Summer Days with Coo / Kappa no Ku to natsuyasumi (2007)

Coo is a kappa, a legendary water creature of Japanese folklore. By accident, young Koichi in modern Tokyo finds what looks like an interesting fossil, but as he cleans it in water, the kappa gradually returns to life. The kappa is immensely grateful and, in the way of animated features everywhere, becomes friends with Koichi. …

Lost Paradise / Shitsurakuen (1997)

I keep thinking there must be dozens of movies about love affairs like Lost Paradise, but my mind goes blank trying to think of a comparable example. Kuki (Koji Yakusho) and Rinko (Hitomi Kuroki) are each married but they have fallen in love with each other. Because it is a Japanese movie and also is …

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro / Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979)

Castle of Cagliostro marks the writing and directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki, who would later found the legendary Studio Ghibli, but it also introduces us to something we have not seen before in Japan, a genuine modern Franchise series. Like Batman or the Marvel Universe superhero movies, the Lupin the Third franchise began in a …

Village of Eight Gravestones / Yatsuhaka-mura (1977)

The detective Kindaichi movie revival begun by Ichikawa’s Inugami Family was quickly followed up by movies at several other studios, the most popular of which was Shochiku’s Village of Eight Gravestones. Tatsuya is called to a lawyer’s office where he is grilled to determine his true identity and then meets his long lost grandfather (on …

What Is Your Name? / Always in My Heart / Kimi no na wa (1953)

A man and a woman meet in an air raid. After leaving the shelter they talk for a moment on the nearby bridge and promise to meet there again in six months if both are still alive. A second air raid separates them before they learn each others’ names. They do both survive the war …