Writing
A brilliant collection of beautifully animated episodes based on selected masterpieces of Japanese modern literature. The aim of this series is to appeal to the viewer at large and to give him or her some idea of the variety and individuality which Japanese literature has developed over the last hundred years. The authors range from Higuchi Ichiyou (Takekurabe), Mori Ougai (The Dancing Girl) and Natsume Souseki (Botchan) to Kawabata Yasunari (The Izu Dancer), Nobel laureate of 1968, and Mishima Yukio (The Sound of Waves).
A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.
At Tokyo Gakuen University, Takema, son of Tatsunosuke, chief of the Waku gang, is a freshman who wishes to prepare himself for a better life away from gang activities despite the wishes of his father who wants him to assist strengthen the gang against the Kawano group. Takema's classmate, Akiko, is the daughter of Eiko who operates a restaurant, and through her he obtains a lodging in the house of Shiu, a dancing mistress. The students enjoy their life, but most have their troubles. Sakamoto works as a laborer on the docks to help pay for his schooling, and Akiko worries over the relationship between her mother and Sakurai, a corrupt politician, suspected to be involved in graft over jet aircraft.
Shimada is a student of U College. When the college's baseball team wins the day, he and his friend Ito drug two girls they met at the game.
Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking.
In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.
A female reporter is fired for writing about police corruption; to make money while hiding from the press, she posts a bounty upon herself.
No description available.
Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when he encounters a strange and beautiful young woman.
A recently released gangster has to cope with the recent shifts of power between gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.
Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata, a laughing, self-confident thug. The D.A. gets an anonymous letter about the suicide five years' before of a city council member. Evidence about the case leads the D.A. to Tachibana, struggling to go straight after involvement with the mob and a prison sentence for killing the man responsible for the rape and suicide of his fiancée. One of Tachibana's friends is Keiko, the daughter of the dead councilman and the ward of another powerful official. How do these stories connect?
Takeshi, bound to be an outlaw youth, boards at the home of his female schoolmate who works at the family restaurant in devil-may-care Akasaka.
After ten years of study in the US, Nonomura Kensuke returns to Japan to be an English teacher at a local high school. Kensuke's nontraditional teaching style stirs up the school, but the students gradually accept him.
Yukiko Shiba, a doctor, and Akira Sakai, a composer and musician, are lovers. Their love is a forbidden one. He is married, with children. She is a doctor with a bright career ahead of her.
Set within the Aokigahara forest on Mount Fuji, a famous location for suicides. Follows the love and life between a man and woman.
Drama about a young woman, abused as a child, who carries on sexual relations with four men, but is unable to get close to any of them.
The film tells the story of a group of high school boxing team members who spend their days drinking, sailing and chasing girls, and who more often than not spend their nights getting into brawls. In particular, it focuses upon Tatsuya, a sullen young man, who falls in love with Eiko, a proud upper-class girl.
Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
College students come up with a scam to rob a gambling house. When it comes time to collect, the money isn't there, leading the young men into even more serious crime.
