Harue Akagi
Laid-back baby boomer Yuichi (Ryo Iwamatsu) is a middle-aged manga artist and singer-songwriter when he isn't at his salaryman day job or watching out for his elderly mother. Suffering from increasing dementia since her husband's death, Mitsue (Harue Akagi) is a constant source of comic energy or annoyance for Yuichi, and he and his son must soon decide if they should put her in a home for the elderly. Jumping back in time, we see how Mitsue (played by Kiwako Harada) tracked the tumult of the latter half of the 20th century, being raised as one of 10 brothers and sisters, surviving the war, and having to push her alcoholic husband (Ryo Kase) along in life. "Pecoross" is directed by the oldest active film director in Japan, Azuma Morisaki, who creates an emotionally complex work that is only the more profound and life-affirming for its cartoonish portrayal.
A story about a young man named Masaya, whose lifelong dream is to go build a life in Tokyo. Masaya thinks his life in his hometown is uncool. A few years later, he manages to move to Tokyo but not without any consequences. In Tokyo, he learns the hard way about the meaning of life, survival, love, insecurities, desperation and hope. He also learns the struggles of living in a big city and trying to fix his relationship with his parents, especially his mom.
A successful screenwriter looks back on her life when she learns her husband has cancer. A year-long series, starring Narumi Yasuda.
The drama begins in August 1945, three days after the end of the Pacific war. A freight train completely jam-packed with passengers heads for Aomori from devastated Tokyo. On the train is Takahara Miki and her sister Sachi. Miki and Sachi are the daughters of a wealthy landlord living in a village in the Tsugaru area in Aomori prefecture, but they have been living in Tokyo since before the war to attend school. After seeing her village does not have a doctor, Miki is determined to become a rural doctor.
Depicts the bloody siege of Port Arthur, one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world, during the Russo-Japanese War.
Taro Kuroki, 42, is a stuntman with a samurai's heart. He loves adventures, plays pranks with the police, tries to cure a cat lady by reversing her trauma, and finally, rescues his niece who is about to be lured into prostitution.
When a rebellious roughneck enlists in the Navy and goes on a rampage against his superiors, he is sent to the Yokosuka Naval Prison.
A sentimental drama about aspiring artist, Eiji, who rescues a blind girl. His friends Goro and Minoru and the blind girl's sister Kazue are a happy group until Goro steals money from Kazue's purse. Goro is arrested and his friends start bothering Eiji. To escape their harassment he changes jobs. But then he becomes the victim of an unexpected accident.
About a girl who marries in the middle of the Pacific War, is widowed at 18, and her unflagging struggle to survive during and after the war with her son.
When his pistol is stolen, police detective Murakami is humiliated, especially when the gun is later implicated in a crime. Working with his superior, Chief Detective Sato, Murakami works feverishly to trace the location of his pistol, ultimately clashing with a gang of youthful Okinawans.
The 12th NHK Asadora. Set in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, at the end of the Pacific War. Maki is the heroine, married to Shuichi who must go to war. She stays home and takes on the role of other war widows, managing business and a Chinese restaurant.
A man is involved in a fatal car accident, and though he is blameless, his company transfers him to a remote branch in a small town. Before he leaves, he gives the man's widow a large sum of money that she uses to move back to her hometown.
Bungo becomes a single parent when his wife leaves him because of his drinking and gambling. Deciding to quit his vices, he works menial jobs, drifting from city to city. However, not completely losing his gambling tastes, he became a hunted man and must escape to Tokyo after he was found cheating at dice. Bungo and his son Kenichi comes upon the Kizaki Family in Asakusa, where more troubles are awaiting them...
Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.
With her family suffering from extreme poverty, Yuko, as the eldest daughter, is sold to a successful brothel in Kyoto. There she is assigned to serve Takamatsu, one of the brothel’s top customers. But while Takamatsu falls madly in love with Yuko, she finds herself attracted to a young priest named Kunugida. Torn by jealousy, Takamatsu hatches an evil plan to tear them apart.
After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he recounts his gruesome family history, which sees generations of his ancestors sacrificing themselves for the sake of their cruel lords. hey were samurai, the military nobility caste who carried out acts of violence at the behest of feudal lords, but suffered evenmore so under their cruelty, often forced into ritual suicide (seppuku). The women were under constant threat of kidnapping and rape,and the men subjected to arbitrary disfigurement and homosexual slavery...
Gonzo, who longs to become a full-fledged samurai, is caught up in a warlord conflict.
Ryutaro Otomo as the Edo magistrate Umon Kondo is out to solve a crime that centers around the murder of a jail guard & the escape of a criminal who is later himself killed. His dying words in Umon's arms were, "I didn't kill the guard." The murdered criminal had been a safe-cracker & only his girlfriend knows where he hid a fortune. She is kidnapped, so the plot gets thicker & thicker.
A country boss gives up his way of life because of his daughter's marriage.
Period piece about a young man who, because of his hard life alone in the world, has become a yakuza. When he hears that his mother may be living in Edo (Tokyo), he travels there, intent on finding her and leaving the swordsman's life behind. But a team of rival gangsters is hot on his heels.
The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete his skill in the Way.
A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an affectionate woman named Oritsu. It's a winning combination of drama and humor. The warm friendship that grows between the carpenter, the woman and the children making this into a true masterpiece.
Three young yakuza, Fujitaro, Matsugoro and Kanjuro, travel the country fighting evil.
In this first episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the historic battle. He and his friend Matahachi manage to escape the slaughter although the latter is wounded in his leg. They stumble across the young Akemi who makes her living with her mother Oko by robbing corpses of their armor and anything else they can sell. Oko takes it into her head to seduce Matahachi, which she does first by skillfully sucking the gangrene from his blood, and then just by sucking.
Sugimoto Gonkuro is travelling along from Tosa to Edo. On his journey he will meet both good and bad people.
The first work in the series "Cases of An Actor in Disguise" starring Kokichi Takada, based on the original work of Tatsuro Jinde. Kasumi Ippei is a popular ronin actor, and when he is not on stage he is investigating intricate crimes, in this film Ippei will solve the abduction of seven beautiful young girls.
This is the second film in the popular black and white series about the master swordsman, Yagyu Jubei. When the Yagyu clan falls victim to rival Kasumi spies, Yagyu Jubei is called to action to protect them. But in performing his duty, he becomes the target of those who wish to destroy his clan.
A young girl, Okimi, falls in love with Kiritaro, a handsome thief disguised as a wealthy young master.
One of Japan's most enduring stories is the true-life yakuza boss Jirocho of Shimizu and his gang as they took over the Tokaido Highroad and went on to everlasting fame. Many of the gang members have become household names although their backgrounds and how they came to join the group are mostly lost in the mists of a time gone by. This is the tale of Masa, who arrived in Shimizu Port hungry and down on his luck. His adventures contain some light-hearted moments as he meets up with the other gang members and goes on to join the group and become one of their best swordsmen. A truly exciting tale starring the ever-popular Okawa Hashizo along with all-time great Okochi Denjiro.
When Kaneko Ichinosuke aims to avenge his father who was wrongly accused of embezzlement, the samurai Kochiyama Soshun agrees to assist.
The adopted son of an Osaka courier falls in love with a prostitute and, discovering that she is about to be purchased by a client, steals money from his employer to redeem her. Hunted criminals, the two young lovers take flight to Yamato, but, as in Chikamatsu's other domestic tragedies of love and duty (known as sewamono), they must be pursued and their passion destroyed by death. Favourite Uchida themes, such as the indenturing of a prostitute (cf. YOSHIWARA; A BLOODY SPEAR AT MT. FUJI), and his characteristic emphasis on performance and theatrical artifice re-emerge here; but the daring device of having Chikamatsu appear as a character - not unlike having Shakespeare interpolated into a film adaptation of one of his plays - is just one of many surprises this remarkable film holds. “Extraordinary” (Donald Richie).
Magically gifted boy Sasuke lives in peace, deep in the forest with his animal pals and Oyu, his elder sister. After their forest sanctuary is violated by a demon witch who devours one of Sasuke's animal companions, he vows vengeance. Leaving the forest, he sets out to master his magical gifts, making a pilgrimage to the home of the wizard Hakuunsai. While Sasuke learns the ways of magic, the demon witch terrorizes the countryside, and Sasuke works to complete his training in time.
Nakamura Yukinojo gains popularity in Edo's kabuki scene as a handsome onnagata (a male actor who plays female roles). But hidden behind the placid expression of his stage face is a deep grudge for the men responsible for dishonoring his parents' names and leading them to suicide when he was still a child. When he discovers that the mastermind behind those crimes has come to see him act onstage, he begins in earnest to plot his revenge. With the help of a renowned Robin Hood-like thief named Yamitaro, he makes out his first target: the daughter of the man who orchestrated his parents' demise.
The story opens in October of 1624 when the newly appointed Shogun Iemitsu visits the famed Kan-ei temple. On his way the procession is disrupted when a small child runs into the street, a crime punishable by execution. One man steps forward to save her life by putting his on the line. Brave and compassionate Isshin Tasuke has come into the limelight as a hero of legendary proportions. His uncanny resemblance to Shogun Iemitsu will lead to many adventures that formed on of the great series in Japanese cinema. With his intelligence and personality, Tasuke seeks to intervene in the struggle between opposing factions in the Shogun's Ruling Council.
This is the second installment of the trilogy based on Japan’s greatest novel “The Great Bodhisattva Pass”, following the life and times of bloodthirsty samurai, Tsukue Ryunosuke. Blinded in an explosion and further injured from a fall, the master swordsman is taken in by Otoyo, a woman who falls in love with him. Under Otoyo’s dedicated care, Ryunosuke’s physical and emotional wounds seem to heal. However, deep inside, the demons that drive him to kill yearn to resurface. Meanwhile he is being pursued by Utsugi Hyoma, a young samurai seeking to avenge his brother’s death at Tsukue’s hands. Hyoma is being aided along the way by the clever thief Shichibei.
During a time of war, Lord Ogata is betrayed by two of his closest vassals and killed by his enemy, Sarashina Danjo. Ten years later, Lord Ogata's only living heir, now a skilled ninja, uses sorcery to avenge the murders of his parents.
Tragicomic road movie set during the Edo period. It follows a samurai, his two servants – including spear-carrier Genpachi – and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.
Swordfighting instructor Danpei works at a local theater in Tokyo, instructing the actors how to fight realistically.
