Movies to Watch From Japan

A Samurai In Time

Dir. Junichi Yasuda

Usually, time travellers journey back to the past. This indie comedy takes the other path instead, with one samurai travelling…

SAKAMOTO DAYS

Hitmen are just cool. But rather than bring us the same fists and bullets that we usually see with these…

Black Box Diaries

Dir. Shiori Itō

Continuing her fight to tell the world the truth about her sexual assault case, journalist Shiori Ito released Black Box…

Kotaro Lives Alone

The title character of Kotaro Lives Alone is such an unusual child. Sure, he plays pretend as an old feudal…

Blue Box

When a show is focused on a kid and their sport, chances are, the main character holds a passion for…

My Undead Yokai Girlfriend

Some people can get totally desperate when it comes to their love life, but rarely does this desperation end up…

DAN DA DAN

During adolescence, teenagers get to learn and discover themselves and the world, but for most people, this means going through…

The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House

Dir. Female director & Hirokazu Kore-eda

On the surface, The Makanai is a simple, slice-of-life show about food and friendship. While it is that, to be…

BARTENDER Glass of God

Regardless of age, most viewers would be familiar with the way alcoholic drinks are portrayed in the media as a…

Stonewalling

Dir. Huang Ji & Ryuji Otsuka

At two hours and nearly 30 minutes, Stonewalling is quite long. The third film from spouses Ryuji Otsuka and Huang…

House of Ninjas

From the fantasy-powered folktales to superhero-like depictions, ninjas have captivated the world, but seem to be a relic of the…

PLUTO

Reimagining a children’s classic as a mature serial killer mystery, PLUTO already had high expectations for its anime adaptation. The…

Sunny

By now, it’s pretty clear that Apple TV+ follows a less-is-more philosophy when it comes to content. Sure, it doesn’t…

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF

With a wolf deity, wheat harvesting rituals, and farmtown folklore, it may seem that Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the…

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Watching the trailers, and even the first ten minutes, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off just seems like a rehash of the…

Delicious in Dungeon

When watching fantasy anime, there’s a wonderfully whimsical world that viewers can fully explore. Spectacular magic, brave warriors, and strange…

Pokémon Concierge

Pokémon is one of the world’s most popular franchises, and it’s mainly centered around the idea of cute, colorful creatures…

Blue Giant

Dir. Yuzuru Tachikawa

2023 was a great year for animation with films like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Nimona, and The Boy and the…

18×2 Beyond Youthful Days

Dir. Michihito Fujii

We sacrifice so much for our dreams, so if it all fails, whether that be because of ourselves or because…

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers

Set in a fictionalized version of Japan’s Edo period, where a deadly disease affecting only men has led to women…

Evil Does Not Exist

Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Evil Does Not Exist begins a simple enough parable about the dangers of disrupting the delicate balance of nature, particularly…

My Daemon

You know how How to Train Your Dragon has a town terrified of dragons, but it turns out they’re actually…

The Gene of AI

In a world acclimated to the technological advancements and integration of AI, Sudo Hikaru offers illegal medical procedures in the…

Drops of God

In the multilingual Drops of God, French author Camille and Japanese sommelier Issei battle for a wine expert’s multi-billion-dollar inheritance.…

Undead Unluck

Undead Unluck is such a strange anime with such a strange duo. Named after their respective powers, the undead Andy…

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

Usually, being swallowed up by a dragon means death. However, for Rentt Faina, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, becoming a skeleton…

VIVANT

Dir. Katsuo Fukuzawa

With an accounting mistake leading to being stranded in the desert, it’s hard to predict where VIVANT would lead us…

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

Usually, when whisked away to a fantasy world, there’s usually some grand reason, like a prophecy or a destined quest…

GOOD NIGHT WORLD

With games creating whole virtual worlds, with stunning landscapes, powers, and storylines, it’s easy to escape into the fictional simulations,…

Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again

As one grows older, only then do they realize the benefits of youth. It’s all there in the title, but…

Trillion Game

Dir. Kenta Tanaka & Kentarō Takemura

While live-action manga adaptations are known to have a bad rap, Netflix’s Trillion Game is quite entertaining. Striving to earn…

Informa

Dir. Hirokawa Hayashida

Informa is a thrilling and fun look into the world of yakuza informants. As the titular character Keijiro Kihara takes…

Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp

For the unfamiliar, isekai is the fantasy subgenre where a character is transported into a different world. Usually, this is…