Hall of egress

THE TUNNEL TO SUMMER, THE EXIT OF GOODBYES

aka Natsu e no Tonneru, Sayonara no Deguchi

2022 Japan/2023 USA

Written and directed by Tomohisa Taguchi (based on the novella and comic books by Mei Hachimoku, Kukka, and Koudon)

Spoilers: moderate

Towering with you

THE PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS

2004

Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai

Spoilers: moderate (also discussed, Shinkai's early short films, 1999's "She and Her Cat" and 2002's "Voices of a Distant Star")

Always be closing

SUZUME

2022 Japan/2023 USA

Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai

Spoilers: moderate

Go greased lightning

REDLINE

2009

Directed by Takeshi Koike

Written by Katsuhito Ishii, Yoji Enokido, and Yoshishi Sakurai

Spoilers: moderate

The net is vast

BELLE

2021

Written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda

Spoilers: moderate

Oh the huge manatee

CHILDREN OF THE SEA

Kaiju no kodomo

2019 Japan/2020 USA

Directed by Ayumu Watanabe and Kenichi Konishi

Written by Hanasaki Kino (based on the comic by Daisuke Igarashi)

Spoiler alert: I feel like I'd need to have understood what happened in order to spoil it, but hey, let's say "moderate"

Man, everybody really does want to be a cat

A WHISKER AWAY

Nakitai Watashi na Neko wa Koburo

2020

Directed by Junichi Sato and Tomotaka Shibayama

Written by Mari Okada

Spoiler alert: moderate

Pacifics

RIDE YOUR WAVE
(Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara)

2019 Japan/2020 USA

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa

Written by Reiko Yoshida

Spoiler alert: moderate

After the rain

WEATHERING WITH YOU

aka Tenki no Ko (Weather's Child)

Chalk another one up for the most important animator working today, even if it's not as good as his other masterpieces.

2019

Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai

Spoiler alert: moderate

That rose-colored campus life

THE NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL

A movie of seemingly boundless energy and possibility, Night doesn't always live up to its own potential—nor always put its money where its mouth is, and there's a good twenty minutes in the middle where it's not doing either one—but that doesn't mean it's not one of the most essential animated films of the last year, or even the last decade.

2017 Japan/2018 USA

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa

Written by Makoto Ueda (based on the novel by Tomihiko Morimi)

Spoiler alert: moderate

In other Godzilla news, this weird crap

GODZILLA: CITY ON THE EDGE OF BATTLE and

GODZILLA: THE PLANET EATER

Possibly the wrongest Godzilla has ever been, at the very least Gen Urobuchi's trilogy has proven itself admirably crazy—and outright insanity in pursuit of heavy-handed allegory is no vice. I think that's how the saying goes, right?

2018 and 2019, respectively

Directed by Kobun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita

Written by Gen Urobuchi

Spoiler alert: moderate

You blew it up

GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS

You want to say, "nice try," but shouldn't you have something better to say about something you liked than that?

2017

Directed by Kobun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita

Written by Gen Urobuchi

With Mamoru Miyano (Capt. Haruo Sakaki), Takahiro Sakurai (Metphies), Junichi Suwabe (Mulu Elu Galu Gu), Tomokazu Sugita (Martin Lazarri), Daisuke Ono (Maj. Elliot Leland), and Kana Hanazawa (Yuko Tani)

Spoiler alert: moderate

And here's to Nagasaki, always a bridesmaid, never a bride

IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD

A microscopic take on the defining tragedy of modern Japan, In This Corner of the World combines great beauty with great horror; but it turns out, in the end, that its chiefest concern all along was just telling a story about life.  Sounds lame, I know, but it was pretty great.

2016 Japan/2017 USA

Directed by Sunao Katabuchi

Written by Chie Uratani and Sunao Katabutchi (based on the comic by Fumiyo Kono)

With Rena Nounen (Suzu Urano), Yoshimasa Hasoya (Shusaku Hojo), Keiko Kuromura (Minori Omi), Harumi Kuromura (Natsuki Inaba), San Hojo (Mayumi Shintani), Entaro Hojo (Shigeru Ushiyama), and Tetsu Mizuhara (Daisuke Ono)

Spoiler alert: mild; spoilers are severe for a famous anime made in 1988, however

Masaki Kobayashi: Don't take my wife... please!

SAMURAI REBELLION

Joi-uchi: Hairyozuma shimatsu

Maybe not every samurai movie is about how lousy samurai society actually was, but most of the good ones are.  Rebellion is one of the best.  As you'd expect, frankly, given the man who made it.

1967

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Written by Shinobu Hashimoto (based on the novel Hairyozuma shimatsu by Yashuhiko Takaguchi)

With Tohsiro Mifune (Isaburo Sasahara), Yoko Tsukasa (Ichi Sasahara), Go Kato (Yogoro Sasahara), Michiko Otsuka (Suga Sasahara), Tatsuo Matsumura (Lord Masakata Matsudaira), Shigeru Koyama (Geki Takahashi), and Tatsuya Nakadai (Tatewaki Asano)

Spoiler alert: moderate

On mass-murder considered as one of the fine arts, part II

DEATH NOTE

Part Two of a review of my very favorite TV cartoon.  (Part One can be found here.)

2006-2007

Directed by Tetsuro Araki

Written by Toshiki Inoue et al (based on the comic by Tsuhumi Obha and Takeshi Obata)

With Kappei Yamaguchi/Alessandro Juliani (L), Noriko Hikada/Cathy Weseluck (Near), Nozomo Sasaki/David Robert (Mello), Naoya Uchida/Chris Britton (Soichiro Yagami), Ryo Naito/Vincent Tong (Touta Matsuda), Kimiko Saito/Colleen Wheeler (Rem), Shido Nakamura/Brian Drummond (Ryuk), Issei Futamata/Andrew Kavadas (Kyosuke Higuchi), Masaya Mazukaze/Kirby Morrow (Teru Mikami), Musumi Okamura/Heather Doerksen (Kiyomi Takada), Aya Hirano/Shannon Chan-Kent (Misa Amane), and Mamoru Miyano/Brad Swaile (Light Yagami)

Spoiler alert: severe (no, seriously)
Content warning: unsupportably long even as a two-part piece, but as a hyperindulgent birthday present to myself, that is also several weeks late, could it even get any more "me"?

On mass-murder considered as one of the fine arts, part I

DEATH NOTE

Like it needs an introduction?  Part One of a review of my very favorite TV cartoon.  (Part Two can be found here.)

2006-2007

Directed by Tetsuro Araki

Written by Toshiki Inoue et al (based on the comic by Tsuhumi Obha and Takeshi Obata)

With Kappei Yamaguchi/Alessandro Juliani (L), Noriko Hikada/Cathy Weseluck (Near), Nozomo Sasaki/David Robert (Mello), Naoya Uchida/Chris Britton (Soichiro Yagami), Ryo Naito/Vincent Tong (Touta Matsuda), Kimiko Saito/Colleen Wheeler (Rem), Shido Nakamura/Brian Drummond (Ryuk), Issei Futamata/Andrew Kavadas (Kyosuke Higuchi), Masaya Mazukaze/Kirby Morrow (Teru Mikami), Musumi Okamura/Heather Doerksen (Kiyomi Takada), Aya Hirano/Shannon Chan-Kent (Misa Amane), and Mamoru Miyano/Brad Swaile (Light Yagami)

Spoiler alert: severe (no, seriously)
Content warning: unsupportably long even as a two-part piece, but as a hyperindulgent birthday present to myself, that is also several weeks late, could it even get any more "me"?

All that heaven allows (may, in fact, vary by jurisdiction)

THE GARDEN OF WORDS
(Kotonoha no Niwa)

Happy Mother's Day, I guess!  Here's maybe the best Japanese cartoon ever that isn't Death Note.

2013
Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai
With Miyu Irino/Patrick Poole (Takao Akizuki) and Kana Hanazawa/Maggie Flecknoe (Yukino Yukari)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Star-cross'd lovers

YOUR NAME.

(Kimi No Wa Na.)

Something this poorly-plotted shouldn't be nearly this great.  But here we are, and it is: breathtakingly beautiful and heartrendingly meaningful and so frustratingly, frustratingly imperfect.

2016 Japan/2017 USA

Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai

With Ryunosuke Kamiki (Taki) and Mone Kamishiraishi (Mitsuha)

Spoiler alert: moderate

We've been eating Gamera, part VIII: This is not a film

GAMERA: SUPER MONSTER

This is what studios dream of when they're dead.

1980
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Written by Nisan Takahashi
With Mach Fumiake (Kilara), Yoko Komatsu (Mitan), Yaeko Kojima (Marsha), Keiko Kudo (Giruge), Koichi Maeda (Keiichi), Teruo Aragaki (Gamera), Umenosuke Izumi (Gamera), and Toru Kawai (Gamera)

This series of reviews would not have been possible without the in-depth interview conducted by David Milner with Noriaki Yuasa, from which I have gleaned a great deal of welcome historical insight into Mr. Yuasa, Nisan Takahashi, Daiei, and Gamera's Showa Era movies.  It's a sad, mean thing to finally credit Mr. Milner's fantastic kaiju scholarship here, at the end of that era, rather than when I should've, which is ages ago.

Spoiler alert: seriously, the hell with it

We've been eating Gamera, part VII: "I am beautiful—and I should rule the seas!"

Gamera isn't the most important, or the most influential, or the most popular Japanese monster.  That just means the Guardian of the Universe may have to content himself with simply being the best.  This series of reviews is dedicated to my very favorite turtle.

GAMERA VS. ZIGRA
(Gamera Tai Shintai Kaiju Jigura)

The Showa Era proper draws to a close—and perhaps none too soon.  Somewhere between a bang and a whimper, there is Gamera vs. Zigra.

1971
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Written by Nisan Takahashi
With Umenosuke Izumi (Gamera), Yasushi Sakagami (Ken Ishikawa) (yep), Gloria Zoellner (Helen Wallace), Osamu Saeki (Dr. Ishikawa), Koji Fujiyama (Dr. Wallace) (sure), and Eiko Yanami (Woman X)

Spoiler alert: severe