Or, if you prefer, Samurai Cat The Movie; either way, a nice bit of silliness. Now I am just waiting for a Ninja Cat film to come attack them, to give it that true historical perspective. When the Japan Society in New York had a screening of this last year, they followed it up with the Edo Cat Party, and threw in free admission to their Life of Cats Exhibition. Sadly, I haven’t found this movie yet at any of my streaming services, although it looks like Netflix did have a license to stream it last year. But I still have more to search, including Funimation, Viz, and Daisuke, so there is still hope I might stumble across it.
Yes, this is the series that asks that age old question: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Except the protagonist is doing anything but trying to pick up girls, they just seem to collect around him. The anime series is based on the light novel of the same name, what in the US might be called a Novella or Novelette, written by Fujino Omori and illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda. This is my favorite anime of the spring 2015 season (although there are a few others which are quite tasty and almost as much fun, which I make sure to watch each week), and although the season is winding up, it doesn’t look like the story line is. In fact, becoming the fastest growing adventurer now seems to be the set up for what the quest becomes in the next season, not the goal for this one. Although as we get to the end of the first season, the advice his ghostly grandfather keeps giving him makes a lot more sense once we learn who that grandfather is. If you haven’t been following this one, use the Crunchyroll link and binge-watch it this weekend to get yourself up to speed.
The Novembers are a Japanese alternative rock band formed in 2005 who have released 8 albums and an assortment of singles and EPs so far. Their sound is unique and complex far beyond what you would expect from so few instruments, reminding me of Pink Floyd or Brian Eno. Their acknowledged musical influences include David Bowie, Einstürzende Neubauten, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Jesus and Mary Chain, L’Arc～en～Ciel, Erik Satie, Stereolab, Nam June Paik, The Flaming Lips, and a host of other truly creative folks. They just released “TOUR Romancé” LIVE AT STUDIO COAST, and I thought this might be a good time to share a few tracks from them. The first one is Romancé, the title track of their current endeavor, the next is Xeno from the same project, the third is their 2014 release Meursault and the last is The Iron Dream from 2013. That was the same year they formed their own music label MERZ (not that you can do anything on that web page without a set of the deeper links), and a year after their music became available on iTunes. These are only a few of the songs they have to offer, if you enjoy any of these continue to explore their collection, you will find a lot more to like.
An amazing video I had to share: Hayao Miyazaki makes ramen at Studio Ghibli! Sadly, nobody in Japan seems to pay their animators a living wage, so this kind of communal cooking is one of the ways they survive. Including, apparently, the big man himself.
Last year the movie Monsterz was presented on the big screen by the Japan Society in New York. The film itself was made in Japan and released there in 2013, a remake of the 2010 Korean movie Haunters, telling the tale of two men with supernatural powers battling each other for control. This is another movie that has yet to be released in a domestic North American version, but I live in hope (and refuse to pay the price buying it as an import entails). The Korean original had been available here a few years back, but went out of print around 2013 or so.
One of the silliest Japanese trailers I have seen in a long time, The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji looks like a lot of fun. At least if you enjoy Yakuza Comedy and Police Silliness, which I do. As near as I can tell, this one is only available as an Import so far, hopefully it will be released in the US soon. Here is Exhibit A: