It has always bothered me that our history of being incarcerated during World War II, based solely on the fact of our being of Japanese descent, has been so obscure and relatively unknown. I admit that many of us didn’t want to talk about it, and it wasn’t something that one would bring up in […]
Blogs
Reason J-TV Networks Should Really Get Their Act Together 001: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Atonement”
May 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
There’s a lot of quality TV in Japan that never makes it (legally) to American home media. From what I’ve heard, there are U.S. distributors interested in acquiring some of them, but the TV networks in Japan are asking too much for their shows. That’s too bad, because there are plenty of fans that are […]
Hulk Smash Poverty? Controversy Around Depiction of Kolkata Slum in ‘The Avengers’
May 20, 2012 by 3 Comments
So “The Avengers” came out last weekend and it was a pretty stunning success by most definitions: Joss Whedon made a coherent film about a scientist who turns into a big green monster, a World War II super-soldier, a Russian femme-fatale spy, a robot man, and a Norse god teaming up to save the world […]
Film Review: The Day He Arrives
May 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The trailer is in color, for some reason, while the film itself is in black-and-white. I sorta disagree with the written character descriptions contained within it, but the trailer does a pretty good job of conveying what the film is all about. A lot of people have remarked on how Hong Sangsoo’s stories are all about […]
San Francisco International Film Festival: API Film Mini-Reviews
May 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
While the San Francisco International Film Festival has come and gone, here’s my take on a few films that caught my eye, and ones I hope will continue to make their rounds at upcoming festivals. The Sheik and I While a little slow to take off, Bay Area auteur Caveh Zahedi’s new documentary is a […]
‘Kids on the Slope,’ New Series by Director of ‘Cowboy Bebop,’ Now Streaming Online (legally)
April 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The highly anticipated “Kids on the Slope,” the new anime series by Shinichiro Watanabe, is now available online through Crunchyroll. I caught the first episode last night, and I highly recommend it for just about all audiences, whether they’re into animation or not. The show takes place in 1966 in rural Kyushu and centers on […]
Hunger Games v. Battle Royale: Deja vu in simplification
April 3, 2012 by 1 Comment
No. No, no, no, no, no. For once, I will step out of my normal realm of being ironic and trite to give a solid argument on something that has been bothering me for the past few weeks. Hunger Games v. Battle Royale “The Hunger Games†by Suzanne Collins and “Battle Royale†By Koushun Takami […]
Falling birth rates and infantile otaku culture
March 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I’m more of a Western gamer when it comes to my video gaming habits. I guess I just never got into the Moe-blob romance and tsundere masochism my friends have enjoyed (though I did play a few dating sims in my day). If I had to choose, I’m much more an “action games†person. That, […]
Battle Royale Adapted for Live Theater in the Philippines
March 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Now no matter what they do with the American remake, we’ll always at least have this. I seriously have to remember to check Twitch much, much more often. From their site: “Filipino theater troupe Sipat Lawin Ensemble have teamed up with Australian playwrights David Finnigan, Jordan Prosser, Sam Burns-Warr, and Georgie McAuley to create a […]
Reflecting on diversity in video games through the LA Riots
Editor’s Note: An edited version of this post was published in the May 4, 2012 issue of the Nichi Bei Weekly. Who here remembers the Los Angeles Riots of ‘92? I certainly don’t. I was 4 (and now you feel old). LA burned following the acquittal of the four police officers charged in the beating […]