• Home
  • Tag Archives:  Japan
女子ーズ Joshi zu Jossy's

Jossy’s (Joshi Zu – 女子ーズ ) trailer


The female tokusatsu comedy film Joshi Zu (女子ーズ) now has an English name (Jossy’s, though I have no idea why it is possessive!) and a trailer, which shows off how hard it is to have a fighting team with five completely different personalities with five completely different lives. It looks funny, but I’m just annoyed at the name.

Plot:

To battle a malicious monster, five women are gathered in front of Commander Charles against their will. The five women are selected because they each have a family name that represents a color. The five women are filled with doubts about what they are able to do collectively, but they go up against the monster using their lethal technique “Women Tornado”. The five women can only use the “Women Tornado” when they are all gathered together.

Mirei Kiritani(Ace Attorney) plays the red Naoko Akagi, Mina Fujii(Gehara: The Dark and Long Hair Monster and Monsterz – the Japanese remake of the Korean film Haunters) the blue Mika Aota, Mitsuki Takahata the yellow Yuri Kikawada, Kasumi Arimura the green Kano Midoriyama, and Mizuki Yamamoto(Black Butler) the blue Sumire Konno. Their boss Commander Charles is played by Jiro Sato. Joshi Zu is written and directed by Yuichi Fukuda, who directed Kid’s Police.

via Asian Wiki

Cat it tude forever 21

Cat-it-tude Links!

Cat it tude forever 21

Above is a shirt I tried unsuccessfully to get my wife to buy. And below are a bunch of links I’ll successfully get you to click on, along with some random movie news that didn’t warrant their own updates.

**Fist of B-List meets Angelfist!

**Derek Yee Tung-Sing (爾冬陞) has begun work on his next director’s gig, a 3D film called The Sword Master (三少爺的劍), which is written by Tsui Hark! The Sword Master is about a retired master swordsman who returns to the martial world to try to settle a dispute with his longtime nemesis. It will star Lin Gengxin (林更新), Peter Ho (何卓榮) Jiang Yiyan (江一燕) and Jiang Mengjie (蔣夢婕). The lack of big name stars was apparently controversial, which caused Derek Yee to say “If a collaboration between Tsui Hark and I still need big stars to get you to waste your time and spend your money on a ticket, then we might as well pack up, go home, drink whiskey and shoot the breeze.”

**Pre-Code.com meets The Man From Monterey!

**The teaser trailer is out for High Heels (하이힐). The film stars Cha Seung-Won (차승원) as Detective Ji-Wook, who solves violent crimes and also desires to become a woman. The film will costar Esom (이솜) as mysterious woman Jang-Mi, and Oh Jung-Se (오정세) as Heo-Gon, who didn’t get a character description in English. High Heels is directed by Jang Jin (장진), who did the classic Guns and Talks and the more recent The Quiz Show Scandal .

**beyondasiaphilia finds That Demon Within!

**Have a nice list of the 100 best Mainland Chinese films to argue about!

**The Film Fiend is drafted into Frankenstein’s Army!

**Five cool Bengali directors

**Teleport City meets the 13 ghosts of Golgo-13!

**An Evening With Jim Henson and Frank Oz – July 1989 at the Puppeteers of America

**Jeremy Blitz feels that Black Torment!

**Newsreel archive British Pathé just released 85,000 films onto YouTube! Holy crap!

**The Vern watches Shorts!

**Reminder that Kate Mulgrew was tricked into narrating a documentary where it’s alleged that the Earth doesn’t revolve around the sun.

**FilmiGeek declares OMG – Oh My God!

**A cool essay about African American women in the silent film industry

**At Monster Island Resort the TCM Classic Film Festival Hosts TCM Party!

**RIP Pervert Dave

**The Horror!? makes bets with Daredevils of the Red Circle!

**Hey, Ju-On (The Grudge) is getting another Japanese installment!

**Hey, The Grudge (Ju-On) is getting another American reboot!

**Will there be a Gamera reboot? Probably if the Godzilla remake doesn’t bomb.

Zone Fighter 激闘! ファイターの歌が聞える

Zone Fighter Episode 20 – Gekitou! Faitaa-no Uta-ga Kikoeru

Zone Fighter Episode 20 – Gekitou! Faitaa-no Uta-ga Kikoeru

aka 激闘! ファイターの歌が聞える aka Desperate Struggle! Can You Hear Fighter’s Song? aka Fierce Fight! Can You Hear Fighter’s Song?
Zone Fighter 激闘! ファイターの歌が聞える
1973
Written by Shiro Ishimori
Directed by Masao Minowa

March of Godzilla 2014

I’m going to watch this loop all day!

Zone Fighter goes Creepytown with this sorted tale of child abduction, creepy child abductors, creepy children, and children in mortal danger thanks to creepy aliens. Takeru Jou gets kidnapped once again (this seems to be his full-time job on the show), and there are more little boys wearing Japanese short shorts thank you can shake a To Catch a Predator DVD at!

But besides that, Zone Fighter finally has the Garoga do something evil (aside from the random gunning innocent people down) that affects Zone Fighter, and almost makes him change his fighting strategy. Until he remembers being violent will solve the problem regardless.

Zone Fighter 激闘! ファイターの歌が聞える

Great, a stick-shift monster!


Goram is one of the cooler-looking Zone Fighter terror-beast monsters, and I say that just because I like monsters with two heads. But he gets a bum break as Zone Fighter continues his murder spree. Poor Goram.

If you need a refresher on who this ultra-violent Toho tokusatsu is and why we should care and why he’s in these March of Godzilla series, drop on by the Zone Fighter Splash Page! And never fear, Godzilla will actually be in the next episode. But first….

Zone Fighter 激闘! ファイターの歌が聞える

Bambi Meets Godzilla prequel?


AKira and his gang of short shorted little Japanese boys are running around town talking with toy store owners and having that good wholesome fun boys in short shorts have. They’re being followed by another kid in short shorts, who is soon harassed by a creepy old guy with gloves. We all know gloves = Garoga, and soon the creepy old guy is grabbing the kid and Takeru Jou bikes by just in time to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get kidnapped AGAIN!!!

Seriously, Takeru Jou! Kidnapped again? WTF??

Please note that this Garoga is a Red Garoga that has red stripes on his antenna that make him look like he has candy cane antennas.

Zone Fighter 激闘! ファイターの歌が聞える

It’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes!

Zone Fighter 19 命令『Kスイ星で地球をこわせ』

Zone Fighter Episode 19 – Meirei “K Suisei-de Chikyuu-wo Kowase”

Zone Fighter Episode 19 – Meirei “K Suisei-de Chikyuu-wo Kowase”

aka 命令『Kスイ星で地球をこわせ』 aka Order: Crush the Earth With Comet K! aka Order: “Destroy the Earth with Comet K”
Zone Fighter 19 命令『Kスイ星で地球をこわせ』
1973
Written by Yuji Amamiya
Directed by Ishiro Honda

March of Godzilla 2014

Zone Fighter – an eye-popping good time!

People and webcrawler bots, we have a situation! Zone Fighter is not the mild-mannered defender of Earth we were led to believe. He is in fact a stone cold butcher murderer who surgically severs opponents body parts and then uses their corpse for his own devious means. I know it may come to a shock, that Zone Fighter, who kills almost every opponent he faces, is some sort of monster, but unfortunately the facts bear that conclusion out. Zone Fighter slices and dices poor Gundarguirus, then tosses his dismembered torso at an approaching comet. This unfortunate corpse desecration is a war crime, and Zone Fighter needs to be dragged in front of an international tribunal immediately for his crimes.

As in last time, this is an episode directed by the master Ishiro Honda, but this episode actually feels like an Ishiro Honda episode and not just kiddy fluff. But there is some goofy stuff still, and then things go insane for that violent stuff I mentioned. Basically, Ishiro Honda helped direct Zone into a period of murderous destruction. So, yay? I guess.

Zone Fighter 19 命令『Kスイ星で地球をこわせ』

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar!


Make sure to drop on by the Zone Fighter Splash Page if you need a refresher of who is who.

When last we left Zone Fighter, he was losing a fight to the very lame Gundarguirus. Zone Fighter is out of energy and collapses like a scrub. Gundarguirus then wanders off instead of killing him, perhaps obeying orders from the Red Garoga, perhaps just being a moron. Who knows? What is important is Gundarguirus did not kill Zone Fighter when he had the chance.

Zone Fighter 19 命令『Kスイ星で地球をこわせ』

Ring toss games are always rigged. You got to play the game where you race horses by squirting water into clown mouths!


Akira and Hotaru take Hikaru to relax a pool side as they splash around in a hotel swimming pool. I guess that’s how you wind down when you’ve just been almost murdered in a monster fight. Hikaru isn’t about relaxing and needs to call his dad for help, while the audience wonders what the whole point of this brief pool section was, unless it was to get Hotaru in a black bikini again. Hopefully it wasn’t to get Akira back into swimming trunks.

Zone Dad and Takeru are concerned about the comet, and Hikaru races off, realizing he still has to go save the world and stuff. Akira and Hotaru take a ride in Smokey to search from the air for Gundarguirus.

Zone Fighter 19 命令『Kスイ星で地球をこわせ』

We’re not wearing pants, over.

Live movie Noboru Iguchi

Noboru Iguchi returns with Live (ライヴ)


Noboru Iguchi is constantly pumping out new and weird films, and his latest Live (ライヴ or Raivu)looks to be another fun festival of lots of people dying in violent ways while goofy things happen. Naoto Tamura (Yuki Yamada) discovers his mother has been kidnapped, and he’s being forced to participate in a race called Live. He soon finds others who are also competing, all with a kidnapped loved one. They rulebook gives clues, but the biggest clue that something is wrong is all the people trying to kill them. As contestants fall, Naoto must figure out a way to save his mom, and possibly his friend and that hot girl who are also in the race.

Live is based on the book Live by Yusuke Yamada. It’s due in Japanese theaters on May 10th, and will presumably show up in American festivals soon enough. Yes, Asami Sugiura will be in it. I didn’t notice any of the other Iguchi regulars, but I’m betting they’ll pop up as well. Live also stars Ito Ono and Yuki Morinaga

Official Site
Facebook
via Asianwiki

Live movie Noboru Iguchi

Zone Fighter 指令『日本列島爆破せよ』

Zone Fighter Episode 18 – Shirei “Nihon Rettou Bakuhase-yo”

Zone Fighter Episode 18 – Shirei “Nihon Rettou Bakuhase-yo”

aka 指令『日本列島爆破せよ』 aka Directive: Destroy the Japanese Laboratory! aka Command: “Destroy the Japanese Islands”
Zone Fighter 指令『日本列島爆破せよ』
1973
Written by Yuji Amamiya
Directed by Ishiro Honda

March of Godzilla 2014

Zone Fighter 指令『日本列島爆破せよ』

If you order this toaster oven now, we’ll throw in a free pair of oven mitts! Call 1-800-GAROGA! Operators are standing by!


Zone Fighter punches his way into a new episode, which is among the most ridiculous episodes in Zone Fighter history. It’s also pretty dumb, and is somehow a two-parter. Which is a shame, because both parts are directed by Ishiro Honda! The problem is with the story, which is really only a bare thread of a story and padded with a lot of pointless scenes and not very good monster action.

Why is the monster action not very good? Because Zone Fighter and the Terror-Beast of the Week Gundarguiras play rock paper scissors! Who needs monster fights? The excuse is because Gundarguiras ate some explosive chemical, and if he’s thrown around too violently, it will explode. Which should be find, because it’s inside a giant monster to absorb most of the blast, but whatever. Zone Fighter knows the explosive is in the belly of the beast thanks to Gundarguiras’ transparent stomach. Zone has to use his intelligence to try to trick the dumb monster into leaving Earth. Problems: 1- Zone Fighter isn’t very smart, either. 2- Gundarguiras is so stupid that even dumb tricks won’t work. 3- When a trick does work, Gundarguiras just refuses to leave, so there is no point to this strategy. 4- This scene keeps going on and on, and will continue next episode.

Zone Fighter 指令『日本列島爆破せよ』

Sometimes people wrap Twizzlers all around their body and leap in the air. We call these people “morons”!


Thanks to the trick, Zone Fighter finally has some more new random powers, but they prove as useless as Zone Fighter normally is. I’m eager to watch the next episode just to watch Zone brutally murder Gundarguiras, because there is no way that dumb monster is getting out of this alive. The only question is if he’ll get blown up via the PS73 explosive, or by Zone Fighter shooting him a lot.

But before the murder, we have to get through the horror. So let’s get started with . If you need a Zone Fighter refresher course, drop on by the Zone Fighter Splash Page.

Zone Fighter 指令『日本列島爆破せよ』

Should have picked rock!


Scientists including Professor Tanzawa blow up some random areas of the countryside. This is a test of Tanzawa’s new explosive element PS73. The test is a success and a bunch of dudes in business suits (scientists, officials, random businessmen who hang out at explosives testing sites) are happy. Now the next step is to transport the PS73 to another lab, which they must do with care.
Zone Fighter 指令『日本列島爆破せよ』

I’ll never pitch again! Looks like the Cubs will lose another season, thanks kid!