‘The Door into Summer’: Some doors are best left closed
An orphaned genius travels to the future and back in Takahiro Miki’s treacly sci-fi, “The Door Into Summer,” based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein.
‘Alice in Borderland’: Deadly journey through the looking glass leaves little impression
Netflix’s sci-fi suspense series about a young man forced to go through a series of twisted challenges takes place in a cityscape that looks all too familiar in 2020.
‘Theatre: A Love Story’: No sparks in this tortured romance
Based on a novel by comedian-turned-author Naoki Matayoshi, “Theatre: A Love Story” centers on a narcissistic playwright and his long-suffering girlfriend.
'Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku': A musical take on an otaku romance
This film adaptation of a web comic by single-named artist Fujita has the central couple dancing and singing their way to love.
'Ni no Kuni': Two worlds but little life to be found
Two things about "Ni no Kuni." 1) It features a protagonist who uses a wheelchair, an admirable display of diversity and inclusion in a medium that rarely features characters with disabilities. 2) There isn't much else to like about the film. "Ni no Kuni" hit ...
'Kingdom': An admirable try at Chinese history
Why should Japanese kids care about a manga set in China's Warring States Period, (475-221 B.C.)? The players and power struggles are hard enough for professional historians (and this reviewer) to grasp, let alone 10-year-olds. Yasuhisa Hara found a winning answer in "Kingdom," a manga ...
'One Week Friends': Groundhog day in the 'friend zone'
Someday soon someone is going to come up with an algorithm for commercial seishun eiga (youth films). Plug in the variables — teenaged love in its more innocuous variations being first and foremost — and pop out a script for another hit. If not computer-generated, ...
'Doctor X'; 'The Man With the Divine Tongue" Kagome
Ryoko Yonekura returns as the genius freelance surgeon Dr. Michiko Daimon in a special two-hour installment of "Doctor X" (TV Asahi, Sun., 9 p.m.). Michiko happens to be in Kanazawa when national politician Aiko Ichinose (Kayako Kishimoto) collapses on the street after an intimate interlude ...
'Wolf Girl and Black Prince': The dogged persistence of teen love
Girls go for bad, abusive guys, while relegating nice, decent ones to the dreaded "friend zone": A misogynistic lie or the cold, hard truth? Ryuichi Hiroki's "Wolf Girl and Black Prince" seems to say the latter, starting with its premise. A naive, socially inept ...
