Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina / Appurushido: Ekusu makina (2007) Shinji Aramaki, Ai Kobayashi, Kôichi Yamadera, Yûji Kishi, Animation, Action, Sci-fi

When a paramilitary task force called E.S.W.A.T. and its operations in the year 2133 Olympus, a futuristic utopia where humans, cyborgs, and bio-engineered human beings called “Bioroids” are attempting to live in perfect harmony. However, a series of random terrorist attacks perpetrated by cyborgs and humans alike threaten to throw Olympus into total chaos. As it turns out, these humans and machines have come under the influence of an unknown electronic signal that hacks into their nervous systems and they then become the unwilling servants of a malevolent computerized entity. Thrown into the action is the plucky female E.S.W.A.T. warrior Deunan Knute and her cyborg lover/partner Briareos as they investigate these bizarre occurrences with the other members of their unit. Things become complicated when a bioroid named Tereus, who resembles Briareous in his human form, joins their unit and threatens to come between their relationship. But these three must put aside their differences to face an even greater threat that promises world destruction in its wake.
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Appleseed (2004) Shinji Aramaki, Steven Foster, Ai Kobayashi, Jûrôta Kosugi, Yuki Matsuoka, Sci-fi, Action, Animation

In a utopian society created at the end of the third world war, a female warrior who has been plucked from the badlands begins to see cracks in this new facade. And what does this community have planned for the rest of humankind?
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